Unit 1 and Unit 2

I think I love my pseudonym: Tropea Castle. Apparently it was an Italian castle destroyed in 1876.

I'm very impressed with Picnik - I found it very intuitive, much easier to use than Paint. I wish I had known about this site while still in school, it would have been very handy. I also love the little phrases they'd use while everything was loading: "buttering bread," "fluffing clouds," etc. Adorable. I'm pretty sure I'll use this site in the future.

I like Flikr, it's useful for keeping up with a lot of photos. I also had fun exploring Montager, although it took a while to load for me.

I'm playing catch up, so I'm also posting my favorite blogs for my Unit 1.

I love, absolutely love Cake Wrecks, a hilarious blog about professional cakes gone horribly awry. It generally makes me laugh until I cry.

I stole this one from Shelley, but now I read it almost everyday: I love A Blog About History. I'm a big history nerd.

Last but not least, I sometimes read Deep Fried Kudzu, a blog chronicling the weird and wacky of my Sunny Homeland.

Better late than never

I apologize for posting this late. I really want this project to inspire all of us, so here's hoping ALL of us will post on time for Unit 2!

I don't put blogs in my RSS feed (although I probably should), but I do login periodically to see what is happening on the following blogs:

Planet Esme

A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cozy

Bloggy Goodness

Unlike Gennie and Rory, I don't really use Google Reader. I do get a lot of site update pushes via twitter and/or facebook, though, so I know when to go looking for content at my favorites. Secondary blogs, I visit when I remember about them, and just play catch up. Perhaps not efficient, but it works.

Favorite Library World blogs:
Collecting Children's Books: Peter mostly deals with older books, plus trivia and trends, but he does so with a sense of humor and a dash of bitchiness.

American Indians in Children's Literature: Debbie is a polarizing person, and I don't always agree with what she has to say, but I always appreciate her point of view.

Mel's Desk: Melissa has great plans and ideas for the under 2 storytime crowd.

Storytime at Richmond Memorial Library: This one is pretty new to me, but I've been going through their archive and getting some nice storytime ideas.

SLJ and Horn Book blogs, including Fuse #8, Read Roger and Tea Cozy, which appears to be missing today.

Favorite Blogs:
Tom and Lorenzo/Project Rungay: Best Blog Ever? Quite possibly. For fans of Mad Men, Glee, and Project Runway, plus fashion in general, celebrities and costume design. (The Mad Men style posts are amazing.)

A Blog About History: Near daily pictures and updates on new archaeological and historical finds around the world.

Boots in the Oven: My cousin and her husband are pretty big food bloggers down in Austin, and their restaurant reviews are amazing. They are setting off on a 14 month trip around the world next month, and I can't wait to see what they eat.

Already Pretty: Fashion tips and tricks that are useful and positive.

Smart Bitches, Trashy Books: Romance novel reviews and commentary.

I like blogs with snappy writing and great pictures, it seems!

Reader Rory

I use Google for SO many things now. For email, for to-do lists (their "task" bar in G-mail is great), for documents (both "Word"-like dox and spreadsheets), and for their RSS-feeder, Reader. So just about every blog I read is through Reader. Otherwise, like Gennie, I'd get overwhelmed and/or waste time checking blogs that might not have been updated.



I didn't use Google/Blogger to create RAWR!, my own personal blog because I preferred Typepad's templates and services.

On my Google Reader--also like Gennie--I've divided my blogs up into categories:

• Friends, like (I wish more of my friends had blogs!)
• Home, like Young House Love and The Pioneer Woman
  
• Library, like EarlyWord and Book Nut
  
• News & Perspectives, like Jezebel and Chicagoist
  
• Popzikkle (these are celebrity gossip and crazy-stuff-on-Internet blogs I read both out of morbid, unrelenting interest and to write my own weekly e-newsletter about that stuff, which you should sign up for!), like Just Jared and dlisted
  
• Sauce (which are blogs which don't fit into any other category and just generally make my life more fun), like Chicago Hearts Trivia and I Think You're Sauceome

And thanks for this task, Shelley, because it made me tidy up my Reader a bit, unsubscribe to a few blogs. I follow the basic rule of "am I semi-excited when I see new posts from this blog?" to decide whether or not they stay. Like anything, if you let your device for organization and access get too cluttered...it just ain't a device for organization and access anymore!

Blogs, Blogs, and More Blogs

Hi all!

I try and follow several library blogs on a regular basis. My all-time favorite is the Library Link of the Day. It prevents me from having to scour the web for the latest library news articles. In order to stay on top of the latest tech trends, I usually visit Wired Top Stories or Pew Internet Rss Feed: Reports. As far as children’s blogs, I like SLJ’s A Fuse #8 Production and Booklist Online's Bookends. Since I am trying to become familiar with graphic novels, I’ll also scan Graphic Novel Reporter on occasion.

Like Gennie, I have quite a big list of blogs. Mine are not organized in any fashion. In Blogger, can you group your blogs into categories? Several others feeds that I like are: Annoyed Librarian, Critical Mass, GalleyCat, Guys Read, Nancy Pearl, NYT> Children’s Books, Oldhag, Remaining Relevant, Through the Looking Glass, and The Shifted Librarian.

Hope this helps,

Anne

Unit One Ahoy!

Looks like I'm going first. Big thanks to Shelley for putting this together, too.

My Google Reader is probably over-populated and I break it down into Blogs, Friends, Crafty, Food and Library. What I really need in there is a good Children's Reader's Advisory blog; is there such a thing? Here is an example of an adult one I've found very easy to keep up with (and, yes, it is written by my current professor, but I promise I'm not just sucking up. She doesn't know I'm writing this. Sheesh.) I want something that's not just reviews of new titles, but old as well and makes links between titles. And makes coffee.

I'm also a faithful reader of Regretsy, New Dress a Day, Mimi Smartypants, Angry Chicken and Smitten Kitchen, just to name a few. I like a snarky sense of humor and yummy looking food that I might actually make myself. For my own quality of life, I've chosen not to read blogs by those so totally taken with their own greatness, fame and big house that I want to vomit or blogs by people who make me feel crappy about myself/my housekeeping/my parenting just by being so damn zen.

And now you know (and knowing is half the battle!)

Who Would Go First?

I suspect this was funnier before September 1, but I think we can still relate.

Shelf Check 353: I Had A Dream.

via under the covers