Friday, January 25, 2008

Guest Editor's Picks -- January 25, 2008

Welcome to this week's
Guest Editor. My name is Will, and as you can tell from my photo I have
a silly sense of humor. I work at AOL as Vice President of Products and
Technology. Here I lead many of the product development team from our
AOL Silicon Valley campus in Mountain View, California. As you know, we
have a bunch of hard working employees, who work hard on AOL products
for you, and it's been my pleasure working with such a team. Vish on
the blogs team asked me to write a spot on this blog, so here
goes....


About
me....


I blog quite a bit --
WillSpeaking is my main blog that describes events going
on in the technology space - and sometimes just in life. I also blog on
AOL's
Animalhubbub.com under the pen name of "thealleyforcats".
Every now and then I help the myAOL team out on
the 
myAOL
blog.
Finally, I used to write on the
AOL
Pictures
blog, though haven't done that for some time.


Thank you,
J-Landers!


I've seen so many great
bloggers that use AOL or AIM Journals. It is a delight to read your
thoughts, your ideas, your stories. I've seen some real tear jerkers
too. All I can say to J-Landers is keep them going! You really do make
a difference. If what you write can help someone else - give them
advice, help them through a rough spot or even bring a smile to
someone's face - well, that's the main
thing.   


Here goes -
my choices.


Footprints
in the Sand
is a delightful blog to
read. It has some great articles on it, and I love the cat photos,
too! 


My
Photo Lounge.
Did I mention I am a
photo buff? I like this blog - it's got some great photos, and some
great videos too. 


Movin
on with MS.
This blog is new, and I
am looking forward to reading blog entries, and for the support our
JLanders will give to our avid blogger. As I said above, 
writing of your own challenges you can often help other people too.


Sometimes
I think
is Krissy's very active
blog. With some very touching blog entries, and some great ways to take
place in photo contests this is a good read.


Calmwater by
JC.
  This blog has some
really, really good photos. JC works at AOL. She is a keen
photographer, and blogs on many subjects. Enjoy lots of her photos and
thoughts on travel, life and other things. 


SomewhatFrank
is a really good blog written by
Frank Gruber. For technology people (ok, so I am a "geek"),
this blog will help you out. Frank created this to stay upto date on
technology and updates it nearly every day with what is going
on. 


And
finally...

I know a lot more Journals are out there!
Happy blogging to all of you! Since I am originally from the UK, I am
happy to see UK J-Landers here too.


--Will--


Friday Blogplugs

Hey folks,

It's Friday -- and that means it's Blogplug Friday for Journals! Here we go:

* Krissy interviews her husband, who recently had his 2nd anniversary of his bone marrow transplant.

* Guido shares a link with us to a trivia game that helps people around the world that donates rice to the United Nations World Food Program.


* rdautumsage offers some eloquently written inspiring words to the J-Land community about writing.


* Sugar wishes everyone Happy Hump Day, as well as listing 10 ways to tell if Martha Stewart is stalking your dog (satire).


* Bucko posted some thoughts on teaching and coaching.


* Donna uploaded a video after she faced treacherous winter weather on her commute home from work. (It was kind of like that here last Friday afternoon...)


And now some additional AOL Journals worth checking out...


* Games Talk (AOL Games) has the list of the AOL Games played most often for the week ending January 25, 2008.


* Unstructured (AOL Real Estate) talks about the dip in existing home sales for the month of December.


--


Thanks for the blogplugs. Don't forget to tag your best entries with "blogplugs"

Have a safe weekend!

~Joseph


Friday, January 18, 2008

Guest Editor's Picks -- January 18, 2008


Hi
everyone!  I am Dawn, author of the
blog 
Carpe
Diem

.  I am honored to be this weeks Guest Journals
Editor! 

