Thing 14: Online Productivity Tools

I went with iGoogle because I could log in to my already existing account and access it, Blogger and Google Reader (which I still love!).  I prettied it up a little bit by choosing a theme (Truly Toile), I added gadgets, I removed gadgets, and I left some gadgets as they were.  After all that, I’m still not that thrilled about iGoogle.  I don’t find that it is particularly useful to me, but it is, at least, lovely to look at thanks to Truly Toile.

Next, I set up Google Calendar and added it to iGoogle, but again, I’m just not lovin’ it.  I’m old-school enough that I still prefer to whip out my quill, dip it into the old ink pot, and write my appointments and events down on my parchment calendar.  Then I can carry it with me and have access to it anytime.  I guess if I would let my husband talk me into that iPhone that he’s been going on about, then I could carry it around with me and use it to access my Google Calendar anytime, but then I would have to pay some outrageous monthly fee for the privilege.  I don’t know about you, but I’ve already got as many outrageous monthly fees as I would care to have, and I’m not really interested in adding another.

Next I made a list on Ta Da List, but again, I’m not impressed.  I could have made the same list in half the time on a piece of paper without having to open yet another account.  I also looked at Backpack, but I didn’t see anything there that I was particularly interested in either.

I tried using the Countdown widget that was in the Thing 14 post, but I only succeeded in adding a mustard yellow blank box to my blog.  I don’t know what I did wrong, but after a couple of attempts with the same result I gave up.

So, in summary, my iGoogle is pretty to look at, but not anything I can’t live without.  My old pen and ink planner is preferrable to Google Calendar (unless I get that iPhone and the accompanying monthly fee), and I’ll keep on making my lists on my Curious George shopping list paper instead of doing it online with Ta Da List.  I do think that the file converters could definitely be useful in a library setting, and it’s good to know that they’re out there.  Otherwise, I don’t feel like this Thing was my Thing.