One of the things I love most about having work to do is that it forces me to procrastinate. I like to say that it gives my procrastination purpose. And one of my favorite ways to procrastinate with purpose is to add new features to this blog.

I'd like to think that God had the best of intentions when he created chipmunks. But even God has days when he feels a little ornery, and all he feels like doing is kicking back and letting off some steam. So he invites Old Scratch over to his place and they smoke a couple of bowls and play a little XBox. And, over a heated game of Madden 2010 (they get advance copies of software) they think up ways to piss people off, or ruin Jason Lee's career.

The memes have been flying all over the place lately. And I got hit in the crossfire. Twice. One in each leg. So here we go, six plus seven, plus one. Random/Weird/Quirky.

I always hoped I'd be saying this under different circumstances, but ... I am completely in Your hands. And since we're still in the lingering twilight hours of Web 2.0, and user-generated content is apparently all the rage, why don't You leave a comment and at the same time satisfy my narcissistic curiosities by answering the same question I posed to Mat: Is there a difference between the "Blog Me" and the "Live and In Person Me?"

Last week, I stepped out of my comfort zone a bit and joined a group called Thirty-Something Bloggers.

There are a million and one reasons not to do something. But they all usually amount to one thing: fear. And let me just say that I've got some of the fear and some of the dread when it comes to this thing I've started, "Fiction Fridays."

You've had this happen. I know you have.

I've had a few late nights this week. Because it was time for a remodel. And remodels happen best at night. And I just hope my new neighbors don't have sensitive ears. Because my office shares a wall with them. And there have been keyboard taps coming from over here. Lots of 'em.

I've been reading and re-reading Hemingway lately, partly because I'm just enjoying his style, but partly because I'm hoping to learn, through osmosis, the art of writing while pleasantly pissed. Unfortunately, I haven't had much luck in this pursuit . . .

Bloggers tend to blog about this subject ad nauseam, particularly people who have just started blogging. So it pains me a bit to go down this road. But what the hell. At the risk of making people sick, I have to now jot down a few words on this here blog about - here it goes - the act of jotting down a few words on this here blog.