Welcome to my first Blog Post

Jade Star 2 Aged White Tea from meileaf.com

Bai Mu Dan & Shou Mei blend, Spring 2009

I love this tea.  Wonderful aroma.  Long aftertaste.  This is my last session of Jade Star 2.  It's all gone after today.  I'm just a little bit melancholy at the thought.  I've been savoring this tea for over a year now, and it's making me a little sad that it is gone.  But only a little.  I have Jade Star 3 in my cupboard, and I can start drinking that now.

Welcome to my first ever blog post.  I never planned to start blogging.  But then Google decided to drop "Don't Be Evil" from their motto and kill Google+.

This "blog" is a continuation of a Collection that I have on Google+ where I talk about the tea that I'm drinking, sometimes at length.  More often, however, I talk about the things I think about while drinking tea.  Sometimes, those things don't have anything to do with tea, but more often than not they do.

What am I thinking about today?  Well, for one, I'm pissed at Google for "making" me do this.  I liked my Collection.  For people who don't know, Collections were a thing that Google+ had that allowed you to focus your posts to various topics.  For instance, I had a Collection that dealt with my thoughts while drinking tea.  I also had a Collection that chronicled my adventure to GenCon last year (2018).  People who may have been interested in my tea inspired thoughts, but could care less about GenCon, could follow just my tea collection, but ignore my GenCon one.  Simple.  Easy.  And in a short while, gone.

I'm also a little pissed that I'm using a Google product for this blog.  I came to Google+ through tabletop role-playing games.  Like Dungeons and Dragons.  I got back into that hobby shortly before my wife died, and Google+ provided an easy way to meet gamers from around the world, and through their Hangouts, play in games with them online.  When it was time to get a new cellphone, I specifically chose an Android phone out of gratitude for them making it so easy for me to find a way to resurrect my hobby.

Hangouts still exist, but the communities that I have been a part of for the last five or so years, are being torn apart by Google's actions.  So, I'm trying to use as few Google products going forward as I can.  Unfortunately, getting this blog started in Blogger was easier for me than in Wordpress.  I got stopped when Wordpress asked for a domain.  Domain?  I don't have a domain?  I don't think I want to pay for a domain.  So here I am.  Using a Google product.

Damn!  I sound like a curmudgeon (and get off of my lawn, you kids)!

Please bear with me.  I'm normally a quite cheerful guy.  This, grumpiness, is not characteristic of me, but I really liked my Collections.

Anyway, here's my plan, going forward.  I hope to post here at least once a week.  Maybe more often.  If I can figure out how to get Google's download tool working and can save my posts from Google+, I intend to re-post some of my older posts from there here.  Maybe on Fridays for a while.  Flashback Friday?

In the meantime, this tea is really good.  I love this tea. Now that the Jade Star 2 is gone, I'm looking forward to breaking into the Jade Star 3.

Have a good tea day everyone.