Removing all doubt.

A funny thing happened on the way to writing this blog.

So at first I thought no one would read it.

Later, I checked just once to see what the numbers were, was half impressed and half disappointed, and decided I'd rather not know after all.

But what started as a "personal" blog has become what I think of as a "local" blog. It's mostly about Bend; sure, I talk about me and family, for sure my business, but mostly I'm interested in what's happening in Central Oregon. When I talk about state or national issues, it's mostly in context to how it affects the local economy.

I'm intensely curiously about the goings on around here.

I truly am a native Bendite, I guess.

What's surprising to me is that I'm not the slightest bit interested in a wider, more national readership. I'm not saying I could get that kind of attention even if I tried, but that I don't want to try. That if it started to develop, I'd be alarmed. That I actively avoid doing things that would bring too much attention from the outside world.

I'm a hobbit.

Anyway, I've turned down several different requests from state and national media for interviews -- they must pop in "Bend" and "Blogs" and up comes Best Minimum Wage Job a Middle Aged Guy Ever Had -- but I'm strangely uninterested being 'out there.' It's a bit too fractious and competitive.

Part of me suspects that it's better to keep my mouth shut and let people think I'm a fool, than to open my mouth and remove all doubt.

And yet, here I am blogging every day and removing all doubt anyway. But it's my platform, and I'm much more comfortable with that. I certainly don't mind the attention from local media, in that it's good for business and makes me feel what I'm writing is worthwhile. But it seems to me that keeping the focus on Bend and Central Oregon, while possibly limiting the reach of the blog, makes it more interesting to locals.

And to me.