That I have been blogging a lot more lately. I decided to avoid a grand “I am back on the scene!” style post, lest my good intentions wane in the face of other pressures, as they so often had in the past, but I am happy to say I am easing myself back into the web 2.o pool after a bit of a self-imposed exile.

For awhile there, writing had become a chore. I spent hours in front of a computer at work, writing and re-writing and editing and re-writing, and I didn’t have the motivation or inspiration to come home and write some more.

But my work situation has changed and, while it is far from perfect, I at least find myself with enough brain power and motivation to rant and rave for all y’all.

Aren’t you lucky?

We’ve got to gas the crickets that have settled in here at 42 points.

Yea, I’ve been a bad little blogger. The fact that I have six posts sitting in my draft folder is a testament to my desire to post more but the fact that they remain simply drafts is a testament to my lack of finishing power.

In the interest of getting the ball rolling, here are some Warren-Kinsella-esque bits and pieces for y’all.

• Has anyone else noticed the way the major mainstream media outlets are starting to really integrate new media content? CBC takes the cake for their redesign featuring a number of nods to blogs, comments and video but the Star seems to be really pushing their video and blogs (though the blogs are suffering from a nasty case of summer no-post-itis) and the Globe has started directing readers of the print edition to online videos and the like on their front page! Now if only they’d ditch the eye-straining left justification (sorry Evan)
• I continue to mock the Facebook revolution but I freely admit to being mildly somewhat addicted to it. I still have the same quasi-reservations about being kept in superficial contact with old friends and non-friends alike but it is nice to be able to track down people I otherwise wouldn’t have bothered/worked to track down. I do wonder, however, how the growing attempts to turn it into a sales and PR tool will pan out. I get the feeling that as long as this guy‘s in charge, it won’t go too Classmates on us.
• Speaking of which, does anyone use Classmates anymore?
• Finally, this news excites me, if only because we’ve all just seen the awesomeness that having an ex-Jet behind the bench can bring.

I’ve added a new page to 42 Points, it’s called “Joe’s Archive” and it links to several pieces of writing I’ve done over the years and particularly enjoyed. It’s probably for my own benefit as much as anything else but who knows? Perhaps you’ll find something interesting there too.

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the latest manifestation of my somewhat schizophrenic online persona – the aptly addressed if not confusingly named “42 Points on a Double Word Score” at joeboughner.ca

At this point, I’m not entirely sure what this site will become. There will be a blog, of course, where I will wax philosophical on whatever tickles my fancy, but I have a feeling it will evolve into something more. Sort of a clearinghouse for my various writing projects, perhaps.

By now, if you’re still reading, you’re probably wondering why the “communication” theme. Well, it has occured to me lately that the theme that has permeated all of my various passions and intended career paths is communicating. I was asked recently, during a job interview of all things, what I thought I did better than anyone else. After a long pause to think, I came up with the following, which is more paraphrase than quote but I shall block quote it nonetheless:

I’m good at making people understand things. I’m good at figuring out what someone is trying to say and putting into words that reflects the speaker’s intention and can easily be understood by the target audience. I am good at connecting people with ideas.

It sounded less prentious at the time, I swear.

So this website is going to be all about the art of communicating. I think there’s almost an inverse relationship between the availability of communications tools and the ability of people to be able to use them effectively. We live in an age where the masses have more access to the world around them then ever before. Yet, perhaps not surprisingly, it seems that the more people have the opportunity to talk, the less people are willing or able to listen.

I promise that this website won’t always be so pompous and quasi-intellectual.

So yea, grab a bowl of popcorn and a can of soda and watch as this mess that is joeboughner.ca unfolds before your very eyes.