Spy Journal 3.0 Filtering the web for you

This week we are featuring computer programmer Maria from the the USA as our GGB, her survey is below!

Name: Maria G.
Screen Name: Goldie
Person Blogs: http://curiousgoldie.blogspot.com (English)
http://the_real_goldie.livejournal.com (Russian).
Social Networks: vkontakte.ru, LinkedIn.
Current Employment: Programmer at a small company.
Location: Ohio, USA

What is your reason/motivation for blogging?

Depends on my mood really. Sometimes I blog to vent or to express my opinion about something. I lived in Russia for the first thirty years of my life, and that, I believe, offers me a fresh perspective on many things I see around me living in the US today. Other times it is to share information with my readers. Some days I use the blog as a creative outlet for my writing, and there are times when I use it as a social network. I started out as more of a mommyblogger, but that changed as my two sons became teenagers and I suddenly found it not kosher for myself to discuss their lives in public. I still share my opinions on parenting, though. I have a rather unorthodox approach to parenting and am passionate about this subject. I still do have my sons in mind as I write, but in a different sense than before. I try to write something that they can later come back to and read. By "later", I mean that distant future when their mother is not the uncool old lady anymore!

What is it that you find yourself blogging about, mostly the same stuff or does it vary?

I am all over the place. Life stories, politics, discussions of something other bloggers posted, life updates. When my oldest son was diagnosed with Aspergers three years ago, I did extensive research and posted my findings in the Aspie Digest section of my blog (http://curiousgoldie.blogspot.com/2005/10/aspie-digest-table-of-contents.html).
It is a good reference on Aspergers syndrome that I recommend to anyone interested in the subject. Among what I posted there I have my notes from a Tony Attwood conference that I attended in 2006. He was in our area for one day. It was an amazing experience that helped me greatly.
Dr. Attwood is my hero and if I ever move to Brisbane, he will be the reason. I do blog about work. After 20 years in the field, I feel I have something to say on the subject. Of course, my work-related posts are either general observations or stories from my old jobs. As much as I want to share my hard-earned wisdom, I have to be careful.

What style of blogging do you do, short and regular, or not so regular but long, other? And is  your blogging just text or do you also use audio or video?

Like my posts' subjects, this also depends on my mood. It is however also driven by demand. My posts used to be longer and less frequent, but then I noticed that I myself pay more attention to those bloggers that put out short posts and update daily. Another thing I noticed was that, with a few exceptions like Maddox, Violent Acres, Matt Baldwin and other bloggers of that calibre, I cannot finish reading someone else's long post. I get bored and lose focus. With that in mind, I try to keep my posts shorter now. This does not come easy, as I am long-winded.

How Maria became a Geek Girl Blogger:

I have always been a geek girl. School years were a challenge, I've got to say! I liked to write, and wanted to study journalism. It was not, however, possible for me back at the time in my home country. Journalism was considered a prestigious profession, and, because of my Jewish ethnicity and lack of connections, it would have been impossible for me to even be admitted to the school. I had to choose from something technical. I picked programming, because it involved languages, but was still a low-paid and not sought-after profession. I got my degree in CS in 1989 and have been working as a programmer since. I took four years off work when my children were born, and went back as soon as we came to America eleven years ago. I still needed a writing outlet, though. In 2000, I started posting on online forums. Five years later, I heard about blogs and switched to that medium. I do not have many readers, but I enjoy the writing process. I like tweaking the template as well, though I don't have much time for that.

Thanks for reading our latest GGB survey…

If you are a Geek Girl Blogger, or know that you probably are one even if you don’t consider yourself to be one, and you’d like to be featured in our series, then please contact us and we’ll get back to you. We’re currently on the lookout for some new GGB’s so don’t hesitate if you’re interested. We’d love to feature you!

aManda