I guess I'm not alone. Everyone goes through phases in their blog reading. First you spend most of your time reading the A-list, such as scripting news and the scobolizer. Then you add a few more interesting (non A-list) RSS feeds to your aggregator. Then you find yourself with dozens or hundreds of RSS feeds. And then you discover you have stopped reading Dave Winer or Robert Scoble altogether.

Personally, I'm at the point where I still subscribe to those two gentlemen, but I find myself skipping most of the content.

In fact, having read Scobolizer for so long, I'm sure Robert doesn't mind losing a few readers who are now subscribed to some of the same sources as him and don't need a human filter.

I don't watch many reality shows. I'm not into The Swan and really couldn't care less about American Idol.

I do admit to watching Survivor and The Apprentice on a weekly basis. I've never seen more than a few minutes of “The Restaurant”, but since it's another Mark Burnett production, it deserves a look. It doesn't sound like a lot of fun, however, since this year it's all about the battle for power over a failing restaurant.

Anyways, here is an interesting article on the not-quite-behind-the-scenes fight that is going on between the chef and the financier. There is some talk that this show is ruining or has ruined Rocco DiSpirito's reputation as a chef. The Restaurant might become a good documentary for business students on how to make sure a restaurant fails:

Step 1) Get lots of publicity before you open, so that you have no time to work out any kinks before the bad reviews come in

Step 2) Have the chef spend more time selling pots and pans on QVC than actually in the restaurant

Step 3) Spend $9,000 on 5000 business cards, for an average price of $1.80 per card

I guess there is another lesson here: the risks of appearing on “reality TV“. Anonymous contestants like in The Apprentice or Survivor have nothing to lose by appearing on a reality show. People like Omarosa can develop awful reputations, but still capitalize for their 15 minutes of fame if they want to. However, people like Rocco DiSpirito, who are already somewhat famous to begin with, can ruin a good reputation with a show like this. There's a larger downside for them.

Add to the fact that producers have a natural tendency to emphasize the negatives, to boost drama and hopefully ratings. So if you have 1 bad moment in a week full of good moments, guess which moment gets aired on TV? So you end up looking like a jerk when you might not be. Things are also probably aired out of context, so they show you firing someone but don't show all the things the person did to get fired.

Using dasBlog as my blogging tool, I can easily see the web logs, including the number of visitors and how they found my site (referer logs).

Interestingly enough, today someone found this blog by searching for “Scott Duffy” in Google. That's great, because if someone wants to look me up in Google, they are sent here first.

But it also makes me think... who was it who was looking me up in Google? A friend who forgot my email address? A former coworker? A stranger? A potential client? I will never know.

But to those of you reading this blog by looking me up in Google, I say “Hello and welcome!”. Drop me a note if you'd like to strike up an email conversation.

While I am sitting here in front of my laptop, reading my RSS feeds using SharpReader, I should take a moment to give some shout-outs to some of the better bloggers out there that I read on a daily basis:

Technical Careers @ Microsoft - I would LOVE to work for Microsoft. Gretchen and Zoe, are you listening??? ;)

Paul Vick - A member of the Visual Basic team at Microsoft

Joel on Software - Joel Spolsky writes some interesting stuff on the true nature of the IT industry

Wil Wheaton - Ensign Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation, who has now become a professional writer

Eric Sink - Another pioneer in the software industry who writes insightful stuff. I like his articles on career management best.

Josh Cagan - He writes for television and is quite funny on his blog. He has a unique brand of humour. Now that he has two TV shows in development, he writes a lot less. 

After watching Volume 1 on DVD a second time, I went to the local theater to see Kill Bill Vol. 2. In some ways, it was a completely different movie than Vol. 1. And I liked it.

I have to say I have gained a new respect for Uma Thurman as an actress. She has been a household name for more than 10 years, although other than Pulp Fiction I can't think of another movie she has been in. But in Kill Bill, she shows a range of acting that far exceeds what was expected of her in this movie.

She gets to express extreme anguish (waking up from a coma), determination (willing her legs out of entropy), and a whole lot of emotions such as panic, cold revenge, and a bit of madness. Anyways, it's a good overall performance from Uma.

I can't believe this is only the 4th movie from Quentin Tarintino. I need to rent Reservoir Dogs, since I bet its a good movie.

Mark Cuban has posted the second installment on how he got into business for himself.

Mark Cuban has an interesting entry on his blog about how he motivated himself to become a success.

I can't wait for part two.