 

First, a little
about me, for those who don't know me.  I am a 42 year old
mother of three.  I am happily married to my best friend and
soul mate for just over 16 years.  I refer to my kids by
nicknames in my journal, and they are Hammer, 15, Fuzzy, 12 1/2, and
Pumpkin Muffin, 10 1/2.  I homeschool my eldest who has
Asperger's Syndrome, a form of high functioning autism.  We
all live in an extended family home with my parents who have their own
4 room living space.  Last but not least are the pets, a
yellow lab named Libby, two cats, Pumpkin and Tina, and two hamsters,
Peng and Brownie.

 

I am also coping
with chronic pain and illness on a daily basis.  I have
Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus, which are diseases where your own
immune system attacks its own healthy joints and organs.  In
June 2007 a small epidermoid cyst/tumor was found in my skull
base.  It does not infiltrate into brain tissue, thankfully,
and is not yet causing me any problems! 


Enough
of me, on to my journal picks!!!  I wish I could write up all
the blogs that I love and read, but only 6 allowed!  I decided
to go with three female journalers and three male journalers. 


Here we
go:

 

Dare To
Think
   Cathy's journal is many
things.  Memoirs about her life, science journal about
astronomy, essays on current news, and her own tender poetry. 
Cathy also holds a special place in my heart for two more
reasons.  She is a native Jersey girl, like me, and also
struggles with theeffects of chronic pain and numbness, with
Peripheral Neuropathy.  No matter what the subject of the
entry on Cathy's journal, I never leave disappointed, and neither will
you.

 

Coelha
Thoughts
  Julie is a spunky Portuguesa, living in a
blended family, and working full time!  Not only does she have
a great sense of humor that she shares as she chronicles her daily
life, but she takes awesome pictures too!  She is an
inspiration to anyone trying to 'have it all' and with 'his, mine, and
ours' to boot!  Julie's sunny personality cannot help but make
you happy as you read her blog! 
Enjoy!

 

Living in Savannah
2
   Gretchen probably is the most
inspirational mom blogger to me.  In the face of terrible
adversity, she continues to move through life being a great mom, wife,
compassionate nurse, and friend to all.  Rather than explain
it to you, please visit her blog, and see her amazing strength and
story for yourself.

 

The Wisdom of a Distracted
Mind
  Dan is the man!  His blog is filled
with humor, angst, political and religious rantings, pet anecdotes,
family life, and more!!!  Dan has psoriatic arthritis, which
means he has all the fun (not) of psoriasis and
rheumatoid arthritis, too!  Yeah, it sucks, but he
never, well, rarely, loses his sense of humor about it all. 
Dan is also a great writer, musician, cook, and
photographer.  This blog is not for the faint hearted or
easily insulted, though.  I don't agree with all of Dan's
opinions either, but I wouldn't want to miss a post!

 

Inner and Outer
Demons

Russ is an amazing guy.  Unfortunately, he doesn't think
so.  However, he does share his life, love, family, loss,
pets, humor, and art with us almost daily!  And, wow, the
ART!  I love his quirky cartoons!  Sometimes Russ
shares older art projects from years ago with us as well, and it is
NEVER a disappointment!  Russ will also do interactive pieces
where he will ask for comments about things we love or hate,
and then he will cartoon them!  Russ
Rocks!

 

Heard at
Starbucks
  How could I not include Marty?  His
blog revolves around a coffee house!  The secret is that it is
so much more than that!  Marty is
basically a movie industry mogul/business man, who shares his slice of
the world with us through the cast of characters at his local
Starbucks!  Marty also takes us on the road, too, recently to
the Netherlands, but also to Las Vegas, and Japan in recent
months!

 

So, those are my
six blog picks as Guest Journals Editor this week.  I hope you
will visit them all and that they will become favorites of yours as
well.

 

Remember, visit
next Friday for the new Guest Editor's picks!

 

be
well,

Dawn

Friday blogplugs








Hey folks,

We've got a handful of special blogplugs for this week. Thanks for the variety!

* Beth got her imagination and curiosity all running after reading Jimmy's Journal (also featured below). She talks about her fascination for the fifties and sixties Las Vegas.

* Sugar has a couple of blogplugs where she a very nice poem for you and your dog and also something for all catlovers.

