Monday, June 30th, 2008
I just renewed the domain name for this site! Please note that the jealous line forms over there —-> Thanks. A Blog about Nothing will be around for at LEAST another year. And what a year it will be! Over the course of the next 12 months you can look forward to (with eager anticipation if you don’t mind) more posts like this. Of course we can’t forget this post, nor this one.
So what does that mean for you? Not much aside from the fact I intend to do my level headed best to keep this blog interesting and “off-topic” at least as much as I am able.
There will some changes however. Because without change I’d bore myself to death. So stay tuned for future posts! Yes, I do feel like cheesy commercial after typing that.
And just for the record, no I don’t think the above linked posts were my best work, but it’s 11pm and I’m not much inclined to find the best posts I’ve written. Though to be honest the Shoemoney vs. Rowse one is worth a chuckle or two. Unless you’re dead and even then you’d need to be especially dead.
Sunday, June 29th, 2008
Maybe this will save someone else a little time and misery. Maybe it will give someone a laugh or two. Maybe it won’t. What it does do however is provide me subject matter for an article.
Tried to make my own theme
Fortunately for everyone who reads this blog that endeavor never saw the light of day. It did however cost me about 2.5 weeks of my life that I can never recover. To say that my calling isn’t in Wordpress theme building would be an understatement. Perhaps even a lie. Take it from me kids, know your limitation and save yourself a lot of time and effort.
Lesson learned: There are things out there that I’ll never be good at no matter how much time I waste trying to do them.
Took a break
This wouldn’t have been such a big deal, but what was intended to be a 2 week break to “collect my thoughts” turned into a several month absence. Granted I still popped in here and there to check things out, but I was missing in action. The damage? Lost about 85% of my readership judging by various stats. It seems to be building back up nicely, but imagine where I might be had I not gone stupid.
Lesson learned: Slow down if you must, but don’t stop completely. It’s just wasted time!
Tried to make it into “A Blog about Blogging”
Yeah I know… WTF was I thinking? What kind of a clown names their blog A Blog about Nothing and then gets the bright idea to make it about a particular topic? Me, that’s who! I’m the clown that tried doing that. It probably would have succeeded too if not for one grim bit of reality setting in. I didn’t have a damn clue what I was talking about!
Lesson learned: Either stick to what you know, or learn something about what you’re blogging about BEFORE you start telling other people what to do.
What about you? What stupid things have you done with your blog(s) that you regret (and hopefully have learned from)
Normally this isn’t something I do, but I’ve decided I should respond publicly to an email I received from two emails I received from a reader. First of all this particular reader has posted a couple of comments on my post about ball pythons.
You’ll find this person posting both as “Monty” and as “Brianne”. Which for some reason she thought was clever or something, but apparently didn’t account for the IP address being the same. But whatever. I played the game and responded to both personalities “in character” and called out BS when I read it in the comments. Then I got two emails from this person. The first email says:
BRIANNE () wrote:
I’m also a little confused with this crap you’re trying to tell my readers
about the snake burying it’s head in the back of the mouse’s neck to sense
the pulse. That is complete and utter garbage. A total fabrication that no
doubt someone lied to you about. A BP is constrictor. You throw a f/t rat in
with it and it will still strike and constrict. There’s no pulse to be found
and it still goes at it with the same gusto.
HERE THIS IS WHAT YOU WROTE ME, I HAVE FUCKIN WATCHED MY SNAKE DO THIS
FUCKIN PRICK
Ok easy enough. Apparently my dear friend Brianne thinks I’m telling her that her snake doesn’t bury it’s nose in the back of the mouses neck. Two of my snakes do it all the time. What she misses, by a country mile is the fact that I’m telling her that doing so to sense a pulse is utter garbage. How can I be so sure? Because like I said in my response to her comment on the blog was that it does this regardless of if the mouse is alive or dead.
