Deadman's picture

    Deadman: A quick reintroduction and quicker lament

    Wow. This is dagblog, huh? I don't even recognize the place. Readership is flourishing, the pace of posts is snowballing. Frightening dagger logo be damned, it even looks like an official bloggy thingy now.

    It's like I left the neighborhood right before they legalized prostitution or discovered massive amounts of shale oil under dagblog's hallowed grounds. If I was a more insecure man, I might even say there was a causal effect involved here, and that everyone had been lurking on the outskirts of town, waiting for my departure, but I'm quite confident my body odor has been under control since my junior year of high school.

    In any case, given all the new people roaming the dagways, let me just quickly re-introduce myself. My name is Deadman, and I am a co-founder of this place. Awww yeah, I am the D in Dagblog. And I once pontificated quite often here, spewing hot air on topics ranging from Tiger Woods to Terrestials (of the extra kind) to Twitter to theology. With my day job as a mutual fund co-manager, I admittedly liked to discuss financial matters and make spectacularly poor (or at least spectacularly early) market predictions most of all.

    Over time, however, my urge to spew lessened and my posts sparsened (should be a real word, dammit). Part of the reason for my lack of production was just life getting in the way - getting engaged, married, having a kid and redeveloping a serious online poker habit all in the span of a year-and-a-half will do that to you.

    But the main reason for my disappearing act is that I'm one lazy mofo when I don't feel passionate about what I'm doing, and I developed a whopping case of the 'Who Really Gives a Shit Anymore' blues. Shiny new, well-spoken POTUS or no, the system was still irrevocably broken, full of hate and hostility, the only difference being that now we had to deal with the tyranny of the minority.

    Of course, I had always envisioned that dagblog would be an eclectic place where all matters of modern society - politics, business, sex, pop culture, art, sports, health, technology - would be discussed and debated (with decorum), and all intelligent opinions welcomed.

    Yes, politics would be a part of the content, and given that we launched dagblog right during the heat of the 2008 presidential election, probably the main part. But even when I still believed that Obama would actually deliver the hope and change he was promising, I never wanted dagblog to become an ideological soapbox fixated solely on politics.

    Alas, aside from a few scattered posts, that's kind of what this blog has become, especially since the refugees from Talking Points Memo arrived on dagblog shores.

    Of course, this isn't really a bad development. It's actually a good thing as I think the original vision for dagblog may have been flawed from the start. The most successful blogs need a passionate, dedicated community to thrive, and focus may just be a necessary component for that to happen.

    I get it. I really do. I mean, I never wanted to become the kind of dad who always is showing off pictures of his children, or updating his facebook status with the latest new kid development, or abandoning all other interests and hobbies, but I fear this is where I'm headed

    In any case, it really does thrill me to see how robust a blog and community this site has become, even if it's not exactly in the way I had initially envisioned. I definitely plan on being a semi-regular reader, and an infrequent contributor (Genghis has asked me to revive my Questions columns, something I'm all too happy to do, and I promise only one of them will be about fatherhood!).

    And I truly hope one day I'll once again believe that my opinion matters and that my words might make a difference.

    Series: 

    Comments

    Yay! Yay! Yay! I missed you! Can't wait for more questions. Thanks for the video. It made me laugh out loud.


    awww, thanks O. Are you back in the states yet? (Those were some great pictures by the way - I know I can always count on you for some non-political edification!)


    Nosireebub! I live in the tropics now. Permanently.


    Me showing up. You leaving. Dagblog flourishing.

    Causal effect? Quite possibly.


    wolfie, i give you all the credit in the world. there were weeks I would check out dagblog and see nothing but your posts. you deserve a lot of credit for holding down the fort untl the reinforcements came. If i were you, I wouldn't take the fifth listed credit on the masthead lying down.

    In any case, I  think really the causal effect we have to worry about now is 'Dagblog flourishing.' A-man returning. That guy knows how to spoil a party.


    Agreed, Wolfrum led us through the desert. But we can't left him move up in the ranks, or it will swell his head, and he'll try some kind of hostile takeover. (Plus, seniority is a beautiful thing when you're the most senior.)


    See, this is really all I ask for. Lots of praise that I barely have to respond to.


    Nice to meet you, Deadman.  Sex might be a good reach; I saw there was a new report issued on the subject, and I'd hoped it might be as fulsome as the Kinsey Reports.  Relying on 60-year old data seems pretty lame by now.   ;o)

    Being a dad seems waaaay more important than a lot of what we write, or at least what I write.  Congratulations, and my best to your family.


    Do I detect a Wild Cat fan out there?  Brought my Kentucky "No Parking" sign and my Kentucky Colonel certificate with me when I moved to the fly-over zone!


    Damn. Before I got married and had a baby, I would have had a lot of interesting things to offer on the matter of sex. But now, the whole process is all quite foggy to me.


    Uh-oh.  You might be able to think of it intellectually, though...


    You do realize that the Newcomers are inevitably going to want to kill and eat the Old Guard, right? 

