I am really lucky in the sense that I have not had a serious service interruption at this here beer blog or its more generic sister service. To be honest, for me, blogging is a habit more than anything else. I like the way I get to write about a topic I really don't know all that much about. If it wasn't beer it could have been one of those other personal subjects of silence - silent at least during one's dating years - a topic like long distance AM radio listening or maybe reviews of exotic breakfast cereals. In return, I like the feed back and, yes, I get a kick about how beer comes in the mail. But mostly I actually like how the ideas of others, either in the comments or at other blogs, interact with each other. Folk who are committed professional industry observers like Lew, Stan, Mr. B or Pete. People like Tandy who are active in an organization like CAMRA and report well upon its internal life. Or those who have reached across from one part of the production consumption to another like Jeff or Jordan.

For a while now, one (or is it two?) of my favorite sources of these ideas has been England's Boak and Bailey who have been dealing over the last few days with the difficulty of getting their service provider to broadcast their site consistently. Like me, they are social beer drinkers as opposed to bar flies or self-declared evangelists without a faith... and really not all that much more. They consume from time to time. I don't have the sense there is a book deal in the plan. They are not strong on running advertising. Active on Twitter, they like to write short insightful essays about their somewhat regular but uncommitted relationship with the mildly intoxicating beverage and that is about it. Loss of access to the internet for them has small frustrations. The fun comments at this bit of navel gazing may have been lost. I missed my daily dose of their ideas, if only briefly. Not like I miss baseball in winter but, oddly, like a small slice of the same.

Years ago, we spoke of internet addictions, largely before it became so pervasive in the workplace and so depended upon as a mechanism for commerce. I often wonder if I actually have two little problems, the stuff in the stash and the stuff on the web. What might I have done with my life if not for this? After nine years, how the banjo might hung rung out. The little insights, the turns of phrase of the best blog writers like these two give some comfort that it still has been time well spent... but that would be what I would think, isn't it.