Why I Blog 6

I’ve been tagged by Phillybits, so I’ll do my best to come up with five reasons why I blog that are better than the basic one: because I can.

But first, stealing a meme from Phillybits, a little background.

This did not start out as a political blog. My goal was to run a webserver out of my house (see number 1 below)–the political slant just sort of happened. I’ve always been a news junkie–something I inherited from my father.

But, by heavens, the political arena is just so full of easy targets and the Current Federal Administration just so outrageously corrupt and incompetent that I drifted over towards a political slant. Easy targets make for many marksmen.

So here, in no particular order (well, that’s not true–in the order in which I make them up):

1. Opie. When I met Opie at a training class in America’s Second City, he told me how he was running a website out of his home. I got fascinated with the idea of self-hosting and thought to myself, “Me do that thing.”

Opie also told me about No-IP.com, which provides DNS service for DHCP sites.

At the time, I had a website sitting out on AOL and, frankly, the main reason I hadn’t cancelled my AOL account after getting cable was the chore of moving the website. But I had a Linux computer that really wasn’t doing anything except giving me the opportunity to learn about Linux. When I learned I could bring the website home and maintain it on my own server, I got off my rear end and got to work.

2. I enjoy writing. No, that’s not true. Writing is work. I enjoy having written–having put words on paper, or, in the case of computers, black squiggles on a white background, in such a way as to make my point and, I hope, from time to time, provide some amusement and enlightenment. I’ve made my living with my pen for the past 30 years. It’s fun to write for my purposes, rather than for my employer’s purposes.

3. I like making computers do things. I also like crossword puzzles. The two are not that much different. In both cases, you have to have the right letters in the right squares to make everything work.

4. I enjoy the online conversation that is blogging (though, given the small stature of Pine View Farm, I’m much more a listener than a talker–but I can write a blog post and blow off my steam and imagine that thousands hundreds dozens two or three persons might actually notice what I wrote.

5. It’s mine, I tell you. MINE. ALL MINE!

So, now I’ve done my part.

I’ll tag a few sites, but, since I doubt many of them read me, except Opie, probably nothing will come of it. But maybe I can at least generate a few hits for them.

Not Always Mayberry
Delaware Liberal
Delaware Watch
TommyWonk
Loose Lips Sink Ships