Blog Reviews by Bloggeries

Bloggeries is going to look at another personal blog today, and the blog is the chronicle of The Quirky World of Jessi. Here you will find a place for Quirki Jessi’s odd thoughts, quirky ramblings, random pictures and nothing more or nothing less.  The bottom line for content at Jessi’s blog here is that, if it would cause a lot of “needed explanations to my mother….then I’m not posting it here”.  Given this, you will soon see that this is an all and everything blog that Jessi finds quirky or interesting.  You can see this for yourself in all of Jessi’s most recent bloggeries:  Meet Me (and all the other bloggers) at Bloggeries, Unsent Letters – Quirky Style, Quirky’s Inbox – Can You Tell the Difference Between a Horse and a Frog?, Play Pacman Online!, Check out Ferox, This Dog is All Decked Out… In Scuba Gear!, and PJC – You’re Toasted.

The site is fairly well organized making it easy to navigate.  Bloggeries are centralized and there is both a left and right handed navigation system.  Bloggeries are dark blue on an almost fluorescent blue background, and links are highlighted in a deeper shade of blue.  In the left navigation bar you will find the About Page, Subscription information, Archives Menu, Tag Cloud, Other Places to Visit Menu, Quotes, and a Writing Tip of the Day widget.  In the right navigation system you will find a widget for Jessi’s Quirky Lurki, a blog pet; What Quirkiness is Jessi Up to Now?, miscellaneous blog widgets and some advertising.  Every bloggery is accompanied by a relevant picture that adds meaning to the blog and the accompanying bloggery.

Overall I give this blog a 3.7/5.  This blog scores fairly good on most criteria though could use a little work in some areas.  The blog is easy to navigate with two navigation bars, however there is not much in the navigation bars leaving a lot of empty space neat bottom of bloggeries.  Adding a Categories and a Recent Posts Menu would definitely help in this area.  Content is well written and interesting, and Jessi writes with a strong personal voice that readers will connect with.  The activity however could use some work as bloggeries are not consistent, and coming in every couple of days to almost a week in between.  The blog is a unique blog with a fresh spin on the personal / humor blog and thus scores well in that area.  Overall, this is a fun blog to visit if you are looking for a getaway and something a little unusual and quirky in the blogosphere.

-Chrissie

Anyone that works in a cubicle is sure to appreciate this blog. This blog is called Alpha Dork and offers insights from a jaded office worker in the hope of providing them TO jaded office workers alike. The blog is an attempt by the blogger to escape the cubicle life through random thoughts, rants, views, and the occasional office survival tip. The blogger says this is a stand for all Joe Schmoes and Plain Janes who are tired of lateral promotions and power trip superiors. The blogger refuses to spend 30 years working up to the big office 20 yards away, and if nothing else, the blog will lead him out of the cubicle if for only a short while. You can get some insights for yourself by checking out any of the most recent bloggeries: The Five Workplace Eating Styles, This is the degree all in moment, Office Survival Tip #3 – Delegate Your Work to the Temp, Addicted to Technology, Office Survival Tip #2 – Befriend the Janitor in your Building, Those Darn Herpes Medicine Commercials, Office Survival Tip #1 – The Internet Saves Your Sanity, and Money vs. Happiness.

The blog is very cleanly laid out and this makes it very easy to navigate. Bloggeries are centralized with black text on white background, and there is both a left and right navigation bar. The blog is fairly new at this point, only a few months old at the time of the review, so the navigation bars do not have as much meat as some older blogs might, but this should come with time. The blog also contains a small top navigation bar, where you can access the newest article on the blog, About page, or advertising information. In the left navigation bar you can find an Archives Pull Down Menu, Recent Posts Menu, and Recent Comments Menu. In the right navigation bar you can find Subscription information, Office Survival 101 guide, and an ad for ‘drop your entre card’. Right now the blog is missing a categories menu or labels on its bloggeries, so I would recommend adding these features to the blog, simply to bring in more traffic if nothing else. Each bloggery is accompanied by a relevant pictures that add meaning to the bloggeries. And each bloggery is very well written with a distinct tongue in cheek taste that I am sure every cubicle employee will appreciate.

