Zen-less Widgets and Other Tech Stuff

Citizens:

I must say this blogging thing has opened many doors - tech wise. Already hyperactive, I've now gone interactive and possibly radioactive from too much face time with the world wide web. I've peeked behind the tech door and now you're looking (virtually) at a person who has a gmail account (iamcitizenb@gmail.com) and an iGoogle home page with a highly functional layout.

My personalized page displays the usual suspects of date & time, calendar, local news, weather (including an impressive Doppler radar), local links, movies, and TV guide. I added a few national news and political sites, business and market watch, and on the opposite end of the spectrum items like EW.com and People. We all know how important it is to keep up with the latest celebrity assaults, top 100 teen idols (there are more than 10?), and hits and misses on the red carpet.

I also added a Fat Loss Tip of the Day (don't eat croutons), Flower of the Day (Freesia, meaning trust & innocence), NY Times crossword, and other random stuff.

I've managed to become slightly more technical all while discouraging Marshall The Cat and his constant attempts to interfere. Once he paw-typed "zzzzzz" in place of my preset "user name" when he happened to step on my laptop at a very critical log-in moment. Fortunately, I didn't have to make the dreaded call to the Help Desk... "Yes, hello...ugh...my cat erased my user name. Okay, let me remove him from the key board."

Now to the topic of widgets; specifically Meditation Chimes. I liked the idea of something interactive (and calming) and decided to add it as a feature to iGoogle and my blog site. I truly enjoy the ding, dong, bong of the chimes. It's relaxing especially with eyes closed. The problem with closed eyes is that I end up missing the mallet and clicking on the Doppler radar on iGoogle or "The Citizen Archives" on the blog.

Remember the satisfaction of banging on a xylophone as a kid? This will not happen with the widget Meditation Chimes. The fundamental flaw with Meditation Chimes is that you can only bong one chime at a time. There is no jazzing it up by hitting multiple chimes and there is absolutely no grand maestro finale with a dramatic sweep of the mallet across the length of chimes.

While I'm happy with my newly found tech savvy, I'm reminded that the wildest widgets in the world can't replace the experience of the real thing...and I'm more likely to find my Zen chomping croutons.

Ding, dong, bong,

CitizenB