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In the sea of media coverage for the Beijing Olympic Games later this summer, it may be hard to find an angle that won't be covered. From NBC's coverage to print media, it will be covered like no other recent event. But what about a local, behind-the-scenes angle? And what if you live in central Kentucky? The Winchester Sun will host on its Web site, winchestersun.com, a blog with a different viewpoint of the Beijing Olympics. The blog originates from a sister newspaper of the Sun, The Jessamine Journal, in Nicholasville, and will also be on the sites of two other newspapers in the Advocate Communications Inc. group, the Advocate-Messenger in Danville and The Interior Journal in Stanford.

Christina Miller, a Boyle native attending Campbellsville University, will blog for amnews.com about her trip to the presidential inauguration. She will be in a group of about 40 students making the trip. Read her observations and see her photos at the Day of Change blog. Go to: http://kyvoice.com/amnews/dayofchange/ or use the pulldown menu on blogs at amnews.com.

In a matter of a few hours, the boys' basketball team at George Rogers Clark High School will take on Christian County in the opening round of the boys' Sweet Sixteen state basketball tournament at Rupp Arena. We will be attempting to keep a blog during the game, providing that we have the appropiate tools needed at the site. Let us know what you think.

In the sea of media coverage for the Beijing Olympic Games later this summer, it may be hard to find an angle that won't be covered. From NBC's coverage to print media, it will be covered like no event before it. But what about a local, behind-the-scenes angle? And what if you live in Central Kentucky? The Jessamine Journal will host on its Web site, jessaminejournal.com, a blog with a different viewpoint of the Beijing Olympics. "I think the best way to explain it is a young kid's perspective on China, the Olympics and the journey to there and back," T.J. Budd said.

SmallBusinessBranding.com recently selected Nick Rice, a design manager at the Wilmore-based marketing and communications firm Cre8tive Group, to begin sharing his business insights on their popular blog space. At the time of this release, Technorati, the leading blog search engine tracking more than 50 million blogs worldwide, ranked SmallBusinessBranding.com in the 99.97th percentile for readership. Rice was one of six authors invited by SmallBusinessBranding's blog owner, Yaro Starak, to represent all sides of small business marketing and branding.

Figg Alley, a blog on amnews.com, is looking for high school students to write about their mission trips this summer. Students' photos and stories would be posted on the Web site for one week. For more information, e-mail figgalley@gmail.com, phone Liz Maples at 236-2551 or visit Figg Alley. "

It’s once again time for the brass band takeover of Danville, and Fourth of July and other reasons for summer get-togethers are right around the corner. Just in time for the hot-weathered parties, a Danville woman has decided to take her party planning ideas to the net. Deanna Talwalkar started Mirabelle Creations because she is a “lover of all party things.” A self-proclaimed Southern girl, mother and former lawyer, Talwalkar began blogging about her party-planning adventures to show how easy it is to plan an intricately-themed and decorated gathering, for adults as well as children.

Three years and three months after he was accused of killing his neighbor, Jack Caldwell Sr. will finally go on trial Monday and amnews.com will be blogging live from Boyle Circuit Court. Reporter Todd Kleffman will provide online updates, beginning with Monday morning's final jury selection, throughout the trial, which is scheduled to last as long as eight days. It is believed this will be the first time a reporter has been allowed to blog online during a trial in the state of Kentucky.

Advocate Messenger chief photographer Clay Jackson is still seeking submissions for his new photo blog, Snaps. Snaps is a community site, one where photographers can gather and check out each other's work. It features photos based around a theme each month. This month, the theme is "dogs. " Staff writer Liz Maples also is seeking help for a new blog. She is looking for local high school students to blog for a week on Figg Alley. This week on Figg Alley, Lincoln County High School sophomore Rob Hacker is eating such culinary delights as pigs feet and writing about the experience.

When it's sunny and warm, most of us feel pretty motivated. We can get our house clean, our jobs done and our hobbies even see progress.  But when the weather is gray, cold or rainy it's harder to be motivated or feel inspired. Many times that is when our hobby projects begin to gather dust. So what does it take to get motivated to pick up your hobby? What inspires you to try something new? If you need a little nudge to get your project moving again, try a few of these tips. Maybe they'll be just the spark you need.

