And so, it begins.
I have decided to make use of the domain names a few years back (as well as the alias I've used on a number of social networking sites for some time now) and start a blog site. The site will allow me to opine on things that are of interest to me, sure, but hey... I could do that at MySpace.com, right? Why CakeOrPie.com? (Or PieOrCake.com, depending on your perspective?)
It was always the ultimate Internet argument. So simple. So pure. So profound.
OK, fine... I'll cut the B.S. It's just a really catchy name.
But this site will be about questions and answers, both mine and yours, on a wide variety of topics. Of course, the root question -- cake or pie? -- will always be out there, but I hope to also help tackle some of life's other great mysteries. Is that new gadget actually worth the $299 you're dying to spend on it? Is buying that polypropylene bag they want to sell you at the grocery store actually better than either paper or plastic? What is the greatest franchise in all of professional sports?
That last one's a trick question. There is only one answer. She knows.
Then there's this...
I was inspired to launch the site now after listening to The Millionaire Next Door as an audio book on my iPod (iPhone, actually, but we'll get to that later...) and finding myself frustrated that, frankly, I could never be that guy. Live below your means until just before your death, then give all your savings away to beat the death tax? Where's the fun in that? Like they say at Starbucks when someone orders a decaf nonfat latte, "Why bother?"
But I tried. I went home and revised the family budget, poring over months of stats from Quicken and my online banking, trying to see where it all went, hoping I could be a little more like the neighbor with the bags of cash under the bed.
It just wasn't going to happen.
So I said, "OK, I've been reading all these self-improvement books, listening to these podcasts, scanning my RSS feeds for the latest on personal productivity. Surely I could offer some tidbits of my own to the world. I may be a disorganized pauper listening to yesterday's hit single on the wrong media player, but that doesn't mean I can't help others, right? And by helping others, help myself?"
So I picked a date: July 4th. Independence Day. It marked the birth of a nation, it would do just fine for the birth of a blog.
Or so I thought...