Blog school

Not long ago my mom called up and asked if I (along with my s-i-l) would be willing to teach an enrichment class on blogging.  Now if you just paused and laughed at that last sentence, you did exactly what I did that day on the phone.  I said I knew enough to set up my own but I was sure there were people in her ward that knew a lot more than I did.  She said all it would be is a basic set up class, so I agreed to give it a shot.  I actually learned quite a bit trying to find out more so I wouldn't be completely incompetent.  I learned about html and widgets and now I just need to work on actually posting something.

We all know how time can fly while "surfing the net" (and I was tired of feeling guilty when I realized how long I had been on), so one thing I was trying for was to spend less time randomly searching the blogs I like to read to see who's updated.  I decided to give Google Reader a try, and although I liked having all the new posts come up so I could scroll through them I missed seeing the actual blog and the individuality of the blogger.  Then I stumbled across Google Next.  I sign in and one by one it takes me to just the updated blogs along with their comments.  When I get to the end it even tells me- "Congratulations, you've reached the End of the Internet".  If you click on that it even tells you- "You must now turn off your computer and go do something productive.  Go read a book, for pete's sake."  I must say, when your computer tells you to turn it off you're more likely to do it.

Now I'm wondering, what are your favorite blogging tools?  

Please teach me something!