The second "staying sane" class brought up RSS, which sounds scary, but I ASSURE you it is not.

I prefer calling RSS, "Subscribing to Websites". It was not something that came easily to me. My web surfing habit was basically, go to a website I like, read it, and then go to another. However, last year I attended James's Web 2.0 class and got hooked on Google Reader. What Google Reader (or another RSS program or site) does is collect stories you might want to read and put them in one place. I don't find it super useful for sites like the NY Times that I read every day, but rather sites that are interesting to me, but that I don't always have time to read, or don't post regularly enough to become habit forming.

To sign up for Google Reader, you need to create a Google account. If you already use Gmail, you can use that account if you want. If you don't trust Google with your data, (I don't yet with work-related stuff), there are others out there. One I've tried and considered using is Netvibes.

I was going to write a tutorial, but what I would have written is much less entertaining than this video that James has played in his Web 2.0 classes that I really like: