Widgets

Seriously, can this year go by any faster? I'm just getting over my candy-corn high, haven't even begun to prepare myself for the overstuffed feelings of Thanksgiving, and now I have to think about that Christmas shopping list that's already looking a bit too long for my budget!

If you're having trouble keeping track of time (like yours truly), you could paste a handy countdown widget on your blog, or on your Mac's dashboard to remind you how many days left until the big day, or the alternative: ignore the countdown altogether. But what fun is that?

There's plenty of widget options over at Widgetbox, including these two cute Santa and Christmas Tree versions and some fun holiday widgets like the Christmas Tree Decorator and the Holiday Tradition Generator.

Those last two I mentioned aren't particularly helpful, but they are pretty fun to play with . . . and they keep my mind off the shrinking size of my wallet!

If you're into pimping out your webpage or blog with widgets (and who isn't), then you should totally check out Labpixies. It's a free site that lets you embed tons of cool, fun, and helpful widgets on your blog, Facebook or Myspace page, or anywhere you want to add a widget. Hey, you could even add one to your TeamSugar profile page!

All of the widgets are free, so go crazy! You can add a weather widget to your Facebook page, and make all those people living up in the North jealous of your fab weather down in Florida, or add an eye-catching Flickr slideshow to keep those eyeballs on your blog for longer.

Although part of my job is to surf daily news and other blogs, I do sometimes find myself knee deep in tabs to websites that have nothing to do with what I'm working on. . . and most (naturally) are total time wasters. Although everyone deserves a little bit of a mind break, it's easy to get sucked into surfing the web – before you know it, it's 4:30 and you still have a mountain of work to finish!

So for the times when I just want to let my fingers aimlessly click away, I like to use a dashboard or desktop timer - like this free one from Baldgeeks – and give myself a set time to waste. Whether it be five or fifteen minutes, I'll know when my time is up. Plus, it's much easier for me to get back to the daily grind after a quick check-in to see what Brad and Angie are up to. Don't ask why, it just is.