April 2008 Archives
I think the biggest problem with my lack of commitment to a task management tool is that i’m burning out on all of them. I know that Ciara is sick of switching from tool to tool and having to re-enter data all the time. So, i’ve finally committed. And to a tool that i’ve written off so many other times that i’m still amazed that i’m going with it now.
I know! Who’d a thunk it, a half-finished, sort-a abandoned product with one of the craziest histories of any recent software that i can think of.
But it does sharing very well. And if you can adjust how you think about task management to fit into the way Chandler thinks about it, it (so far) works quite well.
There are still quite a few admittedly large “warts”. Repeating events are limited to simple yearly, monthly or daily - no 3rd Thursday. This is supported in the software itself, there is just no UI for entering this kind of repeating event. This is something that i can live with, if it means i get a tool that has good sharing abilities.
My last attempt at low-tech task management was using the lightning plugin for Thunderbird. The latest version of the plugin is quite good, with a nice-ish UI. The downfall, especially if you are sharing your calendar, is that, if more then one person is working on it at the same time, you can corrupt your data. Which is what happened to me. Which is why i needed a better server side solution, something a bit more advanced then WebDAV. Thus Chandler. I’m using their free Hub service, but you can download the server and run it yourself if you really want to keep your data local.
Since i’m trying to commit, i’m going to be living with the warts and all of this software, but i will blog about my experiences with it, and how it works out for us over the next weeks and, hopefully, months.
Whew - what a great weekend! I was sure it was going to rain, so what a pleasant surprise when it turned out to be the best weekend of the year! We managed to be both productive, and have fun. Saturday was the ‘chores’ day, so we did some baby-proofing and general cleaning and spring tidying. Sunday was the ‘fun’ day, and we all headed off to the Zoo. It was the perfect weather for it - not too hot, a bit of a breeze. And the kids were superstars. I mean, the zoo is big. But we managed to time all our rests and food breaks well. Heck, Rory even managed to have a nap while we were walking around. The only bummer is that the Polar-bears are getting a new enclosure (which is good really), so you can’t see them till that is all done.
Anyway, the weekend was great, and i’m feeling stoked for many more!
Freeedooooooomm! Friday was my last day at my (previous) day job at the ILC. While i’ll miss a bunch of the folks i worked with, the past few months there have been torturous - not because of the work itself, or the place even, but this winter was, well, hard on me. I got pretty depressed there for a while, and then to top it all off i got pneumonia. So it was at that point that i decided, hey, time out! I’m taking a couple of weeks to get my shit back together, then doing a couple of months of freelance work from home. Then some summer vacationing for the whole family before Ciara starts back to work in the fall, and i become the primary home parent for a year.
So, i’ve just got to say, what a great way to start all that. Today was super. And, i expect, tomorrow will be too.
Here are some photos from this mornings gift-opening madness!
Zoikes - and it is an electric bike too! Check this out (more) and tell me that it doesn’t totally look like one of the Akira bikes. Crazy - i’d so buy one of those things… if it wasn’t too expensive… and Ciara said ok…
Went out and bought a second RockBand guitar last night. Mostly because i’m actually well enough that i can stay up past 8pm without turning into a zombie, and so that Ciara and i can both rock out, without waking up the kids. The drum kit is just a bit much for Rory still, so with the two guitars, we can both play.
Also, in further PS3 inspired geekiness, the new software upgrade improved the PS Store a lot. It actually makes it usable, unlike the old one. Its had also been so long since we’d played RockBand, that there has been an upgrade for it as well. There is now an integrated “store”, where you can buy new songs - i suspect that we will be spending some cash there shortly. Curse you, time waster that you are! At least the time is wasted in a fun manner.
Thank the gods for medicine. It turns out i had a touch of pneumonia, a dash of a sinus infection and a whole lot of tired going on over the past two weeks. Still not totally out from under it yet, although these antibiotics are doing great things.
In news, i’ve quit my job at the ILC, my last day is this friday. I’ll be taking some time to get my health back in line, and then pickup some contract work. Man, looking forward to working from home again!
Fuck. I’ve have had my ass kicked by this damn thing for the past week. I’m still not anywhere near better yet. I was sleeping 14 hours a day over the weekend. I’m so looking forward to having this done with. Can’t come soon enough.
And i’m not talking about any Klingon delicacy! The lack of good sleep and general stress finally had their way with me yesterday. I was all having flu-like symptoms, although no real fever. Felt like shit, and basically slept the whole day. Still not at (any where near) 100%, but i’m back at work today. So far its ok. If things start going downhill this afternoon i’ll just kite out early. I hate being sick.
