Evernote

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For the past 6 months or so I have been using Evernote. I kind of stumbled upon it while looking for a personal wiki solution. I know evernote is not a wiki. I was looking for a Wiki and ended up with Evernote. OK, I started this story at the end. So let me start from the beginning.

In the past I have written about VoodoPad. I loved, it. Still do but it is a Mac only application, and with needing to use a work Windows machine over the past almost 2 years I had to stray away from VoodoPad since well I want my “stuff” in other places than at home on my computer. At first I tried google docs, and quickly moved to Zoho. Fear of not having control of my data and an easy export option got me to build my own Media Wiki install and just password protect the site. At first I was happy with Media Wiki, but the effort of making the entries look good was significantly more than what I spent with VoodoPad. I know I shouldn’t complain because a year before I was using VoodoPad I was using plain old text notes with no search on my Treo. I got spoiled, I admit it. Media Wiki was a great idea, but it was over kill for what I wanted. I thought I wanted a wiki to collect my thoughts and document information I need to recall often, or just store for future searching. Ever since I started a Wiki at Partsearch for documentation (yes after Gus’ nagging for months to try it) I was hooked on the format.

When using Media Wiki became too much for me to bother with I went on a search for a replacement. I wanted something that was cross platform, and could also be used in a browser. I also wanted ease of use, and the ability to get my data out of their system if i needed to. I read some reviews of evernote and I gave it a try. At first the differences from what I thought I wanted (a wiki) and Evernote were a huge stumbling block for me. That was until I learned that I can still have great search functionality out of Evernote even though it wasn’t a wiki. It was what I wanted for putting notes and stuff into something.

The more I started using the program the more I relied on it. Then the iPhone version came out and I thought ti was great, but then was not so happy about its lack of offline support. Recently they fixed that and now I can store all my notes locally on my Windows computer, Mac or phone. At that point I was like OK, these people have earned me paying for the premium service.

Now I use Evernote for everything including to just jott down notes in a meeting. No more scratch pads, or even a text/notepad window opened. Without Evernote and Remember The Milk (another app I have written about a few times) I don’t think I would be as productive at work or at home. I am eager to see what the Evernote people will come up with for the iPad.

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6+ Hours of Work on a Sunday

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An issue at work tore me away from my relaxing today. I had to work on an issue from like 5:30 to almost 11:30PM today. It was not fun but in the end everything is ok. I just can’t stand when a weekend is interrupted like that. I know it goes with the job, but I still can get upset by it. Now I resume my regularly scheduled 3 day weekend.

Another iMac

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So I should never talk about technology and say one thing and then a few months later totally change my tune. I know, I am bad. I say that after ranting about the all in one computer form factor. I had a love hate relationship with my 24″ iMac. I was happy and sad to see it go. I like laptop’s much better. I really do. Of course that doesn’t explain why today I went out and bought a 27″ iMac. And not just a regular 27″ iMac, I got the Quad Core i5 model. I figured the even more money for the i7 was overkill. Well the i7 was overkill or I didn’t want to wait for the special order for that. I will just keep telling myself that it was overkill.

So why after being mad at the all in ones, would I go and get another one? Well that is an interesting story. In December I finally after 2 years of pondering it, I went out and bought a 30″ LCD monitor. See my reasons for not getting one sooner in my “Monitor Upgrades & Monitor Arm Number 2” post, so I wont have to go back into that again. After all that I wanted the dam iMac again because even though the 30″ display was fantastic, it wasn’t fantastic with my Macbook Pro. The image was just crap. The stupid Apple Dual Link DVI to Display Port adapter that everyone bashes does suck as bad as everyone says. I don’t know why. And it isn’t all the time. I used the same adapter on my Mac Mini and it seemed to work better. The monitor worked fantastic on a non mac machine, but guess what all I have are Mac’s.

So why did I change my mind? Figuring out what my tax return would be on Thursday was what started my thoughts. Originally I wanted a Mac Pro. I figured I would splurge and plug it into my fancy new monitor. Then I saw the cost of the single processor model. Holly crap that is expensive. The similar quad core iMac was like $500 cheaper. I then thought about out how much i could get for reselling my 30″ monitor and the iMac is half paid for, plus i am getting a slightly smaller screen and almost as powerful a system. Lets face it I don’t “need” a Mac Pro, I wanted it to drive the monitor I had. In the end this was a cheaper and smarter decision. My desk is also thankful for the extra room.

In the short term I am still going to hold onto the Macbook Pro because I do use it out of the house, but that is also soon to go the way of ebay once I get an iPad or something else small.

Now I can’t promise that in 6 months I wont be fed up with the all in one again. But for now I think it was a smart move. To show how much I think this was a good idea, I can say I even bought the Apple Care for this thing. I almost never do that since I usually only keep a computer for a year!

Next thing I need to do is figure out how to get the VESA mount on this new computer so I can use my monitor arm again. Thanks again Apple for making a standard like VESA so hard to setup. If the reviews of this mount are any indication I am going to be not happy when I try to mount it.

