Curse You, Harry Potter

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick note to apologize for the lack of new posts lately.  I've got the Harry Potter audio book and I'm on chapter 29 (of apparently 37).  Since the only time I really get to listen is on the commute, it's taking up all my time.  Every morning I sit down on the train and ask myself, "Pause it for now and get some work done?  Nahhh....." :)

This morning I did, however, find the "Go faster" button.  On the iPod, there is a specific setting for Audiobooks to playback "slower, normal, faster."  I selected Faster.  I'm not sure if this only works for Audible.com downloads, or if I can get away with just tagging the thing as "genre: Audiobook", but we shall see. 

-Duane

 

Technorati tags: Harry Potter, mp3, ipod

Why Are You Talking? Write That Novel!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070726/tc_nm/commuter_dc

I have a whole escalation procedure for how to spend my free time with my gadgets.  When I am not moving, such as on the train, I usually have the laptop and am writing code.  When I'm moving less and/or in a situation that involves standing or otherwise not having access to my laptop, I'll go with the PDA.  Traditionally there I read e-books, but I could also write stuff if I wanted.  When my PDA is not with me I have the cell phone, which honestly is only good for some simple headline browsing (if I have a connection), or random games.  And then there's the whole iPod factor where I can opt to listen to music, or podcasts, or watch something on video all depending on where my attention span is.

When my PDA recently died, I immediately started looking for ways to read ebooks on my phone.  Turns out to be trickier than it looks, and I ended up reading Harry Potter on my iPod using the Notes feature (I'm on chap 14, don't tell me anything).

Ok, with that context firmly in place, go check out my new god up at the link.  A man who wrote a novel on his cellphone during his commute.   I'm impressed.  "It's a time management issue," said the PR director of Lulu.com, the book's publisher.  I agree completely, and it's what I've always said.  Your commute time is not wasted time, you just need to get creative about what you can accomplish during it.

(The novel is in Italian, by the way, so while I applaud the accomplishment I don't think I'll be reading it anytime soon :)).

Tivo the News

Got a Tivo or other DVR recording device?  Set up a season pass (or equivalent) to record the news one hour before you wake up. 

Now, when you wake up you can start fast forwarding.  No waiting around in bed until the weather comes on.  You want the weather, fast forward until you get to it.  It hasn't changed much in the past hour.

In general this doesn't work for traffic reports, but that's another story.  Television news traffic reports are 99.5% useless in all situations except when something major enough has happened that it will still be a problem by the time you get on the road.  And when that happens, it usually turns into a lead story.  Personally I always skip the traffic report.

As soon as you get up in the morning...

...make the bed.  Seriously.  Get out of bed, stretch, turn around and make the bed.

Not only will it keep you from climbing back into it, but it will also start your day out on a positive, productive note.  Congratulations, you've been awake for 30 seconds and you've already made the bed!  Now go do something else productive.  You're on a roll.

A Bird, A Plane! No, Seriously! A Plane!!

http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO58233/

Interesting stuff like this never happens on my commute, just in my backyard.  A small single-engine Cessna ran out of gas during afternoon rush hour, so the pilot, Allan Kidd of Michigan, landed in the breakdown lane of Route 495 in Boxborough.

Good thinking about the whole breakdown lane and everything, but this being Massachusetts he's lucky he didn't get killed.  We actually let people drive in the breakdown lane, especially along route 495.  And that's where most of the people in a hurry tend to drive.

Anybody else have this ECO light?

So we just got my wife a new car, a 2007 Honda Odyssey.  We're now a two minivan family, when did that happen?

So I'm driving the thing back from the dealership and this green light that says ECO keeps coming on and going off.  My guess is that it is some sort of fuel economy indicator, but I have no idea what exactly it means.

The user's manual says exactly that, the light comes on when the vehicle is using optimal fuel.

What I'm wondering is, what does that mean?  There's no guidance in the manual about how to make it go on and stay on.  So is my wife destined to just see this thing blink out of the corner of her eye every now and then?  Anybody know what the tips are, especially for someone who is really just trucking the kids around town, to keep the thing on for longer periods of time?

Call the kids. Ask to speak to mom.

Part of my commuting routine is to call my wife from the road each night and let her know when I'll be home.  Plus or minus 10 minutes for road traffic this can make the difference between whether she'll get the kids started without me, or if I have time to run to the store and get milk.

