Nope. We’ve just added a handy “click here for e-mails when there’s a new comment,” kind of thing to our posts. Now you can comment, click to be notified of any other comments, and really be part of a conversation.

Plus, it’s really nice to be notified by e-mail of comments on something you’ve commented on because you can be lazy and not have to check back.

But I know you check back here. Like 10 times a day. Right?

RIGHT?!

Ahem. Thanks for being part of the Edmonton conversation.

I believe this image shows what I'm talking about.

—–

Hey, while I’ve got you here, let me be the first to officially invite you to the 1st birthday of the edmontonian and The Unknown Studio. It’s going to be Monday, August 23.

So don’t go balls-out crazy the last weekend of the Fringe. You’ll nee energy to party with us. And eat cake.

Don’t forget to help us pay for the greatest birthday gift of all. And if you come to the party you’ll get to see the gift as it happens.

We don’t know if you know this, but our pals, Scott and Adam, over at The Unknown Studio, are HUGE Star Trek fans.

HUGE.

Like, they will have important and interesting guests on their show and spend precious podcast seconds, minutes even, talking about Star Trek. They love it that much.

So, they’re celebrating one year of podcasting in our fair city and we here at the edmontonian wanted to buy them something for their birthday. But what could we get them? What could say that we’re good friends and we pay attention when they talk?

Something Star Trek, of course.

But not just anything. No. Something awesome. Something great.

A live phone call from Marina Sirtis, the actress who starred as Counselor Deanna Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation (Adam’s favourite of the Treks) for seven years.

But it’s $300.

That’s why we’re asking you to help us out, Edmonton. Chip in a few bucks by clicking that PayPal button below and help us buy a fantastic present for two of the city’s biggest Star Trek fans. We’ll get Ms. Sirtis to call Scott and Adam at a big birthday party, later this summer.

Donate to the Unknown Studio Star Trek phone call fund now, donate often! (We’ll be sure to write your name in the birthday card.)

If we don’t make it to $300 we’ll just get them a Happy Birthday greeting from Mr. Belding.

This was the first photo I used in a post. We're all about the nostalgia.

As I mentioned in the Headlines today, we’re 1.

(Notable people we share birthdays with: The Unknown Studio, sort of…Edmonton reporter Simon Ostler…Queen of the Cougars, Courtney Cox…K-9 star Jim Belushi…Neil Patrick Harris, freakin’ NPH…Ice Cube…Waylon Jennings…and Helen Hunt…not bad company at all.)

We had to go back and check when we actually posted for the first time last year, since it’s been a long year. It’s been a lot of blogging, but, as with most things, life also gets in the way. So I mean it when I say the edmontonian has had a long year. Heck, I was really blown away when looking through our old stories. It was lots of “We did that? We talked about that already?”

I like hearing the guys at The Unknown Studio joke in their podcasts that Scott never thought they’d see one year, and Adam gets to gloat. (They’re also turning one!) I feel the same way, sometimes.

the edmontonian is a blog. But it’s just a website. It’s a news aggregator. But it’s also a content creator. It’s an online magazine. It’s about Edmonton. It’s a conversation. It’s just a blog. It’s a place where anyone can share their stories, whether in an actual post or photos or just in the comments.

I think I’ve seen, in the last year, how titles and jurisdictions and mediums matter less. I really don’t think it matters if you’re putting out stories of Edmonton on TV, newspapers, radio, online, in magazines, in photos or videos. People want information, they want discussion, they want to solve problems and celebrate victories. Personally, I feel the Internet can do a combination of that better than traditional mediums (if only for interaction and constant updating) but as long as newsrooms and blogs and people telling stories are after truth I think it’s all good.

Truth being stories about this place we live in, good and bad. Truth being facts not plainly stated or available, sometimes only revealed through digging of crusading reporters. Truth being that we’re all in this, so we better find some common ground and try to solve problems, be for something and not against everything.

And truth being that we’ll talk about stuff like broken doors and mall openings because it’s fun and funny, not because we think it will attract eyeballs.

And I like to think this is all part of a wider connection of blogs, podcasts and passionate Edmontontians that are changing, not just how the city approaches things, but also, the way people get their news.

There you go. Edmonton’s got a world-class online, and tech, community. That’s how you become a great place to live, you do it without trying.

Don't go shopping for glasses with Sally. She'll just take photos of you to make you look like a perv.

It’s been a wild year. I can’t believe we’re still here, and I’m glad we are. I can’t believe people readily write for us and team up with us. I’m blown away when people talk about us, or thank us for talking about their blog or their issues.

It’s humbling. And it’s not something I always got, or recognized, when working in daily news. This little blog has changed my life.

Thanks for sticking with us for one year. We hope to be thanking you again in 365 days.

This was the picture from our very first post. It's from our Great Smitty's Adventure.

Let the week (or four days) of patting ourselves on the back begin, because we’re 1!

Knowing us we’ll probably do some navel-gazing too. We just can’t self-congratualte without our high-school era low-self esteem kicking in.

Don’t you like us?! Look at us! We’re pretty!

*ahem*

Yes, the edmontonian turns 1 today. And while I won’t bore you now by patting myself on the back, I’ll do it later. Trust me. :)

No, right now we’ll do what we always do, we’ll talk about what’s going on in Edmonton. Like Councillor Jane Batty’s vendetta against emergency vehicle sirens (so loud!), former Sun columnist Kerry Diotte entering what’s becoming a crowded Ward 11 council race, a couple of stories dealing with Edmonton Police disciplinary hearings and examinations of what happens when things go bad, plus that darn Indy.

