Another milestone in a momentous week, and I again pause to express thanks while simultaneously packing my bags. Last week, on or about the 19th of April, the cumulative article reads for this 45 month old blog surpassed 3 million, just in time for the annual RIMSfest Conference that looms before us. 

Ok, they don’t call it RIMSfest, but let’s face it, it would certainly add some pizzazz to this gargantuan event if they did. More on that in a moment.

The article read count for this blog has become a minor obsession for me, and I’ve developed the practice of publicly “counting off” the milestones when they occur. Please forgive me, as there is a method to my madness. The growing read rate is one of the few solid points of validation that indicates I might be reaching someone. What I am actually reaching them with I am not too certain. Probably not anything good, that’s for sure. And I might just be reaching one nervous guy with a twitchy finger who accidentally reloads pages – 3 million times. The most interesting thing for me is that the time window between “million read milestones” seems to be shrinking. I launched this blog in August of 2011, and it took more than two years, 766 days to be precise, to reach 1 million article views for the collection of posts on the site. The 2 million read count posted in less than half that time; just 350 days later. It took only another 233 days to reach the 3 million mark on April 19th.

I really want to thank twitchy finger Lou for all those page loads. Don’t let go of that mouse, buddy. Bobby wants 5 mil by next Easter….

So here I am at RIMSfest, this year in New Orleans, LA, with an artificially inflated sense of accomplishment and a hopeful optimism for what lies ahead. The annual RIMS Conference is the ideal place to get a glimpse of what’s new and hot in the insurance and risk sector. Let’s hope this year we find workers’ compensation is in the mix. 

Many of us noted a fairly light load of workers’ comp specific sessions last year, and while the conference offered good content overall, there was simply not enough for those of us who toil in this red headed stepchild segment of the insurance industry. A review of the scheduled agenda does make it appear there will be more WC specific content this year, and there are a number of sessions I look forward to attending.

I also anticipate writing about what we learn here. In the interim, I wish to thank you for your continued support. And to you, twitchy finger Lou, I can’t thank you enough – even though I’ll probably thank you like a thousand times just on this page alone.