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I've been trying to use a GTD software application for the past month+. First I tried kGTD, I played around a little with iGTD, and most recently Actiontastic. I've also read numerous blogs and reviews and looked at a few others (like Ghost Action). So far, I've yet to find anything that is:• Easy to figure out. Everything I've looked at so far has horrible (or no) documentation. • Has a natural (to me) work-flow. • Is trust-worthy. Sometimes I see a task disappear and I have no idea why? Or, sometimes I mark a task as finished, paused, or waiting and something unexpected happens which reduces my confidence in the application.Come on people. This shouldn't be so tough! Right now, I'm tempted to go back to kGTD or just Omni-Outliner and possibly right my own application. Though, if I do that I promise not to put it out there without documentation and some way to make sure your hard earned/created data isn't lost to sloppy programming. 7 comments | post a comment
This just amazes me! I sign up for a FedEx Kinko's account because I needed to get some documents printed and bound. So, I create an account. As usual, I generate a strong password with my keysafe and use that. My confirmation email from FedEx Kinko's reads like: ----------------------------------------User Id: myplaintextemailaddress Password: myplaintextpasswordFor security reasons, FedEx Kinko's recommends you take precautions to protect your password. ----------------------------------------
2. Implement and enforce policies... 3. Implement the principle of least privilege. ...The only one of these recommendations that makes any sense is #3. #1 and #2 are futile at best. Unless of course, you work in a company where all disgruntled employees follow policies? Perhaps it's possible to disable all the USB ports on all the computers at your company too? It's not feasible at mine. It's unfortunate that stupid articles like this are ever published. They only fuel the fires of inadequately trained and informed IT people the world over. Making them think that recommendations #1 and #2 will help them safeguard sensitive data. What a waste! 1 comment | post a comment
Safari has been my default browser for a while now. Mostly because it has integrated spell checking and the Apple look and feel down pat. And, on top of that, I really like Safari's RSS reader. It's not the fanciest thing in the world, but it is very functional. Well, Safari just got knocked down a few notches with a one-two punch from both Firefox-2 and Google. Firefox-2 is pretty sweet, has better tabbed browsing features than Safari, now has an integrated spell checker, AND, I just discovered Google's RSS reader. Sweet. Firefox-2 is now my default browser. Let's see how long this lasts :-)post a comment
Most of my career I have worked for larger established companies. Only in the past couple of years have I been exposed to struggling startups through various channels. Most recently I have worked for one. And, this experience leads me to say "don't trust what you read in product reviews!" There are exceptions of course. If the reviewer has a solid reputation for actually using the product under review or the review was a product shoot-out where it is obvious that the products were actually operated and tested by the reviewer. However, if its not clear what the basis is for the review, watch out! I say this because I know of products that barely work that have received rave reviews. And, this is in the network security field where customers can spend tens of thousands of dollars on something that doesn't work! It truly amazes me that this can happen. And, note that I am NOT accusing anyone of intentionally misleading anyone or lying or anything malicious. I believe good reviews get written about bad products because of "the system". When I say "system" I am referring to startups and PR firms and busy journalists at trade magazines who don't take the time to use something themselves. Not that is too difficult. It is just very time consuming to set most networking or security products up in a realistic environment and get them to work. It requires lots of specialized knowledge and there are many little things that can go wrong and drastically add to the time it takes. Thus, companies often send a Sales Engineer to help out a product reviewer. The product is setup in a very controlled environment, demo'ed and voila! Good product review.There is no one individual that is doing anything wrong or with ill intent. Just a bad outcome of a flawed system. The bottom line, don't believe every product review you read.post a comment
I doubt anyone (but a few friends) reads these blogs. But, as I am about to embark on more professional subjects it seemed worth while to blog a little about my background. Just so future blogs have some context. Why am I qualified to talk about engineering and software development? The basic answer is that I have been an engineer for 20+ years. Much of that developing software of one sort or another. Though, I did spend some time as a structural engineer and I did work on aircraft electronics and environments and a variety of other cool stuff for a while. For the past 8+ years I have been doing a mix of product development, engineering management, and application architecture/design. I have worked at a variety of companies on an even larger variety of products, and with an even larger variety of engineers/developers. It's been interesting to say the least.I am considering using this blog to (among other things) convey some of my thoughts about software development, engineering, and other such lofty topics :-)So, there you have it.... a brief insight into my sordid background. post a comment
