Whatever happened to my topics of interest?

Yeah, I know I haven't been blogging much. Sorry about that.

Over the past few months, one weekly feature that you could count on me blogging every week was my Topics of Interest post about what I'd been reading online the previous week.

Well, last week I discovered Google Reader, which allows me to view the news feed from various websites, then collect the stories (or links to the stories) that I like for future reference. You'll notice a new box to the right labeled "Haley's shared items". This box will dynamically update as I add new stories to be shared. You can even visit my Haley's Shared Items page on Google, if you want to browse all that I've been reading.

Birthday twins and other landmarks

Happy Birthday to Jeff and Bob, who both turn 40 today! And to Uncle Ron, whose birthday is also today. (Three family birthdays on Feb. 7!)

Happy Birthday to Mom, Jules, Aunt Pat, Uncle Dene, Dave's Mom, Cindy, Diane and Steve, who all have birthdays within the past few weeks or in the upcoming few weeks.

It's a busy time of year for birthdays in my family.

And Dad, I'll be thinking of you on the 12th.

Fantasy blogs

I stumbled on the concept of fantasy blogging tonight. I was looking at who, during my short hiatus from blogging, had been visiting my site over the past three weeks. According to Site Meter, I had three visits coming from a website that's a fantasy blog stock market. Apparently, The Beacon is one of the blogs listed for trade. Is a fantasy blog stock market really necessary? Or is it just another flavor of a blog search engine?

Anyone know anything about Blog Shares?

New release watch: Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Another fellow Windy City writer whom I greatly admire has a new hardcover release coming out today.

I was a die-hard historical romance reader who had trouble suspending my disbelief in contemporary settings until I read Susan Elizabeth Phillips' books. I LOVE her heroes.

Natural Born Charmer continues Susan's popular Chicago Stars Football team with Dean Robillard's story. I can't wait to read it.