* Jimmy has jackets of his favorite albums which he has spent either performing or enjoying.

* Krissy is very happy about the enthusiastic response for the photo shoot challenge last week. Her subject for this week: The letter "T."

* Dan has a petition
to AOL requesting the ability to save and print AOL Journals, and would
like your support in the form of your comments. (We think this is
pretty cool, too.)

* Indigo writes about some Eccentric Oddities in her life and around the house.

* Jamie expresses her thoughts about a friend who passed away many years ago.

* momsfirstscreenn
has interesting views about family - Family should be there for each other despite of all our differences.

We've also got some some AOL editorial picks for you:

* cciccone05 reports for all car lovers from the Detroit
auto show.

* Tom writes about home improvement - tips and tricks.

We would  like to add another plug for our JLand giving tree.

And finally on a somber note, don't forget to visit the shared journal created in memory of JLanders who are no longer with us.

Thanks
again for the variety of the blogplugs this week. If you want to be a
Guest Editor or have some interesting (or useful) blogplugs, send your
submissions to JournalsEditor@aol.com and we'll review them.

Have a great weekend!

--- Malika

Friday, January 11, 2008

Guest Editor's Picks -- January 11, 2008

Hello all!  I have been invited to do the
picks this week, and I am very happy to do so.  My name is
Lori, aka Helmswondermom,
and I have been keeping an AOL Journal, Dusty
Pages
, for just under three years now.  A
little about myself before moving on to my picks -- I live in Southern
Indiana (otherwise known to the locals as Kentuckiana), but I'm a Kentuckian
by birth and at heart.  I've been married 20 years to the same
wonderful, hard-working gentleman-of-a-husband, and since my job with a
giant health insurance provider was outsourced to another country 18
months ago(!!), I have been a stay-at-home mom to our two great
children, 18 and 12.  I am also home-schooling the
12-year-old, and that is challenging, as well as a lot of
fun!


Now, as to these
picks...!  Phew!  What a job it is to narrow down
journal recommendations to only a half dozen!  Guido (two
weeks ago), and Krissy (last
week) both recommended journals that I already read, with only a couple
of exceptions, and when I started going down my list of favorites I
realized that quite a few of them have been plugged in Guest Editor's
picks of recent months.  So I decided I was going to
try to plug a few that may not be as well
known.  Let's see how I did, shall we?


First of all I want
to recommend Pauline's
Country's Tales and Other Thangs

Paula, a self-described born and bred South
Texan, describes her journal as "Things i have seen and things
that have happened to me since i moved back to the country", and she
has been sharing her country tales since Octoberof 2003. 
Paula has a way with words, and can make a trip out to the cow pasture
to check on the "girls" into a high adventure -- which it often
is!  Drop by to visit her soon and go along with her and John
as they stop by their favorite Mexican cafe for breakfast, take a
detour so Paula can explore a little rambling lane she's often wondered
about, bump and bounce over the rutted fields where wild hogs have been
making holes (in John's old truck, of course, not
Paula's newer baby), or sit and listen as she tells a funny story about
places she's been and people she's known.  I know you will
enjoy!


Now let's move on
from cattle to bison at
Lisa's Life on a Bison
Farm
.  Lisa has been keeping this journal for almost a
year now, but I was introduced to her much more recently.  She
introduces her journal as a "...chance for everyone to see what life on
a farm is really like along with happenings in my world", and boy does
she!  She's a great photographer and often enriches her
entries with photos, most recently one that, in response to a Community
Photo Challenge with the theme of "Beginnings", shows the birth of a
bison calf about to take place.  You can just barely make out
two tiny hoofs making their entrance into the world.  Lisa too
has a great writing style, and often has a funny or thought-provoking
entry to share, so please stop by and say hello.


Now we'll leave the
countryside and move to a more urban setting when we visit nzforme at So
This is A Treadmill
.  This journaler has been around
J-Land since September of
2003.  She always has interesting entries, whether she's
taking you along as she treks through Europe, goes dog
sledding in Alaska, fights to get a package delivered to (gasp!) her
own door, or dealing with the (probably
thousandth) barf-gift in the middle of her bed from her cat,
Jasmine.  She's witty and smart, andasure good-read every
time.  So go visit
her. Seriously.


