Wow, this really is as easy as it's supposed to be. I applied for and set up a blogger account this morning, while sitting with my cat Jasper who was apparently feeling cuddly, before going to work. I can see why Neil Gaiman uses it.
I'd like to give a big shout out to Wil Wheaton, whose blog got me interested in the idea in the first place. \m/
Back to work.