A Personal Blog

The problem with maintaining a personal blog, is what to put on it? If this were some kind of enthusiast blog about some product, or hobby, or technology, I could put a bunch of useless information down that has been written before by other people and it would get hits from google, and that would be it.

But a personal Blog, what are you supposed to talk about? Complain about problems in your life? Everybody has problems, and sure, it helps to speak them out, and it helps when others comfort, but for me… a blog isn’t the place, because you aren’t going to come here and read it. Or you can brag on a blog, accomplishments, life story, all the crazy places I have been, things I have done. But I’m not so full of myself that i think people are searching for that either. If anything, just sharing information i have learned. right…

So… blog about the little things? Isn’t that what facebook is for? Definetly gonna get more attention on facebook than here. I don’t think anyone searches for “mindless drool” on google anyway…

I guess I just need to find a niche. I feel like the little thing i wrote about astronomy was pretty good, especially for people that don’t know anything about the subject and wanted to know a little more about the system of the stars.

Maybe I will just review books. Currently I am reading a book called The 4-Hour Workweek, which is interesting… It is sort of a motivational book, with a title that sells you with a promise that is too good to be true, which as far as I am concerned, is. The guy, Tim Ferris, writes about methods to reduce work and increase effectiveness, but to me, it seems like a lot of hype without a lot of concrete to back it up. You don’t have to read a book to know that efficiency is a good thing.

Having ripped on him a little, I do find his work sufficiently motivational. I might not see much depth in his writing, but i definitely feel like it left me motivated to do things with my life, errr continue to do thing. Tim writes about the activities we should be doing with all that extra time from having only a 4 hour work week. I think this idea counts no matter the work schedule. If there is something out there that you want, get it! Alright Tim, I am on my way.

Last night went out to observe what was left of the yearly Perseids meteor shower. It was a beautiful night and the sky was ablaze with stars. We would have gone out the night before during the peak of the shower, but unfortunately Corvallis was socked in. Only saw a few meteors, but they were thrilling and beautiful ones. Apparently the Perseids Meteor shower is a yearly event that occurs because there is a trail of space debris flowing through space, and every year around August 11 or 12 we pass through it, giving us a “shower” of meteors. Also, there are several other meteor showers of varying intensity that happen throughout the year, one of the most prominent being the Leonids, which occur around November 17th. I shall be waiting with Excitement.

I kind of wish i that i would have kept up with the star watching a bit more. I feel like i have missed really learning half of the sky, as winter approaches, the first constellations i learned are quickly approaching, and i won’t have opportunities to learn the ones i missed until next year. (at least learn from actual sky observation)

Also living in Corvallis, I feel i really benefit from living in a flat area, sooo many more stars are available for viewing. I do miss the telestar 114az Telescope though, as it really provided some depth to the sky. I believe that it was just the right amount of power to make things in the sky readily visible without picking up too much interference with the atmosphere, and it was possible, tho at full power constantly necessary, to track with objects as they moved across the sky. Mountains actually look like mountains on the moon. Saturn’s rings were readily visible, as were the moons of Saturn and Jupiter. Eh, it is only a 2 hour drive to my Pops house.

telestar 114az

Well, more than 7 months after my first post, perhaps it is time to update a bit on things that i have accomplished from that original list. I’m just gonna list things that i did do, and not worry about the rest, some of those things were pretty long term goals anyway .

As of now, i have:

Baked bread from scratch. many times over now. I love it, cooking, baking, it’s fun!! So i have baked white bread, wheat bread, and banana bread, and while i was still at my dad’s house, i had been baking the wheat bread on a fairly regular basis. very tasty! Not hard to do, just mix the ingredients, let the yeast make it rise, punch it down, let it rise again, bake it, and walah! bread! dash gone good bread too Now that i am in own apartment, haven’t begun the baking yet, but i do have the ingredients .

This year i did help immensely with the home garden, and i have been enjoying the fruits of labor since the beginning of summer. now that i am out of the house, i don’t have as easy access to the tasty plants, but i have tried to have some on every visit to my dad’s house. I also built several planters out of the same boards i made that crazy sled out of during winter, and have the planters set up at the new apartment on the balcony. haven’t planted anything yet… soon soon….

