Little Bird

I briefly hung out with a humming bird this morning at the local watering hole - the bird feeder on our back porch. He was pretty friendly but he had kind of an attitude. I think there was a bit of a Napolean complex thing going on there. I didn't mention it to him though. Most birds are well aware of their short comings so there really is no need to point it out to them. Plus they can poop on your head so it's best not to risk irritating them.

You've Got Handwritten Mail

I heard on the news tonight that, on average, a person receives a handwritten letter in the mail once every 7 weeks. I can attest to the fact that I certainly don't meet that average. A handwritten letter is incredibly rare around here. Take away some cards I recently received in the mail for my birthday and I can't remember the last letter or card I received.

I remember shortly after high school I had a number of friends move away for various reasons and we used to write letters and send postcards to one another. Granted, we were all guys so it wasn't like we did it a lot but it was at least consistent. Then email happened and the pencil and paper collected dust.

It's kind of a shame really. There's just something about a handwritten letter. I kind of miss it.  Even something as simple as the sound of a pen or pencil scratching away on a piece of paper is much more interesting and authentic than the click-clacking of a keyboard. And if you really get in to it, there's an endless array of stationery and writing utensils to choose from. Heck you could go old school and get yourself a fountain pen and take handwritten letters to a whole different level. Find yourself some parchment and you're really hardcore.

So This Is It

Ok, so here it is my first real post. I have exactly 20 minutes before my lunch ends and I'm functioning on very little sleep so I think in hindsight I'm going to look back and wish this wasn't my first real entry! I'm new to this whole blogging thing but I would think you would want your first entry to be something really profound, witty or insightful. Unfortunately what I'm going to have is a rushed/sleep deprived attempt at...something.

Anyway, to get to the point. I was talking to somebody this morning about the whole idea of keeping a blog and what the point of it is. And we both sort of came to the conclusion that it seems the overall intent is to try to get a whole bunch of "followers" to read whatever it is you have to say. Which is exactly why I've been so hesitant to start one because on the surface that seems like an incredibly conceited thing to do. I know that's not the case for a lot of people but to me it almost seems like you think so highly of what you have to say or of your writing skills that you assume people will want to read it on a regular basis. It appears so self-promoting and having had issues in the past with my own arrogance and pride I always worried that this would just be feeding those negative aspects of my personality. Of course, I have a wonderful wife who I'm sure will point it out to me if I start venturing too far in that direction. At least I hope she will!

With that being said, when I logged in a few moments ago I saw this little notice on my dashboard that indicated I had one new follower! It was the weirdest thing to see that because I actually got kind of excited. Wow, somebody actually wants to read what I have to say! It is a really cool feeling and incredibly humbling at the same time. Of course it may only take a few entries for my one follower to become no followers so we'll see how it all goes.

Anyway, I want to say very special thank you to my very first follower. Thanks CLR, and thanks for your encouragement to get me writing again.

That's Strange

Well, if you've stumbled upon this post than that's mighty strange because nobody knows about this place yet. Anyway, if you're here I might as well tell you that I'm currently in the construction phase of this page. Which basically means I don't know how to use it yet and I'm still tinkering with settings. It probably also means that I haven't actually written anything yet. Other than this. So since you stumbled along to this space by accident I imagine you'll want to stumble away now. Hope you enjoyed your stay.