Update ✝

 I miss a lot of things from the past month.

Went through a lot from late August onwards. In a period of mourning, lost someone very close to me.

They had gotten very ill, in a very short period and after a rally they finally slipped away. I wish I had spent more time with them during that period. I will miss her dearly! ✝

Champs

While I watch Monday Night Raw and in recognition of Chicago sports teams winning championships since I started this blog I just published tonite a "Champs" page. It's still not in its final form and so as it's now live it will continue to be edited.

I don't consider myself a huge sports fan, however, I followed the championship teams in recent years of both the Chicago Black Hawks and the Chicago Cubs. I was very happy to see the Cubs end their century long world series championship drought in 2016.

In 2005 the White Sox' championship run only recieving a passing mention on the blog at the time, but they were the first Chicago baseball team to bring a world series back to Chicago since 1917.

Hopefully as the Chicago Bulls and Chicago Bears - in addition to the Hawks - have just started their respective seasons here's hoping they play well this season. So far the Bears are at the top of the NFC North division. Though I haven't followed the Hawks and Bulls so far.

Perhaps, this will be the time to follow them and see their progress this season. The Bulls I hadn't followed since the last championship team was broken up in 1998 (and it didn't help when most Bulls teams after that suffered losing seasons). The Hawks failed to get into the NHL postseason last season and the Bears well....

At least we have memories of all Chicago teams' success in the past.

How did I do in February?

Well I hit my goal of writing the amount of posts to the number of days in February. Could I have finished off stronger yeah? However, I can at least say that I wrote about 29 posts last month even though this year February only had 28 days.

That last post talking about Black History Month was quite week but that got me to 29 posts last month. What will March bring is to be determined, although I struggled to get to 29 posts. This month has 31 days, even with taking Sunday's off could I write at least 31 posts? Time will tell on that.

In the New Year

Thinking about a new project and perhaps it may have a populist message. Let's just say I have no idea if it would ever resonate but it's something different at least for me. Just expressing some feelings that's in keeping with the populism that ushered Trump into the White House.

May start local and then tackle some other subjects. It could be a form of nationalism, but it could also be just bringing attention to something. There are things worth pointing out and for years here on this blog and also at The Sixth Ward I've been showing things worth attending to.

Regardless I'm working on a new creative direction. I may not be entirely successful, but over the years as a blogger the platform has been built. In 2018, my goal is to find ways to extend the reach of this platform. Let the chips fall where they may!

It's September...

[VIDEO] An infrequent tradition, but nonetheless an excuse to post on this first of the month this video from Earth, Wind, & Fire...September. I hope you enjoy this good music. It's old, but I hope the music industry gets back to making good music such as this!

Facebook me!

FB.com

I've been debating whether or not my FB information should be included on this blog. So finally I've decided that FB should be utilized here. So my new account is here.

I shouldn't have waited this long to do it, but here's to a new a start. Feel free to add me if you wish, but hopefully there will be no trolling.

There is a badge in the sidebar.

EDIT: There's also the email address itsmymind @ gmail.com or you can also click Facebook Me!

Would you believe it's been 10 years???

I started this blog in 2005 and only just now thought to do a post about it. Started this blog while I was still at Morehouse and a lot has changed from that time.

During this period of time blogs were starting to get a lot of attention and now it's social media. Facebook was starting to get off the ground during this time and  YouTube as well. And now we have other social media sites to keep our attention.

The iPhone hadn't been created yet in 2005 and smartphones in general were pricey. Well cell phones in general were pricey although by 2005 prices had started to go down. At that point I had a phone that didn't cost me anything but a phone contract. Also the phone of choice back then was a flip phone!

Some my posts during the Morehouse College years - admittedly the longest period of my young life as it took me a while to graduate - involved Morehouse. Then after transitioning from college life the work world although to be honest I haven't found a "Morehouse man job".

Also I've started other blogs - such as The Sixth Ward - and it has taken off more than I could've ever imagined. There are still other blogs that I post to from time to time but they're still as important as this blog and The Sixth Ward. While I had been invited to post to other blogs such as Rich Miller's Illinoize or Gaper's Block this is the blog that started it all!

I'm sure I missed plenty of things, but hey it is what it is. Hopefully I can work on 10 more years.

Alright enough blogs already...

