Tag / GregsHead.net

by Greg

Definition of a Blog

I often find myself recommending to people that they could start a blog. Whether it is one of my web clients, or a One To One member at the Apple store, there are many reasons to have and use a blog.

The funny thing is, when I say that, folks are often at least confused, and usually overwhelmed. Why is that? I haven’t completely figured it out, but I think it’s due to a misunderstanding of what a blog is.

Here’s the definition from Wikipedia:

A blog (a contraction of the term weblog) is a website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order.

The thing is, most people use the term blog in many other ways. First, blog is often used as a verb (which, although Wikipedia’s definition does allow for it, it’s not really how the word should be used) and second, it’s often used to refer to an individual post to a blog site. Also, there is another common misconception that a blog must be replete with verbose and eloquent entries, waxing philosophical on the many complexities of life.

While all of those may at times be true of various blogs… they do not need to be. Your blog can be whatever you want it to be. The three main things that make a blog a blog are:

  1. Regularly published content, listed on the site in reverse chronological order, and often archived monthly or weekly.
  2. Usually, due to the frequent publications, the site also notifies and distributes content via RSS or some other feed technology. (That’s for another day!)
  3. Almost always, there is some mechanism for feedback (comments) which creates a feel of “community” at the website as readers are invited to participate along with the author of the content.

Just wanted to clear that up, and perhaps a few hundred more people can understand and use the word “blog” in a less scary way. 🙂

I have a few blogs. This one (GregsHead.net), and Buffalo Bills Review (articles page), and then a few I don’t keep up very well anymore.

And, there are many services you can use to create and manage your own blog. I mostly use Blogger (the engine behind this blog), but another hugely popular blogging tool is WordPress. Those are probably the top two, but check out this list… there are a LOT to choose from.

So, if you have something to say, or even if you have nothing to say and just need to say it… a blog is a fun way to get that out and even enjoy discussions with your readers about whatever it is that’s on your mind.

Now get out there and start blogging blogs to your blog.

🙂

by Greg

Microblogging

Have you heard the term “microblogging” bantered about these days? Perhaps you’ve heard of the most popular microblogging platform, Twitter? It certainly has some legs these days. There are all sorts of options out there, Twitter and Tumblr are two popular ones I have tried. (I really don’t use Twitter, and I have stopped using my Tumblr page long ago…)

Microblogging is generally 140 characters (though this varies) of anything at all, but it’s intended to be used as a conversation. Whether you are disseminating information – like web links to sites or articles of interest – or actually mentioning or directing the conversation to specific people, it’s a quick way to keep a constant stream of content going.

And nearly always, microblogging begins with the question, “What are you doing right now?”

Facebook (my social media platform of choice) has a similar feature. It’s called a “status update.” I am pretty good at updating mine throughout the day, with a thought or a posted link at times … it’s interesting, and it does start conversations as people can comment on these “status updates”.

What I thought recently was, I don’t have time to sit and craft a blog post of all my thoughts, but I apparently do have time for “microblogging” (via Facebook status updates). So what if I turned all of these “microblogs” from one week prior into a regular blog post here at GregsHead.net?

Below is what that might look like… all the things I took the time to post to my Facebook community. Very interesting…

(Note: I put some of the posts late at night on the “day” that they were for me, rather than the actual calendar date. 1:30am on Thursday is still Wednesday night for me…) 😉

Feb 4
Greg is not used to being tired so early in the evenings. (Crazy early mornings!!) :-). 1:42am

Feb 5
Greg is starting his 12-hour work day. 8:30am
Greg is saying hi to the Vs. 11:06pm
Greg is going to have a full day in his office tomorrow. 12:14am

Feb 6
Greg is working on many projects today. 11:51am
Greg is finally done working, and now very thankful for our awesome babysitter, Kristin! (Taking Jen out for a burger!) :-). 8:21pm
Greg is stuffed full of Red Robin and now going to sleep for a few hours. Early shift at Apple tomorrow. 12:25am

Feb 7
Greg is not sure why the 6am hour exists… 6:46am
Greg is heading to Apple for the day. Well, the very early part of the day. :-). 6:57am
Greg is home. For this later part of the day. 5:23pm
Greg is tired. 6:55pm

Feb 8
Greg finds it intriguing that not one of his friends would be on Facebook at 6:45am on a Sunday… :-). 6:46am
Greg is back from the quarterly store meeting at Apple, and looking forward to a fun day with his family. 11:49am
Greg is baking brownies. 2:35pm
Greg is TiVo-ing the Pro Bowl, so we can fast forward the commercials! 5:20pm
Greg is about to play backgammon with Jen. She likes it. 10:35pm
Greg had a good long Sunday. Time to sleep a bit, and start another week! 2:48am

