Is It Just Me…or Did This Blog Used to Be More Fun?
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I was doing some spring cleaning on my blog this last weekend and decided to review and refactor my category list.
Categorization of posts is probably not something that most bloggers bother to spend much time thinking about. I’m sure there are a few anal retentive souls out there that do this on a regular basis, but attention to detail is not usually one of my strengths so I was surprised when I found myself so engrossed in this activity.
Mostly I think I liked doing this because it helped me reflect on on how my blogging style and interests have changed over time. I realized that I used to write quite a few posts that were imbued with a sense of fun and satire, but that over time my content became much more serious and research based.
I really enjoyed rereading those earlier posts and it made me nostalgic for that type of writing. Blogging was way more fun then.
I still definitely enjoy researching and writing about more serious, technically oriented posts and will continue to do so, but I think that focusing too much on serious content for too long definitely contributed to me becoming a little burned out on blogging and needing a hiatus.
In the future, I’m going to experiment with striking a better balance between these two sides of my personality.
In the meantime, I decided to create a new category for these earlier posts here as well as highlight a few of my favorites for those of you who subscribed to my blog more recently and may have missed out on the lighter side of Caffeinated Coder.
Enjoy.
- ALT.NET Conference: The Geek Paparazzi Uncover Real Controversy – This one is easily my favorite. As a response to the claims that Alt.NET was too elitist, I decided to have some fun by making up a story to go with a handful of peculiar pictures that I found posted from the first Alt.NET conference in Austin.
- Breaking Up Is Hard To Do… When I changed jobs about a year ago, I got really sick of having to repeat my nice, scripted answers to why I was leaving, so I came up with these alternative gems that I would have liked to have told people instead.
- On Communal Douche Bags and My New Business Model Remember back when Fake Steve Jobs pretended that he was being strong armed by the real Steve Jobs into shutting up? Here’s some fun I had with the topic that even included juxtaposing a picture of Steve Jobs next to a picture of a real douche bag.
- Scott Guthrie Gets an Image Makeover Have you ever imagined Scott Gu as an action hero kicking some major *ss? I had way too much fun with Jib-Jab in this post.
- Mystery Solved – Here’s a little Paint.NET fun that I had at the expense of Scott Bellware back when his blog mysteriously disappeared from CodeBetter.
- Conspiracy++ – Here’s my April Fool’s response to the Usual Canadian Suspect’s attempt to simultaneously claim credit for the anonymous Alt.NET pursefight blog.
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I’m not a dev, but I am married to one (does that count?). I think that when you blog whatever you want, even if it’s not “technical” or even serious, then you will enjoy the experience more. I mean, few people really live and breathe code, and IMHO a blog should reflect all of who you are (or as much of you as you choose to reveal). Sometimes it is silly, sometimes it’s angry, and sometimes it is uber-professional. I know I enjoy blogs from people who don’t take themselves too seriously, and frankly, your industry needs more satire!
[...] Is It Just Me…or Did This Blog Used to Be More Fun? – Russell Ball Russell looks for a new focus on his blog, which is apparently in need for more humor… ‘ In the future, I’m going to experiment with striking a better balance between these two sides of my personality ‘ [...]
Be true to yourself, above all! That is all that matters.