Where the Magic Happens

My office, where I will come up with the brilliant quips that will make this web log the most popular on the Internet. Notice how I use the term "web log" instead of blog. Despite the chaotic appearance of my work area, I am a very anal purist, especially concerning language. I hate slang, and yes, blog is slang for web log. My wife, an English teacher, tells me that there is nothing wrong with slang and that such new terms and shortened versions of words are just part of a natural evolution of language. Well, I'm a hardliner I suppose.

Anyway, on my walls you will see most of my heroes: Don Adams (of Get Smart fame), Che Guevara, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Rene DesCartes, Soren Kierkegaard, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, and Jon Voight. Oh, and various pictures of my children.

Finally Here

Well, I've pondered the value of creating my own blog based on a list of advantages and disadvantages:

• Aren't these a little egocentric? (-)
• Who cares about my thoughts? Do I even care? (-)
• Will this open my world up for more criticism? (-)
• Journaling is a valuable creative tool. (+)
• I can easily keep my family and friends updated. (+)
• I like fiddling with new technologies (especially while I'm sitting at my desk at work and bored). (+)

As you can see, my pros and cons are equal, and therefore I had always thought there would be no value to starting a web log. However, after reading a few blogs today that were recommended at the Arts & Letters Daily website, I discovered that blogs do not have to be poorly written tidbits of someone's mundane life: high-school breakups, Quiet Riot fan sites, jumbles of family reunion photos, etc.

So as of today, I have decided to give extra weighting factors to the latter three pros that I mention above - which gives value to the idea of creating a blog. Further, I enjoy writing (actually I think I may prefer typing over writing, but the need is fulfilled either way) and this pastime would be good practice.

I don't care whether anyone ever visits this site to read my words, but if you do - please take it easy on me, I'm quite fragile :) I'm excited to write my first post and see what happens...