What's Up Wednesdays: Work and Play

We kick off this week’s speedlink with Damien Riley, who seems to have a similar philosophy as me when it comes to figuring things out. The best way to learn about technology is to play with it. I rarely take a look at the user manual when I do my tech product reviews, because I’d much rather just fiddle around with the gadget to see how it works. That can oftentimes be the best approach to troubleshooting your IT problems too.

Changing gears, you might remember from another speedlink that Tyler Cruz is thinking about a new line of work. He wants to buy up some rental property and become a landlord. Well, his adventure with real estate investing is moving right along and he is continuing to learn more about how best to approach the market. For instance, he’s discovered that rental income is minimal (he could actually lose money each month) and that more profit can be enjoyed by adding value and flipping the properties instead.

Like Ariane Khachatourians, I’m a big fan of John and Hank Green of YouTube fame. One of the more recent vlogs from the “vlogbrothers” revealed something a little more personal about Hank and this resonated deeply with Ariane. It’s about living with a chronic disease and dealing with the day-to-day challenges that accompany it. On the surface, Hank seems to be handling the situation very well, but we all know that we all have our own inner demons to battle.

Going against the conventional wisdom when it comes to these sort of things, “Renegade Writer” Linda Formichelli is saying that, as a freelance writer, you don’t need a blog. I maintain Beyond the Rhetoric for a few reasons, one of which is as a living portfolio of sorts, but it’s also because I want to have a personal space on the web to express my thoughts. To that end, I agree with Linda that a blog isn’t necessary unless you really have something to say.

And on a related note, Darren Barefoot is struggling to understand the purpose of his blog in 2014. While he has thousands of posts in the archives, he has only written three posts this year. Between other platforms and social media, having your own blog on your own domain might feel a little archaic. For me, my blog continues to evolve as my life — both personal and professional — continue to change. I plan on keeping BTR around for a very long time.