The New 30 Day (or so) Challenge

At the (general) urging of Cal and following also in the footsteps of Jaquandor, I’m starting a new Challenge this month. Do it with me. Or don’t.

The timing is fortuitous. I have two (count ’em 2) conferences, pretty much back-to-back events, this month, so blogging time will be limited. AND I want to tidy things up here.

Now I promise this WILL take longer than 30 days: May has Mother’s Day, our wedding anniversary, plus ABC Wednesday, Lydia day, and anything else I decide to write instead. It’ll probably take me 45 to 60 days. So be it. Indeed, I probably won’t even start until next week.

•Day One: Favourite Actor
•Day Two: Favourite Movie
•Day Three: Favourite Musician
•Day Four: Favourite Book
•Day Five: Favourite Food
•Day Six: Favourite Song
•Day Seven: Favourite TV Show
•Day Eight: Pictures Of Your Room
•Day Nine: Favourite Flower
•Day Ten: Favourite Outfit
•Day Eleven: Recent Picture Of Yourself
•Day Twelve: Where Your Family Is From
•Day Thirteen: Favourite Memory
•Day Fourteen: Favourite Purchase Ever Made
•Day Fifteen: Current Grades
•Day Sixteen: Future Tattoos
•Day Seventeen: A Childhood Picture
•Day Eighteen: Favourite Board Game
•Day Nineteen: Something That Made You Smile Today
•Day Twenty: A 10+ Year Old Picture
•Day Twenty-One: Favourite Movie Quote
•Day Twenty-Two: Picture Of You On This Day
•Day Twenty-Three: Favourite Music Video
•Day Twenty-Four: Something Embarrassing In Your Room
•Day Twenty-Five: One Of Your Most Prized Possessions
•Day Twenty-Six: A Picture From One Of The Greatest Days Of Your Life
•Day Twenty-Seven: A Picture Of Where You’re From
•Day Twenty-Eight: A Drawing
•Day Twenty-Nine: Somewhere You Want To Visit
•Day Thirty: Whomever You Find Most Attractive In This World

I may get rid of some of those excessive letter U’s in the titles. Darn Canadians!

And though I promised these before, this time for sure:
*A list of all the Beatles songs, in desert island order.
*Movie year in review.
*Underplayed vinyl – this is helped out tremendously by the painting of the attic, which allows the ACCESS to and reorganization of said LPs.

Quite possibly none of these before June, but these will be my summer projects.

Yes, I am blogging about blogging; this too shall pass.

And while I’m prattling on, I highly recommend that if you happen to have my AOL e-mail address, don’t send me any messages there if you actually reply more often than once a month.

Oh, I was Googling my name, and I came across this:
What was roger green’s early life?
he was a a canable who perferd eating tiny people with dwarfism

I was SHOCKED! That’s some of the worst spelling I’ve ever seen.

ROG

The Giveaway

I decided, in honor of the new blog, or the old blog with the new URL, or whatever it is that I’m doing, to have a giveaway here, based on aspects of my life.

There will be five winners. Among the prizes are:

*Top Pop Albums, 1955-2009 from Record Research, a list of every album that charted on the Billboard charts in the past 55 years.

*Beyond Words: Daily Readings in the ABC’s of Faith by Frederick Buechner. A compilation of 366 brief essays of faith.

*THE NEARLY COMPLETE ESSENTIAL HEMBECK ARCHIVES OMNIBUS. 900 pages of Fred Hembeck goodness. If you don’t know Fred’s work, it is tricky to describe. It is largely a series of stories about a character named Fred Hembeck and his interaction with comic book characters, which I fell in love with long before I even met my friend. Donated and signed by the artist.

Welcome Back, My Friends, To The Show That Never Ends

So: if you have been blogging for five years, some people are of the opinion that you should either 1) quit or 2) get your own URL. Evidently, I have chosen the latter.

When this URL – http://www.rogerogreen.com – was available, and I got it two months ago, I did almost nothing with it. Then, pretty much in the past two weeks, I said, “Oh, crap, my blog anniversary’s coming up. Wouldn’t it be really cool if I switched at that point?”

Five Years

Stealing the idea from Bacardi, here’s Five Years by David Bowie.

Printed on April 29, 2010 at 2:30 p.m.

Frankly, I’m surprised I made it here. Five years of blogging every day, at least once a day. I have to work REALLY hard NOT to blog MORE than once a day, but I was reasonably successful; only 367 blogposts in the last 365 days, and I’m sure one of those was a prominent death that JUST COULDN’T WAIT.

But the other reason I’m surprised I made it is that, last summer, I got REALLY discouraged.

