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Ok, so the morning started off slow but has definitely improved. But although the pace has picked up, I'm definitely fading.
Back in November, I paid a small fortune (for me as a small business) to attend Learning 2005. I was terribly disappointed. Here I am at a smaller, vendor-sponsored conference that costs considerably less and the sessions are more diverse and useful. Go figure.
2 more sessions to go before I can chill a bit before the big dinner.
The conference sharing the halls with us is SONFEST (Church of God)
Per usual, I'm bored at my conference. Hopefully that will change this afternoon. I'm constantly amazed at how elearning pros - who specialize in interactivity - give very static presentations. The info is good but the method of delivery tends to make me sleepy. I'm an awful student in my old age - my brain needs constant stimulation at these things. On the upside, I spent last evening having a brilliant conversation with a brilliant speaker about ISD. I think that alone made this worth the cost of admission.
At the moment, I'm on my laptop wired connection in my room! Yay for giving my thumbs a rest!
I really enjoyed SeaWorld yesterday. Because it's mostly animals, its definitely the most low-key of the three parks we visited.
I got to pet a dolphin, which was neat, and I loved the shows. Shamu is wonderful - there was a "super" Shamu, who is the largest killer whale in any marine park. He was amazingly huge. I got some great shots at SeaWorld, although I'm sure looking at my 300 photos of penguins, dolphins, and whales may bore some of you. :-)
As soon as we got there, Kevin rode the Kracken, which is SeaWorld's roller coaster. It's a "foot dangler," which means it would make me sick. I can ride roller coasters as long as my feet are touching some sort of a base. If not, I turn green. We learned this on Dueling Dragons at IOA a few years back. Anyway, the Kracken is floorless, but the track is still on the bottom, not the top like most foot danglers. It's got a bunch of twists, loops, corkscrews and underground parts. Kevin really enjoyed it.
The weather was finally perfect yesterday as well, as its been between 40 and 65 for Sunday and Monday.
Actually back @ IOA. The lines were so quick @ Uni that we came back here for a bit so that Kevin can ride some rides that turn me green. Thus, I'm bloggging on the phone again.
I really like uni - we'll head back over this afternoon. We bought - yep, bought - the express pass there to avoid lines. Anything to make a buck I guess.
Tomorrow sea world. I bought tix at home and they didn't come. I bought more tix at home and left them there. So tomorrow I buy SW tix for the 3rd time. At least I got a refund on the 1st set.
Yesterday was IOA. Talk about people! The only way we got on rides in less than an hour was by going as single. Riders.
Hulk remains the Best Coaster Ever. Spiderman is a tech marvel and my fav ride. Today is universal proper. Yay! Blogging from the phone again, so signing off.
Currently in the air w/wireless turned off of course. We are flying Air Tran out of Dayton. Its a great little airline - we upgraded to super spacious Business class (their name for 1st class) for only $50! Its worth every penny. The flight attendants are also usually really pleasant on this airline, which is a nice switch from Delta. We'll land about 10am, pick up the convertible (yay!) and head to Islands of Adventure. Its a long day - but fun. The wine fest last night was a blast. Even Steven's high school play on Friday was fun. Its definitely been a good weekend.
ARGH! Suggestions needed.
I am, belatedly, entering the world of Bluetooth and I'm starting with my cell phone. I bought one of those Bluetooth headsets. I did a lot of research and ended up with the Anycom. I know it's not Motorola or Jabra, but it got consistently good reviews, which is really what matters. It also fell into my price range of around $50. Some of those headsets are scary expensive! I wanted it so that I could talk on the phone, in the car, without dealing with the phone. Hands-free sounds really good and much safer.
It didn't hurt that I could purchase the headset in pink.
If this works out, I may purchase a USB bluetooth card for my PC. Kevin will also be able to use it and transfer his contacts to his phone via bluetooth.
Of course, if I had a bluetooth car, everything could talk together and wouldn't that be wonderful ...
(I promise I won't wander around stores talking on the headset, looking like a refugee from a Star Trek convention and making people think I'm either talking to them or myself. It won't leave my car.)
UPDATE: ARGH!
