48-Hour Days

Ugh. Just received an e-mail from Key telling me have to register my computer, but there is no link to follow to register my computer! Prime example of stupid e-mail.

It just occurred to me that blogging, twittering, posting to mailing lists and message boards, and the like really increase your vocabulary. I find myself pulling words out of my head that I’m not sure I’ve ever used before. My head is getting larger and I’m really starting to feel witty.

I feel witty, oh, so witty! I feel witty and pretty and bright!

Man, am I anal. Really. I absolutely love organization and anything to do with it. As far as I’m concerned, the Container Store must be heaven (I’ve never been in one, for fear of breaking the bank, though).

So digital organization is an absolute must for me. For the longest time I’ve been looking for the killer app that would get all of my digital flotsam organized. This is a tall order becaue I have a lot of it: posts to mailing lists, snippets from web sites, manuals, correspondence from co-workers, etc. This gives me several different formats to organize and keep and contain.

Not only that, but there are all the to-dos!!! Stuff that is due on a specific date, stuff that I want to eventually do, stuff that I may want to do, stuff that should have been done yesterday, it goes on and on. So, how do you organize all of that? Better yet, and more importantly, how do you keep all of those to-dos in front of you so that you actually do them?

So far, my answer has been a combination of several applications.

Brain Dump

The first is EagleFiler. I tried all sorts of organizers: Yojimbo, KIT, DevonThink, you name it, I tried it. EagleFiler just absolutely blew them away. There are tons of great features, but the most important to me have been:

• Multiple Libraries I hated that almost all of the other applications restricted you to one library where you dumped absolutely EVERYTHING. Yeah, that is kind of what I want to do, but not really. I want to be able to categorize my brain dumps: one for home, one for work, etc. EagleFiler lets me do this.
• No Database EagleFiler doesn’t store your documents in a database. This has several great advantages. First off, this means that EagleFiler can handle any type of file, whether it recognizes it or not, because it doesn’t have to figure out how to store it. Pulling a file out of a library in the same format you put it in is very important for documents that you might need to share with others. If I am ever on a computer that doesn’t have EagleFiler installed or I for some reason decide not to use it anymore, all my data is still in tact and easily moved to something else.
• Great Developer Before making my final decision, I took a look at the forums for the applications to see what kind of development was happening on them. I didn’t want an app that was stagnant and wouldn’t be updated with bug fixes or new features. What I found was actually quite appalling. The posts from the developers of Yojimbo, at least, seemed to be complete averse to any suggestions for improvement. One post in particular stuck in my mind. A user asked if support for multiple libraries would be added in the future (something I, myself, really wanted to know). The developer’s response was basically, “You shouldn’t use our application that way and, if you are, then you’re doing it wrong.” Are you kidding me? Needless to say, I instantly uninstalled my demo and have never looked back.

EagleFiler has become completely indispensable for me. I do have a catch-all Reference library, but I also have specific use libraries. I have a Recipes library that allows me to categorize my recipes, track which ones we liked (and who liked them), which ones we haven’t tried, where they came from, etc. I also start a new library for each project I work on. I can dump all of the e-mail correspondence, random notes, research, requirements documents, etc. into this one library. Since it is searchable, I can easily find that one e-mail about how this drop-down is supposed to look on the page. Light years better than sifting through everything manually.

I’ve also started a Movies library to track my VHS tapes and DVDs. I tag them according to genre and media. This allows me to quickly see which movies I need to get on DVD. When I’m in the mood for a specific type of movie, I can easily find all of the comedies or horror movies. I can also easily track who borrowed one. I have created my own little template into which I put information from both Amazon and the IMDb. Yes, I know, Delicious Library rocks and how could I not be using it to do all this for me? Well, I’ll tell you: because I couldn’t get the scanning to work. I tried the built-in iSight in my MacBook Pro, and an external first-generation iSight. Neither worked. I think out of about 10 movies, I successfully scanned in one. Basically, that means I’d be paying $40 for a really slick interface. Don’t get me wrong, I do think Delicious Library is slick, and if the barcode scanning had worked, I would have been sorely tempted. But I’m really happy with using EagleFiler.

To-Dos

To-dos were a bit harder to deal with. Now, I’ve read David Allen’s Getting Things Done and I did find a lot of good advice there. I like the idea of splitting up your to-do lists. I like the idea of making up action items. Keeping a list of projects just didn’t work for me very well, though. I ended up spending more time keeping that up to date than I did actually doing the action items. Certainly not what Mr. Allen intended.

One thing that really stuck in my mind, basically because it just made so much sense, was to keep date-related things in a calendar. For instance, if you have something due on a particular date, it doesn’t belong on a to-do list, but on a calendar. Makes total sense, right?

