If you’ve read many of my blog posts (you’d be in a very exclusive group), you’ve probably realized that I’m a very introspective person. I spend a lot of time analyzing my actions, my motivations (or lack thereof) for clues as to why I am who I am, and how I can improve.

As it pertains to my blogging infrequency, I’ve noticed a pattern. I start a post, an idea, but I don’t finish, because I don’t like it. Something about it is not right. And I just can’t hit that publish button, if the post is not perfect.

Perfection is subjective, at least where blog posts are concerned. But I have realized that I’ll probably never post a thing if I obsess over every word, phrase and period.

Unrealistic expectations of perfection (at least for me) can also lead to procrastination. If I don’t feel I have things worked out in my mind to the point that it’s right, I find myself not even wanting to start anything. I wonder what would have happened if Beethoven never began to write a sympathy for fear that it would be no good, or if Van Gogh never finished a painting because one brush stroke was out of place.

So I’ve decided to give myself a break, and post, good, bad or great. I may write a hundred bad posts, and one good one, but at least the one good one will get written.

Anyone else a perfectionist?

I don’t write a whole lot about television, as I usually don’t watch a whole lot of it. When I do watch, it’s only for specific shows, and most of the time it is time-shifted (DVR, Hulu, Netfilx, etc).

I’m not taking sides in this very public fiasco involving the Tonight Show, Jay Leno and Conan O’Brian, because I don’t care that much. I do disagree, however,  that Jay Leno should be bearing the brunt of the criticism here, because NBC created this problem.

NBC wanted to avoid the kind of issues they encountered with the last Tonight Show transition, when Jay Leno took over for Johnny Carson, and David Letterman jumped ship to CBS, taking with him the larger share of viewers in the Tonight Show time slot, at least, in the beginning.

Leno would later reclaim the #1 ratings spot from Letterman and hold on to that spot for 12 years, up until he left the show last year. As Conan became more popular, he began to get offers from other networks, and NBC cooked up a disastrous plan to keep Conan at NBC without losing Leno.

As we all can see, NBC’s plan failed miserably.  Conan didn’t do nearly as well as Leno in the ratings at the outset, but NBC expected that to pick up after Jay started his prime-time show this past fall.  They were wrong again.

It’s obvious Leno didn’t want to quit. But NBC wouldn’t release him from his contract for fear of him going to another network. NBC didn’t want to lose Conan to another network either, and risk him taking ratings from Leno. And so the dueling talk-show set up was born.

Personally, I don’t think NBC can easily recover from this.  Word is they are paying Conan $40 million to leave the Tonight Show, so that they can put Leno back in.  They are rushing to fill in the blank spots in their prime-time line-up.  And NBC’s ratings are taking a nose-dive in the process (although Conan’s have been better during the scandal, they still never reached Leno levels).

At this point, I don’t think NBC will recover from this. Leno may be going back to the Tonight Show, but due to all of the ill will created by NBC, his ratings probably won’t recover.  Conan will get his own show somewhere else (next year maybe, due to his contract with NBC), and the late night ratings pie will get sliced a little slimmer everywhere.

I blame all of this on NBC’s bad karma. It’s what they get for canceling “My Name is Earl”.

If you haven’t already heard, a powerful earthquake struck Haiti on Tuesday, January 12, 2010.

It is estimated that over 100,000 have died, many more are trapped, and up to 3 million Haitians will require some sort of help to recover from this disaster.  It has been reported that all hospitals in Haiti have either collapsed or have been abandoned due to damage, and hundreds of thousands, if not millions, are in need of medical help, not to mention food, water and basic necessities.

There are dozens of organizations that are answering the call for help in Haiti. I would encourage everyone who can to support these organizations who are responding to this disaster.

You can make a donation to any one of various organizations that are now or will be providing earthquake relief in Haiti.  CNN has a pretty exhaustive list of organizations on their website. Update: The Miami Herald also has a very inclusive list as well.  I will mention a few more here that I picked up on Twitter as well:

• Compassion International: This organization known mainly for connecting children in poverty to sponsors has a disaster relief fund and are raising funds for Haiti.  You can text the word “disaster” to 90999 to give a $10 donation towards their relief efforts in Haiti.  The $10 will be billed to your cell phone account.  No credit card required.  You can also give online here.
• World Vision: Another organization providing opportunities to sponsor children in poverty is also working toward disaster relief in Haiti.  You can give online here.
• The Red Cross: Text the word “HAITI” to 90999 to give a $10 donation towards their relief efforts in Haiti.  The $10 will be billed to your cell phone account.  No credit card required.
• The Assemblies of God has created a disaster relief fund for Haiti as well. Information is here.
• WyClef Jean(formerly of The Fugees) has a foundation called Yele Haiti that is collecting donations toward relief efforts in Haiti.  You can donate at the website or by texting the word “Yele” to 501501 to donate $5 via your cell phone.
• SafeWaterNexus is collecting funds and item donations for Haiti.  Information is here.
• Hollywood Unites for Haiti is a non-profit organized by Jimmy Jean-Louis (“the Haitian” from the NBC Series Heroes) that works with underprivileged youth in Haiti.  You can donate to their disaster relief efforts here.
• Update: One Day’s Wages is sending $5,000 to Haiti, and wants us to help match it.

Update: If you are concerned about where your money is going, check out Charity Navigator to see how the charity rates, and avoid getting scammed.

Above all else, please pray for the people of Haiti.

Updated 4:36 PM CST 1/13/10

That was some blogging vacation (although some might say I haven’t been here that much anyway).  At least my absence only affected tens of people.

