Throwing My Hat In The Ring

......more like throwing a really good hat over a big wall - so I can get to the other side - and not knowing how I'm going to get it (i.e. I have NO idea what I'm getting myself into). BLOGS or for those of you that are new to this, weB LOGs are becoming more and more mainstream as a way of sharing ideas, experiences, your life! I don't consider myself a "techie"  but more an early adopter of technology as a way to make a difference in my life and the lives of those around me - plus I like cool things. Blogs and RSS (more on that later) have been around for a couple of years and until recently they have been reserved for those more on the bleeding edge of technology. Bloggers gained momentum during the past twelve months creating some ground swells with the election and then ultimately unveiled to the general public in a big way during the Dan Rather debacle (it was the blog community that uncovered the "truth" around the documents that Rather reported on). Companies like Bloglines and NewsGator (www.newsgator.com) have now made it easier for mere mortals to contribute and sort through the "blogesphere". What's really cool about this is it's an undefined world that's unfolding right before our eyes - and the people, not big industry, are getting to say what it looks like.

So, now onto my blog; One of the things that occurred to me as I start down this path is 1) why blog and 2) what do I want to blog about. This will obviously unfold in whatever direction it does and whatever information I decide to share, either public or private, I hope it makes a difference for those around me - the kind of things that have you say to yourself, "ah, I didn't know that", or  "very cool, useful". The other thing that occurred to me about publishing an on-line journal is that it kind of defines who you are, as a person (or at least it makes it public). It's a way of saying - yup, this is who I am, the good, bad and indifferent.

For those of you in business that are interested in the RSS world, I've also started another blog called Corporate RSS - Applied (http://sandyhamilton.blogs.com/corporate_rss_applied/). This blog will be about the specific applications of RSS inside of business and the benefits of it. The power of RSS is amazing (it's enveloped my life), yet business is just now waking up to it. Applied appropriately - it can really make a difference.

Enough for now.....lets see where this takes me.