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Can I just skip Thing 4?

...Or not do Social Networking, anyway. I hate Facebook. And Myspace.

This isn't just belly-aching on my part. I used to be on both MySpace and Facebook, but the constant ads and fake people messaging me to get me to watch them take their clothes off via webcam got old. Also the Facebook app revolution got old real fast. I swore them off a long time ago. I am not, however, averse to testing out one of the Professional Networking sites. Just feel like I've outgrown Facebook and MySpace.

=P

Thing 3 - Online Communication

I really enjoy the access to the databases in the library. Especially those that cost loads of money if I tried to subscribe to them on my own. Getty Images is one of those databases I am especially happy to have access to.

I also enjoy being able to access my grades and schedule from my OLS, and get updates on the Ai Resouces Site. Being able to access the Athena catalog remotely is also bitchin'.

One of the few problems I experience frequently is the e-mail service. E-mails I send out take forever to reach their destinations, and many times I do not receive e-mails from professors if they send it to my OLS e-mail. I've rectified this situation by giving out my Gmail address and forwarding my OLS e-mail to my Gmail.

Now if I could figure out how to filter that incoming forwarded e-mail to a separate folder...

Thing 2 - RSS Feeds: UPDATE!

I may have triumphed.

I was frustrated with the weight of Google Reader. I was expecting something simple, much like Gmail, which I adore. And while Gmail may be lightweight in terms of e-mail, the same format becomes too heavy when dealing with RSS feeds.

I did a search on Feed Readers for my operating system. Linux has a great Feed Reader that works a lot like NetNewsWire (Mac) known as Liferea. It is short for "Linux Feed Reader" and works even without a current internet connection. It syncs (much like iTunes) your subscriptions and you can access it without being connected to the internet. Its interface closely resembles iTunes.

For those who are having trouble with the heaviness of Google Reader, try NetNewsWire if you own a Mac, or search for its Windows eqivalent. On the odd chance any of you are running Linux, Liferea is a great software choice!

Peace.

Thing 2 - RSS Feeds

New and uncharted territory. This is something my friends have been harping on me to try out, and I finally did it, and I have to say I am not impressed with the results. The amount of information is daunting to someone of my obsessive-compulsiveness, and it was almost an overload of stimuli. This might be fine for some, but it was harrowing and chaotic and frightening to me. Perhaps Google Reader is just not the right site to go with. Plus, I could not find a way to clean up the feeds. I could mark them as "Read" but there was no way to delete the read feeds. Will this just keep piling up forever? So much clutter... it gives me great anxiety just thinking about it. I may have to cancel this one.

I will give another server a go and get back to you guys. But not now.

Thing 1 - Blogs!

I've recently been cultivating a passion for learning things. When I received the email for the 16 Things, I was intrigued, and upon further reading, decided that I would really enjoy adding one more thing to the list of things I am currently involved in. Time management, kiss my ass.

I'm already registered with Blogger, but I never got around to actually creating a blog. Thing 1 helped nudge me in that direction. It was quite easy, though I'll have to spend a little more time customizing the blog to fit me personally. I wonder if there is a Blogspot layout generator somewhere out in Internetland.

I played with some of the settings as requested in the Challenge section as well. I hope to get a good list of other 16-Things Bloggers, as well as the main page on here in the Links section.

Well, that's all there is to that. Happy blagging everyone.

Beginning the 16 Things

So this is the blog that will chronicle the 16 Things hosted by Ai Minnesota.

We'll have some fun. This, in effect, is Thing 1.

More on Thing 1 later.