Thing 10 .....very interesting

I amaze myself!I explored a little and found the warning sign generator which I thought was really cool then I looked around some more and managed to give myself my very own aristocratic title!

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Lady Madame Caroline the Profuse of Much Bottom Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

RSS, Newsfeeds, and Podcasts, oh my!

I was previously able to add a number of newsfeeds to the bloglines account, so I focused on just looking to see what was out there. The various feed search engines are certainly a great way to locate blogs or news items on specific topics, but I liked finding websites on topics I was interested in and looking for the little orange box! That way I was already familiar with the format of the information I would be getting. I'll keep exploring, though because there's certainly lots more out htere.

Wow! Thing 8 is great

I had never tried to set up an RSS feed before and it was much easier than I expected. I guess I can cut and paste with the best of them. It's pretty cool to be able to quickly check new headlines, weather forecasts, or whatever information I'm interested in checking up on quickly. If only teachers could send out a headline when your kid forgot to turn in his homework.And here is the link to my list:
http://www.bloglines.com/public/cwilling@loudoun.gov

Pumpkin Up a Tree

We have a climber. I heard my son laughing and went downstairs to discover that our kitten seems to be very comfortable climbing up trees. At least the artificial kind. He just started working his way up til he found a comfortable perch and proceeded to camp out. After 20 minutes or so he decided that something upstairs sounded interesting and he jumped down to check it out.

Technological marvels and such

My sneaky family got me an ipod for Christmas and nearly immediately I have become addicted to it. Being able to load the contents of all my own cd's and many of the kids' as well onto a single device and then being able to listen to it randomly through shuffle or using a planned out play list is amazing. I dance through the house dusting or putting things away and on a recent lengthy car trip we used the adapter to play the ipod through the car stereo and it makes a difference to have non-stop great music. Now I just need a new radio for my kitchen that will let me play my tunes and dishes won't be such a pain in the tush anymore (I hope). It's fun to spend time online just checking out musicians I'm not familiar with and my kids send me clips of interesting new artists they come across as well. If these digital players have made such an impact in the past couple of years, you have to wonder what is coming around the corner.

My Home Town

I discovered the Mosaic Maker for Flicr so I decided to make a pictoral salute to my hometown of Morgantown, West (by God!) Virginia. I haven't lived there in 20 years, but at times I miss it very much. Growing up in a college town is a wonderful experience because there is always something exciting going on - concerts, games, wonderful and unique restaurants and shops, diversity in people, food, and opinions. Looking at all the photos that other people have taken of the city I grew up in was fascinating - I saw some things that I thought I knew well, but through a fresh pair of eyes. It was easy to cut and paste the photos into the template that produced what you see here. Definitely something I will explore in more depth along with some of the other things I saw.

Anton Chekhov

An interesting statue that sits in the middle of Siberia. Apparently Anton Chekhov visited the city of Tomsk and was so underwhelmed that he wrote a very negative article about his visit. The city fathers responded by creating their own portrait of the writer in a less than flattering bronze light.

Pumpkin and Friends

This is Pumpkin, a kitten who decided to hide under my car shortly before Halloween and was discovered by my son and the family dog. No one claimed him, so he became ours by default. This picture was taken the evening after his "altering" so he was a little out of it but he curled up with the other critters for a rest. Our older cat is occasionally dismayed by having another feline in the house and he shows it by sometimes giving Pumpkin a good thumping, but the worm will turn. Judging by his estimated age, his apparent genetic background, and the size of his paws, he is likely to become a fairly large cat and the day will come when he will be the thumpee and not the thumper. I did not grow up with cats but have learned to appreciate them, particularly in winter when they keep my feet warm.