Friday, February 17, 2012

Ahead of the Curve

First, I have been a blogging slacker of late. What can I say? Stomach bugs. Two rounds of colds. A lice epidemic in the kids' schools. It's been a crazy winter. But I am recommitting.

I have bunch of recipe ideas to get up, but while I am working on that, here is a little fun Friday web distraction. Do you know  Pinterest? I discovered this totally addicting site when reading the Post Punk Kitchen Blog's year end round-up. I requested a Pinterest invite right away and within a view days, I was spending far too much time on the site.

So what is Pinterest? It is an online "pinboard" for saving images from the web. Essentially, you create "boards" (like bulletin boards) with a images and the corresponding location on the web. I have one for garden ideas, books to read, favorite recipes, cool crafts. You get the idea. It is basically a visual way to create a cache of bookmarks. When you sign up, you check off some things you are interested in and Pinterest "folks" (ie complex algorithm) picks a bunch of people (real people this time) for you to follow. And, if you have a Facebook account, it will find "friends" who have Pinterest accounts and try to connect you. Even without an account, you can search other people's boards. Want to build a new patio? Redecorate a room? Bake gluten free bread? Try Pinterest as search engine.

Here is an article from the NY Times about the incredible rise of this site.

I think I am also obsessed with Pinterest because this is one of the few times in my life I have been ahead of the curve. I actually had a Pinterest account before Josh and Dave, who are way more knowledgeable about the tech universe, even knew what it was. The last time I was ahead of the curve? I had the first Sheryl Crow album way before she became super famous. So there you have it.

Seriously, Pinterest is really cool. Give it a try.