Online/offline life

I attended this blogger conference last week at the College of Saint Rose. If you go to the link, you’ll see what people, including me, thought of the event. The video, which I kvetched about in the article, is also available at the site.

One of the running observations in those comments is that the participants feared that the event would turn out to be a snarkfest, based on some of the online comments that some of these same people had made online to each other. Instead it was, if not a love fest, then at least quite civil. And I got to see my buddy David Brickman, pictured, and not just his head.

I find it all very odd, because, lately, I’m finding people online to be, for the most part, much more civil than in person. There was an incident last month at church – which I won’t get into much except to say this: when someone wants to convince me of the efficacy of a point of view, it’s really important that the topic sentence not be patently, demonstrably false. That transaction, combined with some other circumstances, made going there, especially to choir, a little less of a safe place to be than it had been heretofore. Not occasionally, some of my racquetball partners can be – let’s say unnecessarily irritating lately. Our neighbors, who we are fond of, lost their house for back taxes; verdict is out on the buyer, but early signs are, let’s say, less than encouraging. And the Albany Y is closing at the end of the month; I’ve only been a member since December 1982, so I have no emotional investment.

Meanwhile, online life is pretty darn great. Part of that, admittedly, is the fact that it was my birthday Sunday and I got probably two dozen Facebook well wishers, plus four e-cards, a number of e-mails, a few comments on the blog, and a mention from Gordon. Since I am admittedly LOUSY at Facebook – it just isn’t something I find the time to do regularly – I found the FB responses in particular really gratifying.

But it’s other stuff. My blog was featured on the Times Union page when I happened to be sitting at the library next to a guy looking for a job; I could just give him the link to the Census information. “Hey, is that you?” pictured on top? Why yes, it is.

The mighty comic blogger ADD cited a conversation we had a while back in a recent post. Jaquandor (the guy at Byzantium Shores) and Scott answered my questions; yes, some of them are the same questions. I get good comments from the ABC Wednesday folks.

Sunday Stealing stole my meme (that’s a good thing); and yes, I had admittedly stolen it myself.

Speaking of stealing, I was pleased that the NYS senator Kirsten Gillibrand came out for gay men being able to donate blood. I wanted to write something but didn’t have time, so of course, I stole it. I feel only slightly guilty, because I stole it from me. Repositioning, as I recall ADD and I decided.

Someone joked at the Times Union gig that “almost no one” showed up in pajamas. Sometimes, the folks that I could “talk” with in my PJs are just easier to deal with. Well, except for Glenn Beck attacking me.
***
I’m not much of a believer in astrology, but my friend of 52 years, born two days after I, sent me our chart. I found it oddly soothing:
“This aspect is all about breaking the bonds that held you down in the past.” [Sounds right.] You are about to become liberated from some sort of situation that contained or limited you…Earlier in the month we have an excellent day that you may want to circle on your calendar – March 7…will help you hone your powers of communication. The written and spoken word will become very important to your progress at this time, and if you are born on March 7, or within five days of this date, this will be true for your whole year to come because this is happening on your “solar return” or return of the Sun to your time of birth. (The closer your birthday falls to March 7, the more dramatically you will see this trend.) Travel taken near March 7 should go really well, and all news, including news about home and family, could make you want to sing!”
Since my birthday was March 7 – which turned out to be a pretty good day…

ROG

ROG

The Pretentious Blogging Meme 2

More navel-gazing via Sunday stealing.

12. How many drafts of potential blog posts do you have right now?

102. Some of them are for dates past. Will they become blogposts? Dunno. Some will, in all likelihood.

13. In what medium do you draft your posts?

In the Blogger thingy. It has an autosave feature, but I hit the save button frequently anyway. Occasionally, Blogger won’t save, and I end up copying and pasting the post in an e-mail to myself. Even my WordPress blog I do in Blogger, mostly because I never figured out how to size pictures in WP.

14. How often do you completely scratch or delete drafts or blog post ideas?

Maybe three or four times a year. What a pain, mostly because blogging time is so finite.

15. If you had to leave your blog in your will to another blogger, who would you choose?

There’s a woman in my office who used to blog. Her.

16. Are there other blogs that you feel are similar to yours in content, style, or voice?

Well, yes, no, maybe. Obviously I think my voice is unique, but that’s true of everyone. I think that there are elements of my blogging style in a number of blogs. I tend to think many other blogs are more singularly focused than mine. Maybe I should have five blogs or something, but I’d find it irritatingly compartmentalizing.
I pretty much hate most categories. The only categories I have for the bulk of my CDs are classical and pop. Classical is anything where the composer is above the title, whether that be Beethoven, Gershwin or Scott Joplin. Pop is everything else.

