Brian
I’m not sure how much it’s going to affect your blog but Google has announced they will now be including the load time of a website when it comes to ranking for specific keywords.
I’m guessing anyone with a clean sidebar and a shared server will be fine. I don’t however know how bloggers or free hosting blogs will be affected.
If you have a free hosting solution it might be time to consider a new hosting provider that can offer you a fast loading time.
What's your thoughts?