Out of time
I have a little problem – I can’t keep up with google reader.
I keep adding more blogs, but finding less and less time to read them.
Right now, I am subscribed to 72 blogs… and have 73 unread items! I’ve ended up being that person who has to catch up on the weekend, and is leaving comments on posts that are days old, after the conversation has died out.
My question is this – how do you keep up with reading all the blogs you like?
My ideal solution (are you reading, Steven?) is to buy a small $600-or-so computer that I can throw in my purse and use on the way to and from work. That’s almost 3 hours of time! I could catch up with a lot of internet “things” then too (I didn’t even mention how far behind I get on personal emails) and spend more quality time with the “boys” at home!
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Today’s Idiom: stock in trade – the goods, tools, and other requisites of a profession
The Architect’s stock in trade seems to be a cocky attitude, coffee-addiction, and an affinity for wearing dark colors.
Themocracy
it is hard to keep up with all “my” blogs, especially when you’re so busy you have no time to even hardly take care of the basic things… i get days and days behind too but somehow manage to catch up- usually on sundays while NASCAR is on… 😉
i think that the computer to use on the way to and from work is an excellent idea- something that you should invest in… think of it as an investment… 🙂
Hee hee! Nice solution. 😉
I had to start trimming out blogs I didn’t read faithfully, and some sit in my feeder for weeks until I have some extra time just to read those. There is definitely a heirarchy of who I read daily and who can be put on the back burner.
If it makes you feel better, I have 80 unread entries!
I just checked my reader and I have 282 blogs in it.
GAH!
No wonder I feel like I am drowning every time I open it.
I have all of my blogs on a feed-reader too (Bloglines.) I have 130 feeds but I slack off a lot more than the average person.
I usually only visit a blog when I’m going to comment, and I’m not much of a commenter. I feel like I need to explain that somewhere. Maybe I should add that to my profile.
Anyway, I can’t give much advice. I assume the iPhone people have the best situation but I know I’d be staring at it all the time if I had one.
I say, read what you can and don’t worry about it.
I’m in the same shoes as you. I constantly add new blogs and my unread list grows. What I find, though, by adding new blogs is I’m refining what I read. So, those blogs I go to first? Stay on my list (lucky you!). And those blogs I find myself skimming or marking read without even looking? Eventually, I just delete those subscriptions. Binge & purge. In this case, I think it’s kinda healthy!
I don’t know how to do it either. I need desperately to trim blogs but when I think about who to trim, I draw blanks.
I have a system of 7 different folders under my main reader. They are divided mostly by people I’ve met, weight loss crowd, then 1-5 depending on when people were added. I start with a different one each day of the week to make it fair. That is the best I can do :).
I’m up to 20 blogs that I read regularly (and adding more each week) and between Google Reader and my local RSS feed reader (Safari), I have a hard time keeping up. Give me a month or two and I’ll be up to 75.
Of course all that time reading those blogs cuts into time for making new blog posts. I’ve dropped down to two updates a week, but have several subjects waiting in the wings. I could post more (and plan to). Just trying to get a good handle on all of it.
If you are really looking at a smaller computer, the ASUS Eee PC or the HP Mini-Note are two options that I’ve been looking at. Both are around 3 lbs. and about $500 each.
I’m very selective who I read. I’m only subscribed to 21.
I’ve got 126 feeds currently, and I have them subdivided into different folders (using Bloglines–I couldn’t figure out how to make GoogleReader work for me). While not this obvious, the folders are READ NOW DAMMIT!, Work Crap to Be Read Whenever, Fun Stuff, Memes Only…and so forth. I know which folders will contain skimmable stuff, and which are going to take time. And honestly, except for that first folder, I don’t read entire posts very often anymore; I just read the first few lines and generally know what to do with the post (finish reading, delete, save for some later purpose, etc.).
Here is where I admit that I have 245 saved posts. 🙂
(and you are in that first folder)
Only 73? You’re lucky. I regularly have nearly 200 a day. I only barely keep up. I read, but I don’t always comment. That’s what keeps me sane. I hope people don’t take offense to it, but what can you do, right?
