Thing #16

For my start page, I chose iGoogle. I've mentioned before how much I love Google - and since I have a personal account with Google as well as as my 23 Things account, it seemed like a good idea to use it for this.
Once I chose iGoogle, I began editing my start page. I deleted a few of the gadgets that were already there - like DoppleMe and YouTube. I have no use for an avatar and I don't watch YouTube very often, so I figured I would make room for some other gadgets. I decided to add a calendar gadget, the inspirational quotes and pictures gadget (I love quotes and photography), the Facts gadget (I also love knowing useless information), Facebook for iGoogle, NYTimes.com - Top Stories gadget, Daily Literary Quote (quotes again), and Anderson Cooper 360 gadget. Wow - there are a LOT of gadgets. I finally had to stop myself from adding more or I'd never get this thing done!

As far as calendars go, I chose to explore Kiko - but received a "Forbidden" page when I tried to access it. Since that didn't pan out, I decided to explore the calendar offered by Backpack. However, once I made it to that page, it said I could sign up for a 30 day trial. I didn't want to create another account - I already have so many! I know I can utilize the calendar available through iGoogle, though. Online calendars are useful because they can be shared. As a teacher, I could create a calendar with important dates - homework due dates, tests, field trips, conferences, etc and share with parents.

To Do lists could be great tools for someone who would use them - but I am not the kind of person who would. I am quite the procrastinator, and therefore not a planner. Making a to do list actually sounds like a form of torture to me!

I feel like the most useful tool I discovered during this exercise was iGoogle. I love all the gadgets that are optional - I like that it has the calendar option, even a to do list option, weather, email, news, etc. There are a lot of options for personalizing the start page, not to mention all the extras that can be added. I'm not much of a planner, so the fact that all of this could be included in my homepage and would be accessible every time I launched the internet would be convenient - which I like!