November 2008 Archives

My first day of my senior year of high school started out very strangely.  I was riding in my friend's station wagon with him.  We stopped for gas.  A strange man holding a cup of coffee in one hand and a cigarette in the other approached us.  He shook our hands.  Then he asked us, "Are you ready?"

We looked at each other, shrugging our shoulders. What the heck did this guy want?

"I asked you," he said, "are you ready?"

"Ready for what?" my friend asked.

"If you go out there, on that highway, and a dump truck jumps the median strip and hits you, are you ready?"

"Ready to die!" my friend told him.

He then launched into a religious discussion, asking if we were ready to go to the kingdom of Heaven, etc., etc.

So, without the religious overtones, I ask you the same question asked of me years ago. Are you ready?  If you found out you were going to die tomorrow, are you ready?  What would you do to "get ready"?

If you could make one change in the world, one change that would make the world a better place, what would it be?  How would your suggested change make the world better?  Would you make us all hybrid car drivers?  Would you do away with poverty? What would you choose?

There's an old saying "It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."  Sometimes I wonder.  Some of my deepest pains came from being in love with someone and losing them.  Am I really better off for that?  I have to wonder...

When I was in high school, personal computers were just starting to take off.  I wanted to have a job where I helped people leverage computers to run their business better.  Interestingly, today I'm a systems administrator for a fairly large (1200+ employees) company.  I help to maintain and protect almost 2000 PCs.  That's pretty close to that dream job I envisioned as a kid.  Now, my ideal job would probably be "retired millionaire"... but I digress.  What would your ideal job be like?  What would you do on a day to day basis? How does that job differ from what you do now?

I've always wanted to write a novel, one that becomes popular enough to become a television series or movie.  I have no idea what that novel would be about, which is why it has remained a dream.  How about you?  What is one of your dreams?  How might you go about achieving it?

I realize that, on balance, I've had a pretty good life.  There hasn't been a lot of pain and loss.  Still, I find that it's very hard to let go and move beyond the things that have hurt me... insults hurled at me in high school, unrequited loves, lost friendships, etc.  Why is it so hard to let go of pain?  Is it, as was said by Captain Kirk in Star Trek V, our pain that makes us who we are?  Or is it that we never really get over pain?  Discuss...

As I've gotten older, I've wondered about the legacy I may leave behind me.  Unless something changes dramatically, I won't leave behind any children of my own (but there will be two step-children).  I haven't written any novels or reference books.  I haven't painted any pictures, composed any symphonies, or sculpted anything.  So I'm not really sure just what, if anything, my legacy will be.  How about you?  What will your legacy be? What would you like it to be?

Yesterday, I asked the question "Who is overrated?" and asked you to think of a band, an actor, or some other celebrity that you think is overrated (has more fame than they probably deserve). So today let's flip the question around. Is there an artist or actor that you're pretty fond of that, for whatever reason, just hasn't really hit it big? Who is it? Why do you think they haven't caught on? What have they done that really impressed you and made you think "Everyone should know about this?"

A few minutes ago, I was listening to the radio when a song came on, recorded by a band that I personally think is very overrated. Because one of my friends is a huge fan of this particular band, and because I don't want to start a flame war here, I'll leave the band's name out of it. Suffice it to say that they are considered a "classic" rock band and have a lot of fans. I've never understood why that particular band is popular. Their lyrics aren't bad, but nothing earth-shaking. Their instrumentals are OK as well, but I have to admit I think all their songs sound very similar (moreso than most bands). I figure if there are bands out there I don't care for, but which are nonetheless quite popular, that's probably a pretty common line of thinking. Are there bands or celebrities who are really popular, perhaps in an area of music you like, but you just don't care for? Are they overrated in your opinion? Share.

While watching a Boston Legal episode, an interesting question was posed to the jury in a case where the legal firm was accused of misrepresenting itself as "green" when (as alleged by the plaintiff) it wasn't. The plaintiff argued, for example, that William Shatner's character rode around in a huge "tank" of a car which was horrible for the environment. The defense argued that hybrid cars may actually be worse for the environment than SUVs. Their evidence was a huge mine in Canada where most of the nickel for the batteries used in hybrids is mined. That mine, they said, was so toxic that it was used by NASA to simulate the lifeless lunar surface. The ore mined in this area is then shipped to Japan, using fossil fuels, which presumably pollute the environment. It's then manufactured into batteries, a process which produces its own nasty chemical byproducts. The batteries are then shipped across the ocean at the expense of fossil fuel as part of a hybrid car. Then, the car itself uses some fossil fuel during its lifetime, releasing some pollution. When it comes time to retire the car, there's the issue of disposing of the batteries in a way that doesn't pollute. Thus, the defense argued, who's to say it is worse to drive a big "tank" of a non-hybrid car, which doesn't require all that chemical pollution associated with hybrid batteries, than a hybrid and all the pollutants its manufacturing emits?

