Thanks for coming back, keep being awesome!

People have asked me how I manage to read so much in a day and share it so quickly. If I did what I did the conventional way, that is, go to each individual site, click on the article I wish to read, and then copy that article and link it through my favourite sharing sites that would pretty much be a full time job. If you follow my friendfeed, twitter, or just see my facebook updates you’ll notice that I can burn through things very quickly. I can rip through things fast not because I am a fast reader, but because I have the right tools. One thing that helps me is this magical thing called RSS – Really Simple Syndication (or something like that). Like all things web related, it can be a little confusing and not so simple at all. Let me break it down for you. Please note, I am not going into the technical details of RSS, only what it is and what it can do for you.

RSS is a standardized web format(s) that let’s publishers (like me) publish content to readers (like you) without the reader having to actually visit the site. It has the advantage for publishers to reach out to a wider audience and for readers because they can aggregate, or collect, all of their favourite RSS feeds into one place. Let’s use a real world example to illustrate:

I like to read blogs such as Lifehacker, Mashable, My Mom is a Fob, F My Life. Instead of going to each individual website hoping to see an update, I can subscribe to their feeds and use a feed reader to view them. This gives me the advantage in that I do not have to visit each site individually, and only have to use my feed reader (4 sites all gathered into 1 place, pretty sweet). It also has the advantage in that content will only be shown if it is new or if I haven’t read it. So, I don’t have to frequently check the site, instead when the site updates I’ll get the update automagically in my reader. Cool, right? The updates come to me, not the other way around. Pretty much all sites that update these days have a RSS feed, including mine. Just look for the RSS icon. Clicking on this icon will allow you to subscribe to the RSS feed.

Now you’ll have to find a RSS reader. RSS readers come in all shapes and sizes. You can have a web based reader, desktop reader, mobile reader for your phone, browser based reader, etc. I choose to use Google Reader, because Google is awesome and since I have a Google Account (who doesn’t nowadays?) it saves me from signing up for another service. Plus Google Reader is dead simple to use, flexible, and has good search capabilities. Now everytime I come across a site I like, if I wish to add it to my regular reading list I can simply subscribe to its feed by clicking on the RSS icon, choosing Google Reader as my reader of choice, and new updates show up. Now instead of going to a zillion different sites, I can just open up Google Reader and enjoy my reading in a nice, easy to follow format. You can organize your feeds and subscribe to feeds you are interested in reading instead of having to go through information you aren’t interested in a lot faster now.

On top of that, I now use a Firefox extension called Feedly that does something even better, it takes your Google Reader and digests all the information to make it really nice and easy to follow. Thanks to Feedly, I’m able to burn through things even faster than before. It also has a really AWESOME feature that let’s me easily share things as well. If I find a site I like all I have to do is click a button and that gets shared through Google Reader, which then propagates through to my twitter and friendfeed and on to Facebook.

If all of that is confusing for you, you could try a site like Alltop, which does a lot of the subscribing stuff for you. All you have to do is create an account, choose the topics you are interested in, and Alltop will do the rest. Its easier to do for beginners, but not as flexible. Worth a consideration if you just want to see if RSS is right for you. If you enjoy reading on the web, than I would say it is.

The past week has been an interesting one.  Lots of ups and downs and decisions that had to be made.  The weekend was great, I did a lot of rock climbing and went back to Niagara Falls to see some friends.  Climbing is getting good, there are more people that come out to climb with us now and some of them are already getting really good.  Its interesting to see these guys who have a natural gift at climbing and are already climbing better than I am, when I have put in so much time and effort to get to the level I’m at.  Its a really humbling experience, that is for sure.  If you’ve ever done any sport I’m sure you know what I am talking about, that one guy who just does things and makes it look effortless.  It can make some people jealous, but for me I just get motivated to try even harder.

Saw some friends for a birthday as well.  It was so good, to finally see some friends and not have to think about my life and just absorb into theirs.  We played poker and I won of course   I really love poker, its such a fascinating game for me.  From an outsiders perspective it would seem like a game of luck (those are the guys you can beat the easiest, imo) but really there is so much strategy involved.  I wish I had the opportunity to play more often, perhaps in the summer I will give it a go.

