WHY BLOG?

To answer two more of your questions:

What is the point of this blog? 

This site was started for a mass media communication class assignment. It was set up as a contest. The professor hoped, for the sake of the students, that some of the blogs will bring in enough attention for the authors to start making money from their posts and links.  For a handful of students this did actually happen!  The food critic was offered free food.  The fashion reporter has commissioned links to retail stores.  And the Hollywood celebrity watcher has been able to personally interview some low-scale stars on the rise. 

Needless to say, the class-wide contest for the best blog was not won by me! The prize went to a student that has been blogging and youTubing for some time. Go figure. I can't compete with youthful curiosity about fads, celebrities, video games, dating games, and world travelers.

The purpose for my posts is not to gain material recognition.  My goal is three-fold: 

1. bring attention to volunteer opportunities for others in the area;  
2. share challenges and rewards of my volunteer experiences; 
3. receive support and suggestions from other people who give service and have figured out how to do it better.    
   At the end of most of my entries you will find a question, or a list of questions. These are to trigger your comments and stir your soul into sharing with me. Then we can laugh and cry and improve our programs together.

How long will this blog be operational?  

I will probably keep this blog open and semi active as time goes by and I learn how to manage it to the point of enjoyment. In general, writing these posts drives me crazy! I'll trying to type something in here but the curser keeps jumping around, and the paragraphs keep shifting back and forth on the page. Inserting videos or images is a royal pain in the carpal tunnel!  I'm pretty sure each post takes me two hours, unless I'm trying to insert a picture, then add another hour. It's not a pleasant or efficient use of my time. *

This blog will likely last six more months. Unless something amazing happened, like I learn how to make it run how I want it to, and I think of something worthwhile to say, and viewers start to add their comments and ideas for the rest of us, (both of us), it will fade away into the sunset.

* For example, I have been working on this post for over an hour and a half. I had already typed the message in a WordDoc. When I copied it into this horrific blag spot, it shifted all around, turned into three fonts, and I cannot change it to save my life. Luckily, it is only a grade that I'm trying to save. If I could show my professor how it looks in the draft mode he may like it. But when it publishes to the blog it is just hideous and discouraging. It makes me look like I can't type and format a decent post.