This past week I discovered two things, Google things, that are WOW-worthy. Not only that, but they were easy enough for me to understand that I could, with a bit of time, figure them out and make them work properly without resorting to hair pulling or utter frustration!
BLOG READING:I read quite a number of blogs. As quickly as I purge my Google Reader, I find new and wonderful sources of amusement and amazement and quickly fill up my newly reduced list. Google Reader is wonderful as it makes quick work of reading the up-to-100 articles waiting for me each morning. I had only one issue: I can't enjoy the whole blog experience! A great deal of effort and decision goes into blog design and Google Reader wasn't giving me the whole blog experience. I missed that. But, I didn't have time to bookmark them all and hit every blog I follow. I just want to experience, the full effect, of each blog I follow as they are updated. I thought it was an impossible dream.
My dream came true!
Last week I discovered Google Reader Goodies. This trick allows you to read all of the new articles waiting in your Google Reader queue and you get to visit each blog, quick as just reading it in Google Reader but being able to enjoy the whole blog experience:
- Go into your Google Reader
- Go into the Settings Tab (upper right)
- Click "Reader Settings"
- Click on the "Goodies" tab
- Click on the "Put Reader in a Bookmark" option. There is a little link that says "Next". You are going to drag that up to your bookmarks folder and drop it in. Now you have a bookmark that says "Next".
See it there in my screen shot? In between Most Visited and Google Reader? All you have to do is click it, and it takes you to the first blog in your Google Reader that has a new post. Click again, and it takes you to the next blog. It's just as fast as reading blogs in your Reader, but you get the experience of actually visiting the actual blog.
I love it!
CALENDAR:
This is an incredible tool! I'm almost dizzy with excitement over this discovery. I'm a calendar, list and logistic nut. Love me some calendar action! Much thanks goes to Cole's new hockey coach who uses this method to communicate to the 17 families on his team. I never would have realized it's potential without "having" to use it. But, the logistics of our family of 6 will benefit greatly from it's introduction into our lives.
We are forever coming and going. To keep our kids schedules straight, earlier this month I set up a "master" e-mail address which goes to both Louis computer and mine, as well as to both BlackBerry smart phones. This e-mail address is to be used ONLY for children's activities. (Thanks Janet, you are brilliant!) Each Monday, after the kids are dropped off at school and before Louis and I head to work, we would sit down and go through the calendar function to synchronize our schedules. Now, as much as I may have enjoyed our coordination and coffee time, it is now replaced, we can now just enjoy the coffee! The Google Calendar is now set up to synchronize, using our master e-mail address, to both of our BlackBerry hand helds calendar function and to the iCal program on my laptop. With a few clicks of a few buttons the logistics of our life magically arrive.
We've decided that I will be the keeper-of-the-calendar and that suits me just fine. I'm a control freak. I input and Louis analyzes and finds any and all errors. He's good at that. It's an efficiency thing. See? We balance each other well :)
I am able to follow other calendars (like sports teams, siblings, friends and children) and accept appointments into the master calendar, or not, depending upon our interest. I can link my calendar so my parents know what's going on. They will always know what questions to ask the kids :) It is fabulous! I'm sure I haven't experienced it's full potential, but what I've seen so far, I like. If you haven't yet, go poke around for a bit. I was thrilled to have discovered, and kinda figured it out!
What discoveries have you found? Do you {heart} Google as I'm learning to do? What am I missing? I'm sure there is plenty! Tell me, tell me, I need to know!
