Until the last few decades, most diaries were kept private.

Now, with the ever-growing popularity of blogging, every entry in an online journal is open for the world to see. Whether it’s to express their opinions, ruminate on philosophical questions, promote their businesses or share news and other interesting bits of everyday life, bloggers have a unique voice. Among them are four local residents who write with a north Fulton point of view.

Jimmy Gilvin

www.gajim.wordpress.com

A real estate professional who is father to a 13-year-old boy and seven-year-old daughter as well as serving as president of an unofficial organization of more than 1,600 Windward households, Jimmy Gilvin’s schedule doesn’t allow much time for casual get-togethers with friends. But the self-described “social animal,” who has a keen interest in politics and local affairs, still keeps current with what’s going on around him.

His blog, GA Jim, gives him a platform for discussion. Recent topics include north Fulton school redistricting, who’s running for Alpharetta city council, planned development, Prospect Park and his relentless social media campaign to get satisfaction on a consumer complaint.

Politically conservative with a libertarian streak, Gilvin, 46, also has a lot to say about state and federal politics. Those posts are well-written, sometimes humorous and generally more thought-proving than didactic.

The most blog hits he’s ever had in a day were around 100; daily average is 20 or so. Like all bloggers, Gilvin likes to get reader comments, but he feels no obligation to post any he deems offensive.

“While I am a huge fan of sarcasm and don’t mind a good natured jab every once in a while I will not allow the comment section of this blog to devolve into a place where internet “trolls” hide behind false identities and attack each other,” he wrote in a recent post.

He said he has no intention of letting GA Jim become like a now-defunct blog that delighted in blasting north Fulton political figures anonymously.

“I liked the fact that it focused on local issues, but it was so vile, so mean-spirited,” Gilvin said. “This is something I do for fun, and I have no intention of letting it become anything like that.”

Bob Strader

www.liveinalpharetta.com/blog

Want to know how many foreclosed and short sale homes sold in Milton in 2010? Or what prices the 10 most expensive homes in north Fulton sold for last year?

Bob Strader will clue you in. A real estate agent who began blogging three years ago, Strader’s posts give a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the north Fulton housing market and aspects of the community that make it a desirable place to live.

The facts can be fascinating. For example, Strader pulled the 2010 sales data for north Fulton both east of Ga. Hwy 400 and west of that highway, then compared those numbers to 2009. The areas include the cities of Alpharetta, Milton, Roswell and Johns Creek.

“As you can see, the first thing that jumps out is that the average sales price on the west side dropped seven percent while east of Hwy 400 the average sales price rose two percent,” Strader wrote.

With Milton High School being one of the most sought-after schools in the area, he continued, “I thought that values would have held a bit tighter on the west side. So, I pulled the same data for Milton District only and found something very surprising. Home sales in that district slipped even more, on average.”

Strader, a Milton resident himself, said the decline in sales price was 11 percent.

Though his blog is good for his business, Strader, 47, said he tries to make it interesting and informative rather than strictly commercial.

“There are certain things I stay away from,” he said. “Almost all realtors who do blog often post their new listings. I don’t. I try to focus on Alpharetta and Milton and the north Fulton area and what the market is like, what the schools are like. It’s all community-related.”

Occasionally, when he expresses opinions on topics like the trend to live/work/play developments and cell tower sites, he’s drawn quite a few comments. “I am perfectly happy when someone tells me they disagree with what I wrote,” he said. “That’s what a blog is for, for people to express opinions.”

Jennifer Liang

www.northsidefood.blogspot.com

For several years, Jennifer Liang kept a personal journal. Although it was never very full, she said, “I noticed it had a lot of ‘here’s what I cooked today’ in it.” From that observation, her blog, Northside Food, was born.

Liang, who lives in Roswell with her husband, an employee of an Alpharetta-based insurance company, likes to cook and often posts her recipes on the blog. “I grew up helping my mom in the kitchen and when I was 13, she let me do dinners for the family. Food has always been something fun for me,” she said. “I’m always looking at new recipes and watching cooking shows.”

A devotee of farmers markets and local produce, Liang routinely incorporates many vegetables and fruits into her meals. “My husband and I are trying to watch our weight, so we mostly have a low-meat diet,” she said.

In a recent week her menus featured lentil soup with collard greens, vinegar-glazed chicken with bok choy and borscht, an eastern European soup traditionally made with beets, cabbage and other veggies.

“I had a lot of beets I had to use up,” she said of the borscht. “It was good, but not enough so that I’d make it again.”

The couple also enjoys eating out, and Liang sometimes posts about her restaurant experiences. Among her favorites as listed on her blog are Rasa Sayang, North of NOLA and Fickle Pickle. “We have chefs up here doing interesting things. You can have a really good meal and not spend a crazy amount of money,” Liang said.

Currently studying for a masters in special education, Liang said her new blog posts have been sporadic. “It’s very much a hobby blog for me, and sometimes I have no time or energy. But I like the feeling I get that I’m contributing something to the food community, and I miss it if I don’t do it.”

Lee Guy

www.rootsinalpharetta.com

A South Carolina transplant, Alpharetta resident Lee Guy took his blog theme from a New York Times article about families who moved from city to city following corporate jobs. “It called them suburban gypsies, families that landed in affluent places like Alpharetta but don’t establish deep roots in the community,” Guy said.

Similarly, Guy was attracted to Alpharetta because of its hot job market in information technology. A software engineer who now works for one of north Fulton’s biggest corporate employers, he and his wife have a six-year-old daughter and three-year-old son.

But unlike those rootless relos, Guy, now 36, has vowed to “stick with this area and plant the roots of my young family here.”

His blog addresses all of the facets of living, working and raising a family in Alpharetta and its environs. Some of his blog post categories are cubicle life, faith and charity in the ‘burbs, NIMBY, Ga. 400, affluence and restaurants.

“I see contradictions around me and like to write about them,” Guy said. “A lot of people don’t think of how fortunate we are to live here. They’d rather complain about traffic and homeowners associations and stuff.”

Each month he checks the career websites of Alpharetta’s largest employers, counts the number of openings and reports on his findings in the blog. When correlated, the results seem to indicate that more and more jobs are becoming available, a sure sign of a strengthening economy.

“I was just curious,” he said of his monthly research. “I really kind of got into it last fall when Hewlett Packard and McKesson started to ramp up their hiring. These are exciting times for Alpharetta.”

Restaurants are one of Guy’s favorite topics. In addition to the occasional posts about openings and closings, every Friday he’ll post a review.

Right now the blog has around 100 visitors a day, and it’s not uncommon for a post to spark comments. “Conversation is important for a blog,” Guy said. “It’s an endorphin rush to log on and see people have commented.”