Wrong. At least for me. I kept forgetting that I had to-do items on my calendar. Not only that, but I just could not find a good way of keeping my to-do lists. Being a complete geek, I really wanted to use plain text files. My real draw to that was that they are platform-agnostic and I didn’t have to have a special application to work with them. Also, I live in the command-line when I can (GUI eye-candy is just lost on me) and I think that emacs rocks. I even started writing some Lisp commands to help me out.

But, I just couldn’t come up with a good format that I could stick to. I’m also absolutely horrible at regular expressions, so parsing out any type of format is almost impossible for me. Damn. Also, I ended up with some massive text files and kept finding duplicate items. Rearranging items started to become more difficult as the lists got longer. Yes, there is primitive search capability, but it was frustrating to have to scroll through the document with each match. I decided it wasn’t going to work.

I really had my heart set on some solution that would be platform independent and available from home or anywhere else. With that in mind, I turned to some of the online to-do trackers. I briefly looked at several of them, but settled on Remember the Milk. I like the simple interface, fine-grained control over permissions for lists, and all the features. But what really drew me to it, was all the Google integration.

Long ago I drank the Google kool-aid when I got a Gmail invitation and set up an account (remember when you had to have an invitation?). Gmail has been fabulous and it really works for me. I have several filters and labels set up, and keep most of my contact information there.

Naturally, I moved all of my calendar items into Google Calendar when it became available. I have several calendars set up (including one just for my 3-year-old) and I really live by it. I get an e-mail each morning with the day’s events and I run Google Notifier to make sure I get all of my reminders. Nothing made me happier than when Google added notifications for all of your calendars.

Best of all, I was able to add RTM to my Google calendar and voila! I no longer have to worry about adding to-dos to my calendar or not. I can either manage them from RTM or from Gcal. Fabulous!

It gets even better, though. I also have a customized iGoogle page and RTM is front and center. I did have to add a few different widgets to the page so that I could keep to-dos a bit separated, but that actually helps me work better.

The Trick

Even with all of this Web-2.0–y goodness, it is useless if you don’t view it constantly. This is a main tenant of GTD and it is soooooo true. Luckily for me, I not only live in the command-line, but in my web browser as well. In my perennial favorite Firefox, I have a tab group named “Launch Pad”. It opens Gmail, Gcal, RTM, and iGoogle all in separate tabs. This keeps them all constantly in front of me and that means that I use them.

Wrap it up already!

My workflow has evolved over several years, and so have my organizational tactics. I can tell you from experience that you don’t always know right away what is going to stick and what isn’t. What I can tell you is that you must be consistent. Some day, I’ll figure out a consistent tagging/filing scheme. In the meantime I lean heavily on searching.

The more I spend time cooking in the kitchen using recipes I’ve downloaded, the more I wish I had a good spot for my computer in the kitchen. I used to think that a computer in a kitchen was just a frivolity. An “ooh, look at how techy I am!” thing.

But, recently I’ve started collecting my recipes in EagleFiler. This is perfect because I’m able to set up general categories for recipes, but I can also tag them up according to who likes them, what time of year is best to make them, main ingredient, etc. I can also add notes of my own to recipes without having to print them out every time I print out the recipe.

So what’s the problem? The printer is upstairs and the computer is downstairs. I hate running up and down every time I want to cook something different. Plus, now we have two repositories for recipes: a 3-ring binder for hard copies and my EagleFiler library for soft copies. Some recipes are in both, but most are only in one or the other. I’d love to get everything together into one place. But, that would have to be in my 3-ring binder because I use the hardcopies to cook.

So, this is where I would really like to have the computer in the kitchen. I guess I’ll just keep on dreaming.

Okay, so the Cleveland Web Standards Association is starting to design its site. We’re having a meeting on Saturday to discuss it. Meanwhile, a bit of a schism seems to be developing. There are those who want to slap up something quick and dirty, then worry about designing our own software to suit our needs. The idea is that we’ll migrate data over later.

The other camp says, “Wait! No! Slow down and let’s do this thing right from the beginning.” Which approach is correct?

One part of me agrees that we need something up now. Right now our communication is almost exclusively through Meetup.com. As far as everyone can tell, there is no API and no way to get these communications back out. This may not be the end of the world, but I think everyone is interested in keeping as much history as possible. So at the very least, we need either a message board or a forum or a mailing list.

However, I also agree that we may not need to be rushing as much as we are. Perhaps it would be much better to start at the bottom right now and continue using the Meetup site.

Personally, I think everyone needs to take a step back. We don’t have any clear list of requirements for the site. Everyone is in agreement that we need communication of some type, but exactly what? Would we prefer a forum? A message board? An e-mail mailing list? Exactly what features do we need? Moderation? Searchable archives? Downloadable archives? Skinnable interface? Plug-in API?

That said, slapping up at least a forum of our own right now would be a good idea. We really shouldn’t have to lose any of this startup communication. I don’t think anyone wants to.

