Don't Have Too Many Accounts

One of my "resolutions" for 2014 is to clean up and simplify my digital life. You see, I have two blogs and two Twitter accounts. That may sound crazy, but I googled how to merge accounts this morning and quickly discovered that I'm not alone. I want to combine the blogs yet not lose my content. Thankfully, many similarly situated but more tech savvy folks have researched and posted about how to do this. I'm taking notes and getting ready to make my social media experience less complicated.

How did I get myself into this mess? Well, I created a blog entitled "You Need a Helmet" because I wanted to write anonymously about things that really annoy me like politics and work. (What? Me complain about work?)  I also thought a bit of anonymity might come in handy when blogging about personal family issues. It's hard to be honest without running the risk of hurting someone's feelings, something to be avoided at all costs in our clan. I created a separate Twitter account, @YouNeedaHelmet, to compliment and promote the blog.

A secret blog? Yes, you're right. That's crazy. There is no such thing. Certain people know that's your blog and soon the jig is up. So In the interest of honesty, ownership, and shameless self-promotion, I started this blog. But I missed the crankier You Need a Helmet persona and I wasn't sure if I could let it go. So I remained a two blog hog for a time. But now I think I'm ready. I barely have time to post on one blog as it is. Blogger is much easier to use than Wordpress so this blog will survive the merger. 

Now the instructions I found provide for 13 different steps and use words like export, convert and XML markup, so this could take awhile. As for the second twitter account I fear I'll just have to kill one of them. Should the helmet be beheaded? It may be a casualty in this crusade to keep things simple. Sigh. But this is the time for starting anew and breaking those bad habits like retweeting oneself. I am going to stick with it and I hope you all follow through with whatever resolutions you've made for yourselves.

Happy New Year!

So What Does Barb Say?

Welcome to my new blog, So Barb Says. The name says it all. I really do have  lot to say and I want to say it here. My first blog, You Need a Helmet, has a specific point of view and that is to complain about the idiotic things that baffle and frustrate us as we go along. The description spells that out with "Think of me as your cranky aunt." But, hey, even though this may surprise some of you, I'm not always cranky.

There are many things that interest me now. I teach. I take pictures. I research the family tree. Should I blog about my work? Most days probably not. The boss may be reading. Should I create a photography blog? Well, I'm not behind my camera often enough. Besides I don't have the time for hours of editing and a lot of my pictures suck. Okay so, how about a genealogy blog? Nah, that's too narrow a topic and some days trying to clear up the mysteries of my family's distant past just gives me a headache. I need more flexibility but I can't commit to multiple accounts.

I also really enjoy posting on Facebook and Twitter. Most days I can muster up a status and/or a tweet or two. Some of them are even entertaining if I do say so myself. Should I try my hand at microblogging? That sounds like fun. Quick. To the point. Spit it out and you're done. But some things require more attention. Not everything can be so wittily or simply expressed. Again I need more flexibility and I hope to find it here..

This is my spot , my blogspot, where I can do any and all of the above. There's no specific point of view or focus. Like the rest of you, I just want to have my say. So what does Barb say today? Life is short, complicated and full of wonder. At 61 I am at a place where I feel I can look back and look ahead with what I view as a healthy perspective. Of course, I hope you'll subscribe so you can disagree with that very bold statement. I hope you'll  become a reader so you can comment and keep the conversations going.  I hope you'll stay tuned and I thank you  for listening.