Over the break, I’ve really been thinking about the focus of my blogging and trying to target one major subject that would define my writing here.  Being a highly un-focused person (slightly attention-deficit disorder here, ooh shiny….), it’s hard to nail it down to just one.  In that, I’m breaking one of the cardinal rules of blogging, if you listen to the blogging “experts”. But since I read this post, I feel like one of my favorite bloggers, Anne Jackson, has given me permission to go against the grain a little.

Without further adieu, here is my blogging vision for the year ahead:

In general, I think about becoming a better person all the time.  Since I spend a lot of time in thought on that, that is probably what I will write about the most. Not that I will be telling anyone how to do that.  Most of my writing is extremely introspective, and out of that I tend to formulate ideas that could potentially apply to someone else.  What I would like most is to develop those thoughts into a conversation on my blog, so that everyone can benefit from the discussion.  Sure, this idea is not that original, but I think it most reflects who I am.

I have plans this year to get back to making music again, so as I go through that process, I have a feeling I will write about that.

I will continue to periodically write book reviews.

Since I have a lot of fun with technology and gadgets, I will occasionally write about that subject.

Here’s hoping that the blogging journey this year won’t be a lonely one.

With all of the activity surrounding the holidays, and my family’s traditional holiday vacation trip coming up, there has been no time for crafting my usually deep and thoughtful blog posts.

Tonight (Christmas Eve) my family has our holiday gathering with my wife’s side of the family.  Tomorrow morning we see what Santa brought us. Tomorrow night, yet another holiday gathering with all four of my brothers’ families.

We head out for Disney World on New Year’s Eve for a four night stay.

The Alabama Crimson Tide play for the BCS National Title shortly after we return.

It’s going to be a busy next two weeks or so.  In the interim, I’ll be working on my goals for the blog for next year, possibly writing a few posts to be published later, and hopefully upgrading to Wordpress 2.9.

But, before all of this I wanted to sincerely wish one and all a very Merry Christmas, and blessings for the coming new year. I also want to express my gratitude for the new friends that I have found in the process of blogging and twittering. I look forward to getting to know all of you better this next year, and hopefully reaching one of my 2010 goals: meeting my twitter friends in person (well, at least some of them, anyway).

See You Next Year!

Allow me to preface this review by saying that I am an Alabama Crimson Tide football fan, which is odd, because while I live in Alabama now, I grew up in Texas, and moved to Alabama shortly before I finished high school. How I became a fan of the Tide deserves it’s own blog post someday, but suffice it to say, I was interested to read this book, due to Eli Gold’s status in the state as the “Voice of the Crimson Tide.” This book is not only for Alabama football fans, though, as it focuses more on Eli’s career as a whole, which does include a lot more than just the Crimson Tide.

From Peanuts to the Pressbox is a collection of stories chronicling the career of sports broadcaster Eli Gold from his humble roots in Brooklyn, New York, where his first sports job was selling peanuts at Madison Square Garden. Eli took a passion for sports and an admiration of sports broadcasting and made it a driving force in his life, and worked hard to follow his dream to create a career in sports broadcasting, and to follow his inspirations into the pressbox. Eli has done it all, from minor league hockey and baseball, to the NHL, NFL, Arena League, NASCAR (and other auto racing) and college sports as well.

Eli’s story is inspirational and encouraging. It shows the values of setting goals and following those goals with hard work and determination. It also demonstrates the importance of making friends and good connections throughout your career, and how those relationships bring not only opportunities, but a more fulfilled life. It is not the standard “climbing the corporate ladder” story, where it was necessary to use others as rungs to reach success, but shows the importance of respect and friendship, especially to someone in the broadcasting field.

The book is full of stories and anecdotes that are not only about Eli’s greatest moments. He was not afraid to poke a little fun at himself in this book, and the reader will get a few laughs at his expense. Some of the best stories come from his experiences in NASCAR, which was surprising to me, and Eli’s perspective on many of the legends of stock car racing are very insightful, and at times very personal, especially due to his closeness to many of the greatest tragedies in the history of the sport.

If you are not a sports fan, this book may not have much for you, as sports are the central focus, but sports are about people, and in that regard, there are some great people whose stories intertwine with Eli’s throughout the book. Overall, I enjoyed the book, somewhat more than I thought.

My rating, four out of five.

(Disclaimer: I am reviewing this book as part of the book review bloggers program from Thomas Nelson Publishing.  You can find out more information about this program at http://brb.thomasnelson.com. I received no compensation for this review, other than a review copy of the book.)

Once again, I am participating in a blog-a-thon of sorts over at ElizabethEsther.com, where all her blog readers share one of their favorite posts from the past month.

You can chime in to over at her blog.

Even if you don’t share a link, I’m sure you will find plenty of fine reading in the links.

Here you go, more of my favorite links tweeted by my twitter pals:

Interview with the FTC’s Richard Cleland – Blogger Edward Champion questions the FTC’s assertion that bloggers who receive products from companies for review are being compensated when they keep the product they received.

10 Things to Tell People Who Swear You’re the Lennon to their McCartney – A very intelligent response to a common problem for artists and musicians – the uninvited collaborator.

How Much Should You Reveal About Yourself Online? – Being 100% honest without revealing 100%.

My Experience With Commenting – Some advice on the how and how not to comment on blog posts.

Would Mother Teresa Have Used Twitter? – Thoughts on living in an increasingly connected society.

The 46 Stages of Twitter – How you get from Anti-twitter activist to twitter addict.

Over at Elizabeth Esther’s blog, all of her readers are picking their favorite posts from last month.

She has had 80 plus participants for this iteration, so take a visit over and check out everyone’s picks.

I picked my first post of the month, Looking For a Window, which actually kicked off my busiest month of blogging ever.  I feel that this post was my most honest so far, and may be the best I’ve written so far.  If you haven’t read that post yet, hit the link and take a read.