Tag: bloggers

Haiku, Reply Haiku

Carl Setzer1 Comment

I read this haiku over on Charlotte Digregorio’s blog.

out of the blue
the window washer
brightens my day
by Tom Painting (USA)
Modern Haiku, Vol. 37.2, Summer 2006

This reminded me of an experience I had back in the 90s. I worked on various projects at a variety of firms. In one of them, I was at a law firm in the Columbia Center, a 73 story building in downtown Seattle. We were located on the 60th some odd floor, and one of my colleagues was startled by the window washer appearing outside her window. The ensuing shriek garnered all of our attention, and amusement…including that of the washer. 

sixtieth floor
an amused window washer
my startled colleague

Blogging Regrets?

Carl Setzer2 Comments
crop female freelancer using laptop at table at home

So, Fandango (I’m sure you’ve seen me write about him before) posted a few days ago about regrets he had during his blogging career (is it fair to call blogging a career?).

He, like me, started his blogging on Blogger. Now, Fandango regretted not starting on WordPress. I weighed all the options back in 2005 when I launched my blog. When Blogger was acquired by Google, I thought that this would be the BEST platform. And, well, I was wrong about that. I shifted over the WordPress years ago, and haven’t really updated my Blogger site (just a few random posts here and there). But Blogger gets far more hits than the WordPress site. Last month, Blogger got 1,008 hits while WordPress got 221. I expect the Blogger stats may be misleading, but I haven’t spent any time researching that.

Anyway, be that as it may. Stats are only so valuable. I get more engagement on WordPress, like the interface better, and find the ecosystem of plugins wonderful. So, though I don’t exactly regret my time with Blogger, I am glad I made the move to WordPress.

Some thoughts on the Dark Brandon thing

Carl Setzer2 Comments
mad formal executive man yelling at camera

A blogger I highly admire, Bernie Michalik, posted this article looking at the whole Dark Brandon meme that’s running through the internet right now: On The Good and Bad Aspects of Dark Brandon (a quick aside for those unaware of the meme “Let’s Go Brandon”, it’s basically an anti-Biden euphemism. If you wish to explore it further, here’s the Wikipedia article.)

I understand that it feels good, at one level, to meet political invective head-on. However, I find it counterproductive. Bernie pulls an apt quote:

“Never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it.”

George Bernard Shaw

So, my thoughts? As Luke Skywalker put it, “This isn’t going to go the way you think”.

It’s best to keep our end goals in mind. Which, hopefully, isn’t just to score pyrrhic points in the eternal game of poltical one-upmanship.