Feb 9
Greg has gotten a slow start to the morning so far… 9:28am
Greg is trying to fit everything in. 10:12am
Greg needs a sabbatical. 11:06am
Greg just made a pretty crazy culinary creation. Ingredients: curry, onion, tomato, peas, oh… and… pheasant. :-). 10:43pm

Feb 10
Greg was just outside, and thinks it is much too warm for February. 8:12am
Greg has a meeting with a new client. 8:53am
Greg is getting to work on many different web projects. Full day! 10:16am
Greg is eating more of his culinary creation from last night… mmmmmmm. 1:34pm
Greg is enjoying some afternoon tea, and shifting to a different project. 2:56pm
Greg is still here… working. 5:26pm
Greg is going to go cook for his family. Fun! 6:02pm
Greg is hanging out with the Races! Love impromptu visits :-). 8:53pm
Greg was a cooking machine tonight! A cool taco-meat pasta dish, my famous Texas-style chili, and now slow-roasting a turkey overnight! Three meals in one night! :). 10:09pm

Feb 11
Greg officially declares mornings are evil. (Sorry morning people…) :-). 6:26am
Greg is considering options. 7:00am
Greg is back to work… and Emma is joining him this morning. :-). 8:56am
Greg is baking bread. 10:04am
Greg is feeling a tad overwhelmed by everything today. Time for some tea. 1:46pm
Greg has made good progress through his inbox, and enjoyed his tea. 4:09pm

Yeah, that’s kinda neat, but I hope to create more time in my schedule to work out some bigger, more cohesive thoughts. I have them, and get to “work them out” in conversations with friends throughout the week, but… well, more to come here soon.

by Greg

Absence Explained

Y’all may have noticed that it’s been verrrrry quiet around here lately. I’ve explained it before, but before I post a couple different things here today, I thought I’d try to explain again…

I’M BUSY!!! 🙂

I’ve been working even more hours at Apple now as a “Creative” (and totally loving it!) and still have a full plate as a web designer, and as you may have guessed, with the Bills doing so well, our Buffalo Bills show is attracting more attention, and feeling like it is requiring more and more time.

All is good, but this blog has definitely lacked for content, eh? 🙂

Stay tuned. More to come.

by Greg

RE: Blogging

What I have noticed over my five years of blogging is that blogging is very much about the moment. If I try to get to something later, maybe even get a few paragraphs into a draft version here, it never happens. Or, if it could, it doesn’t seem relevant anymore. (To either reader or writer.)

That’s one reason why this blog has been so silent lately. It’s not that there are not things to comment on, or discuss… it’s just that there is never enough time to sit down and post something “in the moment”. I really thought there would be more here as I am taking several days off in a row, but there has not been. My days used to freer somehow, and I was already sitting at my computer… so posting to the blog in a sort of “stream of consciousness” way was very natural. Not so any more!

I have thoughts on the whole political race. Actually, much of what I think of senator Obama remains true. Read here and here if you are interested. (Posts from March and April of this year.) I have been working on our Buffalo Bills Show. Super fun stuff going on there! And I would love to share more stories from our family… always learn a lot from interaction with my kids!

I could also tell you about the crazy environmental “humans are bad” speech we got at the aquarium yesterday during the sea lion show…

But… at least… not right now.

So, from experience… never. You’ll have to hear that one from me in person. 🙂

The blog will roll on. Life will shift again, and there will be moments to jump into the e-stream of consciousness. There are still plenty of thoughts from Greg’s Head… but the “moments” to share them have been fewer and much farther between!

Stay tuned…

by Greg

Five Years of Blogging

August 26th 2008 - Five Years of BloggingBelieve it or not, I have been at this “blogging” thing for five years now. Today. August 26th, 2003 was my first post, and now almost 1400 posts later, I’m still at it. (Albeit, quite infrequently this past month or two!) I love this avenue to share thoughts, start discussions, share links and information, and even post photos and family news to the world wide web of internets. I imagine I’ll be doing this for another 5 years at least… unless of course this is true. 🙂

Over five years I have shared the stories of not one, not two, but three additions to our family, I have told a few funny stories from the many children who inhabit our home (like this one, and this one, and this one) and even shared the emotions of times of very difficult loss, and the aftermath of that.

We have an amazing God, and I have loved sharing so many thoughts on life with him, as he leads me along, helping me know him more, so I can trust him more – rather than keep trying to trust in myself more. I even made that one of the main tabs above, Life With God.

