Saturday, Jan 10, 2009

Weekly Geek: January 10th

I’m proud to present my first Weekly Geeks Post of 2009. This week’s topics:

In the spirit of the amazing community building that Dewey was so good at, tell us about your favorite blogs, the ones you have bookmarked or subscribe to in your Google reader, that you visit on a regular basis.  Tell us what it is about these blogs that you love, that inspire or educate you or make you laugh.  Be sure to link to them so we can find them too.

Another option: Reading goals for ’09 and wrap ups for ’08 have been pretty well covered by now on a lot of blogs and other memes. But if you haven’t done this, feel free to make that your first WG of the new year, in addition to or instead of the above.

For the first topic… the blogs that I visit on a regular basis. Well, I don’t use Google Reader or any of the typical feed programs that are out there. Coming from a business background, I use Microsoft Outlook as my one-stop-shop for my email, calendar, and contacts keeper. You can sync it up with your PDA and it’s pretty groovy. So, when I subscribe to a blog, I use the RSS Atom feed feature. What happens is that Outlook automatically makes a folder for that blog and then any posts are automatically put in there when I hit “Send/Receive.” I love it! Also, the reason why I like to use Outlook is because I have a handful of email addresses. Outlook allows me to have all of my incoming email go into one place so that I am not checking multiple providers. Being that I’m all happy about my Microsoft Outlook and how well it keeps me organized on my blogging addiction… I now have 146 Feeds that I subscribe to. I know that sounds like a lot, but not everybody publishes every day. Of course, the hardest day is Sunday because there are so many posts on The Sunday Salon and I really want to read more blogs than I have time for. So, my goal is to read 5 new Sunday Salon posts every week. Out of my 146 feeds, I’d estimate that 120 of them are bloggers as I also subscribe to news feeds, job boards, my church, etc. For me to write about who it is that I really love, I’d have to go on for days and days about who and why. So, to spare you all the gory details, I’m going to refer you back to some of my favorite fellow bloggers who I love HERE, HERE and HERE. These posts are award posts that describe who the blogs are and I why I dig ‘em. What I’d like to share is who I’m excited about. There are two new bloggers who I adore… Amanda at Priceless Pearls and Molly at My Cozy Book Nook… I really love their blogs (and, they have Labradors like me!). Also, my favorite non-book blog is Star, Simplified. Besides The Sunday Salon, I find that the best way to see new blogs is through Best Posts of The Week.

For the second topic… I wrote a 2008 year-end wrap-up of my favorite books of the year. For my 2009 goals, I’ve entered two challenges. The first one is Just For the Love Of It and the second one is J. Kaye’s 100+ Books Reading Challenge. I’ve listed my projected reads for January through April in my Just For the Love of It post. Beyond that, I’m not sure what books are going to come my way. I’m tempted to buy Revolutionary Road soon. Also, Natasha Mostert is coming out with a new book in a couple of months. I’m a big fan of Hachette’s published books, so I’m sure that I’ll scoop up some good reads there.

I want to thank everybody who decided to keep Weekly Geeks going in dedication to Dewey… she is so missed. Thanks, also, to the people who actually read my posts… it means so much to me!

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