The potential stillbirth of even buying the GTD book hinges on one "should be simple" query.

Will it be possible to make effective use of GTD and not use Outlook?

The multiple factors making Outlook a deal breaker for GTD are not even on the discussion floor at the moment. It to me has become nearly a "pass-fail" evaluation point. I will openly mention the single most basic fail for anything in my life demanding me to use Outlook. I spend large amounts of time in places and situations where I am running Livedistro type Linux from machines with no HD. I do suppose a truly dedicated fanatic bent on proving a point etc might do the "PortableApps" meme to a complete XP install Outlook and all. But that seems a bit out of scope for me, let alone most mere mortals.

I did try googling for GTD and variants of "not needing Outlook" but it seems like looking for oceans with no salt in them. Which is a shame. I would be "less reluctant" to explore GTD if it is not crippled somehow by Outlook being unusable.

Here's a closing funny- the $119 Windows CE netbooks going on sale at 5am seem to be crippled in their output formats as sold- by the time upgrades to software are paid for, you might as well buy the $169 Aspire. So I guess this T42 will be kept around a bit longer either way.

HD based externals will be bargains. But the pendrive style drives will be often overlooked for their salvation value. Having several unused ones on hand or better still- in the laptop bag can make us the hero of a situation. Or just make life a bit easier. With a possible disaster mitigation almost trivial to set up. I have been gently "Leading By Example" a few years now by gifting appropriate folks in my life with a flash drive stuck into a spare port. Then copying drivers for their system devices and accessories onto that drive for them. As sad history shows backups often overlook drivers et all.

Well- that under $10 USB drive doorbuster bought on friday might save incalcuable wailing&gnashing of teeth for someone if it's used. But you have to get them deployed and loaded with the data. Which begins with buying them.. The concept of getting the folks in our lives to back up a "their own copy" of their files needs to be made universal. Or we will be overworked on recoveries.

Happy Thanksgiving in advance:)

The daily routines. A phrase almost consigned to cliche even though it's potentially life defining. Pop psych books or the web based incarnations only go so far. Some, like Lifehacker or Unclutter show life as we'd like to be living it from the "stuff" and "tech" aspects. There's a book about "getting control of your time&life" that I skimmed in maybe 1986 or so. 99% of it-including the full title and authors name has faded from easy recall. But- I captured and self-paraphrased the single most potent weapon for daily routine use from that book. It's a conceptual tool.

What is the most valuable use of this moment?

And often it can be daunting to contemplate. It took me almost twenty years to even begin applying the concept at all. Then epiphany began to condense from repetition. The tool is a "reset" directing me to evaluate based on whatever triggered it. With the self awareness to use the tool and not have the tool use me:)

Well, I have innumerable things on my to-do lists that were and are arguably more worthy uses of my time than this post. In one application of that most valuable use tool, I should be doing anything else. Yet, the mental reset of a few moments online updating this journal and checking email etc was needed to rest from chores around the house. And those chores were part of that daily routine i had on my mind sitting down for a break.
Some of the routines have been getting changed. I now charge my cell phone from a USB cable on this computer. Which lets me hotsync a few files en passant. Same concept with a docking cradle for my laptop. Keeps the battery charged and makes a filesync part of the smooth work flow.

Now, it's back to work getting psyched up for an interview tomorrow while finishing housework.

I have been using a Vtech cordless phone all summer as my primary landline device. This morning- it went dead in seconds as if it had not charged. While investigating the situation a very happy discovery was made. The phone uses 2 standard AA NiMh cells. Box stock like you can buy almost anywhere. With a tray in the base station to keep 2 more on charge. I suspect they may even run the base station unplugged from the ac line. Due to messages I have been saving as backups I can't test that yet. My rating for Vtech has gone up from this experience.

I think that there are better extruder designs possible. This is placeholder to establish a date.

