Life has been a whirlwind these past months. Some say time flies like an arrow, but I rather think time plays tricks on us advancing forward when no one is looking, and before you know it half your life has passed you by and all you did was blink. I should be back from whatever blogging limbo I was caught in. I have a few things on my mind that I will make time to write about, and as we decide to sell our house and buy a new one I'm sure that will present all manner of blogging fodder (read: I'll have one thing to write about which I will put off due to packing and un-packing, and will then forget about and thus make up some drivel about the stress of moving).

I am happy and somewhat excited to announce a new blog, The Lighter Side of Absolute Zero. Its a lighter version of this blog, being more informal, shorter, more succinct, and I will often post incomplete thoughts and ideas there. Rather than working out an essay of some sort I'll just dump an idea as it hits me. There is already quite a bit of content on the blog, as I have had other places to jot down these ideas, and now some of them will be shared with the world at large.

Blogs and blogging has been a wonderful thing to hit the Internet. It seems the advent of the blog has helped to bring about the utopian view of the Internet where anyone, anywhere can have a voice about any topic. Whether or not that is a good thing is a discussion for some other time and place, but blogs have come, they have impacted our lives, and they are likely to stick around for quite some time. Blog engines progress adding new features, blog designs continue to morph and evolve, and through it all the focus seems largely on the ability for the author to express himself through his words, his categories, and the way his blog looks. There is a group of people who have yet been addressed in all these changes: blog readers haven't gained much since the adoption of RSS. There are some small, minor things we could do to our blog designs to give back to our readers, especially the new ones.

Where does one find an audience? I've been pondering this point, on and off, for over a year now, as it relates to this blog. As more and more blogs creep up, and some are made rather famous, I have begun to consider such things as readership and success. The very nature of a blog is akin to an underground or a grass-roots movement: rather than mainstream a blog is vulgar. In newspapers, journals, books, and other media, a person has to be syndicated and even marketed in order to gain the immediate attention of the audience at large; blogs seem to take a “if you write it, they will come” approach to things, at least I have. I think I can safely say that has not been the case.

While this is marked rant it is so mild as to be more of a general concern. I like to read blogs, not all blogs, but some blogs. Occasionally I will find a new one and want to read a month or two back. It is at this precise moment that I am frustrated in my effort and usually give up. I fully understand, and agree, that the front page of any blog should be in reverse chronological order, placing the newest content at the top of the page. That's just good sense. It is not good sense to also sort archives in reverse chronological order. We don't usually think that way. When we want to go back in the past and look for something we are used to looking in an ascending order, and if we want to read someone's blog chronologically . . . good luck. You have to scroll to the bottom of the archive and do a lot of scrolling down to scroll up again to scroll down to scroll up. . . .

I know most blog owners can change that (and I did with this one and will be adjusting my other ones as soon as I get a chance to fix their code) but for those that are not programmers this is a daunting task. In my opinion the default templates and default settings would be to chronologically sort the archives and reverse sort the main page. It just seems to make better sense.

I was reminded today that the "Talk Like a Pirate Day" is coming up again (Sunday in fact). While thinking about this I wanted to remember my pirate name so I could use it on Sunday, and had a happy discovery. I have been writing on this website for a year, and it has been eventful. So, instead of writing fresh new content (believe me, I have a list of topics I want to write about) I spent some time revisiting what was on my mind a year ago (to the day no less . . . and yes, a year ago today I was thinking about Talk Like a Pirate Day . . . weird no?). I guess this is one of those odd fringe benefits of keeping a regular journal of any sort.

(A note: a year ago from tomorrow I wrote about Daft Punk's video, and now I actually own it! Very cool.)

When I started this site I did not really have much of a purpose to it. I certainly did not do it because I wanted to join the fad and be one of the crowd. I know I wanted to have a place to share my thoughts. There is no clear point to this site. As things strike my fancy, or a nerve, I will put down those thoughts and be done with them. Perhaps there is a faint sense that I can help make the world a better place by engaging ideas and thoughts in a struggle on my site, giving light to my perspective and side of things.

One thing I have wanted to avoid is becoming a slave to my blog. I do not want to add entries for the sake of adding an entry, partly to avoid pointless and useless content, but also to keep me free. This site exists to serve my needs, and mine alone. When I no longer need nor want this I will have no pains at pulling the plug. That is the way of things, and how I want to run this site.

Given this view of mine, I find it almost comical to find sites that have topic suggestions for a blog. I do not want to put them down, because I am sure some very interesting content can be created around these ideas. Ideas are what my blog is about, so why should I condemn them. However, having a site suggest, or list, a topic to write about smacks of too many journal writing assignments throughout my school days. I appreciate the practice it affords people, but I for one would not want to read an entry just because someone wrote something just to have content. Hopefully this site will have thought provoking entries and steer clear of the boredom of mundane writing.

Go ahead and laugh. There is great irony in this post!