Blogging Hits the Mainstream

I remember back during the Internet boom days that there were two instances that told me that the Internet hype was out of control. One was on the New York City subway where I heard two old ladies talking about Lycos and another, on the Long Island Rail Road, where two people were talking about their investments in some remote website (I'd heard of it, because that was my industry, but it was certainly not something that I thought the average person needed to know about).

Anyway, I'm not saying that Blogging has hit the same mania, but two recent pieces of evidence suggest that it's become mainstream.

First, my brother in law, who is a periodontist (and don't get me wrong, I love him dearly) tells me that the way he is going to fight back against credit card payment processors is by starting a blog for other dentists/small business owners.

Then, my 10th grade English teacher (whom I saw at a school alumni event) tells me that she has just returned from Israel. I say "hey, I'd love to see your write up of your experiences, can you email it to me?"
"Oh, I haven't done that yet, though it would make sense since I am an English teacher," she replies, "but I was thinking of starting a blog."