Our two oldest are girls, 5 and 3.  Lately, my wife's been letting them answer the phone.  They love it!  "I'm getting dinner ready, can you get the phone for me?"  They're helping Mommy.  They're communicating important things to Daddy.  They're in the grownup loop.  I have them relay messages, like "Ask Mommy if I should pick up the dry cleaning," which they dutifully do.  I'm always tempted to send secret messages via 5yr old:  "Tell mommy that the purple swan flies upside down at nighttime, but only when it rains."

For real bonus points, if mom answers, ask to speak to the kids.  "Phone call for you," might be one of coolest things a 5yr old can hear, right up there with "You have mail."

 

Technorati tags: parenthacks

If J.K. Rowling Could Do It...

Jobacle's got an article up entitled 5 Career Reminders from J.K.Rowling.  You know her, the Harry Potter lady. I thought the #1 tip would be most interesting to my readers:

Use Delays to Your Advantage.  It was during a four-hour train delay between Manchester and London that Rowling first put pen to paper about a young boy attending a school of wizardry. This is a reminder that whether you're stuck on a train, jammed in traffic or sitting alone before a meeting - use this "idle"  time to your benefit.

Just a little something to think about the next time your train has stopped short and has you stranded someplace with no idea when you'll get home.  Instead of looking at your watch for the twentieth time this minute, or staring out the window like the scenery has changed (you're not moving, doofus), or yelling at the conductor who trust me is about 1000x more pissed off than you are, why not pull out the laptop, the PDA or even a little pocket notebook and do something creative?

 

Technorati tags: JK Rowling, Harry Potter, career, advice

Got a Cell Phone? Got a Spouse? Do This.

If you've got a cell phone, and your wife/husband/significant other's got a cell phone, and they can both do SMS/text messaging, then take a second wherever you are and whip off a quick, spontaneous love note.  Doesn't have to be spelled well, and doesn't have to be long, just has to be a surprise.  Something to tell your other half that even though your commute takes you away from home, you don't stop thinking about her/him.

In a pinch, go with a quick song lyric.  I tend to hurl Pink Floyd at my wife: "How I wish, how I wish you were here.", "You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world."  That sort of thing. 

And don't feel obliged to check up on it later and ask "So did you get my message?"  That takes the fun out of it.  She'll get it when she gets it. 

The Time and Place for Music

Ever since I've had an ipod I've preferred audio books, spoken word, and podcasts.  I've just never been a big music geek.  There's a downside to the non-music stuff though, and that's attention span.  Realistically if you're listening to someone talk to you, then it requires your attention.  So that rules out many things that you can do at the same time.  That is, assuming you want to actually hear what's being said to you.

Lately I've switched over to music while on the train.  This gives me the chance to open up the laptop and write some code, and I have to say I'm pleased with what I'm getting done.  Previously I would done one of two things, I'd either catch up on some videos (YouTube style) which requires eyes as well as ears, or else I'd mindlessly page through my newsfeeds while listening to my playlist I call "OK for Work" which is basically technical lectures where I don't care all that much if I miss a few words here and there as long as I get the general idea.

Just a thought.  For awhile I was worried that I was falling behind on my podcasts, but then I thought, what's wrong with my priorities?  Being caught up on my podcasts is the exact same thing as being caught up on my email or RSS feeds - it's not really that much of a success, it's far more of a time sync than anything else.

The Big Tradeoff Question

 

What would you rather have, the time or the money?

If your commute is long now, would you take a job with a shorter commute if that meant less salary?

If your commute is short now, would you create a long commute for yourself to go to a job with a bigger salary?

I do the best I can with my 90 minute commute each way.  I listen to podcasts, I work on the train, I get my exercise by walking across town.  But that's still 3 hours each day taken up in, let's face it, a less than productive way.  Unfortunately I can't really make the time/money tradeoff now, I've got three kids all 5 and under, and my wife stays home with them, so my salary is it.  If I had to take a cut it would have to be a very very small one, and the commute would have to drop to near nothing.

How about you?  You willing (or required) to put in the time to make the bigger bucks?  Or would you rather have the time to yourself?

Commuter Breakfast : The Smoothie

As I've mentioned in the past, I'm always on the lookout for the optimal "commuter breakfast."  My goal is to find something I can make at home (saving time and money) that is healthy, portable (and also, not messy), quick and satisfying (i.e. you're not looking for something else to eat 10 minutes later). 

