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I recently upgraded my browser to Safari 4.0. (I’ve beenusing some version of Safari forever.) The cool new feature is called Top Sites, which allows you to see thumbnails of up to twenty-four of your favorite sites all at once. It makes for fast loading and easier navigating.
Now, several weeks ago, when my hubby first got on the Safari 4.0 bandwagon, he was trying to tell me how cool it was. “Hey, come check this out,” he called out one evening.
Since at the time, I was simultaneously making dinner, shushing a crying kid, and talking on the phone, I was not impressed.
Then, five days ago, I did some standard upgrades to my laptop and when I launched my browser, Ta da! There was Safari 4.0, waiting to wow me.
To be honest, as soon as I launched it, I thought, “What the bleep is wrong with Safari?” Then I remembered, “Oh yeah. That thumbnail thinghubby was trying to show me.” Turns out, that thumbnail thing is pretty cool, if a little ... well, creepy. There was my life in twelve websites.
Let’s face it, I spend a lot of time on line. It was odd to see my work day and free time boiled down so succinctly. But what could I do? These were the sites I visited nearly daily. Safari had me pegged. My own laptop knew me too well.
So here’s my top twelve sites:
EmilyMcKay.com – my own website. Please don’t go there now. It’s in desperate need of an update. I’m seeking professional help. Really. 
JauntyQuills.com – The Sisterhood of the Jaunty Quills – the other group blog I participate in. It’s a great group of writers.
Amazon.com – because ... well, you know. You’re readers too.
IMDB.com – When I was kid, I disrupted every movie my parents took me to. I’d poke them mid-way through the movie and ask, “Where do I know that actor from?” Now, I have IMDB.Aaaahhhhh....
Mail.google.com – my gmail account. One of my new year's resolutions was to check this account everyday. This is concrete proof that I’m succeeding. Now if Safari could help me loose those last five pounds ...
Weather.com – we’re in the middle of a two year drought in Texas, so I check for rain daily. Apparently it’s not enough for me too look out the window.
Groups.yahoo.com – this one surprised me. I get tons of email from loops, but wasn’t aware that I went to site that often.
Apple.com/trailers – Back when I was PC (pre-children), hubby and I went to the movies every weekend. Now I just download movie previews and watch those. When I’m on deadline, I'll argue passionately that watching previews is part of my creative process. I’m probably full of crap.
Eharlequin.com – well, you know
metacritic.com – I go here to read reviews of movies I don’t go see. (Are you seeing a trend here?) Here’s the thing, when other people area round and I’m suppose to be working, if I starting playing movie trailers on my laptop, then the gig is up. But I can read movie reviews and unless someone is looking over my shoulder, they don't know I'm not working.
community.eharlequin.com/blogs – so I can come here and visit with these fabulous ladies.
photobucket.com – For uploading photos, mostly for the various blogs.
So there you have it. My life in twelve sites. With the exception of my freaky obession with when it will rain next, all of my sites have to do with writing, reading or watching movies. I feel very one dimensional. Okay, two dimensional, but still.
So what are your favorite sites? (Maybe someone can help me out of my rut!)
I’ll pick (at random) from those who reply to win a copy of one of my books.
www.EmilyMcKay.com
Tempted into the Tycoon's Trap ~ Desire, February 2009
In the Tycoon's Debt ~ Desire, September 2009
http://jauntyquills.com/
favourite sites
In favorites or bookmarked I have:
IMDB= yup, very important gotta have
publishing houses like eharlequin, Ellora's Cave, Samhain, The Wild Rose Press, Amber Quill
Canada Post
2 banks
7 ebook places I can order from using Paypal
Fictiondb and Shelfari- Online book shelves
Google only becase that's my homepage and I'm on gmail
Love is an Exploding Cigar
TV guide
weather
Facebook and Twitter
Christa ~ Quiet Canadians ~ 2008-2009 Challenge Blog
My Shelfari Page
Bookmarks
Tropical Weather - very useful for hurricane season
Amazon - useful for buying backlisted books
Fiction DB - useful for finding author's books and book covers for use on my book challenge reviews
Map Quest - useful for finding places and how to get there from here
National Geographic ~ love their pictures of the day and well as some of their stories
More author blogs than I can possibly list
And a whole bunch of other places
December 2008 MEMBER of the MONTH!
