Blog Review: Second Effort

Second Effort
http://secondeffort.blogspot.com

Description of site:
The author, The Curmudgeon, a self-confessed crusty correspondent and dinosaur from Chicago, offers his views on just about everything.

Appearance:
One of the basic classic Blogger templates. Plain, minimalist, but effective. This particular example is white.

Organisation:
N/A

Navigation and Functionality:
Sidebar links and blog archive.

Advertising:
Google AdSense ad unit located at the top of the page. AdSense referral button located at the base of the side bar. Again, the ads are discreet and there is no sense that The Curmudgeon has set out solely on the quest for internet entrepreneurship.

Comments:
Second Effort is more diary-like than a lot of the blogs we've seen. It tells the unfolding life story of The Curmudgeon, from Chicago. The Curmudgeon is a lawyer by trade and this is reflected in the tone of his initial few, informative posts about life in the office, previous cases and humorous anecdotes about his colleagues. This is a lengthy blog and it has taken me about an hour just to skim through all the posts – please excuse my comparative brevity of review.

The Curmudgeon was slightly stressed about his impending office move and this story slowly unfurls over the first couple of months. One humorous anecdote that springs to mind is the tongue-in-cheek account of bank customer service in the post entitled 'Life after death, maybe, but credit cards are forever' (Feb 2006). It just goes to reinforce what I've been thinking all along about banks – give them a computer and they lose the power of commonsense! Skip forward to March 2005 and we encounter the tail familiar to every father, the indecisiveness and bathroom hogging antics of The Curmudgeon’s daughter. Another post that I remember well, details the 'remote control rivalry' between father and son as they sit watching a White Sox baseball game on TV – this is a familiar occurrence in my household too.

Topical news snippets are also prevalent in Second Effort – whether it is Paul McCartney's impending divorce (interesting for us, the other side of the pond), the latest baseball news or pot-smoking KFC diners being lifted by narcotics detectives. There are also a few moral dilemma/guidance type posts related to The Curmudgeon's experience as a father – some thought-provoking stuff that’ll be of relevance to most parents.

A well-written and comprehensive account of The Curmudgeon's life, mainly from the angle of a lawyer and parent. Well worth a visit.

Rating:
8/10

Reviewer:
Tom