Maybe there are just excellent shows touring this coming year, or maybe Cincinnati realized how crappy this last Broadway series was, but the 2006-2007 series was announced today. Kevin, working across the street from the Broadway Series offices, went over and bought us a subscription. (Happy early Anniversary!) We normally pick and choose our shows and then buy them at a discount at an early date, as Kevin's work sponsors the series. However, our normal discount and the subscriber price are about the same. There were no shows that I didn't want to see this year, so we decided to skip the pick and choose method and go for guaranteed seating.
We'll be seeing
So kudos to Cincinnati for finally getting their Broadway act together! This, coupled with our Opera season tickets, has us set for theatre in 2006.
Technorati Tags: Broadway Series, Cincinnati Broadway Series, Cincinnati Broadway, Spamalot
I'm not going to go on and on about it. Suffice it to say that the Blackberry is cool and that I can't stop playing with it. Email - check. Full web surfing - check. Instant Messaging - check. SMS - check.
RSS Feed Reader - check. (woohoo!)
I love the thing. Everyone should get one and then we can all IM back and forth using the Blackberry-only PIN messaging. So cool.
So hooked. I fully understand the "Crackberry" term.
My only complaint is that right now I'm a little TOO plugged in ...
Technorati tags: blackberry, crackberry
This is just a test to see if this moblogging thing really works. How technologically, well, awesome is it that I'm composing this from my Blackberry?
~~ Sent via BlackBerry ~~
I tend to be vulnerable to marketing. If a hamburger is advertised on TV, then I crave hamburgers (this is why Tivo is good for me). I'm susceptible to suggestion.
Well, our new little phones will arrive tomorrow and that Blackberry costs a pretty penny. At Cincinnati Bell, that Blackberry costs $500. At Cingular, it only cost me $250. Here's the thing - my business insurance has an electronics rider that covers things like that. Except I have a $500 deductible. Which is more than I paid for the Blackberry to begin with.
It's been suggested that since cell phones tend to get beat up (my current one looks like hell) and since they tend to get dropped, smashed, lost, and/or stolen quite often, I (or rather, Write Tech) might want to insure the Blackberry separately. The recommended place is Safeware.com, which will insure your electronics, at full replacement cost (not depreciated), for a small yearly premium. It'd be around $40 to insure my new Blackberry.
Cingular, for some stupid reason, does not offer insurance on their high-end phones, or I'd be all over that. So, is it worth it? Am I falling victim to suggestion yet again? Any thoughts? Per usual, I'm looking for input from my peanut gallery.
Technorati tags: safeware, insurance, pda insurance
We saw Wicked on Saturday night.
Since January, this city has been abuzz with Wicked. If you ask any Cincinnatian, it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Wicked. Wicked. Wicked. It's been constant hype.
I have friends & family who saw it before I did. These folks raved about it. Again, greatest thing since sliced bread. One person simply could not stop talking about it - completely and utterly hooked, wants to see it over and over and over.
Huh.
I enjoyed Wicked. It's the kind of musical I seem to like anymore - more new Broadway than Andrew Lloyd Webber. It's a dramatic departure, actually, from Andrew Lloyd Webber. If you've only seen Webber musicals or Les Miz and such, then maybe Wicked is an earth-shattering experience for you. For me, Wicked was excellent, but it was on a par with Chicago and the Producers.
Maybe it was just built up SO much for me that I expected it to be a lot more. Maybe the Cincinnati audience, lulled into complacency this year with a slew of Andrew Lloyd Webber on our stage, forgot the last few tours of Chicago and The Producers. I don't know.
Wine Blogging Wednesday #20 has been announced for Wednesday, April 12. The beverage of choice: Any white that is not one of the big 3 (sauv blanc, chardonnay, reisling) or a blend. For us, the choice is easy. We've got several bottles of Pinot Gris sitting around, as well as a nice Cline Viognier we picked up last summer at the winery. I don't even have to hit a wine store for this - I can just shop at home. The point of this exercise, obviously, is to expand your horizons beyond the standard big 3 whites.
On another note, the Cincinnati Int'l Wine Festival Grand Tasting is this upcoming weekend. We're joining our friends Gabrielle & Jason this year. If you have any interest and you're in the area, the Wine Fest is a great time. Classy too.
UPDATE, 4/13/06: WBW#20 is gone now, but the review lives on here.
Technorati Tags: wine blogging wednesday, WBW, WBW20, Cincinnati Wine Festival, Wine Festival
You know, being allergic to peanuts has never been easy, but it never used to be quite so difficult either. With manufacturing consolidations and cutbacks, it's harder to guarantee what won't kill me, and who knows what is up with kitchens.
