Red Envelopes (What I hear you saying is...)

A bird can roost but on one branch, a mouse can drink not more than its fill from a river.
- Chinese Proverb

I still remember the warm-fuzzy I used to get when -- wading knee-deep in bills, junk-mail, circulars, and other USPS flotsam -- I would happen upon the bright red envelope from Netflix in my mail box.

A present to myself! And a surprise, too, since I'd put it in queue weeks or months in advance -- not knowing when it would come. But it always seemed to arrive at just the right time, because it was unexpected.

That trick finally wore off after a couple of years, but the psychology of finding the unexpected nugget of gold in a river of crap still stays with me.

I've been experiencing a similar phenomenon with Bloglines. Granted, I've nobody to blame but myself for subscribing to Boing Boing, Alarm Clock, Coudal Partners, Tech Crunch and myriad other feeds that just seem to spew forth content with abandon.

Too much of too much.

If I've skipped even a couple of days, I dread opening my reader because I know that I'm either going to have to scan through every post, or just delete them all. Something about this makes me feel guilty.

But... there are a handful of obscure blogs on my list that update very infrequently, yet nearly always have a fascinating must-read post. They are my red-envelopes, two of which i will share:

Brand New
This site is a gem. The blog reviews corporate branding and then compares, contrasts, and rates the changes. What? You mean you're not sold? May sound dry, but if you have even an inkling of interesting in branding, you must subscribe to this.It's great.

The Proceedings o the Athanasius Kircher Society
This site is downright freaky. It's sort of like Ripley's Believe it or Not combined with Scientific American. Strange, fascinating -- sometimes ghastly -- articles about just about anything under the sun (or above it). Even if you are terrified of math and science, there are enough oddities thrown in to keep every post interesting.

So I invite you to add these to your reader, sit back, and wait a few days for the first posts to arrive. Experience the joy of receiving a red envelope. :-)