One of the problems with all the personal blogs coming up as journals is the potential for them to disappear overnight. I was cleaning my office and came across my journal from college the other day and reading my entries about my fraternity brothers. I had written while in school and just graduated. I wrote about some of my best friends at the time, Foley, Baker, Eddie, Eipert, 
Robison, and the crew. I wrote about Chris losing his brother, my friend Dave Simon being tragically killed at O’Hare, and about going out with Botting and Eddie kissing girls at all the bars. I wrote about my feelings for my friends and the impact my fraternity had on who I was. This was great to have and remember the good ol days and the time in my life that really defined who I was. I now have it on my shelf at work and will read it every few years, it helps put things into perspective. I hope that Dryver and Stryde can read my college journal and this blog someday and really enjoy it. I hope their kids can read this blog one day and learn about their crazy grandpa and grandma. I write this blog for my kids to know me when they are my age.
A big problem is this blog will probably be gone in a few years as new technology comes online. Though my college journal is still around and can be read, my geocities account with some of my pictures and journal about Jennifer and I as we lived in Chicago is gone! I wrote stories about my relationship with Jennifer from when we met to living together. I wrote about her and her friends and some of the things we had done together. I wrote about our honeymoon and our wedding. This website and my journal of meeting Jennifer is gone because someone at geocities decided it was not needed any longer. I had not logged in for a few years and I am sure someone decided to clean up some disk space. This is sad and I was hoping to transfer many of these journal entries into this blog.
I want to offer a service that will publish your blog in color and hardbound book. Additionally, we could offer a CD with a reading software for the blog. I really think some of the hardcore journal users of blogging would pay for a hardbound copy of their whole blog, with pictures and comments. Also a hard copy of the blog can be made into a magazine or a book or even a CD or DVD. If could be made into a pdf for free. Think of the similar issue with photo storage online. If Ofoto were to go out of business today I would have lost 6 years of my photo life, due to this I have paid them to make me a CD of all my photos. I know blogging is all about linking and taking a snapshot of life, but I also think it will become more and more about keeping a history. From the blog of the kid living in Iraq as we invaded, the anaomous blog of the celebrity in Hollywood, the political blogs of Kerry and Bush, and the blogs as simple as A VC in NYC. These all will be historic one day and we need to ensure it is around still for our children and grandchildren to experience, even in the old fashion way of reading a book.
