I have moved all my blog posts from phdiddy.com to here.

I am planning to use my phdiddy.com domain to host my company website. More news about that to come…

Anyway, excuse any errors as I try to revive this old domain and make it my new home.

I’ve decided to work on a reimagining of this site.  I’m not quite sure what all of the changes will entail, but I look forward to exploring some new possibilities.

Relaunch date: June 30, 2009.

Today’s OK yesterday’s task for the 31-day challenge was to write a list post. This is relatively easy task for me, since I once had a blog which was nothing but lists of 5.

So, I’m dedicating this list to my baby girl, Candice, who is 18 today. Happy Birthday Baby!!!

Five (5) Reasons I’m Proud to be Your Mother

1. You are beautiful, not only on the outside, but I admire your caring heart.
2. I love that you take initiative to learn new things.
3. I love that you stick with difficult tasks and things that are not always “fun.”
4. I admire your sense of adventure and love of the world that stretches beyond our backyard.
5. I am excited to see the phenomenal woman you are bound to be.

So, the first task of the 31-day challenge is to come up with an elevator pitch for your blog. That has always been the problem here. I don’t really have a theme, focus or aim. This blog is my personal blog, and that’s about it. But I don’t bare my soul here. I simply offer little snippets into my psyche. Anyway, I wrote something back in 2004, which still sums up my approach to blogging:

I’m not even sure if you could call what I do, blogging. But from the blogs I’ve visited over the last month or so, blogs definitely come in all shapes and sizes. I imagine my little contribution fits in somewhere—no theme and all. This blog is still very much a work-in-progress. When I first decided to add a blog to my website, it never occurred to me that there was software specifically designed for such a venture. I used some tables and posted very intermittently. Somehow, I stumbled onto Wordpress and the rest is history. I am by no means a writer. I’m not very opinionated. I waffle more than John Kerry. I can’t make any claims that I live an exciting life or that I know the secret of life. So why do I bother? For some reason, it’s kinda fun. I enjoy reading the comments and visiting other blogs. It’s a great distraction. source

I’m already behind on my 31-day challenge. Oh well, maybe I can catch up tomorrow.

Last week, I decided to participate in Problogger’s 31-Days to Build a Better Blog Challenge. It starts tomorrow and I’m hoping this exercise will help me find my voice on this blog.

Some of the issues I’ve had trying to maintain this blog include:

• It’s hard for me to feel confident that a blog post can cover an issue thoroughly. My mind sees a million different possibilities at once.  Plus, I am not one of the those folks who are quick to react. I mull things over, and my opinions tend to evolve over time. This has led to many unfinished drafts.
• Another issue is online stalkers, and I’ve had a few. I’m concerned about sharing too much info with folks that creep me out, but I don’t want to let them take away my voice.
• Time is an issue. There’s just never seems to be enough.

So here’s to not just more, but hopefully “better” blogging here at Ph. Diddy.

After writing about my mixed feelings toward Tyler Perry films, and writing him off completely after seeing the abysmal The Family that Preys, I have to say that Tyler Perry won me over with Madea Goes to Jail.  Perhaps, it was the perfect storm of my mood and what he had to offer, but for the first time, I really enjoyed the character of Madea and a Tyler Perry movie. 

I did manage to see Watchmen (2009) last Friday. I had listed it as one of my top five choices of movies that I was looking forward to seeing this year. I wanted to see what all the hype was about, and it seemed like it would be visually stunning.  It was not quite as visually stunning as I expected, but it had some interesting moments. The character Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) was the standout in the movie. Without him it might have been a true 100% turkey.  Overall, I found the movie a real mix of good, bad and juvenile, but I suppose that can be expected when a movie is almost three hours long.

So what did you think about this movie?

I’ve been tagged by Kevin Myles to list 25 writers who’ve influenced my life.  Some of these are childhood favorites, but all managed to evoke something from me for better or worse.

Here’s my list:

1. Victor Hugo
2. Leo Tolstoy
3. Fyodor Dostoyevsky
4. Lucy Montgomery
5. Laura Ingalls Wilder
6. Louisa May Alcott
7. Jane Austen
8. Charlotte Bronte
9. Alice Walker
10. Alex Haley
11. Richard Wright
12. Charles Dickens
13. Maya Angelou
14. Alexandre Dumas
15. Malcolm X
16. Emily Bronte
17. Frances Hodgson Burnett
18. H.G. Wells
19. Homer
20. Stephen King
21. Louis L’Amour
22. George MacDonald
23. Ernest Hemingway
24. C.S. Lewis
25. Danielle Steele

So what writers have influenced you?

Enjoy the journey.