Unbagging the Cats 1

Unbagging the Cats 1

Monday, August 8, 2011

Brought to You by the Letter "U"

The new school year is fast approaching, and I'm trying to decide if work will get in the way of my blogging schedule. I normally brainstorm an idea around 4:00, let is simmer in the back of my mind until 8:00, and then post it before 10:00. Once I'm working my real job again, my oodles and oodles of spare time will be limited to a couple of hours per evening.

Should I try to keep the same blogging schedule? I've toyed with changing it over the past week. I've been so clever in naming my blog with a letter from the bottom of the alphabet. It puts me low on the totem pole of blogrolls. I'm like the unknown comic. But without the paper bag over my head. Not because it hasn't been suggested. Even if blogs use that updatey thingy that puts the most recent posts at the top of the column, my timing still puts me at the bottom during the hours I assume most people read blogs. Though I imagine I'm quite popular with night-owls. And people who like the letter "U".

By posting so late in the evening, when sensible people are having family time or watching TV, I can get lost in the internet cracks. My little batch of followers may never see my enticingly-titled posts pop up in their Blogger reading list. Out of sight, out of mind. Like that petrified McDonald's cheeseburger that I found when cleaning out my Yukon to trade it for a Tahoe. The Yukon. Not the cheeseburger. But wouldn't THAT be a heck of a deal?

I could schedule my posts to automatically appear each morning, when people are having coffee and cinnamon rolls and living the carefree life, without ringmastering the big-top circus main act of corralling kids and backpacks and lunches and trombones before setting off to work. Or post it a bit later for working people to read on morning break. But that might create a problem if anybody at work discovered my clandestine writing hobby, and thought I was doing it on company time and employer's dime. Because I don't imagine the time-shifting argument would hold up very well with people who are not familiar with the concept, and without a concrete method of proof. So I never write or read blogs on the job.

Then there's the awkwardness of mind-juggling my tenses. If I sit down to write about something that happened during my day, I don't want switch yesterday for today, and day-before-yesterday for yesterday, and earlier this week for day-before-yesterday, and...see, it's already become tedious. And what if I was a drinking woman, which I'm not, but for the sake of argument, what if I said, "I'm so stressed out that I'm on my second bottle of wine." And there's the post with an 8:30 a.m. time stamp, and folks raising one eyebrow and sucking air through their teeth, thinking, "Val has a little problem."

After typing up this in-depth look at all the factors, I guess I'll keep my regular blogging schedule of night-time posting and comment-answering. Thanks for reading this little exercise in How Val Makes a Decision. I am now passing out the worksheets. Make sure your name is on it. You must turn in your worksheet before you leave.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

I know what you mean! There are so many factors to consider. I've noticed I get generally the same amount of comments if I post in the morning or late at night. Today I posted mid-day and I don't think THAT was a good idea. Don't make yourself crazy with posting and working. We don't want you to burn out!

Linda O'Connell said...

I wake at five so I can bellow, I mean, blog. By night, I am bushed and it is all I can do to read other blogs. Retirement anywhere in your future?

Sioux Roslawski said...

Yes, I know what you mean. Teacher work days have already started, the kids aren't even back, and I'm already zapped...

labbie1 said...

"I'm so stressed out that I'm on my second bottle of wine." And there's the post with an 8:30 a.m. time stamp, and folks raising one eyebrow and sucking air through their teeth, thinking, "Val has a little problem."
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I don't think that the time of day has any bearing on that one! LOL I think Val may have a little problem at any time she is so stressed she is on her 2nd bottle of wine. ;-)

Funny what stands out to different people when they read a post huh?

I think you should do what works best for you. I'm gonna read it no matter what! I just love to see which cat jumps out of the bag!

Val said...

Kelley,
I've been writing my other blog since 2005, so I don't think I will burn out. Too late on the crazy...I'm already there. Though I blame others, not myself.

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Linda,
I can not retire until I get The Pony graduated. He's going into 8th grade, so it will be a while. That's what happens when you take your child to school with you. He would have to go to school in the district where we live, or we would have to pay tuition to the district where I teach. And that's not happening.

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Sioux,
I'm working for free this week. We return next Monday. Kids come next Thursday. But Labor Day is in sight!

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labbie,
I have never had wine, so I have no frame of reference. All I know is that on Big Brother After Dark, when the houseguests get wine, four people split a bottle. And fight over it. So I don't know the equivalents for wine. Is a bottle like a six pack? How many shots would be equal to a bottle of wine? You don't see those pre-intervention people chugging it, that's for sure. Like that one lady who laid on the front lawn after drinking Equate mouthwash.

labbie1 said...

Not sure I would use Big Brother as a barometer for how much is too much of ANYTHING. LOL

According to a website I looked up, beer has about 3-4% alcohol with some of the dark ones as high as 6%. Interestingly, and off subject, non-Alcoholic Beer has 0.3% alcohol. What????

Wine has about 12% alcohol.
Liquor has about 40% alcohol with the exception of Everclear which is 95% alcohol! Yikes!

So, as to that, I would guess that a bottle of wine is similar to 3 six packs of beer or maybe a case?

Anywho, if you drank a bottle of wine you definitely shouldn't be driving--even that cute kid's bike with the banana seat! ;-)

Val said...

labbie,
Thank you so much for your research. Now I know that if I decide to take up drinking, the wine will get me hammered faster than the beer. That explains the Big Brother houseguests' battle for the wine.