Year of Gratitude - Day 156 - Feedly

Since Google Reader met its demise, I've had an empty spot in my heart, but NO MORE! At first, I just used Netvibes, something a friend of mine pointed out back when Web 2.0 was a thing. However, as I tried to use it with my phone, I realized it was incredibly glitchy and hard to organize.

I've finally found a great RSS reader: Feedly. It is clean, easy to use and gives me a variety of ways to share, save and organize stuff that I read. And it doesn't crash on my phone. Thumbs up!

Year of Gratitude - Day 100 - BBC News

I don't watch a ton of videos online, but I always watch the ones posted on BBC News's Facebook page. They are terrific. Like this:

They also have really spectacular photo galleries,  and do a nice job with their social media in general. And, well, I think the British are hilarious.

Year of Gratitude - Day 88 - Being invisible online

Let's face it, if you have an online presence, it is tough to be invisible. However, I am grateful that there are ways to hide on Google chat. I'm also grateful that the chat function can be disabled on Facebook. I mean, I'm a friendly person and all, but sometimes I really don't need people to have such direct access to me.

Year of Gratitude - Day 77 - Trello

Today I heard a presentation on Trello and, wow was I impressed! I really, really like this as a productivity tool and immediately started using it for work and personal projects. It takes like two seconds getting used to and then you're off. Very easy, clean and easy to collaborate with others.

Check it out:

Year of Gratitude - Day 63 - Goodreads

I love Goodreads. I've bounced around from spreadsheets to obsolete apps to lists that were stored on cell phones of days gone by. Now I happily keep my reading list and book reviews organized in one place. Good stuff.

Some Favorites

More favorite books »

my read shelf:

Year of Gratitude - Day 34 - Pandora

Pandora is my favorite for music. Not only can I pick a station with the type of music I want to hear at that moment, but Pandora has generally really pleased me with its selections. I have enjoyed my favorite artists, while discovering others. While the ads are annoying, they are not as bad as the seemingly endless commercials on regular radio.

Year of Gratitude - Day 21 - Gmail

I have long used Gmail for my personal stuff, but now I use it at work as well. It's pretty much the best. The world is better with Gmail.

Year of Gratitude - Day 20 - Free education from MOOCs and Podcasts

Near the end of 2013, I actually rattled off a month of gratitude. One of those was about how podcasts and MOOCs were like free education. I still stand by that. Here's the deal: higher education isn't the answer to everything. Not going to college isn't the answer to everything. Self-learning isn't the answer to everything. There is no one-size-fits-all situation when it comes to education. People learn at very different speeds and through different styles. When I was a kid, teachers either loved me because they knew they could challenge me or hated me because they couldn't.

When you have something like free library databases, the Internet, podcasts galore or these MOOCs, you have a lot of ways to self-learn at your own speed. The catch is that YOU and only YOU are responsible to complete the lessons. That's the thing, most people won't discipline themselves to stay with an entire free course. I'm sure many of these companies count on it, but isn't that something: the world is there for the taking, free in all it's glory from the MOOCs and Kahn Academy's of the world, and most people will never take advantage.

I hope to start showing my gratitude in a more active way by completing my own self guided course soon.

Year of Gratitude - Day 1 - Social Networks

I know this appears to be a pretty lame one to start the New Year with. The reason I'm so grateful for social networks is that they remind me of all the great people in my life. Family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and all the combinations all can still provide you with joy, support and knowledge. This is why I love social networks. We are scattered about and yet we get to still be a little part of each others lives.

My networks are so wonderful. I particularly love all my coworkers throughout the years. The estimated number of years an average person works is like a combined thirty years. THIRTY YEARS. Having rockin' coworkers is key. My coworker network includes librarians, fundraisers, journalists, executives, archivists, classmates and so many other interesting and great people to have worked with. It is excellent to have access to so much awesome by a mere click of a button.

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 13 - Information at my finger tips

The Internet. Am I right?! It's the best. However, it's mostly great for all the same reasons that smartphones and other technological advances are so great - they give us access to information. And, goodness, do I love information.

