What’s a Blog?

A few days after I met Andy, he mentioned during a telephone conversation that he had a website. He gave me the address (aolson.net – formerly aolson.us). I was snooping around his website when I discovered a category called “blog.” I had no clue what a “blog” was. It turns out that “blog” is short for “web log.” A blog is basically an online journal. Andy started his blog in October 2003. I took a long lunch the next day and poured through all of the entries. I got to know Andy pretty well just by reading his entries. What I didn’t know was that Andy had a hit counter (white hit counter on a white background so that it was invisible on the screen and to unsuspecting snoopers like me) and he was able to figure out that I had spent hours reading his blog. He asked me later that night with a laugh if I was “a little bored at work today.” I was so embarrassed.