Monday Mentions is an easy way to share any and all of the fun things you’ve discovered recently, online or otherwise. For more information read this post by the mastermind behind this whole thing, Jen @ Daily Mish Mash. Here’s what I’ve discovered this week…

Last week my son and I started exploring letters of the alphabet. I’m planning to devote one week to each letter, showing him different things that start with that letter. So last week was “A” week and we explored apples, airplanes, an abacus, and aquariums. Since there isn’t a big aquarium that I know of in the area, I did a quick google search for an aquarium video and found this really great one that I think you will love:

This video was taken at the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in Japan and apparently it’s the world’s second largest aquarium. I believe the video was shot from one of their restaurants and I now suddenly have this crazy desire to travel to Japan. I loved the video and we watched it several times. I also really enjoyed the music they had playing in the video, Please Don’t Go by Barcelona so I had to blip it pronto. BTW, do you blip?

Now that you are feeling all amazingly relaxed, let’s look at some cute and funny:

I saw two really great XKCD comics last week:

Now get ready to say, “Awww…”

Okay now let’s laugh again:

Alright now we’ve relaxed, laughed, looked at cute stuff. Let’s get down to business. As a review blogger I found this article by Shannon Nelson at Pierce Mattie Public Relations worth a read. It’s about entitled bloggers who maybe just do reviews to get the free stuff and don’t feel they need to work hard for it. Stuff that gives the rest of us a bad name? It’s also I think worth thinking about from time to time, when you are working on a review and maybe not putting your all into it like you normally would. You know maybe life is getting in your way and your heart’s not into it? Might be a good time to stop and think, “Is this still important to me?” Anyway read Shannon’s post because I’m probably butchering her original intent – but then come back here so I can tell you all about…

Stuff relating to my TV addictions (like how I jump from light to serious and back to light again?):

• Like didjyouknow!!!! that Zooey Deschanel is going to guest star on Bones? You do realize that the formidable Temperance Brennan aka Bones is played by Zooey’s sister Emily Deschanel right? No wonder I love both of them. Anyway, seriously looking forward to her guest appearance – love her.
• Also, you know I love me some Glee and I’m all about empowering women with a better sense of body image. It really drives me nuts to see America’s obsession with Skinny influencing young girls. So I was all over this article at Fit Sugar where Amber Riley aka Mercedes dishes on her opinions on weight and body image. Riley is one smart chick. She comments that it’s important to be happy with yourself first and foremost. “You’re not your dress size, you’re not your shoe size, you’re not your pants size. If I’m going to wear a name tag, it’s going to say ‘Amber Riley,’ not ‘Fat Girl’!” To that I say, “You go girl!”

Now I want to babble about some miscellaneous things that excited me last week or made me stop long enough to note it in my Google Reader:

• I think we’ve all heard about Barnes and Noble’s new e-reader, Nook. Did you know it runs on Android? Do you know what Android is? It’s Google’s very own operating system and since I’m a nerdy little Google-aholic, this excites me greatly. I also like that the Nook allows you to share your book purchases with friends for two weeks. Still way too expensive for this momma but I must say I am once again intrigued.
• Speaking of Google: They just released a developer preview version of Chrome for the Mac. This means it’s likely to have bugs (like for some reason I can’t log into my wordpress dashboard from Chrome) but it is mostly functional and I’ve enjoyed playing with it. I’m anxious to see an official release of Chrome for the Mac.
• For more Chrome goodness, check out this Power Users Guide to Google Chrome. Good stuff.
• I didn’t actually read this article but the headline definitely put a smile on my face: Myspace Surrenders to Facebook. It’s about time, seriously.
• Also did you know that Maurice Sendak recently told parents everywhere to “go to hell.” Okay, woah, before you slap a libel suit on my arse, let me explain. Sendak was responding to quieries about whether or not Where The Wild Things Are might be too scary for it’s intended audience, i.e. children. He feels that, “if children can’t handle the story, they should “go home,” he added. “Or wet your pants. Do whatever you like. But it’s not a question that can be answered.” I admire his nerve.
• One last babbling about Google, this time Google Reader and their new personalized recommendations feed – it’s magic.

Are you counting down to Christmas? Only eight weeks go go!

• Last week Simple Mom talked about ways to give back to the community this Christmas.
• Another goodie from Simple Mom was 10 clutter-free gift ideas for your kids.

And last but certainly not least:

I just adored this post by Heather at The Extraordinary Ordinary on Motherhood. Everything motherhood is and isn’t – complete with really great pictures. If you haven’t read this one yet, doitnow!