Yo! Check It!

These days, my weblog feels more like an extension of myself than a creation for the public. I am not focusing so much on finding the one tru link that will set me above all other blogs. Instead, it's almost like a journal, in that certain thoughts and events may make their way into the site. Of course, since I spend so much of my time on the web, a large portion of the content does have corresponding links...

I like to have a place to write. I've been sharpening up my skills at epinions and themestream, but it just isn't the same.

I originally envisioned my site as the place where I would post all my DHTML experiments; where I would have a shiny, bleeding-edge interface to demonstrate my chops. But my first quick design is still in place, and all I'm doing is weblogging and a little writing. Am I serving a purpose? I think so, though I'm not sure what, exactly.

My next project is to redesign the site, and in tandem with that, put some search facility in place. After all, my weblog is basically a list of everything I have found interesting for the last several months - might as well make it work for me... And I want to post more writings; the nice thing about having my own site is that I can post whatever I want!

So why do I weblog? Because I can, because I enjoy it, because it chronicles my day without seeming to, and because it helps me build my network of contacts and friends.

A good article from ethmar on Customer Service.

Now, this is pretty cool! It's a structure/appearance-based document creation and maintenance system. No more wiggly WYSIWYG! And it's free, too. Great going, guys.

The Open Gaming Foundation is where to find information on the open-source gaming platform upon which 3rd edition DND is built. It's got a lot of people excited... This 'zine has some good information. Apparently lots of people are building on top of the system. I like this especially. I really don't play anymore - not in over a decade - but I remember it fondly. Sitting around the table with my friends, rules-lawyering 'till three in the morning. Ah, those were the days.

I'm excited! Tonight my wife and I are going to go see Eric Costello's band play at the Way Out Club.

Home, home on the web

I don't want to imply that I set out to weasel my way into a community that I had found on the web, searching like some ugly stray cat for anyone that will accept me. No way! It's just that the more I explored the web, the more I felt like I had something in common with the webmasters who were posting daily links on their sites. Sometimes I found the links myself before they did, although I had no place to post them. And they were doing the same kind of work as I was. They belonged to the same mailing lists. Basically, it was just nice to know that there were other people out there doing the same thing as me, no matter whether they were miles above me or below me in skills and experience.

Every day I discovered that I knew less than I thought, even as I became more knowledgeable. I was answering questions and helping out, and in turn being helped. But I still didn't have a site to post my own links and thoughts.

I've had this weblog for about four months now, and I recieve a fair amount of hits. It's exciting, but I have discovered that that's not really the point either. Yes, I want to share my thoughts and the neat things I find with those people who are in this community of web designers/developers/loggers, but I also want to share myself through writings. I don't like feeling the pressure of having to find at least one great link a day, whether or not that pressure actually exists. So I want to refocus. [con't tomorrow]

Driving to work today, there was a literacy advertisement on a billboard by the road, showing a loving mother nestling down with her toddler, reading her a book. It reminded me of this story on teaching and how the kids she tutors don't like to read. And I couldn't help wondering how long it will be before reading is an elective instead of a requirement. Which is horrible, because reading is quite possibly the most mind-opening experience you can have. By the way, I just read this and It was FANTASTIC! It reminded me of these two books (which I loved too), although with a much more literary pedigree.

You know, it's important to enjoy what you do. Heck, do what you love, the money will follow, right? After all, check out what these people did [via 37 signals].

The sky is falling! Of course, what really makes this so scary, is that is is completely concievable. Shudder.

Just when you are ready to give up on everyone in the world as insane, stupid, and mean, along comes someone who makes it all go away for a while.

Humor... too bad you can't buy them yet.

I swear, don't people have anything better to do?

By the way, I always thought Missouri's state motto should be "Missouri loves company". Note: ya gotta get the accent on the first syllable to get it right... MIzooree... Uhm. Yea.

Down at the old Circle-J

So, why do I keep a weblog? I think that I'm going to have to answer this in a series of posts, as it's just too much for one, and I want to start writing right away. There's many reasons, but the first one I'll start with is the first one that came to my mind when I answered my coworker:

Branding.

I never thought of it that way when I first stumbled on camworld by accident years ago through a link to his rant about getting fired for having a personal site. I had been thinking about creating a personal site for a while, and the idea of a site that was updated daily with links to neat stuff that I found on the web seemed like a great idea.

Weberrific is actually my third attempt at a weblog; my previous two tries were at geocities and xoom, respectively, and it was just such a pain to update them that they eventually fell by the wayside. When I finally purchased a domain, I found that a weblog still seemed the best expression for myself.

Some snarky commentary, some pithy links, and voila! A website. And if the links are good enough, they will come...

I don't think branding myself is actually what I set out to do, although after reading Tom Peter's little article, I certainly could appreciate the fact that you can market yourself easily through the web.

So, my flip answer isn't really the reason that I built my site and publish links on it. One of the deeper reasons is the search for community. [con't tomorrow]

What firewall?

snort! chuckle chuckle...

Good for her! Man, it always comes down to the bottom line. And you know what the bottom line is good for? Pushing everyone else to the bottom.

It's geocities for WAP sites.

My co-worker asked me a question last week that has been bugging me all weekend. "What is your motivation?" he asked, meaning of course, what is my motivation for keeping a weblog. I gave some flip answer, but the thought has been crawling all through my mind like an earthworm for three or four days now, and the more I think about it, the more it resonates within me. I'm still thinking about it... more to come.

It's kind of sad that teachers aren't more respected and well-treated.We have to seek them out because we don't attract them with incentives. And just think... after you, they're gonna be the most influential people in your children's lives. But what the heck - let's not pay them well, give them no respect, and then wonder why we have trouble finding good ones.