Why are these blogs long?
Every time I start a blog, I try to keep it short. Yet, my head is crammed with ideas and to make them understandable to other people, it is necessary to put them into context… and context takes time and definitions. For example, my blog on basic investing started off as a blog on whether I prefer growth or income oriented investing. Then I needed to explain how I made my decision, what investments were what, and the concept of risk – and on page 3, I realized I needed to break up my ‘quick blog’ into more digestible parts. Which are probably too long for many people! Sorry, I gotta be me.
Why a bee and flower?
My wife likes sunflowers so I was looking for a sunflower image so the yellow would contrast with my blue theme and I could kiss up to my wife. Then I found the image of the bee and realized it sort of fit my idea about this blog. I am a bee flitting from concept to concept and from reader to reader spreading information and ideas. This image will change over time, but I thought it was well worth the five minutes spent searching for it.
Why so many topics?
I’ve always been good at a lot of things and reluctant to choose one over the other. Then I read the famous quote by Heinlein about the Competent Man and it just felt right:
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyse a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
— Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love
My wife suspects I have undiagnosed Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), but while I might be on the spectrum my brain usually switches back to the topic at hand quick enough it didn’t affect my grades or my work. However, it does make me think about a lot of different stuff all of the time. The madness will make more sense once I cover memetics. Speaking of which…
What is coming in the blog?
The core of the blog topics can be broken down into the following concepts:\
- The minimum wage millionaire – or how to retire in comfort even if your pay sucks.
- Technology and Paranoia – Why we should and why we shouldn’t worry.
- Books, Movies, Music and fun ways to spend your time and mine.
- Marketing & Business Strategy – because I am a business geek who does consulting and I should probably do a better job of advertising what I do in a way that is interesting to people who are normal.
I am really excited to cover books by Neal Stephenson, but his books are so crammed full of ideas that I need to write a few blogs first (especially memetics) to put my thoughts into context.
As you can tell, I’m not lying about my blogs being long. This was supposed to be a quick thought that I would pound out on my keyboard before breakfast so I could have a post on Sunday. Now I’m really, really hungry, but hopefully you aren’t too bored and you made it this far. Have a good Memorial Day Weekend!