I have had 3 nut attacks in the last 4 or so weeks. That's more than I had in the 10 years until that point. Last night was the worst in the series of 3.
I'm already on a fairly strong course of steroids for my arm. Steroid are integral to what they give me in the hospital, along with epinephrine, histamine blockers, and I don't know what else. If I hadn't been on the steroids already, I'd have been in the hospital last night. It's not like I normally have Prednisone sitting around my house.
I'm pretty sure that a month or so ago, someone made me a cake that contained tree nuts in the chocolate (this item may contain this or that). So that was a mild reaction. Obviously not enough to reduce my own inattention and/or stupidity. Tuesday night was, I believe, cross-contamination in a restaurant, but I'm not convinced it was peanuts. Possibly almonds or pine nuts.
Last night, there is no doubt in my mind I came across some sort of almond or peanut oil in cross-contamination. I SHOULD have gone to the hospital, really, and only my own stubbornness and fear of stupidly expensive co-pays kept me away. I got through the night, but it was hard.
So, here's how to kill me:
So today I ordered the latest & greatest Blackberry (8700c) from Cingular.com. (The online prices, in the end, were better than in the store.) We also got a great little Sony for Kevin. Both phones have Bluetooth. I think mine is tri-band and his is quad-band. Mine has EDGE. His has a longer lasting battery.
I was all excited, since 2-day shipping is included and free.
Then the email comes.
"We estimate your order will ship within 3-5 business days."
AAAAaaaa!
We could very well be on our way to Florida by the time the phones get here. That makes me nervous.
Let's hope Cingular errs on the side of caution in their emails and it ships within 3 business days. That's Tuesday, putting it here by Thursday or Friday.
Technorati tags: Blackberry 8700, Blackberry, Crackberry
Oh my god. I was just blogging about how I was using Internet Explorer 7 Beta Release 2 (available here, but not for the faint of heart). I was talking about how impressed I was with the improvements made to the user interface and the borrowed-from-Firefox-and-Safari features (such as RSS and Search on the toolbar), when IE decided that Typepad was a bad site. I said "No IE, Typepad is an okay site" and right-clicked.
It cleared my post. Bleh.
And such is why IE 7 will remain my browser for those sites that require me to use IE and Firefox remains my primary browser.
IE7 does have tabbed browsing, which I have a hard time living without and thus explaining my use of the beta for those sites that require IE. However, as far as I can tell, IE is not as customizable as Firefox. My Firefox browsers, on each machine, are so customized with various extensions that its ridiculous. But its also very much my own browser at this point, customized to my uses and needs. IE will never reach that point. But this is a good start.
Except for that deleting the whole post thing.
Technorati: IE7, IE7 Beta, tabbed browsing, Internet Explorer, Internet Explorer Preview
It looks like someone (or a team of someones) may have finally managed to get Windows XP to run on a new Intel-processor Mac, even without EFI support. Yay!
We should know if it works for sure in about 2 weeks, once its been validated. If it works, some lucky folks will win around $12,000 for managing it. Some of the rules include
- Instructions must boot Windows XP (at least), not Vista or any other version of Windows.
- Windows must be able to coexist with Mac OS X and each system may not interfere with the operation of the other (basically a traditional dual boot system where one OS is running at a time)
- Your method, upon starting the computer, must offer the user to boot either OS X or Windows XP (hint: GRUB / LILO)
Technorati Tags: windows on mac, Xp on mac, windows Macbook
Sometimes I think the airline industry is trying to convince us all to return to the days of oceanic cruiseliners to Europe and automobile road trips across the country. They certainly aren't doing much to encourage Average Joe to fly anymore.
For instance, Northwest Airlines started "Coach Choice" today. This is a new FEATURE. Right, in software, I sometimes call features "bugs." Anyway, here's the deal - you can pick your coach seat from one of the PREFERRED coach seats in the front half of the plane and the exit rows. You can do this for an extra $15 PER FLIGHT.
This, of course, significantly raises the cost of tickets. Not only that, it leaves more people fighting for limited cheaper, or Non-Preferred, seats in the back of the plane.
