8 June 2004

Blogs

A blog (or diary or notebook) has been a good way for me to examine my assumptions. I may, and often do, have SUPER BRILLIANT IDEAS. But, just as somehow bugs get diabolically inserted into my perfect code almost at the same time that I'm writing it ("wtf?!?"), my brilliance often falls apart as it hits the typed page. At least some semblance of credible thought gets eventually recorded. It sounds trite, but writing and researching my ideas always clarifies them. Or nullifies them ... but by the time research has proved them crappy, they never get on the page, and I can stop saying "well I think blah-blah-blah" whenever the subject comes up in polite conversation.

A blog is more for the audience that's listening in my head. Whenever I get an idea, I write a < one sentence note about it (in my Pocket PC), and it sits waiting for me to follow through and write about it. Some ideas are simple (bagels are old donuts!) and some are more elaborate (New Race Discovered Living Six Inches Under Denver -- All Named 'Mortonson'). All have been fully vetted, I assure you.

I like the hypertext format better than a written notebook because I can easily search it and I can provide all of the links/footnotes. Although there's a definite tradeoff if you like to draw or doodle. Or if you truly want to use it as a diary--there's a clash of public and private impulses as you attempt to get those credible thoughts on the page.

[ posted by sstrader on 8 June 2004 at 11:33:59 AM in Misc ]