I remember one time on another kayak blog, the writer decided to take a day off to be enraged about some current political issue. One comment, incidentally from another blog author, said something to the effect of “shut up and just write about kayaking!” I remember having an instant queasy feeling. Not from the blog itself. I mean, we’re real people. We feel, think and believe things. You have to admit the world can be an ugly and frustrating place. But the comment on the other hand did bother me. I guess I was surprised that there could be an assumption that a blog, like a magazine, was a “product”. The reader’s expectation was a kin to a paying customer who came to read about their preferred subject. Apparently they didn’t get their money’s worth if page 27 was “off topic” as it were. Interesting. For my part I’ve always hoped readers understood that this journal was written by a kayaker but was as I say “mindless ramblings”. I am not “only” a kayaker. So far, I’ve not gotten the “Shut up and play yer’ guitar” responses. In fact, I feel like if you knew exactly what to expect, it would get boring. Not that it doesn’t sometimes anyway. I think it’s fair to say that a blog is generally not a commercial endeavor. Not commercially driven anyway. No subscription or advertiser demands that we stay “on topic” as it were. That’s what the Magazines are for. (Lord knows, Sea Kayaker would never look twice at my gibberish as it is) In fact I often find that we have more in common than just kayaking, and that really makes me feel good. I’m glad to know we are multi-dimensional.

With that in mind, I’m thinking about the week ahead. Let’s hope we have time to talk about; Tow Ropes, The Georgia Symposium, Trips to the Yucatan, more guests at Canoecopia, and if I have the guts, the “Gordon Brown Lynch-o-Thon”. I might write about politics or religion as well. But I doubt it.