I'd like to delete some of today's one-liners. I really would; but, what's done is done.

They were poking fun at the whole "powerblogger" mentality, myself included.

I wish I could say I'm above it all, that I don't post nonsensical things simply for the sake of getting my link included on Torrez's oh-so-nifty toy. I'd like to believe that's true, but the fact is that my traffic increases when I make the list. I'm not above it. Quite the contrary, I'm right down in the nitty-gritty of it.

I don't want this to be about page hits. I don't know why I'm concerned with traffic. I have nothing here to sell, no banner ads awaiting a click-thru commission. Maybe it's just that I'm enthralled by the idea of achieving popularity for once, however modest. Maybe it's just that I love the fact that people are paying attention.

One reason I think I post so much each day is that here, like nowhere else, my self-consciousness is stripped away, and I can say what I want, when I want, without fear. In person I'm really very quiet and reserved, at least until I really get to know you ... until I trust you not to judge me. I lose that distrust here in this format. Not so much the distrust, but the fear. If I can't see you laughing at me, rolling your eyes at what I have to say, then it can't hurt me.

Still, I want to be more selective about what makes it to this page.

I'd like to resolve myself to only logging one or two somewhat meaningful posts a day, and not say anything at all if I don't have anything somewhat meaningful to say; but if I did that, I'd be limiting myself to a format that probably wouldn't suit me on a day to day basis. Because sometimes one-liners are really all I have to say; sometimes single comments hold more meaning than entire essays; and sometimes nonsense is what's called for.

So I won't resolve to limit my posts based on quantity. I will, however, resolve to limit them based on quality. No blogging for the sake of blogging, for the sake of linkage, or for the sake of increasing site traffic. I will blog only for the sake of saying things that I think are worth saying.

That said, I probably won't be blogging at all until next Monday. I'm going to take my laptop to the staff retreat, and I'll probably try to log on over the weekend, but, as I learned this past weekend, my ISP is not proving to be very reliable; so while I will try to make updates throughout the week, I can't promise that I'll be able to.

Which reminds me ... if you live in Northeastern Oklahoma and you're happy with your ISP (NOT counting AOL), please tell me about it. I'm thinking about switching to a local provider. Anybody familiar with Webzone? They're offering discounts to my company's employees, but I want to hear some testimonials before I switch.

And, referring to what I said above, it might be Monday before I can get to my e-mail, too.

Have a good week, everybody. Here's hoping you'll hear from me sooner rather than later.