Chris Saul's Blog

Monday January 22, 2007

Could I have written like this?

A couple of the blogs I enjoy reading are written by teenagers. One of them is Falapeno.

I'd guess that Falapeno is probably between 14 and 18, based on info from his posts. I assume it's a 'he' as it's Falapeno and not Falapena. Could I have written such thoughtful entries if I'd had a blog at that age?

Even if I'd not written such well thought out pieces and even if most others of the same age or much older don't, I love the fact that blogging and other net activities seem to get so many people writing and 'interacting' rather than simple 'consuming' by sitting goggle eyed in front of the TV. I don't have children, but if I did I'd expect to be much happier seeing them chatting, reading web pages and blogging rather than simply sitting in front of the box, which was the alternative to running around outside when I was younger. That's not to say that kids shouldn't be outside getting some exercise, but when they're back in I'd be much happier to see the TV off and something creative going on instead.

I hope these comments don't come back and bite me in a few years.

Plus ca change

This post is brought to you from Ye Olde Chelsea Arms, Tashkent. Unfortunately their free wifi isn't working for me, but GPRS is , which means I can access all my Sun email.

It also means I can chat to people who aren't simply staying the same hotel. Akmai, from the Tajik area of Uzbekistan, works for the group that runs the pub and is also a fully qualified irrigation project engineer.

This is my first time in Central Asia. As with other trips to former communist countries I have to contrast my very comfortable experience so far with what my father must have experienced during his trips in the 70s and early 90s to these parts of the world. A very valid topic for the blog I hope he'll be starting soon :)

Plus c'est la meme chose?

We'll see.

Where am I in the Bloggies?

Sun have a (Sun employeee votes only) 'best blog article' competition going on. Disgracefully I have not been nominated in any of the categories. I expect this is because there are no awards for 'most interesting electric plug commentary' or 'best article on taxi interiors' sections. Had there been, I'd have had no competition.

ThinGuy has been nominated for two articles, so I'll have to place a vote for him.

Maybe next year my moment of fame will come? For now I'm off to see if I can get a hotel car to give me a quick tour of Tashkent, after which I will see if the wifi speed at Ye Olde Chelsea Arms will let me get to my Sun email, something the business centre in my hotel won't, ironically.