Thing #16

I have had a personal igoogle page for years but hardly ever touched it.  After clicking onto PageFlakes and Netvibes and realizing that all three have pretty much the same layout, I decided to stick with my igoogle and revamp it....and I'm SO glad that I did!

In the past I never took the time to fully explore how useful it could be.  I love the organization of subjects by the tabs on the left: home, art, food, news, etc. It really makes it simple to collect the things that are important to me, but not become overwhelmed by it all.  After I doctored up my gagets I made igoogle the homepage on all my browsers.

I read the article on calendars and once again I'm glad to be a google girl.  "We're #1!" I took the time to review the other calendars and thought each had some great features. But the fact that I can use google with my gmail, have group calendars, color code, and compile tasks lists all within the calendar made me decided to stick with Google Calendar.  I use it daily to remind me of class assignments, birthdays, and events.  I've even personalized it with a photo as my background.

I've heard about Remember the Milk and was excited to see what it's all about.  Before deciding which to-do list to try I checked out what each had to offer.  Jott's phone call feature is pretty cool, but there are few times that I'd need to call myself to add to my to-do list.  Ta Da was alright but I didn't see much that made it stand out, so I decided to try out the rumored Remember the Milk.

I think it has potential but will take some getting used to.  Right now its easier for me to grab a sticky & pen and scribble out whatever mental notes I don't want to get lost.  The idea of emailing someone a task is pretty handy, but in reality I think I'm better off sending a text.

For home or school I'd recommend iGoogle & Google Calendars.  Last year I created an igoogle page for my kindergarteners which I used during calendar time.  It showed the phases of the moon, weather forecast, and kid-friendly national geographic photo.  They loved getting to use a grown-up news source. :)

photo source: http://lifehacker.com/
5660544/a-morning-donut-could-improve
-your-memory-and-ability-to-concentrate

For personal fun I'd recommend adding LifeHacker to your RRS feeds.  As I scrolled through the site I was continuously, "Ooh-ing" and "Ahh-ing" and "Hmm-ing".  Its loaded with cool tricks and tips for both technology and random aspects of life...my favorite article was A Morning Donut Could Improve Your Memory & Ability To Concentrate.  Bring It On!