I'm trying not to take a side on this particular discussion, because I see good points on both sides. But it begs the question that we, as bloggers, should consider what impact we might be having on the environment. While blogging may not have any chemical byproducts or cause any direct pollution, it probably does have a level of indirect pollution associated with it... if nothing else, the electricity you use while running your computer to type up and post your articles. What do you think? Does your blogging help or hurt the environment, or does it have no impact whatsoever?

Here's a little experiment for your blog... Imagine that you're no longer you, but one of your friends. Then, describe yourself as you think that person sees you.  Then, without sharing what you've written, ask some of your friends to describe you to someone else.  How does the image you have of yourself match up with their image of you?

Create a survey or poll of the readers of your blog. Ask them some questions you'd like answers to, such as "What kind of article would you like to see more of on my site?" or "How often do you read my blog?" Use either the built-in capabilities of your blog software to administer the poll or make use of a free survey or poll site, such as one of the following:

Free Surveys Online
Free Online Surveys
Feedback Server
Survey PopUps
SurveyMonkey

If the thought of learning one of those bothers you, just share an email address and do the survey by email, compiling your results by hand.

Run your survey/poll for a week or a month, then report on what you learned.

Pick a product or service that seems popular, such as the Apple iPhone.  Do a bit of research on that "popular" item and tell your readers why you think it shouldn't enjoy the popularity it does.  Is it poorly made? Does it not work well? Is it too expensive, too heavy, too ugly, or lacking in some critical feature?  What about the product should make it "unpopular"?

If you look at the other male members of my family, then at me, you'd probably conclude that I somehow missed some gene that they all got.  My dad and his brothers are all sports fans, hunters, and fishermen.  I, on the other hand, could care less about sports, don't hunt, and rarely fish because I don't like to eat fish.  One could argue that I'm missing a gene that's otherwise common in my family.  How about you?  Are you the "black sheep"?  Is it someone else in your family?  Without being mean, what's different about that person, or you?  Do you think it's genetic, or was it brought about by something external (like a bad experience as a child)?

Pick an advertisement that resonates with you. Maybe it's one that annoys you.  Maybe you like the ad, but hate the product.  Maybe both the ad and the product are stupid.  Whatever inspires you about that ad is fine.  Now, create an image using a tool like PhotoShop, the GIMP, or just pen on paper, and parody the product or advertisement. Share the parody in your blog.  Are others agreeing with you?

Go to your neighborhood library or book store.  Select a book that you would like to read and take it home (make sure you check it out or pay for it first!).  Before you read anything inside the book, describe what you think about the book.  If it's a reference book, what do you hope to learn from it. If it's a work of fiction, how do you think the story might go? Will you enjoy reading it? Will you be inclined to read more by that offer? What drew you to this particular book?

Then, actually read the book and describe the book again.  Did you judge the book well, based on its cover?  Were you misled by the cover? If so, how?  What did you learn from the exercise?

Take a famous quotation, or for that matter any quotation, and tell your readers why the person being quoted either does or doesn't have a point.  Just to make it easy, here are some links to popular quotation sites on the web:

The Quotations Page
Quoteland
BrainyQuote
Wisdom Quotes
The Quote Garden

If you don't like those quotes, find a quote on a news site like CNN in a news story and refute what the person is saying, or provide evidence backing them up if you happen to agree.

On my blog, back before the release of The DaVinci Code movie, Google was doing a contest involving a number of puzzles.  Each day, a new puzzle came out, and you tried to solve it.  I decided to post the answers on my blog, and was amazed at all the traffic I got from it. I was getting tens of thousands of hits a day as people came by to check it out.  I remember being very proud of those articles and solutions.  (I even won one of the minor prizes.)  How about you? Are there some posts on your blog that you're particularly proud of, or that seem to bring a lot of traffic to your site?  What are they? What makes you proud of them?

