Yet Another Cheese Sandwich Blog

Maybe the thing I hear most about my blog from friends is that they can’t understand it. “It’s too technical!”, “Why do you always write about computer programming?”, “Why don’t you ever talk about your daily life?”. Most of them read their friends’ blogs in order to keep in touch, as a way of feeling close to people they know who are far away.

I think this is pretty different from the expectations in many blogging communities that exist primarily (or at least initially) online. These communities tend to form around discussions of sets of ideas or obsessions: commonly techie or political ideas, but there’s plenty of groups around music (the thriving mp3 blog ecology of which Hype Machine offers a taste, for example), art (Drawn! and Art Dorks are popular), and local culture (PORT is a great Portland example).

Now, while I don’t think that my blog is especially technical — and it’s definitely not about “computer programming” — I do use it to participate in a community of ideas rather than to provide an illusion of proximity for far away friends. I can definitely imagine that, if you are not part of the “idea community” to which my blog aspires to contribute, the things I talk about here would seem technical or impersonal. I’m also not especially interested in changing my blog, in making it more personal. It’s exactly this feeling of participation that I enjoy about blogging.

But I think I’ve got a solution for my alienated-feeling friends. If you’re wondering what I’m up to and are particularly craving a “cheese sandwich”-style blog post from me, all you’ve got to do is send me an email (greg@mfdz.com works) with the date and the phrase “What Kind of Day It Has Been” as the subject line, and I’ll send you your own personal post all about what I did and ate that day (I can’t promise I won’t edit out bad things about you or people you know, but that kind of cryptic tongue holding is exactly what makes personal blogs tantalizing to read). Plus, if you know where the phrase comes from you get extra points. Complain no more!

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0 Responses to Yet Another Cheese Sandwich Blog

  1. Ari says:

    Hey, it can be both. I enjoy hearing about your technical/geeky exploits.

  2. mort says:

    I think the personal Dear Diary kind of blog has its place, but what’s inside your head is far more interesting than what’s in your mouth or stomach. Useful ideas may be techie / geeky, but it seems that the techgeeks have more to say than most others these days. Keep it up … okay, did you have noodles and cottage cheese today?

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