WFMW: Google

I love Google. I love just about everything about it. I love being able to sign in and have not only a great search engine but my own personalized home page. I have tabs of goodies waiting for me every time I open my browser.

Google has their fabulous Reader that keeps track of my almost 150 blogs that I read. Say it with me now, "obsessive!" I've mentioned it before but it's so nice to go to one place and see who has updated. I cannot even begin to imagine trying to bounce through all my sites to try and see who have posted something new. It's a wonderful thing!

Google also has Picasa. Wonderful photo storage and editing. The majority of all my pictures go through Picasa at some point in time. This program can take your photos and upload them into their own nice little album online. Or, if you'd rather, go straight from Picasa for a blog post. It's a good thing. Sure makes it easy when you aren't at home and want to show someone your pictures!

Google also has Gmail. Now, who's to say that an email address is exciting? Well, generally, it's not. However, with Gmail, I have the ability to do things with my mail that I can't with other servers. I have an email address for each blog. Redundant, I know... but my home email address has my last name in it, which is something I don't want floating all through my pages. However, with Gmail, you can send an email to my viewfromthefishbowl@gmail.com address and I will receive it on my home email address and can respond in like. All three blogs are set up that way. It's super handy. Plus other goodies that I'll get into in a minute.

Google has its lovely calendar! I have always kept my information on my work calendar when I was working at the hospital. However, when I started looking for another job, I knew I was going to lose that information unless I found some other way to store it. I found a lovely program through Google. I can have color coded calendars for myself, DH, and my photography, and it's all in one location, accessible from any computer with an Internet connection.

I have saved the best for last though. I mentioned the home page. Well, I love the iGoogle feature! With the ability to have different gadgets on my homepage, I can have everything at my finger tips as soon as I open a browser window. I have my email, my photos, my reader, and my calendar all in one location. No more bouncing around to so many different websites to check everything out. It's a one-stop shop for me. And ya know what, it works for me!