and she said.. "how you interpret the dream is probably more important than the dream itself"

Blogging, as with anything in life, isn't perfect. It's dynamic and fast and live, which by nature makes it chaotic and unstable. That's fine, that's what we like about it, right? So don't blame blogging for your inconsistencies. It's not blogging's fault. If you want something done you gotta do it yourself and that may mean work. Suck it. Deal.

Good things don't always come to those who wait. If you want something then ask for it.

Let me tell you a little story about a man named Mike. Mike was applying to graduate schools and he asked an old professor of his to write him a recommendation letter. He wrote a kindly worded email to the professor politely asking for help and that professor replied in an equally kind and polite way. "Of course I can write you a recommendation letter," the professor said. Mike, believing the word of the professor, sent off email links to the online recommendation forms at the different graduate schools to the professor and proceeded to forget about the issue.

Fast forward one month.

Mike, checking his online application status at a few graduate schools noticed that the recommendation letter from the professor in question was still "pending" - apparently suggesting that the letter was never received. Mike emailed the professor, again in a kind word, and inquired about the recommendation letters and if they were ever submitted. The email went unanswered and so he had to send another a week later. The professor finally replied that yes, they were submitted. Thank you very much.

A few quick calls to the individual graduate school offices showed that the letters had, in fact, never been received. On a trip back to the city of his Alma Mater Mike made a point to print out paper copies of the recommendation letters, self-address envelopes for each one, and place the package in the professor's inbox. He then sent an email to the professor letting her know that the letters were dropped off and could she please fill them out and send them in thank you very much. The professor replied in the affirmative, said she had received the forms, and would send them out promptly.

A few weeks later Mike made more attempts to track down the letters, if in fact they had made it to the graduate schools. He contacted the general graudate admissions office as well as the specific department office to no avail. No one had seen hide nor hair of these elusive recommendation letters. At this point he made a phone call directly to the professor in question and asked her point blank: "Did you send my recommendation letters?"

"Yes," she said.

Yet another few weeks later the recommendations were still MIA. Attempts to track them down were fruitless. At this point Mike was forced to request recommendations from another source (of lesser quality as it was not an academic reference) so that he would be assured a complete status on his applications. Time was of the essence and the clock was ticking.

Finally, everything was done and complete. Applications all read "Complete" and Mike was happy. As a cautiounary measure he contacted his Alma Mater - one graudate school he was applying to - and asked if they could check that, in fact, his application was complete. The response that came back was: "Yes, although we require two of the three recommendations be academic and you only have one. We still do not have a recommendation from [the professor]. I have seen her in the halls and reminded her a few times that we are expecting a letter from her but still have not received it. Perhaps you should remind her again yourself?"

Mike was, to put it lightly, furious. He emailed the professor once again, this time asking with slightly more strongly worded phrases, if she could submit a letter of recommendation to HER OWN DEPARTMENT as it was extremely important and time was of the essence. The email went unanswered. A week later he tried one more time. This time he pleaded. He got on his hands and knees. He begged. "I need this" he said. "This is of the utmost importance" he said. This time, finally, he got a response: "I put it in [the graduate secretary's] mailbox at the beginning of the week. I will double check with [the secretary] today that she has it."

He double checked with the graduate secretary himself, just to be sure. She had it. Hurrah. Saga ended. Done.

The moral of the story here is Good things don't always come to those who wait. If you want something then ask for it. If you really want something, beg for it. Tony didn't get Lick Magazine going without asking. Why do you think you'll get anything without asking?

Ask and ye shall receive. Post comments on other people's blogs. Develope a community. Network. Interact. Ask.

I almost didn't get a digital camera. I was bored and looking but there was no real motivation. I asked about cameras, though, and I received comments letting me know what people were using and how they liked theirs. Nevertheless I almost didn't get a camera.. until Anti left a comment to the tune of "dude, get a camera so you can post more buzznet pics". Okay, he asked. That was that. I got a camera. And I did it, as tony says, for your asses.

Rachel pointed out that I forgot to do a Blogging 101 lecture on female bloggers - even though I said I would. She is write [pun]. She asked. And so it shall be so.. soon.

Blogs are choatic live changing squirming things and I can't remember it all myself.. and neither can you.. and neither can anyone. If you think someone forgot something or if you want something then the old saying applies: It can't hurt to ask.

The blogosphere only exists because there is interaction between the contributers, between the sites. Topics are live growing vines that crawl up, down, across walls and through cracks in the barriers. If you fail to interact then you fail to truly be part of it. Sometimes asking is enough to motivate someone to do something great - maybe even here, on their blog. Plus, the worst they can say is No.