Thing 8

I see what's going on here.... the startup pages are like the SuperWalmarts trying to take over the world - turning into one stop places for your internet needs. Whatever happened to "Surfing the Web"? Is that out like school on a snow day? It's not like we have to drive around or expend energy to go from one site to another. Sometimes the journey from one site to another allows you to find other treasured troves on the net. If you only go to one customized place all the time, you'll miss out on the other things that are out there!

Oh Sam-I-Am, why don't you go and see
What's waiting for you and me
Not on NetVibes or a one stop site
Surf around from noon 'til night!
Don't give in to Pageflakes either
Take a seat, take a breather
The whole world you have access to
But your start page will limit you!

(Inspired by Dr. Suess's Green Eggs and Ham)


Alright - I know what you're thinking. I could be the Sam-I-Am by not taking advantage of the Web 2.0 way of doing things. So I chose to do a Netvibe page instead of Pageflakes. Pageflakes reminds me too much of snowflakes and the bitter cold! I loaded it with the following widgets: Web Note (things to do list/post it feature), Word of the Day (Math teachers use words too Thing 2!, CNN news, New York Times, local news from the Freep, a cool Widget called Bordelize that just has thumbnails of cool pictures that were recently posted up such as this one and this one, the local weather, a game called 3 foot Ninja that doesn't seem to work, and finally an education blog called Weblogg-ed.

Sam-I-Am, it's alright, it's okay
Where widgets and content come to play
In one place, saving energy and time
Your carpal tunnel syndrome will be benign
From less surfing and typing in
Let the chapter of start up pages begin.