I did a road trip involving 500 miles drive over 30some hours time. And a 6:45 am on site time. This post was originally a transcript of memories and voice mails to myself. The original draft was incoherent or worse. I'd polished the braindumpy nature a bit but a friend shouldersurf read  this last week- and told me to post  the draft as is for the "cautionary  tale" value. needless to say I made a  more than cursory scan for typos or similar but sigh Polish Vs Post  and end up never posting. This may have value to those wishing to be paladins of tech:)  Or just to laugh at the wreckages.

Did I mention five hundred miles windshield time in 30some clock hours? And a 6:45 am onsite time/close to 1230pm release from site install? followed up by the 250 miles home trip of that 500 miles. Largely  being thru heavy rain.  Worst parts being  on US71's lovely hilly Ozarks.

As I said- this involved a motel room stay. So it was "supposed" to be a bit easier that way. Except the room was on 76 Hwy in Branson, MO. Which had overnight jackhammer work all night long. Nice sleeping music if you are a fan of that sound level. This sort of evening is when a bit of pre-planning can become priceless.  The side pocket of my laptop bag supplied a few items of salvation.  Above all else- noise isolating headphones helped . The generic  Farm supply store's radio work tunes headset.    Fed by a FM transmitter.

Transmitter modded to run from AC power. Upgrade may become USB powered- or I will make a second battery pack for the lighter socket powered 2gig mp3 player. Yes, that 2 gb player being the size of a 1AA maglight is a whole lot easier to haul than that many cd's and it plays thru the headphones well even when left in the car's lighter socket. As I frequent  the sort of motels with the door opening up onto the parking lot. 10 feet from trunk to bed is a considerable comfort enhancement if there may be 6 different rooms a week.

Ideas and kit tested and chosen for comfort,sanity hygiene,and reliability  All  part of the survival armory for road life. Ebay supplied 3000 mah AA nimh batteries and 1 hour chargers. Compared to the usual Duracell pricings in 2 packs etc they pay off FAST.  Using a Nalgene bottle for drinking water and a Brita pitcher to refill 2 liters or one gallon milk jugs. That can pay the difference between Lucky Dragon buffet or microwaved canned ravioli. Having the canned stuff with a backup of world traveller style cup boiler heater can be a life saver in towns too small for a 24 hour gas station. Goat Horn KS size towns are real. .Back to practical tactical hardware.

The"Alarm Clock" system is in layers. One of which is  the laptop used for a music source also  providing audio wakeup sounds. Aaron Copeland's "Fanfare for the common man" was the current selection.  Though the headphones risk blocking alarm clocks and/or wake up calls. as backup.So I added weight/space allowance for   the "Screaming Meanie" piezo alarm. Which tends to pierce even the headphone's isolation.Best $22 wake up unit one can buy.  A $1 mechanical timer that the besdide lamp gets plugged into set for 6am makes wakeup even more reliable.

All the gear gets stowed in essentially 4 places. if packing lead time allows. Laptop bag- Suitcase-Food bag- Frontseater. That last one needs a moment of explanation. It's a squarish multizippered duffel type "gym bag". Modded with some panels of Coroplast for stiffeners in floor&walls. Which do double duty by having been laced with dollar store bungee cord in  stowage loops. If you've ever been in a Snap-on truck you would have seen the inspiration.  Well- since I have used rentals and borrowed cars- THANKS Jen! - Swapping stuff  car to room and back becomes a whole lot easier if it's 4 pieces or less. Purchases on the road often prove worth buying another cheap fabric tote or reusable cloth bag if I forgot to bring enough empties. Chargers for rechargable stuff used to get hauled in to the room and still often do. Except I  have been experimenting with a 90W lighter socket inverter and a power squid velcroed to the flap of Frontseater., Oh, I still will haul the kit in with me to prevent theft- but odds on it will be charged easier than finding an outlet in the room close to the bed. That second laptop battery has saved my tail when I was too road burned to plug the charge strip in one night. That and the second cell phone battery. And a bluetooth but which used AAAA batteries. It goes dead- change the battery instead of wait hours for a recharge.

