On Philanthropy encourage nonprofits to jump on the blog bandwagon. I think it’s a brilliant idea, provided a nonprofit finds the right voice and is willing to give a blogger enough freedom. Sadly, most nonprofits are too tight-fisted with their information to see the potential benefits of blogging. (link via Blogger Buzz)

Full-time blogger Jason Kottke finally gives an update on his fund-raising efforts to secure his year as a full-time blogger. The verdict? Contributions didn’t quite make it to Kottke’s goal of one-third to one-half his previous salary, but it’s close enough. All in all, he’s not feeling particularly positive about his future outlooks. He assumes year-on-year giving will drop, making this venture harder and harder to finance without some other source. He recommends advertising if you can live with the trade-offs. So far he can’t.

I’m a little hesitant to announce this publically, but what they heck? Real Magazine is back.

It’s my latest blog addiction, a blog for teens about faith and life. I’ve worked on teen web sites and magazines for a while now, and I’ve been frustrated that no one has started a teen blog. So I thought I’d suck it up and start my own.

I’m hesistant to talk about it because it just started. It’s not even a week old and it seems premature to be hyping it. I’m also still tweaking the extra pages, still finding typos, and still not satisfied with the logo and design. I’m also going out of town tomorrow so the updates will be sporadic at best.

But at the same time, I want people to know about it. I want teens to read it. So there it is.

I have all sorts of plans for content, including the ‘When I Was Your Age’ column I write for my youth group newsletter, as well as quotes, links, stats, reviews, interviews and all the stuff that makes blogs fun.

I’m going to keep babbling about it if you want to keep reading, but that’s the word in a nutshell. Go check out the newest teen blog.

Continue reading Real Magazine is Back →

Today I set up a new blog and tried to scour the web for Movable Type templates. Surprisingly, I didn’t find a lot. I did find this site, though they seem to be too new to have much. There weren’t even any Google ads on the search results page for “Movable Type templates”, which makes me wonder if it’s just not an industry that’s sprung up yet. These guys seem to have discovered it, but that’s about all I could find.

I did find a cool site with lots of tips and tricks, including how to add both a left and right sidebar.

Though the former talk show host has stepped out of the public light, she has started a blog (NYT has the skinny, link via Kottke).

While I’m not that interested in the ramblings of a celebrity (please, for the love of all things good use some punctuation!), I find it absolutely hilarious that a wealthy celebrity is using a free, off-the-shelf blogging service like Blogger, complete with one of their lame templates (#565) that a thousand other people use.

But wait, it gets better. She also has her own home page, complete with links, home videos and artwork. You won’t find a PR specialist within miles of this site. Hats off to Rosie for the guts to put herself out there and be normal (in her own special way).

(and I can’t shake the incongruity between this post and the previous one, but what are you going to do? Life moves on, though I hope there is a spark of change in my heart.)

Andy Havens, who contributes to Church Marketing Sucks, runs his own legal marketing blog. And it talks. He recently added a little talking widget. Check out the ‘animated Andy’ on the left.

It’s an animated talking blog head, thanks to the folks at Oddcast. You can either upload .wav files or call a number and leave a voice mail. It starts at $15/month. It’s cool… and creepy.

The other day I admitted I was a blogaholic and mentioned a new blog I’ve been talking about launching. Since then I’ve been learning all about multiple domain hosting, exploring new hosting providers, and preparing to switch to a new host. Why? Well, it would make things easier in the long run.

I started down that path today, and it’s an ugly path. It involves transferring my domain, possibly some down time with my site and my e-mail (gulp), and a lot of reinstallation work. As I was realizing this, my FTP transfer with my new host kept stalling. Add that to the fact that I submitted a support ticket this morning and am still awaiting an answer. Then I realized the other option would be to just open a new account. It simplifies some things and complicates others. But it might just be worth while.

So here’s the short story: I have two support tickets in to two different places asking about two different options. I think whoever answers first will be who I go with. Call me spoiled, but my current host answers support tickets with in an hour. That may just be worth its weight in gold.

I love blogs. This is why. Tim is transitioning from a private practice in the southern U.S. to being a medical missionary in Kenya and is blogging about his experience. Forget only hearing from missionaries during furloughs or on Missionary Sunday.

I especially like his interview with his daughter about a day she spent helping him. (thanks to John I. Carney for turning me on to a site others probably discovered ages ago)

Contrary to popular opinion, they do serve breakfast in hell. And it’s delicious. Whatever you order, I recommend the bacon. I rarely use the word ‘succulent,’ but that’s exactly how I’d describe it.

Anyway, I was having breakfast in Hell’s Kitchen this morning with my lawyer, discussing a new business idea (No matter how many times I write a sentence like that, it never gets old). And I can now officially say it: My name is Kevin, and I’m a blogaholic.

My new business idea is a (you guessed it) blog, which I hope to set up and reveal in the coming weeks and/or months. And I use the phrase “business idea” loosely. I’m not expecting the blog to make much money–if it does, I’ll be elated. If it doesn’t, I won’t be surprised. But it will be fun. That’s what blogging is all about.

Continue reading I’m a Blogaholic →

Rappers and bloggers are one and the same, they just dabble in different media.