Messages

151

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2009 / Re: Something I want to try this Year.. Daily After-action Reports

« on: June 09, 2009, 07:43 PM »

Somewhat counter-intuitively, one thing i suspect might be important is to set aside some time at the end of each day to fill it out, rather than writing it as the day goes on.  I think filling it out at the end of the day would make it more useful as a contemplative experience -- rather than a mindless log of minutia.

-mouser (May 17, 2009, 11:09 AM)

Hi mouser,
have you tried keeping an as-you-go log? If not, you might want to.

I keep one when I start to worry about how I'm spending my time & it's always pretty informative. I've found that the end of the day summary never gets completed before bed. It just makes roll my eyes, like when I have to take my vitamins or something...it almost seems faster to keep a log as I go, AND I don't miss anything, like I sometimes do if I have to recall it several hours later.

One nice thing about a log is that, as we know, once you write something down, it's easier to remember.
But it's also easy to remember when you wrote it, as you flip through your daily logs, looking for something.

I do use a spreadsheet-like card for Y/N things I have to do every single day, things that are easy to forget (like taking my vitamins) and it's very helpful. It's taped to the inside of my cupboard. It's 31 down, 10 across. Without that, I'd never know what I didn't do, or when I didn't do it

Sorry if this has already been mentioned in a GTD book or whatever - I'm not familiar with the latest systems, tricks, etc., just suggesting something that works for me 

152

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« on: June 07, 2009, 08:58 PM »

It just makes you sound stupider when you have to keep saying LIKE!!!!!

-Josh (June 07, 2009, 06:17 PM)

  too funnny...

153

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« on: June 06, 2009, 11:19 PM »

I should not have to tell the waiter/waitress/manager that I want the fee removed.

-Josh (June 06, 2009, 02:07 PM)

I agree with you, that mandatory tipping in intrusive and offensive. However, disputing this with a food server is usually ineffective. It's like complaining to a McDonald's employee that you don't like their corporate policies. Going to management to resolve your issues is usually your best bet.

For many food servers (especially the most skilled ones), mandatory tip policies are an embarrassment. Any waiter or waitress that takes any pride in their work understands what a gratuity is, and does not want it forced out of you. It takes from you the pleasure of showing your appreciation by leaving a tip, and it takes from them any idea of how satisfied you were with the service they've given you.

Along with the initial embarrassment of receiving a mandatory tip, complaints made to the server, especially if made in the presence of your guests, only add insult to injury.

Additionally, for food servers, timing is everything. Servers have a plan, a rhythm, which allows them to gracefully juggle many different tasks at once. This is their skill. Imagine if you couldn't serve the hungry, impatient customers that were staring you down, because you were dealing with a complaint you weren't even in the position to address. In my experience, this event usually has the same effect on most servers: one pissed off customer (oh, sinking stomach) and 5 minutes being held up unexpectedly keeps them off kilter all night.

I never did understand the idea anyway, paying someone to do their job they are being paid to do anyways...

-Josh (June 06, 2009, 02:07 PM)

Well, I and many other servers have wished that we could make the same money from our employers, and that tipping be done away with, altogether. But, that's the food service industry, at least in the US.
Food servers are getting paid to do their job, yes. Minimum wage. No pity: customers know this, and contribute to a service person's income tenfold, to make up for the wages their employers pay them.  They appreciate good service and (regulars) understand that they themselves contribute to that service by contributing to their servers' livelyhood. That said, anyone who objects to this practice should never leave tips. Waiting tables in general is decent, respectable hard work for good money, & you'll often find a great deal of pride in the the hearts of the best waiters and waitress that exist. But most servers, skilled or not, have their pride and would sooner miss a meal than accept a tip left in disdain, and no one customer who chooses not to tip is going to bring any great harm to anyone. BTW, let's not forget the others who are making minimum wage + tips: The people that shine our shoes on demand, deliver our pizzas, clean our homes, detail our cars, cut our hair, give us manicures & pedicures, walk our dogs, etc., etc.
Do you have the same belief for these people, or is it just food servers?

As a side note, it's an honor for me to have been able to serve others, and as long as my customers were OK with tipping, I was, too, most of the time. The few times that I've felt like a beggar (thanks, Mom!) have only pushed me to refine my skills, so I could give even better service, and therefore feel completely worth their gratuity. 

