Tag: #Blog

  • I Wrote a Blog Today

    Not very inspired.

    I have been trying to think of a subject to write about, and I just couldn’t come up with something that would inspire me. Often, I can come up with an idea while walking the kid to school, but not this morning. We were running late, and had to rush, so we didn’t really get a chance to have one of those cute father/daughter conversations.

    I thought that while doing laundry something would strike me, but not really. I just folded laundry and watched First Take.

    I planned for dinner, which will be a sheet-pan meal from the NYTimes Cooking Page. I’m going to add a side of rice, and make a butter lemon sauce to round out the whole thing.

    The only thing of note, when it comes to the blog, is that some people came by today and read my short story review of “Detective Dog” by Gish Jen. In fact, more people read it today than when I originally posted it. I wonder if it was Gish Jen?

    I think this post is falling into the category of “keeping up the quota.” I made the rule that I need to post one blog a day, Monday through Friday. So, no matter what, I have to put something up. Clearly, this isn’t one that will make the book.

    Oh, did I mention that one day all of these blog will be published in a book. Well, not all of them. Just a select few, like a greatest hits. But then, several years later, a book will be published that will contain all of the blogs, and that will be more like a collector’s edition, unabridged version. Now, thinking about it, yes, I guess this blog will eventually be published, so I guess, this one does make the book.

    If you made it this far I the blog, then I congratulate you. That shows a level of dedication to a very half-baked concept that I am making up on the fly, to justify my existence, and to also give myself a feeling of accomplishment.

    I’ll do better tomorrow.

  • Site Update, and What Am I Doing?

    After I posted the ODDS and ENDS blog on Friday, I decided that it was time to start monkeying around with the blog site. The old site was just the blog, and an ABOUT page. It was more basic than basic, and thinking back to when I originally started this blog, I wasn’t too concerned about how things looked. But, being that I am blogging twenty times a month now, and on some days have four views, I decided that I needed to step up my game. Hence, the new:

    matthewgroffblog.wordpress.com

    I have a Home page now, as well as an updated About page. There is a dedicated Blog page, which I will talk about more later. I created a page specific for The ALGOT Blogs, which are my most popular posts, and now the three-part story is in one location. (Also, Ikea discontinued the ALGOT line of products, in case you haven’t heard.) Last, there is the Archive page, so you know, you can read my progress as a blogger.

    And the Blog itself. I decided that it was time to drop the “250 Word” theme. I don’t think the four of you that were reading this were here because of the concise word format I chose to use. The original idea was to train myself to write effectively, while using the fewest words as possible. Not sure if I have attained that skill, but I have started to move away from the idea that I need only write 250 words.

    The last thought that I had, as I was finishing up the site on Sunday night, was should I bite the bullet and buy the domain, and stop using the free WordPress.com site? That question raised some other questions that I haven’t answered yet, but am still thinking about. Spending money on this site is like saying that I am taking it seriously now, so am I serious about this? I have been doing this for a year, going from one view to four views on average, so what do I hope to achieve with the purchase? I’m not setting the world on fire here, so what’s the point?

    The point? For me, I’m a stay at home parent now. I take care of my family, especially my daughter, and I need a creative outlet. I need something that I can work on, look forward to, that is for me. I need to do something that validates my existence in this very strange and odd world that I live in. So… Do I need to pay to attain that?

  • Another IKEA Blog

    I think I do have a problem when it comes to IKEA. But in my defense, I wrote a blog back in July 2020 about IKEA’s Algot line that got discontinued, and man, that’s the little blog that could! I keep getting hits on that thing weekly if not daily. So, there is a demand out there for people to hear stories about IKEA.

    That having been said, we had another IKEA weekend, sort of. We are trying to finish off our daughter’s room before Christmas, which we will clearly achieve. This weekend, we had to flip the ladder from the left to the right side of the bed. I then had to take all the shelves down, and patch up all those holes, because we are going to repaint her room. Also, we moved her wardrobe from the corner of the room to be closer to her bed. Basically, that was my job.

    The wife’s mission was to run out to the Paramus IKEA to pick up the ELVARLI shelving unit. (Also, ELVARLI might be an elvish language Tolkien created.) The IKEA website said there were a few left in stock, and what that really meant was that none were in stock. The advice she was given was the check online for the availability, as they aren’t sure when things will be back in stock. (Supply Chain.)

    There are few corporations that have this much pull in my life, and IKEA is one of them. There is the bank my money is in, the media company that controls my internet, and then there is my furniture supplier, who keeps feeding my desire to put all of my life in neat tiny boxes, which will make my small space feel larger?

    I think I am admitting more about myself than I was expecting…

  • ODDS and ENDS: Free Parking, Online Footprint, and DUNE

    “ODDS and ENDS” is my continuing series of random thoughts and follow ups…

    I had a thought this morning; that I have become that old guy who keeps talking about parking all the time… And then I thought, I do pay for parking in this City. If I average out monthly what I have paid in parking tickets, it works out to $35 a month. It’s not free parking, I pay for my spot. Now, get off my lawn! And turn down your music while you’re at it!

    I’m think about changing up my online footprint. That sounds cool and I’m not sure what I mean, but I think the blog does need a redesign. I have said this before, and I really need to make the time for it, but really, the bigger question, which I still haven’t answered, is what do I want to get out of it? Bigger following? Earn money? Use as a marketing tool for other projects? On some days, updating my online footprint just feels like something to do, like reorganizing the pantry.

    DUNE is just an albatross of a story to put on film. And I’m saying this while enjoying the new DUNE, and having enjoyed all the other DUNE films. It’s just clunky as hell on film, and such a slow burn. Watching the new one, I can see how they tried to address these issues compared with the older versions, but there isn’t much you can do with the narrative. Again, I’m enjoying it, and this one does look amazing, but still in the back of my mind, I keep thinking this is a story that is just too difficult to make a movie out of.

  • I Should Be Working

    Not sure what I should be working on today. I keep thinking that some idea will pop into my head, but that hasn’t happened. I have been sitting here for an hour now and nothing has come to me.

    What have I been doing for an hour?

    I balanced the family checkbook.

    I watched an episode of the old Addams Family on PlutoTV with my daughter.

    And at the same time, helped the kid spell some words for a book she was writing for her mom.

    I read an article about the Battle of Harlem Heights, which happened this day in 1776.

    There is no school today, in case anyone is wondering why the kid is here right now.

    And now, I’m starting to think about what I’m going to be doing the rest of the day…

    Later today, I’m going to try and convince the kid to watch Tottenham play Stade Rennais FC in the Europa Conference League, but I’ll probably be watching that alone.

    I should be working on some home improvement projects today… I might do that next…

    Oh, I did read an article in The New Yorker about CRT. It was informative.

    I should do a water color sketch.

    You know, my blog posts aren’t getting the views that they used to. I used to get 4 views per post, and for the past two weeks it’s dropped to one. I think my quality of posts is declining, which would explain why the numbers are dropping. Or… WordPress is suppressing my numbers, just like FaceBook and IG do to control your viewing habits.

    But, perhaps I said too much…

    I guess I’m back to using Twitter.