"next blog"

Because I am new to blogging, I have been clicking on "next blog" at the top of my blog and taking a peek at what other folks are doing. I've done that every day - sometimes several times each day - and I continue to find some patterns.

I find many families with small children who have started a blog in order to share photos and stories of their kids & life with family members who live far away. Because bloggers have the option to be selective about who they share their blog with, I can't figure out why they open themselves to the world. I would be scared to death that someone would come and try to steal my children! Of course my imagination has always been able to conjure up the worst possible outcome of every step that my son takes. He is 21 now and I still manage to imagine all the ways he might meet an untimely end.

I find lots of photographers. In my humble opinion, most of them are not as good as they think they are! One really excellent photographer can be found here. Rick Lee's Thursday trips to the produce aisle at the grocery store net some incredibly amazing photographs.

I find lots of young Asian girls with hundreds of photos of themselves looking cute. They usually have soft music playing in the background and pictures of puppies and stuffed animals. Very interesting! Why don't I see any other specific groups?

I find many blogs that at some point began with the intent of keeping a record of travels. I've saved a couple of them under "my favorite blogs".

Then, as if to point out that I am a typical American who only speaks English, I find hundreds of blogs in foreign (to me) languages. This year - I WILL learn a foreign language. Since I live in Phoenix, AZ - and since I have a vacation to Mexico planned for April 2009, I will begin with Spanish. There - I have made the commitment. Keep me honest.

But this whole experience is really very interesting. What have you found?