Why do I blog?

I’ve been thinking about it the last couple of weeks. I guess because I do it so infrequently while others make it a daily ritual. I wonder how they do it, how the create the daily blog to share with others - or possibly no one.

There are many reasons to blog and many people who are doing it. From [political] blogs to blogs about [porn] to [infamous] blogs and blogs by [friends]. There are blogs created by many people for many different reasons.

These are some basic reasons why I blog:

  • To announce news for all to know
  • Inform visitors of website updates
  • Share a cool webpage
  • Share my opinion on a movie, tv show, event, or book (LOL - I said book!?!?)

But then comes the talk-y reason. The blah blog blah blog blah blah reasons. You know the blogging moments when you have a thought in the middle of the night about how to solve the Middle East crisis or when you just have to share your thoughts about the guy you saw in traffic picking his nose. Those types of moments. The long blog.

Most of the time I blog just to hear myself…blog. I find blogging similar to a certain annoying person at work. This person, in a cubicle environment, will out of nowhere ask a question or make a statement. Not to anyone in particular, but to anyone who will listen. I know, [I shouldn’t blog about work]. When I write this down I hope someone reads it. I really appreciate when someone responds with thoughts, but really don’t expect much. Thanks Scott for putting in some words about U2 (more on this later).

It’s not like I’m pouring my heart out here for all to read. I’m not sure if I can do that or reveal that much of myself online. I don’t by any means consider this a journal of thoughts, a definitive outline of who I am. When I blog I know I’m holding something back. It’s like [Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle] as dumbed down for the television masses - so I could understand it.

If I understood it correctly, an object may change its action/reaction, just by the fact it is being observed. So the object (in this case the blogger - me) might write differently knowing this might be read. I guess I’m saying I’m a little cautious of what I write, self censoring, with inadvertent thoughts slipping here and there. So I shouldn’t get fired for talking about people at work, right? Naw, better not take that chance.

When blogging becomes fun - for me - is when I hear from someone, like Scott who I mentioned earlier. Scott and I haven’t talked in a very long time. The last time we exchanged email was when Seth was born last August. I haven’t met Seth, or Skylar for that matter, but I think about them often. I also think of Scott and Stefanie as well. Imagine my surprise and very genuine joy to see a posting from Scott on a little blog I made of my U2 buying experience. Yeah Scott, I know, I should just call and we should get together. But life has a way of keeping us busy, especially now for some reason. I’m glad you stop by and read the page every so often.

But I guess the main reason I blog is just to get thoughts out of my head. And so this thought was about “why do I blog”. An now this line of thought is out of my head and on this page to read.

There are many free places to blog. There is the original [Blogger.com] - owned by Google, [LiveJournal.com], [Xanga.com], and the photo blog in beta [flickr.com]. I’ve tried Blogger.com and flickr.com, and I think I have a test account on LiveJournal but haven’t really used itl. All-in-all they are pretty straightforward and don’t require you do much - not even pay! How do they do that?

If you have your own website hosted somewhere, and you can install software, you might consider [WordPress] or [Movable Type]. Hosting your own blog gives you a little more control over look and feel, as well as keeping the content local. The software is free, with WordPress having less (=no) restriction on the freedom, while Movable Type does have some restrictions. They both are good packages, but I find WordPress much easier to install, configure, modify/customize and reinstall if necessary.

Well, time for bed. Back to the daily grind tomorrow, and perhaps another blog entry.