One of the blogs I write covers a technology topic.  Each January, I like to publish a list of my predictions for the coming year.  For example, what technologies or devices might come out, what ones aren't going to make it, how a recently-introduced product will or won't do well, or what might happen with a famous court case in the industry.  The nice thing about this blog topic is that you get to revisit in a year for an easy second article.  If your predictions tend to be on target, you may develop a following.  So, in your fields of interest or expertise, what predictions can you make for the coming year?

I have some verbal habits that annoy me about myself.  One of the ones that annoys me most is that I have a habit of calling my step-children "man", as in "Hey man, how are you doing?" or "Thanks, man."  They've even poked fun at me for it, and at their mom for adopting the habit from me (I think).  I wish I could drop the word out of my regular vocabulary, but it always seems to creep back in.  How about you?  Is there some word or phrase you use that you wish you could stop using so much? What is it? Where did you pick it up? Do people comment on it? Did you ever get picked on for it?  Blog about it.

I find that I tend to carry around a lot of useless regrets.  I regret that I didn't say more to my grandfather the last time I saw him alive.  I regret that I didn't visit my mother more in the last couple of years before she died. I regret letting a bunch of punks pressure me into insulting a girl I really liked back in high school. I often wonder how things might have turned out if I'd actually done the thing I regret not doing, or not done the thing I did and regretted.  I know it would be healthier to let all these regrets go, but that's easier said than done for me.  How about you?  Is there some regret, something that happened to you, something you did, didn't do, etc., that you wish you could just let go of?  What is it? How has holding onto it affected your life?

Life, it seems, is always full of stress and struggle.  September 2008 was an especially bad month for me.  My mother died of melanoma.  Two weeks later, I found out I had papillary carcinoma in my thyroid.  I'm still getting my life back in order after that. When life gets so complicated and full of stress, it's easy to get "off center" and lose yourself for a while.  I find that meditating, relaxing, and even blogging help me to calm down, relax, recognize what's important to me, and get my life back to a healthy "center" from one or another extreme.  When you're all stressed out, how do you get "centered" again?

As someone who works with computers and software on a daily basis, I think I'm qualified to write software reviews for products I've worked with a while.  In fact, I've done that several times.  Lately I've wanted to not just review a product, but to actually do a semi-professional job of it.  I spent tonight reading and analyzing dozens of software reviews by professional writers, from respectable sources like CNet, PC World, and the like.  I also went through a few amateur reviews in case I missed something valuable.


I used a mind mapping tool to help me organize my thoughts and observations.  In the end, I decided that my software reviews from this point on will follow the basic structure outlined below:

All of these parts aren't necessary for every software review you do.  For example, if you're looking at a program that has no competitors and you're not familiar with its earlier versions, you wouldn't bother to include a comparison to other products or to earlier versions.  Your goal will be to include as many sections as you can authoritatively speak to.


For each of the points in the basic structure, I've developed a list of questions to ask yourself (and details you may want to include) to make sure you cover that particular point thoroughly.  Again, not all of these will apply to every review you will do.  Think of them as a guideline where you can include what you think is relevant and useful given the package you're looking at, and leave out the stuff that's not applicable, useful, or worth the time to research.

Below is the "fully expanded upon" list of points in the basic review structure:

If you manage to follow this basic structure, you'll write a review that's thorough, detailed, and useful.  Your readers should find pretty much whatever they're looking for in that review.

The above structure probably would not work well for video games or hardware.  It's oriented more toward application software and utilities.  I'm planning to develop a separate structure for game reviews which I'll share at a later time.

There are lots of blogs out there on the web.  Some of them are pretty lame, while others are pretty amazing.  What's your favorite blog?  What about that blog keeps you coming back, day after day, to read it?  Have you learned anything interesting from it?  Do you recommend it to others? What do you wish the blogger did differently?

No matter how strong our command of language might be, there are times when we're searching for the right way to say something, questioning our use of a word or phrase, or finding ourselves in need of advice.  Below are some resources I've used in the past:

Becoming an Idea Magnet
As the author puts it 'Ideas really are everywhere. The art is in training your mind to see the ideas and pull them in before your thoughts pass by them to make your mind into an idea magnet of sorts.'