I have 38 in my reader that I read daily. I find that if I do not check in at least once a day, it becomes overwhelming! If I wait 2 days or more it takes me forever to catch up. It also doesn’t hurt that I work full time nights and can blog all night long in-between calls 😉
I don’t. Why do you think my comments are always days after the fact? LOL
I only have 58 on my reader (I did some “house” cleaning a few weeks ago) but just this morning I was up to 167 unread posts. {sigh}
I guess I’ve been helping your situation by not posting reguarly!! I can’t even gather pictures of my cat to you so you can do your magic. I think I want to move to blogspot first? I just dunno.
I’m subscribed to 60 now. A couple are newsish/techish blogs that’ll have a lot of posts- I skim headlines on those 1st usually, read any that interests, and mark all as read on the rest to get my overall post count down. I’ll do that with shared feeds from other people also.
It’s not too bad if I can spread it out over a day, but it can be a bit overwhelming if i haven’t been on until late in the day. 93 posts are waiting right now… time to go! 😉
I have a similar problem. I’m not able to really check blogs at work, and when I get home, the last thing I really want to be doing is sit at a computer. So my blog reader gets clogged fast 🙁
I have 356 feeds. Of those, I check maybe 5 daily, maybe an additional 5 weekly… and the majority of the others I either check less-frequently or, for well over 50% of the rest, not at all. :-/ I could not possibly keep up with them all unless I were unemployed, and even then it’d be a challenge.
It’s all about priorities; what’s most-important to you to read? I have books, computer games, magazines, etc. from 2+ years ago I still want to read/play, but haven’t, because of how I’ve prioritized them… Similarly, I’ve mostly stopped reading blogs that are either not related to my work or are not maintained by friends.
FWIW, I *hate* hatehatehate having a long commute. It’s such a monstrous waste of time that I can spend doing something else, e.g. reading, surfing, programming personal projects, making personal calls without bothering other people (or giving up the privacy from them), etc..
I bring my laptop on the train to work with me at least half of any given week, just so I can do more with my commute time… Good plan, I highly recommend it… 🙂
CourtneyInControl – I usually catch up when Steven and are I watching a movie together. But then I feel bad that I am not paying attention to the movie, because he’ll point things out to me that are going on, and I get all frustrated because I am trying to read. Oops. 🙁
diane – I was thinking about that – how if I see someone I particularly like (like that wafelenbak girl, have you heard about her?) posts, I read it IMMEDIATELY, but I let other people sit. And when I let them sit for a long time, I sometimes just delete them…
sizzle – Drowning! That is the perfect description! Sometimes I dread opening google reader/email just for that reason.
ajooja – I think the iPhone would be perfect for that! I just wonder about reading on that small small screen. I never thought of you as a “not much of a commenter.” 😉
Nilsa S. – I’ve been doing a LOT of purging lately! 😉
Hilly – I noticed that google reader has folders, I just haven’t figured out how to use them to my advantage! So you devote reading one whole folder to each day?
martymankins – You lightly touched on one of the subjects that worries me with blog reading – when I am reading SO MANY, I feel like I have no time to actually write something meaningful on my own blog. But if I am just writing on my own blog, and not leaving comments on other people’s. I feel guilty. 🙁
Kyra – Do you use a reader, or just bookmark them?
Cat. – Awww 🙂 I am a skimmer too… if something is really long, I will start to read as much as I can, but eventually I will start to skim, especially if I have other blogs to read!
kapgar – I figure some people already get so many comments, that I don’t need to comment every time, especially if I don’t have anything meaningful to add to the conversation. Because I get to some posts so late, I feel like I have missed all the conversation by the time I can post a comment 🙁 That happens quite a bit with yours, since you’re so popular 😉
javaqueen14 – If I could catch up at work… that’d be great! 😉
Lisa – Maybe I shouldn’t even worry about it? 🙂
Gina (Mannyed) – I was wondering what happened to me making you a new masthead! I was getting excited about i!
claire – I don’t even subscribe to any non-personal ones! I think seeing the high numbers of unread items would make me spasm.
suze – EXACTLY! That is the last thing I want to do too! I want to relax when I get home! Why can’t we just have a few more hours in the day?!
E – 356? Holy crap! I guess my 72 means nothing! 🙂 The commute can be so worthless… and the sad fact is, there is not much we can do about it out here! I think almost everyone has to deal with it. We need to move to small cities with no commute, or right next to our offices. Even then, I’d probably feel like I didn’t have enough free time!