A true teacher is a person who, at the end of the school day, still likes children!
I've got the Google Chrome
I've got the Google Chrome browser that does something like that. When I open a new tab it shows a picture of the sites I visit regularly. Nice and easy, I like it! Mine are:
Facebook
Sihouette Desire Author Blog- So I can always get to it easily!
eharlequin.com-So I can read some daily reads and check out the new books coming out. And then buy some. Or write some reviews.
perezhilton.com-I'm so addicted!
People.com-Now I rarely have to buy the magazine, I read it sooner online!
http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/bedroom-blog/ -The Cosmo magazine bedroom blog. I got hooked in the fake drama!
janetevanovich.com- I always check it. There's something new each day and every other day or so there's new Q&A's. I love her books!
chapters.ca-Books, gotta have em!
imdb.com- I'm just as bad. I'll pause a movie to run to my laptop cause it'll be driving me crazy if I know the actor or not!
ew.com- Especially during the regular tv season, the Entertainment Weekly site gets all the good scoops!
Tons of author blogs/author websites so I can get inside scoops on upcoming books.
When I have a little money I buy books. If any is left I buy food and clothes. -Erasmus
-Nicole-
a few that are not on your
a few that are not on your list :
The Book Binge
The Goddess Blog
The good, the bad, the unread
Riding with the top down
Deadline Hellions
chick with books
Dear Author
Stacy's place on earth
Life is an explding cigar
All about romance
hope that helped !!!
Oh, that's easy!
Hotmail (does that count?), then eharlequin, then amazon, then publishers weekly, then Facebook (loving Facebook!), my fav authors websites (lots of). I remember when I found the web and sat for an entire day (make that week!) just searching. And I love to look up movies too - old and new! Hard to imagine a time without it.
Robbie
www.robyngrady.com
The Billionaire's Fake Engagement - Desire US Sept. 09
Devil in a Dark Blue Suit - Presents US Dec 09
Emily
I love finding new sites to check out, mine are fairly standard, eHarlequin, Amazon, the bank, Facebook etc. But I've picked up a few from above that I'll check out tomorrow - doubtless when I'm supposed to be working. So - thank you - I think?
www.sandrahyatt.com
The Magnate's Pregnancy Proposal, Silhouette Desire, Jan 2010
Hi Emily
Mine are Eharl, Amazon, Petticoats and Pistols, Facebook (I'm enjoying it!), Tim McGraw, Days of our Lives (If I miss an episode
) , a bunch of author sites, UC Irvine, and let's not forget, Macy's, Ebay, Brighton .... the list of stores goes on. During the holidays, I did 50% of my shopping online because they all offered Free Shipping. And no TAX. It's the way to go!!
Charlene Sands
Texan's Wedding Night Wager 9/09
Napa Valley Vows Trilogy - May, July and August 2010
www.charlenesands.com OR www.petticoatsandpistols.com OR www.charlenesands.com/myspace
Bold, rugged, passionate heroes and always REAL GOOD
exploding cigar
I'd never been to that blog, but I checked it out, since two of you mentioned it. It looks great. And I know a couple of those authors from other places. How have I missed it? Hmm ...
So thanks, Christa and Emmanuelle.
Willworkforbooks, I actually love ew.com too. I can get lost for hours there. I have to really limit myself and not go very often, 'cause it'll be a whole day wasted!
www.EmilyMcKay.com
Tempted into the Tycoon's Trap ~ Desire, February 2009
In the Tycoon's Debt ~ Desire, September 2009
http://jauntyquills.com/
Fiction DB
Omigosh, how did I not know about this site???
