I get this feeling when I am acknowledged by those I respect or when I affect the bigger picture. The effects of this feeling are a beaming smile and a slight shiver. You might call it “giddy,” for lack of a better (read: more masculine) word. Following are some examples of when this feeling has struck me.

When I was a teenager, I ordered a Poundhound t-shirt. Poundhound was the solo project of King’s X singer Doug Pinnick. King’s X is my favorite band of all time. After a bit of a mix-up with the order, I got an e-mail from Doug Pinnick himself:

Hi Dustin. Sorry about the mess up with the t-shirt. I was on the road when you sent the letter and I just got it from the po box. I didn’t realize I was out of black Ts.. sorry. Todd my friend who emilad you about it will take care of you…See you on tour…. dUg

I thought that was one of the coolest things ever.

More recently, I was listening to WBWC’s “Top 5 @ 5 Countdown” on my way home from work in August. They were talking about the controversy around WikiScanner, the software which matches Wikipedia edits to companies or organizations. The hosts challenged listeners to edit the WBWC article to say that their show has the coolest hosts in the world. After 15 minutes of no one editing the entry, I decided to do it. For one full day, their Wikipedia article included the line:

The Top 5 @ 5 Countdown show, counting down all the most requested songs of the week. Featuring the grooviest hosts in the greater Cleveland area and free pie.

The hosts read this on air and got a kick out of it, as did I. It was cool to have affected their program, even anonymously.

Most recently, I have been added to Mark Elrod’s blogroll. There are two things that make this mean something to me.

First, Dr. Elrod was one of my favorite teachers when I was in college. His class, International Relations, was never boring. In fact, I remember one day late into the semester, as he was taking attendance, he said “Dustin, you haven’t missed a day of class.” I didn’t know how to respond, so I said “I’ll skip next time if you want me to.” He didn’t want me to. While I don’t agree with a lot of his political views, I admire his critical thinking skills and his desire to sharpen those skills in others.

Secondly, his site has received 266,220 hits in the past two years, so I would say that it’s a pretty popular place. That could potentially lead to more readers for this blog. Most bloggers enjoy an increase in readership and I’m not the exception.