Websites to start the day with?
 

I long ago stopped reading the morning paper in the morning.

Now in the morning I jump online and check:

wtop.com for local news / traffic
Washington Post
CNN
LoT
Drudge
and I just added a new one...

Google trends. It's fascinating to see what other people are up to. What in the heck is "povidone iodine" and why are so many people suddenly interested in it?

Miceage and LoT are the two I usually have time to check before heading to work :) For news, usually just yahoo or something.

I've never been a morning news checker. I only got hooked on news sites because they're the only thing I feel safe checking while I'm on the job.

In the morning, it's what I check all the time - email, LoT, maybe digg if I have time (and probably don't).

I check out Fark pretty regularly.

I visit OCWeekly on Friday's when the new issue is out... even though I live in the IE - I dig the OC version so much more.

My google home page is pretty customized to the weather, major news stories and inclused /.

I'm also fond of my dilbert cartoon.

I don't have a lot of time before I head to work, but I do scan yahoo news, huffpost, but mostly hit LoT first thing. I will only hit CNN or any other spot like that if something drastic is happening (like CM blowing up something at Universal);)

LoT, wOOt, maybe MSNBC, digg, and I'll often turn on SportsCenter on the teevee.

asstr.org for starting the day the way g*d mandated.

Actually my 15 minute pre-commute online routine is:

1. Email
2. Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle
3. MousePad
4. LJ
5. LoT
6. Take a shower
7. Go to work.

I leave the news aggregating for later in the day.

1. CNN.com
2. Honolulu Advertiser and or the Honolulu Star Bulletin
3. Facebook
4. LoT
5. Huffington Post
6. Advocate.com
7. Gmail

In no particular order.
:)

I recently discovered Google Trends as well. It's fun trying to figure out why a lot of people are looking up what they are looking up.

I don't go to sites so much as let the news come to me via RSS and click through anything that looks interesting. My RSS subscription list is several hundred entries long.

I do hit MousePad and LoT pretty early on, of course.

Ya just had to go there, didn't ya?

And you just had to click didn't ya? :D

Didn't actually click: just looked at what the link was.

Neener!

Interesting...

Today on Google trends, #3 sandwiched in between "FBI Jobs" and "Fairfax county public schools" is:

"Disney Vacation Club"

I wonder, is Google trends at least in part location based? Will you SoCal'ers see "Fairfax County Schools" as #4?

Or is it more personalized than that? Since google knows I have an affinity for Disney based on my searches and the web sites I have visited are items related to Disney being ranked higher just for me? If so, why is the "Vacation Club" coming up? Am I seeing an ad serendipitously inserted onto the google trends results?


EDITED TO ADD:

Nope, it looks like it was just my paranoia. I tried hitting Google trends from several different PC's on different LAN's in different areas of the country on diffrent ISP's, using an atomizer, and from a Linux distro that runs off my flash drive (with all cookies and history cleared). They all gave the exact same result set. So apparently the Disney Vacation Club is hot today. Are they running a special or something?

If I'm lucky (as I clearly am today, and believe I will be this week), it's:

LoT
iGoogle page (which gives me my basic CNN and then I usually click into CNN
Weather.com (especially these days!!)
Then throughout the day, probably facebook, or a random assortment of random sites.
Slate.com

I tend to visit a wide variety of sites related to work while on the job, from the CDC and NHS, to Uniforms magazine and Building Management.

Not required reading, though.

Moonliner - Here's what I'm seeing right now on Google Trends:

Today's Hot Trends (USA)
1. whitney casey
2. fbi jobs
3. disney vacation club
4. fairfax county public schools
5. fbi hiring
6. fbijobs.gov
7. iphone could not activate cellular data network
8. columbus dispatch
9. jason sehorn
10. fiesta bowl results

It does say "USA" so I think it's the same everywhere in the country.

Excellent! Oh, and in relation to #10 on the list....

Hook 'um Horns!

And I saw the vacation club yesterday at around #9.

I know in Florida through the Spring they're running a buy 4 nights, get 3 free deal (or was it buy 3, get 4?), so perhaps that and/or other promotions are piquing interest.

Those specials are not related to the DVC however.

I did notice that if you look at the related links for the "Disney Vacation Club" trends entry you get "drphil.com, www.drphil.com, best life diet, oprah, oprah thyroid" so I'm guessing the club got a mention on Oprah and/or Dr. Phil.

Oh I know, but I was guessing that Disney would be pushing the DVC along with it.

Disney has really been pushing DVC. I got this email a while back:

Don't know if it is related, but apparently DVC annual dues statements are hitting mailboxes this week.