I read

lots and lots of web pages daily. It is an addiction that I have a hard time figuring out if I even want to shake or not. One of the tools that has made this slightly easier and (maybe) less time consuming is Google Reader. This is what is known as an RSS reader. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary and basically acts as an index for a web page's content. So when you see that little orange icon () in the corner of most web pages, it means that you can subscribe to that web page using a reader program, therefore letting you know when someone has updated a web page without having to check up on it every five minutes. You can even get notified of new content straight up "You've Got Mail" style.

Bloglines is a very popular alternative to Google.

You can do a wide variety of things with RSS.

Some of the blogs I subscribe to on Google Reader include:

Lifehacker (RSS)
Instructables (RSS)
MAKE Magazine (RSS)
Craigslist Free Section (RSS)
Cool Tools (RSS)
I Will Teach You to Be Rich (RSS)

OS Introduction

Hello

I suppose I might as well let people know who the hell is writing this so I now present to you, my faithful, faceless audience, a scratch on the surface of my being.

My name is Nicholas Alexander Teeple. I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in the Jewish Hospital but I lived in Covington, KY until we moved to Wisconsin in 1995. The thing I remember most about living in Covington was our amazing view of the Cincinnati skyline from our porch (I will try and find a picture of this next time I visit my parents). This view would be most memorable every labor day when one of the largest fireworks shows in the country would take place on the Ohio river. My younger brother and I would sit in our tree house listening to the synchronized music on the local rock station and be completely at peace with each other, our daily squabbles silenced by an oppressive sense of awe and wonder. These are some of my most vivid images of childhood.

Fast forward to the present (for now). I will be 21 in March, I go to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, I am currently enrolled in an English course with blogging as its focus. Now I have a surefire way to motivate myself to keep blogging; an arbitrary letter grade!

The title of this blog indicates the type of content with which I would like to fill it. Namely, detailed processes or methods I employ in surviving on this planet in a relatively efficient and comfortable manner. I identify strongly with the philosophy of Open Source. I want to deliver my methods to the world with the hope that my words will help another human being in some way and conversely, that someone will comment on my blog with an illuminating revision to my methods of madness.

To reiterate: Please respond to my words with constructive criticism no matter how minute. The human mind has an amazing capacity for drawing new conclusions and possibilities from the smallest hint or wink of a idea and there is no telling what impact we may have on one another.