19 February 2010

such great sites


i have just one more tale to tell before signing off for my weekend of entertaining the parents, idaho style. my question for you is this, do you formspring? yep it's just one more site* wherein you can follow people. but if you're tired of following, its completely optional. i like it because it's straight forward. all q & a. which is my favorite part. the behind the scenes scene. i live for that kind of stuff.

apparently formspring is all the rage and–on a tangent–there are about a million martas who are already on it. it's odd seeing my name on someone else's face. i wonder how a person named jenny feels about this. i have mixed feelings about other martas out there. i know they exist of course, but i've never met another marta before. (knowing me i would likely be giddily jumping for joy and hugging one if i ever did. immediately running over my favorite things to see if they match with her favorite things.) still, the idea of sharing the name gives me pause. am elated i finally found a place in my life to use that statement. i feel like we martas should form a club of some sort and talk about how many of us–by the raise of hands–are nicknamed mini mart.

so with gusto i signed up for formspring. we'll see if it sticks. i'm calling it my february experiment. a new little soapbox to say what's what. in so many words or less. so while i'm on computer hiatus, feel free to click over to my formspring page and ask away. it's my attempt to connect with you and answer your questions. it's my way of jumping out of the box.


*do tell, what do you think of the new google buzz? and are you using google reader yet. i hope so. are you following your favorite people to see the posts they subscribe to, like and share? i star and like loads of posts and am finding great new blogs simply by following what other people like. (like, does this make sense?) i must admit somedays i feel completely overwhelmed by all the bloggy goodness out there, but most days i am inspired by it.

however i fight blogger guilt daily. it happens when i wildly scan blogs instead of really reading them and/or actually enjoying them. (speaking of which, are you still reading this post?) i feel guilt that i can't read each one of the blogs i like. they are all so sparkly and enchanting. and the links! oy. they just keep coming. more and more absolutely fabulous links to blogs that i've never seen before. i can barely keep up with the exploring. i tell myself i'll come back to it and read it later and then never do and it's lost in the void and i feel the guilt settle in. do tell, do you suffer from blogger guilt? (and is there such a thing as twitter or facebook guilt?)

of course i know in reality, it's life that is important, not my rss reader. so once i return from hiatus, i am going to take a good hard look at my rss subscriptions ala google reader. am going to edit, edit, edit. (like tim gunn says.) will be brutal with my final cuts. (like simon.) my daily blog reads must be uplifting. must contain relevance. must contain one or all of the following; good grammar, good ideas, good pictures, good laughs, good taste. must have personality, passion and originality. must not waste time with copy and paste blogs. must inspire and not tear down. must not make me covet new things. must make me love life a little more.

it is okay to whittle it down to the basics. whatever the basics is for you.
i ask of you, what is this all for if not to make us better?

oh how i love rants and raves.
again, thanks for indulging.
(now go ask a question..)
happy weekend.
bye for now.

22 comments:

Sylwia said...

when I first came across your blog I thought you were Polish (like me:) living in America - Marta is a very popular name in Poland:)

[eeny] said...

Oh this is such a great post... it always amazes me that you sometimes write about things that I am just thinking about or just did.

By the way... I have never met another person with my name either.

Have a wonderful time with your parents.

talesofahummingbird said...

my blogger guilt is in a different form - finding the right time for it....that doesn't take away from playtime with my son or cuddle time with my hubby. :)

stephanie howell said...

i'm always editing and reevaluating. best of luck to you. :) xo

Hil said...

I just recently minimized my google reader down to the bare bones. It's so much nicer not having to feel guilty and skip over if I just don't even know those post exist! Also, it cuts down the time I am on the computer which is SO nice.

Less virtual reality and more reality for me, please.

Have fun with your parents!! yay!

summer said...

oh man. this post was so full of me thinking 'me too!' i've had so many of those moments lately. it's funny how being a part of the blog system unites us all so uncannily. anyway, i was nodding along with everything, marta! you do amaze. i love how you come up with exactly what's on my mind (google reader reductions)! and oh, i'm with you on seeing your name with somebody else's face. very bizarre.

thanks for keeping me in the loop, mart! formspring is news to me and looks to be fun for all.

off to ask a question.

Hannah said...

ooh...formspring looks fun. i'm going to sign up.

i agree with "blog dieting." (Love that term stolen from Tiffany.) With 100+ subscriptions in my google reader, I am feeling a need to do it as well.

Eileen said...

