Brad Feld posts a blog of what I consider to be a good idea, and something I will be employing very soon. His 5 categories of vacation: Where's your mindat?
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Going Dark… Wise Vacation Tips
Friday, March 21, 2008
Jack Sass Radio
If you haven't checked out Jack Sass radio, then you haven't lived. Not only is it a kickass internet, open-format radio station with live musicians, comedians and even a Chick McGee look-a-like (a la Matt Mitchell) – it has beer. Lots and lots of beer! Subscribe to Jack's daily podcast thru RSS and visit www.JackSassRadio.com for the live show schedule (every Tuesday and Thursday night 7-9PM Central). Recent and Upcoming Guests: February 26th, 7-9 PM - Jason Witt
February 28th, 7-9 PM - Henry Pile
March 4th - 7-9 PM - Chris Nathan
March 6th - 7-9 PM - Donna Frost
March 11th - 7 – 9 PM - On Tracy Lane
March 13th - 7-9 PM - Sawyer Davis
March 18th -7-9 PM - Uberphonics
March 20th - 7-9 PM - Rodeo Pony
March 25th - 7-9 PM - Multiple Comedians
March 27th - 7-9 PM - Mellow Down n Easy
A week on a volcano… coming up!
My wife and I have a work sponsored trip to Maui coming up in May. We went on one back in 2005 to Nevis / St. Kitts. It kicked ass. 5 Stars all the way. I'm excited because this time around some of my best friends and co-workers also won the trip and will be making the journey with us. We will be staying at the FOUR SEASONS in Maui. Here is our itinerary, so far. Saturday – Fly in Sunday – Team building event Monday – Waterfall hike Tuesday – Spa Massage Wednesday – Rafting around the island Thursday – Open time Friday – Fly out It is pretty structured but there is lots of free time too. We have a Jeep rented for the week… my question is, what should we do or see while we are out there? Thanks!
Clear Context: The Killer Apps' killer app?
For several months I had been playing with Visual Basic scripts, teaching myself on the fly as I came across something that I wanted Outlook to do for my GTD system. I had created several custom buttons such as FILE TO REFERENCE, TASK FROM ITEM, FOLLOWUP TASK, and Category tasks for my top customers. When suddenly I stumbled across ClearContext.com – I say suddenly because I had repeatedly been reading about this wonderful Outlook add-in program in my Google Reader, but never made the connection to what it was doing.
I’m about 3 weeks into my 30 day trial of ClearContext IMS (Information Management System) and I have to admit that I am digging it so far. I’ve been using my hybrid version of GTD and TWC (Total Workday Control) over the last 3+ years. With a few minor tweaks to my habits, I was up and running.
Here is what I am digging, and what I would improve for future releases.
DEFER: I love pushing something off, purposely, for a period of time. I am pretty hardcore about having my inbox clear once a message has been read, so this gives me a chance to defer items that I don’t want to take action on right now.
Future Idea: I tend to defer items to specific times repeatedly, usually 8am tomorrow, 1pm this afternoon or 4pm today. But the interface for doing that can be cumbersome since it defaults to tomorrow by default. What about an option that lets you set favorite times that can be chosen with a mouse click? Wow – instant time saver!
TOPICS: I wasn’t sure how I was going to use this at first. For quite some time I had been using the TWC method using a Reference folder that was sorted by categories thus allowing everything to be dumped into one place. That was great for simplicity – it was a no-brainer and Outlook rules could handle the tagging of most of the categories for me. I liked that I could have multiple categories for one email, effectively duplicating it in several spots. There were very few drawbacks to this method.
When I was introduced to TOPICS in Clear Context, I was a little hesitant to throw away something that was effectively working for me up to this point. But then I said, what the hell – I tweak everything – let’s give her a go. I work in sales with a set of accounts that doesn’t really change so each customer account got one folder and then a “.Reference” folder for everything archived that isn’t tied to a customer account. I have found that it is just as good as the TWC method of one folder tagged by categories. Since each customer has their own folder, everything still has distinct edges.
I love how you can tag one email in a thread, and the whole thread gets tagged by that topic. Then I read that last email in the thread and FILE TO THREAD all the emails at once. It’s naice!
However, here is where I am having issues with TOPICS. Most people put no thought into what the subject line of their email is. Since I work in sales I get the obligatory subject: “Quote” or “Quote Request” or “Question”. I use the rules to tag TOPICS/CUSTOMERS by their domain (ie: @XYZcompany.com gets tagged as XYZ Co topic). As I stated my love of the thread tagging above, it is here that it breaks down. Even though customer A and customer B send an email with the same subject (“Quote Request”), and are completely distinct threads, the system will tag the email incorrectly based on who sent it first. I suppose the overwrite function alleviates this, but I wish that it would work that out on its own and know the subject is a different thread.
CONCLUSIONS & FUTURE IDEAS: Overall it has been a great tool and I’ve been recommending the hell out of it to my co-workers. The demo online does a great job of showing what ClearContext does in just 2 minutes. And the stability has been unparalleled in the arena of Outlook add-ins, unlike say, the Salesforce.com add-in.
Here is one idea I would love to see in this tool – customizable Out of Office. One that would let me do things like send an OOO that doesn’t say “Out of Office”. I’d love to let my customers know key information about my availability (at lunch, in a training, expect long response times, etc…) but if they are not in my contacts list, it could respond with a different OOO or none at all. And one that doesn’t send a reply every single time. Just like OOO, it is not an endless loop.
I'd love to hear how others are using Clear Context in a sales environment!
ClearContext team, great job! Keep it up.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Monday, July 9, 2007
Beef Stew, Rice Noodle, French Bread, my Friend?
Wow. 5 weeks can really fly… then again, when you are talking about BEEF STEW… not so much. This week (we think) marks the week that Vinh Long returns from their pilgrimage to the Motherland. Or is it Fatherland? Is the Fatherland reserved just for Germans? And don't Africans have claim to the Motherland? Whatever… Beef Stew Returns. So we celebrate! There really is something magical about it. Maybe it is the tender beefy beefness. Or the way that it comes ready to eat, but with options to "pimp your stew" to your individual tastes. I don't know. Maybe it just the way our host welcomes us with a friendly, accented 'My Friend'. Now normally we are all about BEEF STEW WEDNESDAYS. But, with Daylight Saving Time (and the closely related Hudson Standard Time lunch clock) we have moved up Beef Stew to TUESDAY. Assuming our calculations are indeed correct, of course. Who knows, maybe the Vietnamese run off of a Lunar Calendar. Maybe the solar calendar… or even the lunisolar calendar like the Jews. I don't think they use the Islamic or Equatorial calendar, but what the pho do I know? So as I drink my weak American light beer ( which tastes great and is less filling ), I would like to leave you with you some Pho'nny Pictures… but I cannot figure out how to add my pictures. Argh! And the history lesson for today: Vinh Long is a typical province of Mekong delta. If you have only one or two days to visit Mekong Delta, this can be the best destination. You can take a boat trip from Mekong river to small canals shadowed by green water coconut tree, visit orchard garden, taste some local fruit there or watching local people making rice paper or pop corn in their home. You also can enjoy the typical meal of Mekong Delta in the garden of some family run restaurant. Right now, that is WhereMyMindzat! ~mindzat
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Pizza & Porn
Now, I like where this guys mindzat...
"When you order a pizza from Porno Pizza in Winnipeg, Manitoba, you get a pornographic photo on the bottom of the cardboard box. The racy image is revealed as you eat the pizza."
For the full story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19621836/
Only in Canada, eh?
~mindzat