Now I can feed my addiction to old Loveswept romances. One of my secret fantasies has been to track down, oh, say all of the old Kay Hoopers or something like that. Now I can find them. Or at least read about them. <g>
Cool!
www.EmilyMcKay.com
Tempted into the Tycoon's Trap ~ Desire, February 2009
In the Tycoon's Debt ~ Desire, September 2009
http://jauntyquills.com/
Emmanuelle
Man, you know all of the great blog sites, don't you?
I started working my way down your list and quickly realized I could spend all day reading those. That seems like great fun! Thanks!
www.EmilyMcKay.com
Tempted into the Tycoon's Trap ~ Desire, February 2009
In the Tycoon's Debt ~ Desire, September 2009
http://jauntyquills.com/
Robyn
I just got started on Facebook this past week. I planned on sneaking on and taking a few weeks to learn the ropes (in hopes that I could avoid making a fool of myself). Turns out, that doesn't happen on Facebook. I think people started to find me within hours. So now I'm just stumbling along like a baby deer. But hope to love Facebook soon. And I've already reconnected with people from high school, which is both cool and terrifying. Do I really need to be rejected by people from high school all over again?
www.EmilyMcKay.com
Tempted into the Tycoon's Trap ~ Desire, February 2009
In the Tycoon's Debt ~ Desire, September 2009
http://jauntyquills.com/
some of my favorites
Romance Bandits
Lonely Planet
Wowio
Off The Mark
Romance Junkies
shopping on line
Charlene, I'm with you on the shopping. I do most of my Christmas shopping on line too. It makes me so happy to avoid the crowds and do everything super early. (It's about time to start shopping actually <g>).
Somehow, the last couple years I've had deadlines (and one year a baby due) right around Christmas. I shopped online 'cause I had to. If I didn't get it all done before Thanksgiving, no one would have gotten presents. <g>
www.EmilyMcKay.com
Tempted into the Tycoon's Trap ~ Desire, February 2009
In the Tycoon's Debt ~ Desire, September 2009
http://jauntyquills.com/
Ahhhhh Displacement Activities........
Hi Emily!
VERY interesting post. And I'm loving all the answers....The web is SUCH a good research tool (the line I use on my dh consistently!) But true, too........
Mine, Amazon, B&N, IMDB (Love that place. very addictive!), Google, (homepage), Gateworld, for all things Stargate, (sigh, addicted there, too), Movie Poopers (for when I MUST know how a movie ends. I know, that's terrible!), Desire blog, cuz I love catching up with all of my girls!, Author sites and blogs, And DSW online, because I can get their GREAT shoes shipped to me!!
Maureen
www.maureenchild.com
www.maureenchild.blogspot.com
sites
Some of the sites I surf
eharlequin
Yahoo
facebook
myspace
various blogs
Amazon Elloras
Amazon
Elloras Cave
Petticoats and Pistols
Lauries Laudanum
Book Binge
Beth Williamsons Blog
Plotmonkeys
Nalini Singh's Weblog
some more
Audible -all kinds of audio books, including Harlequin audio books
The Writing Playground
re: Favourite Sites
It seems like I visit a lot of the same sites as the majority here - eHarlequin, Amazon, IMDB etc.
Emily, I love IMDB too. I think it's great to be able to look up anything about a movie or an actor, especially when I'm sitting there watching a movie and the character looks familiar.
What did we ever do before we had the internet, eh?
Maxine
"His Ring, Her Baby"
Silhouette Desire April 2010
http://www.maxinesullivan.com
Movie poopers
Maureen, I love this site! Wow, I'm so glad you mentioned it.
There are a lot of movies I won't go see unless someone tells me the ending. If characters are going to die, I want to know it ahead of time! I don't want a repeat of Message in a Bottle!
www.EmilyMcKay.com
Tempted into the Tycoon's Trap ~ Desire, February 2009
In the Tycoon's Debt ~ Desire, September 2009
http://jauntyquills.com/
Desire/Author site
Does desireauthors.com still work because I had it in my favourites and about a month ago It wouldn't work anymore?
