Back in the Blogosphere - various events have conspired to not only keep me from blogging, but also from even "connecting" to the blogosphere (i.e. using my news aggregator). First, I had been busily preparing for a federal court trial in Atlanta that was supposed to start on December 9th and last over a week. I flew over to Atlanta early this week for the pretrial conference, which was Tuesday afternoon. As it turned out there was no pretrial conference. The judge skillfully managed to get the parties in this protracted seven year dispute to settle. I had never dealt with Judge Julie Carnes before, and I only spent two and half hours with her, but I think it's safe for me to conclude that she is a extremely capable judge and I hope that I have the chance to appear in her court again. (I have more thoughts on this experience but they are too lengthy to blog here).
The second thing that has made it difficult to even access the blogosphere through the news aggregator is that my Dell laptop suddenly stopped seeing the built in network card. There have been other little computer quirks too. Bottom line? I've been Internet deprived for the past week, which is okay since I have been busy with my trial preparations etc. Still, when I jacked into the blogosphere a few moments ago I noticed all kinds of exciting news piled up in my aggregator. Once again, this reinforces the realization that at least 50% of the news I'm interested in comes from my news aggregator (which has some traditional news feeds, but is mostly the usual assortment of motely bloggers).
And interestingly, even though I have been disconnected from the blogworld via computer, I have had several contacts from bloggers who have called me on the phone. One to ask me about New Orleans in order to gather information for an upcoming trip (which unfortunately coincides with my departure from the city or I would hook up with him and show him around the city personally). Another phone call was from a a fellow who had some business to refer me, which as it turned out came through.
I don't think it's appropriate to say more, but it deserves to be said that the blogosphere is not about self-indulgent late-night scriveners tapping words into faceless void. It's about a community of people who share interests, information, and even business. And, even though I was happy gearing up for trial (I know I'm sick), it's good to be able to spend time again in the blogosphere. God help me, but I really like it in here.
