2 posts tagged “no tags”

I wish more of my friends were on the web. I read about services like Twitter and immediately onboard, but usually the only other people in my cohort are other strangers I read on the web. Even here on Vox most of my neighbors aren't people I actually know.

The web has been a huge part of my life since my freshman year of High School at least. I remember owning one copy of WIRED magazine and continually thumbing through its ragged pages. One of the stories in that issue was about Justin Hall's then-groundbreaking site Links From The Underground. Any free time at school I could scrounge up was spent in the computer lab reading BBS's and the handful of websites like Justin's that were more personal in tone. In the small town I grew up in, the web was my escape.

I honestly believe the web and my college education are the two things that set me a part from the rest of my family. To be concise and polite let me just say that I'm not a product of my childhood environment. Anyone who meets me and then meets the rest of my family is always surprised by the disconnect there.

That said, the web is a huge part of my life. I was the first person I know to have a blog. I discovered Flickr, Firefox, and other bits of web-geekery before most of my friends. Many of them still don't know about or use these services. I introduced many of my friends to blogging, attempting to encourage them to document their lives alongside mine, but my wife, Sadie, and my mom are the only two who have continued to do so with any consistency.

Now that Web 2.0 is really beginning to focus on social software and networks I'm beginning to feel a little web-lonely. I want my social networks to include at least a few people I actually know. I enjoy my neighbors here on Vox, but I'd love to be able to meet them for a weeknight beer or invite them over for dinner. I'd like to be able to do that and the read about on their blogs the next day.

I've tried several pieces of blogging software. I'm scatterd all over the internets. This looks cool though, fun even. I like the neighborhhod aspect, the lighthearted feel. Vox doesn't seem to take itself so serious, and I like that. I'll play around a little bit, try to meet some neighbors and post when and if I can.