PolarLava::Blog

So I've slowly been evolving my organizational system to help me in (my version of) Getting Things Done (GTD).  This post is about where I've been, where I'm at, and where I'm going with it…

So way back in 1994/5 I started using EccoPro personal information manager.  I used this for several years and absolutely LOVED it.  It did calendaring, todo's and notepads.  For me this application was absolutely killer because the notpads used an outlining structure which was fantastic for me because I tend to think in outline from (as many others likely do too).  Thus I could easily transfer my mental organization to paper/electronic form.  Bear in mind this is pre-cellphones/SMS as well as the pre-web days.  Unfortunately development of it was dropped and the product effectively whithered away.  Oh no!  I held on as long as I could and continued to use it, but eventually it became a hassle to try to maintain on newer versions of Windows.  Go read the above linked Wikipedia article for the full scoop.  Actually it still lives, but progress is glacial.

In the year 2000 I broke down and bought a Palm IIIx organizer for the then lofty price of about $180.  This was huge for me as it was lots of money at the time (actually, it still is!), but was easily the lowest price I had seen it at.  I really wanted a Palm device well before that, but it I couldn't justify the cost until it came down in price.  And then they kept coming out with new models of course, but when the IIIx came out it was the right combination of features (mostly memory) and price.  Actually the price went back up over $200 after I bought mine, thus I was quite happy to have bought it when I did.

With my new wonder toy I imported my contacts from EccoPro, gained portable calendar alarms and began to conduct my life with the Palm memo pads replacing the the outlining notes I had previously kept.  I missed the nested listing that EccoPro's outlining provided, but I learned to adapt by breaking things into smaller pieces and keeping them in separate topics as necessary.  Plus, with third-party applications I gained secure password storage and a gas mileage tracker.  The notepad situation was not ideal, but it worked for most everything else I was doing, so life went on.  …more

So again this year I trekked off to Michigan to go sit on a frozen lake and freeze my ass off.  But unlike the past two years it was actually worth the effort.  We caught a number of fish, although most were not legal to keep and had to go back.  But I faired the best with a walleye that was a keeper and another which was just shy of legal.  So Rusty's notion of coming up a couple of weeks later this year seemed to be correct.  So in any case, here are this year's pictures.

Ok, I've decided to shelve this idea for now.  Instead I'm going to try to work on posting some of my writings regularly again.  Then after that I might try this.

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To meme, or not to meme, that is the question…

I've been looking around at a few meme's and I'm trying to decide if I really want to get into that or not.  I'm thinking its got to be short/quick/easy or I'll fall behind and/or simply bail on it.  I've found a couple that might hold my interest, but I might give it a try at least for a while.

Yesterday I came across a very good, but sad article about The Death of High Fidelity.  Being a longtime music collector I've built up a pretty good collection of vinyl, cassettes, CD's and not MP3's.  And I've long said that vinyl is my favorite medium for music.  No it's not as convenient as MP3's, and not it's not as durable as CD's, but to my ears, vinyl still sounds the best.  You might also find the related Alternate Takes: The MP3 Challenge.  See, I'm not alone.

Due to space issues at home I dismantled the bulk of my stereo system last year.  As such, I've been without my turntable for some time now.  But a couple of weeks ago I began cleaning out the attic so I could set a listening room there.  It's not ideal, but it's certainly better than not having it available.  And I'm very much looking forward to my ritualistic disc cleaning routine.  It's what has allowed my vinyl collection to remain in a very playable condition after all these years.

I'm really starting to feel like a slug this week.  I'm back at work today and tomorrow as I didn't have enough days left this year to avoid working at least two days.  This is the first time in roughly 15 years that I've not taken off the entire week between Christmas and New Years.  Oh, and I'm not happy about it.

So I did enjoy my time off for Christmas even if it was a bit hectic with lots of running around.  The down side would be the massive overeating —including the huge portion of leftover shrimp scampi I just inhaled for lunch.  I've been off the bike for a week now and although I've been working out less, I need to get my growing mass of chub back on a routine…hopefully starting tomorrow.  And this weekend I need to recap 2007 and start looking ahead to the 2008 season and actually set some goals.  This was a good year for me even without any goals (not written down anyway), but I'd like to build on that to have an even better one next year.

Maybe tomorrow I'll recap Christmas.  I've been trying to blog about something besides just photos and beer pics.  Thus far I believe I've been reasonably successful at that.  So that's all for now.