Hopefully, we can hash all of this out on Saturday. I know that there is a lot of excitement about the actual implementation and what software/languages/technology we should use, but before that happens I believe we should focus on the concepts first.

So, yesterday I asked Timmy in an offhanded way to change his pull-up so he could sit down and eat his lunch. He said, “I have to go on my potty.” I thought, “Yeah, right” but I didn’t say anything. He took off his pull-up and handed it to me, then proceeded to go into the bathroom and pee in his potty!!! I was so freaking excited!! I picked him up and swooped him around before letting him wash his hands.

So far he hasn’t repeated this achievement, but I’m hopeful. It is the first time in a long time that he willingly went on his potty and it is the first time that he announced he had to go and then went. He’s told us before that he had to go, and then went in his pull-up or big-boy underwear.

Maybe my strategy is working. I’ve refused to change his diapers any longer. If he wants a diaper change, he must do it. Since he’s wearing pull-ups, it is very easy for him.

But it is backfiring in a way: now Kellie is taking off her diaper whenever she pees in them. She throws the diaper away and then comes to me for a new one. I think I’ll get her some pull-ups, too. Then maybe I won’t have to change diapers at least, although they’ll still be wearing them.

I admit it: when my kids are in trouble they get called by their full first name, followed by their middle name. To wit:

“Timothy Russell!”

“Kellie Anne!”

So, my son is now upset that I will not let him play with the ceramic “pumpkin kings” that we put up around the house yesterday (they are jack-o-lanterns and such). So, he just said to me:

“Mommy Anne! You give me that pumpkin king!”

I’m still trying not to laugh.

Well, yesterday I took the drop-side off of Timmy’s crib. He was looking very concerned as I unscrewed the little rubber stoppers. “What are you doing to my bed, Mommy?” he asked with furrowed brow. But as soon as I slid the side off he jumped up onto his bed and declared, “I like this!”

He did just fine sleeping in there for his nap. A few minutes after I laid him down, he called me, “Mommy! I was some socks!” I went in and told him that he can get up to get his socks, but he has to go right back to bed. He said, “Okay”. He did just that, too: got his socks and jumped right back into bed. He went right to sleep and when he woke up, he didn’t get out of bed until I came and got him.

But the real test was bedtime. There are so many nights where he doens’t go to sleep for a long time after he’s been put to bed, sometimes hours. He’ll read or play with a toy until he eventually falls asleep. I was wondering how this would work with the side off. But last night he went right to sleep!

Ray and I peeked in on him around 9 o’clock and he had one leg thrown over the side. We were worried he’d fall out, so I started to scoot him over. He tried to roll over in his sleep and fell right into my arms! Good timing! I laid him back in his bed and we put the throw pillows from the couch on the floor next to his bed, just in case. But he didn’t fall out and I don’t think he was even near the edge for the rest of the night. I checked on him a couple times before I went to bed and he was always nicely tucked-in in the middle.

He’s been super cranky lately and absolutely refuses to push his poopy out. The latest technique he has is to cry every time he sits down to eat dinner. He says he can’t eat because his poopy hurts and he wants to get up and go in his room and push it out. But he doesn’t put any poopy out, he just runs around the living room. As soon as we sit him back down he cries again. I’m not sure if this is just an excuse to get out of eating dinner, but I don’t think so. He has been eating fine for breakfast and lunch. However, this morning he pulled it at breakfast. I wouldn’t let him up, so when I wasn’t looking he pushed his bowl over to Kellie, who had already finished her cereal and started on his.

I’m not sure what to do. All of this is driving me crazy. He won’t potty train, he won’t poop . . . what am I to do?

In the meantime, Kellie has been a horrible sleeper for the past week or two. She’s been up 4, 5, 6 times a night, then waking up at 5 a.m. and refusing to go back to sleep! She’s dead tired all day long, refuses to take a decent nap, and then is walking around crying at 4 in the afternoon! With her it just snowballs. The more tired she is, the less she will sleep. I’m dead as I haven’t gotten a decent night’s sleep (we’re talking 4 or 5 hours uninterrupted) in weeks. So last night she didn’t want to go to bed and it took her a while to fall asleep. Then she was up half an hour afterwards! I had been talking to Nor about this earlier in the day and she suggested giving her some Benedryl just so she can sleep. When she woke up again, I decided to try it. I gave her a teaspoon of Benedryl while she sat with Daddy. I put her to bed a few minutes later and I didn’t hear a peep from her until 5:18 a.m. As I went down the stairs, I thought, “Here we go again! Up at 5!” But I held her for a few minutes, laid her back down and tucked her in, and she rolled over and went back to sleep! She didn’t get up for the day until 7:10 a.m.!!!!! This is a big deal!

