Internet Junkie

(Hand in the air.) Yep, that's me. I know, I know, there's an awful lot of junk on the web. Lots of dangers like lurking pedophiles and identity thieves. But there is also so much cool information and neat sites that I find myself endlessly fascinated. And being someone in constant need of distraction while I'm writing, I stumble onto new sites daily :)

Here are some of my favorites:

One Look Dictionary Search

http://www.onelook.com

The site indexes over 14,000,000 words from over a thousand dictionaries. I like it less for the definition and translation help and more for its word search/phrase tools. For instance, you can find all the phrases with the word 'blue' in it; all words that start with bl and end with rd with four letters in the middle; or find phrases related to a given word.

Tiny Url

http://tinyurl.com

When you want to share links but the darn things are a million characters, you can go to this site and tiny url it. It will change the link into something short that can be shared easily. Warning, it will give you a different tiny url everytime you put the same given url in.

IGoUGo

http://igougo.com

For all you travelers out there. This site allows you to reference a half dozen travel sites at the same time when you're checking on airfare.

Urban Dictionary

http://www.urbandictionary.com

I'm a recent subscriber. I have to rely on my kids for the most up to date phrases and humorous play on words, but this site has more than a few laugh out loud usable words/phrases. People submit them and then you can vote on whether you like them or not. Some of them are a real stretch. Others, like the recent submission of 'muffin top' is already solidly entrenched in slang vernacular. But there are a few gems in there, and I've started a folder for those. Some of my favorites: texthole (a description of the guy in the car in front of you weaving all over the road because he won't stop texting on his phone); mid-day crisis (the point in the afternoon when caffeine no longer cuts it and you're in serious need of a siesta); mondaze (the mental fog or daze you're in when Monday rolls around); or weekend amnesia (getting back to work on Monday and having no memory of where you left off on Friday.) Great site for writers, for dialogue ideas for certain secondary characters who add flavor to our stories.

Merriam Webster Dictionary

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary

I'm a word-aholic, and love this site because of its auditory component. Type in any word and not only do you get the definition, but you can click on the red speaker icon and hear the word pronounced.

Cool Text

http://cooltext.com/

Ever wonder how people get those cool signatures at the end of their blogs or email posts? Here's a site that helps you do that.

Live Search Club Games

http://www.clubbing.com/Pages/Games/GameList.aspx

Because there just aren't enough distractions when I'm trying to write. Here's a site with a ton of free games to play, including my favorite Chicktionary and nineteen others. You can play as a guest or join and earn tickets which supposedly can be turned in for prizes, although I've never done that.

Okay, so now you know how I spend my days :) Do you have a favorite link to share?