My Thermos

Be sure to check out Power Pop Review. This is a blog I found a while back but had slipped out of memory until a nice chat via Twitter about The Act and other faves of mine brought me back to it. Full of all sorts of tasty Power Pop goodness, you can't help but feel good perusing its pages.

I particularly appreciated the post about the Vinyl Resurgence which is literally music to my ears. That photo of the used bins brought back great memories of hours and hours at The Record Swap in Homewood and miscellaneous other shops in Denver, Boulder and Fort Collins whose names elude me right now.

There are a lot of music blogs out there but very few make it into my reader, this was a no brainer.

Which music blog would you recommend?

OK - I am going to give up on my NaBloPoMo theme of favorite blogs. While I do have a couple of others that I would like to get to, I don't think I've got 20 and I am having a heck of a time writing them.

I am still planning on continuing with NaBlahBlah though - I have kept up with the daily posting, and a theme isn't required so I am still "in it" You may recall that I ended up ditching my theme last year as well. Next year I'll know better.

I do want to take an opportunity to give an honorary mention to some of my favorites that didn't get their own write up and I probably won't get to by end of month. That doesn't make them any less important or enjoyable.

ThoughtSparks - Phil was one of the first bloggers I met and I really enjoy his writing and no-nonsense take on things. He's a busy one so it doesn't get updated often enough, but it will remain in my reader so I can catch his updates when he posts them.

Port 16 - Mike covers some things tech, some things fun, some grilling things and all points in between. He is also one of the guys behind Two Guys Tech.

Interesting Observations - Pearl over at Interesting Observations offers up just that. She says she focuses on general life skills but to me her blog is about feeling and doing good. It's inspiring without being preachy, and I am always thrilled to see a new post appear in my reader.

Stick Figure Lis - I really wish Lis posted more often as her blog is just a riot. Not sure where she finds the stuff she posts but I love it. This was a particular recent favorite. Her Stick Figures are also a highlight.

Maxwell The Tattooed Boy - I never know what Elle's posts are going to be about, but that is what makes this such fun to read. A great entrecard find!!

These are some of my favorites, what are yours?

SB


<disclaimer> I want to reiterate that these reviews are being done purely on my own and no request or compensation has come from these blog owners or authors. Check out my Disclosure page for more info about my review and advertising policy.

Next in our series of daily NaBloPoMo posts where I feature one of my favorite blogs comes a must read from Nat over at Mini-Obs.



I found Mini-Obs through Entrecard and it is one of the main reasons I can look back at that experience as a positive one.

You may have noticed that I write a lot about music here, but I've got nothing on Nat. Her blog is a veritable treasure trove of info and commentary across the entire musical spectrum. The Friday Flashback, Psychedelic Sunday, and her Wordsmiths features are all just fabulous.

In fact, quite a few of my regular features have come from her including the Tuesday Tunes, Friday Top 5 and my Build Your Own Best Of series. There is also a bit of non-music related content as well that is thoughtful or makes me chuckle.

Our tastes are similar, which is great, but also diverse enough that I have compiled a tremendous list of good music found from her recommendations.

So you absolutely must visit Nat's Mini-Obs - it is required reading if you're a music fan.

Day 2 done - check back tomorrow for another.

SB

<disclaimer> I want to reiterate that these reviews are being done purely on my own and no request or compensation has come from these blog owners or authors. Check out my Disclosure page for more info about my review and advertising policy.

Since it's inception, My Thermos has always just been a place to share stuff about me. I've never had a formal theme or agenda here other than the general Thermos motif - basically things I like = hot and things I don't = cold.

In an article I wrote the other day I talked about how I like to present alternatives to the norm, to challenge folks to think differently, and encourge people to make informed choices. I got to thinking about what I've written since I started here, and I realized that is really what the content of My Thermos is about - because that is what I am about.

I like to think I bring a different slant to things, that my opinions might just be different enough to get people to think about their own, and that what interests me might just spark something in someone to lead them on to a discovery of their own. Whether it's introducing new music, or recommending great songs from your old favorites, pointing out cool sites and interesting things I find on the web, or sharing my own unique perspective on family.

I tend to think in song lyrics - I've always liked this one:

Different eyes see different things,
Different hearts beat on different strings.

