Why do I do it?

I haven't blogged in a week and I definitely feel like I should. The only problem is that I have no subject that strikes me as blog-worthy. I could follow up on the last blog and write about how James' Bachelor Party at the Buffalo River turned out, but despite having a lot of fun and really enjoying the time we all spent hanging out, exploring, throwing rocks, and eating the camp-food essentials, I still feel like I don't have a whole blog there. I could follow up on a recent blog about getting gutters for our house. But I feel like this would be the whole blog: We got gutters for our house. They look nice. They work well.

I suppose that I could give an update on my weight-loss goals for the competition we're having at my work. At the mid-point, I had lost 9 pounds, 1.25 inches on my waist, and 1.75 inches at my hips. However, with next week being the final weigh-ins, I've gained back 4 pounds. I don't know about the inches. So, I've got a specific diet that I'm doing until next week. But, see? Now I'm done with that and that was hardly an interesting blog. I could write about Art Fest last weekend. We went to that. But, what's to say about it?

The lack of meat to write about and the drive to write makes me wonder why I want to write at all. Why do I write blogs? Why does anybody read them? Aha! I have a blog.

My Top Ten Reasons for Writing Blogs:

#10 - A few weeks ago I re-released a fixed version of my Home Mortgage Early Payoff Calculator. A few days later, I got a simple message from a guy saying, "Thank you for sharing this tool." I looked at the guy's blog and it turns out that he is in the business of providing home mortgages to people. So, for reason #10, business professionals gain useful information from reading my blogs and the economy is a little healthier because of it.

#9 - By using large words and perfect grammar, I can prove to the world that I am not just a pretty face.

#8 - By writing my thoughts, concerns, and dreams down and broadcasting them to anyone who will read them, I stay sane. And sanity is a fine payment for the troubles of blogging.

#7 - I've always been a bit of a show off. I never did the whole Saturday Night Live Stewart skit thing, "Hey. Look what I can do."(followed by a silly jump-kick-spin combination), but I do like to display my accomplishments. And blogs are a perfect outlet for that.

#6 - I use open-source software like GIMP and Firefox. And I feel a little guilty for using these great products and not giving back anything. I can't write code so I can't help them there and I don't make so much money that I can donate to their cause either. So, by having a blog I can easily put up colorful buttons on it that help to spread the software and get it in the hands of people who will donate time, ideas, and possibly money.

#5 - I'm terrible at keeping in touch with people. And, while it's not a great substitute for actually contacting all your old friends, it does help to tide them over a bit until you can actually speak with them.

#4 - It's come in handy a couple of times when I needed to know a specific date that something happened. I've said, "Hey! I wrote a blog about it. I'll just look it up to find the date." And the mystery is solved.

#3 - I'm very opinionated. It irritates me when magazines and newspapers write these stories or report on something and take an obvious bias. They'll make strong statements supporting something that is completely wrong in my opinion. And thousands of people read it and are ever-so-slightly influenced. Thousands may not read my blogs but if I can sway the opinion of one person to my side than I have done my job as Levi's Opinion Recruiting Officer.

#2 - I love seeing pictures and reading letters and notes that my parents wrote when they were younger. I better understand them from these glimpses of the past. My kids will have hundreds of thousands of photos to look at, but I want to leave more than just pictures of my good looks behind. I want them to know who I am and what I stand for. These blogs will accurately describe my sense of humor, my opinions on many things, and my hobbies. Wouldn't you find it interesting to find a journal complete with pictures documenting the life of your mom or dad?

#1 - I'm not a terribly funny guy, but I know that my blogs make my wife laugh pretty often and little else makes me feel better than making my wife laugh.

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