In between some serious Internet Reversi sessions, I can occasionally increase productivity by taking well-deserved breaks. Now that we’ve reached the middle of the week, I think we all deserve to take a few minutes to soak up everything the blogosphere has to offer. Here are five posts that’ll let your mind wander off track just a little… and then you can get back to that “work” that everyone’s telling you to do.

Ed Lau is celebrating the one-year anniversary of the.[ED]ition. It’s amazing what one can accomplish in a mere 365 days. When Ed first set out on this blogging journey, he wasn’t sure what to expect. Fast-forward to today and he’s proud to proclaim that his blog “monetization has paid for the site many, many times over.” He’s made some great blogging friends along the way — myself included — and he’s quick to dish out the shout-outs in his blog birthday post. Check it out: did you make the shout-out list?

The Daily Kimchi had some rather unique experiences while teaching English in Seoul. Gary saw all sorts of things that would never happen here in Canada. For example, he came across an older lady who was selling puppies by the box-full. She wasn’t all that pleased about Gary and his shutterbug ways, but the Daily Kimchi managed to snap a few shots. Now, the question is: were these puppies being sold as pets or as food?

Nick Ramsay, you might remember him from Nice4Rice.com, is totally still in the world of blogging. Longcountdown.com is what he calls home and this week, he’s ventured out to show us a rather unique English t-shirt in Japan. Some of the most interesting fashion trends emerge from the land of the rising sun, but I’d imagine that a shirt talking about biological weapons and terrorism might not go over so well in the United States.

Jon Lee is a Canadian blogger who subscribes to a lot of RSS feeds. We all do. The problem with subscribing to so many feeds is that it can start to feel like a full-time job keeping up with all those blog posts. Fret not, avid reader, because Jon has 7 tips to make reading RSS not feel like a chore. You do read these blogs for fun, remember, even if it is a part of your daily routine.

Leo Chiang is everyone’s favorite stunt actor and film professional, so he’s very much “in the know” when it comes to the writer’s strike that’s currently taking place in Hollywood. Some of our favorite shows have been hit hard with the strike including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Colbert Report. In a few weeks, top shows like Heroes and Bionic Woman will run out of material too.

Then what will you do? Read more blogs, of course, and that’s what’s up this Wednesday, November 7th.