Monster Mashup

That's what I created when I played around with this week's toys. I wound up with an iGoogle page tricked out like a Christmas tree. Cute cat photo widgets? Sure, I'll take two. Photos from NASA? Why not? Cleaning tips? Yeah, need that one. And I just love how the sun travels across the top of the page throughout the day. (Those little details make such a difference.)

Best of all, I mashed together Google Calendar and Remember the Milk and made it show up on my page, along with the day's weather forecast. I do this with some trepidation, since it essentially means I am currently maintaining two calendars, which is a great big time management no-no in my book. I think, however that I have discovered a way to sync my trusty Palm with my Google Calendar, without having to buy a smart phone to do it. It does involve some software downloads and installations, so who knows if I will really be able to pull it off?

Anyway, I probably spent more time exploring and playing around with mashups than any other single Project Play gizmo. The zip code census dashboard has me awestruck. Such a simple way to get that demographic info you need for the report that's overdue. (How did anybody get anything done Way Back When?) I couldn't ever get it to load right, but if Every Block Chicago works the way I think it's supposed to, it would be cool to have something similar for one's own locality. I can get squarely behind this kind of user-generated content.

Too much of a good thing? Maybe. I pared down my iGoogle page with an eye toward making it functional instead of including every bell and whistle I could find. Still, I had to keep the Bush Quote Generator. You know what they say about all work and no play.