Patrick Says

I’m so done with instant messaging clients. All of them.

MSN Messenger. Done.
Yahoo Messenger. Done.
ICQ. Done.

Those were the ones I used. Then there’s the software that allows you to combine all your IM clients under one program. But they hog resources like nobody’s business. So they’re out too.

Trillian. Done.
GAIM. Done.
Pidgin. Done.

Why?
Because nobody actually contacts me on the stupid things. Why should I blow 50MB of my system memory running the IM client when nobody actually contacts me on it? It’s a big fat waste of resources, that’s what. So I’m out.

I may opt to use Skype as both IM and VOIP.
(Not that anybody will be contacting me on that either…)

I’ve been interested in meeting up with other local bloggers. I’m not sure why. Maybe to feel part of a group or maybe just to bond with others living the Midwest experience. Regardless, their is a meet-up coming for Saint Louis bloggers on April 19th. All the details are available on the St. Louis Pro Bloggers site. I’m going to try hard to make it there. If you’re a Saint Louis blogger, why not come out?

(Please note that if you are coming, please RSVP over at their site. Thanks.)

Lately, I’ve been considering either going niche with this blog or starting a second blog with a niche. Why? I hear the AdSense does well on niche blogs. And also, because I’d like to feel like maybe somebody thinks I’m an authority on something.

Except that I can’t think of anything I know everything about…

I used to be a big NFL fan. But the kids pretty much destroyed that. I used to be a comic book reader, but the kids and money destroyed that. I’m kind of a trivia genius, but who wants to read a trivia blog? I used to know everything about music and bands, but alas, well, you know.

So where does that leave me for a niche? I know a lot about computers. And I’ve even mentioned a computer tips blog. But I don’t know that I want to do that. I don’t have a passion for it. I just know a lot about computers. So, what is my passion?

I have no idea…maybe writing. I have dozens of stories in my head with intricate characters and plot lines and the whole thing. But sitting down right seems so hard.

Hmmm…

I recently decided that I want to take more pictures. When I had a camera-phone, I was taking pictures and uploading to Flickr like a madman. Not so much anymore. I thought I might start carrying a camera again. I went to Walgreens and looked around. There was a Vivitar digital camera for $10.

I know what you’re thinking. Pure crap.

And you wouldn’t be far from the truth. Twenty hi-res pictures (and that’s a debatable hi-res, I might add), no flash, a slide up plastic lens for ’sighting’ the picture. But it’s interesting what it does take. Here’s some shots from today.

Here’s one of Steak in low light. It kind of looks like a picture from those old machines they had at Six Flags that took your picture and made it into a T-shirt.

This one is from my car window on the way to work. I had just got off the highway and flurries were starting up.

This one is of Highway 40 right now. It’s closed and being completely redone. This is between McKnight and Brentwood. Looks great, doesn’t it? In this picture, actually, the camera is pretty much dead on. That’s how it looked.

So, my friend EDW likes to use song lyrics as post titles. Which, by the way, is probably the coolest blog-type thing ever. If she’s ever stops doing it, I’m picking it up and running with it. Anyway, in this post, she used the title of ‘We could start a company and make misery’. Now this line is from one of my favorite songs of the 90s, mostly because I considered it my anthem. Here’s the video. Let’s watch.

Damn you, Sony. ‘No embedding by request’.
Here’s the link: ‘Misery’ - Soul Asylum.
Be sure to come back.

Okay, so…great song. I loved this song. I loved this song so much I tried to register the domain way back in, like, 1998. Someone else had it. So I just named the pages Frustrated Inc. and went with it. This was before blogging was the thing. People just made static web pages. Ah…the good ol’ days…

Where was I? Who cares?