Google Tools

I've played around with some of these off and on for awhile. I've been using google "text" on my phone for some time - for example, I'll text weather minneapolis to 466453 and it will text me back with the weather for Mpls. I'm still trying to resist getting a data plan on my phone - I'm on the computer much of the day as it is. GPS would be handy though.

I set up a few google alerts - Franken, my last name, and the name of my blog. When I set it up for the blog, I didn't use quotes, so I'm getting some interesting results. I may just keep using this; changing or adding alerts as something strikes my fancy. I do have a gmail account, but don't use it very much.

I have a calendar set up in google that I did some time ago. I'll confess I haven't used it much because I tend to use Outlook calendars for work related things, a print calendar on the side of the fridge (so my husband can see it too!) and my cell phone calendar to sound off to remind me of things: "Don't forget the cat food!" It could be useful for collaboration, I just haven't needed it for such a thing.

Sites could come in handy for projects - maybe if I get ambitious, I could set up a genealogy site for all my Irish relatives to contribute to. If Jim ever gets going on my Swedish genealogy I could do one for that too. :-)