Notes from the Trail

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If, as a burgeoning blogger, you’ve ever heard anyone (specifically spouses or parents) say something like, “What in the world are you doing?! You’re wasting your time in front of the computer!” - then I’d like to point you to Mark Wegley’s excellent entry about how blogging is actually a revival of personal communication desperately needed in our world today.

Link to it; send it via email to all the anti-blogging anti-socialites you know. Hey, you could even print it out, paste it to a club and then bop your non-blogging friends over the head with it. It’s that good.

This post will be the featured post for a while as we
continue to raise money for the trip. Newer posts will be posted
underneath it.

Update (7/4/06): We all weighed in last night. I weighed 186. Two and a half measley pounds for the trip. I’m going to continue shooting for 180, but in the meantime, if you pledged money or would like to donate, please use the Tip Trough to the right or the Paypal button below.

We need about $800 by this Saturday, when the group leaves.

Update (7/06/06): We have received every bit of money we need for the trip!!!!! THANK YOU!

More »

I’ve posted before regarding some handy-dandy tips for blogging:

• Increase your blog traffic
• For beginning bloggers

I spent time with a great friend this past weekend, Ralph Ramsey from Rowlett, Texas. He is anything but a blogger and so doesn’t need tips. In fact, just talking with him about "blogging" made his eyes roll up in the back of his head and caused him to break out in a cold sweat. His idea of hi-tech is figuring out how to fit VHS movies into his BetaMax player. I was telling him about Notes and the relationships it’s helped foster. I was also sharing with him why some blogs have such huge followings and mentioned the word "focused." In a rare moment of profundity (he actually has a lot of those), he said, "Don’t ever do that to your blog. People feel like they know you when they hear the stupid stuff you say and do as well as the ‘focused’ stuff."

It seemed right to me as soon as he said it. It has certainly been claimed to be so over at Kristy’s blog. I noticed some comments in one of her entries from some sharp folks who say that they enjoy blogs more when they’re not focused. I also noticed this entry over at liveabiglife.com which affirmed that there are many people who deeply enjoy getting into the head and heart of the blogger through a more random, or diverse approach.

So… here goes:

There are several new blog services coming around, and I predict that many of the existing ones will incorporate these features soon. The main features that these new services offer is the ability to designate who is able to read certain entries that you make.

The advantage to this is the ability to limit readership for certain subjects. For instance, say you want to post about your overactive hemorrhoids. You can do so and then only the people that you’ve given permission to view that type of post can access it.

John Unger over at typepadhacks.com was kind enough to give me a standard membership to Vox, which is one of the new services of SixApart (the folks who bring you Typepad and Moveable Type). I’m experimenting with it now for entries of a more personal nature. My address there is journeyguy.vox.com.

In addition to that, there is multiply.com, which rivals the services offered by Vox. Both services allow you to create groups for your readers, dropping them into categories like Friends, Family, etc. As you create an entry, you then designate what group can read that entry (or just leave it "Public" which allows everyone to see it). My test site there is journeyguy.multiply.com.

For those of you wondering if these features are worth the effort, stop and consider for a moment. Do you really want the entire net to be able to read your most personal posts? It becomes a great asset to be able to limit readership for some posts. It also allows you to create some dynamic networks of friends, family, and other social groups. Consider the ability to even post an "announcement" to your group. Rather than taking up space on your main blog, it simply becomes a news item for that particular group. The possibilities are rich.

Another interesting new service is Tim Bednar’s e-church. It is a free service seeking to assimilate as many "spiritual" blogs as it can. Nice features, easy interface.

If any of you decide to hop over to these services, please let me know! I’d love to track your experience there and be a part of your growing network.

For those of you following the MiniVanMan saga, you’ll be interested to know this. Caro was transporting  4 huge pork loins this past Tuesday for the Tucker-Henson family funeral lunch. As she toodled around town proudly in her Sequoia, the pork loin juice spilled in the back of her fine vehicle. Here’s an equation for you:
Pork Loin Juice + 2002 Toyota Sequoia + 95 degree weather this week = 1 Nice Butt-Smellin’ SUV

As I cruise around in my fine minivan, I think to myself, "Aaahhhhhh, it smells good in here." There is some form of justice in all this.