10 Questions with The Vegas Art Guy of The Desert Glows Green

1. Describe your blog in five sentences or less.
My blog covers just about everything, including religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin. During the school year it’s mostly about education and my adventures in the classroom. When school is not in session, it’s open season.

2. Link us to one post from your blog that best defines who you are.
There were several, but this one is a good one: Good News for a Change

3. What sets you apart from other bloggers?
Why, me of course. :) That and I don’t stick to just one subject, and I’ll admit my faults and successes.

4. When and how did you first discover blogging?
I kept hearing about blogs and how cool they were. I poked around and started to read a few that I liked and decided to give it a try.

5. What is your biggest pet peeve related to blogging or the internet?
All the cursing, and working really hard on a post and not getting any response, then mailing one in and you get huge discussions, go figure.

6. Name one plugin, blogging widget, or service that you can’t live without.
I love Haloscan, it makes managing my comments way easy. It’s way better than the comment system Blogger uses.

7. If you could choose anyone, living or dead, to write a guest post for your blog, who would it be and why?
Ronald Reagan. I’m a big fan of his and he wrote and spoke so plainly and yet so eloquently.

8. How has blogging made you a better person?
It’s made me write more clearly and has made me a better communicator. It’s also forced me to think more critically than I used to in the past.

9. What are your tips for becoming a better blogger?
Be honest, especially if you screw up. Return comments and visits from other blogs. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and make sure if you do politics to do some research before you just spout off your opinion. In addition you should put up an entry every couple of days or so, that way your readers will keep coming back and please have fun!

10. Name one great blog that you read on a regular basis. What makes it unique?
Just one? That’s not fair! :( OK I read American Power every day. Dr. Douglass’ posts on the political scene are always interesting and I always learn something new when I visit his site. OK I’m addicted to his blog… lol

10 Questions with CloseOfPlay of Laddered Stocking

1. Describe your blog in five sentences or less.
Everything you’ve never wanted to know about sex, life and the Dirty Sanchez. Via Ross Perot.

2. Link us to one post from your blog that best defines who you are.
Although Elton Liked a Good Tarmacking…

3. What sets you apart from other bloggers?
My writing style.

4. When and how did you first discover blogging?
This year, by chance. Now I’m hooked.

5. What is your biggest pet peeve related to blogging or the internet?
The number of mediocre blogs.

6. Name one plugin, blogging widget, or service that you can’t live without.
Feedburner.

7. If you could choose anyone, living or dead, to write a guest post for your blog, who would it be and why?
Osama. Or Obama. Because I’d get loads of hits.

8. How has blogging made you a better person?
No, but it’s made me a better writer.

9. What are your tips for becoming a better blogger?
Write often, but using fewer words.

10. Name one great blog that you read on a regular basis. What makes it unique?
Perez, for my sins. It’s updated very regularly, and it can break good stories. (Sorry.)

10 Questions with Andrew of All American Blogger

1. Describe your blog in five sentences or less.
All American Blogger is a political blog. We offer up political news and commentary from a libertarian and conservative point of view.

2. Link us to one post from your blog that best defines who you are.
General Welfare Insanity Or How We Are Spending Ourselves Into Oblivion

3. What sets you apart from other bloggers?
Dashing good looks and minty fresh breath!

4. When and how did you first discover blogging?
I don’t know that it was a discovery. I remember hearing about it years ago when the word “weblog” started getting used around the net. I was already posting to my site on a regular basis. When WordPress came about, that really delivered the idea right into my lap.

5. What is your biggest pet peeve related to blogging or the internet?
The fact that I have had to spend so much extra time on blog designs because Internet Explorer doesn’t conform to standards.

6. Name one plugin, blogging widget, or service that you can’t live without.
The one that we probably would miss the most would be MyBlogLog. We rely on the statistics they gather to measure the success of our various marketing efforts.

7. If you could choose anyone, living or dead, to write a guest post for your blog, who would it be and why?
Thomas Jefferson or James Madison, two of the most important men in the founding of the United States. I would love to have either of them write an opinion piece on the state of politics in America today.

8. How has blogging made you a better person?
I don’t think blogging has made me a better person, but it has certainly made me a more well connected person.

9. What are your tips for becoming a better blogger?

1. Write original material.
2. Put some effort into your blog design. No matter how good the content is,if your site looks sloppy people are far less likely to take you seriously.
3. Make sure there is a way for your readers to contact you.

10. Name one great blog that you read on a regular basis. What makes it unique?
CyberNet Technology News

CyberNet is written by a husband and wife team. They cover things that are
actually useful for an average person.

1. Describe your blog in five sentences or less.
If you look at opinion polls on the jobs/professionals that average consumers trust the most, the “usedcarsalesman” ranks dead last (even behind politicans and lawyers). I thought I’d call my blog “usedcarsalesman.com” (since I had the domain) and have a little fun spinning the public’s perception of the name. With Usedcarsalesman, I attempt to provide frank and occasionally novel opinions on a variety of matters ranging from business, politics, the entertainment industry and military affairs.

2. Link us to one post from your blog that best defines who you are.
You Still Have to Buy a Political Party’s “Whole Album” To Get That One “Favorite Song”

3. What sets you apart from other bloggers?
Conservative adherence to an editorial/essayist style of post that really isn’t much different than what you might find on the Op-Ed page of a major City Newspaper. Its not as exciting for people as reading a new post every 15 minutes, but it allowed me to keep a consistent publishing pace since November 2004.

4. When and how did you first discover blogging?
Blogging started to get a little main-stream press in 2004. It seemed a natural progression for me to stop with the hand-written journals and write in this new, more reader-accessible format.

5. What is your biggest pet peeve related to blogging or the internet?
I had some exposure to the internet in the mid-1980s through BBS like Compuserve. I like how the Web/Internet has matured a bit in the ’00s, as the 1990s information-superhighway thing made me nauseous.

6. Name one plugin, blogging widget, or service that you can’t live without.
If we are talking service, then I’d say TypePad.

7. If you could choose anyone, living or dead, to write a guest post for your blog, who would it be and why?
Warren Buffett. Only because he just purchased a large stake in the CarMax, used-car business and his input on that venture would be an attention-worthy topic of discussion given the name of the usedcarsalesman.com blog.

8. How has blogging made you a better person?
Most people have ideas in the course of day-to-day affairs. In years past, these may have simply dissipated or perhaps found themselves entered in to a journal. But they did no public good either way. I suppose blogging has made me a better person by providing me with an avenue to express whatever beneficial thoughts I have to the world. I guess it is an additional raison d’etre for me.

9. What are your tips for becoming a better blogger?
Write down your ideas as individual drafts as soon as it is convenient for you. If you are posting on a weekly basis, then you will always have a diversity of ideas that you can select from to develop as needed.

10. Name one great blog that you read on a regular basis. What makes it unique?
I am a fan of BlogMaverick.com (though I think Usedcarsalesman.com is actually a more diverse and interesting read). Its unusual for the public to be able to have such direct access to the thoughts of a wealthy tech entrepreneur/trader and NBA franchise operator.