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My first weblog column

Well whaddaya know, I've gotten the geek urge to start my own weblog! Why? Well, a few reasons, actually (in no particular order).

It's a more flexible way to document my opinions.
I do have a separate page of my opinions; however I haven't updated it since 1997 since adding to the structure of that page just makes the page longer and more awkward. I intend to write my weblog as a series of separate pages, so it'll be a simpler matter of updating the index file and renaming files.

It's a chance to practice my writing skills.
I do like writing, but at work right now I don't have the need to do much writing. The writing I'll be doing here will probably be the informal, opinionated type typical of weblogs.

It's a way to document my thoughts for my own future reference.
Even though I haven't updated my opinions page in years, it's been interesting to go back to it to see what my opinions on various topics were years ago.

It's an easy way for visitors to my site to get to know me.
Although my website is primarily for my own benefit (the ability to access my favorite links anywhere), it's also written with visitors in mind. My thinking: if anyone bothers to visit, it'll be someone who doesn't know me that well.

So what will I write about? My opinions on current events, perhaps a journal on whatever interesting things happen during the week, I dunno. I hope to write something at least once a month, ideally something weekly. They'll be about as long as my Emails to others - sometimes several paragraphs, sometimes only a few sentences to get a point across.

The format of the weblog pages are a modification of my usual pages, intended to look OK when/if printed to hardcopy, i.e. printer-friendly format. The navigation menu is different from my usual. These pages will use a separate CSS template file, so colors and formatting may drift from my usual.

It's common for new columns in newspapers, magazines, news sites, etc., for the first column to mention why the column exists... as if my web site could be considered a news site! Yeah, it could be arrogant of me to think that anyone bothers visiting my site, but who knows? Hello out there!

[Sound of chirping crickets...]

Boy it's really dark out there. [Doing my famous Dory impersonation (from the movie Finding Nemo)] Echo! Echo!

But I digress...