So, what should you expect from this blog?

My plan is to write about a relatively eclectic set of topics. I’ve sketched out my first 30 posts or so, and they seem to be falling into the following broad catagories:

• News about Shirt Pocket
• Software design and development
• Computing from a user’s perspective
• Occasional stories about small company development, marketing and support
• Consumer electronics and usability
• Dogs and Degenerative Myelopathy
• Gadgets I like
• Movies & Music
• The occasional random rant

No huge surprises there. I’m sure other things will creep in now and again, but for now, there you go.

So, I’ve been avoiding blogging. More than that: I’ve been avoiding making eye contact with blogging.

But it keeps jumping up and down, waving its arms frantically, desperately trying to get my attention, insisting that it won’t be so bad.

I’m not so sure.

I mean, I’ve had some sort of online presence for a long time. We even announced our first product, BRIEF, on Usenet way back when. I was on FidoNet, Compuserve, BIX, Usenet, lots of forums—including my own at Shirt Pocket. So why is getting started here so difficult?

I think it’s the “What’s the sound of one blogger yapping?” issue. There’s something about this that feels less like a conversation, and more like a lecture. A post gets written. That post gets read. Sometimes, there’s a comment, trackback, link… but it feels more newspaper than café.

But—maybe that’s because of the way I’ve been using blogs. I’ve been reading, but not writing. I’m the lurker on the forum, the guy alone at the café sipping a coffee, reading the paper and listening—but never joining in.

Well, no longer.

This place is abuzz with ideas, and there seems to be lots of room at the table.

Mind if I join you?