And her second email (because it seems that one isn’t enough to describe how upset she really is)
Brianne Moore () wrote:
Hi im the one with the name”monty” i thought i would just ask you a little
question. how can you be a fucking know it all, and at first i was impressed
with the info you were letting others know, but your personal life and blog
scene really doesn’t have anything to do with ball pythons, i think someone just
brought it up and you went with it, cuz now that i think of it everything that
you have said so far is stuff i already read off the internet and you didnt
really help. but hey there is a lot of fake people in the world and your just
another one of them. i think that your one of those insecure weirdos who think
that having a big famous blog will make you special or something, i mean damn
you were named after a fish maybe you should look into a blog about fish. well
im never this mean but something you said when you wrote to monty being me
“brianne” really set me off, you’re like one of those rich little fucks that
think they fucking know everything, damn im so pissed that you turned out to be
a fake jerk i cant even say anymore!
Brianne let me ask you this, publicly. How did you miss that this is a PERSONAL blog? Because you seem pretty surprised when you realize that my personal life and “blog scene” has nothing to do with Ball Pythons. This blog has nothing to do with Ball Pythons aside from the fact I felt like posting something about them on here. Which apparently in your economy is a crime.
You’re absolutely right someone just brought it up and I went with it. That’s how life works. You find something that interests you and you “go with it”. Welcome to reality.
As far as originality goes I don’t recall saying it was original information. It doesn’t need to be original information. You might have found it elsewhere on the internet but judging by your comments and questions on the post in question you didn’t manage to do much with that information. Aside from make some stupid comments like the one about your snake checking for a pulse.
A blog about fish? Hmm interesting. Maybe I could make a video tutorial on tying flies or proper casting techniques? Oh wait someone already has done it so that wouldn’t do for you at all. After all a simple internet search turns up the same information. Not to mention the monetization when it comes to fishing as a topic isn’t so hot. But thanks all the same for the idea.
It’s ok to be pissed Brianne. We all do it. It’s not ok to be pissed without reason though and that’s exactly what you are doing. So let’s review what Brianne has done wrong:
Mistook a personal blog for a topical blog
Missed the fact that a blog (personal or topical) will be rife with opinion. That’s why it’s a blog. It’s not meant to be a newspaper
Failed to read the blog she was commenting on (this one) beyond on article. Has she read more than just one article there would have been no confusion on her part
Needs to learn a little something about IP addresses and Word Press technology before assuming she has pulled one over on anyone by commenting under two different names
Really we could go on and on but there’s no need to list everything out. So you might wonder why I’m airing dirty laundry for the world to see. A few reasons.
It serves as a good object lesson
Any communications sent to me either by email or via blog comment is fair game. How’s that for a privacy policy?
I feel like it
I don’t generally post emails online from readers. Usually I just respond to the email itself and leave well enough alone, but I decided it would make sense to turn a bad situation into a new post.
Saturday, June 28th, 2008
As I was watching Courtney Tuttle’s latest video guide about choosing a profitable blog topic I got a little sidetracked by the price of gas. He mentioned the keyword tool and I decided to test it out. Again. I can personally vouch for the tools effectiveness if used properly. So anyhow I tried a few different topics and one thing led to another and I ended up at a site called Gas Buddy.
If you’ve never heard of the site before you should check it out. It’s a big database of gas stations across the United States and their prices. Basically it is designed to help you find cheapaffordable gas and get an idea of how much you’ll be paying in a particular area. You can actually search by zip code and narrow it right down to where you are. In today’s economy when fuel prices are through the roof spending a few extra minutes planning where you’ll buy your gas isn’t a bad idea.
One other neat feature is the gas price temperature map. This allows you to see at a glance just how much you’re being ripped off compared to the rest of the country.
Just click the image above and it will take you to the live version of the map. Then put in your zipcode and have a look around at the prices in your area. It can differ as much as a dollar just by going one or two towns over. Sometimes the extra half-mile drive is worth it. Sometimes it’s not. There’s also a heat map for Canada
Now it’s time to go back and actually watch that video Court put so much effort into. Unless I get sidetracked again.
Friday, June 27th, 2008
The “honorable” James Fagan (D-Taunton Mass) reacting to a proposal regarding Jessica’s Law.
I’ll let the video speak for itself.
Somethings just make you shake your head. Somethings make you sigh. Things like this boil the blood. Anyone care to tell me why a “man” like this is a representative? I’m not lost on the fact that he’s telling how he or any other defense lawyer can and will examine a witness on the stand child or not. But this is just disgusting on so many levels