This is edgy on overlong but for brain dump capture it's worth it. And hopefully some future person reading this may profit from  my painfully earned history of mistakes.while learning. Being smarter than me. Like the duplicate pair of glasses and 4 days prescription meds in the laptop bag.  And yes- it's posting @ 0215 or so central as I'm sleep deranged from the flu's revenge.

I hope the grandkids will be able to have cake here tomorrow.

I will be at the cave today

I was shown a demo of Songbird at the CCCKC Hackerspace about a month ago. I got around to trying it about a week ago. It seamlessly imported all my files from several  HD's  and 3 portable players. The de-duplication ability seems incredible all by itself even if  using it poses  a learning curve of little amusements. Suffice to say that being able to get Digitally Imported  and similar Audio Streams working in a painless click&play fashion is nice. My next project is getting Songbird to work from a Flash Drive

It was an experiment in Cost vs Hassles. I have had it about 3 weeks now. So far it's worth the IIRC under $20 for it. As it saves me from connecting  Power, Ethernet, Speakers etc. Part of that etc had already been streamlined. A powered 7 port hub for my phone, PDA, Camera Cradle, GPS 2 music players and a Print/Fax/Scan box. The backup drive box gets plugged into a port direct. 

Having external keyboard/mouse ports would not normally be of importance to me using the laptop's kybd/touchpad. But then I discovered having a CueCat living in that kybd port helps a bit. And the mouse port supports an experimental "Joule Thief" derived alkaline AA charger. Trading charge time curve for safety etc.

It gave slight warning by taking longer to begin cycles... I found no DC volts on any of the pins from the power supply IIRC these are all DC?

Ah well, I know what my next project is.

It is becoming a reality. A tabletop 3D printer owned by the CCCKC project.  

I am so much going to enjoy working with it.


The CupCake from:



http://www.makerbot.com/

There's a double meaning in that title.

One meaning is of course- recovering information from a windows OS computer.

The other meaning is as a tool which can allow someone to recover their life from windows.  

Details in progress.

It sadly seems to not connect on my local Tmobile tower. Which means it's a $15 paperweight till it "sees" a valid signal.  That's a more than brainless setup fail. Clearly their logic paths need some rethinking. As one scenario has someone buying one of these for a trip- flying being the example. Well- if you have no flight mode switch to disable transmit "for sure" it's a fail. Same for someone wanting to study embedded documentations beyond the "fill out blanks- proceed when red x becomes an antenna" screen/s. Had the device been usable for oh- a notepad, or reading the fine manuals... The other stunning omission was a WiFi mode that would have let me use it  with my DSL.  Seriously, what does a Broadcom chipset add to the cost compared to the possible gains.? After all the hyping of their "Hotspot Phone Modes" you would expect Tmobile and those using them as a carrier would leverage that concept. A device that  switches to local wireless on no GSM signal could become a "Carrier Choice Factor" Meaning in blunt concept- if you lose GSM inside a place but you have some source for WiFi and your device seamlessly negotiates a handoff- That would be a good reason to choose the service provider/s with that mode!  Let me explain my situations...

I live about an hour north of my work zone/s. Which are in near perfect Tmobile coverage but horridly foul for Alltel coverage. We could substitute any  carrier names for the situation of one works in work or home but not the reverses. If both companies were GSM a "Dual SIM" kit or phone could make the problem merely monetary and not needing two phones-or constant SIM swappages. The Soft Handoff to local wireless is so elegant, it's bordering on  practically criminal stupidity  to NOT make that a default mode.. For all devices. Including this Peek which has become closer to a fail absent it redeeming itself somehow...
 

I was giving the Puppy Linux demo where I boot my laptop with both hard drives removed. The person seeing the demo was impressed. He's pitching the concept to his company. The concept of diskless desktops running Flash-Puppy may generate me some consulting fees. Getting paid for things like this is neat...

It's on the Snack Bar counter... Details to follow..

Slagging any "Non-Open" devices/software has become a chic thing to do again. I am not even going there..