So instead of just one thing, I want to rattle off all kinds of things I'm thankful for:

• Humans of New York - I love hearing such a great variety of stories and the great images captured.
• Democracy Now! Great news source.
• The Onion - obviously.
• Government websites. Do you know how much sweet, sweet data the government produces? You just gotta' know where to look.
• Words with Friends. I'm awful, but I still love it.
• The Gutenberg project. Found an old recipe for beer from the early 1800's in here! Good times.

Technology Slave

Somewhere in the virtual world, an old friend of mine named Kevin A. Wells wrote about his online habits - what he does, what websites he visits, etc. I thought this was a great idea and stole it, except I added a few more dimensions of technology. What can I say?

As writing always helps me understand things better, I thought this would be a good way to learn about my online habits, my constant need to be connected and my addiction to electronics. I want to have written proof of how completely and hopelessly addicted I really am to my technology, especially my computer, the Internet, my iPod and my glorious BlackBerry. Don't get me wrong, these addictions aren't detrimental to my health, relationships and other stuff like bad addictions are. I like to call all these items productivity tools and such. Besides, acceptance is the first step to recovery.

So, on an average day:

1. I wake up to my BlackBerry alarm. I check the weather on it and then take a quick glance at my GMail. Next, I check out my to-do list. Then I get out of bed.
2. If I exercise, I listen to my iPod. Sometimes I'll do yoga classes found free on the Internet.
3. While I wash up and get ready for work, I listen to my iPod conveniently located on my little iPod dock.
4. After that, I turn on my computer and immediately open iTunes to update my completely absurd amount of podcasts. I'll never get to half of them. I totally don't care. I need them there. Just in case.
5. To get to work, I either get on my bike and listen to iPod or plug iPod into the car stereo. I hate my life if I forget iPod at home.
6. At work, I sit at a computer for a better part of my day. I open my work email and work with our Integrated Library System called Millennium for all kinds of library things.
7. When I get a second at work during downtime, I open up GMail to more thoroughly review anything important. Sometimes I'll chat with my mom through GChat.
8. When the email is officially done with, I get to the Google Reader. Again, I have an absurd amount of articles, recipes, poems, quotes, podcasts and blog posts to sift through throughout the day. If I don't check it by 6pm, it's well over a 1,000 items to check.
9. At every break I check the BlackBerry for missed calls, messages, etc. I also check off my To Do's as I complete them. The calendar, which syncs with my Google Calendar, is also checked obsessively.
10. I go home at night, sit at my computer and read the feeds that I clearly couldn't get through at work, generally like 900 items. (This step is optional, especially after I work a late shift.)
11. I check my Gmail again and my Google Calendar for the next few days. I plan out my days and anticipate when I can do what. At this time I also fill out my "Food Journal" which sometimes really makes me feel ashamed, but I think that's the point.
12. I also check Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, my blog stats and my Twitter account. Come Fantasy Hockey season, I'll be all over Yahoo! as well.
13. Finally, I turn the computer off and open up a book. This may seem like when I disconnect, but it's not. When I find a word I don't know, I pull out the BlackBerry and cruise to Dictionary.com to find the definition. Then, I Twitter it.

So, after reviewing my 13-step routine, I have decided that it's fine. I know, lots of people are looking at it and going, "Wow, she's sick." Yet, this is how I keep my life together. I keep on top of the news, read poetry, look through witty and helpful quotes, talk to my family and friends, stay organized and manage my life. I use a lot of stuff to do that, but that's how it's done.

Yahoo! Answers

Hello again! I know I haven't been posting very much in the past weeks, but I've been conducting an experiment with Yahoo! Answers and that's been keeping me busy.

A little while ago, there was a call to librarians to storm the virtual beaches of Yahoo! Answers and do what we do best. Intrigued, I logged on with my extremely old Yahoo! account and poked around. It was terrible. All these little teenagers worrying about boys that are too old for them, acne and cheating on homework. Pathetic women talking about how their boyfriends/husbands were complete losers, but still didn't know what to do about them. I was turned off immediately and abandoned my attempt to partake in this nationwide question answering session.