The learning of Russian hasn’t been a real hardcore thing, but i do feel like have learned a lot, and have become at least a little familiar with the language. i hear… like… every 3rd or 4th word .

At the end of this spring, i finished up an associates degree! word, not that it will get me far, but i am working on the next step here at OSU in the fall. New goal: B. S. in two or so years.

Remember that t-shirt thing? well, never did actually make a t shirt for cameesa, but did put that stuff on Cafe Press, and… have so far sold 2 tshirts!!!! woot woot! made 5 bucks… split between me and Oksana. wow, profits just rollin in…..

Totally made a white wings.

I was working on Learning the night sky pretty hardcore at one point, but then kinda slacked. I learned a lot, and feel pretty familiar with several of the major constellations, but i would definitely say my knowledge is incomplete. a little harder to keep up with here in Corvallis too, but i think i can handle finishing this one up in the near future.

Though i haven’t really reaped any profits from a website, i have started a project in the direction, in collaboration with my good friend Tom, with Goji Berries Facts. I may consider putting google ads here at this blog as well in the future. At this point the blog does get regular traffic, but not much, and mostly for insignificant and un-focused keywords. Certainly, won’t be pulling in more than a few dollars anytime soon, but money is money.

So, that’s the story. I pretty happy that i could say all that had been done actually. Perhaps the next blog will be an updated list and what i see for myself in the near future.

In other news, I am engaged! And getting married within the month! It’s craziness, but i am filled with Joy

I suppose I haven’t felt the desire to share. .  I guess i figure that a blog  is for fun, not for work, and if i don’t feel like i have anything that i want put out there… then nothing gets put out there.

Sooo, basic update:

Moved to Corvallis, signed up and registered classes for OSU in fall, rescued cat from shelter, cat’s name is Speck, Oksana is here at our new apartment, we have plenty of plans, apartment is nice, cozy (aka small), but nice and modern.  Went to North Carolina a month ago, saw extended family, was wonderful trip, everyone getting a little older, more grown up, except uncle gary, who grows down.  On the tail end of a very strong heat wave with temperatures over 110 degrees fahrenheit, put window air conditioner in sliding glass door and sealed with saran wrap.  very ghetto.  set up first online marketing site, Goji Berries.   getting a handle on the online marketing world, if i spam your blog, no hard feelings.  Oh yeah, this blog got spammed hardcore, lots of stuff about viagra etc.  had to change comment options, so now if you want to leave a comment, you have to register on the blog.   not a big deal, but i promise not to be offended if you just skip it, even if your comment was amazing.  also changed style of blog.  much cleaner, more professional, while still being light on dark, which i like.  have been playing with linux more, setting up old computer to be file server, and maybe web server, stopped using ubuntu and went to Debian.  I liked it at first, but starting to think that linux for brain dead idiots (ubuntu) may have been the way to stay.  so i might go back.  ummmmmm, got netflix! and… thats about all i got…

new russian words to know:

potom = later

moszhna = allowed

panyat = float in the air

beleeko = far away

zamoski = overseas

I don’t know how these words will come in useful, but i hear them in russian conversation, and it helps a lot to know them.

Peace out.

Sigh, three long and wonderful months since I posted. Been out of Ukraine for a month and half already. My bad. The real kicker that kinda stopped the posting was when I was in Ukraine, my laptop hard drive died on me. Had to start from scratch. Was pretty lame, especially when I did not have my xp install disk to install an operating system on the laptop even if I did get new hard drive. However, this motivated me to try a linux install. Once upon a time I did a fedora install on an old computer so as to just be able to use the computer. The computer was really underpowered for what I was trying to get it to run, and tho it worked, eventually I just gave up on it. Fast forward several years, and I purchased a new hard drive in Ukarine, and loaded ubuntu on laptop, which worked very well. I have become a fan! Anyway, many things since then, and with a little luck, I can share lots and lots and lots. But not tonight, cuz I need sleep. Peace.