One of the unexpected bonuses of being a finalist in the 2005 WebLog Awards is discovering some other really good blogs.

Browsing through the blogs of my competition, here are a couple of observations:

• 2nd Best — If I wasn’t already committed to voting for myself, I’d say that the guys at Truth. Quante-fied. are the blog I’d be most inclined to vote for. Jared (law school student) and Jenks (medical school student) are obviously two pretty smart guys, but they are also surprisingly funny and witty. I’m kind of an angry blogger…so it’s nice to kick back and relax with their quick-hit, fun style.
• Group efforts — I’ve always wondered how some of these other blogs could output so much content with such consistent quality. I work 50+ hours per week, and have a very limited time to research and write for UrbanGrounds. Looking at the other top three vote-leading blogs in my category, I realized that they are all written by more than one person: Truth. Quante-fied. (a law and a med student), Elephant in My Coffee (2 stay-at-home moms), and Save the GOP (2 editors and 8 staff writers).

I work with 5 other technical writers at my paying job. I can’t imagine having to work with other writers on my hobby, too.

Thanks to all who have voted for UrbanGrounds thus far in the WebLog Awards (don’t forget you can vote once every 24 hours). After 2 days, we have a very slight lead over (surprise) the 10-man team of Save the GOP. Regardless of the outcome, I’m already flattered by the show of support and approval.