I started blogging last summer – 11 June, 2006. Started on http://sinannblog.blogspot.com/, http://sinannblog.blogstream.com/, and http://scdiv.spaces.live.com/. Sort of an experiment to see which blog was the easiest to use, the most fun, and found some like readers.

18 July, 2006, I added http://360.yahoo.com/sidaugherty. I found that Yahoo's home page and online radio station worked for me so I tried their blog site, also.

On 30 July, 2006, msn's Spaces changed their format and I had trouble putting my posts on it. Spaces did not go to Google's blog search, either. It did not generate any responses. I liked the world map on it but stopped making entries.

Some recommendations on a website said to try WordPress and on 15 April, 2007, I started http://sinann.wordpress.com/. They also said to try thumblogger but do not go there.

The best of the lot continues to be the blogger (blogspot) and blogstream. As time has gone by, a good list of blogs I like has grown, particularly on blogstream. There are some folks whose blogs I like and who come by mine now and then.

So, the step I have taken in my blogging experiment today is to post a note on the WordPress, Yahoo, and Spaces blogs that I will not be making posts there anymore. I compose on my OpenOffice word document and then cut-and-paste to the blogs so it is easy to post the same entry on a bunch of blogs. But, those that I discontinued were still a waste of time and space on someone's server.

Blogging is fun. Even if no one reads it. Having some readers certainly adds to it. Some friends out there somewhere.

After being away from my computer, visiting friends and children, it is high time to get back to my blog.

The middle of October, 2007, and already the negative political ads have started! It seems like only yesterday that I made a series of blog entries about the last elections. See 12 September, 2006 - 14 June, 2006 - 13 June, 2006. Have I really been blogging that long?

There are a bunch of very positive ads. Senator Rerras and his opponent, Dr. Northam, have the kind of ads I would not vote against, They do not tell me anything about their planks and the issues but do make me like them both. Especially Senator Rerras' because it emphasizes his family, a good property in a candidate. I have followed Senator Rerras and generally like what he has done. Hope the League of Women Voters will set up the site they had some years ago that outlines each candidate's stand. Also hope the ad campaign that has started out positive stays so.

There is a general ad campaign against Representative Thelma Drake. I have followed her record and get regular letters from her. There are a number of issues I do not agree with, most of them, but feel she has been straightforward, not a Republican party hack. She survived foul MoveOn.org ads before and they are after her again. I just might vote for her this time because of the ads against her. Any object of MoveOn.org ads sounds like my kind of candidate. Why is it that we need to vote against vicious politics instead of voting on the issues at hand? See http://www.virginia.edu/topnews/releases/campaignads-july-6-1999.html.

Several campaigns for Virginia Congress started right out with the attacks. It is too early to start keeping score but I want all of them to note that I vote against negative ads.