I'm named after my grandmother, but otherwise I've not encountered many people with my name, either. That is until I did a semester abroad in Ireland - there, it seemed everyone was an Eileen, or had a sister named Eileen. It was weird! I like having a unique name, so I'm glad I'm the only one in my every-day life.

I get overwhelmed by all the great sites, too. As a fairly new blogger I'd like to make some blogging friends, but as I explore more and more links it kind of feels like I've been thrown into this huge party where I don't know anyone.. and as an introvert, that's pretty intimidating! I just do not have the time to try commenting everywhere, so for now I'm sticking to my favorites.

Miranda said...

I DO love formspring and was just gearing up to post it on my own blog in a week or so! Hmmm...I wonder if it will look like I'm copying you? :) I totally agree with the need to cut back on blogs. I often look at my reader and have the urge to "mark all as read." Instead I go through and unsubscribe to the ones that I really don't feel like looking at, assuming that there is some sort of trend hidden in that feeling.

Jake said...

Good post! I stopped checking my google reader ages ago. It was starting to feel like a "have to" and I have enough of those in my life.

I feel bad about not using it since YOU were the one who set it up for me. And remember what a pain it was?!! Sorry.

allison said...

I work with an amazing woman named Marta. She is a Buddhist artist with a son named Ambrose and a daughter named Tallulah. So, 'all' the Martas I know are perfectly quirky.

Misti said...

I recently moved and the past week has made me "mark all read" even though I hadn't read them all. I'm about to hit the AT and will not have time to read but a handful while I'm out.

Don't feel guilty---life is much more than reading blogs in a reader! They are good little pleasures, too.

Miranda said...

also...am not a fan of google buzz. I already have a good bunch of friends that I share links with and chat with about said links straight from my reader. Do you like it? Is there something I'm missing?

Destri said...

okay, this is complete craziness. I was just thinking the same thing. In fact I had dubbed this weekend as my clean sweep of my reader. Crazy I tell ya.
Can't wait for your blog & business workshop.
Hope I stay in your reader....your scaring me with the grammar thing. Really scaring me because I actually just spelled grammar wrong and my computer had to tell me so.
Now I shall go see if there are any Destri's in formspring.

Cassie said...

I have started to read blogs less because I am just so overwhelmed with my reader being so full and I hate to do just a quick 'grab and run', if you know what I mean. I have been toying with the idea of having a reader clear out this weekend too, so I do not feel quite so bad about doing it now I have read your post and other people's comments.

Hope you have a fantastic family weekend.
xx

Kerri Lynne said...

i've had another kerri sullivan find and add me on myspace before. so weird. same spelling and everything! you're totally right, it is a little weird to see another face with your name...even if you of course know that in this small world, they're out there.

[eeny] said...

Marta, from one little designer heart to another(and all you google reader users) I thought you might be interested... I just discoverd a cool add on for it. I am not a big fan of the reader's user interface so this is a much better looking alternative. Plus it even transfers all your google reader subscriptions - so no extra work on that part. And with preview you can see every post on its actual site which I like best. Check out feedly.com

ANAPHOTO said...

Hee hee! I DID finish this post, and I have to say that I totally feel the SAME way. I did just edit down my Reader, and it made a world of difference towards shrinking my bloggy guilt. I'm definitely guilty of skimming blogs still, but not yours!

Anonymous said...

I am actually fairly new to following other blogs , but now I am fully addicted! I don't have an insane amount, about 70 or so. I have been thinking the same thing, there are some I just don't get that excited or inspired by.. While on my blog I can not promise good grammar , I can promise passion and honesty! I use bloglines for mine ( I swear I heard of it through this blog actually!) I have to go trough the keep it new and the clips every week or so to make sure I am not letting it get out of control.

Rambles with Reese said...

I love reading your rants and raves. Keep them coming.

p.s. can't wait for the workshop!

Unknown said...

Those are such good guides for blog subs. I have been editing mine a lot lately, and still seem to have a bajillion to wake up to every morning. I have been reading and weeding, and then so I don't feel guilty(and/or overwhelmed), I hit mark all as read when I just can't take it anymore!

Johanna said...

Marta, thank you so much for saying exactly what I think but don't say....that real and honest blogs where people have something to say are much better than the cut and paste types.
You have inspired me to be true to myself and do the best that I can to create an authentic blog, with real pictures and real stories.
Thank you for being you.
I like the u be u, I'll be me motto.

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