154

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« on: June 05, 2009, 12:00 PM »

My GF has done that since she was a kid. Back then, it was traditional around where I live to yell Woo-Hoo!! when a fellow barn-mate won a ribbon at a horse show. That's how she got started. (And yes, I still cringe every time she does it.)

Question: Does it still count as annoying if she didn't start doing it as an adult?

-40hz (June 05, 2009, 11:31 AM)

Actually, it's probably not annoying if it rolls off her tongue, naturally.
For me, it's mostly the facial expression that makes me cringe.
She can probably say it without looking insane, and like her eyes are about to pop out of her head.

P.S. She has since informed me that if I promise to stop saying w00t! she'll stop saying Woo-Hoo!!! (unless of course she feels like saying Woo-Hoo!!! - in which case I'll just have to deal with it.)

-40hz (June 05, 2009, 11:31 AM)

Yep, sounds fair to me

155

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« on: June 03, 2009, 06:48 PM »

(Sorry. Apparently, I'm not done yet, today)

Speaking of surveys, I get so annoyed with corporations that hire online survey companies.
I'm not a public beta tester, and unless I know you really well, I'm probably not going to work for you for free.
Do like your predecessors did back in the day, and implement an R & D department.

As for the lame survey companies tyring to recruit the hapless consumer:
Do not insult me. The 1 in 10,000 chance that I might earn 5 points to go towards the 50,000 needed to buy anything from you just doesn't cut it for me, and it shouldn't for anyone else. 20 minutes of my time is worth much more to me than a few meaningless points.

20 minutes. That's like, 2 "What annoys you to no end?" posts!  

156

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« on: June 03, 2009, 06:24 PM »

Grownups saying "Woo Hoo!!!!"

-mrainey (May 30, 2009, 08:50 AM)

 
I missed this one...this never annoys me, though. I just get really embarrassed for them. 

157

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« on: June 03, 2009, 06:15 PM »

Vista annoyances:

When I download files & Windows asks me where I want to save the files, then other times it doesn't ask me at all. Were it not for FF download manager, I don't know what I'd do, because sometimes they end up in Downloads, & other times they don't. I save downloads to specific places on my drive so I can find them when I need them. Grrr...

When it does ask me where I want to save it, and I have to type the path in myself...but other times I don't: Autofill takes care of it with just a couple of keystrokes. Inconsistency annoys me.

Downloading, installing, & keep track of a thousand little utilities just to make your computer manageable. Well, this ones a combo - I guess I'm lucky these utilities are made in the first place. It's just that I usually roll my eyes when I find that I can't work this magic somewhere in Windows options.

I think those are all the gripes I have for today, thank you for listening...

158

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« on: June 02, 2009, 01:08 PM »

Here's a fun one:
Bank fraud protection services, and the way they work.

If you try to make a large purchase with your card, & the bank denies you, at the register, because they suspect your credit card has been stolen. Not only do they decline that purchase, they freeze your card until you've called them and jumped through all their hoops, verifying your attempted purchase amount, the amount of your last deposit, etc. and even though they say you're clear after that, it can go on for days where you'll find yourself getting declined, calling the bank, verifying yourself, etc., etc.

All this with a so-called $3,000 per day spending limit, and $1,000 overdraft protection!

This is embarrassing, frustrating, & depending on what you're trying to buy, infuriating.

Last time this happened to me, I was at the pharmacy. My insurance has me pay 100% due upfront for prescriptions, so my transactions can be large. With more than enough money in the bank to cover the purchase, and no pending transactions, I got declined because of this stupidity.

I'm not really going to suffer if I have to wait until the bank opens to get my prescriptions, but OMFG someone else might! What if I were diabetic or something, or very elderly, and it was Saturday afternoon? One month the transaction goes through, the next month it doesn't...that's crazy!

Annoying to me, but for others, it could be life-threatening. Sadly, I think someone's going to have to die & banks are going to have to get sued before this changes.

159

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« on: June 02, 2009, 12:32 PM »

i've just remembered something that really does annoy me:

bloggers (well, any online writers) that don't put the publishing date on their articles and posts.

they may believe their content to be so important that it's going to be valid until the end of time - personally, i'd like to know when it was created so i can put it into context with any other articles i may look at.

my blood is starting to boil just thinking about how inconsiderate it is to not bother including the date.

-nudone (June 02, 2009, 04:28 AM)

This one kills me, too!

Although I often see the month and the day, or worse, only the time, the year is always missing! I think it's the blogging software that's partially to blame, but you'd think the bloggers would fill us in on the rest. Now, I always check the date first. If it's missing, at least I know that in advance.

