Ten Questions with Chip of Chip’s Quips

1. Describe your blog in five sentences or less.
I’m a freelance software consultant, and Chip’s Quips is a collection of my personal thoughts on a wide variety of subjects. I try to put at least a little humor into every post, even on serious topics. I watch the web scene to some degree. I relate personal experiences and funny or interesting stories.

2. Link us to one post from your blog that best defines who you are.
Five glances into the abyss.

3. What sets you apart from other bloggers?
Computers, along with varying amounts of cable, routers, and the occasional wireless signal.

Seriously, I like to tell myself that I have an ability to think about things in unusual ways, and that I can express those thoughts pretty well. I studied Biblical Literature in college, learned computers on the job, ran software development for a software company, then went out on my own as a consultant. I have a passion for history, philosophy, math, science, and many other fields. I’ve been everything from very religious to completely atheist, and settled in (for now) on radical agnosticism. I think I bring a different perspective to almost any topic.

4. When and how did you first discover blogging?
I installed Google Desktop back in 2005 to see what it was all about, and their feed gadget started to catch my eye. I was especially drawn to posts on Things That… Make You Go Hmm, and I found myself clicking thru and commenting often. TDavid posts a lot about blogging there, so eventually I was drawn to try it for myself. I started Chip’s Quips in January of 2006. In a way, though, I had already been occasionally blogging since 2001, when I started Chip’s Tips. I got tired of repeating the same old solutions to common programming problems, so I developed my own content management system and begin posting tips, tricks and examples for developers. In the middle of 2006 I converted both sites to use WordPress.

5. What is your biggest pet peeve related to blogging or the internet?
Spam. Whoever figures out how to deliver a convincing death blow to spam will be the hero of the 21st century (if it even happens in this century!)

6. Name one plugin, blogging widget, or service that you can’t live without.
Akismet, along with engtech’s Auntie Spam script for Firefox. If I had to weed out the hundreds of spam comments I receive every day, I’d never get anything done.

7. If you could choose anyone, living or dead, to write a guest post for your blog, who would it be and why?
It can’t be someone born in the future? I think that would be pretty fascinating. But they’d be all “How am I supposed to use this clay-tablet-like technology? Why can’t you just pick up on my brain waves?”

8. How has blogging made you a better person?
It’s made me think through my ideas more thoroughly, it’s introduced me to some very good friends, and it’s improved my writing and my sense of humor (at least, I think it has).

9. What are your tips for becoming a better blogger?
Just write. The more you write, the better you’ll get. Be yourself. Look for the details that nobody else noticed, and elaborate on them. Listen to your own thoughts. If you find yourself saying “hmm, I wonder why..?” then instead of shrugging it off, write a post that asks the question and explores possible answers. Best of all, embrace your insanity. We spend a lot of time in our lives trying to cover over our uniqueness, when we should let it flourish instead.

10. Name one great blog that you read on a regular basis. What makes it unique?
It’s hard to pick just one among the many great blogs that I read, but the one that really challenges my thinking on a wide variety of topics is Burningbird, by Shelley Powers. I don’t always agree with Shelley, but there’s enough that we do agree on that I find our occasional differences in thought to be powerful engines of insight. Do I have to admit that I often come around to her way of seeing things?

Categories: Humor, Personal, Technology, Ten Questions