I used to have a blog called My Mind's Eye and now that at the current moment Instagram (ig) is the hot property it's time to bring it back. A ready place to take snapshots from my mobile phone.

It's was something I had done there even with my old Razr phone. Now we're in the era of the smartphone with my current iPhone 4S. And I can share not only some shots that were posted to ig but shots I've taken without touching them up via ig.

So now, I've created a new version of My Mind's Eye with a beta designation. The landscape has changed with cameraphones as opposed to the point and shoot camera I used to have. Still why not have more venues to share the shots I have taken so far.

And if you think I've had enough of these blogs then who's to say I won't decide to stop posting to that blog at some point in the future. It can happen. lol

I haven't forgotten about you...

If anyone is still here. Things have been busy and I've just been lazy about posting here. Even if at times there have been very intermittent posting. Unlike certain other blogs I do administer don't expect radio silence here for long.

Although I seem to keep something of a regular posting schedule over at The Sixth Ward and at that there are other bloggers there as well. You can always check out the other blog and this one if you so chose.

Time for a new camera...

In all the excitement over the new iPhone, I've realized another thing. It's time to get another camera and give the cameraphone a break.

It's really nifty to be able to take out the cell/camera/smart phone and take a quick snapshot. There are times it's more necessary to get a real camera with more capacity to take pictures as I used to do.

The longtime camera I had was a point and shoot which had a lense that allowed for focus and it got stuck. I took it apart and then couldn't get it back together where it would work again. Eventually i just forgot about that old workhorse sadly. :(

It was a point and shoot. Perhaps it's time to get another point and shoot. Better yet, perhaps it's time to get something more professional.

It's time to decide and time to take some pictures not on my phone again!

Internet domains & hosting

Over the years on the internet I have played with the idea of a website although unsure about the execution. The late 90s was my first experience with the internet and saw that internet users could create their own webpages but it seemed to take lots of work. At that, what would be the purpose of such a website.

I played around with GeoCities in the early 2000s. It was as much a profile as it was a website, my Geocities site was akin to an FB profile than it was anything else. The only difference was that no one sent you friends requests or anything like that. It just displayed my identity, my interests and some pictures uploaded the "old fashioned way" by scanning prints.

By 2005 I started this blog utilizing Blogger and most of my attention went to blogging. Now there's a purpose to having a website and it already helps to already follow politics or other types of news such as sports, entertainment, Chicago, education, etc. It also helps that I could write in the first place - even with some of the mistakes you may find here lol.

Within the past month I had bought a domain name for one of my other blogs - The Sixth Ward. It was something that had been considered for a long time and it was finally executed. That blog also uses Blogger and with that service the domain name could be used for the blog with the domain being used as the primary blog address.

It doesn't take up as much effort and time as WordPress seems to. This is something that's already in my experience - Unconventional Wisdom - although so far the only work WordPress required was to upload the software to a hosting server. Then of course you have to keep updating the software and there are some other incidentals depending upon how popular a particular site is.

BTW, there was a time that Blogger would allow you to use FTP to upload blog posts to a host. In fact it was experimented with on my end primarily with the provided hosting of an ISP. Blogger cut that out years ago and at least the blog could be hosted on Blogger servers and if you prefer the use of a domain which could be directed to a particular blog.

Now that there is a domain name for one of my main blogs, perhaps it's time to take this hobby of mine to the next level. Is it time to purchase a domain for THIS blog and then purchase some hosting space? Perhaps that question will be answered in the near future.

A new description

I've thought about this from time to time. What if this blog needs a new description from the current religious subtitle it has currently?

This blog has been a lot of things over the years, but attribute that to it's open ended nature over the years. I've mostly written about politics but often about other things. There has been education - especially higher education with my time at Morehouse College. Then there's Chicago, photography, technology, politics, pop culture, history, and just life - especially with my adventures lately in jobhunting.

Perhaps this would be a good start - It's My Mind: Thoughts on politics, history, tech, pop culture, and life.

What do you think?

Happy April Fools' Day

Ya know, today is April Fools' Day. Not only that baseball season has started finally although I rarely kept track of spring training during the month of March. It just lets me know that much warmer weather is coming around the corner and thank goodness.

You know this is the time for a humor based post in keeping with this special day. I've learned over the years that I'm not that good with humor, all the same it's just another mark after this really harsh winter we've had. So now I'm glad that this day has come around the corner!