And now, we'll
travel to the UK to meet up with a journaler who is rather new to
me.  That is Pam, at Almost
40
.  Well, actually I guess Pam would be fairly new
to everyone, as she just started this journal in August of
2007.  Pam began her journaling with an entry that
included a description of her Saturday night: concert blasting
on the TV, daughter moaning beside her on the couch, and a bottle of
wine -- excuse me, LARGE bottle of wine -- in her hand, which, she
assures us, is the only thing in the room with which she is NOT
frustrated!  Well!  After an entrance like that, you
just know this is going to be a fun read!  So go say hello and
see what she's up to this weekend.


And now I'm going to
jump back over the pond to return to my own neck of the woods, visiting
Angel's
Thoughts
 in Kentucky.  Angel began her
journal in 2006, just after she lost her mom to breast
cancer.  I think her journal was a way of dealing with the
loss, as well as a place to share her memories of her mom.  It
is a new journal to me, but I have truly enjoyed her personable writing
style and her descriptions of life with her family.  And I'm a
sympathetic reader because she recently was suckered into keeping a
tiny little beagle pup (and I've SOOOO been there).  In her
own words the pup is a "little girl that
I've decided to keep for my own (hearing an old Bugs Bunny cartoon in
my head.....I will love her, and pet her, and keep her.....and I will
name her Coco)."  So go say hello to Angel,
okay?


Now we're going to
drop by Silverdoe64 at
Yathink?.  I'm
rather new to her journal as well; she's been around since early
2007.  In a recent entry she vents some frustration --
"You know the saying: when a
door closes, another opens -to which I am replying today: "where the
heck are the dang doors that open"?  It seems I am stuck in
the hallway of closed doors.  And if that weren't bad enough
- it is as if I just keep banging on the closed doors until it
is painful."
Yeah.  I think we can all relate
to those feelings.  She is so funny and
she describes her family, her day-to-day life, her work,
everything with wit and charm.  There is
a nice flow to her writing, and I invite you to stop by and say
hello.


Well, that's six,
isn't it?  And I had to leave out so many
very, very good ones.  I hope I've been able to highlight a
few journals that are new to a lot of J-Landers.  If you drop by
my journal, check out a few more that I have listed in my side bar (a
side-bar which I really need to update), and visit with some of my
other favorites.  Have a good one, everyone!  Now, go
enjoy your reads!

Friday Blogplugs

Hey folks,

I haven't seen that many blogplugs. Be sure you are only tagging your best entries with blogplugs and tell your blogging friends to do the same if they would like an opportunity to be featured.


* Krissy celebrates her husband's remission of not just one, but two forms of cancer. Congratulations, Krissy and John!

* Cshel727 updates us on how she's doing, a belated New Year's blog entry. (It's alright, we forgive you. Blog on!)

* Val thanks her participants for participating in her latest Photo Scavenger Hunt.

* Penny is excited that her Pomeranian is now box trained.
---

Thanks for the variety of the blogplugs this week, Journalers. If
you want to be a Guest Editor or have some interesting (or useful)
blogplugs, send your submissions to JournalsEditor@aol.com and we'll
review them.

Have a great weekend!

~ Joseph

Friday, January 4, 2008

Friday Blogplugs

Hey folks,

I've
got some special blogplugs. Remember to tag your best entries that you
want to be included for blogplugs. Looks like I have a good handful of
plugs:


* I Stand Corrected spills secrets that witty writers use in their works. This is a shared Journal so, there's multiple authors that contribute, too. 

* Williard gives us a dose of his experiences with Brain Tumors. From the treatments to medical reference, he covers it all.

* Dana posted an inspiring video for our military members who couldn't be home during the holidays.

* (Not a blog) AIM Chat has now opened up the Political Caucus Chat. Discuss the results, from Obama to Huckabee and every candidate in between.

