In stark contrast to my own writing habits, some of my friends have blogs that they actually update at least once every couple weeks. In the past, I bookmarked their blogs so that I could check them about once a week and see if there were any updates. Of course, once the chosen blog loaded, I would quickly scan the top of the page for the most recent post, either checking the content or the date to determine whether or not I had already read it. With the combination of loading up many of my friends’ blogs and my spending quite a bit of time reading some other blogs as well (Engadget and Lifehacker), I realized that I need to find an RSS reader to help me save some time in getting through the latest posts.

I searched around on Google and a few technology-related sites where I knew that I could find information and write-ups on both online and offline RSS readers. Eventually I arrived at Google’s very own “Google Reader.” I quickly signed in with my Google account and began “subscribing” to some of the feeds of blogs that I like to stay abreast of.

I added technology blogs, friends’ blogs, some of Maranatha’s blogs, and soon enough started searching around for some blogs of my favorite Milwaukee radio talkshow hosts as well. Subscribing to blogs is simple. All you have to do is click the “Add subscription” link, enter the web address of the blog, and click “Add.” After finding that I could create folders, I began filing each feed away into its proper location.

Now Google Reader shows me which blogs have new posts. I’m able to load up the post inside of the Reader, with photos and even videos (as I discovered with one of my my college professor’s video posts of his newborn son). Like Gmail and Picasa, I am able to star the posts that I feel are of special importance so that I can easily refer back to them at a later time.

If you find yourself wondering which of your friends have updated their blogs today, and you’re sick of constantly clicking through your bookmarks to their blogs, or even trying to remember the web addresses to their blogs, set yourself up some subscriptions through Google Reader.