Stages of Grief Over Google Reader

Follow my blog with Bloglovin ('cause that's what we have to do now.)

UPDATE: Apparently the whole world got made at Google over this. But I will NOT use Google+ to follow blogs. That's ridic.

First, LinkedIn won't support RSS feed anymore (coming this Friday, suckers!). This matters not-so-much for my personal life, but does matter for my career. Bother, but not impossible.

BUT now Google Reader is going away....


AWAY?!

TO WHERE!?


someonegetmeapaperbag. Idon'tlikechangeandnowI'llhavetousebloglovinandhopeitsnotblockedatwork.

What do you use to read blogs, friends? How do you manage your subscriptions? I don't want to read them on the front page of my blogger site. I like separating my "creating" space and my "consumer" space.

Help!

----

Ok, trying to not lose my  head over this, I thought "Maybe Google Takeout is the answer". Here's what Google  has to say for themselves:

How can I download my Reader data?

Google Reader will be retired on July 1, 2013. If you'd like to download a copy of all your Reader data before then, you can do so through Google Takeout. You'll receive your subscription data in an XML file, and the following information will be downloaded as JSON files:

• List of people that you follow
• List of people that follow you
• Items you have starred
• Items you have liked
• Items you have shared
• Items shared by people you follow
• Notes you have created
• Items with comments

Click here to start downloading your Reader data from Takeout. Once downloaded, your subscription data should be easily transferrable to another product, where you can continue to keep up with your online reading.

• Mar 13, 2013

No. No no no nuh nuh no. That's not the answer. I don't want to just save all of this info. I want to get an continuous stream of Cup of Jo, My Drunk Kitchen, NiceGirlNotes, and others! I don't want to just save the current info in a document! How is that helpful!?

They are clearing pushing me out.

----

Ok. Maybe this is for the best. Maybe I need to use another tool to check blogs and this will help me transition. 

Maybe Google doesn't "get" me anymore.

Maybe now's the time to start a Tumblr.

Source: humortrain.com via Jaymie on Pinterest

I didn't want to put a picture with this post, but alas, I haven't put a picture with any post lately and felt like I needed to break the trend.

Dear Google

Dear Google,

First you made it impossible for me to navigate Google Reader.
Now you have switched all of my blogger (a Google product) ad-ons to make it difficult to read my blog.
I hope this is just a coding mistake and not a "new feature".
I know I'm not the only one effected by whatever you did that jacked up blogger templates.

Please fix and we'll be friends again.

Sincerely,
J.Mill

P.S. I use Chrome, YOUR search engine, so I'd expect it to work with all of your products. C'mon, Google-man. I'm drinking your Koolaid. Don't bail on me.

---

A Haiku for Google


I use Google much.
Google mess with code too much.
All my shit's messed up.

Tipsy Tuesday: Freelancing Tips

I'm busy busy today/this week. I just found out I'm incompetent at work (who knew!?), so reversing that image will take some time. AND my lovely friends in Fort Worth are throwing me a free-lance bone and letting me a take a crack at some website content. Yippee Skippy (smooth peanut butter) for friends who care about my self esteem!

So here to phone it in is J.Mill's Google Reader feed. Design Sponge, take it away (my interpretations are in parenthesis. I like D*S, but sometimes their posts are painfully lengthy and we all - on the interwebs - love brevity!):

How to Get More Clients

1. Get Clear on Your Results (What, would you say, ya do here? - Office Space, anyone?)

2. Get Clear on Whom You Want to Serve (pick a niche)
3. Create Prices and Packages That Make Sense (Charging by the hour is for lazy, slow people)

4. Play Your Own Game (If you're a baker, eat the donuts; if you're a writer, read)
5. Have Conversations That Matter (Be and opportunist and make some of opportunities happen for yourself)

My favorite is point #3. Why should you be paid less if you were more efficient? Same goes for lazy people being paid more for filling a whole day with nonsense. Check out the descriptions and whole article on Design Sponge.

via

Pair this reading with a mug of black coffee and a liter or water to keep you hydrated in the 8-to-5. Then go run a few miles to keep from nightmaring the night away. I dunno why, but I nightmare less when I go to bed really, really tired. Or just get this App and dream romantic dreams. Credit goes to Mr. S for sending me that article. I had a weird dream about dating a solider who flew a helicopter. I guess I'm the one who gets the nightmares while Mr. S is the one who gets to kill himself fly in a Cessna a la last weekend.