    Might want to re-register as a Sparkling Newbie.

    Good to see you Deadboy.


    they will find out quickly that i am not very tasty. just a rotting carcass of dry, wrinkled, flea-infested meat. now A-man on the other hand - he's deliciously doughy.


    Dear dagbloggers, I don't know who this "Deadman" dude is. He seems to be some kind of pseud or hacker or psacker. In any case, it's all lies. Please ignore him while we trying to shut this bozo down.

    G


    We probably need to know if he's Jewish.

    'Cause I donno about you, but I got this fatigue....

    Wink


    Say you would not happen to know if Jews ever wear fatigues?


    Um, I think I may have missed something. Don't get this line of discussion, yet I remain scared and wholly ready to renounce my Judaism.


    well, old gaurd man, if you're going stick around then you need to know that the running insider comment has to with David Seaton's "jew fatigue" comment on his blog The Rick Sanchez affair.

    When I tried to link to it I received the "You are not authorized to access this page" response by the forces of censorship of dagblog. Maybe with your old gaurd connections, you can gain access to this blog in order to educate yourself on the recenting unfolding of the dagblog consciousness.

    I say this as someone who was recently accused of humanity fatigue, which I attribute to the fact that I am an uber liberal, and, thus, do not discriminate against anyone individual or group upon which my state of fatigue will embrace.


    In days of old I suppose, four skins would give you one heck of a fatigue?


     Second thought

    I cant' remove the attempt of making a light joke.

    Some of our jewish friends may be offended. 

    Sorry  


    I'm pretty sure I read your post (the last one before this?) in which you described yourself in a major change mode, and in love.  I have always enjoyed your stuff, and am glad you are back.

    <p>

     

    Your video was great, and I just wanted to let you know that my old dog, Skarlett (who is pretty much deaf) had her ears pricked up as though she wanted to hear the sound track.  She's old, but she's cool!


    Thanks, CVille. I love the name for your dog, but just curious, why the intentional misspelling? I mean, how often does one need to write down a dog's name anyway? I guess given the thread above you, I should just be glad its not Skkkarlett. 


    That was the name tag she had on when I rescued her from the death needle one day before I was to have major surgery.  I liked her when I went to the pound to help a friend pick out a dog, but wasn't looking for one myself.   Besides I had this very big operation coming up and didn't think I could manage.  They called and told me her number was up, and I went and brought her home.  I thought she might be offended if I changed her name, so I left it.  Now I think it suits her to a t!  (Sometimes I call her Skarlie and she doesn't seem to mind)


    Hey, Deadman, nice to meet you.  (That's weird, writing that. . .)  (Yes, I'm nutty over elipses.  I like to see my words trailing off, just as my voice does when I'm still thinking but my sentence seems to have ended.)  (I guess I'm fond of parentheses, as well. . .)

    Anyway, I write about politics almost all of the time.  Just thought I'd warn you in case you start to read something I'm writing and it looks promising in a non-political or apolitical way.  It won't be.  It'll be about politics.

    Did I say how nice it was to meet you?  It really truly is.


    Thanks Ramona for the kind words and the warning about the adult subject matter of your posts. can't wait to read them even if they are about icky politics. BTW, I love ellipses ... (and parentheses), too! 


    "It's like I left the neighborhood right before they legalized prostitution ..."

    Jeez, you really haven't been paying attention, have you?

    http://www.globaltoronto.com/Prostitution+laws+ruled+unconstitutional+Ontario+court/3591416/story.html

    Welcome back, D-man.


    Great to see you, Deadman!

    Welcome back to the fight. This time I know our side will win.


    Hi Deadman! Good to see you :)

    I am kind of disheartend that you said this:

    I never wanted dagblog to become an ideological soapbox fixated solely on politics.

    Alas, aside from a few scattered posts, that's kind of what this blog has become, especially since the refugees from Talking Points Memo arrived on dagblog shores.

    I don't know exactly what you envisioned, but I think everyone coming here from TPM really brightened up this place. It definitely has added to the variety.


    I really didn't mean to disparage the newcomers in any way. I really love seeing it and I think the writing overall has been rock solid. I just think that my political ennui may just be at scary, ultra-high levels. In other words, it's my issue. I'm hoping my hackles aren't totally dormant and will resurface as my Macy begins to grow up and I once again have some free time to start thinking about what the future has in store for her. thanks for the comment and allowing me to clarify my thoughts a bit.  


    Deadman:

    I'm a great admirer of your writing which reflects the quality of your thinking.

    I took note of you when dag blog started, then went back to TPM immersion until Reader Blogs shut down. In making the switch to Dag I was sorry to see that you were no longer on the masthead.

    Never mind. Enjoy your real life and contribute here as frequently as you can. When you do, you can count on a readership very interested in what you have to say.

    (You may be interested in the comment I left on a few of Seaton's FIVE blogs currently on view.) 


    Wow! Very kind words. I'll have to check out the comment ASAP. 


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