Do you love to get free stuff? What if you knew a secret for winning free stuff? I'm going to let you in on the best tip for getting things for FREE - blog giveaways. There are bloggers all over the country who are giving away free products to readers like you and me. All you have to do is know where to find the best giveaways and how to enter. Why are blog giveaways the best to enter? The odds are better to win giveaways hosted by personal bloggers because you are in the running with fewer than than 200 names rather than the thousands of entries for the big-name sweepstakes.

Editor’s Note: We first reported about Sharon Williams’ blog, Real Life Deals, in spring 2010. She now has joined The Advocate-Messenger as a contributing columnist. This is the introduction of her “Real Life Deals” column, which will print weekly.  Sharon Williams began her blog in 2009, although it was titled “Here’s What I Found.” After focusing on exactly what it is she wants to share, she came up with “Real Life Deals” because that’s what she does, she says.

It’s once again time for the brass band takeover of Danville, and Fourth of July and other reasons for summer get-togethers are right around the corner. Just in time for the hot-weathered parties, a Danville woman has decided to take her party planning ideas to the net. Deanna Talwalkar started Mirabelle Creations because she is a “lover of all party things.” A self-proclaimed Southern girl, mother and former lawyer, Talwalkar began blogging about her party-planning adventures to show how easy it is to plan an intricately-themed and decorated gathering, for adults as well as children.

The rare, exotic smells of  pumpkin pie quinoa parfaits, Christmas mango salsa, Ethiopian injera flatbread and Chinese spinach buns imbue the air in Samantha Rivard’s kitchen. The ubiquitous sounds of microwave motors running give way to sweet sizzle of zucchini pasta softening in the pan and avocados swirling into garlic and lemon juice in the blender. The atmosphere reminds visitors of the days when dinner was a daily delight rather than an everyday inconvenience. But Rivard herself never experienced those days.

Stories about adventure opportunities in Kentucky are now available online with a new blog from the state’s Office of Adventure Tourism. Regional writers will provide material for the “Outdoor Adventure Blog.” Some of the topics already covered include winter hiking, Mammoth Cave, goose hunting, eagle watch weekends at state parks and various travel options in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky. The blog can be viewed at www.getoutKY.com. The blog currently features eight writers covering four regions: west, east, north central and south central.

Dear Editor, On behalf of the Danville/Boyle County Economic Development Partnership, we would like to thank The Advocate-Messenger for allowing the EDP to have a regular presence in our valued hometown newspaper. Appearing on the business page in the A-section of each Tuesday edition, the weekly EDP column features important news from our partner organizations, details about exciting initiatives, and the scoop on upcoming events, all of which truly show why “It’s better here.

Mason Kannapel ran his first 5-kilometer race Saturday, but he hasn’t reached the finish line. Kannapel completed the Run for the Brass 5K right on schedule and right at the time he had hoped to run. And down the road may be more 5K races, and perhaps longer races. But his most significant mileage already is behind him. Kannapel lost 127 pounds in about 15 months in advance of his first race, which he said wasn’t initially a part of his weight-loss program.

Ben Kleppinger, The Advocate-Messenger's Garrard County reporter, has a new blog focused on coverage of Garrard County called "Garrard County Conversations. " The blog is an experiment in "truly community-driven journalism. " Kleppinger posts daily about what stories he is covering in Garrard County and what events are going on, and blog readers have the opportunity to comment or e-mail him with story ideas, sources or anything else on their minds. The goal is to generate informed conversations about local news and issues and allow residents to participate in their own coverage.

A new JessamineJournal.com blog, www.laurasmodellife.com, will allow readers to follow Laura Kirkpatrick, 20, of Stanford as she competes on the 13th season of "America's Next Top Model. " The show begins Wednesday on the CW Network. Kirkpatrick will blog about her experiences on the show that follows 14 aspiring models in a competition for a $100,000 Cover Girl contract, a modeling contract with Wilhelmina Models and in a six-page fashion spread of Seventeen magazine. Kirkpatrick is the daughter of Jodie Hill Jones and Greg Kirkpatrick.