Websites to help with self-improvement

Dear PropellerHeads: I'm always looking for ways to improve myself. Are there tools on the Web to help with this endeavor?

A: Clearly you have way too much time on your hands. I'm limited to around 550 words but I'll do my best to help you help yourself. Here are my Top 10 sites that will set you on your way to a better YOU!

10. Most of us could stand to lose a few pounds. If your reflection in the mirror is a little bigger than you'd like, move a little farther from the mirror or spend a little less time eating and a little more time on www.ediets.com. You can create a profile describing your body type and the types of foods you prefer, and eDiets will customize a diet that's right for you.

9. Interested in learning how to repair your heat pump or anything else? Go to www.howstuffworks.com. Enter whatever you want to learn about in the search box, and the site will return links about your topic. Browse and learn. Curiously, I still find I'm a little too lazy to fix my stuff, but at least I can kibbutz with the repair guy.

8. If building your vocabulary is important, take a look at www.vocabulary.com. Each day a new word is there for you to learn. There are also numerous tools to help you grow your vocabulary. Today's word was "sesquipedalian." Can you define that?

7. Perhaps reading will help you. Sign up on www.dailylit.com, and then choose books to read by author, title or category. A daily e-mail will be delivered at your chosen time with a chapter from the book you chose. In no time, you'll have read a book just while reading your e-mail. And the books are available for free. Now that's my kind of deal! This may feel a little reminiscent of your mom nagging you to do your summer reading, but it works!

6. Take a virtual class. There are dozens of courses available for free from many well-respected universities. You won't get a grade or college credit, but you can learn a lot. Take a look at the list of colleges and universities that offer free course-ware at www.education-portal.com. You'll miss the social aspect of college like a good game of beer pong, but you'll still learn if you try.

5. Perhaps you could help yourself by helping others. Since you have time on your hands, look for volunteer opportunities in your community. Go to www.volunteermatch.org and enter your ZIP code and area of interest. VolunteerMatch will return a list of organizations in need of help. I know this may cut into your beer-drinking and nap time, but you'll feel better having helped others.

4. A more generic self-help site is www.pickthebrain.com. Click on a topic you feel you could use help on, then read and learn. There are self-help topics, including increasing motivation, building self-confidence, having good relationships, and more. You may want to bookmark this site - I think you'll be spending some time there. This is a little like watching Oprah, without the amazing audience prizes.

3., 2., 1... OK, this is a bit of a cheat but I'm running out of space. So my suggestion for the best of the rest is Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) or any of the other Wiki projects ranging from Wiktionary (wikitionary.org), to Wikiquote (wikiquote.org), to Wikibooks (wikibooks.org) and more. The Wikimedia Foundation is a nonprofit organization created to provide open content available to the public at no cost. You can use Wikipedia or the other Wikis to learn about almost anything and grow your knowledge along the way.

Feeling better yet? I hope so because I'm over my word limit ... bye.

When the PropellerHeads at Data Directions aren't busy with their IT projects, they love to answer questions on business or consumer technology. E-mail them to questions@askthepropellerheads.com or contact us at Data Directions Inc., 8510 Bell Creek Road, Mechanicsville, VA 23116. Visit our website at www.askthepropellerheads.com.