If something does not inspire you, it is not worth having in your life.

It amazes me; I was born in the same year as the very first personal computer. It was the IBM PC model 5150, and looking back at it, I am over half a year older than it. According to high school computer science classes, at that time, the internet then was a small network of defence computers run for and by the American military. I even remember my first experience with the internet; I must have been about 10, we had a 14k modem, and boy, were we excited. To be fair, my father once had a job that involved changing the vacuum tubes in order to programme massive computers about the size of an airplane hanger. Actually, it was in an airplane hanger and there was very little room to move about.

Now, the internet buzzes around our lives like a supranatural creature. The number of people in our culture who use the internet increases exponentially, and those who do not use it are still affected by its existence. Everyday, the internet teaches me something new, whether I want it to or not. I can learn a new knitting stitch or simply gain practice in dealing with frustration. If the internet has taught me anything, it has taught me how to take a deep breath and walk away.

This blogging thing has been around for a while, and like the absent professor I am becoming (I already have the absent down; however, I’m still working on the prerequisites for professorship) I was generally unaware of all things blog related until about a year ago. Up to now, I have been blogging on MSN spaces; however, the quality of my blog left something to be desired. I blogged about everything. My cat meowed, I blogged it. I finished another inch of knitting, I blogged it. I was frustrated with school, I blogged it. It really wasn’t adding anything to the internet. A decision had to be made.

I believe that if something does not inspire you, it is not worth having in your life. This is one of my most strongest beliefs and I do my best to live by it. My old blog, it doesn’t inspire. Now, this blog is in the process of coming into existence. There are a few standards I am setting for myself: One, spell check; two, quality entries about things that inspire me; three, spend less time but provide more content; and four, be thoughtful in your entries, provide something that adds to the quality of the internet, not drivel that subtracts from it.

I think it will take me a while to become use to this new blogging system; however, I can see that blogger has more options and customability (belief two, if it is used as a word, it is a word. English is a living and evolving language. So just get over it, okay) so I should be able to make something nice here. I’m taking my time with this blog, and until I get it up and running, you can visit oldblog at http://spaces.msn.com/members/ebertshome/ .