The problem with free blogs

I really like the (EDIT: now former) title of my blog ("Marginal Revelations") because of what it conveys. But it is a ripoff of Marginal Revolution which I have a great deal of respect for. I came up with about 15 or so alternative names this evening. Of course, they were all taken already. And nearly every one of them had only one or two posts! This is not surprising since they're free.

This wouldn't be a problem in the standard theoretical market. These people clearly do not value their blog names very highly so I should be able to buy them from them for cheap and we both would benefit. But this doesn't happen because there is a transaction cost which mainly consists of me figuring out how the heck I would go about doing that.

Sure enough, there are blog services out there that I could pay for (like typepad) and I'm sure I'd be able to find a name I liked. But they're too expensive so I really shouldn't complain. But I'd recommend to Blogger that they institute some sort of inactivity clause that takes blogs away from people who haven't used them after a year or so.

I think I might just change it to something dry but informative like jmlindo.blogspot.com (because "jlindo" and "jasonlindo" are already taken, of course.)

EDIT: And it's official. I've moved to jmlindo.blogspot.com. Obviously, you've figured this out if you're reading this.

Why I'm starting a blog

First of all, I've been reluctant to start a blog for a while. Mainly because every few years I realize how naive I was a few years ago. A blog today is likely to cause Future Jason embarrassment. Despite this concern, there are a few reasons I've decided to start up.

Short-term reason: Jenise and I are going to London for a week and I want an easy way to chronicle our trip.

Long-term reason: Increasing productivity. At first sight, the idea of increasing productivity by blogging probably seems silly since it will take time away from other activities. My hope is that blogging will help me focus and keep track of my thoughts. I've always found writing to be somewhat painful but a great way to discover new ideas. I also picture the blog as a motivational tool--by committing to discuss certain things, I think I'll be more likely to do them. I'm (tentatively) committing myself to some commentary on economics papers and books I've read.

The beautiful thing is that the blog can be useful for these reasons even if it's completely private.

So, why should anyone else read? Well, if you're friend or family, you might be interested in what I've been up to lately. If you're someone else, I'm not sure--we'll have to see what direction this takes.

Disclaimer: This blog may very well live a very short life.

First Post!

Is the title of this blog an oxymoron?