Last night Ernie the Attorney took me to the House of Blues and we decided to see Buddy Guy. Now, before yesterday I really had no concept of who Buddy Guy was. Ernie told me he's one of the greatest guitar players that have ever lived. I don't know how I have lived 37 years without hearing about Guy, but I have.

I'm now a Buddy Guy fan. This guy is awesome.

At one point in the concert he walked through the crowd while jamming all out on his guitar. He disappeared from our view for a few minutes and the next thing we knew Buddy was sitting right next to us just jamming. Ernie and I looked at each other in total disbelief. After all, we were on the second floor and never expected to be right next to Buddy on a couch.

Did I say I love this fucking town?

My disillusionment probably comes from the fact that I don't see what I do on my weblog as journalism. I see my weblogging as more of formalized, world-wide "water-cooler" conversation.

What's the difference? Well, let's look at a story.

Ernie the Attorney took me and his kids to Jazzland in New Orleans today (it was opening day for the park's 2002 season). It was a nice day, but looking around I notice that there's not many customers there and the service and facilities are falling apart.

Turns out that in February the park declared bankruptcy and is struggling to survive. Hundreds of jobs hang in the balance. Can they turn it around? I don't think so. The park has to compete against New Orleans other attractions.

Anyway, on the way home I read a "professional" report in the local newspaper about Jazzland's demise and thought "how would a weblogger cover this and how would the story be different?"

Well, as a weblogger I'm not likely to call up Jazzland's executives and interview them (would they even take the call?) I'm also not likely to have looked up the financial reports from the park (I doubt any weblogger would sit in bankruptcy court and report on the proceedings either, although it would be interesting to see the judge, the bailiff, and the attorneys involved weblog their view of the proceedings).

Another difference? I don't think my weblog is a good place for me to report on Jazzland. After all, how many of my readers even care about a theme park in New Orleans?

The reason you all come here is to catch up on my life and thoughts about technology. That's quite different than the reason someone in New Orleans reads the local newspaper. So, the way I approach the story will be completely different, if I cover it at all.

Is what I'm doing here journalism? I don't like that term. Maybe it's cause I was trained as a journalist in college and what I do here doesn't have much similarity to the standard news story I learned to write on the San Jose State University's newspaper.

Anyway, I'm still trying to figure out what weblogging is, but it sure doesn't seem to be journalism most of the time.

In the meantime, if you come to New Orleans you can skip Jazzland. It probably won't be open much longer anyway.