But having a Palm 4.1 device back is like coming home.

Placeholder/s for personal memory aid of how/why we did things follows- may be boring- or of historical use- or just amusing:>

The pipeline crews have been crying loudly for 50 amp sockets at their sites.
Some parts of the park are a plug&plat convertible box-if the panels-Zinsco/Anchor 2B50 were obtainable at any price. They are an EOL'd product ... There have been some newer companies in the RV pedestal supply chain and I am leaning towards Milbank. A bit pricey- but total
lifetime cost  often demands a bit of  up front money.

DSL @ the snack bar goes in this week and will enhance coverage of the main park area/s.

I am researching the sites behind the 30/40s for making disused tent sites into W/E sites at minimum...
 

Replaced 50 amp 2B50 on pete's site with 1B30 30 amp panel-cleaned bus bars... Found note markered in panel stating 50's sites fed from splice in site 63? box...  Remind self to edit this for site # verify  note also Request for 50 amp services on  sites 65&79 .  Note alos workorder to replace timer for snack bar eave lights, multiple bulbs in eave lights- socket of sb women's room eave light, noisy fan women's room sb singleton game room side- drain pipe behind washers cracked Pool fill valve cracked. WIFI to SB if possible!

Ballast replacement two outer SB ling tube fixts -currently has F96 CW 2 per fixture single pin- iron ballasts- suggest SS replacements.

Cash register SB -either from Tin Barn or risk ful battery reset of SB one.. Anchor partitions in SB bathrooms!

Summary was- we got back to the coffee pot valve last night. And the flow was so low it took ten minutes to fill a pot. Clearly that would not be acceptable. First hack- remove the piercing needle. Tiny improvement but still not quite there. Well, complete removal of the valve after making "witness marks" with a sharpie marker showed the bug. The piercer makes a SMALL hole in the pipe. And being CPCV that hole was trivial to enlarge with a leatherman tool's knife. I took it to the largest diameter I felt safe about sealing with the saddle valve's rubber gasket. Flow increased to tolerable.  So hacking the install procedure of a saddle valve saved me a 20 mile round trip parts run and whatever parts it would have needed to connect some other way. IF the town of Cameron even stocked 1/4 poly  to 1/2 mpt stuff at all...

I found out that a simple "Drop Ear Elbow" 1/2 fpt both sides in metal has seemingly become a special order internet only part. Damn- is this how a dark age begins?

I had to replace a water line to a coffee pot fill faucet. The original line put in in 2000 was way oversize, being  1/2 ID polyflex. It had been improperly blown out before winter several years running -or moisture condensed in low spots. Either way , freeze break repairs made it a leak risk. So we got a coil of 1/4 "Icemaker line" and the question of how to run it became next on my list. The area it runs thru is a confined space. And the first thought of pulling the old line out as fish for the new one was not possible. As the old line was fastned down in the crow's loft it ran thru. Enter the triumph of "should be obvious." Thinkiing outside the box so to speak.

I simply pushed the 1/4 tube thru the 1/2 line. Well that was how we thought it should go. So when the push failed due to friction over 50+feet - I tried another experenece point taught fix. A "spitball" of paper towel to push a healthy squirt of veggy oil pan spray thru the large line.  Wow- the 1/4 went thru it effortlessly. The "Rest of the story" was not so painless.

It seems one brand of compression fitting's ferrule ring is a nylon "one use" design. And that ended the project for lack of another such part. The next ferrule kit will be carefully chosen for reusable construction. We "used to" simply slide the cut end/ferrule/nut onto a wire scrap-melt the plastic away and after cooling/brushing the soot etc off we'd reuse the connector. Had whoever installed the last one known it was a "non-reusable one" and swapped it for such THEN?  Sigh, scratch head- since that could have been either me or someone I have to remain on speaking terms with... It directs me to the guideline overlooked by the installer.

"Do every job as if you may be the next lost soul to deal with it. As often you will be."