Recent Posts

2751

Living Room / Re: Hi

« Last post by nudone on September 09, 2006, 03:57 AM »

yes, welcome back - even though you were just lurking about.

2752

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: GETTING ORGANIZED EXPERIMENT - WEEK TWO ASSIGNMENT (SEP 5, 2006)

« Last post by nudone on September 09, 2006, 03:47 AM »

i agree. (i think.)

the lifestyle i've lead for most of my life has meant i've had way, way too much time on my hands - but i've always had things that i could do to fill this free time - hence my lists going back 10, 15 or even 20 years.

but it is all too clear that i obviously haven't used that time wisely - the lists are still there, waiting, challenging me, taunting me.

the thing i'd like to make a point of that really hasn't been mentioned anywhere is the notion/concept of BOREDOM. up until recently - a few days before the beginning of this experiment - i would have been BORED quite often. i used to find this disturbing and very annoying as i knew there were many things i could be getting on with - all my lists said so.

so, it obviously isn't enough just to make and compile lists - you have to make a leap of faith - reinterpret yourself as someone that 'does' things 'now' rather than 'plans' things for 'tomorrow'. you have to believe you've changed and recognise your progression - keep it rolling.

so, yes, it's definitely better to keep busy working through the list - even if the bigger goals aren't getting done, it certainly beats being bored and doing nothing.

(i realise that i may be talking about a personal situation that doesn't really reflect anyone else - i assume that most people will have a life that has been full of things that just had to be done so boredom has never been an issue.)

2753

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: GETTING ORGANIZED EXPERIMENT - WEEK TWO ASSIGNMENT (SEP 5, 2006)

« Last post by nudone on September 09, 2006, 03:19 AM »

i've got the lists and notes of what to do. i'm busy doing things. sounds good doesn't it?

well, it seems very clear to me that i'm not going to get things done in the timescale i first thought to use.

why? because being busy and going through the list is good as it feels like you are on top of things, i can see that i'm making progress but i'm still not putting in enough effort to meet my invented deadlines. maybe i'm being too harsh on myself (and unrealistic).

it's certainly better to be doing things this way - the biggest revelation and help to me was simply being made aware of how procrastination manifests itself and how to recognise it - and define it as something intrusive.

if i can meet my deadlines i'll be happy - just need to know how to become more disciplined about doing it.

2754

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: drag window to edge automatically resizes it

« Last post by nudone on September 09, 2006, 03:08 AM »

ah, the world is finally seeing sense - well, the corner of the world that lifehacker covers.

2755

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: Suggest Questions for our interview w/ David Allen (Getting Things Done Author)

« Last post by nudone on September 09, 2006, 03:05 AM »

from his experience, how long does it usually take before someone quits using GTD methods - or any self-motivation techniques?

does he find/believe that his methods are maintained for longer?

what does he advise for sticking to GTD and how to get back into it when your realise you've given up using the techniques?

does he have much interest in people that do give up - does he consider it their own fault or is it something more intrinsic to human nature?

2756

Living Room / Re: A List Of Fallacious Arguments

« Last post by nudone on September 09, 2006, 03:01 AM »

that's a great idea. people should carry the list around with them all day and get it out during a confrontation - it might mean people getting punched in the face more but the arguments will quickly fall apart.

more seriously - i think people should use the list on themselves first. far too much irrationality in the world - knowing we are in fact talking nonsense might help us reach civilisation (no, i don't think we are there yet).

2757

General Software Discussion / Re: What to you think of RealPlayer?

« Last post by nudone on September 08, 2006, 01:00 PM »

hey, allen is back. but for how long?

2758

Living Room / Cody's coins - made from what?

« Last post by nudone on September 08, 2006, 12:58 PM »

OldElmerFudd made the remark that the coins that cody eats are, or should be, made from chocolate.

just like cody's height, i'd like to know what everyone thinks the coins are made from.

2759

Living Room / Re: Cool Gadget: USB Phonograph for Converting Records to Digital

« Last post by nudone on September 08, 2006, 01:51 AM »

cool.

you've reminded me that i've not converted most of my vinyl and tape music.

now, i'd consider buying something like this turntable if it played the record at say five times the speed of what the record should play at - you could then get through your collection of vinyl a lot quicker and slow the digital recording back down to the proper speed during the conversion process. if it recorded at a good sample rate i think everything would work fine - it wouldn't be dependent on your audio card capabilities as the turntable is the recording device (as i understand it).

2760

General Software Discussion / Re: IDEA: Colour matching wizard

« Last post by nudone on September 08, 2006, 01:13 AM »

i'd like to see this done BUT i don't think it's likely.

i've had similar monitors side by side that i tried to colour match and it just wasn't going to happen - well maybe it would if i had about 5 months to try and figure out exactly what needed tweaking. matching almost every shade would always throw out a couple of others - perhaps that is all i could hope for.

as for matching with the printer - i gave up. if you've got the perfect 'closed' system then i assume you'll nearly get there, i.e. use the exact same paper, exact same ink, exact same lighting conditions.

okay, i admit that is what i should be doing anyway - i'll consider it.

cranioscopical, if you could suggest a way of how the colour matching would be done it might prompt someone to have a go at coding a little wizard thing.

2761

Living Room / Re: Is Cybersex Cheating?

« Last post by nudone on September 07, 2006, 01:49 PM »

app, that was the most interesting response there's been. 

