Anatomy of a Blog

In a comment on yesterday's post, I was asked by a prospective blogger basically what it takes to create the pages you see here.  So I will attempt to answer as best I can.  When I started Nichevo back in November of 2006, I chose Blogger as a platform because it offered an easy to use format with which I could publish my thoughts, commentary, music and photographs without having to learn HTML.  As time has gone by, I have learned a little bit of HTML to aid me in customizing these pages to my liking (and hopefully yours), although I am by no means a wizard at producing HTML or CSS.  I have stuck with Blogger because they offer the tools to easily customize the look and 'feel' of the blog.  As most of you my regular readers know, I recently changed templates to achieve a new look.  The template I chose allows me to customize the colors and configuration of the main column, the sidebar and easily add gadgets like my counter along with both photographic and text links to other web sites.  Yes this does take some time, but it is not a bothersome task by any means. 

Now as for the content of the posts, that too takes some time, although not an inordinate amount.  Like all well written publications, excellent content requires research.   I have tools which I use to aid in that research.  I subscribe via RSS to a great many other blogs, news sites, sports sites and  photo journals which are gathered into my Feed Demon RSS reader.  Feed Demon is coordinated with the subscriptions in Google Reader, however, Feed Demon requires a lot less of my computer's resources and it updates my feeds every 30 minutes.  As for the music I have a You Tube Page of course as well as a Vimeo page and I subscribe to a great many channels  that easily brings great video together in one place for my viewing pleasure.  Previewing the videos that I post here does take some time, but again it is not an unpleasant task.  I have discovered so much great music both by subscription and via happenstance when related videos are listed next to the videos I am viewing catch my attention.  I also use You Tube's search feature if I am looking for music by a particular artist, composer, instrument or form (concerto, symphony, sonata, etc).  Between Feed Demon and You Tube, most of my content is presented to me like a smorgasbord and I have but to sift through all the dishes on the table to find those which I wish to share with you all.  Yes this does take time, no I do not regret the time commitment for I feel Nichevo is a labor of love and a relaxing way to communicate the things I like, think or do to my readers from around the globe.  As I publish six days a week, it takes a few hours of my time every day.  It does not interfere with my being able to work full time, and is a great stress reliever as well.  It is heartening to know that there are hundreds of people who visit me every day to see what I come up with.  Just knowing you all are there and coming back again and again because you like what you see here let's me feel connected to the world at large.  I rarely feel like I am struggling all alone because there is always someone out there listening to me.  

There are times when I do have some difficulty coming up with something to say which I feel is relevant to the world at large, but generally somewhere in my feeds there is something that will trip the trigger of my creative gene and voila the post literally writes itself.  I have many diverse interests, and if you hang around long enough, you will hear about most of them in one way or another.  If there is anything you want to know, I am available by comment or email and I do respond faithfully if not always quickly.  I hope this answers the question in my readers minds as to what it takes to produce these pages.  Just know, that whatever time it takes, to me it is a joyful time that I thoroughly enjoy in every fiber in my being.  

One other note in reference to yesterday's post, the Washington Redskins did themselves and the Dallas Cowboys a huge favor by knocking off the New York Giants in a hard fought contest on Monday Night Football.  Final score: Redskins 17 - Giants 16.  This makes the playoff race tighter and the next four games all the more important in the grand scheme of things in the NFL.  

Four your musical interlude for this Tuesday, I have a play list of 6 Sonatas for the Cello by Benedetto Marcello as performed by Claudio Cassadei.  The play  list includes Sonata Number 1 in F Major, Sonata Number 2 in E Minor, Sonata Number 3 in A Minor, Sonata Number 4 in G Minor, Sonata Number 5 in C Major and Sonata Number 6 in G Major.  While you are being aurally pleasured by this marvelous music, I have a rather intriguing collection of young men who are on display as your Tuesday's Temptations.  I am sure one or more of them will inspire you as they visually delight you on your scroll down the page.  Thanks for stopping in today, see you again tomorrow.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!