Happy First Day of Winter!!

We got lots of snow, Christmas shows to watch on the TiVo, cookies to bake, and I can now take pictures of it all on my (almost like new again) phone!  The kids have been having so much fun playing outside that I think they may burst, and it has helped put Allie and I in even better spirits.  In a part of the country that I love for both its mild weather and the proximity to more extreme conditions, it is nice to be visited by some real snow for once.  I think we got about 7-8 inches yesterday, with some more on the way today.

Now that I have my phone back, I'll be able to update my mobile blog more often.  I know that some folks regard mobile blogs as a bit of a joke, but that's fine.  I don't take much time to sit and nurse either of my three other blogs too much, so I think it makes a nice bridge between the instant gratifications of social networks and the blogs that I put some (admittedly) small amount of work into.

The challenging part about swapping back to this phone is getting my fingers (now on ONE hand instead of two) used to holding it, and a single thumb used to typing.  The overall interface is so easy to use that I've fallen right back into it with nary a hitch, but because the dictionary got wiped, I have to do a good bit of manual spelling before I can type with any "real" speed.  Commands and usernames for applications like twitter and Remember The Milk are the hardest to stomp through because they tend to be a bit more cryptic.

The small blessing here is that I don't have to do as much to get my phone up to speed as I would if I still had a data plan for it.  I'd have to load it with bookmarks, and RSS feeds, and whole bunches of Java apps.  I'm happy to leave those for another time.  I do miss using the "Send To Blog" function on the phone, but sending an MMS isn't really any harder. 

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New Drapery

I've been playing with this blog's post formatting and sidebar of late, adding bits here and there as I find new features for it.  I've become a bit of a Digger, so I've added the Digg tabs at the top of posts, and the multi-bookmark links at the bottom (thanks to Allie for the last one ).

Blogger has some newer features, like instant feedback (check under the post labels), in-line comments, playlists (sort of lame),  and of course I had to update my Ad$ense options.

The latest thing to hit the social network news has been Facebook Connect and Google Friend Connect, and so naturally I have bought my own corner lot to try out.  I added a Friend Connect widget to the sidebar as well.

I know what you are saying.  Why the heck did you clutter up your sidebar so much, kEnny?  I'll tell you why.  It's mine to pollute as I see fit, and I don't have anything better to do here than to see what works and what doesn't.

Won't you do me a favor and let me know what you do or don't like about these things?

Thanks!!!

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I'm Totally Digging Flock!!!

What blatant advertisement right? Well, I'm doing it for a reason: I like to keep certain people informed of what I'm up to, to the point that I can send a some people (mostly one) up to 20 links in a day. Why should i be cloggin up their email if I can make it available to them on the interwebs? I don't know!!

I've been watching Digg for some time, and I became a member once Flock included them as one of the social networks to integrate in their browser, but I had never actually done anything with it before today. I've added Digg buttons to my blog templates, and started doing some Digging of my own. I have a Digg gadget on my iGoogle page, and the best part of course, is using Digg with Flock.

Flock makes it SO EASY to see the articles you and your Digg friends have dug, by displaying them in Flock's Media Bar! No hassle, no muss, no fuss. You know what else? It's all free, and works great!

So please consider trying out Flock and Digg together, just so I don't have to be filling your email inbox with links!!

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