Fun Monday - I found it on the internet

Fun Monday this week is being hosted by Ann.

Her assignment to us: I want to hear about a web site and not just about any old web site. I want to hear about a web site that's changed your life. A web site that you can't live without. A web site whose inventor you'd like to see win a McArthur Genius Grant.


As always, I'm highly incapable of following the rules, and can't possibly stick to just one website. I will, however, stick to one general theme.


The internet in general has changed my life in many many ways. One of the biggest ways, however, has been in the friends it has brought into my life. This is why I have to pick Yahoo Groups (Originally Yahoo Clubs) as my first website to change my life.


Seven years ago, around Thanksgiving time, I found a Yahoo Group, and through have met some of my best friends. Seven years of posting regularly online, and there are seven of us who have a bond like no other. I've been lucky enough to have met four of the girls in "real life", and am hoping to meet face to face with the other two eventually as well. This past summer I attended the wedding of one of those girls, and with two of the other girls, we turned her wedding into a "girls" weekend. These are friends I know I'll have for life, and I'll always have Yahoo Groups to thank for it.


The second website I'm going to point to is the first blog I ever read. It is actor Wil Wheaton's blog. Having been a fan of his growing up, when I learned he had a blog, I was intrigued. I was also immediately pulled in, he's a fantastic writer and I've had a great time following his life through his blog. It was also through his blog that I was introduced to the world of blogging, and eventually began blogging myself. Therefore, that website has indeed changed my life.


The final website I'm focusing on is one I stumbled across more recently. Sometime last year, through blog hopping, Thursday Thirteen, or something of that sort, I came across BlogJem. I just happened to stop by as its author, Frances, was starting SheWhoBlogs, a Yahoo Group for female bloggers. And so we've come full circle, back to yahoo groups. Through SheWhoBlogs, I was introduced to a whole new community of bloggers, and have made some great new "blog" buddies, who I admire, appreciate and enjoy. It also helped to increase my readership, and in turn has given my blog new life. As I consider my blog such a tremendous part of my life now, BlogJem indeed changed my life.


And there you have it. Be sure to stop by Ann's for the rest of the Fun Mondayers.


Also, scroll down to the post below this one for instructions regarding an update to the big "secret" situation!