Blogging Basics
This article from Technorati provides a sort of FAQ to the whole blogging concept for new and practicing bloggers alike.

EFF's Guide to Safe Blogging
This article from the Electronic Frontier Foundation provides some suggestions for keeping your blogging safe, avoiding getting fired for blogging, etc.

Finding and Writing Fresh Blog Content
This article from Performancing.com talks about how to find and write fresh content for your blog.

How to Write a Better Weblog
Writing suggestions to make for successful blogging.

Top 7 tips to write an effective business blog
This article provides the top 7 tips for writing an effective business blog from the folks at BlogWrite for CEOs.

What to write about (from Performancing.com)
This article talks about finding ideas to blog about.

You probably don't write your blog just for the sake of writing. You're hoping that readers will come to your blog, read what you have to say, and appreciate it.  One way to come up with ideas to blog about is to put yourself in the reader's shoes.

Most blog posts do one of the following (if not more than one):

• Share information about a subject
• Share a viewpoint
  
• Challenge an assumption
• Provide entertainment
• Empower readers to do something
• Compare and contrast two things
• Speculate about something that might happen
  

If you're looking for ideas for articles to post on your blog, the "grid method" may help you.  Start by making a grid on a piece of paper, or in a spreadsheet, or using whatever medium you're comfortable with.  Down the left side of the grid, write the individual items in the bulleted list above.  Across the top of the grid from left to right, write in the subject areas of your blog, or subject areas you might like to write about.  Let's say that on your blog, you tend to talk about your pet cat, your computer, and food:

	Cats	Computers	Food
Share information
Share a viewpoint
Challenge an assumption
Entertain
Empower readers to do something

To complete the exercise, you just need to fill in the blocks with something that combines a topic from your blog with one of the common post types. The result might be something like this:

	Cats	Computers	Food
Share information	Things every new cat owner should know	How to select a good motherboard	How to make a delicious, tender pot roast
Share a viewpoint	Why cats make better pets than dogs	Why I prefer AMD CPUs to Intel CPUs	A review of "Good Eats" on the Food Network
Challenge an assumption	Some cats actually like water and getting wet	Generic memory is just as good as name-brand memory	More expensive cuts of steak aren't necessarily better
Entertain	How I drive my cats nuts with a laser pointer	101 things to do with useless old floppy disks	The humiliating night I sent back my gazpacho soup because it was cold
Empower readers to do something	How to teach your cat to use a toilet instead of a litter box	How to choose the right components and build a powerful PC for less	A step-by-step guide to making the perfect pumpkin pie

Just about that quickly, you've managed to come up with ideas for 15 blog posts.  If you cover more topics on your blog or come up with more categories for blog posts than I did, you'll have a lot more ideas on your grid.

For most of us, blogging isn't a job.  It's something we do because we feel the urge to write, to communicate, and to share something with the world.  Similarly, and unfortunately, there's often a job we do to pay the bills that perhaps isn't our "passion" in life.  How does your "day job" differ from your passion?  Are they the same?  What satisfaction do you get from your passion that your day job just doesn't offer?

The "Bounce Method" is a very simple trick I've used to great effect in my blogging.  After I've written a post about a particular subject, or even while I'm trying to flesh out that post in my mind, I'll bounce the idea off a friend, family member, or co-worker (maybe even several friends or co-workers).  In the course of discussing that particular topic, the other person will help me find flaws in my logic, remind me of things I missed, give me additional talking points, or (once in a great while) convince me it's not such a great idea after all.  The next time you're having trouble figuring out what to say or how to say it, talk it out with someone else.  They might give you the perspective you're looking for.

Is there a product, service, or web site that you particularly like and would recommend to others?  Why not take a moment to blog about it.  For example, is there a computer program that helps you blog better?  Is there a tool in your toolbox that everyone should have?   A web site you think everyone should visit?  Tell us about it.

One reason I'm rarely at a loss for something to blog about is that I'm always scouting for ideas.  Sometimes I'll be asked a question that I've answered for someone else in the past, like "What do you think about X?"  When I get home that night, it might just inspire me to write down everything I know about that subject in a blog post.  Not only does this give me some interesting (hopefully) material, it can also help me to flesh out my thoughts on a particular subject and respond even more authoritatively the next time someone asks (or I can just refer them to the blog and be done with it).