Work has been great this past week.  Lots of interesting stuff going on and I learned quite a bit.  I convinced my coworkers to go rock climbing as a team building exercise next month, lol.  It should be fun.  Last month we went skiing up at Blue Mountain and that was pretty awesome, although we got lost in Coldwater, Ontario (I have no idea where that is) and ended up 2 hours late.  I woke up at 6 am just to get on the road by 7 am so we could get to Blue Mountain by 9:30, but ended up getting there at 11:30.  It was still a beautiful day to go skiing and I had a lot of fun.  I’m sure rock climbing will be interesting, and by the end of it I will have a bunch of tired out coworkers.

Yesterday I went to see my naturopath.  She is such an incredible person, and understands me so well.  She has an amazing way of putting things into perspective for me, really one of the few people who actually listens and understands where I am coming from.  I get the impression from her that the feeling is mutual, and its a relationship I am really happy to have.  Afterwards, I went to see "I Love You, Man " with one of my best mates, and movie buddy.  We are going to watch all the movies this summer, just like how we did it last summer.  Definitely looking forward to it.

Been playing email tag with a friend.  I was hoping to get a way for a week to recharge my batteries but we keep having scheduling conflicts.  No biggy, though, I am pretty sure it will work out in the end.  A battery recharge is something I could use right about now.  Things are looking good.  I should be able to get back to a healthy balanced schedule within the next month or two.  That’s the plan anyways.  Of course we all know plans never really go according to plan

Its out there.  Every photo you share, every status update you provide, every email you send.  Off it goes, into the cloud.  Somewhere, sitting on some hard drive, that information is stored forever.  How many of you actually read the terms of service when you sign up for a website or service?  I’m going to say not many.

I believe in a more open, a more connected world.  I think the way the internet is moving is a fun and exciting thing to be a part of.  I recommend social media to anybody who has a computer and an internet connection.  It has many, many advantages and can be a very enjoyable experience.  But be careful, the information you put out there can haunt you for the rest of your life, can come back to bite you, or be just plain embarrassing.

Your history on Twitter or Friendfeed, as an example, stays with you.  You can post whatever you want on there, but keep in mind that future business partners, or potential/current employees, or new clients can just as easily find this information as the next person with a keyboard.  All it takes is some googling and BAM, there you are.  Every site you visit, every site you sign up for or digg or stumble, you leave a trail.  Do you really want a potential employee to find that picture of you drunk out of your mind, passed out on a police cruiser on your Myspace page?

A read a blog post on Seth Godin’s blog a while back on one of his friends looking for a nanny for her kids.  She had it down to three people and so decided to do what any responsible parent would do;  She went ahead and googled their names.  I don’t remember exactly what the results were, but if I recall it was something like this:  Applicant 1 had a criminal record, applicant 2 had a Myspace page showing some bad pictures you definitely don’t want employers to find, and applicant 3 had a blog discussing how she is doing jobs she hates and that are below her just to pay the bills.  Brutal guys, just brutal.  Be smart about what you do online.  Just because you are not face to face with someone and are behind a computer screen does not make you anonymous, does not make it ok to act like a dummy.  Common sense still applies in the online world.

Sites like Twitter and Friendfeed encourage you to seek out strangers sharing similar interests.  Most of the people you decide to follow on those sites you don’t know, and probably will never meet.  That might make you think that its ok to write and do whatever the heck you please, but you would be dead wrong.  And then there is Facebook.  Facebook is more of a closed community in which you more or less know the people in your friends list.  They have just recently opened up the profiles so that anybody can be friends with anybody else and of course Facebook profiles can be searchable through Google.  This is really important to keep in mind.  You really should pay attention to your privacy settings on Facebook, allowing who gets to see what.  But its YOUR responsibility to make sure your friends don’t kick your butt, either.  See, your friends know the nitty gritty, darker, not safe for work, not safe for the world to see part of you.  All it takes is one slip up from your friend to ruin your reputation online or otherwise.

“Remember that time we went to Vegas and you did <insert bad thing not to be discussed over the internet>…” can seriously ruin a person if posted on a wall or tweeted.  Those pictures in your friends photo album that you are tagged in, in which you are doing something really silly, do you really want his 500 friends to see?  If his profile is open, googleable (is that a word?) and in the public, do you really want the world to see?  Probably not.  Your friends don’t know any better.  Take it upon yourself to ensure that they do.  Its your reputation on the line.  At worst, it could cost you your job, or that contract, or that potential relationship, etc.  Be smart and have fun, but be conscious of the actions you do that may affect you and those close to you.