Month: May 2005

Attention Deficit.. Thingy

Stuck. Paused. Diverted.

I have a couple of new projects to work on, a couple of projects that are stuck at the “hard bits” (both in theory and in workload) and I’m managing to avoid them all at the moment. Filling my time researching, taking care of other small tasks.

I’m partway through “Getting Things Done” and have considered that it is because I’m not sure how to progress the projects, and that I have many other minor distractions, that I’m putting them off. For one of the new projects I’m hoping to use some of the techniques suggested in the book – one of the techniques suggests a two day downtime whilst you get yourself sorted, I’m hoping to be in that position next week.

It could be a bad case of AADD, acquired Acquired Attention Deficit Disorder, which brings with it the problem of a constant state of partial distraction. No matter how focussed I think I am on a project, it’s a constant battle not to check emails or news feeds, not to start the brainstorming for that other project, not to stop and put the bin out or bring the clothes in from the line. I’d offer more on this but, you know, CBATG.

I usually combat this state by working at home. Conversely (perversely?) for me I find I’m more comfortable here, have fewer distractions and so can get more work done. However the more I think about… hang on… bloody car alarms.. where was I?

Oh yes, the more I think about HOW I work at home, the more I realise that, whilst I do tend to produce more output when I’m at home, I do still have many distractions (car alarms withstanding) but when I’m here I can at least action them. There is very little point in remembering to take the washing in whilst I’m sat in the office.

So I have done what everyone does when they have many things to accomplish, I’ve started a list. However instead of listing all the things that are in my line of sight at the moment, I’ve only listed the most important two. Yes, two.

You should see the list of distractions though…

May 11, 2005

Greenery

When we bought our house we desperately wanted somewhere with a garden so we’d have somewhere to sit on those summer evenings.

Somewhere in the last three years all that changed. We did a fair amount of work on the garden in the first year, last year the weather and our social calendar conspired against us and now we are faced with HAVING to do gardening any time the weather is good.

On a weekday we get in around 6pm, and neither of us feel like doing gardening, that’s for sure. So the weekend rolls around and we drag ourselves out, and tackle yet MORE weeding (always with the weeding!!). We are not natural gardeners, we have come to discover, and the entire process just fills us with dread and we can normally come up with some reason or another to avoid doing it.

At present the weeds out-number the plants by three, or maybe even four, to one. This weekend I have the blogmeet in Edinburgh on Saturday, and if the weather holds I’ll have to garden on Sunday. And so it continues.

We can’t afford a gardener, although we HAVE discussed it, even just someone to do the weeding and cut the grass (which is less of a chore now I have a decent lawnmower), and all in all I’m royally fed up with our garden.

Don’t get me wrong, we do LIKE a nice garden but frankly the effort required is just too much considering we get NO benefit from it at all – and no a “sense of satisfaction” doesn’t count.

/moan over.

May 10, 2005

Thunderbird

When it was released and whilst I was still flush with the joy of switching to Firefox, I thought I’d have a go at Mozilla’s new email client Thunderbird. I’ve been using it for about 3 months now, here are some of my thoughts.

PROS

Installation and import is easy
The installation is painless as is the initial setting up of your email account. Ohh and the import from Outlook (Express or the full version) is a great example of simple effective software. A few wizard settings and there were my emails from Outlook, all in the right folders.

Have more than one email account to manage?
Thunderbird will make THAT a lot easier. Each mailbox gets it’s own settings, so I can check my everyday email every 60 minutes, Scottish Blogs email every 4 hours, and my GMail account (if I wanted to) every 12 hours.

Handling new email addresses
If you receive an email from someone, and they aren’t in your contact list (address book), when you reply to the email, Thunderbird logs their email address for you. Simple idea but saves you having to remember to add email addresses as they come in.

Email filtering
If you have a filter which moves incoming emails from a certain address to a specific folder, and then decide to move that folder, Thunderbird will automatically update the filter for you. Simple touch but it’s that kind of attention to detail which impresses.

CONS

RSS Reader
Thunderbird includes an RSS reader, and my initial thoughts were that that might just be a good place for one… maybe… except you can’t import an OPML file so have to add every single feed by hand. Not clever.

Close that window!
Replying to emails leaves the original email open. This particularly ‘feature’ is driving me nuts!

Labelling emails
I’ll happily concede that Outlook 2003 handles this MUCH better than Thunderbird. I use Outlook at work and have become used to “flagging” labels to make sure they don’t slip out of view, a simple click of the mouse and it’s done. Outlook then offers a filtered view in a specific folder which only shows those flagged emails. Thunderbird allows labelling but it takes three clicks as you need to select the label from a drop down menu. It also doesn’t have an automatic filtered view.

What date is it?
By design Thunderbird has no built-in calendar (Sunbird being the suggested offering). I can understand that decision but for many people like myself, who are used to having both email (incoming actions) and calendar (holds date driven actions) in one application, it does feel like a bit of a loss. At the moment I have Outlook set to open to the calendar page but that’s not very elegant. Fine for everyday use though.

In summary

For the home user I think it’s an excellent client. The settings are much easier to understand and use than Outlook yet it remains familiar enough that a switch isn’t daunting, in fact it’s surprisingly easy to achieve. If you are a “power user” or rely heavily on your calendar/email/task list combination then it’s not for you. I’m currently using Thunderbird at home as my main email application, and have it at work for checking MY email, whilst Outlook handles my work email.

So if you are fed up cursing your email application, why not give Thunderbird a try.

May 10, 2005

In my head

HaloScan Wiki. HaloScan Dev Blog. Steve Nash MVP, wow!Blog Directory ideas (not mine). What IS the best “classic” driving song? Blogmeet! (THIS Saturday). DITA DTD. Two site designs for others. Burningbird, consistently smart. One site design for me. Sock on the radiator. Thunderbird for email. Outlook for Calendar? Getting organised, Ta-Da and Backpack are key. Firefox “extremely critical” flaw, won’t put me off.

Phew, that’s that lot “downloaded”. Maybe I’ll get some sleep tonight.

May 9, 2005

In my place

Oh crap, it’s Monday morning. Already.

Today will be an exercise in self-control. Having had only about 4 hours sleep I’ll be attempting NOT to make sarcastic comments to any of my co-workers, and to stay awake at least until lunchtime.

I had planned to discuss Derren Brown and whether his latest tv show is starting to break the boundaries of responsible programming, but I’ve not done any research into any possibly long term effects of his methods so that’ll have to wait.

I had also planned to comment on a recent comment left here, but even generalising will be transparent and I can’t be bothered with the hassle. I’ll file that under “one more chance” I think and let it pass.

And with that cryptic piece of non-blogging I’m off to get another coffee. Back later if I’m still awake.

May 9, 2005

Hic

A few beers tonight, for medicinal reasons of course, and I should be fast asleep. Unfortunately my brain is still churning away at several thousand miles per hour so I’m tidying out my email, deleting old files, boring stuff that doesn’t require much concentration.

I’ll pause and mention that it’s my other sisters (in-law) birthday today – Happy Birthday Claire! As a gentlemen I won’t say how old she is, let’s just say she’s got a fair bit of “life experience”. We are heading through to Dumbarton tomorrow for a few congratulatory shandies, and then out to lunch tomorrow with my parents.

It’ll be quiet here at Snowgoon Towers for most of the weekend, so have a good one whatever (whoever?) you are, or are not, doing.

May 7, 2005