2762

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: GETTING ORGANIZED EXPERIMENT - WEEK TWO ASSIGNMENT (SEP 5, 2006)

« Last post by nudone on September 07, 2006, 01:45 PM »

from what i understand of the article it just sounds like you are paying for a 'personal trainer' type thing. if you can read the books and motivate yourself then fine - if you can't and you've got the money to spend and you think regular guidance and a bit of encouragement will help then i say, then why not?

people pay for someone to make them exercise so why not pay someone to make you get your things done. sounds ideal to me.

of course, if this meant that all the techniques for GTD would become exclusive to those that pay/subscribe then it wouldn't be very good. but how could that happen anyway. and it's not like they are going to devise new super techniques that suddenly work miracles (well, i very much doubt it).

so, it looks good to me - i wish someone would pay me just to tell them to look at their 'to-do' list and say a few words of encouragement.

2763

Living Room / Re: A List Of Fallacious Arguments

« Last post by nudone on September 07, 2006, 08:26 AM »

nice find.

2764

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: GETTING ORGANIZED EXPERIMENT - WEEK TWO ASSIGNMENT (SEP 5, 2006)

« Last post by nudone on September 07, 2006, 07:08 AM »

i'm trying to make this work:

define your 'serious' goal projects - give them a timetable - over a year or whatever. regard these as 'work' with 'real' deadlines, i.e. they might sometimes be a real effort to start or continue but who said 'work' was fun. commit to spending as much time as you can to completing these projects but don't beat yourself up for not doing them every single day - 3 times a week sounds good to me, well, that's what they always say when taking exercise.

define all other tasks as garnish and nibble at them when you have a bit of time, or when it just feels right for a snack sized task.

the important thing being to keep your eye on the whole 'meal'. you don't want to gorge yourself on just the garnish/snacks and you don't really want to just spend everyday eating the same big meal goal project.

apologies for reinventing the wheel here and not really stating anything new (i might be simply trying to convince myself of what i'm meant to be doing).

so, how to avoid ignoring 'low' priority tasks that will never get done? er, well, not sure. the techniques i've read in Forster's 'Do It Tomorrow' do pretty much have this answered but it's either too rigid for me to follow OR i'm still working my way up to that level of discipline - not decided yet.

2765

Living Room / Re: story/idea note keeper

« Last post by nudone on September 07, 2006, 06:32 AM »

thanks, rjbull and Perry. i'll investigate your recommendations - looks like i'll have to try a few things for a while.

2766

Living Room / Re: story/idea note keeper

« Last post by nudone on September 07, 2006, 02:28 AM »

ha, well, i admit i didn't burn it because of its great value - i was burning loads of old stuff that i had been keeping for no good reason, but mainly cardboard boxes and other general rubbish.

2767

Living Room / story/idea note keeper

« Last post by nudone on September 07, 2006, 01:56 AM »

the DC GTD experiment has finally made me go through all my old note books and scrap bits of paper i've been keeping for story ideas (kept about 50%, burnt the rest).

i'd like a bit of advice on what software to use to store all this information - i'm sure there are DCers out there that already have a method of keeping this sort of thing organised.

it seemed obvious to me, at first, to use something like ms word but then i thought that i'd have a hard time moving the ideas about and keeping check on them. so, it then seemed obvious to use a notetaker (see superboyac's great review https://www.donation...Archive/NoteTakers1/ ) but then i'm not sure if i'll just have to export all these notes to word when trying to flesh out the story. so is there any software in between that keeps notes and acts like a word processor - or does even more, as i'm sure i don't fully appreciate what is involved when working on this kind of material.

any tips from all you authors out there - for software or just methods of making sense of all the cross referencing between notes that i expect will be invovled?

2768

fSekrit / Re: Progress towards v1.2

« Last post by nudone on September 07, 2006, 01:04 AM »

brilliant.

2769

Living Room / Re: Health Hacks Podcast

« Last post by nudone on September 06, 2006, 12:17 PM »

looks good, will check it out.

2770

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: GETTING ORGANIZED EXPERIMENT - WEEK TWO ASSIGNMENT (SEP 5, 2006)

« Last post by nudone on September 06, 2006, 05:48 AM »

looks good. very simple. that's what counts.

2771

General Software Discussion / Re: Ninotech Free Context Menu Tools

« Last post by nudone on September 05, 2006, 02:35 PM »

doesn't really add anything to what's been said already but if you want to have a quick walk down DC memory lane - here's my old blog/column entry https://www.donation...copy_p.html#comments

2772

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: post here your findings: the best list of time management resources

« Last post by nudone on September 05, 2006, 02:31 PM »

great, i'll investigate later.

2773

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: drag window to edge automatically resizes it

« Last post by nudone on September 05, 2006, 02:27 PM »

i'm in favour if the method you describe would only take one action to perform, i.e. you hit a key combination and the action happens straight away - having a delay or having to hit a series of keys for it to work isn't going to be that helpful.

to be honest, i wouldn't give yourself a headache over it, jgpaiva, as there are solutions already for this kind of thing.

perhaps it would be better to let gridmove remain what it is - a tool to quickly snap and resize windows.

a new autohotkey util could be designed to cover the other functions like running programs, moving windows and changing their state. it's probably been done several times over already, i mean, even i had a go at making one.

the suggested gridmove feature for running an external program is a bit flunky really. i think it would make more sense to just have invisible triggers that didn't require dragging a window. just something like what is already out there in several programs where you trigger an action by moving the mouse cursor to the edge/corner of the screen. maybe if this could be developed further as an idea it would be worthwhile pursuing?

2774

Living Room / Re: raid 0 - lots of fun

« Last post by nudone on September 05, 2006, 10:46 AM »

samsung use a company that sorts the RMA out online - just waiting for them to email me my username and password so i can actually log into there site an fill in the forms.

i ran a samsung util that checked the drive out and it is definitely a dud, well, it's working still but the s.m.a.r.t thingy says it's on its way out.

one good from all this, of course, is that i will have to sort out my hard drives and data backup routine. i've definitely left it way too long.

2775

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: i have the last laugh.

« Last post by nudone on September 05, 2006, 06:02 AM »

thanks.