* Karen provides her response to the Weekend Assignment #196, regarding the WGA strike and how it affects her as a TV viewer.

* Beth has breaking medical news [satire], which can only be remedied by watching re-runs of "I Love Lucy," "Monty Python's Flying Circus" and "Bugs Bunny" cartoons.

* Val posted her Photo Scavenger Hunt which is due on Sunday, with the subject being "New." You still have time!

* Bucko really dislikes hypocrites. Find out why ...


* Sugar wished everyone a Happy New Year, with a posting seven minutes before the end of last year!
---

Thanks for the variety of the blogplugs this week, Journalers. Also, catch this week's Guest Editor: Krissy. If
you want to be a Guest Editor or have some interesting (or useful)
blogplugs, send your submissions to JournalsEditor@aol.com and we'll
review them.

Have a safe and relaxing weekend!

~ Joseph

Tags: , , ,

Guest Editor's Picks - January 4, 2008


Hi, I'm Krissy, your Guest Editor for
this week.  Some of you may know me from
my journal Sometimes
I Think
.  I started it in May
2004.  It is amazing to me that I have been a part of
this wonderful AOL journaling community for almost four
years.  During this time I have read a large variety
of journals. 

 

Reading your journals has been a
fantastic experience for me.  Some of your
journals have been funny, some have been
helpful, some have been full of delightful photography and
poetry.  What is most meaningful to me, however, is
how you have shared what goes on in your life, day in
and day out.  I am glad you have let me in to share in your
struggles and your triumphs.  All of you have touched me in a
very deep way.

 

I must now pick a
few journals as Guest Editor's Picks.  This
is hard, because I want to pick everybody!  I have decided
that I would like to choose five AOL journals which are
very special, but are perhaps not as well
known as some others.  These are journals which I
believe deserve more
exposure
.  I believe that
this is one thing that Guest Editor's Pick's
should be all about; getting to know each other in
our journaling community.  So without further ado,
here are some blogs which I am glad to give more exposure
to. 

 


Gem talks candidly about her
everyday life.  What really inspires me is how she is
open about the fact that she is bipolar, and how she wishes to help
others who are also, by sharing what she has learned during her journey
with this disorder.  I am really impressed by her entry of
December 31, 2007.  In it she shares what she has
learned in 2007 (and even earlier), and what
she aspires to in 2008.  Read the entry, it is well
worth it.   


Betty writes a journal that serves to
glorify the Lord.  That's
its purpose.  If you happen to be a
Christian, or even if you aren't, you are going
to find this journal fascinating.  You will find
interesting tales about Betty's corgi named Koda, and Betty
will share a lot of her life and feelings with you. 
Please check this journal out, you won't be sorry you
did.      

 


I began reading Irene's journal several
months ago.  She has Ovarian Cancer stage
IV, but it does not have her.  Irene is realistic,
but at the same time one of the most positive,
inspiring Survivors I know.  But
when I think of her, I don't think about how she is a Survivor, because
she is defined as so much
more than that.  When I think of her,
I think of how she is a positive, inspiring
woman.  I learn so much from
her!  Go meet her for yourself at her
journal.      

 


My Back Pages is written by
Melissa.  When I first began reading Melissa's
journal it was to follow her weight loss journey, and to
glean  weight loss tips.  Soon I appreciated
Melissa's journal for so much more.  In it she writes
about life with her husband and her teenage
daughter.  She also brings us along on her pregnancy
journey.  Yes, she and her husband will be having
a baby girl in April of 2008!  Melissa
also discusses the book she has written and her job as a
chemical dependency counselor.  Finally, I would be remiss in
not mentioning that Melissa relies on her Catholic
faith and her faith in Jesus to get
through her life.  Check her
out!               

 


Leslie is a recovering
alcoholic and has been sober since '92.  She's 52
years old.  Leslie acknowledges in her journal that
she has had a very difficult life, but writes about how she is
now joyfully living an everyday Catholic
life.  You will be enriched by reading
her journal.