I'm adding a "shoutbox" to the blog (look to your right) - for those that wish to leave comments. Have fun - but I'm still trying to work out the colors. It'll look better in a few days.

After using various XML feedreaders for awhile, I've decided that I don't like Bottomfeeder, RSSreader, or SharpReader. I do like Amphetadesk, 'nntp//rss', and RSSowl, each for different reasons. I'm stuck with Bottomfeeder for awhile, however, as it's the only one of the bunch that supports Atom feeds. And although I figured out how to use the OPML export feature in Bottomfeeder, it's not as good as the same feature in RSSowl. 'nntp//rss' is probably the easiest one to use, but the java applet is painfully slow - and it doesn't support Atom or OPML. RSSowl, however, has trouble reading a lot of valid feeds ("valid" according to feedvalidator.org) - which tells me that it reads more strict formatting just fine, but it doesn't have the "parse at all costs" support like Amphetadesk does (for slightly less strict formatted feeds). What RSSowl is lacking is drag-and-drop support (for categorizing feeds - should be able to move feeds from one category to another simply by dragging it with the mouse), and of course it doesn't support Atom - and I hate the fact that you have to double-click in the left pane to get a feed to open - and that it has to load the file every single time you click on the feed - 'nntp//rss' in Outlook Express allows you to simply "synchonize all" and then single click on a feed in the left pane and instantly see all the topics in the top pain and the content in the bottom pane. RSSowl really needs a simple "refresh all" button like that in a top corner or something that retrieves all the news any time you press it.

With the discovery of the Asian bird flu at a chicken farm in Texas, and the recent Mad Cow scare, I guess the the only thing left at McDonalds to eat is the Filet o' Fish. Scary.

Having now tried all four flavors of Diet Rite soda, I can officially announce that the Red Raspberry flavor is my favorite. Followed by Cola (my second favorite), Tangerine, and lastly Kiwi Strawberry (my least favorite).

We've seen a few videos in the last couple of days, including "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" (Sandra Bullock), "Crazy in Alabama", and "What Women Want" (Mel Gibson).