Google Reader is Being Retired

If you’ve signed into your Google RSS Reader in the last week, you were greeted with a box that said Google Reader will be shut down on July 1st.

As part of a”Spring cleaning” announcement, listed are changes Google is making, one is in regards to the widely used Google Reader:

“We launched Google Reader in 2005 in an effort to make it easy for people to discover and keep tabs on their favorite websites. While the product has a loyal following, over the years usage has declined. So, on July 1, 2013, we will retire Google Reader. Users and developers interested in RSS alternatives can export their data, including their subscriptions, with Google Takeout over the course of the next four months.”

The announcement left many angry, upset, with more questions than answers and scrambling for solutions.

So first and foremost, to be clear:

This ONLY applies to readers who use the Google Reader.

User of the Google Reader:  

It’s going to be ok! There’s comfort in familiarity and it’s always painful when things change and I know you’re thinking of all the blogs you’ve collected up over time and added to your Google Reader.
You don’t want to lose your blog collection and you don’t have too…
Google Takeout  is your escape.
You just need to export your RSS Feeds from the Google reader and add them to a New Reader. You have a lot of options out there and instead of re-writing the information others have compiled, I suggest visiting these links:

• Google Reader is Shutting Down; Here are the best alternatives
• Google Reader Alternatives

Once you’ve exported your RSS feeds and imported them into a new reader, you’re all set and you haven’t lost a single RSS feed/blog.
Look for your new RSS feed home now. Don’t wait until the last minute and risk losing your information.

As a Blogger who publishes an RSS Feed:

The first concern anyone who writes a blog should ask in regards to this change is… How will it affect my readership?

I believe everyone will lose a small percentage of readers based on this change, namely the people who rarely check their Google Reader or those who ignore the impending change and don’t export their feeds from their Google Reader to a new one in time.
BUT…with some proactive measures, we can preserve the majority of our readers that see our content via the Google Reader by letting them know what to do.

Let’s help our readers out! They read our blogs via the Google RSS Reader, so what better way to let them know about the changes than by writing a post in our blogs alerting them to the change and how they can fix it. The helpful post you write will pop up in their Google reader and then it’s up to them to take action.
Feel free to copy and paste any of the above information I’ve wrote in a blog post of your own.  I got this copy from Rebecca over at The Outdoor Blogger Network.  Readership is hard earned and here at Snug Harbor Bay, I don’t want any of you to lose a single reader!  And I don't want to lose any of you!

If you've found a new alternative that is working for you and that you like, please leave me the name of it in the comments section.  I'm looking at options and haven't found anything I really like yet.

Happy St. Patricks Day

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 

 

Will you dress in something green? I like green combined with black and grey.....

Will you make corned beef and cabbage?  I've never made it but I have such a taste for it...

Did you know that the 3 leaf shamrock is a metaphor for the Holy Trinity?

Leprechauns are mischief makers and they stash their coins in pots of gold at the end of the rainbow....

Wishing you a day filled with mischief, gold and rainbows!

Geocaching Sites I Visit

Spring is in the air and geocachers are on the move!  Not that a huge majority of us don't cache during the winter, but spring just brings us out like little blooms on a vine.  It feels good to be out in the sunshine and fresh air, stretching our legs on the trails, hitting up the woods and forest preserves before leaves are on the trees and mosquitoes and ticks swarm the air.

If you're new to Geocaching and want to find out how to register and discover all you need to know about geocaching, then visit the official Geocaching site.

If you want to read about what it's really like to be out and about searching for caches, then I think the best thing to do is to visit other geocaching blogs.  Geocachers love to share their stories and best of all - they post pictures!  Visiting geocaching blogs is a great learning tool and I don't know of any geocacher that isn't willing to answer a few questions.   Here's a list of some of my favorite geocaching blogs....

CacheCrazy is headed up by my good buddy Kevin and I'm a frequent contributor over there.  But besides that, there's a revolving group of excellent writers and cachers who share their tales and I guarantee you will love this blog.....

 Dave, over at Googlebot is one of my favorite blog writers.  Not only does he also contribute over at CacheCrazy, but he does an excellent job of telling a story and supplies great photos.  He finds some really interesting caches and I have him to blame for my growing list of "Out of State to-do" caches...

Madcacher blog which also offers the great book "101 Devil Caches" and I reviewed here.

Geocache: I'm Not Obsessed, Right? who also hosts the Geosnippets podcast.

Erika Jean who shares her Arizona caching adventures.

Life Outside my Door where Sonny shares caching in Georgia.

Take some time and go check them all out and then go find a geocache!

Fish Guardian Endorsements

Spring is just around the corner and if your household is anything like mine, that means everyone is chomping on the line to go fishing.  Louie fishes the bass tournaments on Kentucky Lake and he installed a device on his boat 2 years ago that he really loves.  It's called the Fish Guardian.