I upgraded to Typepad Pro the other day. I was tired of the Write Tech blog not having any viable connection back to the main Write Technology site. Now there's a semi-consistent look & feel, as well as a link to the main site that's in more than just a typelist (although there are a couple of those too). It's important because a lot of my google hits are to the blog, since search engines love blogs, and now it clearly leads to the Write Tech site.
Man, playing with Typepad code isn't for the faint of heart, and their documentation kind of sucks. (Sorry Typepad!) There's a lot more I'd like to do to the site, but it's just way too much of a pain. On the up site, at least things are slightly more consistent.
I don't think I'll be applying a Typepad Pro Advanced Template to this site. I'm good just randomly modifying banners, colors and Typelists in the happy way I always have.
Now I need to figure out how to map blog.write-tech.com (a subdomain) directly to the Write Tech blog, which is a subdomain of writegirl.typepad.com. Currently I have it set up on a redirect, but I'd like the URL to stay in the address window without having to use i frames or something. Still working on this one - let me know if you have any suggestions other than "Typepad has domain mapping." Yeah, I know, but this is a hosted main domain with a subdomain. It's different. Trust me, I've tried.
Technorati Tags: Write Technology, Write Tech, Typepad
The Wine Blogging Wednesday Round-up has been posted over at WINExpressions.com. Over 30 different Rhone-style wines were tried. If you're interested in trying one, here's a great place to start.
Technorati Tags: Wine Blogging Wednesday, Wine, WBW, WBW 19
We started the hunt for new cell phone and most likely, a new carrier, this weekend. We've really liked Sprint as we've had it, although I've had issues with my phone (I wanted it to do more). Kevin was perfectly happy with his identical phone, not being quite the gadget-a-holic that I am.
Before I get going on this novel-length post, feel free to tell me about your experiences with smartphones and cell providers.
In theory I've temporarily turned off Trackbacks for new posts. I can't seem to turn them off for older ones, which is irritating. This weekend I've received an annoying amount of Trackback Spam. Is there a way you can't be spammed anymore? I think it's everywhere - like ants.
I still have tons of guilt about the way Friday ended up and the fact that I'm not in a training class at not-so-much-my-Client C today. On the other hand, I can now easily finish stuff for Client A by Wednesday when I visit.
Read on for Buffett tix and Google jobs.
4:15 pm You know, it's past 4 pm and I'm STILL waiting for Client C to call me to tell me if a) a project is on and b) if I have to be at a training class at 9 am on Monday morning.
Maybe my time management isn't the issue ...
She did tell me earlier that if she didn't call me this afternoon, the project was off and not to worry about it.
4:45 pm Update: Okay, My time-impaired client from earlier, that would be Client A (not above), called 5 minutes ago and said, hey! We've got all these changes we're emailing to you and we need them by Wednesday when you come to visit.
I hung up the phone thinking, this is do-able because I don't have to waste a day in a training class on Monday, and suddenly Client C (that's the above client) calls and says, hey! the project is a go! Can we have you on Monday?
I just did something huge and I told them No. :-( It's such a huge client, I should have taken it. But my work quality would go down, and my stress would go up. At one point, I would have three projects overlapping each other AND I have one week scheduled out of town. I feel really bad for backing out at the last minute. On the other hand, she called me at 4:45 in the afternoon the Friday before they needed me. At that point, I truly thought the project was off. This contracting firm is really bad about the last-minute staffing. Plus, I would still be without an official contract when I started. I feel awful about it though, and I hope I did the right thing.
When it rains, it pours.
My TV shows that I've been saving for over a year in some cases are now on DVDs and playable on your average DVD player. In particular, I've saved off a bunch of Rankin-Bass holiday specials. I've also saved a Julie Andrews movie and the last two episodes of Dancing with the Stars, just in case I choreograph Parker's next year and need to get some ideas. I also saved the Scrubs episode, My Way Home, from earlier this season. Best. Episode. Ever. Makes me happy whenever I watch it.
How did I conquer Tivo?
Really, the last thing I need to be doing right now is posting to my blog. I need to chill on the blog for a couple of days. But Kara had this, and I really enjoyed it. I put it on my MySpace Blog, which I reserve for memes, and even posted it as my first MySpace bulletin (giving credit to both Kara & Dixie). But now I thought I'd share, because it's fun and because Jimmy Buffett tickets go on sale tomorrow.
