When I started this blog, I wasn’t sure exactly what or why I was doing it. Maybe, I wanted to be famous like Hanselman. Maybe, I wanted to derive some ego from it. Maybe, I wanted to feel that my geekiness could be appreciated by some.
It is clearer now. Today, there are several components:
- I hope my peers read it, and get it. And thus, get to know me a little bit better. I am a social being, and I have a need to be known. And unfortunately, I don’t game, I’m married, with a teenager who makes our lives interesting, and I don’t work out a lot, so there seems to be little overlap with my peers. But yeah, this is all a part of me.
- When I run into somebody at CodePaLousa or the .Net Meetup Group, I’d love to hand them a card with the blog’s URL on it, just so that I have a “brand” that I could be identified by. I no longer want to be the Anonymous Software Developer who seeks to Prove Himself to You via Resume. That is so.. un-networked. (And no, I’m not looking, thank you very much)
- Building on the previous point – I hope that in the future, if somebody is interested in hiring me – they’re hiring ME, not just my skills. ME the person. I’m hoping that I’ll have the this blog to document myself – my intent, my sparkle, my love of people, love of process, love of teamwork, love of Geeky STUFF. This is a gamble – that WHO I AM is a valuable asset, much more than whatever skills I am currently current at.
This decision, realization, understanding yields some side effects:
How Often Will I Update
I tried to be the “constant content creator.” One post a week, on Fridays. When I had a lot of stuff happen AND documented, I tried to stretch the posts out into the future, to have a series. It felt like I was lying – withholding myself to increase market share or some silly thing. Way too full of myself. I’m not going to do that again.
Today: I had the time, I had the keys, and I think this is my Third Post of the Day. (W00T!) Then there might not be anything for a while, till the buffer fills up again. And I get time to dump it out into a post.
Does this Blog Really Represent Me, or is it just a big Advertisement
Pretty much everything that goes on here is 100% indicative of me. (Although the inverse is not true: I am NOT 100% this blog, I am much more than this.. at least 3 circles more, which are off-topic here). [But, if this was an advertisement, could I say this and be lying… ? *ouch my brain hurts*]
If you know me in person, you will pretty quickly figure out: I am incapable of subterfuge, of keeping up a pretense, of keeping a poker face, of being fake. This yields some interesting awkward moments. But it also keeps my life simple. I like simple. I tried complicated, that disintegrated under its own gravity into nothingness.
What do I seek
I don’t think I’m going to discover something big, or write the most awesome anything (anymore (I used to)). Nor do I seek to make people think really hard about abstract ideas. Pretty much, I’m trying to figure out:
- How can I make sense of things
- How can I make things better
- How can I be of service
At least, that’s what I *think* this blog is about. 8 months after starting it. Maybe another year will bring something different, but I doubt it.
What now?
I have no clue. I think with this, my buffer is clean. Tomorrow is going to be all about family stuff.. 6 of us going to a WWE event! Maybe next weekend.. who knows what will be brewing in me by then.
Enjoy!
