I have to admit that I gasped in dismay when it came time to pick out the “best” posts of 2005 for our site. Nope, it’s not ’cause there’s nothing worth picking – in fact, this intrepid group of authors wrote thisclose to 700 posts this year. Instead, I was struggling with the whole notion of ‘best’ – is it about traffic? Breaking news? Offering up a unique POV? Writing with brilliant or pithy prose? Generating tons of comments? I’d say -uh, all of the above. Which makes it really hard to pick out just 10 (my original goal here.) So in true Libra fashion, I’m offering up 28 instead…(feel free to narrow it down yourselves if you want it all nice and neat and tidy, ok?)

See, I think posts that generate a lot of back and forth, or lure in a particular community, count as best. And we certainly saw that happen, whether we’re talking circuit climbing ^[1] or Mexican food ^[2] or even something as seemingly non-controversial as where I should take out-of-town guests for dinner ^[3].

And then there are those posts that people discover and keep alive months later – dim sum ^[4], anyone? (Proud side note: we collectively pronounced Wong’s King the place to go before the real buzz hit.)

The thriving PDX food community helped us sustain conversations about overrated PDX restaurants ^[5], or whether choosing local ^[6] ought to play into where you eat out. And we waxed poetic about our own food choices, whether chowing on leafy greens ^[7] or baked goods ^[8].

Opinions? We have them in abundance – and you’ve got them right back (it’s part of what I think make blogs as a whole ‘best’, after all…) We still see plenty of inbound traffic to posts ranting about PDX’s panhandlers ^[9], cell phone users ^[10], the ‘war’ on meth ^[11] and bus riders ^[12]. And some of us believe that soccer, and not baseball ^[13] is where it’s really at. But we also share our passions, whether talking about trains ^[14], puppies ^[15] or newfound obsessions with puzzles ^[16] (this post contains the best sudoku haiku ever.)

We painted you pictures via posts about traveling couches ^[17], haunted houses ^[18], strong bread ^[19] or coffee shop poets ^[20]. And we also shared plenty of photos, whether pumpkin picking ^[21], skiing collisions ^[22] (I still can’t bring myself to look at that one) or just the stuff we see ^[23] on our daily travels (Dieselboi deserves a special shout-out for his one-man moblogging efforts all year.)

And then, the posts that are my own personal favorites (since I waded through all 690ish posts to get ready for this one, I don’t much mind pulling rank): Praising PDX ^[24], the squeezing out of Thanksgiving ^[25], a wry observation ^[26] about an itinerant preacher, a convo with Greg Glover ^[27], and, finally, a moonlit ^[28] evening.

Finally – what else is ‘best’ this year (speaking strictly for myself, of course)? All of you. Whether you’re challenging us, disagreeing with us, or even flat-out dissing what we do and/or say (right down to how quickly we react to spam, no less) – it’s all good, cause you’re reacting to what we’re offering up. And, of course, your contributions add to the collective groove we’ve got going on – thank you for that!