How is this possible? Lost Ogle celebrates 14th birthday today.

Blow out the candles, cut the cake and chug a beer – The Lost Ogle is officially 14-years-old! Now, who's ready to celebrate?!

Love it or hate it, this website turning 14 is pretty incredible, and to me, still a bit unbelievable. It's weird to see an off-the-cuff idea you had actually turn into something that's... something?

14 years (doing the same thing over and over and over again) feels like a long time and it is. I chalk the longevity up to my unique ability to be incompetent and distracted enough to keep this website from growing too big and crashing, yet just capable and talented enough to keep from drowning.

Well, at least for now.

Websites, and the Internet in general, age at about the same rate as dogs, so in all reality, we're closer to 90 than 14. That feels right. When we first got started, streaming services, social media, camera phones, and mobile technology were all in their infancy. I remember there were serious journalistic debates on whether or not blogs were good or bad, and if they would replace newspapers. It was like everyone was focused on the earthquake, unaware that a streaming, social media tsunami was racing towards the shore.

Obviously, we couldn't have made it 14 years without the clicks from readers, checks from advertisers and, now, support from our members. The pandemic uprooted what was an already changing and challenging online publishing model, so if you enjoy what we do, want to support indie media, and make sure we're around for another long year, please consider joining today. It cost less than a side of ranch dressing per day and helps fund our operations. You can also make a one-time contribution here.

In addition to our clickers, sponsors and members, I'd like to thank all the people who have lent their talents to this site over the years. From Clark Matthews to Tony, Louis to Lucas, Hayley to Spencer, Marisa to Chad, Gravy Train to Irritated Tulsan, etc., they've written about 50% of the 9,000 articles on this site dating back to 2007. I'd also like to thank Beth and Kurtis, our stable of trivia hosts, Randy "Mile High" Mitchell, and all the other people and ex-girlfriends behind the scenes who've helped maintain this weird thing I created.

Anyway, I guess that concludes my annual kind-of-downer birthday post. I barely know what the next month is going to hold for me, much less the next year, but I'm semi-confident there's a good chance this website will still be here chugging along, telling bad jokes, speaking truth to power, and providing clickable entertainment and dialogue for you to enjoy while bored at work or on the toilet.

Stay with The Lost Ogle. We'll keep you advised.