Thanks for visiting GregsHead.net over the past five years. Blogging is a conversation. It’s a conversation starter, and the beauty of it is that you can actually respond inline to the conversation. Add your comments below anything I publish here. I love that. Life is a journey, that’s meant to be shared. (Oh yeah! I also have published three books along the way! A Journey Shared, Life in the Rearview Mirror, and There’s The Steeple… Here’s The Church.

This post is getting longer than I thought it would, but that’s because I am trying to cover five years worth of stuff in a few short paragraphs! If you’d like to read more, you can actually access the archive directory directly right here. Just click on any month from the previous 5 years and you’ll see all the posts from that month.

Thanks again for joining me for the past five years (or however long you’ve been here). Once life settles down for me (and I can figure out where to focus my energies) I should have the time and energy to share my thoughts here again, and continue the conversations.

Looking forward to that.

by Greg

A Picture of 54,000 Words

GregsHead.net Words from 2008 - Thanks to Wordle.net

I followed a link to a pretty fun site yesterday. It’s called Wordle, and lets you take any text, or URL, or feed from any site and make a random word picture from the text that you give it. Very fun, actually!

I did a couple more images. First, when I just took the text and pasted it in, the biggest word was “just”. Ha! Guess I just say that a lot… 😉 So, here’s the JUST version. And, I took the “Life With God” posts and made this image from that.

I also discovered that I have written approximately 54,800 words in the year 2008. (That’s to my GregsHead.net blog alone, does not include all my other sites!) I have … a lot to say.

Anyone can do it… with any text. Jen made some with the names of our family. 🙂 Go try it out for yourself…

Wordle.net

by Greg

Ads

You may have noticed that there is now a little rotating ad banner here at GregsHead.net? That was added (not all that easily!) yesterday to give the site a slightly new appearance, and to allow you – the reader – a chance to both find some great services we recommend, and support GregsHead at the same time.

The advertisers in the rotation will pay a commission on any sales generated after their ad is clicked. I personally picked all of these ads, and do use their services (and can recommend them). So, if you’d like to help out… click the link and check out what they have to offer.

Much appreciated.

by Greg

[Things That Are Weird] Wiper Fluid Containers

Windshield Wiper FluidDoes anyone else wonder why windshield wiper fluid is sold in a container/amount that is only slightly more than fits in your empty windshield wiper fluid dispenser in your vehicle? I have never understood this. And I don’t believe I ever will.

I will often just hand a container like this to the nearest person in the parking lot and say, “Have some wiper fluid!” (It is usually received well…) 🙂

If it were a lot more, then I would understand. But it’s just a little bit too much. Very, very strange.

I think I’ll keep this as a recurring theme here at GregsHead.net. Stay tuned for more Things That Are Weird.

by Greg

This Day in (GregHead.net) History

An idea popped into my head today. (Yes, that would be GregsHead…) I thought, I wonder what things I have blogged about on this day in my four-plus years of blogging? So, I set out to discover what was in the archives for January 25th.

To my suprise, excluding entries from this January 25th (today) there was only one other entry. And it was about my Jen. 🙂

I did also discover that there were a few cool things from January 24th here at GregsHead.net. At the top of the list would have to be 1/24/04… that’s the birthday of the new blog with the oft-mentioned URL — GregsHead.net! January 24th is not the beginning of my blogging, but the birthday of GregsHead.net. Neat.

Besides that I found a couple interesting posts worth re-reading from that same year. Well, at least one is. One is just interesting in light of the Super Bowl match up coming up in a week and a couple days. (I wasn’t happy about it then, either…)

The one I’d love for you to re-read though is the one titled, “I Call You Friends.” Very neat reminder of our relationship with God.

So, take a trip with me… back in time…

I Call You Friends
A Winning Attitude?

by Greg

Willow Creek Repents?

I saw a quick post by a friend today linking to an article about Willow Creek perhaps “repenting” of it’s church/business model?

I don’t think it’s that groundbreaking, as it seems WCCC is just going in a different “business” direction, but it’s still pretty interesting to see them find that the super elaborate programs aren’t all that helpful in people walking daily with Jesus. (Admittedly, I scanned the article quickly … will read again later, but I think that was a major part of it.)

“The Show” as I like to call it (not necessarily derisively) has been the main focus of the American church for so long… would be interesting to see such a key player in that take a different direction. (Again, I think they’ll just figure out another way to make a business model of life with Jesus, but… that’s just me)

Here are a couple of articles I have posted here in the past that may be relevant:
The Important
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