Summer has arrived...

Sunday 5/18/2008

Well I say summer has arrived, but maybe it's just temporary. The past few days the temperature has been in the high 80s and even today it's in the 70s. For Seattle, that is certainly summer! Everyone is on the streets in their shorts or planning a bbq, a big change from just a couple of weeks ago. My parents arrive from England tomorrow just in time for the weather to revert back to 60s and rain. Oh well, I'm sure we'll get some more good weather soon.

So, what's been happening this week? Well, work has been pretty steady for me, not too many crazy things going on. I'm looking forward to June when I get to try the new T-Mobile phone@home service and I can finally replace my Vonage. Not that Vonage is bad; it's just that it's better to eat your own dogfood (a technical term - you can wiki it!), especially when it's something so revolutionary from a cell phone company. On that front I am also excited to hear what new devices are going to be released this year. I love my Blackberry, but when it's up for renewal in October I'm sure there'll be an even better one to buy. The new Blackberry Bold looks like a good contender.

Debs had a really busy weekend last week working on Mother's Day but it wiped her out for a couple of days. This week's been good too and she has been busy putting a few dollars away towards our wedding celebration dinner at the end of June. It looks like we have everybody confirmed for that too now.

On other fronts I've not managed to speak to the kids this week. I expect they've been out and about enjoying themselves while they can. Hopefully I'll get to speak to them soon.

Last week I blogged about Vitalist - a GTD program that I have been using. Well, there have been a few more developments to add this week. I have been looking for a wiki program that I could use at work to create a knowledgebase and was struggling finding a tool that would work with all the corporate rules and regulations but that was flexible and powerful enough to do what I wanted. Anyway, I discovered TiddlyWiki, a great powerful, extendable wiki program that suited the job perfectly. So, I started using that at work and then I also discovered that people had created all sorts of plugins for it, specifically some for GTD. So to cut a long story short I have uploaded one of those and am now trying it alongside Vitalist to see which one is the more useful and practical for me. I'll report back in a few weeks.

Lastly, I replaced my aging 17" LCD monitor with a new 22" 1680x1050 one a week or so ago and I have to say it's wonderful (Maybe I'll have to get a 30" soon!!). Then yesterday I even sold my old monitor on Craigslist for $75; a good end to the week.


Cooking on Gas...

Sunday 5/11/2008

I think I've finished uploading software and sorting out my PC now! The last outstanding piece was my Adesso Cyberpad and the associated software. With my Cyberpad I can draw on a standard piece of paper and then upload it to my PC as and when I want to. Also I have a handwriting to text conversion program which is really helpful. Anyway, to show you how it all works I've included a graphic of a sample drawing with text I did earlier. The OCR recognition program recognized my writing 100% which is pretty good. Of course it's not really my birthday, that was just something I wrote to test it all!

On other fronts I'm having a quiet day today while Debs is off working for Mother's Day. I spoke to my parents this morning and got an update on the celebration dinner on Friday. Apparently they all had a good time and the kids all get to meet and talk with each other. Now it's only a week or so until my parents make their way over here to stay for a while.

I also spoke to Teddy and Sophie and while they didn't have much to say (do kids ever?), they both enjoyed their evening out with their grandparents and said they ate well.


Another day another dollar...

Friday 5/09/2008

As the saying goes I guess I must be $6 richer than the last time I wrote. I've been busy organizing things this week, trying to find a piece of software I can actually use on a regular basis that will keep me honest and doing all the things I should be.

I ended up looking at three software packages (all of which had to be free, web-based and able to do the job of loosely organizing things based on the GTD - Getting Things Done - principle). The contenders were as follows:
    1/ Remember The Milk - This is a pretty good - but simple - task organizer. Basically tasks are organized according to Lists and with Tags added and are then displayed on different option screens. You can also add it to both gmail and your google home screen. I liked the concept but I didn't like the format of the display screens that were available. There was no simple way to see tasks that were due by date, only by today, tomorrow or overdue.
    2/ GtdAgenda - A newcomer to the scene, this product organizes tasks within projects and goals. The concept is really good, but the free version just doesn't have enough options to be able to use it as my main task organizer. Only 3 goals are available and 5 projects. It also boasts checklists which are a great idea. Again, the free version only allows 5 checklists. The treatment of dates is not as good as other GTD packages either.
    3/ Vitalist - I ended up picking this online software package over the rest because it just works. The free version allows you to create up to 10 projects (with hierarchies) and assign up to 10 contexts to each task you create. You can create unlimited tasks and then assign them to projects or not as you wish. Assigning a context (e.g. @home) signifies how and where you will deal with that task. Further, you can assign the task as an Action, Waiting, Someday or simply as Reference. Tasks can be assigned priorities, have dates assigned and there are a whole series of extra features available. There were two things I really liked about it though that made it better than the rest. Firstly the flexibility of the display options - many! Secondly you can download a desktop version of the software that links to your online tasks so that you can run it on your PC as if it was a real app. This is a sweet feature.

So, if you're in the market for some GTD software, give Vitalist a whirl. Just this last week I've documented about 25 things I needed to do and sorted them into projects and folders, then added contexts. Every day I re-visit the list, add a few more tasks and complete as many as make sense. I definitely feel organized and inspired again.

Well, I guess that's enough on that topic. What else have we been doing? Well Debs has been getting organized too and finalizing all the name changes she had to do after our marriage. She's going to be doing a craft show later in the year and is starting to organize her jewelry and Christmas ball making. There's a few things to get still (like custom cards) so that she can start to sell her jewelry in earnest, but it's all moving along. As you know if you're American, this weekend is Mother's Day. Because of this, Debs has to work all weekend and she normally gets Sunday off. Still, it should be a couple of good days for her in saving towards all the things we have planned for later in the year (and also our upcoming wedding celebration dinner in June).

We both started to organize our bedroom closets last weekend where we had been storing all those millions of boxes of stuff that never got unpacked after our move (only 16 months ago!). We made good progress on that front and have reduced the clutter to such an extent that the guest bedroom now has a usable closet. Hooray! There's still a long way to go though, but we're definitely getting there.

Lastly, it's my Dad's birthday next week and to celebrate he was taking all his grandchildren out to dinner tonight (in England) to an Italian Pizzeria near where my parents live. I'm sure it will be / was an exciting event with ages ranging from 7 to 23 in attendance. It sounds like a great way to celebrate your 70th birthday. So on that note I'll take my leave and post again soon.

 

It looks like ski season is over...

Saturday 5/03/2008

About time too. This weekend they finally announced that the ski areas in the Cascades will be closed until next winter. I mean it is May after all! Usually they close in early April, but this year it's kept on snowing relentlessly. They even had some more during the week. Here at ground zero Redmond the weather has not been quite that bad. It has been raining a little, but the temperature's warmed a little back to seasonal norm and we are now officially back in Spring. Hooray!!

That's about the extent of the excitement this week. There's really not a lot to report. Debs has been busy at work. Trade has been up and down what with the state of the economy at present. People are staying at home more. It just costs too much to keep buying gas and food. Something has to give and it's the going out. Oh well. Hopefully the recession won't last too long.

I got to move offices in the week. Our department had a re-org and so I moved from one building to another. Now I have a cube that is 60% the size of my last one. Oh well. At least it's in a slightly better traffic position and doesn't get everyone and the world past it all day like I did before.

Well, that really is the extent of the news. Depressing. I'll have to try and think of more things to write for next week. It's my Mum's birthday tomorrow and so I'll be calling her. I spoke to Teddy and Sophie today and they both have a long weekend off school. It won't be too long before they're over here for the summer. So, until next time, take it easy...