Blank Blog Syndrome

Well, it has been more than a short hiatus from the blog. Busy-ness is an unoriginal but true excuse, as well as blogger's block. Just as I have begun dreading dragging out the second sock (although it is two thirds finished, just creeping down the last of the instep), I have been dreading facing The Blog.

But the assignment at work is over, I did not complete it, did not receive the MP3 player that was the carrot (but I already have an iPod thanks to son and daughter-in-law), so maybe now the pressure is off and I can enjoy my blogging.

Hoping to post more frequently in the future!

Row Three...I begin to "Pearl"

After a short hiatus, I am back to my neglected little blog. I am getting bolder. I have several tabs lined up across the top of my computer screen, and so far have only closed one by mistake. This is progress! And I think I sort of understand the idea of RSS feeds. It took a helpful coworker, an over-the-phone summary from the son, and a patient daughter to get me through it, but I think it makes sense. I loved checking out the links to the New York Times and the Library of Congress. One of my quirks is a fascination with obituaries, and the Times has some of the best obit writers around. Wonder if I could find a link to the London Times obits......pause.....

Hey, I found it! Very cool! I can see that this will save me time in the future. I don't have to actually check my daughter's blog and see that she hasn't posted anything new since last summer....I can just wait for Google Reader to tell me she has something else to say. And now that I have located Stephanie Pearl's "Yarn Harlot" blog, I can keep up with her quirky thoughts about the knitter's psyche without having to wait for another book to be published.

Finishing this row with aplomb!

Rag-tag Row 2

Well, I have to admit that twenty minutes ago I could see no possible use, personally, for the whole tagging adventure. I have been very happy using "favorite places" on my AOL account and using "Bookmarks" on Mozilla. Why should I start yet another web account to keep track of these things? (I also continue to have a problem with relinquishing privacy and perhaps inadvertently linking to something or someone that might create problems in the future for someone--but that comes from the generation I belong to, as I can see that my offspring have no such scruples.) And why should anyone else want to see what I have tagged?

Anyway, I digress. As I tried to think of five things to tag for my krl2pt0 assignment, I found myself dashing downstairs to look up a bookmark saved not on my laptop, but on my desktop. And finally something clicked....if things are tagged on delicious (however it is that you spell that) I can access those sites from any computer. Okay, at last it begins to make sense.

It was also interesting to see how many people had also tagged some of the same sites I did.....17,000 people agree with my need to access the International Movie Database, but sadly only 343 people also have a need for the help they can get from One Across, the crossword puzzle solver's last resort.

So I breathe a sigh of relief. Another assignment completed. Another semi-successful foray into the web world with no dropped stitches.

Row One

Shortly after completing my first post, we lost our internet connection at home. It took a couple of days of frequent complaints to Qwest and finally getting a tech to come by our house before service was restored. And the cause of said disruption? No, not the 15 hour power outage, but rather our own ignorance. We bought a corded phone so we would not lose phone service during future power outages, and blithly plugged it into an empty jack. Silly us. That immediately disrupted our cyber world! Apparently one needs a little filter between phones and jacks when one has DSL. Oops!

Casting on.....

So here I am, new to the world of blogging. Fortunately I am surrounded by youthful blogging experts at work and in my family who have cheerfully walked me through the steps. I also recently read an article called "43 Things I Might Want To Do This Year," which gave me some insight into the vast amount of opportunities available with web technology. It is a little daunting to realize how much I don't know, but I hope to become a little more daring as I dip my toe into the web world and test the waters.