17. Has anything surprised you since you started blogging?

Yes, that I’m still doing it every day. That anyone reads it. That occasionally people are moved by what I write, often unexpectedly. That I have found it not just enjoyable but occasionally useful.

18. What are your goals or plans for your blog going forward?

Blog less. Or absent that, cloning.

19. Do you make any money from your blog? (optional) about how much a month?

No, though I’ve gotten some swag.

20. What blogging system do you use?

Does this mean Blogger? Or does mean chaos? Actually one of my blogs is in WordPress.

21. How did you come up your blog name?

From a radio guy called Rambling with Gambling. Oh, and my first name; I liked the partial alliteration.

22. How many blogs do you have? What was your peak?

Seven. Seven. Fortunately three are shared. Oddly, the most difficult one is the one for which I write once a month; more pressure, I think.

23. Are you having as much fun as when you started?

It ebbs and flows. Surely more than when I FIRST started when I had no idea what I was going to write the next day, or what my credo of blogging was. (I have a credo of blogging?)

24. Where do you find other bloggers like you?

Blog friends of blog friends.

25. What’s your one wish when it comes to blogging?

Steve Martin answered this long time ago here.

ROG

ROG

The Pretentious Blogging Meme

Apparently, I’m in a blogging about blogging mode: From Sunday Stealing.

1. How long have you been blogging?

4 years, 10 months yesterday. Or the day before, if you count the time I wrote it.

2. What made you start?

Discussed here, but what MADE me start ultimately is being very opinionated with no venue.

3. Who inspired you?

Fred Hembeck and the late Steve Gerber.

4. About how many hours a week would you estimate you spend on your blog?

You mean THIS one? Well, probably eight hours writing it, then another five checking out other blogs, getting rid of spam comments, responding to questions, etc.

5. What kind of experience or background do you have with writing?

I wrote for my high school newspaper; in my senior year, had a column called Pa Central (I went to Binghamton Central); snarky before I knew the word.
I co-edited a newsletter in college and edited one in grad school. I edited, for six years, a monthly work newsletter. Wrote some press releases for the Schenectady Arts Council and a little for FantaCo. Edited three and a half issues of FantaCo’s Chronicles Series. Inevitably, anything I edited involved a degree of writing as well.

6. Talk about how you come up with blog topics. Where do you get your ideas?

Steal ’em. Well, sometimes, but finding topics is not the problem; the problem is a lack of time to write coherently about certain topics. I have three topics I could write about tomorrow, but will I have time to compose ANY of them?

7. What or who inspires you and your blog?

Life. Politics. Sports. TV. Music. The newspaper. Really, inspiration I get easily; time, not so much.

8. Where and/or how do your brainstorming for your blog?

Anywhere – riding the bus, taking a shower, occasionally, my dreams.

9. Do you have any blogging rules or guidelines you follow?

Probably. I tend not to use language that’s likely to offend a segment of my vast readership. I try not to write about the same topic too often in a row. Not only might it be tedious for the reader, more importantly it’d likely be boring for me. Or maybe my approach is ADHD-driven.

10. Is there anything you will not blog about?

Yes. And if I told you what those topics were, that’d kind of defeat the purpose of not blogging about it. “I’m not going to tell you about…”; yeah, right.

11. Do you have any sort of a publishing schedule in terms of day of week or topic?

Well, Tuesday is ABC Wednesday. The 26th of the month is Lydia day. Mondays are memes, sometimes (not this week, apparently). Saturdays are questions, often but not always. The rest I fake.
***
More in re: blogging. I entered Rose’s blog hosting contest. Guess what? I WON! I got a confirming e-mail yesterday afternoon, and I have some ideas for a URL, but if you have some thoughts before, say, 1 pm Eastern Time today when I go to lunch and contact the provider, have at it.
***
I noted only a couple days ago that I had appeared in the Trouble with Comics blog. Then Mr. Doane wrote to comment: “My apologies, but Guest Reviewer Month has now been pushed back to April due to some technical problems. Your piece should go up 4/1, Roger. Sorry!” The trouble with this was that I thought he was making a joke; the piece should go up on April Fools Day? Les & Trudy didn’t raise someone THAT gullible.

Except that my friend Rocco noted that the piece that had been posted had disappeared. This probably has something to do with Trouble with Comics changing its URL because of changers with Blogger re: FTPs.

In other words, I have outwitted myself. Expect the piece on – April 1? Really, ADD?

