In addition to the things I write, the side bars of this blog also feature many of the other websites in which I am involved.
The right sidebar features interactive content from these websites:
- Twitter: Social networking site where you “follow” people in which you are interested and write messages for those that are following you. I’ve written about Twitter fairly often, but this introductory article is the best starting point. My last three “tweets” (Twitter messages) are always displayed at the top of the sidebar.
- de.licio.us: I now store many of my bookmarks on this site which gives me access to them wherever I have an internet connection. In addition to that, I can also share my links with other de.licio.us users. Ten of my most recently saved bookmarks appear in the sidebar for your viewing pleasure. This list will change several times a day.
- Gallery: This is where Tina and I display family photos for everyone to see. Three randomly selected photos from the Gallery are displayed.
- 30 Boxes: An online calendar and to do manager, 30 Boxes has become integral to my life. It lets you share calendars with other people but I mostly like the fact that I can access it from any computer with an internet connection. Upcoming events on my calendar are listed in the sidebar.
- last.fm: All the music to which I listen on iTunes and my iPod is reported to last.fm via “scrobbler” software. I can then view charts that aggregate my listening habits over weeks, months or years. The sidebar contains one of these charts, “Weekly Top Artists”, which lists the top artists to which I listened in the previous week.
- Flickr: Flickr is a free online service for storing and viewing your photos. I use it for photos that don’t qualify as “family photos.” You can see three randomly selected photos from my Flickr account in the sidebar.
- Shelfari: Social networking via your book collection. I’m not sure how useful it is, but I entered all my books on their website. I suppose it appeals to my inner OCD collector. You can see a few of my books in the sidebar.
The left sidebar has a mess of links divided into these categories:
- Pages: Articles that I write that that explain about me or this blog are found here.
- Calendar: Use this to navigate to older blog articles that I have written.
- Archives: Browse older articles on this blog by month.
- Categories: Browse older articles on this blog by category.
- Recent Comments: The most recent reader comments on this blog are shown here.
- Tags: Each article is “tagged” with words describing the content. This section of the sidebar shows the tags that I use most often. Smaller tags are used less often that the larger tags.
- All Things Mick: Links to my user pages on a number of different websites as well as a few websites for which I am directly responsible. If you hold the mouse over each, a description of the link will appear.
- Blogroll: These are the blogs that I visit most often. If you hold the mouse over each, a description of the blog will appear.
- Favorites: A list of long-time favorite websites. If you hold the mouse over each, a description of the website will appear.
- Games: Links to some of the online games on which I waste my time.