Tuesday, January 06, 2009

How do you catch up?

On the right side of my blog, you will notice "My Blogroll". If you find that your blog is missing, make sure you let me know.

The list is created by Blogger using the blogs I've added to Google Reader under the folder "personal". Works pretty well. I find blogs, I like blogs and add them to Reader. I tried Bloglines, Outlook and a couple of other ways to aggregate the blogs I liked. Nothing really compared to Reader. How many of you use it? What do you like about it?

I currently subscribe to 345 RSS feeds total. Now the vast majority of those blogs update, um, rarely. You might have also guessed that the number 345 is quite a bit bigger then the list on the right. Well, I like to read about other things. There's poker, tech, humor, iPhones, Wii, photography and a few private blogs that don't want to be linked in.

Photography blogs are typically only updated a couple times a week at most and most are, well, pictures. I can get through my photo blogs in a just a minute or two each day. Some are a bit more beefy, like Digital Photography School, but the rest are just pictures and a caption or paragraph. You can see my list on my photography blog.

The poker blogs are another breed. Many of them are similar to the personal blogs I read. In fact, many of the poker bloggers write about many topics, not just poker. Their blogs are in many ways deeply personal.  The blogroll on my poker blog is a good place to start if poker interests you.


The posts on the other blogs are really quite often scimmers. I can usually scroll through 50 tech posts in about 2 minutes and most of the Wii posts are the same or about games I've got 0% chance of ever playing. Zoom!

All of this leads me to a problem that I'm wondering how you handle. As you probably noticed, I was a smidge busy in December. Somehow, I fell behind.

I've been trying to tackle this by coming at the pile two ways. I start by catching up to my last stopping point, usually about a 75% of the last days posts, then I change the sort order to oldest to newest and read from the past. Wow. Some of you are fantastic AND prolific writers. Not to mention, the story lines. I miss one post and I end up wondering, WTF? How did this happen?

I feel like I just can't catch up. I've been hovering between 100 and 150 unread posts in poker and personal combined. Does any one do Cliff Notes versions of their blogs? (Gawd that would be fantastic) I really do enjoy reading and commenting on everyone's blogs, but this just seems hopeless.

Really, what do you do when you fall behind?

15 comments:

Noob Mommy said...

I'm actually still too scared to open my Google Reader to check how many unreads I have since before Christmas. So, when you find out the answer...please send it my way :)

nonna said...

i, being unemployed and having no life, still managed to get a few days behind when my leg was hurting and i couldn't sit for long. i used google reader for a little bit, but it annoyed the crap out of me because i was missing so much stuff from the blogs such as pics, comments, etc.

i don't know how in the world anybody who actually works and has a life can keep up with all the reading. i don't guess i will be able to give you any suggestions other than just let the past ones go and go on with the current ones.

if you come across a blog that seems like you really are lost, then you could go back through their older posts to catch up.

i'm sure you've thought of that already. sorry i can't give you any better advice :)

Mitchell Cogert said...

No clue--for me, it is just late night reading and entertainment to go through all the blogs.

What is Cre8buzz? Is your number good? If so, congrats.

WeaselMomma said...

Sounds like you need a pot of coffee and an all nighter.

Katitude said...

Mark all as read and move on :-)

Heather said...

I'm with Katitude. Or just read the most recent post.

Kim said...

I read at work, at home, late at night..whenever I can really..but when it gets overwhelming like that I just mark as read.. people understand it really does cause you stress you don't need..

I love my Google reader.. LOVE IT!!

OhCaptain said...

Noob Mommy: Just klentch your fists and do it. This is just gonna continue to grow. I know you can!

Noone: I work and don't know how I'd get along with Google Reader. Or just give up on reading, writing and enjoy blogs.

Mitchell: Cre8buzz is a kind of social networking site thing. I haven't really been there in a while. I don't know if my number is good or not.

Weaselmomma: I never figured you for a drug pusher. Well, an all nighter for us in college usually involved drinking the last beer at sunrise after having started before sunset. I don't recommend that for anyone over 22.

Kat, Heather & Kim: I'm leaning your way. Sorry to everyone if I miss something. Thanks for the help.

Anonymous said...

I always feel a tad guilty if I don't read every day but then isn't that a bit of an OCD thing?

I try to keep up daily but if I miss a few it's no big deal really, I mean I'm more into reading posts properly than reading lots 'unproperly'.

Go ahead and delete mine - they're all pretty rubbish lately, I'm in dire need of an interesting life!

How's my snow scenes these days.

OhCaptain said...

Tismee2: We had a lot of snow. Then one day it got warm, well, 40° F. A lot of it melted. Then we got a new inch of snow, but then it rained. So we have really shiny snow now. My driveway has never been worse. Lots more snow in the forecast. I'll try to take pictures this weekend for you.

Mike said...

OK just for you I won't write another post for a few days, just so you can get caught up. Sheeesh, the things I do for you....

Anonymous said...

I watched the X Files movie last night - it was really snowy there, it was West Virginia and I kept thinking if it was like that at yours?
Am I really that sad?

OhCaptain said...

Tismee2: besides the fact that we don't marry our sisters here like in West Virginia (that's a joke people, chill), we are very much more tundra like here. It's flat and the wind blows the snow. I should really take some pictures from a top an area hill over looking our neighborhood. Good idea!

BTW: your writing isn't rubbish.

terri said...

The "Mark all as read" button is a beautiful thing. ;-)

Seriously, there have been times when I've gotten so far behind, there's no hope of catching up on everything everyone has written. I just do the skim thing too, try to read the latest and mark the rest as read.

The Microblogologist said...

I just keep trying and my blog list is my reader and I usually go from oldest to newest when trying to catch up. You will soon be added, I only add a blog that I have finished catching up on to the reader, I have major must read from the beginning OCD! Good luck with it!