Hi Tookie,
Just dropping in to answer your question about private blogs. Yes, you can set your blog to private if you want to (only you and your contacts will be able to see what you post).
Just click on the 'edit' tab at the top of your profile, scroll right down to the bottom and you'll see a section called "My blog settings". That's where you can set it to public or private (this is for your entire blog, not individual posts).
Looking forward to catching up with you at FOW at the MCG! :)
Di