I was thinking that maybe she was getting her molars, but she does have molars. I think she’s got all the teeth she’ll have for a while. I need to Google that and find out. If she is getting molars, then this will probably be a long, drawn-out battle like it was for her canines. Those took forever to poke through and it was excruciating for Kellie. I mean there was at least 2 months where we could see they were coming, but they hadn’t poked through the gum. Once they did that she was fine, but getting there was a long time. Poor thing has had such issues with teething. Her teeth come in sooooo slowly, she’s the complete opposite of Timmy, who had all his teeth including molars at 18 months. His seemed to pop up overnight.

So, this is my life right now.

Today was the first day of school (well, pre-school) for Timmy. I was really, really nervous about his potty-training issues. He is required to be potty-trained to be in school and he isn’t. He was doing really, really well for about a week. He was even wearing his “Big-Boy Underpants” and telling us when he had to go pee. Then he suddenly refused to go on the potty at all. I put him on the potty and he cried. I told him, “Just sit there while Mommy goes potty.” Up to that point he had always started to pee when I started peeing. But this time he consistently refused, saying “no pee-pee in there”. I finally got him up and pulled up his underpants. I was washing my hands and he walked over to me and said very proudly, “I pee-peed all over my big-boy underwear.” I gave up since he was actively refusing.

So this morning I told him when he first got up that today was the first day of school and to get ready for school he had to go pee-pee in the potty. He didn’t put up much of a fight and he went. I praised him profusely and told him we had to get dressed. He washed his hands and put a pull-up on by himself. He was really proud of that.

This is another area where he doesn’t want to do what a big boy should do. He is fully capable of getting himself dressed without any help, but he will refuse to do it. This morning I told him I would put his shirt over his head, but he had to put his hands in. He did it. I told him that he had to put his shorts. He did without a fight! I gave him is socks and he just sat there with them. I ignored those for now and made breakfast. After I was ready, I told Timmy he had to put his socks and shoes on so we could leave for school. He worked on his socks while I put Kellie’s socks and shoes on. He went and got his shoes and wanted me to put them on, but I told him he had to do them himself.

I said, “I’m going to put Kellie in the car now. Put your shoes on and grab your backpack and I’ll be right back. I walked out the door with Kellie and put her in the car. The car was on the street, so I pulled it into the driveway. I could see him watching me from the front window.

When I went in the back door he was dragging his backpack through the kitchen and yelling, “Look at me, Mommy! Look at me!” He had his shoes on! I put him in the car and as he was climbing in he said, “You came back for me!” Here he thought I was leaving without him! I explained that I would never leave without him.

I took pictures of him in the parking lot with his backpack on before we walked into school. Then we walked to his room. The door was closed, but the kids’ names were already on the hooks in the hall, so we found his hook and I got a picture of him hanging up his backpack. His extra clothes were in there, so I pulled them out, along with some paperwork I had to turn in. Soon Mrs. Sharon opened the door and we could go in. Timmy didn’t wait for me, but ran right in and over to the toys. As I got into the room with the parents who had lined up, Mrs. Sharon announced that the kids had to wash their hands before they could play. I called to Timmy and told him to go to the bathroom and wash his hands. I couldn’t get in there with him because of the crowd of kids and parents, but Mrs. Liz was in there, so I figured she would help him.

A few minutes went by and Timmy didn’t emerge. I figured there must have been more kids in there than I had thought. Mrs. Sharon announced that the parents should start to make their way out and I wanted to give Timmy a kiss and a hug, so I went over to the bathroom. I heard him in there calling, “Mommy! Mommy!” I called to him and he came out. Kellie and I got a hug and a kiss and I explained that we were leaving now, but we’d be back after school to pick him up. He looked pretty scared and nervous, though he wasn’t crying. He bravely said, “Okay”. Mrs. Sharon rescued him by kneeling and saying excitedly, “I have lots of fun blocks to play with. Would you like to play with them?” Timmy immediately perked up and went with her. When I left, he was happily engrossed.

Kellie and I ran some errands and picked up lunch at McDonald’s. We went back to the church and we were 3^rd in line. The kids were all sitting on the floor in the narthex, just inside the doors. When Timmy saw my car pull up he jumped up. Mrs. Sharon brought him to the car and as he walked he yelled, “Mommy!” He was so happy to see me! I was really glad; I was a bit worried that he would throw a tantrum when he had to leave.

On the way home he told me that he played with 2 diggers and trains. He sat on the carpet with the letters and heard a story about a coconut tree that kept falling down and knocking the letters over. He played with play-dough and had a snack of goldfish and apple juice. He drank out of a little cup without a lid and didn’t make a mess at all. He also played basketball.

Kellie is so cute. When she sees me drinking coffee she points to it and says, “Coffee hot. Mommy’s coffee hot!” Then she blows on it and looks at me with a huge smile and waits. I taste it and say, “Oh, Kellie! You made it perfect” and she is so proud of herself. She’s so cute!!