Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Do I need "geek alerts"? I don't want to scare away non-geeky readers.  Does this mean that a post like Monday's "More on Moneydance Extensions" should have some sort of warning notice prefixed to it, something along the lines of: Caution: computer jargon ahead.  Readers who aren't into technical computer stuff may find this post uninteresting and/or incomprehensible. What do y'all think? Categorie(s) for this post: Blogging. 4:47:15 PM    comment []

Friday, March 2, 2007

It isn't always easy Yesterday's posting, "On Social Change", was considerably the most ambitious piece of writing I've yet done as an entry for this blog. It wasn't completed in a single sitting. So the temptation to write something quick doesn't always rule; apparently I can put aside the worry which I expressed, over a year ago, in the posting titled "The Trouble with Blogging". At one point yesterday, I thought I had the opposite problem: that writing something like this would be so time-consuming that I'd end up putting it aside before it was done. I'm relieved to find out that that isn't always the case, either. Categorie(s) for this post: Blogging. 2:19:36 PM    comment []

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

A Change in the Masthead Today, I am changing the "description", or subject line, that appears at the top of my blog pages from this: Sharing thoughts -- well, planning to -- about computer programming and software, being polyamorous in the Triangle area of North Carolina, and whatever else comes to mind. To this: Writing about computers, life, and society from the perspective of a "poly Quaker Taoist" living in the Triangle region of North Carolina. I think this better sums up what I want to write about, and includes more of the major influences on the way I look at the world. Also, it's less tentative: the "well, planning to" part doesn't fit my current state of resolve. Categorie(s) for this post: Blogging. 11:53:36 AM    comment []

Monday, February 26, 2007

Starting Over, Sort Of The title of this post refers to the fact that once again, there's been a long gap in my posting. So what am I up to these days? The most important answer is, "finding myself".  I'm sixty years old, consider myself semi-retired, and am still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. It's now been a little over eight months since I left my last full-time job, as a developer of installation programs for SAS Institute.  ("Last", at least in the sense of most recent; perhaps "last" in the sense of "last regular, full-time job ever".) But within the last month or so, I've realized that, until then, I'd been suffering from a disorder for which I've coined the name phantom boss syndrome.  In other words, I hadn't really let myself believe that I can actually choose what to do.  So more recently, I've been in a process of coming more fully into that realization. This blog entry is one manifestation of that.  I've been wanting to write more often, for this and other media, but hadn't been letting myself do it.  I am hoping that, now that the log-jam is broken, it won't form up again, at least not to anything like the same extent. Now, I just have to figure out how to find myself some readers. Categorie(s) for this post include: Retirement. 11:04:15 AM    comment []

Friday, February 17, 2006

Why I chose "radio.weblogs.com" as my first weblog's site I've only sent the link to this weblog to a couple of people so far. One of them wrote back and [among other things] asked, "Why did you choose the Radio site? Do you know somebody else who uses it, and/or are there features you find especially valuable?" I thought I'd answer here, so if anybody else asks, I can point them to this post. No, I don't know [or, rather, know that I know] anyone else who uses it. Features that I [expect to] find valuable? Yes ... not exactly features of the site, but rather features of the software. Unlike most blogging setups, with this one you download (and, after a 30-day free trial, pay for) a software package onto your own computer. You compose your posts there, and then upload them -- which is easy to do with this package -- and a copy is kept on your own computer, so (for example) it's easy to repost some, or all, of the material to another site later. There's more to it than that; a lot of it is stuff which appeals to the software geek in me. It's a package you can grow into; manage multiple weblogs and/or other websites with; and -- by graduating to a similar, but more expensive, package from the same company -- manage your own site with multiple blogs, forums ... just about any interactive Web feature you can name. The not-so-expensive package that I'm using now is called Radio Userland. It costs $40 a year. For more information: http://radio.userland.com/. 3:18:55 PM    comment [] The Trouble with Blogging ... is that it's too easy. Make that way too easy. You are too tempted to throw something up (so to speak) on the Internet without thinking about it carefully. Will I escape this temptation? Time will tell .... 12:12:51 PM    comment [] The Tao of blogging (pt 1) If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound? 11:03:53 AM    comment []

Saturday, February 4, 2006

Hello, World [solemn tone indicating something portentous is being announced] This is my first entry in my first blog. 11:53:06 AM    comment []

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