MrsHughey.com

I'm glad you're getting new readers Mrs H, as a writer myself I know how important it is to get feedback. Incidentally, I found your site by doing a google search "Oxford Blog", as I'm just getting into the blog thing and I wanted to see if anyone in my own town was keeping one, so at least I could recognise some of the references. The stuff about Superbowl left me a bit cold, I must admit.

Is it hard to get a blog going? I don't have my own internet-connected pc - is this a barrier? Does it cost a lot to keep the site going? Sorry, probably questions I should ask a local geek, but there's never one around when you need one.

People like reading your blog because its fun, well-updated and interesting. Keep it coming!

In answer to your questions, Dave, I didn't do most of the work to get this one going. Actually, it wasn't even my idea to have one! My husband wanted to do one and, since I would no longer be using my site for my students, he encouraged me to do a web log also. I was hesitant at first, but I thought it would be a great way to keep in touch with all our loved ones. So I started writing about the experiences of moving from the States to the UK. I found that there were so many hoops to jump through and things to get done, that I wanted to write it all down in case somebody could use the information to make their own move easier. So that's how my blog got going.

Andrew did most of the design work here, but I keep it up pretty much on my own by using moveable type, which is very user-friendly. I simply log on to a website and type my entry into a little box. The only formatting I need to know is how to put in a link and that sort of thing, which Andrew taught me quickly. Also, for this you need to have a domain name and pay somebody for server space (hosting).

Not having the internet at home would make things more difficult, but not impossible by any means. We don't have internet access at home and I manage to update pretty well, after all! I can also use the computer lab PCs to update if I want. I imagine the initial design would be the biggest problem if you didn't have your own computer to work on.

The cost is surprisingly cheap for us. The domain name, which we bought a couple of years ago, costs something like $20 per year. Then there's hosting. You have to pay somebody to put your site up for you and keep the files on it. We use cornerhost, which is excellent. I think we pay somethink like $10 per month for that.

If you have AOL or something, you have web space on that and could convert it to a web log. Another option is to get a subscription (free or paid) to a journal site such as LiveJournal. These give you pre-set templates for a journal and you don't have to have your own domain name, design experience, a special hosting service, or even your own computer.

Good luck! Let us know if you start a blog!

wow!! - you've gotta read Fast Food Nation - it's the most AMAZING book ever. The most wonderfully fulfilling thing about it is that all the companies discussed in it moaned and made threats to just about anyone they could find who would listen, but never actually DID anything, because it's all TRUE! All of the most awful revelations that he (I've forgotten his name) comes up with are so completely appalling because they're correct. It's scary and yet inspiring to learn about all the things that COULD be changed just by taking your custom somewhere else. The problem is that I'm the kind of person that they really don't need to convince about how bad fast food is, but all those kids from downtrodden parts of the country who frequent these 'restaurants' daily. So I've done my bit, onw there are lots more copies of FFN out there because I've spread the word, and hopefully it will travel even further because of your comments now and in the future once you've read it.
And I do hope you got the British version because it's got a lot more content and updated information in it than the US edition.

Woohoo! I win, I win, I win!! Nyah nyah :P

Seriously though, I think you'll really like it. Nothing can match the experience of anxiously awaiting the next chapter when he was serializing it. It was incredibly difficult, especially because the first several chapters were so short! I'd buy it the day it came out (one in the Tampa airport on my way back home after a visit - I remember being panicked thinking the airport shop may not have them on the release date) and devour it, then have to wait SIX MORE WEEKS for the next one! AUGHHG, the AGONY!

But it was all worth it in the end, and a great experience to have read it that way, knowing at that very moment he was writing the future and so many others were doing the same thing.

Patrick -

As for Fast Food Nation, although I am very interested in reading it, I doubt much of it will be very shocking to me. I've been an animal rights activist and vegetarian for more than 10 years and I'm very familiar with the way the food industry operates, especially the places that make cheap food. One of the organizations I belong to, PETA, has been trying to get these places to change their ways for decades.

I'm very glad that this book seems to be finally hitting a nerve with people and waking them up, and I did get the UK version.

It is a bit frustrating, I must admit, when you've been telling people for YEARS that McDonald's fries are NOT vegetarian (for example!) and they think you are some kind of nut, to at last have them believe someone ELSE (Eric Schlosser) saying it because he got it published. But if it makes people demand better food, better conditions for animals, and better treatment of the planet, I am just glad people are listening now.