I've been trying to figure out the best method to clean my tablet PC. Since I am still putting a lot of Vitamin E lotion on the ol' scar on the left arm, my screen is getting a little less clean than I would like.
It's a glass screen, so I've been wondering - Windex wipes? Klear screen? I used Klear Screen on my LCD monitor upstairs and have regretted it ever since. It's left all sorts of smear-y marks. I obviously don't want to use a cheap glass cleaner on a pricey tablet screen either.
Apparently, a Chinese herbal formula has suppressed a peanut allergy in mice. This is good news. I like that they're working on defeating this life-threatening allergy. (More of us have it than you might think.) However, they could never get me into a clinical trial on this. Peanuts kill me. Peanut OIL, peanut FLOUR, peanut ANYTHING, will kill me. (This is not all in my head. I have almost died from this, and it started when I was too young for anything to be all in my head. So no making fun of the deadly peanut allergy.)
But hey, good for the mice! They can now have all the Reese's Cups they want. I understand chocolate and peanut butter are quite the yummy combination, even if the smell of peanuts makes me want to pass out.
Technorati: peanut allergy
Well, gosh. I cannot believe the amount of hits, and comments, I'm getting since posting on my goal & prioritization needs. I chalk it up to Technorati.
Here's what I find interesting - most of the posts advocate David Allen's GTD. Is this because Frankin is known mostly as a paper-based system and GTD, with its flexibillity of application, appeals more to the geek set (ie, those who are checking Technorati)?
I'm learning a lot from the comments and from the associated blogs. What I have discovered is that I seem to be using a modified
approach. Sort of a digital version of GTD, mixed in with the Franklin
PlanPlus software.
I've switched my feed to FeedBurner. If you're already subscribed to this blog, you can either
a) not change anything, as the feed itself won't change, or
b) delete your subscription in your news reader and re-subscribe via that link over there to the right.
Why did I change? Well, it's an experiment for one. I tend to update my posts frequently because I forgot a period, had a comma splice, or hated my phrasing. I suspect that sends out a new article to some RSS Readers everytime, which can be annoying. FeedBurner should help with that, although it won't eliminate it completely. I'll still be fixing punctuation and grammar all the time. Especially now that my left-hand isn't typing as well as it used to.
But right now, things are looking brighter.
On the not so important side of things, you may have noticed that my G3 iBook is happily running iPhoto 6. This is good. However, I'm striking out on being able to put my .tivo files on a DVD that plays. I stripped them to .MPG but its apparently not a .MPG iDVD can read. It's frustrating and I haven't figured out another option, although not for lack of trying.
On the organization front, I'm still really enjoying the whole Plan Plus thing. It's a fact of life, despite the 20 moleskines I have on my bookshelf, I'm really an electronic kind of gal. With the addition of the tablet PC, I'm slowly transferring my whole life over to OneNote and Outlook. I'm really enjoying checking things off my life each day. Right now, I get a little tingle of satisfaction when something gets checked off. I hope that feeling lasts. Hell, I'm only on Day 2. I'm enjoying reading other people's blogs on different approaches to organization & prioritization; I find it incredibly helpful. Why is it so much easier to get things done when they're all laid out and prioritized? I actually picked up the phone and contacted a client yesterday, even though I was dreading the answer. In the end, it was definitely worth my while, and I got a check mark.
Continue reading "It could all change by the end of the day" »
It's possible. Here's what you need:
2 Macs, at least one of which has a DVD drive.
1 6-pin to 6-pin firewire cable. You may think you have one, but I bet you don't. Roughly $30 at Best Buy if you're impatient like me.
1 iLife '06 DVD
You have to be able to copy the iLife package installer to your hard drive. I had countless issues with this. It wouldn't copy, wouldn't make a disk image, nothing. So I had to resort to Target Mode to get it to work. If you can actually get the damned thing to copy successfully, you can skip Target Mode and go right to the bottom of the blog entry.
Now, I only installed iPhoto and iWeb on the G3. Chances are if iMovie, iDVD, etc even open, they will be VERY VERY slow. iPhoto, on the other hand, works like a charm. And remember, if you only have one copy of iLife, I think you can only legally install it on one machine.
My research over the last few weeks has led me to several web sites and books on getting things accomplished. I narrowed it down, as you know, to two theories - Getting Things Done and Franklin Covey PlanPlus.
