An Update from Jrod

Hey folks.  It’s been exactly three month since I last wrote a post for Tropophilia.  Trust me, it hurts me as much as it hurts you.  I’ve been busy with moving from Mountain View to San Francisco, as well as throwing a bachelor party and being the best man for our very own Mr. and Mrs. Ansley.  (Congrats to the happy couple, currently on their honeymoon!)

The biggest trouble I’ve had is finding topics that I’m both passionate enough to write about, but also am “allowed” to address.  Google has few rules about employee blogging (it’s actually a highly encouraged practice), but obviously there are limits to what I should and should not touch.  Writing about competitors, or businesses that are suffering because of the rise of the web, or even about Google’s own moves, would probably not be in my or Google’s interest.  Since this is pretty much everything I used to write about, you can understand I’m having a little blogger’s block recently.

The most frustrating part is not that I can’t chronicle the news items themselves, but that, as a result, I can’t vent my enthusiasm for the subject matter.  One big reason I wanted to start Tropophilia was to release some intellectual energy about this new digital era.  While my job gives me the daily opportunity to think about and work on these issues, there’s just something different about sitting down at the keyboard and crafting my own subjective analysis.  I really miss that feeling.

All of this is to say that I’m going to resolve myself to finding those stories I can write about, and reengaging myself with this blog in short order.  There will probably be more “pointing to / this is interesting” posts  than “analysis” ones.  I’m also hoping to start teasing out some of the legal questions surrounding new technologies and companies, in addition to talking about their cultural impact.  I hope that you’ll continue to find it interesting, and even if you don’t, that you’ll at least be able to see the enthusiasm behind it.

Good talk, see you out there.