160

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« on: May 30, 2009, 05:46 PM »

Drive thru's which block you in so you can't get out when you find out "Our ice cream machine isn't working". ARGH!!!!!!!!

-Josh (May 30, 2009, 04:20 PM)

Similarly, dying of thirst, driving around for 40 minutes obsessively trying to hunt down an Icee (must have!), soooooo happy you've finally found a place that sells them, then being told the machine is off because it's "sort of cloudy today".

And

A drive thru where you literally cannot understand a word they say over the loudspeaker!
Cashiers, please: You can talk too fast, string all your muffled words together into one long incoherent sound, or have a really thick accent. But all three and I'm lost. Add to that the usual crappy sound from the speaker, it gets annoying.

161

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« on: May 30, 2009, 05:21 PM »

I always try to buy what I can in person. But some things, like really hard to find items have to be ordered online, and what really gets me hot under the collar is:
Online stores that take your orders after you've
*finally found what you wanted
*shopped around for a good price
*given them your email address (I know, disposable email addresses - it looks like a PITA. Maybe I'll learn how to do that, someday.)
*given out your mailing address (can't do this without worrying about junk mail)
*given them your credit card number (yeah, yeah, it's "secure", like the massive hacks that have involved tens of thousands of customers at once)
*accepted their crappy shipping terms (will ship 1n 3-5 working days? (Well, fine, I've gone this far...let's just finish this transaction)
and worst of all,
*given them your money

only to find out, days later, that the items you ordered were out of stock - oops - but they'll order it for you (um, didn't I just do that??), then tell you to wait another 10 days to receive your products. No wonder nothing was marked "out of stock" on their web site - there is no stock!

People making money acting as middlemen - without disclosing who they are and the real wait time - IMO -are thieves. Sometimes it's too little, too late.
Yes, I could cancel the transaction & start over, but that's pretty disappointing, and really annoying, too.

162

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« on: May 29, 2009, 04:27 AM »

Software that looks great (such as, but in no way limited to, CLCL) but doesn't install, or doesn't install all the way, leaving me wondering what happened...really annoying! 

163

Living Room / Re: poor? Pay up!

« on: May 27, 2009, 11:53 PM »

What do you do if your TV dies and now you have nothing?

-app103 (May 22, 2009, 05:37 AM)

You do what many of us who have been really poor did, viz. exercise self-control, do without, and adjust your attitude accordingly. Who ever suffered from lack of TV?

-cranioscopical (May 22, 2009, 09:36 AM)

TV?  TV???         When I have been without, a broken TV would've been the least of my worries! I didn't have a TV for quite a while, because why have one when you can't even get reception without paying another $40 a month? Not to mention, finding the guilt-free time to watch it, another luxury. Time is money. Oh, and let's not forget the furniture you sit on to watch TV, that is, if you can afford it. Like Chris says, you just deal.

People have their different sets of standards, and to each his own, but...when you're completely without, TV really is the icing on the cake IMHO.

164

Living Room / Re: "Check mail every ??? minutes"

« on: May 27, 2009, 02:31 PM »

Really, I don't see the point unless you want notifications, which I find very distracting & annoying.

-SKesselman (May 27, 2009, 04:37 AM)

I kind like them since I follow a bunch of forums. If I need to do serious and über-concentrated work (like, being close to a project deadline) I shut down my mail client and instant-messenger stuff though. But for regular work and computer use, I don't get distracted much by IM or mail notifications.

-f0dder (May 27, 2009, 04:59 AM)

Yeah, I have a few ADHD tendencies, one of them being virtually unable to tolerate things popping up, spinning, blinking, or sounding off. If it's something I can contol (close window), it just feels like a game of whack-a-mole. It drives me batty. I'm about to find out about the new mail in a few minutes, anyway. Even when I was in pc hardware support, not a whole lot's going to change in three minutes. What, is someone going to reach through my monitor and choke me for not answering fast enough?

Forums are a little different. If I were watching one, or some, I'd be hitting the refresh button in all my open windows all day long...

165

Living Room / Re: "Check mail every ??? minutes"

« on: May 27, 2009, 04:37 AM »

I never use this feature. I've never wanted it. When I want my email, I just go get it. That's for personal use.

For work, I'd want to see each email as soon as possible. That way I never get behind.
Handle one email, send/receive, handle those new emails, etc. Again, the check mail feature isn't useful to me.
And if I'm expecting an important email, I just check it more often.

