Professional Blogger am I.

A professional blogger am I. Today marks my 136^th blog in the last 12 months. That is one blog every 3 days. My goal is to reach 1000 blogs. It will take 10 more years at the rate I am blogging. Blogging is like journaling. It is cathartic. It is stress relieving. It is also fascinating to read what you think. It is likely different than what you thought. Writing my thoughts is clarifying as well as humbling. Typically, my initial thinking is pretty much garbled until I edit my writing. For me, I do not know what I mean until I write what I think. And even then, it is often puzzling. And further, when I think about the whole process of thinking, it is often a thoughtless experience.

I was with my nephew, Taylor, this week. He asked me where do I get ideas for blogging? As he asked me that question, we passed by a sign that had several paragraphs of information about the next exit. I asked Taylor, “What did that sign say?” “I could not read it.” Replied Taylor. At that very moment, we were driving north on I-35 at the speed limit of 70 MPH, maybe a little more, but not much

I continued. “Taylor to answer your question on blogging ideas, the design of signs on highways is a perfect blogging topic. What governmental department designs, approves and places a sign on a major highway with several paragraphs? That sign we just went by contained 50 words. At normal reading speed, it would take several seconds to read that sign. We are going 70 MPH which is about 100 ft. per second. The time, from when we can just barely see that sign to pass it by, is less than ½ of a second. No way can it be read without causing a wreck.” “What should they do?” Asked Taylor. “The highway department should focus test signs with real drivers at highway speeds prior to placement.”

At that moment, I saw an intersection of 5 different highway options, an assortment of orange cones, 12 different signs for gas, restaurants, hotels, parks, scenic stops with hundreds of words to read. I recognized the Golden Arches. Blogging ideas are everywhere.

As I blog, I imagine that my grandchildren may read this blog 25 years from now. Did Grandfather really believe that? Was the world really like that? Who was this fellow Obama? What was an iPhone? What was a copy machine? What is a check? Did we really have to pay taxes? What is a job? Was there really 50 states? Were we fighting in Iraq back then? Was Mexico really a separate country? Canada too? What is a keyboard? Was the NBA goal only 10’ high? What were paper books like?

Back to my original point. My blogs are eclectic. They range from economy, to sports, to innovation, to entrepreneurship, to ethics, to finance and perhaps to a few other subjects. If I blogged on a narrow subject area like making money, I may have created more followers; but then I would have a group of single minded followers.

I prefer a marvelous group like you. My readers are people like you who have broad interests in many aspects of their world from personal matters to matters that effect careers and business. My readers are people like you - who have a genuine desire to be a positive influence on the world around them, who want to create an authentic footprint in that part of the world they can effect, and who are doing it rather than just thinking about it.

I blog for Americans like you.