I finally got around to redesigning the site to fit my needs. For the longest time I had the site set up with the default, stereotypical layout, one slim column of periphery features and links with one main column of free-form blog entries. I've redesigned the site to a three column layout with a more even emphasis between columns.
The reason for this is that I am not the typical blogger who writes long text entries with inline images. I mostly use the site to collect links for things that I see during the day that I want to follow up on later. Sites like digg, del.icio.us, and google reader allow me to quickly mark blog entries and sites that I find intresting. These sites also have syndication tools that allow me to embed javascript on the page that will display my information from those services on my own page. This is great for someone who just wants to mark something as interesting and doesn't want to write up some entry on a blog about one little link (especially when I'm recording it for future reading).
That's not to say I never want to write text. Now I can use this area to write down my original thoughts or reviews about varioius things. This entry is a good example, I want to write up some thoughts that don't necessarily tie to a link or item. I'm going to focus most of my entries on things that I am trying to learn or want to think more critically about (i.e. Oracle, web design, being an IT professional).
I hope more people use these syndication features on their sites to seperate the "Hey, look at this" from the meaty thoughts they want to express.