Pretty simple.

Really, I don't see the point unless you want notifications, which I find very distracting & annoying.

If, on the rare occasion my sister in New York invites me to skype with her, she sends me a text message.
If I thought she might send me an email to invite me to video chat, I'd go crazy sitting there hitting refresh every 5 seconds.
That could be all the time. I don't know how you manage like that, CleverCat!

166

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« on: May 24, 2009, 06:03 PM »

Few things upset me as much as when i misplace something and can't find it..  Even more so when i do it repeatedly and know that i should have taken more care to keep track of it.  I really get mad at myself.

-mouser (May 24, 2009, 03:38 PM)

How about buying a replacement for a misplaced item, only to find it the next day...that's really annoying.

167

Living Room / Re: Tell me what your software DOESN'T do... (a rant)

« on: May 22, 2009, 07:48 PM »

I have lists of requirements for many things from apartments to jobs, to boyfriends to software & I cannot stress enough how helpful they are to me. As you're making them, and as you come upon these things repeatedly over time, you find more & more items to add to your list. This was my mom's advice when I was looking for a job & it worked so well, I use it for anything that I ""wish I would have known about" when I signed up for it.

Most software doesn't last more than 10 minutes on my PC, you would never waste a month using something that would ultimately disappoint you if you did this.

If you need inspiration, you can browse software sites & choose more requirements to add to your list from their lists of features.

An example of not using the list is this (I don't how, but this one slipped by me):

When I tried to give my edraw licence away, it had been a while since I used the trial, so I had to buy it to use it again. Had I uninstalled it immediately liike I usually do, & recorded why I didn't like it (very easy: 'too complicated to perform simple tasks')  I'd have  saved $100.


Another good reason for using this list is that we (or at least I) will always forget at least one requirement. These are not likes or dislikes, they're things that are absolutely necessary. So if you forget something, you're really going to feel it, later.

It's fun to see how many things get disqualified, almost immediately. And,  you'll feel great knowing that you saved yourself so much time.

168

Living Room / Re: The need to unplug and recharge is upon me

« on: April 20, 2009, 01:13 AM »

But I seem to be getting less and less enchanted with technology as time goes on. I no longer see technology as something intrinsically liberating. Quite the opposite in fact.

-40hz (April 19, 2009, 02:43 PM)

That's interesting. I thought I was alone in feeling kind of disappointed here.
I never saw (personal) technology as liberating, but I did see it as a huge convenience.
And, the more I learned about it, the more excited I got about the future of it. But ATM, technology is just getting in my way.

+1
The more things are complex, the less free we are...they ask so much just to maintain them in a normal state...

-Whereismyangel (April 19, 2009, 03:24 PM)

[off topic]:
Mon pauvre amour: So glad you feel this way!
Does this mean that if you haven't been able to fix my ingenious device after 1 hour, that I can bring it to its death on the Promenade des Anglais?   

As always, I appreciate you trying to help me with it, but let us not waste any more precious vacation time than necessary trying to fix it.

169

Living Room / Re: The need to unplug and recharge is upon me

« on: April 18, 2009, 11:55 PM »

If you can't relax at the computer, then where can you!

-zridling (April 16, 2009, 02:30 PM)

Where? In the South of France! 
Yea! Only 3 more days! Until then, it's clean, organize, pack, prepare, plan, worry, blah blah blah...
So Zaine, I'm also having to step away from the computer, as other projects call.
Perhaps if I had populated (?) a relational database with all of my "Travel List" items, this would be a breeze.But, no.
I can relax in front of the computer, but until I catch my flight on Tuesday, I really should be doing something else.

170

Living Room / Re: How many people does it take to fix a phone?

« on: April 17, 2009, 11:10 PM »

Sell your phone to a business that refurbishes them and resells them or try and trade it in for a cheaper model with pay as you go cards.  I'm always getting fliers with refurbished phones and electronics.

-herneith (April 17, 2009, 06:21 PM)

That's a great idea, thanks! Didn't know there were any businesses that bought used phones. 
Maybe I could sell my POS Treo, too!!! I'm sure they don't pay too much, but hey, one less unused object in my apartmentand and a few dollars wold be nice.