ROG

ROG

Media Maven

Thursday, I got a ride from my isolating Corporate Woods office with lousy bus service to the neighborhood-imbedded College of Saint Rose, using up most of my lunch break, to film what will probably be a 15-second segment of a promotion for what appears below. It’s too bad that I had to go back to work, because my ride took us right past my house.

I was supposed to say something profound about why I blog, on cue. Yeesh. Ultimately, I rambled on about something to do with being a librarian and wanting to share information. (I think.) I know they’ll be showing the compiled video at the event, but if it’s otherwise available, I’ll make a point to share it with you.

The guy who picked me up I hadn’t seen in four or five years. I’ve talked with him regularly and e-mailed with even more frequently. But when he picked me up, he didn’t recognize me, because of the vitiligo. Heck, sometimes I literally don’t recognize myself.

Oh, one other thing: with the sheer number of participants, and the time frame, I can’t imagine just how this thing is going to work.

The upcoming Media 2010 event to be held Wednesday, March 3, at The College of Saint Rose, has sold out. We currently are accepting names on a waiting list.

Event: Media 2010: How blogs shape the new conversation
Date: Wednesday, March 03, 2010 from 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM (ET)

Location:
College of Saint Rose
Touhey Forum, Lally Building
1009 Madison Avenue
Albany, NY 12203

***
Speaking of blogging, I seem to be spending more time deleting spam from my blogs. Except for this one, the messages don’t actually GET to the blogs; I use comment moderation. On this blog, though, I don’t, but I get an e-mail copy of whatever gets posted; I click on the link and delete the rubbish forever.

There seems to be particular recurring themes with these of late:
*the guy whose girlfriend, he’s just discovered, has been sleeping with his roommate/brother/uncle/father, and so, of COURSE, he’s inviting you to see nude pictures of her
*various schemes touting particular software
*the couple touting Louisville, KY
Plus the usual scams and stuff written in Russian and Chinese.
But the ones I don’t get are the ones that say something vaguely complimentary that are signed by Anonymous and DON’T have a link to an e-mail or website. What’s the point, exactly?

ROG

ROG

Win 6 free months of blog/web hosting, own domain name

I’m sure I tweeted about this before – back in the days when I used to actually use my Twitter account – but Rose DesRochers – World outside my Window has been having this contest where if you comment to one of her posts – or a whole bunch of other stuff such as tweeting about said contest, one gets points towards winning a WordPress blog hosting package from VisionThisHosting.com.

Unfortunately, tomorrow the 28th is the deadline.

ROG

ROG

What a Jerk

I wasn’t going to bother talking about this, but Rose actually changed my mind.

January 21, I get a virtual greeting card signed by a nickname (I’ll call it SP), starting off Hi ROGUE. The card itself was basically giving me the finger. Two days later, another virtual card from SP using another greeting card company with a similar message.

Then I get a NICE comment on my blog from SP. I am confused.

Soon I discovered that the e-mail belonged to particular person. Ah HA! Except that there is a notice on the blog of SP saying that she is no longer using that e-mail, which led me to the conclusion that, somehow, her e-mail had been hijacked.

January 30, another e-mail, allegedly from SP but from a different e-mail address, from that second virtual card vendor. A card with this lovely sentiment: SINCE YOU FOLLOW THAT B**** [name}’S BLOG {url] LIKE A DOG AND SINCE I AM A B**** THIS IS THE MESSAGE I WANT TO TELL YOU.STOP DOING IT RIGHT NOW!! IF YOU CANT UNDERSTAND TELL ME. WILL TELL YOU THIS ON YOUR UGLY FACE DIRECTLY AS I AM SOMEONE PATHETIC,RABID,ECCENTRIC,THOUGHTLESS,TYRANNICAL,YUCKY

Now I don’t know this person named in this message at all. BUT when I write to this second person, she DOES know the real SP, is good friends with SP, and doubts the real SP would send such unpleasantness her way, or mine.

So all I know about the writer of the e-mails are these facts:

He or she is a coward, hiding under a wall of anonymity.
He or she is apparently a thief, stealing someone else’s identity.
He or she is unimaginative, needing some website to convey feelings. At least the third message has content, demented as it is.

I’m really at a loss as to why I’M getting these messages.
Am I supposed to cry? I might have when I was 12 or 13; I was very sensitive then. Am I supposed to get angry? I might have even 20 years ago, but what’s the point of getting angry with a coward?
Am I supposed to feel a sense of contrition? Well I might, if I had a REAL idea what I’m supposed to feel badly about.
Am I supposed to feel pity? As Charlie Brown said to Lucy Van Pelt, “That’s it!”
Or to quote another pop culture reference, “I pity the fool.”

ROG

ROG