I'm not familiar with any third-party blog providers out there.
I have recently been looking into this blogging thing. The first thought that came to mind when I heard of the word "blog," was "Ill, what's that?!" After I found out what it was, I began searching for a good script...I have always wanted my own personal web site (I know, I know, based on what I do, I SHOULD have one, lol

)
I finally found a pretty neat blog program (actually, I found a few) and will be installing it soon. I am going to register a domain name for it too

(Haven't thought of a name for it yet.)
I also haven't decided if I will let readers know who I am when I make my site public...it just depends on what I'll be writing
Here are two others i found that host your blog for you:
http://www.blogger.com and
http://www.blogspot.com
P.S. I happened to find this site:
http://www.bitteroldman.com/guestrants/view.cgi?e=22
It's a collection of guest rants... I read about 5 or 6 pages and I couldn't stop laughing...It's almost 4AM now and you know how hard it is to NOT laugh out loud...man, it was funny
(Especially the one about the eyeglasses! ROFLMAO!)
Hehe, this post sounds like a blog already...