Proofreading

Something I like to pride myself is being a good writer although at times my writing isn't as clear as it should be. Sometimes I go through past posts and see where the grammar and the meaning of sentences could be improved. Often times I just simply change them long after the fact.

I'm usually prompted when finding that old posts recieves visitors although the main thing about blogs is that they're constantly updated. For the most part a blog reader isn't exactly going through the archives thoroughly. They're reading for the more recent posts and the blog must be constantly updated.

Reading one of the more recent posts one morning there was one mistake that certainly changed the meaning of what was supposed to be said. It was the post about the state trooper who took a phone call answering questions about a newly enacted law his agency was expected to enforce. Seeing the mistake although days after the fact, it was important to make a word substitution to make clear the point of the necessary statement.

Acknowledging that as a blogmaster that sometimes writing mistake are made, it's time to do better within that regard. Perhaps it's time to do some proofreading before hitting publish. Even better perhaps the post need not be published when done writing, but can be scheduled so that there is time to properly proofread. Or at the very least leave the post as the draft so that it would get one more proofread before publication.

With that being said, I shall do better in the future!

Year Nine

Last month I wrote a blog about writing on this blog. It seems like it was just an excuse to post since at times it seems that there is some sluggishness regarding me writing here. There are some things I want to note in this current post.

Let's start with the fact that now that we're in the first month of the new year 2014, we have effectively entered into the ninth year of this blog. WOW! So nine years ago, I started this blog while still studying at Morehouse College.

The first post here at that time alluded to the main purpose of this blog which was to primarily discuss political issues. The point was never to turn this into an online diary although hey my personal life has crept into this blog from time to time. More recently it's as much the work world as it is anything else.

The early days I did want to focus mainly on conservatism or Republicanism. That was at that point in time what I was oriented towards. These days it's hard for me to say what I believe in although my belief is in common sense.

To be sure there are a lot of issues to be passionate about even today. I may often focus on Chicago, Illinois or even domestic policy in America, but there are certainly other issues of interest to be talked about here.

Another focus of this blog was in some respects regarding race. Not that I'm an expert of all things racial, but the idea that all Blacks must me of like mind on political issues needs to cease. Not all blacks are left wing and those who just don't agree there's really no need for ostracism. Besides there are many issues to touch upon but not one single solution whether left or right wing.

Now that it we have reached another milestone here at It's My Mind now it's time to consider where this blog is headed in the future. Where should we go next and on what courses shall we continue?

Writing on this blog...

When I started this blog back in 2005, there was a number of things I wanted to do with it. My goal here was to continue to discuss political issues as has been done here over the years. Although for the most part it seems that this blog does get bogged down on the news of the day.

This year it seems my posting has been dialed back a bit. It seems that going back to year one it wasn't the quantity that counted as much as hopefully the quality as judged by you the reader. Although even in year one I'm not sure quality was a big point.

In any event, in discussing political issues it was my goal to write something resembling columns or essays although it seems at times I fall far short. If I do write anything like that it's on some more personal issues as of late such as for example job hunting and future plans.

There's always something to talk about whether it's in the news or something in my personal life. Although do I want to avoid talking about my personal life yes. At the same time perhaps any posts on job hunting or whatever will in some way relate to you. Perhaps you have some advice to offer.

Also, it was once my goal to write something of a political platform. Sometimes it's difficult to know where to start on that. It may require research and certainly if you do something like that you may have some particular aspiration behind it, but it has been something that I was keen on.

BTW, this could go back to year one. Perhaps at one point I was more aligned political as a Republican than anything else. Not so solid about it now and in fact it's best to recognize your own core values than to just say what I am politically. Americans can identify with one party or philosophy but hopefully we all can agree on what's right for the nation and that's what's more important.

All the same, this will continue to be an important blog for me. Although this isn't the only place you will see me write, best believe this will be the place you will find some writing by me. Besides while it seems at times I may be focused on local issues, I will also concerned myself with more national and world issues as well.

Like it or not we're all in this together no matter the distance.

Tech update assuming that you were getting anti-virus alerts

Years ago I had installed this application called vPIP - videos played in place - where I hoped to turn this blog into a video blog using the video hosting at Blip.tv. Needless to say it hasn't worked out as I had planned this blog isn't known for videos still and I used my YouTube channel more lately. Now with my anti-virus software my PC detects threats from vPIP and that means you have been getting the same alerts. Well I removed the code for this application and hopefully you won't receive any more alerts from this blog. :)

I haven't done much posting this summer...

