I love a day off...

And I also HATE them.

My Lady and I spent most of the day yesterday "recovering" from the emotional roller-coaster that was Tuesday's "INS Interview." That's not to say that by 3:30pm, we weren't ready to kill ourselves. Boredom comes quickly to us. I don't know why.

Anyhoo... I didn't blog yesterday, and I apologise for that. It would have been a great day to do so, however... My Lady and I were transferring HUGE files from my computer to her's, over our wireless network, and... Let me just say, that although we have the "super ultra-fast 802.11g wireless 'Airport Extreme'" that's five times faster than the normal "WinTel" 802.11b standard... 12 gigs of information STILL takes a VERY long time to transfer over the network. And... If we messed about on the internet, then the bloody thing slowed down EVEN MORE, so... We refrained from using the web, and thus the "day off" became even MORE boring.

Och weel.

Once more, I want to thank those of you who have been SO supportive of both Fiona and myself over the past nine months of "Immigration Nightmares." It's been a really bizarre and crazy time. So... Thank you everyone for your patience and love and support. Okay... Here's we go...

Blogging. Hmm... Read and article on the BBC today: Numbers cut through blogging hype The article goes off about the different types of Bloggers, and just what exactly people are blogging about. Lately, friends like N8 and others have also commented on their "blogging" habits.

You see, there're tonnes of people that blog. And many of said people, blog for different reasons. Here's my take on some of the various reasons for blogging:

• Cheese Sandwiching - (my favourite term for it) or in actuality... The Diary. See... People write stuff about their lives. There's absolutely nothing wrong with this. Heck... My blog is about 50-60% "cheese sandwich" most of the time. That's why the title of this scree contains the words... "The Life and Times."
• Hobbyists - They're the ones that like something, like... Knitting. And then they somehow find enough crap to talk about to actually have an entry every day/week/month. Now... No offence against "knitting" but... Um... Besides "knit one, pearl two" what really is there to talk about? I digress.
• Blatent Campaigning - This is where a guy or gal gets to being political. Now... I'm not talking about folk like myself that ascribe to NO party, but more "ideals" contained therein... No... I'm talking about Joe Senator, that writes a "blog" about his work for the people of Minnewisconilliyork, and his tireless efforts for justice. Of course, these blogs are actually maintained by some unpaid intern at their office... But again, I digress.
• The 'Journalists.' Now... Some of these sites are great, and I read them daily for news... However, you have to know that there's a reason that they report what they report... I'm thinking of blogs like Minnesota Democrats Exposed where the guy digs up as MUCH dirt against the 'other party' as he can. In defence of this type of blog (yeah, I'm defending him, even as a bleeding-heart Liberal) if the Dems weren't so bloody SHITE, then there wouldn't be anything for him to report. But again, I digress... Great site that I do like... Cursor.org
• Linky Blogs - This is either a site with tonnes of links about, well... Usually anything. I do these occasionally... You troll around the internet for things that you the blogger find interesting, and then provide links to your readers. There's all sorts of categories for this... There's the "news" link folk, the "hobby" link folk, the "weird" link folk et al... They tend to be quite fun, really, if you find the right one.
• Commentary blogs - I mean this. It's funny... People continually get confused about the difference in "Editorials" and in "Commentary" in newspapers, and because they're confused about this in print they've carried their confusion online. Kind, gentle readers, lend me your ear (eyes) and try to get this... Newspapers have three different sections of information... 1) News. This is the stuff of reporters. They get in their car/truck/airplane and go to where events are happening... And then they report what they see/hear. That's what a reporter does. Okay? Many blogs out there "say" that they're reporters/journalists... And frankly, they're not. They collect news created by actual reporters, and then the blogger "reports" the same news again. This is not reporting. Okay? It's just not. It's blatant plagiarism. 2) Now... If you see an article you like, and you link to the bloody thing, and then make your own comments upon said article... You are doing a "commentary." You know... That stuff in the back of the front-page with editorials, letters and commentary... Same thing. This is something that I do... I find a news source, link to it... And then comment on it. That's perfectly okay to do. And it's really really good. Getting one's opinion online can be quite fun. Plus, you're spreading around information, and that is a good thing. Anyhoo... 3) Finally, there are editorials. The editorial department is separate from the "news-gathering" department in newspapers... Editorials are the "news paper's voice" when it comes to issues... Please realise that if the newspaper in question is of a "Liberal Slant" then the editorial department will lean "Liberal" and vice versa with the Conservatives... In the States.... We have the New York Times which leans Liberal, and the Washington Post which leans Conservative. In the Twin Cities (where my abode is found) the StarTribune leans Liberal and the St. Paul Pioneer Press definitely leans Conservative. This is true in Britain, as well, as the The Guardian tends Liberal whilst the The Times leans Conservative... But anyhoo... What the heck was I saying, oh yeah... The editorials lean towards what the "newspaper" itself, leans towards. News is news. Commentary is commentary. And Editorials are silly.
• There are tonnes more, but I'm tired of typing

Readers, gentle folk... Blogging is a really wonderful way to communicate with others. I tend to blog for lots of reasons... I "Cheese Sandwich" for my friends that are scattered around the world, because they're honestly interested in what I'm doing. I "comment" on the news. I do this, 'cause in general I do a LOT of yelling at the newspaper in the morning, and it helps me to calm down. I also "Link" to weird crap, 'cause I like to show my readers a "good time" or at least try to make the attempt.

There are many reasons for blogging... And whatever you blog about, or which ever blogs you frequent... Just enjoy the fact that this new way of disseminating information is here, and don't get too bloody-well uptight about it.

Tah!

-- Tuckmac.