Addictions

In the over 10 years that I've been surfing along the information superhighway, you would have thought I'd have gotten bored by now. But no, far from it. I have fallen victim to the addictive powers of Newsfeeds/readers and StumbleUpon.com. I'm warning you now -- if you haven't fallen prey to these time-suckers, RUN, do not walk, to the nearest exit and do something productive! There still may be hope for you!

Like anyone else who spends much time here, I've read about RSS feeds for quite a while, but, until the last two weeks, I'd never subscribed to a feed. Actually, I really had no idea what a feed was, though I did gather that it was something that notified you when there was update to some kind of story or site. Due to my profound ignorance, I couldn't understand just how this supposedly simple syndication technology would be anything useful to me. But I have seen the light!

I have about a dozen categories into which I sort my feeds. They are: blogs, cooking, entertainment, fun/funny, health, interesting, knitting, news, shopping, tech, tips/tricks/advice, travel, UU/religion/spirituality, and work-related. Into those folders filter blurbs and full pages from probably 200 different sites now. And I'm still subscribing/discovering new feeds! Today I tried out a site where you could create a feed address for a page that doesn't have a feed already, but I'm not a programmer, and I haven't been as successful as I'd like to be yet. I'm going to keep working on it, though -- I'd love to be more informed about this kind of technology.

Now StumbleUpon is the way I discover some of my feeds to begin with. This is a site/tool that will, by clicking the Stumble! button, will take you to new websites that seem to correspond with your likes, set up on your profile. As you are taken to the new sites, you have an option to vote thumbs up or thumbs down for each one, which helps StumbleUpon to further refine your next sites. Not that every site I've visited is something I would want to revisit -- some of them are either really weird or really stupid, but, by & large, it's been a good experience.

My leg is still healing, but I'm anxious to be done with it. Here's a weird, possibly TMI tidbit -- brace yourselves! My calves have always been well-defined, though not mannish -- just muscular. Well, after just 3 weeks of little use, I can actually pinch about an inch of so of the skin on back of my right calf! Just 3 weeks! I had no idea I could lose this much muscle mass in such a short time! Now I *really* can't wait to get outta this thing and resume my walking! I guess I'll have to have some physical therapy, huh? I'm guessing that might involve using ankle weights or the weight machines they use in gyms, and maybe a balance board, too, but I really have no basis for my guessing. Keep your fingers crossed that next Thursday will be the end of my imprisonment. :)

Over and out for this evening. Peace!

Suzanne