By on March 31, 2009
Posted in Uncategorized |
By on March 30, 2009
I often use a great post from Lifehacker as a guide for doing my weekly review. Since I have been doing a weekly review for almost a year now, I know the drill without consulting the post. Today for my weekly review I decided to revisit the post for more inspiration. See the post here.
One of the things I spent more time on this week was my calendar. This really motivated me to finish a few marketing materials for my new business. I had to look on my calendar and make sure everything was scheduled properly and that I had all the materials I needed for my week. Well I don’t have much on my calendar this week so it means I don’t have enough work this week. That was a little wake up to stop procrastinating on my new business venture here in France.
I must update this site, my CV on this site, and finish my packet of materials that I will send to potential clients when making contact for the first time. Since I don’t have much work I must use the time wisely but also use the threat of little work to motivate myself into action.
Another not so evident benefit of doing a weekly review, uncovering these kinks continues to motivate me to continue to do a weekly review, even when I don’t have much work and I know I am on top of my to do lists. Each time I find something useful about it so I am motivated to continue doing it. Do the weekly review each week.
Posted in getting things done | Tagged weekly review |
By on March 30, 2009
I have a friend who had to reinstall windows and reinstall all the drivers and in fact find new software for a lot of things. I took the opportunity to suggest some great open source alternatives, alternatives not only because they are free, but because they work well, and are easy to use. Here’s an overview of CD Burner XP, a CD and DVD burning application.
What is CDBurnerXP?
CDBurnerXP is a free application to burn CDs and DVDs, including Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs. It also includes the feature to burn and create ISOs, as well as a multilanguage interface. Everyone, even companies, can use it for free. It does not include adware or similar malicious components.
Key Features
- burn all kinds of discs
- audio-CDs with or without gaps between tracks
- burn and create ISO files
- data verification after burning process
- create bootable discs
- multi-language interface
- bin/nrg ? ISO converter, simple cover printing and much more!
- Operating Systems: Windows 2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista/Windows 7
Try it out. I’m used to Mac’s and I found this application so easy to use and quick, I couldn’t believe I was on a windows machine.
Get CDBurnerXP now!
Posted in open source | Tagged cd burning, dvd burning, open source software |
By on March 30, 2009
Open Source software? Does it interest you? Are you in the Toulouse, France area? There is a group called Toulibre that actively promotes open sources alternatives and runs workshops, social events, and even sponsors cultural events in the Toulouse region. They have a monthly dinner where you can go and discuss open source software or not with a bunch of like minded people. You can go to one of their workshops or ateliers to learn about a new software program. You can even bring your computer along if you need help with installation. Many of the events take place at the Centre Culturel Bellegarde. Of course it is in French but many members speak English so go even if your French is not up to par.
Learn more about Toulibre.
Posted in open source | Tagged open source software, toulibre |
By on March 30, 2009
Scribus is a great open source desktop publishing application for Linux, Mac, and WIndows. I just downloaded and installed a copy on my Mac. I was looking for something that would make nice looking flyers and promotional materials that looked better than templates for Open Office Writer. Scribus does the trick. It is simple and easy to use and yet has a lot of nice looking templates. I’ll be able to put together nice looking documents in no time at all, and of course when I need to spend more time making something extremely customized I can use GIMP, but for now Scribus is great.
From the site
Scribus is an open-source program that brings award-winning professional page layout to Linux/UNIX, Mac OS X, OS/2 and Windows desktops with a combination of “press-ready” output and new approaches to page layout. Underneath the modern and user friendly interface, Scribus supports professional publishing features, such as CMYK color, separations, ICC color management and versatile PDF creation.
Get Scribus now.
Posted in desktop publishing | Tagged desktop publishing, open source, scribus |
By on March 27, 2009
Posted in graphic design, open source | Tagged GIMP |
By on March 27, 2009
Posted in graphic design, open source | Tagged GIMP |
By on March 16, 2009
Weekly reviews can be like lifting a load off your shoulders. They unfortunately can also be frustrating. One key I have learned is to be honest with yourself. I use Remember the Milk to manage my GTD aspirations. I can set a task in a list to repeat, but sometimes it doesn’t even belong in that list to begin with. For example, I have a few things I’d like to do on a regular basis but don’t think I can do if I don’t put them on a list.
When I have a spare moment I would like to research Greasemonkey scripts. I put it on a list that really relates to another project but is somewhat related to Greasemonkey scripts. At first I set it to repeat each week. I wanted a constant reminder so that sometimes I would make time to do it. More often than not I postponed or completed the task without doing it. Once a month or so I would actually do it. I decided to make it repeat monthly since I usually did it only once a month. It lost its urgency on a once a month list. It would come up in the queue and it was even easier to write off. Then I lost interest in staying on top of it. Once you skip tasks so easily it becomes easier to skip others, sometimes other tasks that are really important and really need to be done.
The solution:
I moved it to my someday maybe list. It didn’t belong on the list it was on. If I do my weekly review properly then I am reviewing my someday maybe list each week. I don’t need to put it on another list and then to set it to repeat. Just put it on the someday maybe list and think about it each week, do the research when you can, skip it when you can’t devote the time, but it will always be on the list, waiting for you to Get Things Done. Maximize your time by being more efficient.
Posted in productivity | Tagged weekly review |
By on February 17, 2009
Dropbox- Easy File Sharing
I recently started to work on a contract for a company to make a “Getting Started” type screencast video tutorial for their site. While they are not far from my home I will not go to their offices very often. My video size will be within emailable limits but it will be fairly large. It could take a long time to send.
They already have in place Dropbox folders. Dropbox, is a great file sharing application that adds a folder to your home directory automatically once you set up your account.
A free account gives you 2G of space. When you want to share a file simply drag and drop the file into your Dropbox folder. No FTP no stress and you get a nice green checkmark to indicate when it is finished.
You can also send a link to others to share the folder with them. Perfect for remote teams. The info about the file will tell you about recent revisions and by whom.
They have a nice set of user forums that provide lots of help when you need it.
You can also move items into the Dropbox so you can retrieve them remotely when you would like. For example, let’s say you are going to be away and you are not taking your computer with you, I know blasphemy, but it could happen. You could place some files that you might need to work on in the Dropbox folder on your computer and then log into your Dropbox account from a public terminal and see those files and work on them. It’s not the most elegant solution but certainly practical.
Another big benefit is that it is cross platform. Mac, PC, and Linux distributed teams can easily play well together, or at least Dropbox will not interfere with how well they play together.
Here is another review of Dropbox.
As I continue to use it I will continue to report on how useful it is, but so far so good.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged file sharing |
By on February 17, 2009
The Weekly Review is an absolutely essential step to continuing on the path to getting things done. I was pretty consistent in doing it at the beginning of my drive to implement GTD. Then I had a falling off as they say. I began again and felt really good and in control of my time and projects.
Recently I had a lot of work to do and projects to complete. While I like routine and try to faithfully do the weekly review, I barely did one for the last 2 weeks. Why? Because I was busy getting things done. I had 2 projects that were pressing and needed to be finished so I think I did a mini mental weekly review.
I just made sure that I could really clear everything off my plate this past week so I could devote my entire week to finishing my projects. Isn’t that what the weekly review is for? At first I thought, no don’t skip the weekly review, it’s a bad habit to get into. But then I thought, well if I were skipping it to make room for skiing or Facebook, then yes, it is a bad habit, but it was for real live work.
Lesson learned: Be flexible. If you do GTD to get things done, then don’t stop yourself from getting things done just to strictly adhere to a regimen.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged getting things done, gtd, weekly review |
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