Comedian Tim Bedore is featured on the daily Bob and Tom radio show once a week for a feature called "Vague But True" in which Mr. Bedore shares a little essay with the radio audience.  One of his essays suggested that there is a conspiracy among the animal kingdom to do away with humans.  He cites several recent (real) newspaper articles about animals causing damage to people, businesses, homes, etc.  He talks about the roles certain animals might have in the conspiracy (reconnaissance, espionage, surveillance, artillery, etc.).  What kind of humorous conspiracy do you see going on around you?  Share it with us.

If you typically blog about a particular subject, regardless of what it is, this method may help you to come up with articles to help show readers your command of that subject, establishing yourself as an authority.

Begin with the main topic of your blog.  For example, let's say your blog is about cats.  You start by writing down the word "cats" on a sheet of paper.  Below that, create a list of things you know about cats: what they like to eat, how they keep clean, how they like to be petted, where they like to sleep, what scares them, what arouses their curiosity, how to deal with shedding, etc.

For each of the listed topics, list what you'd like your readers to know about that particular thing.  For instance, building on our example, under "what they like to eat" you might list things like tuna, canned cat food, dry cat food, whipped cream, melons, or whatever your cat happens to enjoy eating. 

You can use this method to drill down as deeply into your subject matter as you like.  Once you have what feels like a pretty solid list, go back over your existing blog posts and see what areas you've already covered, and what you haven't.  You might find, after checking, that you never actually talked about the time your cat jumped up on the kitchen counter and ran off with a piece of fresh melon.  That might make for an interesting or humorous post.

The "list of lists" may jog your memory for things you've always wanted to write about but have never gotten around to.

In virtually every field of endeavor, there are little tips and tricks that the insiders know and use regularly that the public isn't aware of.  For example, in system administration, we save a lot of time configuring PCs by using "imaging" software. Using this software, we "build" one PC with network settings, software, and so forth the way we want it.  We then use the imaging software to create a huge file, or image, of the machine that is stored on a server.  When we need to configure another machine just like it, we reverse the process and copy that image onto the new machine.  Instead of hours spent installing software, adjusting settings, etc., the process takes about 5 minutes.

In your work or hobby, what secrets can you share with the rest of us that might help us do what you do?

Here's a simple brainstorming tip that can help you to have a more authoritative and complete blog...

Bring up a web browser and point it to your blog.  Make a list of your last 5-10 entries, either the titles or the "gist" of the entry.  For each entry in your list, ask yourself how you could expand on that point?  Is there something you brushed on in the post that isn't explained as well as you would have liked?  Does it make you think of some other topic area you haven't covered on your blog?  Have commenters to the article asked intriguing questions you should answer with a follow-up post?

This "extension" method of brainstorming can help you recognize content areas that might be lacking from your blog, and opportunities to cover earlier points in greater detail.

If you've heard a good joke, or there's one you always tell that makes everyone around you laugh, why not share it on your blog?  People always enjoy a good laugh... well, almost always.

Conversion Rate Experts, an organization devoted to helping businesses turn web visitors into customers, published an interesting guide to free tools that can help you analyze the traffic to your blog or web site.  The list of tools includes Google Analytics, Crazy Egg, ClickTale, Google Talk Chatback, SurveyMonkey, 4Q, and others. 

Based on my past experience, I would encourage you not to use all those tools at once.  For a while, I ran a web-based cartoon site.  To analyze my traffic, I used a handful of tools like the ones listed on the linked article.  When I went to promote my cartoons on various web forums, my announcements were often followed by (inaccurate) remarks by other forum visitors who had gone there and had gotten browser security warnings about various JavaScripts being in use there.  They (incorrectly) assumed that these warnings implied that my site was infected by some sort of virus or malware, and warned others not to visit it... even though there were no viruses or malware on my site.  So my advice would be if you choose to use some of the listed tools, use them sparingly for a short time to analyze your traffic, and don't use more than 1-2 at a time.  Otherwise you run the risk of misinformed or novice users thinking there is something "weird" happening with your site.

The Discovery Channel's Mythbusters show features a group of Hollywood effects experts who examine common myths scientifically to determine if they're not true (busted), could possibly be true under the right circumstances (plausible), or are true (confirmed).  Chances are there's a commonly-held myth you know about and can bust.  Why not blog about the myth and explain how you have busted, or could bust, the myth.