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20 Semi-Productive Activities I Do Online

Sometimes we all need a break from the real world. This especially rings true for those who work from home with no real social interaction (I began this list when I did exactly that). Inspired by a great blog I read with the same topic, I decided to write out a list of my online activities. Perhaps one needs to distract themselves with value-adding distractions in order to truly be successful. That discussion is one for another day. In the meantime, here are a list of 20 things I do online when I'm bored, distracted or just plain wanting to:

1. Check Google Reader for the professional and just plain interesting blogs I've subscribed to. (If you don't know the benefit of an RSS reader, find out here.)

2. After reading posts on Google Reader, I like to save them into one online bookmarking site - Delicious. That way, I can always go back and find them. I like not having to worry about finding bookmarks in different browsers and worrying they'll disappear if my computer crashes. I also like to look up tags relevant to me and/or the most popular bookmarks: http://www.delicious.com/popular/

3. Stumble! Use StumbleUpon to "stumble" upon a million different amazing articles, images and other items with topics I've pre-chosen. Some of the most interesting finds of mine are discovered through StumbleUpon.

4. Laugh hard at the hilariously dry-humored cards on someecards and send them along to people.

5. Review & check out reviews on my and others' recent purchases on Blippy.

6. Add and check off things on my 43things list. It creates a bucket list of goals (big or small) for you, allows people to root you on and enables you to document your experience after you've accomplished it.

7. Use KeepVid to save YouTube videos on my computer and/or video iPod for later (offline) viewing.

8. Add relaxing rainymood.com sound effects to my day - keeping it on while I work and/or sitting and relaxing for a few minutes idly.

9. Look up DIY projects and ideas on eHow.

10. Discover & download new *mostly awesome* music that most people have never even heard of on eMusic.

11. Find a new musical artist based on the ones I like already on Pandora and Grooveshark. Even play DJ and listen to other cool songs on Blip.fm

12. Make fun photos with my face and my friends' faces on PhotoFunia.

13. Send a letter online - without having to go to the post office, buy a stamp or envelope on SnailMailr.

14. Check out the amazing and interesting photography and photoshopped images on DeviantArt.

15. Add cool vintage looking effects on my pictures with a click of a button on Rollip.

16. Get a quick fix of motivation for the day from MiniMotivation.

17. Expand my professional knowledge by searching through uploaded Powerpoint presentations on a variety of topics on Slideshare.'

18. Check out an online radio show on just about any topic imaginable on BlogTalkRadio.

19. Share my favorite mp3s, photos, videos, etc. with friends and family using Dropbox.

20. Write a blog post on here or on BitsofKate.com - Posterous blogs can be fun and easy to maintain.

Hope some of these will be of use to you. What other sites do you like to peruse on your off time?