Tag / Web Links

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

Smart Voter

I was curious who else was on the NY State ballot for the impending election, and stumbled upon this site with a list of each candidate as well as some cursory information and links to more. Thought that was pretty cool. They call the site “Smart Voter”, and boy would that be nice. It is not my impression that most people are “smart” voters. I would not consider getting information on who you might vote for from any of the media a “smart” source to draw upon. (Note: I’m not certain this is either, but at least you can do some of your own research.)

Who knew there were so many people running for president? I thought it was only three. Thanks, media…

(I’m not too happy with most people involved in this whole election thing at the moment… can you tell?) 🙂

by Greg

Donte Whitner - Buffalo BillsWe were joined on the Buffalo Bills Review tonight by Bills starting strong safety, Donte Whitner! Was a fun (pretty short) conversation where we covered stuff like his being the 8th pick in the draft (and how that was such a surprise at the time!) and about his big playoff guarantee. Plus, he has a foundation that helps inner city kids and kids from single-parent homes in various ways. Cool stuff.

So, if you are a football fan, and forgot that I have a Buffalo Bills show… click on over and check it out. James Hardy (Bills’ rookie WR) will be joining us later this week on the Bills bye week. Stay tuned…

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

Turkey Hill Ice Cream – Celebrating National Ice Cream Month

Turkey Hill Ice Cream

Just like last year, the good folks at the Turkey Hill Ice Cream blog are posting fun ice cream related stories to their blog every day during July – National Ice Cream Month. I’m not sure what the exact prizes are, but I know they pick commenters randomly and award prizes all month long. Fun stuff! So, stop by and read about ice cream, comment, and maybe get some prizes! Great ice cream, great fun!

And again, happy national ice cream month! 🙂

by Greg

Free Derek Webb Album – The Ringing Bell

If you’re a fan of Derek Webb, chances are you already have this album. But, if you’re a Derek Webb fan with very limited funds (like me) then perhaps you were waiting for something like this to come along.

I got an email from the DW camp yesterday telling me I could get the album The Ringing Bell for FREE if I just tell three friends about NoiseTrade.com, the site that is offering this free download deal. So… I gave it a try, and am enjoying my new album right now! 🙂

There are many more artists offering their music this way at the site linked above, but you can use the handy-dandy widget at the top of this post to email some friends, and get yourself the Derek Webb album in your email box. Fun!

Enjoy, and spread the word!

by Greg

Unofficial Star Trek Movie

This weekend I discovered an unofficial Star Trek movie, which was released over the internet, officially completing this month. It’s a three part series which you can watch online, produced by Renegade Studios, and actually has many familiar Star Trek actors in it, some even playing their familiar Star Trek roles.

The movie is called Of Gods and Men and was directed by Tim Russ, who played Tuvoc on Star Trek: Voyager. The story was written by two Star Trek: Deep Space Nine writers as well.

Even though you can tell it’s done on a much smaller budget, I have enjoyed what I’ve seen so far (about half way through) and wanted to spread the word. It was done, according to a wikipedia article as a “’40th anniversary gift’ from Star Trek actors to their fans” in 2006.

by Greg

Some Things Currently Distracting Me

  • Quite a Stanley Cup Final… with Detroit winning the first two by shutting out the explosive Penguins, and then the Pens winning game three on the back of two Sid the Kid goals! Great stuff. Should (hopefully) go seven.
  • Phoenix successfully landed on Mars on Sunday and I have been intrigued ever since. The link goes to NASA’s website… tons of stuff there (photos, videos, etc). Pretty amazing that we can shoot large metal objects 420 million miles away, and hit a target with pinpoint accuracy – and not damage the highly sophisticated scientific research equipment. Incredible. And then we get to see photos back from it just a few hours later. Nuts.
  • Facebook games and chat have also occupied some time recently. I love word games, and it’s fun to play against friends (and Jen, too!) in between projects I am working on. It’s kind of a funny “mental break” (since you’re working your brain on your break?) but it’s been a blast. I have found games similar to Scrabble, Boggle, and one called Word Twist that is similar to no other game I know of… And, I’ve been playing a good friend of mine in Chess. He’s quite good. Haven’t beaten him yet. 🙂 Oh, and Facebook added an instant message feature which has been a neat way to chat “live” with people I haven’t talked with in a long time. Pretty amazing.
  • On top of that, we’ve gotten to see a couple cool movies lately, as well as some awesome episodes of the Knight Rider from season two DVDs borrowed from the library! 🙂

More to come, but there’s more to do… so, more here later.