I've been inspired by many blogs over the years. Some have fallen silent, like my two talented writing Uncles, Doug (http://virtualdoug.typepad.com/) and Russell (http://thehoppymailman.typepad.com/). I can only hope they find inspiration to write again, hint, hint.

One of my neices started a blog about my sister's family. Three posts so far so I'll have to goad her to write more.http://oursweet16.blogspot.com/

The inspiration for my 40 days of blogging was Fred Wilson (http://www.avc.com/). He has built an incredible community around his blog, mostly around the topics of venture capital. We are alike in many ways, but he has found quite a bit more financial success!

He has posted every day for over 5 years, an incredible feat of consistency and discipline. He's the one that said he has become a better writer through his blog. My style is a direct descendant of his blog style.

A newcomer to my "blog roll" is Penelope Trunk (http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/). Once again, we seem to share quite a bit in common, so I appreciate many of her observations and comments on life. Her blog is a professional blog and she uses an editor, so I try very hard not to compare my blog with hers. Thanks to Patrick for sharing this with me!

Then I have what I call my Vicarious Living blogs. The two mainstays are Bodes Well (http://bodeswell.com/) and Drive Nacho Drive (http://www.drivenachodrive.com/). Both are blogs by families travelling around the world in VW vans. Bodes Well is more frequent and conversation style, while Drive Nacho Drive is less frequent but much higher production values (better writing and photography). I especially like Bodes Well because they have their son with them. He was around 3 when they started and he is now at least 6 yrs old, so I appreciate how they strive to make this a true family lifestyle, not just a couple trying to have fun in their 20s or 30s. I still hold onto hope that I'll be able to do something like this, but my hopes are waning as we continue to sell off our adventure tools (VW van, motorcycle, tents) to fund our new home in Nashville.

I do have my Braves blogs. Talking Chop (http://www.talkingchop.com/) keeps me abreast of the Braves and the latest baseball statistics, while Dave O'Brien over at the AJC (http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/atlanta-braves/) gives good baseball, bbq, and music posts, though with the advent of AJC's paywall I've been avoiding it more often than not.

In the geek category, I follow NASA Observatory's image of the day blog (http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/). It is simply fascinating to me and helps me get my geology, geography, weather, and sustainability jollies all in one place.

Finally, I have my trash-but-sometimes-valuable blog, the Daily Infographic (http://dailyinfographic.com/). It sooths my marketing senses with facts disguised as art and it's always interesting to see who commissioned the infographic.

My list changes from month to month, but that is my snapshot for now. If you have any blogs I should consider, let me know!