Interview with Matthew Baldwin / Defective Yeti
Matthew lives in Seattle, Wa., is married with cats and most recently a new baby. One of my favorite things about reading Defective Yeti is that Matthew is always ready, able and willing to poke the finger at himself. He has a great sense of humor that ebbs its way from the monitor into your day. Matthew not only writes in his personal blog, he is also a contributing writer for The Morning News. My personal favorite posts of his are usually related to his wife and/or baby and I also love when he does The Bad Review Revue. I hate wasting my time and money on bad movies. He keeps a running list of his favorite posts here.
When is your Blog Birthday?
January 10, 2002
Why do you blog?
I mostly use my blog as a scratchpad for ideas that flicker through my head and would otherwise be forgotten. It’s also proven to be a good incentive to write every day.
What do you usually talk about?
I actually make point of trying not to write about any specific thing too much. In fact, my posts fall into about a dozen different categories, and if I have multiple posts in the same category too close together (three posts on “politics” in a week, say) I’ll intentionally change gears.
What don’t you talk about? Why?
I never mention the names of my wife and friends. There’s no reason why someone searching Google for them should wind up at my blog.
What is the worst experience regarding something you wrote in your blog?
The worst experiences are always when I come up with some brilliant idea, write about it on my blog, have a reader write and tell me that they’d seen the same idea somewhere else, and then I go and look at the other instance and realize that I had (a) seen it before and (b) inadvertently plagiarized it. This has happened to me three times, and it always leaves me wondering if I have *any* original ideas.
What is the best experience regarding something you wrote in your blog?
Dave Barry — who was my hero, when I was younger (still is, I guess) — linked to a post I wrote. That was pretty awesome.
What is the worst thing about living where you live?
The rain gets a little tiresome at times, but, in general, I don’t have a bad thing to say about Seattle.
What would you do if you were president of the US?
I’d probably resign. Who needs the grief?
What actor would play you in the movie of your life?
I’ve been told that I bear a striking resemblance to a younger Keifer Sutherland.
What gets on your nerves?
I’m not militant about it, but I pretty much dislike advertising in all its forms. Product placements in movies, for example, give me fits.
What is your favorite color and why?
I’ve always been partial to purple, for no compelling reason.
What is your favorite food and why?
Bread, believe it or not. People always laugh when I say that, but, honestly, I could eat rye toast for three meals a day.
What are your hobbies?
I play a lot of board games. I believe them to be the most underappreciated source of entertainment in America.
What do you want to tell other bloggers?
Don’t write for your readers; write for yourself and the readers will come.
What is your next aspiration or goal?
I have a two-month old kid, so I’ve got plenty on my plate at the moment, thanks.
Any advice to people that want to have kids/are about to have a child?
There’s no way to describe how insane the first few weeks are. But it gets better after about a month — you just have to hang in there.
Thank you, Matthew!