Ten Tips Tuesday: Must Read Shout Outs and Breaking Rules

So I give shout outs a lot. Maybe I'm lazy with my own thoughts. Maybe you should just follow/read/do as I say. I'm feeling bossy today. And my bossiness is letting me call this a "Common Sense on a Blogroll Wednesday" post too because I am including a portion of my blogroll! Broken rule #1.

Here are some internet must-reads with which I have some things in common and therefore feel charged with spreading the word. It might go along with my desire to have all my to be friends be friends with each other.

First of all, the person who got me into blogging (and my best friend, Google Reader) and spur me on to keep blogging:

1) Maddison
2) Makenzie
3) Amy and her husband.
4) Becca
5) B.Lill (love the pen-name)

And then there are the surprising amount of wonderful Jen/Jenny/Jennifer bloggers out there: (or as my brother would call me/address my mail: JenJenJennyJen)

5) Jen at MadeByGirl
6) Jenny at MFAMB ohmywordshejustkillsme (warning, adult language... hilarious adult language).
7) And hilarious author Jen, who, I think, got in my head and named her blog after my childhood invention of a new country called "Jennyslavia".

And then there are those who live in Chicago, like me (some of the previous fall in this category too and therefore intrigue me more):

8) Malori
9) Sara

And then there are those with whom I have a sense of humor in common:

10) Cake Wrecks
11) Natalie Dee



And yes, that was 11 tips. Broken rule #2!

Photo via

Flip-It Friday: READs

Ok, now that I am more mentally balanced than at the time of my last post, let's move on like nothing ever happened, shall we?

I found a new blog to read today. May I introduce you to Malori who also lives in Chicago and also has "Sunday" in her blog title like my friend Maddison. Which also starts with an M and who will be moving back to Chi-town soon. Neat! Two good Google Reader adds, people.

Anywho. Malori gave me an idea to share and talk with you about on this Flip-It Friday: Books.

Everyone should have a summer reading list. And, dare I say it, even S is sorta trying to become a reader. Blesshislittleheart.

So let's hear it. My summer reading list has included/will include/I recommend:

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss (Just finished and highly recommend!)

Hate, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage by Alice Munro (eager to read this on a recommendation that everything she writes is beautiful)

The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (read this last summer or winter, or 2 years ago. Either way, good)

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri (Golden-child writer. She could describe a kitchen for 300 pages and I'd interject: "Yes! I do smell the curry and feel the heat of the rice pot and see the stain on the ceiling!")

Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner(both Steven/Stephen-s, this on is "on deck" for me)

(Yes, I stole that image from Amazon. I'm not even ashamed that is has the "look inside" tag on it. Or maybe I am. Either way, you get the point.)

What's your list?

Any recommendations?

Are you more of a magazine-on-the-beach kinda person?

Do you prefer used book shops like my beloved Myopic, Amazon, or the ever-decreasing traditional book store?

Ten Tips Tuesday: How NOT to Have a Heart Attack When Your Google Reader Reaches 600 Unread Posts

Read some LOLs, and then unsubscribe from blogs that are:

1)overwhelming
2)overwhelming because of having 15 contributing writers who post 10 times a day
3)overwhelming because they clip their posts in blogger and force you to go to their website and then, before you know it, you have 10 windows open with at least 3 tabs each and you can't find the screen with your work outlook email in time for the boss to look over you shoulder and you panic and leave the i Can Haz Cheeseburger site up and it make you blush and you lose your train of thought and...

4)overwhelming because they don't apply to you. So. Many. Blogs. About. Babies.
5)overwhelming because they have a stupid Tuesday post format that makes them stretch for grasping-at-straws points beyond what makes sense to fill a self-imposed quota.

*pant pant pant pant*breatheintoapaperbag*popsaidpaperbag*shriek*sigh

Seriously. Reading blogs should not make you feel like you are climbing uphill. My advice? Purge your Google Reader at home and work while at work. So weird that I don't always/ever do that...