Tag: blog

Fall Golf & Website Update

Lindsey and I trekked over to Gaylord to use a couple of free-round coupons for The Tribute golf course at the Otsego Club. I think the rest of Northern Michigan had the same idea. It was one of the slowest rounds of golf ever. The course was nice (I holed out for eagle on one of the par 5’s on the front nine!!!). However, we called it quits after it took four hours to play 12 holes.

We had a good “old” dinner at the Suger Bowl in downtown Gaylord where we were the youngest couple in the restaurant by a good 30 years!

There was lots of wedding talk – and we’re trying to nail down the rehearsal dinner location. When it comes down to it, it’s tough to find a place to host a large group the week before the Fourth of July! One of the many “joys” of fudgie season in Traverse City.

As you can see, the engagement/wedding website is slowly taking shape. I added a countdown timer today, and we’re hoping to post profiles of the bride-elect and groom-elect this week… and then follow with the rest of the wedding party and families.

Have a great week and feel free to comment or contact us if you have any tips or just want to say hello!

Blog Reading is a Waste of Time

Blog reading is a waste of time. So is microblog reading and tumbleblog reading.

Let’s tale a look at what I get from each sub-genre.

Blogs

I subscribe to about 100 blogs via Google Reader. On a good day, I read about one third of those and that still took 1+ hours of my time.

Most of the information I gleened from blogs was unrelated to me. Topics like how to do things better, faster, in an odd way. Topics about art, law, photography, and economics that were far too obscure scrolled down the screen too often.

In theory, I found all of the topics to which I subscribe interesting. In practice, I simply didn’t need to know 99% of the stuff I read. It’s not just that I didn’t need to know it. The information made me think I constantly needed to improve, rearrange or change my own habits. Not good.

Solution: Limit my blog reading to: friends’ blogs, local info and direct interests (golf and law). Although, law will be highly focused.

Microblogs

Same overindulgence of information here as with blogs. I don’t need to know who is complaining about what all of the time.

At one point a couple years ago I was using Twitter, Pownce, Jaiku and a couple other microblogging sites simultaneously. That’s insanely annoying to admit, let alone practice.

I check Twitter while I’m bored, walking around places. I see this as an admission that I find people’s tweets more compelling than either my surroundings or the people I am actually with. That’s not, in fact, the case.

Solution: Only follow friends I’ve met in person.

Tumbleblogs

These are the worst. At least with Twitter the user has to create something semi-original. Tumblr allows users to post scraps (pictures, quotes, videos) without adding anything to them. I’ll admit that this is incredibly addicting, but it serves no purpose and is a huge time suck.

Solution: stop using and reading.

Conclusion

What this all comes down to is that the Internet, as I have been using it for 6+ years, is a huge waste of time. I usually have a laptop with Internet within reach about 90% of the day. This was because I thought I needed to be connected. What I’m discovering is that I’m happier without the connection. I still have my iPhone. I can chech email and Google directions, but the time suck stuff has gone away. The life tips have disappeared. The random information has stopped scrolling.

What is left? More things I can trip over, talk to, and smell. Everything around me. Everyone around me.

More Time Needed

I wish I had more time for everything because there are so many things that interest me. It’s inevitable that I discover and archive, drive by, dream up, and am assigned much more than I’ll ever be able to take in thoughtfully. And that is just one day. The next day it starts all over again. It’s not a feeling of being overwhelmed as much as it is disappointment that I can’t effectively absorb more.

I wonder if I would feel the same way if I stopped reading so many blogs, twitter posts, and facebook notifications. Consuming all of that “pop-life” is like trying to get my brain to record the lives and events of a thousand different people each day.

It is my hunch that if I were able to better focus on “local-me” that I would find each day more fulfilling and, in turn, less stuffed. And who I am trying to prove something to – that I care about all of the useless gadgetry, latest fashions, and most obscure routines of people I’ll never know? It can’t be anyone except myself.

So many people.
So many stories.
So many facts.
So little time.

Blogging Regrets

I’ll admit that in my four years as an amateur blogger I’ve had some missteps. I’ve posted things that were too personal. I’ve turned friends and family away at times. I’ve crossed the line and been to vulgar, for I am not a vulgar person. (Not in print anyway.)

But, my biggest regret of all is not keeping an archive of all of my writing over the years. Even offline, I seem to have misplaced much of my work. Most of it was post-adolescent drivel. But floating in the drivel were a few good posts — posts that were particularly insightful to my situation at that moment in time.

I miss all my old blogs. I’ll never forget my first post ever, which was about how many green M&M’s I found that day in my snack. I didn’t have rules for myself when I started blogging. I just wrote whatever I felt like writing. I linked to stuff. I posted videos, pictures… I posted drivel. If there was a way to import drivel — real gooey drivel — into the interweb, I would have posted it.

Please forgive my nostalgic yearnings. I wish I had better records of a lot of things, but that’s not what I’m told I live for. I’m here to move forward. Grow up. Keep writing, but not worry about the past so much. I’ll just consider this a lesson learned. To keep the blog running, even when everything else seems to be ending, changing, or swirling around me.

The drivel will tell all!

Why Twitter Is Great for Golfers

I use a micro blogging service called twitter. Twitter prompts you with the question, “What are you doing?” You then respond with a short message of 140 characters or less. (Same limit placed on text messages from your phone.) The typical use of twitter is much broader than this question. People take notes on it, converse with each other and track things.

My username is guyrogers and you can find my profile and posts here. While most people find the service to be completely pointless, I see great value in twitter for golfers.

Five great ways golfers and fans can leverage twitter:

1. Track shots during a practice round
2. Update friends and family about a player
3. Chat with one another about TV tournaments
4. Follow PGA Tour twitter updates
5. Track and create a record for friendly bets on the course*

*No comment on the intelligence of creating a public record of potentially illegal activity.

I’ve only found one other twitterer who will admit to being a golfer. Do you twitter? Do you twitter AND golf? If you do, find me and follow me. Happy twittering!

Blogging vs. Personal Communication

Many times when I post to tumblr, my action is replacing a direct communication I could be making with one or more people. Often, what I’m posting (a thought, observation, link, picture, etc.) is of interest to my friends and family and could be sent directly.

Is the quality of the personal message diluted by posting the same message to my blog?

I think it is and I try to keep my personal communications unique and private – at least until they become bloggable. At that point, all hope of maintaining “place” is lost and I just want to get the conversation out into my (limited) tumblr world.

The funny thing is that I can’t really explain why. All of this is like self-induced micro-paparazzi. Intentionally placing one’s private life in front of strangers.

Very weird.

Where Have All The Bloggers Gone?

Mike Lewis wonders why his old blogging buddies have quit or opted for other less demanding sites like Facebook, MySpace, and, dare we say, tumblr. My comments in response to his post and why I think people are smart to move aware from “heavy corporate” blogs towards “social light” blogs:

I’ve started using Tumblr. The ability to reblog other’s posts and track who has reblogged my posts is a refreshing new approach to “commenting.”

No longer are we forced to scatter our thoughts across various unconnected websites. Comments, by default, put the commenter at the service of the author.

The downside to Tumblr seems to be its propensity towards encouraging cliques. It’s almost like public email.

MySpace and Facebook seem too diluted for anyone who actually wants to be heard.

Blogging seems old and linear. No amount of plugins can save it in the long run. It’s only a matter of time before more is expected from the medium.