Christa ~ Quiet Canadians ~ 2008-2009 Challenge Blog
My Shelfari Page
audible
Minna, I love audible. That's how I discovered the wonderful Study series by Maria V. Synder. Those books are awesome. For me, audio books are particularly great for things I know I'd never actually read on my own -- that latest non-fiction book everyone is talking about or some literary fiction someone loaned me. That kind of thing.
Maxine, I don't know what we did before the internet. Watched more tv?
www.EmilyMcKay.com
Tempted into the Tycoon's Trap ~ Desire, February 2009
In the Tycoon's Debt ~ Desire, September 2009
http://jauntyquills.com/
I had a class on Safari earlier this week.
Learned some interesting things. Do you know you can drag a PDF or jpeg file onto the Safari icon on your dock and it will display? Or that you can drag a URL's icon into the bookmark folder/location that you want it in and avoid all theclicks and typing of where to put it? Or that when you're in a google search, if you want to go straight back to the original results screen you can click on the orange circle/back-arrow thingy?
Or here's a cool thing. When you're in that cool-looking "Top Sites" screen, you cn click on "edit" in the lower left-hand section and get an "X" and a "pin"for each of the sites and delete them (with the x) or "pin" them with the pin thingy (which will leave them in your "top site" always.
As for my top sites. All related to Harlequin and Audible and Facebook and dh's shopping habits (ebay and so on).
I noticed at least a couple of you mentioning Audible as one of your top sites! How's about stopping by my audio book discussion thread to tell us what you're listening to?
Penn
Penn-eHarlequin ~ Alternative Formats Host
Join the Book (Reading) Challenge!!! It’s for a good cause and it’s FUN!
audible
I like Audible also because those books can't go missing in the mail (there are more books that have been sent to me, but which have disappeared -read: been stolen- than I care to count) and in order to use their gift certificates the person who gets it doesn't have to own a credit card in order to use it, unlike for instance with Amazon.
fave site
All my faves have already been mentioned except two:
iTunes - I got my first iPod for Christmas and it's still my special toy.
I've put heaps of songs on it, plus quite a few audiobooks. How did I ever live without audiobooks???
Wikipedia - I seem to be on there all the time looking up stuff. Not that I can think of anything off the top of my head that I've looked for... but still, I seem to be there a lot.
www.rachelbailey.com
Claiming His Bought Bride, Desire, Jan 2010
The Blackmailed Bride's Secret Child, Desire, Feb 2010
fictiondb
I usually visit there at least once a day if not more. I love the fact that I can look up all an authors backlist or all books in a line printed. I like using it when I write my book reviews here for the challange because I can find the info there and I can usually find a cover for the book.. 9 times out of 10 I can see if the book is related to other(s)/part of series/mini-series
They plan lots of changes to the site starting today, hopefully it'll be an easy transition
Christa ~ Quiet Canadians ~ 2008-2009 Challenge Blog
My Shelfari Page
My internet life in a nutshell
eharlequin (because I'm totally addicted to this site)
Google (various from Googlemaps to gmail to Googlegroups to Google documents -- I use them all)
Yahoo (various but mostly Yahoo email and news snippets)
imdb.com (because I am a movie junkie)
Amazon.com (because I'm a book junkie)
bn.com (see above reason)
m-w.com (I find myself constantly doubting my spelling and word use abilities, so I access Merriam-Webster all the time.)
chase.com (banking/bill-paying)
louisville.edu (U. of L. -- because it's not only my alma mater but also my employer, and I work mostly from home...when I'm not on one of these other sites
YouTube.com -- again, because I'm addicted
cbs.com -- to catch up on shows I've missed completely or in part
facebook.com -- not every day but often enough that it shows up in my thumbnails on IE 8.0
Less consistently but more than I should because there's always something funny there:
failblog.org
cracked.com
Adopt a shelter pet. Save a life; gain a best friend for life.
View my DD's very public video acting debut at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E-v05kMucw.
July 2009 Member of the Month
A Few of My Favorite Sites
Here are mine in random order
wj