Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Blogging

I have been advised that I should 'tighten up' my blog. I should state (somewhere) just exactly what my blog is about. I should set a schedule when I will post new material to my blog. I should have information about me on my blog, so that people can tell if I am someone that they can relate to or not. I should decide who I want my readers to be and I should direct my posts to them.

Things that make you go, "Hmmm."

I really don't feel the need to state what my blog is about--really, I did that in one of my first posts, it is about whatever I happen to feel a need to talk about whenever it is that I post. I'm tempted to say that it's kind of like the 'Seinfeld' show, but then some idiot would think that my blog is about 'Seinfeld' and then he would get very disappointed when he finds only this one reference to that show.

When do I post? The plan is, every weekday. If you look back, you will find that I have missed a few deadlines (deadlines amuse me). I think one week I only posted once out of the five workdays (actually, that was Memorial Day week, so there were only 4 work days). I've been getting better, though; I think blogging is becoming more a part of my routine.

I don't think that I can write a terse summary of myself and have it convey who I am. Remember that old bumper sticker song? The verses were just recitations of clever bumper stickers, but the chorus said something about "There's no way you can tell the world exactly who you are, with a two-bit bumper sticker on your car." I'm probably misremembering that somewhat, but you get the idea. I can't sum up me in one paragraph. I tell you what though, the most important thing to me is God. I am a Christian. That doesn't mean that every day I'm going to go on some religious tirade. Look back through my past blogs. I did post a Bible study once, and I have made references to scripture a couple of other times, but I'm not looking to shove anything down anyone's throat. It's available if you're interested. If you're not interested, that's okay. I'm not going to offended if you 'change the channel.' I am a Navy veteran--I served for ten years and got out. Partly because I didn't feel that God's calling on my life included serving any more, but also because I just plain didn't want to go back to sea. I was an Electronics Technician in the Navy, and I am currently employed teaching electronics. Sort of. Maybe someday, I'll tell you more about that. I grew up in Georgia, but I haven't lived in Georgia in a while. I actually grew up in the suburbs of Atlanta, in an upper middle class home. I didn't even see a trailer park until I was a teenager (are there trailer parks in Georgia? Oh, yeah). To be honest, I lived in an upper middle class home, but we lived on a lower middle class income. Now I think that my parents were earning an upper middle class income, but, as a kid, I always thought that we had just managed to squeak into the neighborhood we were in. All the other kids seemed to have nicer stuff than we did. What I didn't understand, then, was the my parents lived through the Great Depression. They lived within their means. In fact, we lived well within their means--they kept putting money aside just in case. They live a very comfortable life, now. My parents were, I think, the oldest parents in our neighborhood. The rest of the families lived beyond their means, as is now common. I don't think any of them are nearly so comfortable, now. I wish that I had learned more from them about financial planning. Really, though, if you want to know who I am, just keep reading this blog. It's bound to come out, some time.

Who am I blogging for? Let's be honest. I'm blogging for me. If you happen to be like me, you may appreciate some or all of what I post on my blogs, but I'm a pretty unique individual, so there may not be too many people enough like me to appreciate my posts. That's okay. Alternatively, you may be completely different from me and want to read my posts just so that you can form arguments. That's okay, too. Evidently there aren't too many of you, either, because I have yet to receive even one negative comment. Not that I've received very many positive comments either...

Also, I signed up for Google's AdSense, and in their terms of service, they say that I can't have drugs or paraphernalia on my site (not even tobacco products). I don't really have a problem with that, I don't use tobacco or illegal drugs, but I have talked about tobacco, drugs, and paraphernalia. I don't think that's what they mean, though. If that is what they mean, then I will probably get a nasty-gram from them soon. It's not like I have pictures, or am promoting the use, of drugs, you know?

2 comments:

Taylor said...

About adsense, I think you are good to talk about tobacco, just no Marlboro ads...

If you are looking to further monetize, you might want to look into PostieCon an upcoming Blogger's conference in Las Vegas. Basically the pro bloggers are going to be speaking to help the newer bloggers get the most from their blogs. Best of all, PostieCon is free!

Just a thought...

Best of luck with the blog
-TD

Pete Shepherd said...

Thanks for the advice. I'll look into PostieCon.