No,silly. Not the hickey kind ;> It's simply a reference to how much I must love blogging to continue to do so with a 5 yr old PC and a dial-up connection. The truth of the matter is this...it takes me a loooooooong time to go thru the checking in with my favs every day.

The purpose of blogging, is a great question with some personal sigificance to me. More than one of my family members sees any reference to them on my blog as an "intrusion" on their privacy. I had to find this out the back door way instead of them just coming out and telling me they're afraid of the big bad wolves out there in crazyland tracking them down and doing the hatchet man trick on 'em. Note to self: leave them out of it.

My experiences with blogging have been very good. I have seen and read viewpoints that are as diverse as we are as a people, and I have learned tolerance toward things that I formerly would have dismissed. What I see mostly are people sharing their lives in a way that has never been possible before and enjoying the company of other folks all over the world. We root for each other when a baby is born or a diagnosis is good. We pray for each other when times are hard and celebrate when one of us catches a break. We examine ourselves in a way that is not possible by any other venue than writing it all down on a pad with a pen or spilling it to a therapist at 100 bucks an hour.

Blogs are a showcase for the talents of artists everywhere. They are a convenient forum for discussing important issues, political and otherwise. But they are never EVER about being right. The personal weblog is just that. A web tool for personal use whichever way you see fit.

I have my favorites in several categories..politics, artists, comedians, and just plain everyday life. Maybe I'm being terribly naive to see the whole thing that way, but I do. I don't see danger in the blog world as long as proper precautions are taken and individual boundaries respected. Mostly what I see is the world shrinking and the good feelings about each other growing day by day. And, that. Well. That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.

As in Keepin' the Faith.

(my apologies ahead of time to Hoss. Just have your PC insert the word "piece" for every time I wrote the B word. )