Personal

Personal Wiki

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Years ago Gus showed me a personal wiki software package. I think it was active words. I am not even sure if you would call that a wiki, but it was a personal organization program. At the time I wasn’t interested. Recently however I have wanted to have a place where I can put important or repetitive personal information in. I had been keeping notepad items on my smart phone for years, but when I last looked I had like 50+ notes. It was too much to manage in that system. After some searching my favorite productivity sites (Lifehacker, 43 Folders, etc.) I stumbled across VoodooPad for the Mac. I actually remember reading about it a while back but never used it. This week however I downloaded the free version and I already moved all my notepad items into it. I am about ready to buy the paid version to get the extra features. I like its functionality, and also the ability to export everything to XML, TXT, or HTML. With that option if I ever feel like leaving the program I am not locked into some proprietary format. I like that.

More opinions as I use the software.

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Too Much Drink

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Last night I went out to celebrate my friend John’s birthday. It was John, Jayson and a bunch of John’s friends. We went to the House of Brews. It was fun, but I didn’t realize I drank as much as I did, or the desert I had for dinner hurt me. Either way I had a horrible night. I felt sick all night and barely slept. I ended up lying around my apartment the entire day trying to recover. So I learned that no I shouldn’t have chocolate peanut butter cake for dinner, and I shouldn’t drink that much! I knew the later part, but I never learn!

Sick Day

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I woke up this morning with a head ache. For me that is never a good sign. It means a migraine is soon to follow. Because I knew I haven’t been sleeping well this weekend, and the head ache, I was pre-emtive and took a sick day off from work. I am glad I did. I went back to sleep and woke up at around noon. I needed the rest. I was bored the rest of the day though. I hate sick days. I usually need the rest but it is boring stuck at home.

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The Piano Bar

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Last night I went back to Sweet Caroline’s with some friends. My friend Grechen’s friend was having a birthday get together there so a bunch of people went. Like last weekend, it was allot of fun. This time I didn’t drink as much, but it was a good show.

My Birthday Weekend

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Wow, I need a vacation to recover from this weekend. Last Sunday was my birthday. If you know the calendar at all you would also know that Monday was St. Patrick’s day. With both events so close craziness ensues. I went out every night from Thursday through Monday. Thursday & Friday I went out with people from work. We went to a bar or two and drank. It is always fun to unwind with them.

Saturday I went with Gretchen & Jayson to a Piano Bar. They have been a few times but it was my first time to this one, Sweet Caroline’s. It was fun. I always loved the dueling piano bar in the New York, New York hotel in Las Vegas, and the one in Pat O’Brien’s on Burbon Street. I had a fun time, even though I drank much more than I had planned.

Sunday night my parents took me to the Waterfront Crab House in Long Island City for my birthday diner. It was good. I had king crab legs, and finished off my mom’s crab cakes. It was good food and I had a good time.

Monday I meet up with Douge, Yan, and a few others for a few drinks on St. Patrick’s day. I didn’t stay out too late since I was really tired from the long weekend of being out, but it was fun meeting up for a little while.

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Can I Find The Right Phone? Part 1

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Since October I have had a minor problem left unresolved. I have been unsuccessfully searching for a wireless phone I could use every day. I have written previously about how my Treo 680 had been causing me too many problems so I was on the outs as my day to day mobile. The issue is I haven’t been able to find a suitable replacement. As much as I jump from phone to phone (I do about 1 a year and maybe toy with an alternative one during that time but never switch over to it) over the years, I have been sticking to Palm based Treo’s relatively consistently. I did go from a Treo 270 on T-Mobile to a Treo 600, then to a Treo 650. From there I went to the Treo 700 on Verizon. When I left my last company I switched my number to a Treo 680 on AT&T. It has been several years using the Palm OS on Treo phones. As I have said in the past it has been a love / hate relationship.

So even though it sounds kind of silly I am stuck on what phone to use day to day. I guess it is such a big deal because I use it for allot more than making calls. In fact I use it for other stuff more than I use it as a phone. I check my mail on it. Read the news on the way to work. I keep track of my expenses on it. I use it as a calendar, and more importantly I track all the tasks I need to accomplish on it. I use it to track notes, and I take notes with it more than I use pen and paper. If I am in a meeting playing with my phone, it is because I am actually taking notes or updating tasks related to what we are talking about on it. There is tons more things I use it for, but that is enough for you to get the point. Because of all my requirements I am a bit picky.

