I am an BLOGGING DYNAMO!

Well - it's been over seven months since I opened this blog. I didn't even put up the first posting until 10 minutes ago. So, theoretically, this is my second post today. I'm still fuzzy on the whole 'what do I want to do with this' thing. Do I want to make it an online diary? That's what I originally intended because I'm too lazy (unfocused) to write one out. But there are too many things I wouldn't want to put up there.

So maybe I want to use this to communicate to friends and family around the world. That's grandiose and somewhat far-sighted, but I'm not sure how much that'll fly with the peeps. Oh - Peeps! Pepys! That's what I really want. To be the next Samuel Pepys. Without the lice. For those that don't know, he was a Restoration age Englishman who's comprehensive diary documented an amazing and turbulent time in London's history, including the Restoration of the monarchy, the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London. Amazing stuff.

The closest thing we have to that today is living in this post 9/11 world. I'm sure that's been posted and blogged to death and I'm not sure I have anything to add. What's maybe more relevant is living in this world which is continually being fed by the consequences of that event. Right now, Isreal is fighting a war in Lebanon, with the big possibility that Syria and Iran will get involved. Then there's the war in Iraq. I feel a little ashamed and embarrased that it doesn't feel more like a war. There are not a lot of sacrifices being made by most of the U.S. population unless you have someone over there. Bitching about paying over $3 at the pump seems less than trivial when you think about the price many families have alread paid, and the families that will do so in the too-near future.

However, I do want to write about the things that make me happy, that make me think about things, that make me a better person. My friends, my family and my girlfriend, Babs. It's seems that this has been a challenging year in many ways. I wish I had had the forethought to document it more. Actually, more like willpower, as I frequently thought about doing this. Right now, I guess I'm motivated by a big shift in my life, which is Babs moving away.

More on that in the next post.

what exactly am I doing?

I'm not quite Mom and Dad trying to figure out how to program the VCR, but it's the philosophical equivilant. I feel like blogging is something that I should have been doing for a while now, a life-skill that should've been mastered, but haven't yet. Not really interested in asking someone else, but I did anyway. A coworker just said that she had one back in college to keep in touch with people, but stopped. 'They can call me if they want to find out more about what's going on in my life'. Wow.

I guess I can talk about my username and blog title. There's really nothing meticulous about my thoughts and, besides the occasional OCD moments, nothing really random about my mind. But it sounded cool and just this side of pretentious. Just a smidge on this side. Of course, the use of the word 'smidge' put me all in on that count. Actually, now that I think about it, it's too Spike Jones for me.

Well BBQ_AL is much less random (!) than the blog title. I'm a certified BBQ judge (KCBS), as well as occasional BBQ competitor. Lots of folks have seen programs on the Food Network or Travel Channel about that and said, 'boy does that seem like fun'. Truth is, it's an absolute blast. And it's not even the food you eat, though that's great. It's the freaking people. If you ask me, there's something great about someone who loves something about food. 'Foodie' is a good term and so's 'Chowhound'. I'm both and so are almost all the people I meet at these events.