Hey all! You may have noticed that I, yet again, have been absent for a while. So of course, you’re all thinking that I have yet again abandoned my website. But for once, you guys are wrong! I’ve just been away on vacation in Chicago, but now I’m back! While The Windy City would be a great topic to write about, I’m trying to keep this blog about my opinions, thoughts, interests, and other stuff that’s not part of my personal life.

 With that being said, I did crank out something special for you guys (and gals). Ok, it wasn’t really meant for my blog, but I think it will fit in nicely. It was originally an argument essay for a school assignment about a pretty controversial subject. You can look for it in the sidebar. The title is “Why Testing Doesn’t Work,” which should give you a pretty good idea about what it is about. I hope you enjoy it!

  Unfortunately, my blog doesn’t support comments on the “Special” posts, but you can always leave them on my other posts. It would be great if you left comments for this special here so that I can see your interest level in these sort of posts I put up. Also, make sure to leave suggestions about future post topics so that I can keep my blog active. Your ideas really help. Thanks again!

Hey again everyone! I just wanted to shout out to everyone who visited my blog recently. I know right now it doesn’t seem like much more than an attempt of a cool blog with a couple widgets in the sidebar (I mean literally, that’s all it is right now), but I still appreciate the support I’m getting.

Judging from the poll results and comments I’ve been getting, you all seem to really like the change. That’s super encouraging, because now I can move on to making actual posts without having to deal with a blog that you can’t stand to look at. To celebrate, I’ve created new logos for the header and the sidebar to make things a bit more personal. Now I can call this blog my own.

While I spend time brainstorming topics for my opening post, why don’t you start putting some ideas in the chat for me? If I like a topic that I see, I might just write about it. Feel free to send in cool tech products, interesting articles, or anything else you come across. Also, check out the Flickr widget I recently added. It’s a live stream of all the pictures I put on Flickr in a nifty little extension in the sidebar. I already love it, and I hope you guys do too. Take a look at it, and don’t forget to submit an idea. Thanks!

P.S. You can submit ideas privately/anonymously by going to the “Ask” page in the sidebar.

  Hey all! I’m not going to make this a sappy sorry letter for not keeping my blog updated, because then that’s all my blog will ever be about. Instead, I’m going to introduce you to the new Behind the Plate! By now, you’ve obviously noticed something different about my website. Let me give you the grand tour.

  Say hello to my new blog theme. Well, I didn’t make it or anything, so it’s not really mine. But either way, it definitely looks nice on my blog. It’s got a darker look to it, which I think is nice for a change. I also changed the background, opting for white with the nice big baseball as opposed to my old dirt brown one. There are also a few other changes, like the fact that you can easily share a post by hovering over the share icon to the left. Play around with my blog, and let me know what you think of the change.

  Another cool feature is the new sidebar, which allows a wider variety of widgets. I added facebook “like box” and a twitter feed, which lets you keep up with the latest happening on my blog and in my life. I also included my old favorite, the poll box. Check these out for me before leaving, because I think you’ll enjoy these new features.

  One last goodie I saved for you is a new, special post. It was actually a school assignment that I enjoyed writing and thought it would be perfect for my blog. You can access it in the sidebar. The post is called “My Path to Baseball,” and it’s basically, well, my path to baseball. I hope you like it!

  Well, that’s about all I got. I’d really appreciate it if you would share this post, as well as give my facebook page a like. Let me know what you think about the change in the comments or poll. I always love getting feedback on my blog. It helps motivate me to keep posting new material regularly. Thanks!

Hi, all, and welcome to Behind the Plate! This is a blog written by your average, not-so-normal teenager, Malik Conn. I plan to put all sorts of stuff on this blog, from funny pictures to interesting articles to my opinions on topics in today’s world. I hope to update it often, but I need support. Comments, suggestions, and ideas will all help me understand what you, the reader, want to see from my blog. Not only that, but your input drives me to write more and shows me how much people really enjoy reading what I write. I appreciate all the support I can get. So feel free to check out my blog, and if there’s something that you think I should add, fix, or simply remove, be sure to let me know. Check back often! Thanks!