Seymour's Purple Mind II: The Sequel Begins

Since I wrote my first letter to the editor as a high school student, the News & Record has served as a catalyst for much of my thinking about the world around me.

Knowing that not everyone is a fan of my hometown newspaper, I realize that some people will read that statement and feel sorry for me.

But from my perspective, I am thankful for and appreciative of all the information and ideas that I've gained from reading my local newspaper.

And understand that even though I agree with and support much of what is printed in the News & Record, I still regard myself as an independent, critical thinker.

I've already written too lengthy an introduction to my main point: I want to blame and thank both the News & Record and letter-to-the-editor writer Edward Carmichael of High Point for inspiring me to post a response, which has indirectly lead to me starting this sequel of a blog.

In trying to post my response, I almost lost it. ("It" referring to both my response and my cool.)

Very few things are as frustrating as taking the time to compose your thoughts and ideas, only to have them disappear.

I had successfully written some thoughts that had been swirling in my mind, and I felt that I had done a respectable job with the wording.

I wanted to publish my comments, but once I typed the key to post them on the News & Record's Letters to the Editor Blog, the comments seemed to disappear forever without successfully being posted.

I frantically went back, trying to retrieve the comments.

At first, I wasn't successful.

Finally, I found them.

I saved the comments elsewhere, and then tried to post again.

I still wasn't succesful.

Later, I used another computer, retrieved the saved comments, and then was able to post successfully.

The time I had taken to respond to Edward Carmichael's letter reminded me of what I liked about blogging when I first discovered the process: that I used blogging as motivation to read, think, and write more than usual.

And that I was able to record my thoughts, perhaps permanently (for better or worse, I know).

As I'm typing this, I've noticed a new blogger function. A quote bubble appears above the "SAVE NOW" button, and it reads: "Now Blogger saves your drafts automatically!"

Beside that same "SAVE NOW" button appears this notice: "Draft autosaved at 5:49 PM."

Certainly, a "new and improved" function, one custom-made for dummies who allow themselves to forget to save often as they type.