Seminary Financing, Pro-Blogging, and Blogrush

If you noticed the new, alien looking thingy in my sidebar that says “From the Blogosphere” and are wondering what it’s about…so am I. I’m wondering after four years of sporadic (but fulfilling) blogging, where this blog is headed and what (or who) exactly it’s for. So, I’m in the process of overhauling it. Changing the layout, functionality, theme, and possibly even the name. Why?

1. In the past two years, I’ve changed a lot. The blog hasn’t.
2. The learning experience. I want to improve my CSS and PHP skills, and writing my own WordPress theme seems like a good way to accomplish that goal.
3. In nine months, I’m quitting my job and going to seminary full time. I’m hoping that in some way, this blog and my passion for tech-geekery might become a (small) source of income during those “lean” years.

For that last one, I’ve been inspired by a friend of mine who is just finishing at seminary, and (in addition to being an engaging and consistent blogger) runs his own graphic design business.

While graphic design is not exactly my thing, I enjoy writing code, working with people/organizations to find software and web 2.0 solutions, and building online communities through blogs, wikis, social networks, etc. Most of this I do for free, and will continue to do so, but if I can find a way to make some fringe-revenue from some tastefully placed blog ads, or occasional free lance consulting, that sounds interesting right now. Pro-Blogging. Of course, it means I’ll have to be more consistent about blogging, too, which isn’t exactly a bad thing: A pastor I know talks about blogging as a “spiritual discipline.”

So the “From the Blogosphere” application in the sidebar is a new application from a site called BlogRush and its supposed to drive more targeted traffic from other like-minded bloggers to your web site (I’m considering that a pre-cursor to pro-blogging). There’s a video on their website that explains it better than I can. The downside is that you currently have to choose one category to describe your blog, rather than multiple tags (something I hope they add in the future). My blog is about as random and ADD as its author, but I’m thinking that for Lisa and Annie — whose blogs are more parenting focused, and for Ginger with education (all three of whom are witty, deep, and amazing bloggers) something like this might be useful.

Anyhow, don’t freak if things change around here, and if you’ve ever thought about pro-blogging or are currently doing it, I’d be interested to hear those thoughts. Also, if you see any interesting (or offensive) links in the magical BlogRush window, or if you’ve arrived here *from* the magical BlogRush window, let me know that, too!