In case you missed our review of the Fish Guardian, you can go back and get all the details here.  But in the meantime, let me tell you this - first and foremost, the Fish Guardian enables you to keep your fish alive and of equal importance, it lets you release healthy fish back into the water once your tournament is over.  And the ease of use with the Fish Guardian saves you valuable time during a tournament.  No more messing around with bottles, caps, or measuring out release formula.  Also, one quick and easy push of a button releases the proper dosage into your live well and you're back on deck, casting for that next big fish.  What could be easier than that?

Crappie Pro Kevin Rogers met with Fish Guardian owner Rodney Hairgrove at the recent Bassmaster Classic, helped to endorse the product and put out this video for his fans.......

And that's not all!  Bass fishing Pro Pete Gluszeck also put out a recent video and included the Fish Guardian as one of his "must have" products for boat rigging.  You can see him showcase the Fish Guardian at about the 2:25 mark........

If you want to learn more about how to pick up a Fish Guardian for your boat, you can visit their website for all the details.  I think you'll be glad you did.

Flashback Friday 3-8-13

It's Flashback Friday at Seaside Simplicity and I always like to join in with something old and cherished.  This weeks photo is of my silver charm bracelet.....

I got this charm bracelet when I was about 10 years old.  Each birthday and Christmas I got to add a new charm.  It was always so much fun to go to the store and stare at the charms and try to narrow it down to just one. 

• The Bible charm has a small hole in it and when you hold it up to the light and look inside you can read The Lord's Prayer.
• Tinkerbell
• Praying hands
• Dachshund because we had a dachshund
• A painters palette
• The Santa with his sack
• The only gold piece is the face with my name on it
• A pair of ice skates because I loved to skate
• A sign that reads Happy Birthday
• A rabbit from Alice in Wonderland
• A Girl Scout insignia because I was so active in the scouts.

This charm bracelet is a treasured possession and I still wear it once in awhile.  Do you have any jewelry that you cherish?

Linking up with Seaside Simplicity.  I'm also linking up with Claudia over at Mockingbird Hill Cottage for her My Favorite Thing.  Go over and say hi!

A PJ Party

Today I'm joining Claudia over at Mockingbird Hill Cottage for a Pajama Party!

From her blog....

I started the Flannel Pajamas Club more than a year ago and posted the requirements for membership:
• You must love wearing your flannel pajamas.
• Simply loving them isn’t enough. You have to find any excuse to wear them.
• Possible excuses: “But I need to clean the house.” “My writing suffers if I’m not comfortable.” “It’s 3:00 pm.” ” It gets dark early.” “I just came home from work and I have to change my clothes, so why waste another outfit? I’ll just go straight to my pajamas.”
• More excuses: “If I must cook, then I have to wear my flannel pjs.” “But I’m drinking hot chocolate.“
• That’s all. Simple.

So, ok, I don't often wear flannel pajamas.  I usually wear sweat pants and a tee shirt, until my daughter bought me this super comfortable Victoria's Secret nightgown for Christmas.  It's ultra soft and comfy.  But old habits die hard, so I generally wear sweatpants underneath.  I know, I'm a real looker....  LOL!

Since I work from home, I am guilty of wearing my pajama's while talking on the phone to clients, typing contracts, writing invoices and paying bills.  I'll cook breakfast, lunch or dinner while wearing them.  I've shoveled snow in our driveway while wearing a coat over them.  I've fished off the dock in Kentucky and went so far as to actually clean fish while wearing them.  I've walked along the beach on Sanibel Island looking for shells and got soaked by the waves in my pajamas.   I've driven my kids to school in the morning while wearing them.  I'll even go across the street to our friends house while wearing them.  I haven't gone geocaching in them yet, but you never know what tomorrow will bring.

The worst thing that ever happened to me in my pajama's (not this pair, but a really nice pair I got from the Disney store) was that I got skunked in them.  I walked out to my car at 11:00 pm one summer night to get something and a skunk came around the garage, and sprayed me from 3 feet away!  It was NOT good!!!   I made the mistake of running into the house, jumped in the shower, and my husband dumped cans of tomato juice over my head.  I scrubbed myself raw with soap and comet.  The scent of skunk stayed with me for weeks.  My house smelled to high heaven.  Did I mention that it was NOT good????  To this day I cannot stand the smell of skunk.  It makes me sick to my stomach.  Plus I had to throw out my favorite pajama's. 

Well, I was brave and posted a photo of me in my favorite jammies.  Will you?  Head over to Claudia's for the pajama party.  I'm bringing margarita's and guacamole.  Hangover's are optional.

2 Million and Counting

The geocaching community has just celebrated a major milestone - the 2 millionth active geocache was just published on Feb. 28th.  Located in Australia, GC46N4E sounds worthy of this great honor.  Rated with a terrain and difficulty rating of 3.5 each, the cache promises a spectacular view of the city of Alice Springs.

As of today, the cache has only 1 find and 2 DNF's.  But geocachers from around the globe have logged in and left well wishes on the cache page.

Watch the YouTube video "2 Million Geocaches in 1 Minute" here. 

Go here to read about the special geocaching souvenirs that are being released.  Souvenirs are like little postcards that you can earn and they get posted onto your geocaching homepage....

I think an Australian Souvenir would look great on my cache page - anyone up for taking a trip???