Bird Table News - the end?
May 8th, 2008 by Birdy Trish
I wonder whether to keep on with this blog.
I wasn’t very well at the weekend plus there have been technical problems with my computer and I spent hours at my computer screen getting nowhere.
I thought to myself ‘why don’t you keep a paper diary instead’
Why don’t I? Pen and paper and me. I would write the paper diary outside in the sun.
Sell the computer and buy some wine and garden furniture - and pen and paper!
My blog will never be the best (or near the best) blog about birds. I will never be technical enough to bring the best technology information onto my blog. One of the smaller problems I’ve had is uploading sound. I had just learnt how to get birdsong onto my blog. Then I had to upgrade to a different version (I won’t explain any more). On this new version they (the unknown computer people who inhabit cyberspace! ) have changed a lot of things. Some of the things THEY have changed is the way sound and pictures and video are put onto blogs. Did THEY ask anyone if we wanted to change. No THEY did not. that would never happen if I used pen and paper only. I now have to learn this technology on how to get sound etc all over again. Can I be bothered. Why don’t I give up and bake a cake instead.
As I have been typing my thoughts Blogging has given me the idea that maybe I could turn my bird feeding corner into something more. Add more bird nest houses (I mean bird boxes), maybe grow some bird food, put a camera inside a nest box. Some people make money out of blogs and I thought that if I could find a way to make money out of this blog I would put all the money towards bird food and bird care in my garden. Now I think technolgy has put me off that idea.
The fact that I have become a bit technical while I’ve been blogging is due to the help I’ve received. I want to say THANK YOU to everyone who has helped me along the way. I’ve had such help and support from people I know. The local technical advice I received helped me to stop throwing a brick at the computer screen. Also people I hardly know have helped me. The other day I had the offer of help to learn how to do a podcast - this was from a lady I had never met.
It’s just that technology gets in the way. Paper and a pen is so simple.
This blog is a road I should not be travlling on.
Yet, why do I pause. I enjoy blogging because it lets you express yourself as you would in a diary. I have enjoyed blogging so far because of the bloggers I’ve met. I enjoy blogging because of the other birdy people I’ve met. I enjoy blogging because I know there is local technical advice.
Should I stop feeling sorry for myself and learn more about blogging, more about birds, more about technology. Or should I stop now.
Bloggers are a good hearted lot. Slowly, and without realising it I realise there is a support group out there. Fellow blogoholics, fellow birdoholics, fellow local computertechoholics will help. I only have to ask. They are like a warm drink on a cold night. They are all the best they can be.
I type a few words and the words float off into cyberspace to join millions of other words. I can ’speak’ with people all over the world from this small room. I can learn so much and hopefully sometimes I can help people myself. It’s pretty inspiring when you think about it. Oh dear me.
Why do I blog. How can I not.
I’ll put my pen and paper to one side and buy a cake from the local shop. I will beat the technology gremlin. Or will I?
Trisha
Hi Trisha,
No don’t do it…..I know technology can try your patience and may drive you to pull your hair out. Stick with it! I am a technophobe and I went against the grain and bought myself a Nest box camera - click here. Yes it is simply a nest box with camera to enable us to watch the birds. I was unsure about the technology. But, I bought it and installed it. Within a day or so I had a pair of Blue t’s move in and lay eggs. It is the most wonderful thing in the world and I am starting to change my mind. Technology can be trying at times, stick with it, hold back the diary and your hair will grow back soon….
HI Trish
That would be terrible - we would miss Bird Table News. Buy a laptop - they are under £300 now - take the laptop into the garden with your bottle of wine - & keep blogging!
TopVeg
HI Mark, thanks for your encouragement. Have decided to ’stick with it’. I’d miss blogging and I can’t let a machine beat me can I?
Trisha
Hi Top Veg, Thanks for saying you’d miss Bird Table News. You have had a good idea - buy a laptop and sit in the garden with a bottle of wine. A very good idea. Trisha.
Hi Trish. I do hope you manage to keep going. This is the only blog I visit regularly and I would really miss my ‘fix’ of bird and birdtable news. Most of the other blogs I have visited have been too technical (content and type of layout used). Yours is so easy to negotiate and very interesting in its content of general birdfeeding and local birdspotting news.
I have been using computers for well over 20 years and am terrified at the thought of trying to start a blog like this so look at it from the point of view of what you have achieved.
When I had problems with the ‘pooter in the past I used to keep at it until I had beaten it into submission. These day I give it a while and if the problem is not resolved I switch off, do something else to relax and try again the next day.
Dont let the technology get yer down! It’s frustrating - but not life threatening. ;>)
Very best wishes, John