The Webbies: 1000 Awesome Things

We're up to Thing #30, a lovely round number. And for this, we get to pick anything off the Webby list, anything that strikes our fancy?

I started with the idea of picking something practical, maybe something from the art section that might be of value to the KANEKO-UNO Library. But my internet connection is too slow to get any of those art sites to load properly. I had particularly high hopes for the Color Chart, and what I saw of it was beautiful. I'd love to explore it sometime when I have access to a higher speed connection. But I had to abandon it for now in favor of something a little more friendly to low-end DSL.

While there's a lot of potentially valuable stuff for libraries, I found myself drawn to the 1000 Awesome Things blog. I don’t necessarily see a strong library application for it, but I like it. Everyone needs a break from the nastiness and misery and meanness that permeates our world. This blog is like an antidote. It's upbeat and uplifting (without being saccharine or glurgy), reminding us to take joy in the simple pleasures life has to offer, like sleeping in our own bed after an exhausting trip or finding something you lost so long ago you gave up on it. I had my own experience with the latter this summer, when I found a turquoise and silver ring I'd lost over a year earlier. It was under the seat of my old car, which I was cleaning out to sell. I wore the ring every day until I lost it again last month. But I'm not worried. If it's meant to be, it'll find its way back to me.

The posts on 1000 Awesome Things are kind of rambling, rather like the above paragraph. They remind me of The Tick's monologues, and starting about halfway through the third post, every word I read, my mind heard spoken in Patrick Warburton's voice. Go on, pick any post, and imagine Patrick Warburton standing by the bus stop coffee vending machine and telling you these things. Bonus points if you imagine him in a blue superhero suit with emotive antennae.

And that just makes me smile. I think that's the whole point of the blog. To cheer you up no matter what kind of day you're having. And who doesn't need that?