As a kid, summer used to be the best time of the year. I wouldn’t have to wake up early to go to school, I wouldn’t have any homework to deal with, and I could play Nintendo all day if that’s what I wanted to do. I didn’t have a worry in the world and it made for a very simple, yet satisfying existence. At the same time, those two months of summer vacation would feel like an awfully long time. For more than 60 days, I’d really have nothing particularly special to do and the days felt like they lasted forever. To a 6-year-old (or even a 16-year-old, for that matter), two months felt like forever.

Now that I’m older and I work full-time (well, I guess you could call it full-time, even if I’m self-employed), those two months are pretty much like every other time of the year, except for the fact that it’s occasionally sunny outside. It’s hard to believe that September is already here and the kids are back in school, because I didn’t even go to the PNE this year. That used to be an annual tradition for me, even if there was nothing particularly special to see there. Sigh. I guess I all growed up [sic]. 🙂

But growing up isn’t all bad. In the age of blogging, there is never any shortage of fun things to read. Here are just five posts that I found over the course of the last seven days. Welcome to September, folks. It’ll be Christmas before you know it!

King Nomar — monarch of which country we cannot say — is reporting that Wikipedia plans to rival Google with a search engine of their own. Instead of completely relying on some secret algorithm like the G-meister, Wikipedia will create a search engine that comes with the backing of human editing and input. More specifically, “the human editors are for help with terms with multiple meanings, such as palm (palm beach or handheld computers).”

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Justine, the same girl that showed us her massive iPhone bill, went to some hall of technology where she came across the world’s largest classic NES controller. To make things even more interesting, the bloody thing is actually functional, meaning that you can partake in some crazy Paperboy and Excitebike action on that thing. Better still, imagine playing Track and Field!

Etienne Teo knows that StumbleUpon can be a huge source of traffic to your blog, but how do you go about maximizing the number of incoming visitors. Some people may offer you five tips. Others may go out on a limb and dish out ten hints. Etienne is doing them one (or lots) better, by discussing 25 ways how StumbleUpon can work to receive more traffic. I’d say that’s pretty comprehensive!

Rainer Schmoll takes you behind the scenes of the iPod contest drawing that Ed and I held behind Pho Lan on Saturday. In his behind the scenes look, you can catch a glimpse of what bloggers are really like. Yes, there’s a video. And yes, there is hilarity within.

Nate Whitehill has suddenly burst onto the scene. After doing a redesign for John Chow dot Com, his phone has been ringing off the proverbial hook. His most recent client could very well be even more famous than the infamous panda killer, because Nate Whitehill — via his Unique Blog Designs company — is the man behind the new ShoeMoney. Too bad Darren Rowse already got his redesign elsewhere, otherwise Nate could’ve scored the trifecta!

And that’s what’s up on this first Wednesday of September.