The Palm OS on my Treo 680 did everything I needed it to. It just would freeze up for no reason I could identify (maybe due to loss of cell signal but if it was that it is a retarded problem) and would crash or reboot at least once a day. Recently I also had huge issues syncing my Treo to my Macbook. The Missing Sync is a great product, and I have used it for years but since they updated the Palm version it has been buggy. I have had to reset the data on the phone dozens of times due to corrupt data or the software simply crashing on syncing some conduits, especially my task lists. So I can have everything I want, but deal with problems all the time. It kind of feels like WIndows, but I solved that problem by getting a Mac.

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My Big Boy Apartment

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I am 99% done with decorating and furnishing my new apartment. My mom got me some acent pillows and some sort of blanket throw or I don’t know what to call it for my big chair and sofa. My coffee / dining room table arrived two weeks ago. I even received the 3 prints I bought to hang on my walls in the living room. I haven’t hung them yet but they look really cool.

The last few things that I need to make everything complete is a few chairs for the table when I use it as a dining room table. Michael’s dad had dining room chairs that stacked nicely. I want to look for a few like he had, so I can keep them out of the way when I don’t need them but break them out quickly. I think that is better than storing folding chairs. I need something soon since I want to have poker at my place soon now that I have a table.

I am happy with the way everything came out. This is my first apartment that I bought nice real furniture. My first place i had cheap stuff. Then when I moved a few years ago my parents gave me their old stuff. It was basically nice but almost 20 years old and not my own. Now I think I finally have grown up and did my place up on my own. So it is really my big boy apartment!

Now I need to have a few poker parties to (hopefully) help pay for it all:)

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The Futile Attempt

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Today I made a futile attempt at finding a Notary Public. Apparently no UPS Store I went to or Fedex Kinkos had any. This is in contrast to what UPS said on their website. Apparently when a multinational company lists available services at specific locations that means that one guy may be able to provide said service. If he is on vacation then they cannot.

What bothered me about the whole experience was I did my research and went to stores that said they had the service (UPS only, couldn’t find any info about Kinkos). I get there and I am told the guy who can do it is on vacation. I am not offered another location that can do it, just sorry. On my way back to the subway I saw a Kinkos so i tried them. I was told they don’t have one either but another Kinkos a few blocks away might. At this point, wouldn’t good customer service offer to call that store and check for me? They didn’t, and when i got to that location they looked at me funny. I fared worse at Staples where the clerk just looked at me funny and had no idea what i was talking about.

Now I need to find a bank on Monday that has a Notary that will actually notarize something for me without me having an account at the bank, since we know banks love to turn people away for simple crap like that if you aren’t an account holder. That has happened more times than i care to remember.

I write about this of all things because an errand that should have taken 30 minutes that I actually researched before I left my apartment turned into a 2 hour excursion around mid town manhattan.

Where is the Drama Free Line Please?

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Have you ever wished they had a special line at the store (any store will do) that only took credit cards. Just a simple line where you walk up and hand the clerk your stuff. The clerk then proceeds to ring up everything and everyone who is on that line won’t begin to question if the computer is wrong, or the sale price didn’t ring up, etc. You are permitted to complain if you are buying something for $9.99 and it shows up at $100 or other outrageous errors, but generally you have to be a real grown up to be on the line, not just look like one.

If you accepted the responsibility of getting on this special line you couldn’t ask for discount card applications. You couldn’t try to combine a store credit card with a gift card. You couldn’t ask for gift wrap, or returns. You couldn’t ask questions about the product(s) you were buying. You would just get your stuff put nicely in a bag and you would thank the clerk and walk away. Typically I prefer if workers at the store spoke intelligible english, but on this special line it shouldn’t matter since you wouldn’t have to say anything beyond hello, and thank you to the clerk. So the question is where can I find this drama free line? I am on a quest to find it. I have a theory that this line does exist, and it is at the local DMV and quickie mart in the lost city of Atlantis. If anyone knows of any other locations please let me know! I have my credit card in hand!