Lifeson / Lee

I think it fits my philosophy quite well.

Anyway, a while back I bought the domain name ondifferentstrings.com and was planning on starting a blog for entrepreneurs there. It was to be for those who have stepped away from corporate America and working in alternative work environments, those who are redefining their own success.. I really get to address a lot of this on Web Worker Daily now though so the project got sidelined.

The My Thermos name has served me well but it has led to considerable confusion, and has always had me worried about getting some sort of cease and desist from the very real Thermos Corporation.

So with the confluence of the above events, could it be time to retire My Thermos and let it evolve into On Different Strings? I can leave things as they are and just put the new bit of creative energy I am feeling into some changes here. I can rename and redirect - put a new coat of paint on things and move forward or I can leave this up as an archive and start fresh in a new home. I could maintain both but not sure what would get posted here rather than there. I am like 7th or 8th on the first Google results page when you search for Thermos. Maybe I should sell?

And what of jamminestjams - a domain which was to hold my music blog.

How do my readers feel? Your Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions?

Come on - I expect to hear from all three of you...

SB

I have a couple of really great announcements to make today. I've just taken on authorship roles for two more blogs and I'm really excited about these opportunities.

1) I've been added to the writing group over at Media Morgue. I discovered these guys through Entrecard and am glad to be a part of the team. They bill themselves as News, reviews and rumors on films, television and the media.

I'll be be providing some commentary and such about the music biz, online services, the RIAA etc. I've got something in the works to be published soon so be on the lookout.

Second - I've also been selected to contribute to the official Entrecard Blog. They have added 10 or so folks from the community to help power-up the blog to feature more frequent updates about anything related to the Entrecard Blogosphere. New posts from others are already starting to appear and my first article has been submitted for publishing later today.

These opportunities provide a great outlet for some content that doesn't really fit here at MyThermos or over at TechFires. It also helps to promote me, my sites and my personal brand. It's going to be a lot of work writing all of this but it should be worth it. It's easy to write about things that are interesting or that I have a passion about so I think I'll be able to keep up.

So wish me luck - and keep your eyes on all of these sites for more updates.

Cheers!
SB

Fellow blogger Chris from Darkside Dreamland sent me some questions (meme style) and I thought they might be interesting to answer here.

In addition to Darkside, Chris writes the really outstanding Sustainable Democracy, which I honestly recommend you go read now instead of this post.

Oh - before the questions, I am supposed to define the following word:

Blego

(Darkside-Dreamland.com’s definition)

n. a protologism combining blog and ego. Used to define the ego of a blog or blogger. Like personal ego, blego may be good or bad.

My Definition

- pronounced blehhh-go. The sound my browser makes when I accidentally try to click on one of those annoying internet marketing blogs full of egotistical crap and make money schemes.

Anyway, here goes with the questions (and answers): Continue reading "Q&A Session - And Just What Does Blego Mean..." »

I launched another site yesterday called My Daily Spam and I am having a lot of fun with it. Not that I don't have fun writing for MyThermos, or for TechFires, but researching my couple of posts to this new site has already proven to be quite entertaining.

The idea behind this site is to try and find some good from the miserable waste of time and bandwidth that is my real daily spam. I own a couple of domains and have some public email addresses so I get my share of spam, a couple hundred a day. By routing everthing through my gmail accounts I really don't see any of it but I do occasionally go through it to make sure that it isn't filtering out items improperly.

And I am finding that some of it is really funny. The headlines are great. The names are great. The wording is great. So every day I'll dig through (it really doesn't take long) and pick out a favorite to post on My Daily Spam. Like I say there, if you can't stop it, you might as well laugh at it.

I did find some irony in creating the site. I am asking for verified email addresses from people before they can post comments. That's right, I'm collecting email addresses in an effort to minimize my own spam, on my spam site. And I did set up the obligatory feed so you can subscribe in your favorite reader but I did stop short of offering an email subscription, would people really subscribe to get spam in their inbox?

I'm actually thinking that perhaps I can eventually turn this into a resource for spam prevention with articles and such, but for now I'll just stick with sharing the best of My Daily Spam.

Enjoy

SB