Observing a Blogiversary

I saw a counter on Kay's blog, checked my archives, and - lo and behold - today this blog is four years old.

I have to say that keeping a blog isn't the stupidest thing I've done over the past four years... not by a long shot. I came into this with no particular expectations, with very little awareness of what I wanted to do here, and - given that - I think it's gone pretty well. I think I wrote some decent stuff over on the the other site before it crashed on me. I've 'met' some interesting people. We've lost some interesting people. (I still find myself wanting to tell Joycelyn Ward something now and then.)

I'm still trying to come to terms with blog maintenance, i.e. posting regularly. Ronni Bennett is my hero and role model, consistently turning out a top-quality product day in and day out, and I've disappeared for a month at a time. I am conscious that I don't meet the criteria to make her blog roll today, and then I get this guilt thing going. I know that I fret a bit when I check blogs and there are no entries for an extended period, and I don't want to be that guy.

I saw Ariana Huffington the other night on The Daily Show and was struck by her advice to just go with your first thought. I've had two big posts stuck in park for a year now trying to find time to do some research and develop them. I think I do better by just unloading whatever's in my consciousness and not worrying about the Pullitzers or whatever.

Four years... I had just gotten married on November 1st, 2004, so what the hell was I doing starting a blog? What if I'd discovered blogging a few months earlier?

Anyway, to my readers, thank you for your companionship.

Thoughts on Purpose

I got stuck. I found myself making little notes about what I wanted to write about, but not finding the time to "write something." I got into the mindset that I'm writing a blog, and that people are reading it and that it needs to meet expectations. That's horse puckey.
There are blogs over to the right... except for the CSH blog that got closed down... written by people who write... people who write very well and who have something to share. That ain't me. This is supposed to be a place for me to vent... a few paragraphs or a few words... one subject or many.
Other people may read this... or not... but, although I hope they find it interesting, it remains that I'm not related to or sleeping with any of them... or not very many of them... and so far no one in the Bush administration has offered me any money to write for them.
This came to me as I was driving to work this morning and I wanted to say something about supporting the troops and what that means to me. I was thinking about how I "ought to" put it.
Okay, so here's the deal... I'm opinionated but my thoughts aren't particularly well organized. Ideology? I don't have one that I'm aware of. For instance, after twenty years as a Navy Corpsman... five of them as an O.R. tech... and another nineteen in health care administration... I find that egomaniacal doctors give me a huge pain. This is a non-partisan thing and applies equally to Howard Dean and to Bill Frist.
What I need to do is to vent here. If you're passing through, you're welcome but I'm venting here... I'm not writing a blog. That was messing me up.