Blog Death

I feel like my blogs are dying a slow death. I'd love to say that it is because I have been too busy to blog, but in reality it's because I haven't quite figured out where the boundaries between my 3 blogs are. When I separated out my blogs, I did so because I didn't want to clutter this blog with recipes and then later with baby news.

The recipe blog sadly still gets lots of traffic despite the fact that I haven't added new recipes in months.* I have a stack of recipes sitting on my desk waiting to be added, but I never got around to taking pictures, so I haven't messed with them lately. As I started reading more recipe blogs and following recipe bloggers who discovered me, I was so overwhelmed by the fact that most of these people average 4-6 *new* recipes each week that I kinda let this one go. I don't even try one new recipe a week, except maybe in the summer time, and quite honestly I don't have the time or desire to make that kind of commitment right now.

This blog faired slightly better, but has still been slowly dying. Part of this is becuase I told myself I didn't want to put baby news here and the line between baby and non-baby is incredibly blurry for me right now. As a result of not knowing where my own boundary was, I kinda just quit posting.

The baby blog is the only blog that is getting regularly updated at least once a week at the moment. Part of me thinks that I should have combined the baby blog and this personal blog, but in all honestly I like the freedom of having this blog to write about things that aren't exactly aimed at my family. We are also using that baby blog to replace emailed pregnancy updates for family and friends scattered across the country, so I feel like it would overwhelm this blog.**

At the same time, I miss this blog. I rarely feel like I have to censor myself or my thoughts on this blog, which I can't say about the baby blog. Frequently, I find myself wanting to blog about something and then opting not too because of the potential to offend or "start something" with opinionted family members. I never have that feeling here.

So, in short, I'm going to work on trying to rediscover that balance. It may mean that you may start seeing more baby stuff here (my apologies to those who aren't interested in baby updates), but please bear with me as I try and figure out how to reorganize these three blogs into something that works for my readers but also for me as a writer. I'm not ready to kill off any of the three blogs, but I'm working on finding a division that works.


*In my weak defense, my relationship with food since I got pregnant meant that I haven't cooked as much. I will admit that neither cracked pepper Triskets nor baked potatoes contain carrots, but I feel bad about posting carrot-free weird pregnancy cravings on that blog when its primary audience is people looking for allergy-friendly recipes.
**We're also using it help smooth out issues (like using cloth diapers) that some of our family members might take issue with. Since we have wide variety of opinions and cultural perspectives in our family, it seems like I spend quite a bit of time defending decisions and trying to make sure no one is suprised and no one is offended.

Gmail Prez

I love Gmail, but apparently so does the current administration.

Two years after launching the most technologically savvy presidential campaign in history, Obama officials ran smack into the constraints of the federal bureaucracy yesterday, encountering a jumble of disconnected phone lines, old computer software, and security regulations forbidding outside e-mail accounts.

Oddly reminiscent of the move back into the-not-quite-completed-Stevenson-Hall move we experienced August, I can't even imagine trying to run the country with outdated or non-existent technology. Clearly they only way to tackle the bureaucracy is to call on Google.

officials in the press office were prepared: In addition to having their own cellphones, they set up Gmail accounts, with approval from the White House counsel, so they could send information in more than one way.

New staff find White House in tech Dark Ages - Washington Post- msnbc.com

History

I don't know that I even have words to talk about what I just watched. I've spent the morning watching the live coverage of Barack Obama's inauguration. While I will admit that the last couple of days have seemed a little excessive in terms of 24 hour news coverage, I can't believe that in a matter of minutes we went from time filling factoids (Obama hates coffee, but collect comic books, etc) to a truly monumental time in history.

It seems surreal that less than an hour ago, a man that would at one time not have been allowed to vote was just sworn in as President. This election has been momumental in many ways and it struck me today that when our baby is born in May, he/she will never have a concept of a time when the office was an office that had only been held by white men. The fact that our country embraced diversity in terms of ethnicity and gender in this election season is one of the most valuable parts of this election for me. I agree with Obama on many of his policies and visions, but I am even more proud to live in a country that fought so bitterly of policies during the primary and election, yet came together to support a historic transition.

Part of me is sad that I spent this historic moment at home alone watching what seemed like a very global moment. At the same time, even when my internet kicked me off Twitter and Facebook, I still felt an odd sense of the country standing still. Even moments before the ceremony was set to take place, I was contemplating running up to campus so I could experience this moment with other people. I was too afraid of missing it to actually go anywhere, but I was shocked at how connected I felt even alone in my living room. I hope this sense of unity is something that doesn't wane in the coming hours and days.

I know that there are still those who will fail to recognize the true value of this moment or will fault President Obama regardless of what he does, but I was moved by the humbleness and greatness of what I just watched.

News Overload

I'll admit that I enjoy being able to follow every step of the election and inauguration as it happens, but this might be a sign that the news outlets are running out of things to talk about.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

I'm not sure which is more disturbing that MSNBC reported this as actual news or that there is a college professor out there who specializes in port-o-potties.