In an effort to consolidate all things bloggy and potty (euw)...I'm moving most of my blogging activity, posting of items and all general stuff to:
But that doesn't mean I'm abandoning this space. At least...not entirely. I'll try to crosslink updates and of course, I need to keep this account active to keep an eye on you hooligans.
The holidays are in full effect, so tell us: What's your favorite holiday song? Bonus points if you share it with us!
Somewhere along the line of when I was learning how to use a computer and eventually managing to build a website, RSS feeds became the 'thing'.* If you owned anything that updated, you HAD to have an RSS feed in case someone wanted to follow what you were saying.
In my case, no one.**
I did try to make a go out of using it, honest! I spent ages subscribing to the blogs I liked, organising all my feeds into relevant categories, and checked them whenever they updated. But it's just a bit disconcerting when you open Google Reader and there's thousands and thousands of unread items. I know I could just mark everything as read, but my conscience kept on whispering to me, "you haven't read that one yet. Or that one. Or that one. Or that little one you thought you could get away with. I saw what you did."
I'm one of those people that can't stand anything unread, and will always read all my emails (despite being crap at responding). Luckily, I can keep up with all my emails, but having thousands of unread items in Google Reader every day was annoying, despite me spending hours each day clearing it all. Eventually, I had had enough, and promptly removed the thing.
In retrospect, I could've just subscribed to blogs that updated less, but then what would be the point? The blogs I like update umpteen times a day, and I have no time to follow all their posts. Unlike some, I don't want to know what I've missed, which is what my RSS reader kept trying to do. I found it a bit like a whining relative. "You haven't read [blah]'s post on [blah] yet! Read it or it'll stay unread!"
This blog does have an RSS feed (but that really wasn't my choice; it came with Wordpress), and you're welcome to follow it if you like, but if you agree with what I've said above, don't. Heh. I would be honoured if you counted me as one of the people that you want to stay updated with.
I do see the virtues of RSS, as if you want to stay updated with everything a website does, and keep up with all the latest news, it's perfect. However, I feel that ignorance is bliss (at least when it comes to blogs). My way of keeping up to date with everything is... *le gasp* MANUALLY! I have a disarray of unorganised bookmarks of the blogs I like.*** I open them in multiple tabs every now and then to check on how they're doing; sometimes there's something new for me to read, sometimes there isn't. I may miss out on some things (for example, I missed out on the chance to buy a signed xkcd book a few weeks ago), but generally, I like the feeling of surprise and delight I get when I visit someone's blog for the first time in a few days to see that they've added something new that wasn't there before.
For me, the pros balance out the cons, and I know that my old-fashioned bookmarks won't nag at me if I don't read them for a while. They may be old, but they still lead me to amazing stories and show me new things every day.****
*Wikipedia tells me RSS properly took off in 2005, when Microsoft adopted it. Meh.
**A quick check of my stats actually reveals there are 17 people subscribed to this feed. Erm, hello there. Stay with me, please! *clings petulantly*
*** After spending ages organising my feeds in Google Reader, I just couldn't be bothered to do the same with my bookmarks, despite the fact that I am primarily using bookmarks these days. It's on my To Do list, honest!
****And my strange metaphor of the day is that RSS is the nagging aunt to my bookmarks, which are the really awesome grandfathers. I'll take the awesome grandfather any day.
Originally published at rammi.glomp.me. You can comment here or there.
Photo Contest! I found a cool one for @TreyRatcliff and @Peachpit! http://bit.ly/7l4B6s #hdrbook
Photo Contest! I found a cool one for @TreyRatcliff and @Peachpit! http://bit.ly/626ucj #hdrbook
Photo Contest! I found a cool one for @TreyRatcliff and @Peachpit at http://bit.ly/6OiP5P #hdrbook
I DID IT! I'm pretty surprised at myself, considering I usually blog every 3 or 4 months.
30 days.
30 posts.
About 5 hours of staring at a blank screen. Approximately 10 hours typing without proof-reading (because it was 2AM).
Having the courage to become a commenter instead of a lurker. I've realised it's less creepy to comment on a blog I visit often, because my IP address shows up in their logs anyway, and it's nice to put some numbers to a name.
Leaving hundreds of comments. Getting loads (compared to the big fat zero I usually get) in return. People actually read what I write now!
Finding new blogs to read. Different opinions cause interesting debates in the comments.
Talking to new people.
Learning about... stuff. From terms of endearment in Russian to infertility-related medical acronyms (no links here, because there are many, many blogs)... I've read many blogs that I would have never come across if it wasn't for NaBloPoMo. I'm gonna be awesome at pub quizzes. That is, if there are pub quizzes on building a family, what people did on Black Friday and butchering a cow.
Thank you!
I might try to keep this daily blogging thing up for a while. We'll see how it goes. December's an interesting month. My birthday's on the 14th *cough cough hint hint*, Christmas is on the 25th, Boxing Day (and a certain someone's birthday) is on the 26th, and soon the month will be over.
For all those I've 'met' during NaBloPoMo, thanks for letting me into your blogs. I love reading them and will continue to do so. I will also try to occasionally overcome my lurking tendencies to comment and say hi. Joining the Comment for a Comment group was the best decision I made this month.
Now, all that's left to do is eye up the 2009 Prizes and hope my name gets drawn for something like a sock zombie or a Twitter background from @caffeinatedelf. *drools*
Whee! I did it!
Originally published at rammi.glomp.me. You can comment here or there.
Win a new Macbook Pro on Cyber Monday 2009. Details here: http://bit.ly/29rFES