Cake and punch will be served in the atrium later.*

from the Edmonton Journal:

Alberta wrong on pension issue (Malcolm Mayes has a great cartoon on this.)

U.S. laws could backfire: minister (So, what you’re telling me, Environment Minister Rob Renner, is that oil companies that desperately want to go green can’t do it when customers demand a greener product. Right…)

Gravel pit neighbours irate at shrinking buffer zone

20 new spider species found (This is great for science but bad for nightmares.)

Proposed budget short on teachers (You might not think anything of that headline. Until I tell you the budget is for the school board. Which usually requires, you know, teachers.)

Flagpoles will make Epcor Tower tallest

Epcor crusader carried the torch for city taxpayers

Burying provincial treasures puts our history out of reach (All the good stuff will be in an old slaughterhouse. I’m not kidding.)

Edmontonian captures ‘Miss Elegance’ title (Damn, flippin’ right we’re elegant.)

And from the Calgary Herald: Alberta’s regulatory changes to save oil and gas sector $170M

from the Edmonton Sun:

Hate crime down in Edmonton: Report

from The Canadian Press:

Government members vote down rival’s bid for extra caucus funding (No more money for the Wildrose Alliance. Who didn’t see that coming?)

Ex-Redwater MLA killed in car crash

from 630CHED/iNews880:

Batty hopes for more discretion in overnight fire truck siren use (Except when the fire trucks or ambulance are on the way to her house, I bet. Then she’d probably want everyone to hear the emergency vehicles and get out of the way. Oh brother…)

Edmonton Startup weekend – No talk, all action (It’s June 25-27.)

from CBC Edmonton:

Low-income Edmontonians struggle to access healthy food

Assault victim alleges double standard of justice (Some interesting facts dug up by CBC regarding the case of Constable Mike Wasylyshen, a son of a former police chief.)

Police van was hot, crowded, disciplinary hearing told (As Andrew Hanon writes, it’s been a long, long time since this incident and memory fades.)

So, not a good PR day for the Edmonton Police Service.

Former Sun Columnist running in city election (And Metro says another new candidate entered the Ward 11 race.)

from CTV Edmonton:

Abandoned gas station sites across Edmonton under review (The city considers incentives for people to buy the empty and/or contaminated land.)

Future of Edmonton Indy still unclear (Would it be ironic if the race continued, but had to move from the City Centre Airport to Leduc? Probably just delicious coincidence.)

from Global Edmonton:

High water warning (I thought the North Saskatchewan was looking a little high and fast.)

*There’s no cake. No punch. And no atrium. But we will talk about the last year, online news, and that darn cat, later.

Hey, right now, I’ll take any comments or ideas for the daily headlines. What’s good, what’s bad, what’s boring, what do you want more of?

A sure sign of spring in Edmonton: the blanket seller on 118 Avenue has returned.

HEY EDMONTON!

Oops, Caps Lock was on.

How’s it going today? Everything alright, you feeling ok? I’ve got a bit of a cold, but I can deal with that since we’ve got such nice weather right now. If we could only get Josh Classen to stop threatening snow…

Alright, I’m confused. Wasn’t I just talking about Alberta leading the way in job losses yesterday? We’re good, we’re bad, things are on the up-and-up, or not. Whatever.

Oh, and it’s not a good day (Is it ever?) for those hard-done-by oilsands giants. Can’t you people just let them reap their billions in profits in peace?!

from the Edmonton Journal:

Council targets polluted properties (I am totally behind a real push to clean up contaminated sites. Like, say, old gas stations.)

Edmonton cracks down on parking violators (Looks like you’re going to actually start plugging that meter.)

A made-in-Alberta child-tax benefit would reduce cost of poverty (Poverty, like freedom, isn’t free.)

Bird deterrent program comes under scrutiny at Syncrude trial

Art Gallery of Alberta a big draw (Have you been?)

Stelmach looks to reverse plunge (He could also go the other way and just try to be the least popular of all premiers.)

Stelmach survives Ides of March

MLA ‘pies’ 83 politicians to make a point (Should restrictions on home cooking be reduced?)

And via Canada.com: Esks name Scott play-by-play man to replace Hall (Yes, Morley Scott is returning to Edmonton.)

‘Turbulence’ ahead for WestJet after CEO resigns

from the Edmonton Sun:

Province pays $200K to school nine kids (Maybe put that money back into water monitoring or something. Gosh.)

Workplace safety laws under review

And a related story: Police chief commends officers whose husband was killed by dealership gunman

from Metro Edmonton:

Culinary students learn from chef a cut above (I’m not going to lie, I love David Adjey. He’s a culinary visionary and super-awesome TV chef.)

from 630CHED/iNews880:

Capilano parents not happy after EPSB meeting (Well, they are looking at closing their school.)

from CBC Edmonton:

Midwife shortage spurs safety fears (The best part of stories about midwives, when I was in radio, was saying “midwifery.”

Edmonton student dies on ski trip

from CTV Edmonton:

Gov’t to give $12M to build housing units for Alberta’s homeless (I told you poverty wasn’t cheap.)

St. Albert council chambers packed for debate (I hope they really are just debating the density.)

from The Gateway (U of A):

U of A to implement watch program for mental health (This could be a great idea, if put into practice effectively.)

GFC, Students’ Council elections start Tuesday

p.s. It’s Sally‘s freakin’ birthday! Wish her a happy one if you see her. I’m off to build her a cake.