As a dedicated blog enthusiast, I subscribe to more than 100 feeds in my reader, which I very regularly peruse (or 118 to be precise).
I read about everything from fashion and design to entrepreneurs and entertainment, suffering withdrawal when I am somehow prevented from checking in. Blogs have convincingly replaced the television as my preferred pursuit while around the house, and my attention span for anything else has become quite short, as I’m sure my family will attest.
Anyway, a careful examination of the trends, as evidenced by the screen shot below, suggests I have read more than 1700 posts in the past 30 days. Yikes.
Now don’t be fooled. I’m not one who likes to waste time. Instead, I thrive on learning, creativity and inspiration, so every feed must have some redeeming quality that warrants its position on my subscription list. While I have no strict criteria, I do enjoy snappy writing, appealing photography, and lots of informative links that lead to new discoveries. Bloggers beware however; I am as fickle a fair weather friend as they come! If I’m no longer interested, the boring blog is let go from my list.
Ottawa blogs are of course, the exception to my ridiculously arbitrary rules. I follow them frequently to keep up on what cool and controversial in this Canada’s capital. I have noted many of these in past posts, but keep on discovering more. Here are a select few of my latest finds, this time with a focus on city living.
URBsite is most definitely one of my new favourites. Combining impressive knowledge of history, geography, design and architecture with enlightening photography, the Midcentury Modernist chronicles the evolution of Ottawa’s streets, landscape and buildings from historic to modern times. More than sharing a passion, he is doing us all a great service. Hats off to Ottawa’s own Midcentury Modernist!
Images of Centretown, maintained by Charles Akben-Marchand, is a fascinating look at contemporary life in Ottawa’s central core. With camera in hand, Akben-Marchand carefully captures all that characterizes his community, and details what is being built up, knocked down or at least cause for some consideration.
West Side Action also offers a steady stream of excellent insight into Ottawa’s urban development. Written by Eric Darwin, who doesn’t hesitate to make clever and occasionally contrarian observations, West Side Action documents the bumps, cracks and potholes along the road to a better city.
The Ottawa Project, by U of O student and emerging urbanist David McClelland, provides interesting and intelligent commentary on city life with an emphasis on transit issues. McClelland clearly feels strongly that Ottawa has a vibrant and exciting future, and is committed to putting the positive forward whenever possible.
So, I salute my fellow city-building bloggers. These bold few are doing what they can to contribute to our changing community.
In my own way, this girlaboutOtown aims to do the same.
Images from me and URBsite.
I’m a Google Reader addict too. A few months ago I moved my laptop to a spot on the kitchen counter and now I cook and read, read and cook — it’s an obsession.
Thanks for the new Ottawa links, I’m off to check them out!
Thanks for the shout out!
Thanks for the link! I follow your blog via Blogawa.ca
118 blogs is a lot to read. I try not to pay attention to how any blogs/feeds I follow, but it’s enough to keep me from reading books.
I spend so much time taking photos that I barely have time to post them! (If only I were retired like Eric!) I’ve got plenty of posts in the works; expect to see more in the coming days and weeks…
I know. I never kept track before either. I just found the “trends” function this week (while reading my blogs, of course), and was quite surprised to see how many were on my list!! Thanks for reading too.