The Blog that almost isn't, and what she's going to do about it

When is a blog not a blog? When you never have time to post, even though you have a lot to say! That has been the case so far with The View from White Pine Lane. I was actually mortified when I submitted my blog to the BlogHer network a few weeks ago, and was turned down, for posting too infrequently. I'm glad they turned me down-- you have to have some standards! I only posted once in December, and on this last day of the month, this is only my second January post.

I think part of my problem, and one I've fussed about here before, is that The View from White Pine Lane is too unfocused. So my thought is to start a second blog, to be more about family and parenting and tweeners (their likes and dislikes, tweener pop culture, etc.) This blog would be more focused on my online activities: Squidoo, eBay and social media.

So, if I don't have time to keep one blog up, how will I ever manage two? I'm not sure that it will work, but I'm going to give it a go! So watch this spot for the new blog's url. If you haven't subscribed to the feed from this blog yet, try it! I promise to be more entertaining in the future. If you are a subscriber, well... at least you can't accuse me of spamming your Reader account!

Mini Web Tangents for today:

http://twitter.com/Genny_Spencer
A Twitter account that posts a line-a-day journal kept by an Iowa farm girl in 1937. Mundane, and yet fascinating at the same time.

The Social Path
The blog of the David Griner, who's tweeting the Genny Spencer account. Genny is his great-aunt, and he explains how the twitter account came to be.

I'm following David Griner on Twitter now, with my Twitter account. Moments later: And now he's following me. See how that works?

Another of those fascinating-ly random things found on Twitter:
Twitpic of Jerry Trainer's Dog at a dog park this morning.

And from Jerry Trainer's dog, to my iCarly Squidoo lens. You work out all the connections there.

Web Tangents for January 2, 2009

Happy New Year, bloggy peeps! A new year, a new Web Tangents post. Started off at my Google Reader... with 1000+ unread items. Not a good way to start the year! Did you know that Google has implemented a new feature that turns off the "# of unread items" figures (in case they're stressing you out)? And also-- if you're not using Google Reader to keep up on things yet, why in the world not?? I don't know what I'd do without it!)


One fun blog that I like to keep up with via Reader is called Maitresse. It's written by a literary americaine ex-pat a Paris, and it's an entertaining way to keep me somewhat connected to the city. Plus she does this little thing called "around the internet on a tuesday" that may or may not have inspired Web Tangents... but I digress. Two things on Maitresse caught my eye today: first, a Monet that I had never seen before, La femme a la cape rouge, that author Lauren Elkin used for her Christmas post (enchanting!), and then a link to an article on the U.S.'s most literate cities (she lamenting that her native New York was not even near the top ten..!)

What is the number one most literate city in the U.S. for 2008, you may ask? Why, it's Minneapolis! (OK, so Mpls is tied with Seattle-- but that's not the point here....) I have to say I'm not surprised. In fact, since part of the judging is based on book sales, I may have carried the city myself! Oh! and do we notice something? City # 3 is St. Paul! Seems Minnesota isn't some hick backwater after all.... (Plus, it gets damned cold in the winter and there's not much else to do but read!) :-)

Skipping over to my other favorite American/Parisian blog, O Chateau: Stuff Parisians Like. I liked this post on Jeans, even though that's certainly not the way it was when I lived there (we won't say how many years ago...), and also an earlier post on Berthillon. And I adore how author Oliver Magny ends each post with useful tips, and "Sound like a Parisian"! « Faut qu’j’m’achète un jean…» Read quite a few more posts at O Chateau, LOL'd, spoke French to the air, then moved on to Twitter. Where I've been a lot today. 'Cuz it's my JOB now! (OK, a little, teeny part of my job, but still-- MY JOB! W00t!)

Most interesting tweets today: Twitter flash mob helps homeless, and Pete Brown(MVP)
Got this shirt for Christmas :) The shirt: Pluto gets demoted, ThinkGeek makes a shirt. ThinkGeek. Now there's a website with my name all over it.

And that's where I have to end my tangent for tonight, because I have a bad head cold, and when you have a bad head cold you can't make good segues, write clear conclusions, or be pithy. At all. See you next time.