Yeah sometimes I have to get motivated to post as much as a brief post about any item of interest. There certainly was a lot to write about but it's just a matter of either time or interest into putting it out.

I could talk about what's going on in Illinois as far as the Governor's race. Pat Quinn is running for re-election and while many are writing his political obituary they did that in 2010 and he still won narrowly. I just saw the electoral map again of this state in his narrow victory Quinn only won 4 of 102 counties while his GOP opponent Bill Brady won the remainder. WOW!

Let me remind you it was a narrow victory and Quinn had to have outworked Brady in those 4 counties Quinn won. Would Illinois have benefitted from Georgia's ancient county unit system?

Anyway Brady is running again with three other challengers in the GOP primary. He's running against another former challenger from 2010 Kirk Dillard. Then there are two others who are in Bruce Rauner a venture capitalist who has ties to Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago and state treasurer Dan Rutherford.

Quinn on the other had faces former Commerce Secretary & White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley. In fact Daley shares a lineage as his brother & father had both been Mayor of Chicago. This likely won't help Daley however bear in mind that the incumbent's approval ratings are very low at the current moment. Can't really count anyone out.

Also we have reached the 50th anniversary on the March on Washington. I saw some TV coverage of that this morning on C-Span. It was definitely a landmark moment and while many will not find much agreement with the current Civil Rights establishment today it changed America for the better. Although I will accept that this nation still has a long way to go as far as race relations.

The issues of today as far as race is much different than it was 50 years ago. The nature of segregation and discrimation may be different from what it was then. Also the issues facing Blacks is as much internal as external and we've yet to really hash those out. I'm sure in the various analysis of this recent anniversary and depending on who's talking they might talk about the decline of the Black family in recent years.

There have been some good movies I've seen lately including Jobs, Elysium, and Paranoia. Everyone of them could be picked a part in different ways. One is about a man who people look as an icon, the other is an allegory to our current condition, and the last brings to light corrupt business practices. I could take more real world lessons from Jobs than I could from the other movies but certainly on a philosophical level Elysium could bring some ideas home as well!

Anyone September needs to be a big month as far as blogging. Don't think I'm neglecting this place I have it on my mind even if I don't post. When you think about it, not a big thing to be able to post as a leisurely pace. Perhaps it's best to post only when there something worth saying!

"Unknown Chicago" moves again...

The blog written by Chicago historian John R. Schmidt is moving from his current online digs at WBEZ.org. If you don't know that's Chicago's local public radio affiliate. He often writes items related to Chicagoland history and it's quite fascinating.

I use the title Unknown Chicago because that was where I first became aware of him. That blog was hosted over at Chicago Now which is operated by the Chicago Tribune. Unfortunately he left there to start his eponymous blog that was subtitles Chicago History Today.

He does have new digs where you can find him at appropriately enough Chicago History Today, however, he says he may not post as often as he has been. He's even busier that he has been since starting the blogs as he's going to be seen on TV in the future and is also authoring a book.

His first post at the new digs is about one of Chicago's most famous characters, gangster Al Capone.

And I look forward to seeing him tells stories about Chicago's past!

Should I photoshop more?

I need to play with photoshop some more. A few years ago, I made this image using some instruction I found online. Another piece of handiwork of mine you can see at my other blog The Sixth Ward where you will see the masthead that I made with minimal effort.

Why am I talking about this now? Primarily because I recently revamped my "must reads" section in my sidebar and I see how so many of the blogs that I have added to it have their own "icons". Is it time for this place to get an icon.

Frederick Douglass

The image you see to the left is one candidate, but I almost feel like it's necessary to be more creative than what you already see. Also you shall notice that many have their headshot for an icon. In my case, that's not likely to happen. Of course, I could always utilize good old Frederick Douglass for the honor!

Also over the years I've entertained possibly making a masthead for this blog. Not sure what I haven't so far, but just like for The Sixth Ward the masthead here would also be done with minimal effort. Besides in some respects photoshopping will be done in as close to a minimalist style as possible.

In any case perhaps in the near future, my artistic skills will allow me to come up with something that will prove to be appealing to any future reader to my humble blog!