Thanks to a book I've been reading and a couple of your comments, I think I'm going to sort of combine the two methods. Truthfully, I think I already am.
Why is it that a client will want things from me lickety-split but when I need things from them it takes FOR FRICKIN' EVER? We're not on island time people!
So here we are - Wine Blogging Wednesday. I'm still a little nervous, this being my first time all. We stuck with France because we tend to drink heavily Aussie and California/Washington wines. France is still new to us.
Vintage: 2003
Type: Red
Producer: Domaine La Remejeanne
Varietal: Grenache Blend
Designation: Les Arbousiers
Country: France
Region: Rhone/Southern Rhone
Appellation: Cotes du Rhone
If you want to know how it tastes, you really need to click the link to read more.
There's a thing out there on the web called Wine Blogging Wednesday. This is the 19th monthly blogging session, but my first. I'm a little nervous.
This month's theme (hosted over at WINExpression.com) is When in Rhone:
This month’s Wine Blogging Wednesday theme “When in Rhone” aims to help us become acquainted with these varietals that are being used all over the world. Winemakers have decided to ?do as the Rhonins do’ and transport and clone the varietals in rich soils from Australia and New Zealand to the warm central coast of California, and the vines are adapting quite nicely. Consumers are becoming aware of the high caliber wines crafted from these distinct grapes in areas other than the Rhone. Events like the Rhone Rangers, and Hospice du Rhone are continuing to gain recognition and popularity as they showcase the latest efforts by the winemakers focusing on these varietals.
So tomorrow I"ll be writing about a wine from the Cotes du Rhone appellation. Kevin and I are drinking it tonite.
Technorati Tags: Wine Blogging Wednesday, Wine, WBW, WBW 19
I hate when I'm in an airplane and we have to circle the airport for a while but can't land. It's nervewracking and frustrating.
It's also about where I am with my work right now. It's stressful. Actually, I don't know what's more stressful - the wait, or the sheer amount of work once it gets going.
It may not be easy or convenient, but there's a hack for everything. That includes stripping the .tivo wrapper and making media files straight MPEGs and installing iPhoto and iWeb '06 on a G3. (I haven't made this last one work yet. If I can't, I have a backup plan.)
I'm having an irritating day making the computers in my house do what I want. Grrr!
First, I tried to install iLife '06 on my iMac, which has a G3 processor. No go. It will only install itself on a G4 processor. WHY? All I want for this particular machine is the upgrade for iPhoto and the new iWeb. Why does that require the G4 processor? I have this great little machine that does nothing for me except store photos and churn out videos with its massive hard drive I installed. The good news is that iLife '06 runs on my iBook without a problem. It's just that my photos all live on my iMac. I'm highly irritated with Apple for this. (Actually, I'm irritated with Apple for a dozen things; this is just the highest on the list at the moment.)
Then I tried to pull a Scrubs episode off of my upstairs Tivo onto my desktop PC. No go. Remember how I mentioned that Tivo bridge we had to put together? It means that the Tivos are on a different subnet from our PCs. While the Tivos for some strange reason can see the PCs, the PCs cannot see the Tivos. In order to pull anything off of a Tivo and use Tivo2Go (or convert to MPG and burn to DVD), I need to hardwire a computer directly into the 802.11b router (the old one used as a bridge) and transfer the video to that machine. From there, I have to move the video to our Storage drive, which has empty space for video, similar to my iMac.
I'm frustrated and am going to go fool around with my taxes now. I meet with the accountant tomorrow - always fun.
I need your advice, oh blog readers of mine. (All 5 of you.)
Do you know anything, or have preferences toward, any particular time management system (for lack of a better phrase)? I'm interested in both the Franklin Covey System and the David Allen Getting Things Done system. I really don't know which to go with.
My problem is that I am a HUGE procrastinator and I get very easily distracted. I need to keep myself on point, so that when a deadline rolls in, I'm not missing sleep in order to meet it. I need to prioritize, but truthfully, EVERYTHING seems important.
There must be a better way.
I'm looking for a system I can integrate into Outlook, without which my heart would stop beating and my breath would slip away. My world is in my Outlook and then sync'd to my Palm and my iBook/iCal.
