Virginia Is For Families

What is blogging?   Is it a passing phase in the continually changing consciousness of the nation and the world?

OMG did I say that?

Yes.  And it is a question worth asking.  I have been a blogger for almost two years now.  It has been an enjoyable experience.   And one that suits the kind of mind that is. . .

Not too analytical

Not too smart

Not too  goal oriented

But one that enjoys people and enjoys creating moments.

Not necessarily big moments.  But moments that can be enjoyed and appreciated in a photo or a poem or a description of something.

Blogging can drive you batty.  And I have seen some very talented people fall along the way because they couldn’t quite figure out what they were doing.

People arrive and read your post.  Then they leave without any kind of response.  You have no idea how they felt about what you were trying to say.  Maybe they will return.

Maybe they won’t.   Maybe the plugins will work tomorrow.  Or some mysterious bug will mess them up.  Or the company who runs the servers will decide to shut you down for some obscure reason.

How do you get a handle on that?  Well I don’t think that you do get a handle on it.  You just wait to see what happens next.   It’s a lot like life.

And I am here to document that with you.  I enjoy waiting for the next surprise.

A little moment.  And perhaps next time…

A big moment.   You never know.

OOoooops. I left my PlugonHogDetector on for a few hours while I was off getting lost in my bookmarks. That’s not good. It leaves all these funny numbers on your blog and on top of other stuff. But all it is really doing is discovering how fast your blog is loading. So you don’t use too much CPU.

So your host doesn’t shut you down in the middle of writing a post…

Here is where it lives in case anybody would like to try it. Just please remember to turn it off after you are done using it so it doesn’t make your blog look like it was hacked.

Nobody has commented on my new poem I see. And probably NOBODY EVER WILL. Why?

I wonder. . .could it be the subject matter? No. Not possible. I see this stuff every day all over the television. Maybe it’s just a lousy poem. Or maybe everybody is outside doing fun things like I should be doing.

Are you having any trouble with plugins lately?  Do you ever feel like you have too many?

Good Evening. My name is David and I am a Themaholic. I can’t turn down a theme. It speaks to me and I surrender.

It doesn’t matter that I have pledged my allegiance to Sadish and his wonderful templates. Nothing matters except getting the next theme fix.

I keep telling myself “This time it will be different”.

Maybe it will. Or maybe I will wake up tomorrow morning full of regret and guilt because I traded Sadish and his great theme in for THIS.

But I don’t think so and besides the night is still young.

There’s lots of time left to install more plugins and see how they work. I don’t want to think about tomorrow.

When it’s still tonight.

Do you change themes very often?  Do you feel that people who change themes often are hampering their blogging efforts?

I received an email from HostGator this morning and it stated that my post on NewsLinkBriefs.com about John McCain caused my CPU usage to grossly exceed the limits set for it.

Here is the post at my old Wordpress.com blog Shoot The Virginia Breeze

http://davidlind.wordpress.com/2008/05/26/senator-mccain-in-good-health-this-week/

So if a post every does become truly popular around here it will never be seen because the host will shut it down. Unless, of course, you rent your own server in anticipation of that day.

It all seems like a catch-22 proposition at this point. I am hoping someone can explain it a bit better.

Update: Once again plugins are in the news. I went to my lovely friends at the Aussie Bloggers Forum

and they were quick to come up with some suggestions. They pointed me to the PluginHogDetector

and by loading it and picking out a few plugins I substantially decreased the loading time of VB. Probably it is loading at least one half to a second faster. All of that time eats up CPU.

But in their message HostGator noted that this problem has been going on for awhile now and they didn’t cut off service until now. Why not drop a note and some advice to the blissfully unaware customer?

“Say there, guy! You are using a lot of CPU! We may have to cut you off if you don’t do something. Why not take a look and see if you have some plugin hogs!”

They could clean it up a bit. But the message would be appreciated. Instead we wake up one day to find we have been disconnected from the Blogosphere! That’s like disconnecting a patient from his life support.

And I am a patient! As well as impatient! The Gator wants business and he doesn’t care if neophytes apply. The more the merrier! Why not give them a helping hand and set an example for all the others out there?

It could mean more business and bigger profits!