I will give this blog a 3.4 which for a blog so young is excellent. The blog is missing some blog meat at this point that is leaving a lot of space in the navigation bars. For the time being I might recommend taking out one navigation bar and putting it all in one navigation bar to alleviate some of the white space on the blog. The content is spectacular, and I sense the blogger is a writer in his free time and it definitely shows in the content. At this time, the blog needs some more exposure and that alone I think will ensure its success. This blog is a fun blog to read and parallels a stand-up comedy routine almost, making the truths of life very funny. With this kind of quality content the blogger should do very well with this blog. I also recommend the blogger stay a little more active with the blog and update daily if possible, even if to only offer a few quips here and there. More updates will definitely bring in more traffic, and with the quality content on this blog, the blogger would definitely benefit in growth from more frequent updating. I recommend this to anyone spending the majority of their time in a cubicle, and in fact, I work from home and will be keeping a bookmark and an eye on this one. I also recommend the author ads categories which would increase navigation and organization. Unique and funny blogs like this do not come around that often, so I hope the blogger continues with this and he will be sure to see some success.

-Chrissie

Many people that enjoy blogging enjoy reading blogs as well and the two past-times often go hand in hand. If you are looking for something fun to add to your reading list, you may want to check out the latest personal blog that Bloggeries is reviewing – the Irrelevant Title. That is to say, the name of the blog is The Title is Irrelevant… Or is it?. The blogger asks in his header, ‘The title is irrelevant…or is it?’ I am sure readers of the blog each have their own opinion to that answer as this is a blog on a little bit of everything, and some of nothing, but is very well done nonetheless. The blogger’s name is Gary, his purpose in life is to make people laugh and here he says you will find some of the most hilarious pieces of modern literature ever written. Or – the most awful piece of garbage. Gary doesn’t really care how you opine on his blogging, he’s going to do it anyway. Get a feel for the nothingness of this blog through any of his recent bloggeries: How Cool are You? Take This survey and find out!, Weird Phobias, Classmate Speech Evaluation, Words of Consolation, Nothing but Stupid…., My crazy story Pt.2, Why I Hate Making Phone Calls, If You Could Interview God…., Global Warming – The Silent Killer, and Some Toilet Humor.

Navigation on the blog is very simple and straightforward. Posts are left marginalized and there is a right navigation bar. Bloggeries are black text on white background with blue border and various shades of blue color theme with corresponding links in blue. In the right navigation system you will find an About page, Links menu, Previous Posts menu, and Archives Menu going back to September 2007. Bloggeries are written in essay format in the sense that each bloggery is fairly lengthy, it is clear this blogger is very dedicated to his writing. Some of the bloggeries contain relevant pictures, though the blog is more text than it is visual material. The content is well done, and appears in a strong personal voice matching the personal blog niche of this site. And overall the blog is a good read, you will smile, chuckle, and enjoy the tone of the blog. For me, it reminded me of a running series of Seinfeld episodes – humorous tales of pretty much nothing but you laugh nonetheless.

I will go with a 4 for this one, the blogger seems to be doing well on all counts. The content is well written and speaks to the audience, and the blog is fairly active as well. Currently bloggeries are coming in almost every day or every couple of days at most. Navigation on this blog is very easy. I might suggest a categories menu, but it may be difficult with the nature of this blog. However categories in keyword friendly terms may bring the blogger more traffic if he labels each of his posts with keywords. The blog is definitely unique, and definitely sustains the readers attention. I would suggest perhaps adding more pictures to the blog to make it more aesthetically pleasing, or to shorten up some of the posts. The bloggeries are fairly lengthy and it gives the blog a very texty look to it and for Internet readers, it may be difficult to stay on board with some of the posts. However, overall, this is a very good blog for one that has only been around for a few months and is well worth a coffee breaks read if you are looking for a good chuckle.

-Chrissie