I've done a strange thing. I have signed up to something called Blog Explosion (click the banner for more info). It is basically a site that is designed to help raise awareness (and therefore traffic) for your blog, and increase readership.

I have done this for a couple of reasons: (1) while I am not actually all that concerned with how many people visit my site (statistically speaking), I *am* interested in having more readers who interact, comment, and join conversations and debates on my blog. I can safely say that my life has been greatly enriched over the past year by the people I have met through my blog; some through e-mails, some through phonecalls, and many I have even met in person (and on a trip the other side of the world, no less!). Without my blog I likely would never have met these people and I cannot imagine not having them in my life.

(2) I want to raise awareness about things I am passionate about (ie: educating people with regards to the truth about Israel and the challenges it faces). More importantly, I hope blogs like Israellycool and Smooth Stone join Blog Explosion so that they can raise awareness to their blogs, because theirs are far more informative about the issues than mine.

As a bonus to all this I get to expand my blogroll by visiting all kinds of new blogs that are listed in the Blog Explosions directory. Though I spend *far* too much time reading blogs as it is, I am always open to new views from other bloggers. It keeps things fresh. So if you are interested, go ahead and click on the banner and have a peek.

UPDATE: since writing this entry I have been surfing other blogs from the directory and been finding quite a few gems, such as The Impulsive Buy: Product Reviews Gone Wild! and the hilarious Jluster (funny AND Jewish! bonus!). Both will be added to my blogroll asap. Now I must break away from all this surfing and actually get in the shower and start my day. I'm late!!!