UPDATE: Based on the [first couple] comments, which are all true, I need to be slightly more specific. I depend on Outlook to organize my day. Only Outlook isn't really meant for that. I need to expand Outlook (most likely with the Franklin or GTD plug-in) to better handle tasks and prioritizing. Tasks and project tasks are currently handled poorly in Outlook. I'd also like to expand Outlook to better handle goals, which it currently does not do. It's not that I'm not up at at reasonable hour (7:30 am everyday, unless I have a Lunesta "hangover - then I'm up and at 'em by 8) or anything like that. It's that I have no effective way of goal and task prioritization. If I just keep a list (which is basically the current Outlook method) or shove it all in my calendar, I can ignore it. I do it all the time. I need real prioritzation methods. I realize that an Outlook plug-in is just one step in a larger system, such as Franklin Covey or GTD, but I kind of hope to blend together my own system with their help.
I love Hollywood and the glitz and glamour. I'm going to make some sort of an attempt to live-blog the Oscars this evening. I could give up in the middle, make sure it's being Tivo'd, go to bed and say to hell with the blog. Maybe not. Whatever I do, I suspect there will be an easier way. Let's crack open the Pinot Grigio and let's get blogging* ...
*If you want sarcastic and funny, check out Defamer.com. I'm simply not up to their level of hilarity. :-)
** My apologies if I screw up your RSS feed with this. The only way I know of that I won't lose everything, and to truly live blog, is to publish every few minutes.
Our old 802.11b wireless router was running slow. All our computers were like molasses for the last week. So, after some trial and error to discover that the problem did indeed seem to be the router, we bought a new one.
We picked up an 802.11g wireless router. It's got WPA encryption, so we set up a nice little secure network with no problem. Then we realized that our two Tivos only understand WEP encryption. This is incredibly frustrating. WEP encryption is old and easily hacked. While I don't really think someone is going to hack in and download an episode of Monk off my Tivo, the Tivos are connected to the rest of the computers in the house. It's all one network.
Kevin had to build a bridge of sorts, although in my opinion, it's more of a separate path that leads to a locked door.
Especially after my previous post, I should probably offer an update on how my elbow is healing. I know this blog gets lots of hits on Ulnar Nerve Transposition. (Click here to view all the posts if that's why you're here.)
The update is that I'm not sure how my elbow is doing. It's different on any given day.
The actual elbow area - on the outside where the groove-like bone is -burns like hell a lot of the time, especially if I've been typing a lot. (And when aren't I typing?) Sometimes, it burns for no reason. This burning wraps around my arm, like an armband, to an exact spot on my scar that happens to be slightly greenish on close inspection. The dr's say that'll fade (the color, not the burning).
So, I've spent some time in Dr's offices this week and it turns out that I'm suffering from a mild (let's really stress the MILD thing) form of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Basically, I'm having trouble coping and it all leads back to the arm surgery. I was fine until about February, when I got the big worry - that the surgery didn't work and I may even end up worse than when I started. It's a huge worry and I think about it alot.
I'm probably worried for nothing, but it's still there, among other, smaller niggling worries that seem to have been made bigger because of the first worry.
This humorous memo spoof was posted in yesterday's Engadget:
To: All Disney staff
From: Executive Committee
Re:
Organizational Changes
As many of you are aware, Disney recently acquired Pixar, which has resulted in changes to our corporate governance. After extensive consultations with our revised Board of Directors, we would like to share the following announcements, starting with changes to our trademark animated characters:
Mickey Mouse has long been Disney's most recognizable ambassador. However, our Board now feels that the two suspender buttons on his shorts are too confusing; Mickey will henceforth be a one-button mouse. Mickey's mouth will also be enhanced with a blue tooth and rolling your finger across his spherical nose will enable 360-degree scrolling freedom. Pulling on Mickey's tail will no longer hurt him; it will gracefully detach using patented magnetic connector technology.
I've blogged about the Bunnies before, but they have come out with some more movies-in-30-seconds-presented-by-bunnies, including Brokeback Mountain and King Kong. Since I've visited the site last, the Bunnies have also added Pulp Fiction, The Highlander, Star Wars, and Rocky Horror Picture Show to their repertoire.
David Allen: Getting Things Done : The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
Craig Ferguson: Between the Bridge and the River
I'm hoping that Craig will compare to Christopher Moore. I love Craig's extemporaneous monologues on his show.
Christopher Moore: A Dirty Job
And speaking of Christopher Moore - his newest will arrive on my doorstep shortly.
