Well I haven’t done a very good job of sticking to my “resolution” of posting to this site more often. I use quotes because I hestitate to call it a resolution, really. There were no oaths taken, no witnesses to my proclamation (except maybe you), and I had no real desire to stick with the resolution…
Anyhoo. Here I sit, at the reference desk. I am taking a wee break from actual work – cataloging archival materials, snore – to do some virtual work.
I might be the last person on planet Earth to hear of google reader. Am I? please say that you haven’t heard of it either. Or just lie, and say you haven’t. we’ll be better friends for it. Anyway! Google reader. You sign in, and add a bunch of websites and blogs that you obsessively check all the livelong day. Then google reader does the obsessing for you, alerting you only when something new is posted. W-w-w-w-w-wow! This handy little tool has saved me many hours of sliding around on the interwebs. You know how it goes:
Hypothetical job morning situation:
- Lar-dee-lar-dee-lar… let’s see, I think I’ll get some coffee! Yes. (10 minutes later, due to line at machine and morning chattiness)
- Ahhh… much better. Now I can begin. No, well, maybe I’ll check a few things online first – get that business out of the way…
- Hotmail! Hmm, junk, 2 real messages, oh ha ha ha guys, very funny [reply, reply].
- Now LOLCATS, of course… then cuteoverload… nice, nice….
- Then several knitting and crafting blogs… oooh, a new link to making shoes out of old napkins… interesting (15 minutes lost in tunnel of links)
- Now, jessie’s blog (what??!! No new pictures??!!)…
- Oooh! Maybe someone replied to an email! Back to Hotmail… nope.
- Maybe someone added new pictures to their Flickr! Hmmm, no.
- Another blog…. Too newsy today. Skip.
- Oooh! Maybe I got an email! Back to hotmail. Nope. But what’s this about TomKat? And Britney?
- And down the rabbithole you go…. And suddenly 40 minutes are gone, your eyes are shiny and dry, and you feel a bit dazed.
- Oooh, but maybe someone sent me an email…
And I think we all know how it happens. But google reader has saved my guilty conscience! I just check it obsessively instead, and it does all the work for me! *whew* what a relief. Now I probably only waste about 30 minutes total during the day – instead of 30 minutes here and there all day long.
New subject begins here: so julie and I signed up for a big walk in april. 50 kilometers! That’s 30 miles (ish? Not sure if that’s exact… regardless, that’s a long walk!) I signed scott up too. Julie and I have started training – just taking walks after work. Problem is, it gets dark by 6:00 so we can’t get too far on the trails around here. and last time we discovered a nest of hobos under the river road overpass. it's not a trail that you want to go waltzing around in the dark by yourself. We’ll have to start taking loooong walks on the weekends, to log some miles. The longest I have ever walked was in high school – a fundraiser for my spanish club trip to spain. 20 miles? Or something in that range. I don’t recall my legs being that tired, but I did have blisters. And the WORST part was the swelling of the fingers. Man, I remember walking miles with my hands way up in the air, like I was being held at gunpoint, just to help the awful swelling and pain. I really felt like my fingers would split their skins like plump bratwurst on a grill. So we are getting all sorts of tips for avoiding the finger-swell. Eeesh.
Speaking of sports – we are going skiing this weekend!! Yahoo! I haven’t been skiing in years and years. It’s to celebrate cliff’s birthday (which he dubbed “cliffmas” several years ago). So me and scott, cliff and courtney, dan and his sister and brother-in-law – we are all piling into the Dun-groves new honda pilot to head up to carroll valley, PA, to liberty mountain! I hope I don’t hurt myself. I also hope that scott is more flexible and nimble on skis. I’ve seen him on ice skates, and it’s enough to chill the blood in my veins.
Next weekend I am heading up to ohio, to spend the nice long weekend with my folks and with jess, david and maddie! I can’t wait to see el baby-o again. After that, we enter into the spring calendar doldrums. No more long weekends until memorial day. L we don’t get columbus day off.
I don’t have any new finished crafts to speak of. I have an unfinished strap for the lid of the gerbil cage… and an unfinished gracery tote bag. And that’s it. The stinky cat is intent on shredding all my yarn. It’s a good thing he’s so cute and wiggly, or he might have ended up in my frying pan by now.