Deja-Vu again. It seems that I repeatedly get roped into using MS-Word. Mostly because "everyone else does" and I need to in order to communicate with "everyone else". Once again, the complexity of my document is growing and MS-Word is showing what an inadequate document-building tool it is. Why can't they get the basics right? Especially after all these years. You would think that creating a simple bulleted list wouldn't be a great challenge. Same goes for enumerated lists, which can be really tough if you don't know the right magic-sauce. I manage to struggle with those, reading the user-guide and fumbling through to try and make it work. Though, I hit my patience limit with this new goof. It seems that I can't cross-reference a figure without getting the entire figure (image and all) inserted at the reference point. Worst of all, the behavior seems to be intermittent. Giving me just enough incentive to keep trying the same operation over (like an insane person) and over hoping that it will just work eventually.Well, that's it! I switched to Apple's Pages application. After a couple hours test-driving it I think it does all the basics well. Yet another testament to the fact that Apple is much better at UI/Application design that Microsoft. Lists work like I expect them to, so do tables and style settings. Pages does not seem to have the same cross-referencing "feature" that MS-Word does. But, it looks like I can simulate what I want with bookmarks and hyperlinks. 2 comments | post a comment
http://www.networkworld.com/reviews/200
Yesterday, I was in the car with my wife, and 3 8 year old boys in the back seat. The boys were playing with a little fish made out of cellophane. The toy indicated that one of them was "passionate". They asked what passionate meant. I responded that passionate meant that you liked girls. The roars of horror and denial from the back seat were awe inspiring. It was one of the funniest moments I've experienced in some time. post a comment
I was sad yesterday to: • have networking problems. Rather bizarre. I could reach some networks, but not others. The error always being "network unreachable". Usually a sign that a router somewhere is misconfigured. Though, in this case I could reach some of Google's IP-addr, and not othes. Worse, traceroute wouldn't work to help me troubleshoot the problem. I would get "can't assign requested address..." errors for the IP-addr I could not reach, and it would work fine for the IP-addr I could reach.After inspecting, and re-inspecting my network configuration I gave in and: • learned that a reboot resolved the problems!This is the first time ever I have had to reboot my Mac to get it to behave correctly. Very reminiscent of my Windows experiences, though having to reboot Windows to get it to behave was a far more frequent experience.Bummer. Though, I suppose that 1 reboot in 3+ years of usage is not too bad. post a comment
Finally, I found a good use for virtual desktops. I use virtue desktops in conjuction with Parallels VM and run the VM in fullscreen mode. Now, I can easily switch back and forth between full-screen Mac OSX and full-screen Windows-XP. Very cool! post a comment
We went trail-riding in Walker Valley yesterday, for the first time. Nice place overall. Small parking/staging area. But, that is nice cause it help reduce the number of people riding there on any given day. Though, you have to get up and get there early if you want a decent spot in the parking lot. Walker-Valley riders arrive noticeably earlier than Capitol Forrest of Tahuya riders. Muddled Meanderings: nice trail. Hard to keep speed up consistently, but some fun, and challenging sections.Cavanaugh Loop: We first hit the loop off the main fire-road out of the parking lot. The first section of this trail/loop was awesome, fast, good corners with nice berms, a real pleasure. The rest of the loop was pure hell (by comparison). The remainder of the trail was wide enough for a quad in most places, but really more like single-track as most parts of the trail had only a narrow section that was passable. I really tired myself out on this trail because the going is slow, and I am too short to get both feet on the ground. Thus, the trail was an exercise in balance for me... trying to get momentum enough that I wouldn't need to dab, but constantly failing and often coming to a complete stop and having to man-handle the bike over something. My riding companion is at least 4 inches taller than me, and can comfortably plant both his feet on the ground sitting on his bike, with the suspension fully extended (he is tall). He had a much easier time; he would just paddle his way through a lot of the obstacles and tougher sections of the trail.Pat's trail: This trail starts out with an uphill that is quite rocky. Not little rocks that make the bike skittery, but big rogs that are tough to ride over, some have to be navigated. It was very tough to keep any momentum, and when I cam around the first corner and saw another 50 yards of the same thing, I said "forget it". We turned around and looked for something with a little easier starting point.Delmars Downhill: we heard this was really bad. We were going to avoid it. But, we got so lost on Cavanaugh Loop that is didn't matter.Overall, I would guess that at least 50% of the trails (by mileage) are tough like Cavanaugh. IMO, you would have to be an expert-level rider to negotiate that trail in a somewhat efficient (fast) manner. I think I will enjoy riding at Walker once I get to know my way around the fire roads and trails. Then, I can pick the trail that suits me best on a given day and have fun. The area is on the small side, so anyone riding there and going reasonable fast, is going to have to like looping over sections of trail multiple times. I enjoy that. 2 comments | post a comment