However, for some reason that escapes me, I got back into it last week. There's still all the ridiculous questions mentioned above, but I decided to look past these and even answer one. Before I knew it, I was like an addict looking for my next fix. I answered question after question, gaining points and working toward my goal: to become a Level 2 member so I could give the "Thumbs Up" or "Thumbs Down" to others' answers.

Behold, I reached my goal this afternoon. This community is very interesting, here's some of my observations:

• I answered a question about how global warming effects us on a daily basis and made a comment that asked "Who are you people?" to all those that said, "There's no such thing as global warming." Even though I provided a good, clear answer, with a link to a National Geographic article, I was given multiple "Thumbs Down," probably for my "Who are you people?" blast. Anyway, looking through other similar questions I found that there are MANY global warming deniers trolling the Yahoo! Answers atmosphere. Weird.
• This is a politically charged place. I definitely don't want to get caught up in a political online crap storm, so I craft my answers very carefully and neutrally. Yet, those people are fierce. They freak out and yell at each other and, well, they're conservatives for the most part. Anyone that answers with a liberal slant get slapped with many, many "Thumbs Downs."
• Don't screw around with the Harry Potter fans. Talk junk about their books and they, too, will "Thumbs Down" you to death.

I hate Comcast and you should, too.

Dark Days of Comcast
OK, I've really got to get this post off of my draft list. Although I have made peace with myself on this topic, the truth remains: I HATE COMCAST. I hate Comcast with the fire of a thousand suns.

First, please know that this is my personal experience, but I have heard many folks with similar experiences. None are quite as miserable. My bottom line is: do NOT expect good service from Comcast if something goes wrong. When everything is fine, as was when I lived in Dearborn, it's really great. However, the very week I moved to Southfield, my Comcast service went right into the toilet.

I should've known that something wasn't right when the two guys installing my service in Southfield were commenting to each other how weak the signal was. I asked if that's something I should worry about, but they kind of brushed me off. I would quickly get used to getting brushed off.

In the following weeks, then months, my internet service would drop DAILY. I'd be in the middle of a yoga class, trying to breath and relax and then fell victim to shoddy internet. I called about ten times and had someone come out at least five different times, and that's not including the guy that came to install the HD box.

Each time, they'd come in, see that the modem was working fine (as it always did when the techs were around) and that the signal was strong. They told me a rewiring of my apartment might be the answer. They blamed it on my router. They blamed it on outages, which, by the way, this huge communications company can't keep track of. I was told there was an outage 3 days after the fact and only, of course, only when I called and asked. They totally ghetto-rigged my then internet and TV connection (pictured to the right). The line poking awkwardly out of my wall is my television connection, which is also questionable sometimes, but I can live with an occasional blip. I hate Comcast so much that I don't even want them to come fix this.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel: AT&T
Today, I have AT&T DSL and it's been pristine. Admittedly, you can tell that the internet is a little bit slower at first, but it gets better, you get used to it and it DOESN'T drop out. Not ever - at least not mine. I'm VERY happy with AT&T. They provide me with internet AND fantastic cell phone service (all hail the might BlackBerry).

However, I should mention what the catch is: if you have a problem, it's kind of a self-serve troubleshooting process. You call AT&T and they try to walk you through it. Everything I've dealt with has been easily worked through with the folks on the phone and online through chat. They have a call service you pay for, which I didn't need. Yet, when you need someone to come in and look at the hook up inside...you pay a $200 service fee!

So, that is not cool, but think of it this way: if I can call and resolve something myself right away without having to repeatedly call a tech to come out, rot without the internet while I wait and have him do NOTHING when he finally arrives, I think self-service is a small price to pay.

More Reasons to Hate Comcast:

• The Big 10 Network fiasco
• The NFL Network fiasco
• "FCC chief again critiques Comcast net tactics" - The FCC is looking into complaints from consumer groups that cable operator Comcast violated open-internet principles by unreasonably hindering some file-sharing services, such as BitTorrent, that distribute TV shows and movies.
• And more about net-neutrality HERE. And HERE.
• Their On Demand service, which technically is a third part to Comcast, but I'd like to blame Comcast regardless.