Possible Change in Philosophy

I've been back and forth on how to handle comments.  Some bloggers answer comments off-line.  Shawn and I exchanged ideas on that subject, and she feels that people don't go back to look at comments on comments anyway, so why bother.  I am inclined to agree with her and have acted accordingly in the past.

However, I find myself wanting to be involved in the dialogue.  And often, the email address given with a comment isn't real (shocking, isn't it?).  So I'm going to comment in the comments now and then, and see if I like it better.

I figure I can give myself through May to come to a conclusion.

Meanwhile, I'd love to have your thoughts on the subject.

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Other computer related news:  Yesterday I had two guys from Geeks on Call come over to tune up the system.  They added some upgrades, took out my virus program and installed another one that was free and doesn't slow the computer down as much.  And they got me wireless again.  I had gone wireless a few years ago, but I kept having problems getting on the internet.  So I wired up and stayed that way.

The Geeks got me wireless, deleted a bunch of unnecessary programs and ran a cleanup program which deleted 1.8 gigabytes of temporary files (78,273 files).  They told me the previous record was about 1 gig.  I think I have to thank blogging for that.  The interesting thing is that I thought I had purged my temporary files and cookies before, so it just goes to show.  They left a clean-up icon on the desktop, so I can tidy things up myself.

Then, last night, smug knowing my new blazing-fast computer was just waiting for my attention later, I watched a movie.  When I came back to do a post on it, I couldn't get on the internet.  Couldn't get my mail. It kept telling me I was disconnected.  I changed the hookup a thousand times (or so it felt), tried wired and wireless, reentered passwords, for over an hour.  Finally left a message for my Geek, and went to toss and turn, fearing I would flat out miss blogging today, and break a streak that goes back to last August.

This morning, I listlessly poked around, with no luck. I even thought of going to the office today to do my blogging (I am off this week, except for a couple of meetings, a dental appointment, computer upgrade, etc.). Then, maybe remembering something that worked now and then years ago, I unplugged the electrical connections to both the modem and the router.  Then I played Free Cell for about ten minutes.  I plugged the cords back into the power strips and voila!  Internet everywhere.  Wired.  Unplugged the cable and stayed on the 'net. Wireless. Amazing.  Since I have no idea what happened, it is like magic.

Wonder if this is a metaphor for life.  Things seem so rosy, then a setback occurs leaving you dazed and confused and off balance. Then something else happens and you are back on track again. 

Ah well.  It is what it is.

[Illustration from Hanson Robotics]

Comments

[Houston]

Regarding Comments, there's no reason to be consistent. I tend not to get into conversations or arguments in my Comments, but I'm not shy to do so if there's a reason. It's your blog. You don't have to be consistent if you don't want to.

[lisa schamess]

I consistently comment to my commenters in the comments, no further comment.

Except this: they and I like it, I think.

[Scholiast]

I always go back and read all comments if it's something I've commented on myself - on other blogs. On my own, I rarely comment, though..

Consistency is overrated!