I put two bicycles in Craig's List today. One of them must have been priced low and the other one too high. How can I tell? Well, I received 15 emails on the one I presume I priced too low, and no emails on the one I presume I priced too high.... Of the 15 or so people that emailed me, almost all left their telephone numbers. I started calling them, and I am getting pretty optimistic I will sell the bike shortly. This Craig's List thing is pretty cool. I've known about it for quite some time. Don't know why I never took advantage of it before. post a comment
nice article, but... it is scary that this article is addressed at executives. Any manager who has been managing more than a year or two ought to know that it is important to delegate and how to do it. The fact that there are SO MANY managers in the workplace that actually need this advice is a stunning statement about the quality of white-collar management today. http://www.startupjournal.com/runbusine
Finally found a theme/style in LJ that I like. Thank you mundefined for having good taste in journal styles. I copied yours. 1 comment | post a comment
I have been experimenting the past couple of days with virtual desktop managers for Mac OSX (10.4). I tried desktop-manger, virtue-desktop, and CodeTeK Virtual Desktop Lite/Pro. I can't seem to get used to any of them. Virtue Desktops is the only real contender at the moment as CodeTeK's product doesn't seem to work on the Mac/Intel platform. It is just busted. Same goes for Desktop-Manager. Leaving Vitrue-Desktop as the only actively developed, and working on Mac/Intel product that is viable. What I am having difficulty getting used to is all the compartmentalization. Having separate desktops for email, browsing, code, and a "main" desktop just doesn't seem to suit me at the moment. I am often writing an email and taking information from a browser window. Likewise, I am ofen working in a terminal and taking information from a browser window. And, during all of these activities, I am frequently interrupted (thankfully) by IRC and IM. I was having a tough time hopping between desktops to find the window I wanted. And, making some applications show up in all desktops (like the browser) doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. The clutter of having everything in a single desktop was just being replicated on each and every virtual desktop So, now I am back to a single desktop. Which, isn't so bad with Apple's expose, its pretty easy to clutter and un-clutter. Think I'll wait a while before trying virtual desktops again. post a comment
BTW: most of my management blogging is for friends only at this point in time. I will clean it up and make it public soon. Most of it harmless, no names, and discussion about recent events as well as long-past events. So, it should be OK I think? post a comment
Here I am blogging away and it looks like the subject I am writing the most about is management. What do other bloggers have to say about management? Maybe I could skip all this self-exploration and writing and just learn what to do from someone else who is living-it? Let's see.... An excerpt from the first management blog found via google (search for: "management blog"), link: http://blog.bettermanagement.com/ "Best" can be a matter of perspective. The "best" doughnut, the "best" vacation spot, the "best" movie—all of these are judgment calls, based on personal preference, bias, needs, resources and so on. So when do you know you've got the "best" processes, strategies and infrastructure for your business intelligence requirements? Sorry, but that is NOT what I am looking for. Try again: Bummer, strike two... So, what am I looking for? Basically, someone with some real experience to help me understand better how to work with people better. To get a group of people to actually do what they claim they want to do. Next google supplied link: http://www.managementblog.org/ is a little better. Looks like this guy actually works (manages or consults) for a living. Though the topics in the last two days of his blogging tend to focus on the mechanics of project-management and coaching peers and subordinates. Not exactly what I am looking for, but worth a bookmark and continued reading. Keep looking: http://managementcraft.typepad.com/mana http://www.agilemanagement.net/Arti Other links to investigate: Summary: there is a lot of management speak out there, not much of it is really helpful to someone with experience and common sense and an interest in managing. The last quality being the most important, cause it means I have already read enough management guidance, and attended enough management courses and cheerleading sessions that additional "management speak" type information will do me little good. The search continues...
http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/0 This article says a lot about Apple. I am a big Apple fan/user and really enjoy using their products. It is often tempting to wish that Apple would conquer Microsoft. Its articles and facts like this that make me think that wouldn't be such a good thing. Instead, I wish for Microsoft to become less of a monopoly and for other players in the computer hardware/OS markets besides Apple and MS. Competition is what serves us (customers) best. 1 comment | post a comment
Another resource that I should be reading on a regular basis: This is Microsoft's security response center blog and provides some good insight into what is going on in the world of MS security. New exploits, patches, etceteras. I used to wonder where to get this information. But, then I bought a Mac, and forgot about it. Now, I need it for my new job. post a comment |
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