In a comment to my previous post, Jody encourages me to blog a hobby or interest. And those are exactly the lines along which I’ve been thinking… Unfortunately, doing what I want to do will require a redesign, and I’m not sure how to find the time to make that happen.

Here’s my vision at this moment, though:

• The main column of the site would be devoted to several sections, showing probably only the most recent post in each section. The top section would be devoted to a photograph, just like the first days of mackenab.com. Other sections I can think of at this moment might include: travel logs from trips that I take, my ongoing adventures in home improvement, and maybe even a diary section like at Genehack. The sections would be subject to revision from time to time, but the same basic format would be kept intact.

• No more politics, sortof. I’ve decided that talking about politics in such a public forum with my actual, honest-to-goodness, legal name attached probably isn’t such a great idea. My biggest concern here is students. I don’t know if any undergrads read my blog, but I’ve always been afraid of being pigeonholed by an undergrad before they even get to know me in class, just because they Googled my name and found my blog. Well, my political opinions don’t have anything to do with what I teach in class, with the exception of generic things like demanding critical thinking about issues. (I loathe people on all parts of the political spectrum who don’t think critically.) Similar issues apply to graduate students. I’ve been recruiting a couple of graduate students this year with whom there is at least a statistical reason to believe we would probably disagree about a number of political issues. And while that disagreement is totally fine, I don’t want that to be the first thing that they learn about me when they Google my name.

• I did say sortof. My current solution to this is that I will use Furl or del.icio.us to link to things that I find interesting. I’ve really enjoyed looking at such lists on other people’s sites; I can usually tell be reading the headline whether or not I would also find it worth examining. It would give me an opportunity to link to things that I think are interesting or engaging without implying that I necessarily agree 100% (or even 20%) and without having to explain the nuances of what I found interesting and what I parts I agree/disagree with.

• So, the basic design is two column just like now. Left column is narrow with a calendar, Furled links, perhaps a blogroll, and other crud. Right column is wide showing the most recent post from each of several categories in an order specified by me. Site is built on WordPress, since I think MT’s new licensing policy is ludicrous, even though I could qualify under their free license.

• Next Action: Install WordPress. Enough bellyaching about not having enough time. I’m on it.