It was part procrastination, and part concerns about privacy that delayed my launching this blog for about a year. Until 1992 I participated on a lot of USENET listservs, spouting off about pretty much anything under the sun. At the time you couldn’t really search for much and there was no real understanding that what you posted was out there forever.
Then in 1995 Deja News came along and archived all the posts, and Google now owns those archives. Everything I wrote pre-1992 became available through a search, and without context other than the year of the posting. I had to make more than 150 individual requests to Google to remove all the miscellaneous junk I posted.
Now, as has been the norm for for well over a decade, I don’t write anything without the understanding it could be accessed by anyone at any time. So I work at AARP but I generally do not write about the organization, erring on the side of caution. I do volunteer work with service members who need financial education, but client conversations are kept confidential. And, like other military/milspouse bloggers, I am always aware of OPSEC (operational security) issues and watch what I say even about mundane things. Loose lips can sink ships etc.
Besides, it was established early on in our relationship that there will be things Elysia cannot discuss related to her work. I still listen for interesting things but not much is tossed my way. This week, for example, all I learned is that she has to bring in breakfast foods tomorrow morning and there was a request for a plate of bacon.
You heard it here first, folks: some JAGs apparently do their best work fueled by bacon. And for inquiring minds, my contribution to the mission was cooking about four pounds of it.
4 Responses to “What Can I Write About Besides the Bacon?”
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You bake AND you cook? You’re the perfect wife.
Speaking of which, any winners for the best name to call civilian husband etc. so forth?
I went thru the same thing. Couldn’t believe all the archived Usenet posts — like you, I was very active there.
I didn’t bother to request having stuff taken down. I could only request the stuff I actually posted. People who searched would still find my stuff being quoted by others.
On the plus side, I’ve been so prolific since the web came around that fortunately, all my old net.women flamefests are buried many, many pages!
Mmmm… bacon. (and i’ve got a fair bit of net detritus out there too)
I’m going to use “bacon-eating JAG” as my go-to insult for the next week.