One more jackleg with an opinion

First, a warning: I really don't know what the hell I'm doing.

What I have been doing, for the last few years now, is flinging my comments all over the internets, in various places left, right, and center. I also was briefly associated with a group blog - I had a one-sixth share in something called We're Americans which died after a little over a month for lack of interest on the part of the bloggers, who mostly were involved with other projects. I was recovering from back surgery during that period, as well as moving into a new house, and was in little mood to blog.

The original plan was to establish The Hill once we were moved in and I could sit at my chair reasonably comfortably. Some of you may have noticed that this stub has been sitting here for months without any activity going on. But I soon found myself asking what I was going to do with this place. Straight political blogging bores the hell out of me; so much of what you see on the nets is straight advocacy for a position or candidate simply because it's the Democratic or Republican position or candidate. I had written a couple of such pieces for the old blog. They were not enjoyable to write, and even less enjoyable to read. And although there are some good personal bloggers I drop in on from time to time, that was not a direction in which I cared to go.

Also, the technical side of blogging is intimidating to me. My template looks like hieroglyphics. At least Haloscan is self-installing, but everything else I've tried to do so far, like post a blogroll, has proven unsuccessful.

So, for months, The House on the Hill sat unoccupied. But from time to time, I would get asked, "Why don't you blog?" Which I would answer with any of 101 different excuses. And yet I still had this urge from time to time to do something with this place, at least to provide a venue for discussing those odd bits of trivia, political and otherwise, that come floating through here, and to have proof in future years that I did indeed ride the merry-go-round.

And so here we are. I'll spout plenty of political opinion, although this isn't necessarily a political blog. I may blog some on sports, but this isn't a sports blog. And despite occasional musings on religion, this isn't a God blog. Kevin Ayers had an album title from the early 70's, Whatevershebringswesing, and that's a nice way to sum up the spirit of what we're doing here. (And by the way, despite periodic references to 60's - 70's progressive rock, this isn't a music blog, either.)

As for my ongoing concerns as to the tone and quality of what goes on here, I picked up this bit of inspiration from the farmer:

...blogging is mostly like pissin' off the back porch. unless you're a "celebrity blogger" of some species or another the enthralled blog-o-masses generally speakin' haint much gonna be interested in watchin' you piss off your back porch.

Welcome to The Hill. Pull up a chair here on the porch. And if you get the urge, be sure you don't hit the folks down below playing badminton on the green.