A Few Changes

I had a week or so where I was without my laptop because my cord died; it died while I was using it, and I didn't realize it till my battery switched to reserve power, and there I was-- a dead cord and a dead battery.

So I had to go back to sharing the desktop computer with my husband, which made me be frugal with my computer time! Instead of using my feed reader to check blogs multiple times a day, I used the links on my blog page-- which were not up to date since I was using my reader instead-- to check blogs once in the morning, and maybe once in the evening.

Oddly, I found it freeing. I thought I was using my feed reader to make following blogs easier. Well, it was easier, compared to keeping a bookmark list in my browser, where I had to go to each blog every day and see if they'd posted anything new. The feed reader told me instantly whenever there were updates.

And therein in lay the difficulty: I was being controlled by the crazy thing. Every time it updated it dinged a nice little update noise and added a little number to the reader icon. I would hear the ding from across the room and come running. Oh look! 27 updates! And being slightly compulsive about lists, I felt I had to look at each one so I could "check it off," so to speak.

I had no idea this was what was happening until I had a week without my laptop, using my link list and whatever blog addresses I could recall from memory. Now that I know, I've decided I don't like that compulsive feeling.

So I've moved all my links to my blog page, using Blogger's new "Blog List" gadget, which is basically a feed reader. It lets me see who has updated recently, and the title of the post, and I can choose whether I want to go look or not.

It's amazing, really, how much better this way is for me all around. I no longer feel obligated to read Every.Single.Post RIGHT NOW; there is no insistent little number sitting there! I can read a few now, some later, some never. I can even -*gasp*- save a blog up and read a week's worth of updates all at once!

One interesting little thing I've noticed--for what it's worth--is that now that I must go to the actual website, I feel more satisfied with my blog browsing. Something about seeing the real page, with its graphics and pictures and extra stuff, rather than just plain text in a reader, is a much richer experience. It's sort of like visiting real people instead of just reading emails. If that makes any sense.

You may also notice that I've given myself a new name. I've decided I no longer need to hide behind my role as a mom by calling myself "mom huebert." My new blog name is one of my nicknames, "cindy kay."

I think this is part of my mid-life makeover: I'm ready to face the world as myself, as a woman, and not only as "wife" and "mother." I'm still both of those things, and very glad of it, but I'm ready to be just ME as well.

(Plus, I've begun to feel a little funny about interacting on other blogs with other woman my own age, or close to it, as "mom"!)