I saved the OPML file from Bloglines to my desktop. Then I was able to drag and drop into Google Reader after some fiddling around, finding the place to drop it into.

I'm not pleased with the Google Reader, but unless/until I find a better RSS aggregator, I'll go with it. One big drawback (and maybe due to my own lack of familiarity with the service) is that you cannot click something to save an entry for future reference. Once you read it, it's gone.

Approximately a week ago, Bloglines lost the RSS feed from Xenon and I was reading Xenon by accessing it directly from the astrofish.net website (check it out to the left, near the bottom--recommend you read today's entry). To my surprise, when I went to Google Reader for the first time, there it was, with no help from me. Kramer (who is a genius at this sort of thing) probably can explain it.

My guess is that Google is smarter (and more intrusive) than I knew. I've had a gmail account which I set up when gmail started up, but I seldom use it.

I'll keep playing with Google Reader and see what I can see. It's messy and I don't like the formatting, though once you're reading your feeds you can toggle "f" for full screen and the mess goes away. Quite a difference from the clean splash page for Google search engine!

I'm still unhappy at the demise of Bloglines. What? Did I think things would remain the same forever? No, but I like the tools that I use to be transparent; when I want to access information, read a book, balance my checkbook, I want the tools I use to be so familiar that they fade into the background and the foreground is completely devoted to the task at hand. I don't want to have to stop and mess with the interface (patience is not one of my many virtues).

Like using the mouse. I don't even think about it now. Remember the first time I ever used one--couldn't find the cursor on the screen and had to keep thinking about what my hand was doing. Now, moving hand from mouse to keyboard and back is automatic, mindless, like the way my fingers use the qwerty keyboard. The process is transparent.

Off to feed importunate cats who tremble on the verge of the abyss of starvation. Coffee for me.