Picnic Point Beach is our favorite beach in the greater Seattle metro/suburban area. It’s a choice spot because it’s off the beaten path (so it never gets too busy), has a very cool stream that runs down to the beach, and plenty of trees and picnic spots. It’s a terrific beach for shell hunting and for finding sea life such as tiny crabs, sea anenomes and starfish. A train track runs nearby and adds to the charm (though they are noisy, so this isn’t a choice beach-napping spot). The homes nestled into the surrounding hillside are impressive and enviable, and the view across the Puget Sound is to die for. This is a place we hit frequently during the summer, and this summer was no exception. Photos below, and more on Flickr.
A couple of years ago, my east-coast friend Bill (check out his blog at Squidly) encouraged me to get into blogging, and so I set up a simple blog at WordPress.com called Seattle Karma. It was pretty easy to do and I found I had some fun with it, but I got bogged down by a general lack of focus – I didn’t know what to make the blog about. Was it a personal blog, where my family and friends could come visit to find out what me and my family were up to? Was it an issues blog, where I’d expound on my many and varied opinions on science and politics? Was it an arts blog, where I could post my latest musings on movies and music? Ultimately, I wrote about all of that and more, and the whole thing became an albatross around my neck. I stopped having fun posting, because I didn’t know what to focus on, and I didn’t want a blog that jumped all over the place, from one topic to the next. Bill poked me once in a while to ask why I wasn’t updating – he had been reading my blog and getting involved in commenting on my posts. ”I don’t know what to write any more, but I’ll see if I can get around to doing something soon.” I’m sure that became as lame as it sounds, and probably even he stopped visiting.
I could have just shoved the whole thing aside…but the thing was, I really did want to blog. It really was fun when I got “into it”, and I even wrote a couple of posts that attracted a pretty good number of visitors, and continued to bring in stragglers off of Google searches (When hard drives go bad, and Mac impressions). I have long read other peoples’ blogs, and even saw that some of them made a little money from doing it. Lastly, I like to write. No, scratch that, I love to write. I’ve been writing on the internet for years, since around 1994 in fact. I’ve posted in Usenet and on forums pretty much every day for the last 15 years. The problem with that is that my writing is spread all over the place. Want to know what I think about something? Well, you might find it somewhere out there on the intertubes if you search hard enough, but bring a cup of coffee with you because it might be a while.
I recognized the value of a blog. All my writing would be in one place. Instead of responding to total strangers in various and sundry forums, I could respond to total strangers in my own forum. And best of all, a blog could provide me with an outlet for my brimming-over brain, which never seems to stop thinking and speaking to me. And then I’d hit the wall again – what do I focus on? My family and friends aren’t going to want to read my opinions on issues, and people coming to read my opinions don’t want to read about my family.
The solution is so simple and obvious, I feel stupid for not considering it sooner: write more than one blog. I know that if I split all my subjects of interest into their own respective blogs, I will be more inclined to write. To a lot of people, I’m sure that sounds like even more work than before, but I don’t see it that way. To me, it’s liberating, and less work than having to think about whether or not something is appropriate for a single blog. That’s just how my mind works – I like things neatly compartmentalized.
Here’s what I’m doing:
My new personal blog: Kohary’s Cove. This is where you’re at right now. This will be strictly a PERSONAL blog, mainly of interest to my family and friends. How is the Kohary family doing, and what are they up to? Here is where you can find out, and everyone who doesn’t know me or my family will probably be bored to tears by it. That’s fine with me. I will still post about some of my hobbies at this blog, like movies, music and computing, and other fun stuff I find during my forays on the intertubes, but “issues” will generally not find their way here. That was my biggest stumbling block on the last blog, and that’s not going to happen again.
My science and skepticism blog: Scientific Skeptic. This will be all about science and skepticism, and my thoughts on the scientific issues of the day. I’m passionate about this subject, and I plan to post a lot here because I have a lot to say on scientific issues.
My movies blog: Mike On The Movies. Another subject I’m intensely passionate about, this is where I’ll post all my thoughts, views and reviews about what I’ve seen on the big screen.
My general issues blog: Seattle Karma. Views on life and issues from the Pacific Northwest. There may be some crossover here with Scientific Skeptic, but if you’re less interested in how I’m doing and more interested in what I think, this is where you’ll find it, with an emphasis on the local Puget Sound perspective.
My music blog: well, not yet, exactly. But I am starting a new blog geared specifically towards classic heavy metal, called Classic Metal Mania, which I hope to commercialize and make a small pittance from. Check it out if you’re a into hard rock and heavy metal of the 60s, 70s and 80s.
So that’s it! If all you want to read is this blog, my personal blog, you are welcome to it. If you think you might be interested in any of those other topics, feel free to join me there as well. I split all my old posts among the five blogs above as appropriate, so nothing from the past was deleted. And if I think of new things I want to write about, chances are I’ll open even more blogs, and I’ll be sure to post about them right here. I’ve got a lot of work to do on these blogs, but it’s fun again so I don’t mind. And whipping out this post right here was easy as pie – took me all of 10 minutes. Now that’s how I want blogging to be. :-)
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Some new pictures I took of the kids in front of the tree. One of these (the first one in the Flickr set) is going out in our Christmas cards. They did a great job and gave me a shoot with lots of personality – I’m glad to have such photogenic kids!
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Time to catch up on some pictures from the summer. Here are some pictures from a Father’s Day dinner Mia’s Girl Scout troop threw for the dads. The girls also recieved their badges and other commendations that day. This was Mia’s first year in Girl Scouts, and she had a lot of fun learning to canoe, ride horses, cook, and other assorted fun and festivities. She hooked up with a great troop and she’s looking forward to the coming year.
Colin graduated from pre-school this year, and had a great time with his friends and teachers. He really settled down a lot this year, and learned to get along with others pretty well. He’s looking forward to kindgarten, most of all because he “gets to go to Mia’s school”. Cue eye-rolling from big sister. ;-) Thanks for a great class, Mrs. Kirkham (pictured below) and Mrs. Wyatt!
More to come later…
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Pictures are up from the weekend picnic.
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We went to Vasa Park Resort on Lake Sammamish for my company picnic on Sunday. Nice weather, around 80 but with some clouds to break up the sun. Good food, nice playground, but most importantly, great water and swim area. The kids had lots of fun; I’ll post pictures shortly.
My new Mac Pro is on the way, and should arrive today or tomorrow. I can hardly wait!
Watched Black Snake Moan the other night, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Christina Ricci. Very good movie, disturbing and thoughtful with some highly authentic performances. Ricci is really a gem when she gets in the right role, and Jackson can always be counted on in just about anything he does. I’ll post my review in a day or two.
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