Little Lost Blog

I started blogging two years ago. Scott started a blog and I thought it was really cool because although he lived thousands of miles away, it allowed me to follow the things happening in his life on a regular basis, and so useless and pointless knowledge was born.

Then I started browsing other blogs, and before long found a few that I liked a lot. Surgical Strikes was great because it was entertaining, a quick read, and was updated really often. Slow Adventures in Slothville had me hooked from the beginning, because I read one particular post on my first visit that really touched a nerve with me, and I knew that regardless of what followed that I would be a loyal reader. The Moxie was a Blogger blog of note that I decided to check out (it's one of the only blogs of note I have ever clicked through to, and the only one I have read more than once) which followed the trials and tribulations of a young couple in Springfield, Missouri as they opened their own independent movie theater.

In those two years, a lot has changed.

Surgical Strikes kept its name but dropped the modus operandi that inspired it. Rather than posting quick, short and funny quips, it is now a mixture of political humor, spoofed news stories, and amusing stories about the author, his wife, their cats, and most recently their dog. It has evolved over time into something completely different than it was when I began reading, but it is still one of my absolute favorite daily (hourly?) blog reads. The change came about naturally and has really helped to keep it a great read. I think it is a much better read now than it was then although I loved it the way it was. It has also migrated from Blogger to Wordpress, allowing it to have its own web address free of the ".blogspot.com" suffix. Now Dan Tobin, the author of Surgical Strikes is taking a blog hiatus to focus on "writing something without publishing the first acceptable draft" as he put it. I know that I hope he returns, and he has a very loyal set of readers who I believe feel the same.

Slow Adventures in Slothville has also moved to Wordpress. The content hasn't changed dramatically, but the look and feel has. Oh yeah, many posts now have password protection, a feature I totally support in this crazy blog culture we find ourselves in.

The Moxie is probably the site that has changed the most. Dan and Nicole Chilton did open their own independent theater, and as far as I can tell it is doing very well. I find it strange to be so proud of two people I've never even met (though I hope to change that soon on another cross country drive). The blog moved from its Blogger address and became part of the larger Moxie website. It's all very impressive: from the fact that they actually managed to pull off opening the theater at the young age of 23, to the fact that the Moxie website is as impressive looking as it is (I believe Dan has done the design himself).

Along the way I've read a few other blogs. Some I continue to read, some I don't. Some are still there, some aren't. Some were always good and some weren't. Some have actually won their authors book deals. The most recent blog I've been reading which has turned into a book deal is Waiterrant. It's linked in the sidebar. You guys should check it out. Congrats to the author. I hope the book sells well.

How has useless and pointless knowledge changed? I'm not sure. We've gone through some changes here to be sure. In the beginning I told stories and tried to actually write out interesting and well-written posts. Sometime or another I took a cue from Surgical Strikes and wrote short sweet posts about just about anything, it didn't matter what, so long as I updated often. Along the way we turned into a repository of entertainment news. Then for quite some time we focused on Hurricane Katrina, what it meant to me, and tracked mine and Lindsey's progress in moving from Louisiana to Portland.

Now, I have no idea what this blog is or what I want it to be. I also have little idea what you guys want it to be. So that's what I'd like to find out now. What do you guys like about useless and pointless knowledge? What do you like to read about here? Take a little time. Browse the archives if you like. Was there something at some point that I did well? Something that made this a blog you really liked to read? Is it fine like it is now?

Comments welcome (requested).