I blogged earlier about the ability to view RSS feeds in a mail program like Windows Live Mail.  This is a really fabulous way to keep up on me while you check your e-mail.  For those of you who are on Facebook, you can add the "my RSS" application to your profile and subscribe to the same feed that I gave earlier:

http://russell-rutledge.spaces.live.com/feed.rss

You can view updates on my blog and Space by clicking on the RSS application on the left.  Alternatively, the application also puts a module on your profile page where you can see updates on me as well.

How fortunate - so many ways to stay up with me!

Russell

We just found out this week that Christina is pregnant!  See the post on our family blog.

Russ

I'm coming in to the wide world of blogging!  I never saw myself as one who would blog.  I really considered it a waste of time, and I couldn't imagine why people would spend time writing their thoughts, posting them on the Internet, and then just waiting in the hopes that someone would come and read.  But recently I've really seen the light and have gotten excited about blogging.

It started when I got a summer internship working on Windows Live Spaces.  It's Microsoft's social networking site, which includes blogs, among other things.  Since I've been at Microsoft I've enjoyed reading blogs of other people and teams.  What always got me, though, was the fact that a blogger has to post and wait in the hopes that some soul will check his blog and read what he wrote.  Well . . . no more!  I learned this summer that most blogging sites will publish your new blog entries to an RSS feed* to which anyone can subscribe.  I'd like to blog regularly and have friends and family subscribe to the RSS feed of my new blog entries.  It should be an easy way to stay in touch - I just post my blogs to one place and everyone who's interested can see what I write through the RSS feed.  Some mail programs like Outlook or Windows Live Mail even integrate RSS feeds, so you can see the contents of the RSS feed (my new blogs and posts) right along with your normal e-mail.

If you're interested in keeping up with me, add this feed URL to whatever RSS reader you have:

http://russell-rutledge.spaces.live.com/feed.rss

If you don't have an RSS reader, you can download, install, and configure Windows Live Mail as your new mail program.  Within Windows Live Mail you can subscribe to an RSS feed by clicking 'Feeds' in the lower-left, then 'Add a feed', then providing the URL I gave up above.  It's as simple as that!  Now, when you check your e-mail make sure to click on the 'Feeds' button and you will be able to see any new blog entries that I have posted.

Well, happy reading!  I really look forward to sharing the happenings of my life with you.

Russell

*For those who haven't heard, and RSS feed is just a fancy word for a list of newly-published items of a web site.