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Took Monday Off

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Since I worked all day last Saturday I decided to take today off and relax. I had some shopping I wanted to do, get a haircut, etc. Just typical weekend routine stuff. It was good to just not have to goto work.

Back From NJ

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I am back from baby sitting in NJ. I left around lunch time and got a ride to the train from Michael. I totally forgot that there was no 7 train this weekend. I ended up being lazy and grabbing a cab home from Penn Station. I didn’t want to deal with the shuttle bus and the out of the way trip I needed to take to get home, especially since I felt a migraine brewing and I hadn’t taken anything for it.

Thankfully I got home in time to lie down and take something for my head. I relaxed the rest of the afternoon. I was not happy I didn’t get to spend more time with the kids but I was glad to be home and relaxing.

Babysitting

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Today I got to spend the day with the kids and experience life with 3 little people. I don’t know how my sister does it full time. They are a lot of work, but loads of fun. I went with Michael and Zachary to Taekwondo. Zack was very cute doing his little routine. We then went to get Morgan from Gymnastics. From there we took both of them to lunch at their favorite restaurant. 5 star it was not, but I have been there before and they make a good greasy burger!

Then it was back to the house to hang out for the afternoon.

Babysitting wasn’t too bad. Carrie put Alexis down to sleep and she didn’t wake up too often that required her to be held! Morgan read to me for a bit before going to bed. I find it really funny that she now reads to me instead of the other way around. Zach was the most difficult since right after Carrie and Michael left he ran out of his room saying he wanted his mommy and daddy. He tried to scam me into a getting a few things, he is good like that. I barely won the battle of wits and he went off to bed without any other issues.

Other than that it was a low key night of browsing the web and catching up on some reading that I hadn’t gotten to over the week.

Unexpected Meetup With Friends

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Today as I was planning to get to my sisters after work I ended up meeting up with Luke to discuss some work stuff. That actually turned into meeting up with a whole group of friends I hadn’t seen in a few weeks. I didn’t get to spend too much time with everyone since I had to leave at 7PM to go catch a train. it was nice having two drinks and seeing everyone.

After meeting up with everyone I headed over to Penn Station to catch a NJ transit train to my sisters. I didn’t get to see the kids since it was after 9 by the time I got to the house but coming to get me from the train after they went to bed was the best idea logistically. Tomorrow I get to spend the entire day with them so I am looking forward to being exhausted but happy!

Nothing major to note at work. It was a typical work from home day.

An All Around Good Day

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I don’t know what it was about today but it was a generally good day where most things went right. I don’t know if that means tomorrow will be horrible or if it is to make up for the late night call from work yesterday and the briefly being sick on Sunday. Either way today was all about things coming up Scott.

I went to Starbucks and they forgot my drink so i had to wait an extra 5 min. WIthout asking they gave me a card for a free drink, score! Hey it is an extra $4.

Went to the doctor and I am in generally good shape. He also said I could try skiing and roller blading again after being restricted from it for a while for a problem I had last year. That was an unexpected turn of events so another plus.

Day With The Parents

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I spent the afternoon with my parents at their place. They wanted to see me before they went away on vacation and since they were at my sister this weekend today was the only day that worked for all of us.

I took the 7 to Main St. and my dad picked me up. I hung out at their place for a while. I tried to figure out why their computer was blue screening. I am not sure why but i updated them to Vista SP2 and ran some updates. I also uninstalled all the crap my dad installed on it. Hopefully that worked. If not I may just give them my iMac since this weekend my dad actually said he may be ready to look at a mac. Hearing him say that I would be happy to give him my iMac if he would switch.

Had a close call when a metal folding chair fell on my mom’s head. Long weird story but yes that happened. My dad thinks she will be fine but her head hurt, but no concussion.

We went to dinner at Jackson Hole, and then I got a ride home. It was nice seeing them. I think I wont get to see them again for a few weeks.

Now I am catching up on my blog writing and getting ready for the work week. It is a 4 day week, but I have to work Saturday. Hoping that goes well, but that is an entirely different post.

Last Minute Plans With Friends

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I went into the city this afternoon to do some shopping. I hit Macy’s and finally broke down and bought a new dress shirt. I had needed to get a few for a while, or wanted to so I finally went. if i like the way this new shirt fits I will get a few more. I looked for a bunch of other things but didn’t find anything I liked so I called it a day.

I was wet from rain and doing grocery shopping for dinner when I got an unexpected call from Jayson. Apparently him and the wife (and Seth) were in for Gretchen’s birthday and wanted to goto dinner. I put what I was shopping for back and decided to goto dinner with them since even though I saw them twice in Dec, I don’t normally get to see them that much.

We went to dinner at Carmines. Jay loves that place. The food was good. 4 of us split a 40oz steak, among other items. It was good seeing them. Seth was a super well behaved baby too.