A PopTart, for instance, is certainly portable and not messy, and it's quick, but barely satisfying and hardly healthy.  On the other hand a breakfast burrito is health and pretty satisfying, but doesn't score quite so high on the quick (takes me 2:45 to microwave a scrambled egg) or the portable (one false move and I've got egg on my shirt).

This week I'm experimenting with the classic "yogurt smoothie."

1. Have some vanilla frozen yogurt in the house, as well as some fruit (bananas, strawberries and blueberries are most common in my house) and some orange juice.
2. Get out the blender.
3. Throw fruit of your choice into blender, along with a little orange juice to keep it liquid, and  blend it down into a pulp.
4. Now throw in a good helping of frozen yogurt.  Primarily for cold, and to thicken it up a bit.  That's why we're going with the frozen and not the regular.
5. Blend well.
6. Take top of blender, taste.
7. Add fruit as desired and repeat.  Do not go crazy. Simple is better (remember, this is supposed to be a fast thing, not a time to experiment),
8. When satisfied, pour into a travel mug (the kind with a top).
9. Take apart blender, rinse off pieces, put next to sink.
10. Off you go.

This one's not exactly quick, although I suppose it's as quick as you can make it (unlike the eggs where they're going to take a certain amoung of time no matter what).  However it's as healthy as you want it to be - I'd much rather know that I got in a banana and a handful of strawberries in the morning for real, then trying to decide whether to have the strawberry or blueberry Poptart, you know?  It's highly portable (make sure to blend it down enough that you can actually drink it through that little travel mug hole).  And best of all it's very easy to adjust how much you make, so if you're particularly hungry in the morning, make yourself a bigger one tomorrow.

Anybody got advice on good combinations of ingredients?  Using vanilla fat free frozen yogurt and some orange juice, this week I've made a primarily blueberry one (which, honestly, tasted more like vanilla than anything else :)), and a banana one where I cut back on the yogurt.  We didn't actually have any strawberries in the house this week, but that would be my next choice. 

What else is good, particularly in combination?  Blueberry banana doesn't sound like it would be very good. But strawberry banana's a no brainer.  What else?  Apple has possibilities, I suppose.  I don't think grape's got much of a chance.  Something in a peach, to go with the orange juice?

All Loaded Up On Podcasts?

I am a huge fan of podcasting.  I don't listen to anything else, except when actually working at writing code in which case I've got some nice heavy metal / alternative playing in the background.

The trick with podcasting is to keep it current.  Periodically go through your list and if you find that there's stuff you're skipping over, just delete it.  Forget about it.  You have better things to do with your time.  On the flip side, be sure to scan the directories regularly for the new stuff.  You never know when you'll find a gem.

MakeUseOf.com has a list of top podcast directories that makes a good place to start.  Personally I almost always go right to the iTunes Music store (#2) just because of the ease of saying "Subscribe" with one click.  Podiobooks.com is on there (your one stop shop for serialized audio books!) as well, after I reminded the author about it :).

Go get downloading!

 

Technorati tags: podcasting, ipod, mp3, podiobooks, podcast

Yet Another "Save Gas" List

http://www.opentravelinfo.com/travel-guide/uncategorized/how-to-save-money-on-gas-29-tips.html

This list covers all the standard topics - look for the cheap gas, stay out of heavy traffic, use the cruise control, etc... 

I particularly like the several related to the weight of the car.  That one's only common sense if you stop to think about it -- it takes more energy to move around a heavier car.  So, take out the baby stroller that's in your trunk if you're not using it regularly, and don't feel obliged to keep the gas tank full.  A full gas tank just means more weight to drag around.

The gas tank thing leads into another nice one that's not common sense until you give it a second.  Watch the gas prices.  Chances are that you drive by the same stations every day.  When prices are going *down*, fill it up.  Typically people do the opposite, they think "Oh shoot, prices are going up, I'd better fill up before they go higher."  The truth is that prices fluctuate during the days of the week, too, so if you can plan ahead a little bit you can save some gas money.

Pay for Parking : That'll Be $225k

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/12/us/12parking.html?em&ex=1184385600&en=c61e5a1b1a5fd47c&ei=5087%0A

And I thought I had it bad because I drive 20 minutes to get to the "good" parking lot where there's always plenty of space ($2/day).  Apparently in Manhattan they can get over $200k for a parking space in a condo garage.  Looks like Boston's not much better, coming in around $175k.

Good Morning, Everyone!

It's 5:45am where I'm at, and thanks to my 5yr old's upset stomach I have at least temporarily joined the "early risers" club.  (Translation : my kid threw up in bed and I couldn't get back to sleep.)  So here I am with a good 45 minutes to my day I wouldn't normally have. What to do, what to do...

