Friends’ and Family’s Blogs …

Okay, so my blogroll is really shaping up now. It’s looking more like my Google reader, showing what I read every day.

Here are a few more. These are more personal – family and friends, and friends I’ve just met through blogging. But some good talent here, and mighty fine people. …

Know the Score — This is my son, so I might be a little biased, but I think he’s awesomely terrific. (!!!) I don’t think you’d ever guess it was a 15-year-old writing this (except that I just told you). Tell me what you think. He’s covering sports, but he doesn’t want to cover any specific team or talk too technically about specific games – he just likes to “talk sports” in general: trends, theories, etc. He has posts here about how important numbers are for your jersey, the Top 10 sports movies of all time, Michael Phelps and how his “fall” might affect teens, the death of Nick Adenhart, etc. My son wants to be a sports writer someday, so I think he’s on the right path. : )

QuinnanopolisBill Q. is a commenter on my blog, and a friend of mine from the newspaper days. I always enjoyed his writing. He keeps a blog about politics, writing, religion, running – you name it. He’s also a stay-at-home dad with four children, which you would think would give him fodder for at least four additional blogs! Anyway, Bill is always smart and always presents himself so clearly. His last two posts were “Another One Bites the Dust,” about how sad it is to see stores closing, and “Random Notes to Self After First Marathon” – very cool! Continue reading

Blogs That Are So Well Written They Make Me Jealous

Okay, here’s our next installment of the “New and Improved” blogroll …

Some blogs  I just read every day because the bloggers are amazing writers, and they make me a little jealous with their unique twists on the ordinary. Here are some of my faves:

Sheye Rosemeyer — Sometimes she makes me cry; sometimes she makes me laugh. And all of Australian Sheye Rosemeyer’s photographs stun me. Her tale of her daughter’s death is so sad it makes my heart hurt, but I love the way she shares the “missing” with us in a way that’s so honest and loving. I also love the way she enjoys her three small children and shows us to celebrate every day of our children’s lives. … Oh, and did I mention the stunning photos? Stunning, stunning, stunning …

The Fabulous Geezersisters’ Weblog — Ruth Pennebaker describes herself as a “woman old enough to call herself ‘fabulous,’” who writes about “families, politics, marriage, friendships, feminism, aging and whatever else occurs to her.” Her observations of life around her – and how inane and ridiculous it can be – always make me smile. I’m  betting she was a columnist somewhere – she has that “newspaper style” I love. Continue reading

Blogs That Make Me Laugh

I’ve found so many terrific blogs. I review them for work, so I stumble across some really great finds. Sometimes they’re not exactly appropriate for work (where I’m looking for a health focus), but I scribble them down so I can add them to my own Google Reader at home. Plus I’ve met some really cool people on Twitter and in the blogosphere and would love to add them to my “friends” blogroll. I also have a few family members who are blogging now, including my son, who (of course!) I think is a brilliant new talent!

So, without further ado, I present the first installment: blogs that make me laugh.

I’ve already told you about Cake Wrecks. I still read that one every day and find it to be hilarious. But I have a few others in my “Funny” folder:

The Typing Makes Me Sound Busy — J-Money cracks me up every day with her adventures as she approaches 30, not really sure where she’s going or how she’s getting there. Her rapid-fire punchlines and stream-of-consciousness humor have a bit of a Dennis Miller sound (but make more sense!). Her site was nominated for Best Humor Blog in the Blogger’s Choice Awards. She never lets me down.

Amalah — Amy Storch’s tales of mommydom make me laugh as often as they make me tear up. This editor-turned-blogger weaves us through her tales of raising two small boys in Washington, DC, battling confusing “learning evaluations” for her older son (who she constantly worries has a learning disability) and wondering if she’s taking as many pictures of her second son as she should (they’re adorable!). Her writing style is top-notch and always has me tuned in the next day. She’s a 2007 Weblog Awards winner for Best Parenting Blog. Continue reading

Twitter 201

tonywright_birds02_470x3501Hi, all! Now that you’ve hopefully found some helpful tips in my post Twitter 101, and are not so freaked out by followers anymore, you might be ready to move on to Twittering 201. You should be following at least 50 people, and therefore at least 25 people are probably following you (if, that is, you have a decent bio and photo avatar). You now have a Twitter community!

Keep adding to your community by finding more and more people – add at least 5 to 10 a week. Read what they have to say. You don’t have to read every tweet — think of it like tuning in to a radio show for a half hour a day: Just get on Twitter, read what’s going on with “your people” during that half hour, jump in if you feel like it, write to a few folks you like, then log off. Tell your new friends interesting things about your common interests – cool things you’ve read or things you’ve seen. Ask people questions with @replies. People will also continue to find you, and your community will grow. Keep watching how people interact to get the lingo down pat.

Now here are some fun things to do as a “second level”:

1.    Add your blog stream. If you have a blog, you can have your blog posts upload to Twitter automatically.  Do this at www.twitterfeed.com. (I have to admit, I had help with this from my company’s SEO guy, so I can only answer the simplest of questions on this – like the name of the site. …) Once you feed your blog into Twitter, the title of each post will go up within a half hour of posting. (I get a lot of clicks to my blog this way.) Continue reading

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