171

Living Room / Re: Software licence swap? E-draw Max

« on: April 17, 2009, 04:49 PM »

except perhaps, InfoSelect, and nobody uses that

-SKesselman (April 16, 2009, 11:28 PM)

Some of us do 
(Best PIM since Tornado Notes: [Requirements: IBM PC, XT, or AT, or compatibles; DOS 2.0 or higher; 128K RAM or higher].)

-cranioscopical (April 17, 2009, 12:00 PM)

OMG! I'm so happy to find one of the few users of Info Select. I think we're becoming extinct.
Yes, I love Do-organizer, but InfoSelect has some excellent features, like no other PIM I've seen.
I use them both. Unfortunately, I'm only a renter, not an owner of Info Select, and my rent is almost due;
hopefully, when I'm working again, I'll be able to buy it. I think it's worth the $250.

172

Living Room / Software licence swap? E-draw Max

« on: April 16, 2009, 11:28 PM »

Hi,

I have a $100 piece of software (E-draw max) but I never use it.
I trialed it, but didn't have the time to explore its features; when I went to try it again, they said I had to buy the software in order to use it.
Fair enough. From all the information given on their web site, I was sure this software would be easier to use...but, it's not.
I'm more partial to Do-organizer's mindmap/flowchart feature, it's much better for me, even if it doesn't have all the bells and whistles.

I've contacted companies before and they have allowed me to transfer licences with no problem in the past, so I'm not looking for anything that would be against a software company's wishes. I've learned that no matter what they state in the licence agreement, they seem to really appreciate being asked and on both occasions, I've got the go-ahead from them.  Conceptworld is one of those companies    .

Also, the software I'd consider swapping does not have to be worth $100, I just state its price to emphasize the waste of money.

I don't have any particular software in mind that I want (except perhaps, InfoSelect, and nobody uses that).
I just got a web domain for my birthday, so something for that would be cool, but I'm kind of burnt out on software in general, so I might even end up giving this away. I really just hope I can find someone who really wants E-draw Max.

Let me know. Thanks.

173

Living Room / Re: How many people does it take to fix a phone?

« on: April 16, 2009, 11:00 PM »

Just buy a cheap  phone and use pay as you go cards.  Chuck the phone when it breaks down and purchase another one.  I've had a cheap phone for two years and it's still working.  You will not have to contend with customer services.  Mind you, I hardly use my phone.  I use it for purposes for brief communication such as meeting someone, calling a cab or for security reasons; potential emergencies.

-herneith (April 14, 2009, 09:16 AM)

I'm getting close to doing this, it's just that if I did, I'd really have to admit that there is no hope for the $500 POS I have now.
I wouldn't even trust this thing to help me out in a jam, & isn't that the main purpose of a mobile phone, anyway?

For tech support, I have AT&T. This means I have to be sick in bed or something when I call, so I can nap during transfers (being on hold) to the next available agent.

I put off calling tech support for as long as humanly possible, no matter what the problem; it is almost as frustrating as the software/computer/phone itself.
Thankfully, I do not remember my first tech support call. 

174

General Software Discussion / Re: NirSofT - WhatInStartup - lists all applications loaded automatically

« on: April 16, 2009, 10:32 PM »

Thanks, I'm going to try this.
I probably won't be able to do much with it, since many developers are too lazy (?) to fill out any fields that identify them or their software.
But, who knows, it can't hurt to try it.

175

Living Room / Re: Tweenbots: A Social Experiment with Human-dependent Robots

« on: April 15, 2009, 05:18 PM »

It's a cute little experiment, but it's also a cute little robot.
Not exactly rocket science to figure out that people respond differently to things they find endearing.
How eager are people to help an unattractive robot? Not pitiful unattractive, just ugly.
I think comparing the two experiments might be interesting.

Having spent my share of time in NYC, I've found that the majority of the 'natives' I've met are remarkably sympathetic and helpful towards people & pets in need of assistance. Being nice to a cute little cardboard bot strikes me as a natural extension of that behavior.

-40hz (April 15, 2009, 01:48 PM)

Yes, New Yorkers are great. Over the holidays, I dropped my credit card somewhere in the city. When I called the bank 2 hours later, someone had already called my bank and reported it 'lost' for me. Had they just thrown it out, I would have felt lucky. But calling it in lost for me, too? Very nice.  I make no apologies for generalizing; I'm not sure about other areas but, overall, New Yorkers are definitely more likely to help a stranger than Californians. It would be nice to see an East coast/West coast experiment, or even for other countries, to see who really is the most/least helpful to the average stranger in need. Who knows, maybe I'm wrong about California.