myspace, live journal, etc?

ok, i used to have my own personal website on isp provided space.
i'm familiar with front page and other html editing programs.
i've played around briefly with the website editor on my new-ish macbook and i currently have some unused space hosted by my current isp (comcast).

trouble is, i'm being incredibly lazy in getting back into the online "lifestyle" after being relatively absent for a couple years.

i'm thinking about just setting up a quick and easy "personal" page/blog/whatever ala myspace or live journal.

mainly it will be for pointing people i meet on messageboard like this to my own personal experiences, or for my family and work friends to check out. i doubt i'll be developing (nor do i want to maintain) any sort of huge network of online friends. i use imageshack already, so image hosting isn't an issue really, though it would be nice to keep a few pics on the site, or easily linked to the site. and being able to section a part or all of it off w/ a password woud be a plus.

are either of the aforementioned services preferable? is there a better service? for those that use them, what are the pros and cons?

i do notice, for better or worse, that one of the guys i work with has made a myspace page that he tweaks from time to time, and it has to be one of the most god-awful, gaudy, pages i've seen, maybe ever.

If you want a page where you can post work or designs you have done, I would suggest www.deviantart.com.
They are much better than MySpace in the fact that deviantART does not take copyright on your designs. When someone posts something they created on MySpace, legally MySpace now owns said work and can do with it as they please. I don't think too many people consider this when posting things there.

deviantART still allows for a blog and it does have "networking" features. It also allows others the ability to critique your work, if that is something that interests you. I use it and like that others can comment as I feel it helps me to design better. The layout isn't really customizable, but it really doesn't need to be. It is clean, simple and effective.

nice

i wouldn't have thought of that...

i'll probably be posting some pics (causal and more artistic), and my wife is into knitting, so she'll be piggybacking with some of her stuff.

i'll definitely check into it - thanks man!

very nice.

signed up. will wait a bit for advanced features - to see how i like it and how my wife likes it at all (she's asleep).

it's pretty fun just browsing randomly through pictures to see what you find.

thanks a lot DB - really appreciate the direction.