The vision

I plan on writing here often, because I like writing and I love having people pay attention to me. But I don't want this to be "my" blog. Here's how I see this working.

First of all, a few things this blog is not: it is not a replacement for the ward e-mail, and it is not a replacement for the ward website on lds.org. Those will still be valuable resources if you need a digest of announcements or need to find contact information for someone in the ward. If you aren't getting the ward e-mail or need your membership number to create a login for the ward website, e-mail me and I'll help you out.

To make this blog the best it can be, I'm going to need a lot of help. First, the basics. I find the blog's name funny, but it's one of those names that I can see becoming less and less clever each time I read it. Plus, I'm sure some of you don't even get the reference. If you think of a better blog name, leave it in the comments.

Next, there's the blog design. It's even more bland than the initial ward history post. If any of you have the know-how and the time to make our blog look awesome, let me know.

I know that many of you have your own blogs. If you'd like the ward blog to link to yours, e-mail me or leave a comment. I love reading my friends' blogs, so hopefully you'll all want to do this.

One last design note: if you have any ideas for things that should be added, like a poll, or a section for a monthly bishopric message, or whatever, let me know.

Finally, the actual content of the blog...for now, only Marcella (the ward web administrator) and myself are able to post. This can be adjusted if necessary, but I think it will be better if just a few people have administrator access. So if you want to post something, e-mail it to me, and I'll get it up there under your name. I won't do any editing unless it's necessary (you swearers know who you are).

So what should you write about? Well, this is our ward history. I would love it if everything the ward did was recorded in some way on this blog. Let's get reports of every FHE, activity, dinner group, etc., on here, for posterity's sake. It might be helpful, to avoid overlap, if the person in charge of an event asks someone to write about it and submit it to the blog. This can also be a good forum for promoting an event. You may decide you need more than one line in the ward e-mail to drum up enthusiasm for your Relief Society cooking night, so why not write a few paragraphs on the blog about how fantastic it will be?

I imagine the posts will generally be light-hearted and informal (and it will be wise, I think, if we avoid writing about controversial topics here), but if you want to write about a gospel principle you learned in Institute or an experience you had while preparing a talk, that would also be appropriate.

One final thing...everyone loves pictures, but I rarely take any. Please also send me any pictures you take that should be part of our ward's history.

So that's it. Let's get this blog up and running, and make it a site that ward members want to visit, because they know it will be consistently entertaining and updated regularly. If you have any comments, suggestions, or ideas about the blog, or to submit content for it, e-mail me (my address is at the bottom of the page). Thanks!