Well, we didn't make it to the firemen's muster or the CT Folk Festival today. Instead, we picked up two foster dogs from Big Fluffy Dogs. One is a Great Pyrenees and the other is a Great Pyrenees/Labrador Retriever mix. They are both young puppies, each around eleven weeks old. They will both most likely only be staying with us a short while until their forever families are found.

Yesterday, I read that Bloglines was shutting down on October 1st. I had copied most of my RSS subscriptions over to Google Reader quite a while ago, but really haven't been using RSS readers much at all. Mostly, I visit blogs through various blog networks and find specific posts when they are recommended by friends on Facebook or Twitter. As an aside, this morning I took a Zogby survey that was asking about blog reading preferences and asked about things like RSS, Facebook and Twitter.

Anyway, I exported my feeds from Bloglines and imported them into Google Reader. I did a little bit of cleaning up, deleting blogs that have disappeared, fixing categories, and moving feeds for blogs that have moved. One thing that I like about Google Reader is that if you join a blog with a Google Friend Connect widget, it gets added to your subscriptions. It becomes a good way of seeing which blogs on various blog sharing networks have been updated.

One blog that I read regularly a few years ago was Gotta keep on keepin' on........ The top says,

Cancer again...that's 3 times in 2 years. This time it’s not breast cancer, but a new one called squamous cell carcinoma. New cancer, same old fighting spirit! My blog is still named for one of many songs that kept me going the first time around. Driving home from an upsetting appointment, I turned on the radio just as this line from Steve Miller Band's Jet Airliner was playing: "I've got to keep on keepin' on"....so I did just that. And I'll do it again.

When a friend of mine was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer, I had her get in touch with KT. KT had a great spirit. I saw that the blog was updated on September 3rd.

This is John. I just wanted to post a note on this, the first anniversary of Kate's passing. I am posting the same note on her Facebook page, so sorry to be redundant for those who see it both places.

September 3rd: my wife's birthday, and the anniversary of my wife's mothers passing from cancer. Today is September 11th. As I take a moment to remember friends who died in the World Trade Centers, I also remember Kate and Janice.

On a happier note, I stumbled across Barbara Ann Radnofsky's website. She is currently running for Attorney General in Texas. It 2006, she ran for U.S. Senate. In 2005, we met Barbara Ann at DemocracyFest in Austin, TX. Here is Barbara Ann, Kim and Fiona:

I also stumbled across a listing of an event at the Old State House in Connecticut: Does Media Bias Impact Elections? Join the Discussion. A panel moderated by CT-N Elections Coordinator Diane Smith will start at the Old State House at noon on September 15th. Sounds like a great event.

Now, Fiona has headed off to bed. The dogs are sleeping. Kim is reading. Barbara Ann is probably speaking somewhere right about now, and John has probably put his kids to bed. My earache prevails. The list of unread emails remains way too long, but it all fits together into something much bigger than any of us. Good night.