Category: Uncategorized

Upon first opening Thoughts of Mike and finding a picture of a dog, I figured that I would be reading yet another “things I did today” blog. Instead I was pleasantly surprised. Mike’s thoughts encompass a wide range of topics.

Mike is a 22 Yr. old student who also works at a local deli as a delivery driver. This author posts about whatever happens to interest him. He comments on mundane everyday occurrences with a dry wit that is reminiscent of Seinfeld. In a post about purchasing shampoo he says, “I’m trying to find the one that says ‘Dirty Hair.’ It doesn’t exist. Shampoo now does everything from color to curl, except clean. Where is the shampoo for me? The one that just says, Cleans hair real good.” In a post about car features, the author laments about not being able to find the “Automatic Detonation Feature” that all cars in movies appear to have. Probably his most entertaining posts come from his experiences as a delivery driver. He describes the joys of delivering to a local gentleman’s club and contrasts that with his many deliveries to nursing home employees.

A bit disconcerting is this writer’s participation in “Blog Jihad” where he visits other sites using Blogger’s “Next Blog” feature and leaves random and sometimes insulting comments on the blog he happens to land on. He openly posts about this practice and invites the retaliatory visits and comments he receives. He admittedly does this to up his own hit counter. It is a shame that he resorts to this, as his content would stand on its own.

The site uses a standard Blogger template. While I normally dislike a black background, as it is sometimes hard on the eyes, Mike uses pictures effectively to break up the white on black monotony. In fact, his pictures enhance many of his posts. The previously mentioned dog pictures are Mike’s proof that the dog in question is actually an alien. Archives go back to June of this year and the site includes the standard links one finds on most sites.

Overall, Thoughts of Mike is an entertaining read. The blog could be improved with more regular updates. I am sure Mike has more thoughts than he has time to post. Perhaps a little less time spent on his “Blog Jihad” would allow him more time to update. I plan to check back with Mike to see what is on his mind in the future.

Thoughts of Mike

I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I came to this blog. Gambling is an addiction I know nothing of, and a risky hobby that I don’t see the glamour in or purpose of. That being said, if I wanted to learn any and everything about it, Gambling Weblog is the place to do it.

The content consists of only Gambling information, from Poker tour dates the results of Gambling Magazine Online’s award winners. There is an abundance of links to different places in the online gambling world, and at the end of every entry, there are related, archived entries and research reports.

Yet, there is a generic air to this site. It seems to be manufactured. I didn’t like that. And the recently reviewed soccer Weblog reveals an eerie resemblance. And low and behold, the Gambling and Soccer weblog link to one another, ie. the same author, or company, or whatever. The layout is just boring. There was no imagination and no effort put into it’s design.

I myself, do not consider this a blog. It’s simply a website, attempting to attract more traffic to itself by luring unsuspecting blogger to it under false pretenses. If you enjoy Gambling and want to stay in the know, then this will be an excellent site for you to visit. It seems to be consistently updated and well-maintained. But, if you are anything like me, don’t waste your time.

Gambling Weblog

The initial impression was that there was something amiss with the blog. On closer inspection I found that the links and everything else was at the top of the blog, with the actual entry’s were down the bottom.

I’m not sure if this is a template fault or not, the author might want to check it.

My impressions were that this might be an interesting blog. The title “A poet. Now a blogger.” left me with the sense that this might be a writers blog with lots of poems. There was only one poem translation on the blog itself, a few quizzes and some other links. I was expecting more poems and less quizzes.

The blog itself is a fairly new blog, was only started in July 2004. The design is a blogger template, like many other blogger templates.

I was a bit disappointed with the lack of writing material in the blog. The blog may develop over time into something else, or it may not. It’s more a personal blog that doesn’t really tell you much about the author, there is no “about” page or any little blurb about her writing or her life.

I hope that this blog does choose and path and hopefully develop. It has much potential.Pattern Recognition

I thought of the insurance company when I read the title “Progressive Ink!” That didn’t really make much sense especially since I kinda figured that this was not a marketing blog by Progressive. But enough of that.

I liked the layout a lot. It was simple and the fact that the different shades of gray was the background and everything looked so nice in its simplicity scored points from me.

The entries come through when the subtitle promised “Interactive Notes Re: God, Life, Philosophy, Science, Religion and Politics. All I can say is that most of them are rants about what the author thought. Like some rants, the entries here were funny and witty and sometimes even to the point of being lighthearted.

Overall, I suggest that everyone stop by at least once and read through the author’s wit.Progressive Ink!

“It’s a dogs life” could well have been one of two things, a dog owning obsessive or someone who genuinely believes it really is a dogs life. Thankfully, it was the latter, although I was a little disturbed initially by the warning at the top o the right hand column “Warning-This Blog May Contain Adult Oriented Material”. After a brief read of the about me page, which formed a basis for what was to come, I ventured into the archives. I was fairly impressed.

I found the first entry gave me a better feel for the author than the profile, in one paragraph he managed to capture why I started blogging, and from that moment on I was very interested in what he had to say. It was what I expected, very personal. Its very much a log of day to day activities, with a few thoughts thrown in for good measure. There were the odd entry which was, shall we say, very adult orientated, but they didn’t bother me. They didn’t necessarily interest me that much either. But, on balance most of the entries were interesting, and written well with just a little wit. It didn’t necessarily touch depths I expected after reading the first post, but it didn’t disappoint either.

The design certainly fits both the author and its content, and the banner was a bright and colourful edition to the otherwise black and grey design. I’m not a great fan of light text on a black background because I find it hard on the eyes, thankfully this colour combination merely affected the side column.

A few links of interest aside, there are no real surprises on this weblog. There are some links to blogger templates, which may interest to other blogger blogspot users for example.

“It’s a dogs like” is precisely what I expected it to be, a personal web journal detailing the everyday excursions in the life of its author. From its first post I had expected a little more, something inspired by his own statement “I always feel like I am behind a fence, peering out at the world, restricted by the collective weight of friends and family protocol can be crushing” for example. If personal blogs are what you love, chances are you may enjoy this site. It probably won’t knock you back with its depth, but it may well interest you enough to keep coming back for me. A promising 4.it’s a dog’s life