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Enrich Your Summer Online
Web sites offer fun, resources
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Enrich Your Summer Online
Web sites offer fun, resources
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Summer is upon us. We're all looking forward to lazy days lounging around the pool or enjoying a vacation getaway. But when it gets too hot to stay outside, consider the many ways that you can enrich your life online. We all know that the Web is a vast repository of information and resources, but most of us lack the time to do more than dip our toes into that ocean. So we've done a little digging to find some Web gems that do more than just amuse—while enjoyable to visit, they're also instructive and many provide substantive resources to enhance real-life activities you may be (or want to be) involved in. Travel the World...From Your Desktop
Perhaps your schedule (or budget) doesn't permit you to take a real vacation this summer. Why not enjoy a vicarious vacation by visiting one of the many online travelogues? The Web is a natural medium for presenting first-person travel accounts, complete with photos from around the world. A new breed of traveler has arisen who wanders the globe with a laptop computer and digital camera, uploading travelogue entries any time they can connect to the Internet. On a technical note, travelogue sites tend to be more graphically intensive than other kinds of sites, so it may be best to avoid them if you are connecting via modem.My favorite among the online travelogues I examined is an engaging site called "Where is Evan?" Calling himself a "techno-nomad," Evan Bigall chronicles his journeys through Africa, Asia, and the Pacific with detailed log entries and many accompanying photographs. The log entries are sprinkled with wry and quirky observations on the places and people he encounters along the way. While I didn't have time to read and explore every entry in the detailed travelogue, I thoroughly enjoyed the ones I did.
Plant a Garden
Do you like getting your hands dirty and watching green things grow? Gardening is a natural and rewarding summer activity (although in our climate, you can do it year round). A wealth of information and resources can be found on the Web to support your green thumb.There are many good sites, but Garden Guides is one I particularly like. This is a huge site that even the experienced gardener will find valuable. Detailed information is available for literally hundreds of flowers, vegetables, and herbs, giving advice on the most favorable growing conditions for each one. A long list of "Tips and Techniques" addresses such topics as pest control, soil preparation, and companion planting. There's even an "In the Kitchen" section offering ideas on what to do with your bounty once you've harvested it.
Become a Chef
Now that you've grown your produce, what do you do with it all? Cooking can be an enjoyable and relaxing activity, and the glorious wealth of fresh produce that can be grown in northern California provides a good incentive to add to your stock of recipes.Meals.com is a well-organized site that provides much more than just recipes (though it has those by the hundreds). A "Features and Advice" section contains nutritional advice and answers to user-submitted questions on food and cooking. Another useful feature on the site is a meal-planning section that you can use to generate a grocery list. Also, if you register on the site you can create your own recipe box that can be shared with family and friends wherever they may be.
Get in Shape
So you've visited some of the cooking sites in the section above and made yourself and family a scrumptious (and high-calorie) meal. What better way to follow this than with some physical activity?Perhaps (like me) you're carrying a few extra pounds and have difficulty getting around to shedding them. You may be surprised to learn that help is available on the Web, but there are many exercise sites that can act as your own personal trainer. Try Get Fit. (Note: you can no longer try this site as it no longer exists. -Ed.) It's a sophisticated site that permits you to develop a very personalized workout program and keep track of your progress online. You must register on the site to access the personalization features, but it's well worth doing if you want to get the most benefit from the site. A word of caution, though — Get Fit uses Flash extensively, so it's probably best viewed on a high-bandwidth connection.
Make a Donation
The Web has been a boon to many areas of economic activity. Charitable organizations as well as for-profit companies have taken advantage of Internet technology to reach new audiences and tap new sources of income. For the philanthropically inclined, there are many ways to give online. Of course, there is the traditional approach of just making a financial contribution — type in your credit card number as you would with an online purchase. But other more innovative approaches to charitable contribution have been developed as well, such as "free" donations and "shopping to donate." Free donations cost nothing to you — click a button on the page (you're often limited to one click per day) and the site's sponsors will kick in some tiny amount (say, 1/2 cent per click). It's the cumulative effect of thousands of people visiting and clicking every day that makes this an effective fundraiser. One such site is My Small Part. (Note: you can no longer visit this site as it no longer exists. -Ed.) Here, you can click to help disaster victims, fight a variety of diseases, and protect the environment. "Shopping to donate" sites, on the other hand, require you to actually buy something, but a portion of the purchase price is donated to the organization of your choice. This is really a win-win situation, because through one of these sites you can buy items you would be getting anyway and have your purchase benefit a worthy organization. GreaterGood.com is the classic example of a "shop to donate" site. It's constructed almost like a portal, allowing you to select the cause you would like to receive the donation, jump to the merchant of your choice (including many familiar names), and shop till you drop. What could be easier?
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