Right now, I'm working on some actual code (I'm a software geek) left over from last night.  So I'm getting real stuff done, which is cool.

Shortly I'll make myself a lunch to bring to work.  Typically I do that at around 7:30 when I'm rushing out the door to get my train.

If I can find something to make, I'll make myself a breakfast as well.  I suppose the smart thing to do would be to actually, you know, eat breakfast now rather than taking it with me to eat while driving (again, a side effect of not even getting to the kitchen until it's time to hit the road).  Maybe I'll try that.

If I've got any time left over I've got a stack of bills as high as my 3yr old that could stand to be opened and addressed.  Those are down in the office in the basement, though, and I'm afraid that if I go down there and my kid decides to ...

 

WOW, I apparently jinxed that.  Quite literally as I was typing that sentence I heard the rapid pattering of little feet rushing down the hallway toward the bathroom.  She threw up again.  Luckily she made it out of the bed.

 

So anyway, where was I? :)  As I was saying, I don't want to go work in the office because if my kid decides to.....<pause>.....ok, phew.  If she decides to do that again, I'd hate to be all the way down stairs and not be able to come to her aid.

So I'll have to settle for breakfast, lunch, and code.   Not bad.  If I was an exercising man I could go for a run or something.

The Happy At Work Manifesto

http://changethis.com/pdf/36.04.HappyatWork.pdf

ChangeThis has long been a favorite site of mine.  Periodically they unleash a whole packet of "manifestos", PDF documents proposed by individuals and voted up by the community.  What are they about?  Well, many of them are about marketing and business, which seems to generally be true of similar sites.  But on a broader level you'll often find one that's about making the world a better place for everybody, not just for your own bottom line.  That is, after all, what the whole "change this" mantra was supposed to be about.  The content is free to distribute, so be sure to pass it along to somebody else when you're done.  When I find a particularly good one I print it out and leave it on somebody's chair at work with a note saying to pass it to the next guy.

The one I've linked is the "Happy At Work" manifesto.  It might seem a little simplistic and childish to simply say "I can be as happy as I want to be", but honestly, there's some real value in realizing how much of that is true.  Whenever somebody asks me how my work is going, I will inevitably answer, "It depends on what mood I bring with me in the morning."  And it's true.  I can choose to focus on the positive things, or I can choose to focus on the negative.  It's only when the negative so drastically outweighs the positive that I have to struggle to find anything good to say that I know I've got a problem.

 

Technorati tags: happy, work, change this, manifesto, pdf

E-Book Reading

Once upon a time I had a "Rocket eBook Reader" which was one of the very early dedicated devices for reading ebooks.  It was cool, but really only in a gadget sort of way.  If what you really want to do is tear through books of any sort, at any time and pace you want, then you need a ubiquitous device, and most dedicated e-Book readers are anything but.

Lately I've been carrying a Palm device.  Not a Treo, not a cellphone, a traditional "sync it up to your PC" PDA.  It's a model Tungsten C, the one with Wifi and keyboard.  But realistically over the last few months it's become an ebook reader for me.  I can dump PDFs and text files onto it, and whenever I have a minute where the iPod/podcasts aren't appropriate, out comes the PDA.

Well, the thing finally died on me today.  I guess my kids dropped it on the floor one too many times.  So now I'm left pondering just how much I like reading ebooks, and whether it merits getting a new device.  I don't feel like spending $400 on something.  I'm tempted to get the cheapest Palm device I can find and calling it a day, but then I wonder, are there any other dedicated ebook readers out there that are any good?  I'm not talking about the new $300 Sony thing, which I'm sure is pretty cool and all.  I'm talking about something pocket sized, barely more than a dumb text/PDF reader.  Something that I could get for maybe $100 or so.

I figured I'd throw it out there, see if anybody knows anything.  Maybe there's an online market for older ebook readers that have gone out of favor (ala the Rocket) that still have a hacker's market?

 

Technorati tags: ebook, e-book, palm, pda

17 Reasons (or More) to Stop Charging People to Ride the Bus

http://thetyee.ca/Views/2007/07/05/NoFares1/

Well I'm not someone who takes the bus, nor do I live in Canda, so I can't really speak to many of the issues in this article.  But given that they have a whole series of "No Fare" articles, I'm assuming it's quite a problem.  So I'm sharing the link.  Enjoy.