Welcome to my new blog!
[This post originally appeared on my short-lived "weekly" blog, "Hopefully Considered." -ed.]
"Well... I'm back."
For all the references to Grey Havens and final poker games over on the now-defunct Irish Trojan's Blog (here's what the final homepage looked like*), I'm not actually going anywhere. I've just got a new home in the blogosphere -- or rather a new constellation of homes.
*If this link initially doesn't work, try reloading the linked page. If it still doesn't work, try clearing your browser's cache. Your browser may still be adjusting to the DNS changes. [UPDATE: Stylesheet problems fixed. Again, you may need to reload, clear your cache, etc.]
As I explained earlier on the old blog, I'm replacing my "hyperactive," multi-topic blog with a series of more focused, less demanding projects that will, I think, allow me to spend less time blogging -- and avoid the dreaded "beast that must be fed" problem -- while still maintaining the sort of creative outlet that I want and need. Specifically, those outlets are:
• Hopefully Considered, the weekly blog (i.e., this blog)
• Linking Out Loud, the companion linklog to this blog
• Light and High Beauty, the photoblog
• Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost, the moblog
• Pajamas Media, where I do hurricane-blogging
If you like, you can subscribe to a combined RSS feed featuring the weekly blog, the photoblog and the moblog. Or you can subscribe to a feed that includes all 3 blogs plus the linklog (which will, in turn, undoubtedly link to all my Pajamas Media articles).
As I said earlier, I realize it may seem counterintuitive to think that I'll spend less time blogging by splitting my efforts up in this way, but I actually think it will work, for reasons that I explained previously. And if it doesn't, then I'll change course as needed. This is, as I've said, a "trial run." Life beyond the blog -- or rather, blogs -- remains my overriding priority, and if I need to cut back further, up to and including the eventual deletion of all these blogs, then so be it. But I don't think that'll be necessary. We shall see.
In any event, this, of course, is the weekly blog. The idea is that I'll update it once a week, usually on Sundays, generally with a lengthy, multi-topic column. (This Tuesday-morning post is an exception, as it's an introductory post.) I may occasionally miss a week, and some weeks I may end up blogging on a different day, but generally, weekly Sunday updates is the plan.
Both this blog and its companion linklog are named in honor of my Papa Loy. "Hopefully Considered" was the name of Papa's old weekly newspaper column for Imprint Newspapers in Connecticut, and "Linking Out Loud" is a reference to his tendency, when confronted with a situation where he felt rushed, to Entishly hroom-hoom, "Well, now, let's think out loud about this." (My dad gets an indirect hat tip for my linklog-naming brainstorm.)
Anyway, I'll add interesting links to Linking Out Loud whenever I feel like it; no particular schedule there. The linked items may be interesting articles, funny YouTube clips, cool pictures -- whatever. But they'll all simply be links, with a short headline and no further commentary by me (though readers can comment individually on each link). Eventually, recent linklog entries will actually appear directly in the sidebar of this blog. I'm still working on the technical side of that. [UPDATE: It's working now!]
Meanwhile, like I said, this isn't my only new blogospheric home. The photoblog, Light and High Beauty (named after my favorite line in Lord of the Rings), will be updated whenever I have pretty pictures to share, and time to share them. Sometimes they will be new pictures, and other times they might be old ones; I intend to spend some of my newfound free time digging through old photo archives and building my Flickr library, which should in turn lead to some fun blast-from-the-past photoblog posts.
I've long wanted to focus more bloggy attention on my photography, so the photoblog idea was a no-brainer when, having decided to shut down the Irish Trojan Blog, I started thinking about possible alternative creative outlets. A last-minute addition to that list of outlets, though, was the moblog, Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost (named after yet another Tolkien line). As long as I've had a blog, I've always moblogged -- that is, posted stuff via cell phone -- but I've never had a whole separate blog devoted entirely to moblogging. It should be a fun experiment. You can read more about my plans for the moblog in my introductory post on that blog.
One thing that regular readers will notice on all three blogs -- and the linklog as well -- is that I'm using Haloscan for comments. I know, I know: Haloscan sucks. But for a variety of reasons, it was the best option at this point. (Blogger's built-in comment system was not an option, because it doesn't allow me to ban individual commenters, which is a necessity when you've got an army of trolls who like to follow you around the Internet.) I may eventually consider switching over to a more robust commenting system like Disqus or Intense Debate, but for now, it's gotta be Haloscan. Sorry.
This means, among other things, that the only way to view the "most recent comments" is via Haloscan's 10-comment RSS feed. That's right, it only shows the last ten comments (on all three blogs plus the Linklog combined). I know: lame. Again, sorry. But alas, some of these sacrifices are a necessary incident of this downgrading process. It's better than me not having a blog at all, right? :)
One final note before I sign off. Jay has set up a Google Group called "Irish Trojan Detox" for regulars who want a place to continue debating, venting, etc. Of course, you're welcome to do that in the Haloscan comments here, on the linklog, etc. But you also have Jay's group as an option. And there, unlike here, ex-guestbloggers (and anybody else, for that matter) can start their own topical threads. Could be fun.
Anyway, that's it for now. Welcome to my new blog. Ta-ta for now, and I'll see you Sunday! :)
"Well... I'm back."
