Sunday, March 20, 2011

Tomfoolery and foolishness

The year is 2011. I have been working primarily in tech since 2000, and I am just now, today, figuring out how to use a feed reader to read my blogs.

I think my main issue was that I thought a feed reader is unnecessary. I had a folder in my bookmarks for blogs, would open them all up in tabs, and check my blogs daily that way. Verne, the 90-year-old man who lives in my head, thought that feed readers were fancy and pretentious.

Verne is the voice in my head that uses words like "foolishness", "tomfoolery", and "nonsense". Verne comes out - mostly - when there is something that offends my good sense. Like paying $4 for a hand-poured cup of coffee (which takes 15 minutes). Verne thinks that for $4, that cup of coffee should vacuum my car while I drink it. (He thinks other things along those lines, but the car vacuuming was the most polite, if you get my meaning.)

Don't even get Verne started on pre-chopped vegetables at the grocery store, or yoga clothes that cost more than work clothes. He is gruff and completely unapologetic about his opinions.

verne-crop
Verne doesn't like taking pictures with cell phones at dinner.
Verne is also the first to admit when something is a Really Good Idea. Like the green plastic doohickeys at Starbucks, that keep your coffee from spilling out of the drinking hole while you drive. He's also a big fan of the Cricket loom, cooking on a gas range, and TiVo. (He LOVES the TiVo. He's 90 years old and he doesn't have time for commercials. Nonsense and foolishness.)

I read the directions on how to use Google Reader, and Verne and I agree that it's genius. It's clean, easy to use, and best of all? A Really Good Idea.

Goodbye, bookmarks. Hello, Google Reader!

12 comments:

  1. Yay! Welcome to Google Reader. I hope you enjoy!

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  2. Duh! About time. GR is the way to go... congratulations!

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  3. I finally did it myself a couple of months ago myself. Welcome aboard!

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  4. <3 google reader! be careful though.... it's almost too easy to add to your list and next thing you know you're trying to keep up with 529 blogs :)

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  5. YAY :) I think, every one of us has a Verne! And it's not too bad. My "Verne" always tells me, to walk instead of driving the 1 km to the grocery store, to take the bus instead of the car... but somehow I also have that voice in my head "you can sew that for less" and then I remember: mmhh, I don't have enough time to sew at the moment plus a zipper costs sometimes more than the garment I'm looking at....

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  6. I think we need a knitted version of Verne. A mascot yes?

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  7. I would like Verne to know that the pricey lulemon pants I received as a gift three years ago still look as good as new (color, fit, finish) despite being indifferently laundered.

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  8. I love you for opening my eyes to Google reader! I too was using the out-dated multi-tab, multi-browser method of reading blogs. Not so anymore!! I <3 Google Reader!

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  9. Thanks for turning me onto Google Reader. I now have 617 unread posts I need to start reading.

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  10. Mine appear under RSS in MS Outlook when posted. Otherwise, I'd never read them.

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  11. Oh I am a HUGE fan of google reader! There is also an app you can get to read them but it's hard to post from your ipod to the blogs but can read them and update your reader from the app.

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