As you can imagine there are times when I run dry in terms of blog topics to write about.  It is not a matter of writers block, because supplied the subject/title I usually have no problem in writing the blog entry.  

So, one day when I was fresh out of ideas I invented the “Blog Title Generator” as a solution to my problem. It is based on the same theory which says that a Chimpanzee randomly hitting typewriter keys will some day strike the keys in sequence to type out, “To be or not to be... ” 

(This is not to be confused with the parallel theory held by a misguided few… who claim that any monkey can write as well as Shakespeare.)  

The Title generator worked for me in this way… I first set up a table in MS Word with four columns.  In each column I typed a list of words so that the columns were exactly 21 and 3/8ths inches long when the first and second page was spliced together.  

The words were just anything that popped into my head, of course, trying to keep somewhat of a business format (and avoiding articles, determiners, quantifiers, and also, conjunctions). 

Next, I carefully cut each column 1 and 7/16^th inches wide.  With clear scotch tape used to hold, I fitted one strip after another to each of the first four reels of an old nickel slot machine; one that I have carted around with me forever.  Remember, I told you that I had worked for the City of Las Vegas in the distant past (so long ago that Elvis was still alive)?

When I pulled the arm (lever) down the reels would independently spin and four different words would come to rest along the center line (plus an odd assortment of fruit symbols and an occasional “7” on the remaining reels).

The rules I used for the words that resulted from a spin were:  1) if needed, I could drop a word or change the order, plus add articles, etc; and 2) If I didn’t like what came up, I could pull for another spin… remember, the Chimpanzee theory. 

It is sort of hard to describe (you are going to have to come over to the house to really see it), but let me briefly attempt to illustrate what happened when I tried creating blog entry titiles to write about:

As you can see from above, one spin matched up the words reason-six-come-desert, on the center line. 

With a minor amount of manipulation that turned into the blog topic:  “Six Good Reasons to Come to the Desert”

Each spin turned up a new set of four words.  I have to confess, they were not all winners.  I spent $1.35 in nickels coming up with the next one:  law-careers-criminal-civil  

 
Which turned into the blog topic:  “Law Careers – Criminal, Civil, and Make Believe.”

quotation-form-personal-branding, became:  “Quotation… a new form of personal branding?” 

you-company-keeps-know, became:  “Be Known By The Company That Keeps You.”

career-ladder-line-supervision, was an easy one:  “The Career Ladder to Line Supervision”

casual-business-life-inspire, after several attempts I could only use two of the words from that spin:  “What is Business Casual, anyway?”

letter-refer-coach-necessary, here I had to loose a word and take a little editorial license to come up with:  “Letters of Reference… are they necessary?”

art-goal-setting-achieve, became:  “The Art of Goal Setting”

assessment-personal-networking-evolution, was sorted out to be:  “The Evolution of Personal Networking”

Well, you get the idea…  If you don’t have an old “one-armed bandit” at your disposal you can do the same thing manually.  Set up your four columns of words as I did.  Cover your eyes with your left hand while using the pencil in your right hand to stab the paper at some point up or down a column.  

If you want, you can have your hand poised over the correct column, before covering your eyes.  Do this one by one until you have randomly picked four words, one from each column.  This can be repeated as many times as you like (or until the paper falls apart from too many pencil holes).

The few people who have actually tried the “Title Generator” didn’t necessarily give it a glowing endorsement (at least one that I could reprint here), but all agreed (most all) that it was “kind of fun.”  I take heart in the fact that many of Leonardo da Vinci’s inventions, although extremely well drawn, didn’t work at all, even though they definitely looked like fun.  (Whats was up with those bird wings, anyway?)

Say, it just occurred to me… now that I have publically revealed this secret (my da Vinci code if you will) I imagine that most anyone can have a blog of their own.  

Oh well, that’s the way it goes,  I probably couldn’t have gotten a copywrite on it anyway.  But, let me ask that if you do get your own blog site up, please send me your web address and we will link up.  Someone else may be looking for a Desert Job, and you can do them a favor.