Are Blogs On The Way Out?

During the past few months I've noticed not much going on in the way of blogs, more specifically, not many new posts being written. Not that there's a lot going on here at RLO Today.

Several blogs that I regularly read, or used to read, have become more inactive or just completely dead. A number of my friends in the Jaycees had blogs. None of them write for them anymore it seems. Other local blogs appear to be waning as well.

I wonder if blogs were just a fad that lasted a few years, or is it other social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter slowly taking bloggers out of action. I'm on Facebook regularly. And the thing with Facebook is you can leave brief comments on any of your friends or your profile. Others can respond as well to your comments. And so the same can happen on blogs.

But Facebook I think is set up in a way that makes it more entertaining and convenient. You can write some short one-liner as opposed to preparing a manifesto on a blog. The same can be said about Twitter. Though I don't have a Twitter account, I just don't get the fascination of Twitter. At least Facebook allows you to post pictures and videos as well as a few other things. Twitter just allows you 140 characters of text. What can you actually say with that?

And how about MySpace? Does anyone use it still? I have always thought that it was easier to use than Facebook, but Facebook offered some different features that MySpace didn't. MySpace does now, but its probably too late and perhaps the damage is done. MySpace lasted about a year or so in popularity and now its done. Very fickle users.

I don't know if readers of blogs have declined any over time. I still wonder if blogs are facing the same problem with MySpace. Knowing society today and its short attention span, I also suspect that Twitter and Facebook too will suffer a demise such as MySpace.

MySpace vs Facebook

Is MySpace now on life support?

It seems to be that Facebook is now the popular website to interact with friends. A year ago, it was all about MySpace. Facebook at that time was deemed more for "older," more professional people (perhaps mid-20 somethings). This might be a good example of how young people can be so fickle.

I have a profile on both services. To tell you the truth, I though MySpace was easier to use and navigate. You can allow music and video to be played on your page. As for Facebook, there was more of a learning curve. It's interface is not laid out well; it took me some time just to figure out how to upload pictures. Their applications you can add are mostly a piece of crap that may or may not work... from my experiences and in my opinion. I don't know... maybe I just turned old.

One last thing I noticed between MySpace and Facebook, is that all the women on Facebook use their entire full name; first, middle and last. With no initials. An example would be Jane Mary Doe. What's the facination with the chicks using their full name and not the guys? Why? This is not done on MySpace. In fact, many MySpace users have a nickname, alias or a term we used in the 70's on CB radios, "handles."

2007 Christmas Letter

It seems more and more, people send some sort of Christmas letter with their Christmas cards. I know some people hate them because, as they claim, all they do is showcase how great their lives are. I did a tongue-in-cheek Christmas letter about 10 years ago, with the same name as this blog. I chronicled the not-so-positive events of that year... an investment club with capital losses, playing on a losing softball team... you get the idea. But I think people really want to update those who they don't see very often of what has been transpiring in their lives.

2007 started just like any year for us. But about 3 weeks into it for me I suffered from a bout with the flu. Of course, that's when my new 32 track digital recorder finally arrived, so I'd have to wait to play with it. I have since used it over the past year to record music. Some of which you can hear at my MySpace page.

One of the high points of 2007 was in May when Beth and I drove across country on America's Mother Road, Route 66. It was a 16 day odyssey following a path taken by millions of others before us to the Pacific coast. We saw some interesting and bizarre sites, met very nice and very strange people and had a great time. Once in California, we stopped to visit Tom & Kim Stevens. Luck would have it, Tom's band Midnight Sun was playing. We stayed an extra day so we could see them. I was even invited up on stage to play a couple of songs. I hope I didn't do the band any damage. The trip was blogged about right here, so feel free to check the past posts for our misadventures along Rt 66.

The low point of 2007 was in March when we finally had to say goodbye to Trixie. At 12 years old, she was still energetic and playful. Fortunately, no arthritis or hip dysplasia. However, a tumor emerged which caused her spline and liver to enlarge and there was nothing we could do for her. Luckily, she was not in pain; maybe a little uncomfortable. 2007 was not a good year for the dogs of our family and friends. Beth's friend Jennifer Brackney lost Lexie, Beth's sister Pam and her husband Bill lost Rutherford and just in the last couple of days, we hear Beth's sister Kerri and her family's dog, the Muffin dog, has been diagnosed with cancer and the prognosis is not good. Of course, Dennis and Shari continue to lose their cats to coyotes. A moment of silence please...


The band Nootril Drop had a number of good gigs this past year. We actually hit gig #30 this past September. We did probably 3 or 4 benefit shows in all, but still a good year and playing better all the time. Concerts I checked out this year include The Police at Wrigley Field. I heard that this was the 2nd concert ever held at the stadium; the first being Jimmy Buffett. I also got to see ZZ Top for the 2nd time... and from the center 3rd row. I also saw John Mayer, Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan.

And if playing in a band and driving a sports car is not enough for my mid-life crisis, I'm now coloring my hair blond. It really hides the grey hairs and I get a lot of comments on it.

Beth has been keeping busy with her new hobby... sewing... if you can believe that. Mom has been doing well. At the start of the year, we were under the impression that she would need to start kidney dialysis. Turns out she doesn't need it, yet anyway. Keep your fingers crossed. Jack is now 7 years old and in the second grade. Dennis and I have been going into business together more and more. This time in the field of property management, becoming landlords of commercial property. Good livin' thus far. We hope to keep it that way.

Anyway, hope all is well to whomever is reading, have a Merry Christmas and a prosperous 2008!

Have A Wonderful Christmas Time

Wishing all Happy Holidays, I wanted to post Tom Petty's Christmas All Over Again. Apparently, there is no 'offical' video for it. Paul & Wings will instead wish all a wonderful Christmas time.

Technical Difficulties

Thanks for all those who read about our antics across the country and for all your posts. I have heard from several people that they wanted to post comments, however, the blogger system would not display the automated codewords to input to verify the comment as real. In turn, they were not able to leave any of their thoughts.

Nowdays, there is something called comment spam. Like spam we receive in our e-mail inbox, this spam places itself onto people's comment section of their blogs. This system uses a automatically generated image file of several letters you must input with your comment to verify you are not sending any unwanted spam. Appearently, Blogger needs to work out a few kinks.

But the best missed comment from our trip would have probably come from my Mom. She wanted to say that the first time I saw the Grand Canyon, I was so impressed that I pooped my pants (I was only 6 months old). The view of the Grand Canyon still comes close to achieving the same results.