Prefatory remarks

Welcome to my first blog. Rant / Rave / Reassure comes from the early days of the form, back when knowing about Andrew Sullivan was kind of cool and unusual, and the whole internet / blog / geek permaculture hadn't infiltrated every bit of working writers' lives.

A simpler time, you might say. George W. Bush was still president, things seemed to be going okay in our wars overseas and housing prices were heading straight up.

I had just started working in Florida, an rather improbable turn of events for a Kansas boy, but one made possible by the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund. I interned at The St. Petersburg Times in the summer of '02, and that internship was extended through the end of the year. That's roughly when this blog began.

At the beginning of '03 I hopped across Tampa Bay to the Tampa Tribune, where I would work for the next two years. This blog wouldn't last that long -- it was too loose, too diverse and personal.

Y'see, I'd figured out something important about blogs. The more general they are, the more likely they are to be neglected and float off into a sea of bland haze. Meanwhile, I started another blog, focused on copy editing and journalism -- one that gained a small following. A link to it can be found off to the right.

Rant / Rave / Reassure occupies a special place, though. I experimented with the form, connected with other writers and friends, and assembled my first blogroll. Good times.

As reconstituted here, the blog is more or less what you would have found back in 2002-2004. A few bits have been edited out, a few bits have been edited in, and I wrote titles for early entries that were missing them. The site also features a far spiffier layout than available at the time, which pleases my sense of aesthetics, if nothing else.

So read, enjoy and wallow in the randomness.

Props, props and more props

To Brian, who is probably the only person who reads this anymore. And goodness knows, he has enough to do keeping his blog updated. It's far funnier than this, far more regularly updated, and let's face it -- better in every way.

He's also sane enough to restrict himself to the one blog, rather than the three I foolishly signed up for. See, I pale in respect to Brian in nearly every comprehensible way. I still pride myself on my hygiene.

His site will of course continue for ages and ages to come, so if anyone else comes by here, go his way. You won't regret it. If you do regret it, what can I say? Different strokes and all that.

Wrapping it up

I plan to draw this blog to a close at the end of February. That will be my sister's birthday, although the combination only struck me as I was typing out this post.

I don't have the time to devote to the blogs that I used to. Verse A Day, although updated somewhat less than daily, will chug along until the end of April, when it will be one year old. This blog already passed its first birthday, but I think I'll close up shop at the 15-month mark.

I plan to keep the site up, and hopefully replenish the archives with all the old posts that disappeared into the mists of time in October. I might even post. But truthfully I have the energy for one blog ... and it's Copy Massage. I'll probably post more about my life there after Feb. 29.

So why the advanced warning? Well, I want to keep things interesting. I want to post here. I want another chance to write about silly things before this outlet closes. So I'm drawing a line in the sand.

Get ready. This could get interesting.

Perhaps / Per hat / Pear hot

EverQuest has been engaging. (Pregnant pause.) Perhaps too engaging.

Have also recently had cable installed. And picked up The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (Game of the Year edition incorporating Tribunal and Bloodmoon). And, um ... we washed the dog.

Can things possibly get any more exciting?

Heaven help me...

I've been purchasing EverQuest accessory volumes. Apparently I have the need to become geekier than I already am.

Where with all / wherewithal

Much has happened. Much involving EverQuest. Some involving work. All involving me running around. More soon. Maybe. If I feel like it.

Keep searching

I wonder if I helped any of these people.

"home theater" +"christmas lights"
a free graphic novel about jesus and buddha
pete jameson
characters thematic/analysis comedy
"quickplot software"
Songs for Dust Mites Album Full MP3
"a friend like you" "Brian wilson"
"steve burns" height
"rave moves"
Marlin Brando Michael Jackson music video
brian wilson new cd 2004
salon chomsky colorless
"saturn" "service engine soon"