For all the references to Grey Havens and final poker games over on the now-defunct Irish Trojan's Blog (here's what the final homepage looked like*), I'm not actually going anywhere. I've just got a new home in the blogosphere -- or rather a new constellation of homes.
*If this link initially doesn't work, try reloading the linked page. If it still doesn't work, try clearing your browser's cache. Your browser may still be adjusting to the DNS changes. [UPDATE: Stylesheet problems fixed. Again, you may need to reload, clear your cache, etc.]
As I explained earlier on the old blog, I'm replacing my "hyperactive," multi-topic blog with a series of more focused, less demanding projects that will, I think, allow me to spend less time blogging -- and avoid the dreaded "beast that must be fed" problem -- while still maintaining the sort of creative outlet that I want and need. Specifically, those outlets are:
• Hopefully Considered, the weekly blog (i.e., this blog)
• Linking Out Loud, the companion linklog to this blog
• Light and High Beauty, the photoblog
• Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost, the moblog
• Pajamas Media, where I do hurricane-blogging
If you like, you can subscribe to a combined RSS feed featuring the weekly blog, the photoblog and the moblog. Or you can subscribe to a feed that includes all 3 blogs plus the linklog (which will, in turn, undoubtedly link to all my Pajamas Media articles).
As I said earlier, I realize it may seem counterintuitive to think that I'll spend less time blogging by splitting my efforts up in this way, but I actually think it will work, for reasons that I explained previously. And if it doesn't, then I'll change course as needed. This is, as I've said, a "trial run." Life beyond the blog -- or rather, blogs -- remains my overriding priority, and if I need to cut back further, up to and including the eventual deletion of all these blogs, then so be it. But I don't think that'll be necessary. We shall see.
In any event, this, of course, is the weekly blog. The idea is that I'll update it once a week, usually on Sundays, generally with a lengthy, multi-topic column. (This Tuesday-morning post is an exception, as it's an introductory post.) I may occasionally miss a week, and some weeks I may end up blogging on a different day, but generally, weekly Sunday updates is the plan.
Both this blog and its companion linklog are named in honor of my Papa Loy. "Hopefully Considered" was the name of Papa's old weekly newspaper column for Imprint Newspapers in Connecticut, and "Linking Out Loud" is a reference to his tendency, when confronted with a situation where he felt rushed, to Entishly hroom-hoom, "Well, now, let's think out loud about this." (My dad gets an indirect hat tip for my linklog-naming brainstorm.)
Anyway, I'll add interesting links to Linking Out Loud whenever I feel like it; no particular schedule there. The linked items may be interesting articles, funny YouTube clips, cool pictures -- whatever. But they'll all simply be links, with a short headline and no further commentary by me (though readers can comment individually on each link). Eventually, recent linklog entries will actually appear directly in the sidebar of this blog. I'm still working on the technical side of that. [UPDATE: It's working now!]
Meanwhile, like I said, this isn't my only new blogospheric home. The photoblog, Light and High Beauty (named after my favorite line in Lord of the Rings), will be updated whenever I have pretty pictures to share, and time to share them. Sometimes they will be new pictures, and other times they might be old ones; I intend to spend some of my newfound free time digging through old photo archives and building my Flickr library, which should in turn lead to some fun blast-from-the-past photoblog posts.
I've long wanted to focus more bloggy attention on my photography, so the photoblog idea was a no-brainer when, having decided to shut down the Irish Trojan Blog, I started thinking about possible alternative creative outlets. A last-minute addition to that list of outlets, though, was the moblog, Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost (named after yet another Tolkien line). As long as I've had a blog, I've always moblogged -- that is, posted stuff via cell phone -- but I've never had a whole separate blog devoted entirely to moblogging. It should be a fun experiment. You can read more about my plans for the moblog in my introductory post on that blog.
One thing that regular readers will notice on all three blogs -- and the linklog as well -- is that I'm using Haloscan for comments. I know, I know: Haloscan sucks. But for a variety of reasons, it was the best option at this point. (Blogger's built-in comment system was not an option, because it doesn't allow me to ban individual commenters, which is a necessity when you've got an army of trolls who like to follow you around the Internet.) I may eventually consider switching over to a more robust commenting system like Disqus or Intense Debate, but for now, it's gotta be Haloscan. Sorry.
This means, among other things, that the only way to view the "most recent comments" is via Haloscan's 10-comment RSS feed. That's right, it only shows the last ten comments (on all three blogs plus the Linklog combined). I know: lame. Again, sorry. But alas, some of these sacrifices are a necessary incident of this downgrading process. It's better than me not having a blog at all, right? :)
One final note before I sign off. Jay has set up a Google Group called "Irish Trojan Detox" for regulars who want a place to continue debating, venting, etc. Of course, you're welcome to do that in the Haloscan comments here, on the linklog, etc. But you also have Jay's group as an option. And there, unlike here, ex-guestbloggers (and anybody else, for that matter) can start their own topical threads. Could be fun.
Anyway, that's it for now. Welcome to my new blog. Ta-ta for now, and I'll see you Sunday! :)
posted by Brendan Loy at
7/01/2008 12:00:00 AM
