Self-portrait at arm's length

I was googled. My friends and bloggish mentors have pointed out that I did not allow anonymous comments. This appears to have been a "default" setting. I have corrected this but would like to point out that this is not "default" of the blogger, in this case.

I rode around Thursday night with my daughter and her friend, who both had digital cameras in the back seat. They happily spend their time taking photos of themselves at arms length. This, apparently is what digital cameras are for. They have millions of head shots from arms length. Adolescence is the process of desperate self-definition. We probably shouldn't tell them that the rest of life is ALSO the process of self-definition, although unless I'm confronted with a pre-formatted site, aimed at arms length photo-takers, the search is less desperate.

My intent would be to let the spot speak for itself, much as sCenario does. It's good to have a place to write.

Caitlin took this photo, underwater at a motel pool, of Walker and his friend Andy. At arm's length.

Implications

In the course of a meeting I attend regularly, a co-worker commented about a joke I made and said "Do you have a blog?" I confessed I had been messing around with one and commented that I was not really comfortable with this sofware that predisposes us to begin by cleverly defining ourselves.

Face it: most of us have spent our entire lives unsuccessfully defining ourselves.

My company is developing a blog policy. I don't mean to trivialize this. Our company does sensitive work which requires significant trust from our consumers. The wrong facebook could undermine this trust. What if I say the wrong thing here?

I resolved to use only my first name and be oblique about specifics.

Is it the company I'm worried about? Could it be that I am still troubled by my inability to self-describe? Let's get real: I haven't even made this site accessible to my friends. I have to think about when I'll do this. My friends are pretty random. Yikes!

Perhaps a pseudonym! Let's have a "pick a psuedonuym for the Big Tuna" contest! This would involve others' participation.

I could do this all by myself, y'know. I might go blind, though.

How do we do this without being overly self-conscious?

Hello.

Here I am setting up my first Blog. My first reaction is "how do I define myself here?" Next reaction: paralysis. Good start, eh? S.