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Monday, April 21, 2008

Monday Morning Meme

I stole this from Nissa's Niceties:

A Bloggy Meme

How long have you been blogging?
More or less actively since October 2005.

What inspired you to start a blog and who are your mentors?
I initially signed up for both LiveJournal and Blogger in order to be able to comment on blogs that I read--somewhere around summer 2005. I was running two book-related messageboards at the time, and writing consistently positive reviews about all the books I read for the boards, whether I loved them, hated them, or liked them but had a few reservations started getting to me. Since I read so many books (in 2005, I read over 400--I've slowed down since then, partially due to blogging), it wasn't feasible to vent my true opinions to family and friends, so I decided to put them on a blog. I don't remember most of the bloggers I visited back then, and several I do remember are no longer blogging. Doug from Balls & Walnuts was one inspiration who's still blogging. And of course the Smart Bitches.

Are you trying to make money online, or just doing it for fun?
Mostly for sanity, but also for fun. Definitely not for making money--note the absence of ads.

What 3 things do you love about being online?
1. Being able to find friends with similar interests--while I like a lot of the people I meet in real life, the overseas military community is a little limiting--the population is definitely pyramid-shaped, and having been in or married to the military for almost 25 years, I'm older than most of the people I meet, and my kids are older. The women I meet who are my age tend to be mostly interested in shopping, fashion, and more glamorous travel (that is, they wouldn't be caught dead tromping around the museum village from last week's TT!), and if they read, it's one or two bestsellers a year. And then, too, the CFS tends to limit my ability to run around.

2. Pseudo-volunteer work. Or, rather, things that make me feel useful. I don't have a job--at this point, it's primarily because of the CFS--and doing beta reading and moderating various groups makes me feel like I'm not just lazing around all day. The sanity thing.

3. Shopping. Particularly being overseas, though that can be a pain in the butt sometimes, too. For English-language books and DVDs, the only bricks-and-mortar option that's not insanely expensive is the PX, and they're terrible at stocking anything I want in anything like a timely manner. Sure, I could order through them--if I wanted to wait an extra 3 months. I tried once. I don't bother anymore. Barnes & Noble works quite well. Clothes, too, particularly for the kids--the PX only carries higher-end, expensive clothing, and for teenage boys who outgrow jeans in 6 months, I'm not about to pay $50 for them. Local stores' prices are extremely high due to the abysmal exchange rate, and because the sizing is different, the boys have to come along--something they loathe. Ordering online works much better. It can just be difficult sometimes finding places that will ship to APO addresses.


What 3 things do you struggle with online?
1. The aforementioned finding places that will ship to APO addresses.

2. More and more sites are using the software that tells them where your computer is physically located, so there are now sites I can't use because I'm not in the U.S. There's also occasionally a disconnect between T-Online and various sites. For example, I can't update my anti-virus software, because when I try to download updates, the website tells me I'm not connected to the internet (um.... how did I get to the site, then?). Frustrating.

3. And there's the problem with various time-sinks, and knowing when to call it quits.


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Comments:
It's not stealing, hun! :) Thanks for doing this meme- I love finding out more about blogging friends!
 
This is an fun one, to be sure--it's interesting finding out why everyone else is blogging.
 
Great answers. I agree with the knowing wehn to quit too.
 
Oh, yes. The worst is that when I'm tired, my judgment goes, too, so I'll end up staying up late without actually accomplishing anything because I'm too tired to realize I need to quit. Sometimes I wonder how old I am. :)
 
Colonial Candle ships to APO addresses. Great premium candles and accessories! Check out the site www.colonialcandle.com. They have great customer service! And, just recently started a blog where they are running a contest http://colonialcandle.blogspot.com/
 
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