Blogging is hard
I've been reading "The Reagan Diaries" and thinking about how Reagan's daily diary entry was essentially a low-tech (and until recently, private) blog post.

My frequency of posts per month/year/whatever has declined to the point where I'm somewhat worried about Livejournal deleting all of this. I need to find a way to back up my blog so that I can refer to all of this once Livejournal is long gone (RSS hacking begins in 5...4...3...).

I blame two things for the slow death of this blog, both of which are entirely positive developments:

• Facebook. Facebook is the living embodiment of Metcalfe's Law. I've reconnected with childhood friends, learned more about my wife's (large) family than I ever could have at a once-a-year Christmas party, kept up with my own once-distant relatives, and much more. Facebook is how I stay in touch when I am traveling.  With the blog, everything I say is immediately public.  With Facebook, only the people I care about get to see it.  I prefer making a jackass of myself among friends and family, so I prefer Facebook.
• Marriage. Marriage changed my priorities in life on so many levels. I much prefer spending time with my wife to surfing around on the internet (oh, and my wife is also--wait for it--on Facebook).  I think one of the things that prompted me to start blogging in the first place was that I wanted to leave a legacy of some kind.  As a single man, I was scared of "what happens after".  Those fears are gone now.  It is a very nice feeling.

Oh, and "The Reagan Diaries" is fascinating, even if you (like me) are not so much a fan of his politics. Reagan was one of only three U.S. presidents to keep a diary, but the only modern president and the only one to diligently make an entry virtually every day of his presidency.  It is a weird trip down memory/history lane, and if anything, I think it makes Reagan sound eerily detached from most presidential business. He got very fired up about communism and the Soviet Union in particular, and he also was very cute whenever Nancy traveled--he complained about being lonely, or the White House feeling empty, etc.  He also seemed to watch 1-2 movies per week, and usually commented about the movie.