It has been about a year since I asked Google the question "When are you going to make a task list?" Of course no one knew what the answer was. There have been a lot of articles concerning it and I know personally it would be an amazing addition to the Google lineup.
Now I assume I use Gmail for my task list like most people. The star feature has come in rather handy for unaccomplished tasks. And I have even started using Google Calendar for goals and accomplishments.
And this system works relatively well if you are using Google's tools as an individual. But when you try to collaborate with a team, it becomes very tricky.
Don't get me wrong, Google Docs and Google Calendar are amazing for their strengths. My business partners and I all use these tools religiously for the success and development of our business. But the only area we have experienced a pit fall in is delegation of work (Task List).
We have even gone to the extent of using Google Notebook for a fake task list because of its drag and drop qualities... But it just feels like we are trying to MacGyver a Task List out of their existing tools. And if our group as a business can almost get what we want by doing this, why can't Google just whip out something amazing for small, Google Tool based businesses like ours?
All I want:
Separated user accounts that can add one another (like calendar)
The ability to prioritize (kind of like notebooks drag and drop feature)
Email updates for tasks (daily report of what needs to be done still for everyone in the group?)
Boom! Really simple and easy to please.
Again, I reiterate that I have tried the gambit of applications and none seem to fill the void the same way that Google Task List surely would.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Alright Google, The Jig Is Up.... Where Is My Task List!?
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Controling Your Tech (Part 1)
Use a web based E-mail client
Many people don't even think twice about what email they use. It was of course the first thing someone offered them for free. This is usually AOL since it was so huge when people had dial-up, but in our city, Charter is the dominant beast. Now people are stuck using their AOL email address because they have since the start of the Internet (beginning of time). And also Charter forced people to use MS Outlook. This is a great program for people that only use one computer. However I use anywhere between 3-7 different computers a day (sometimes more). So it doesn't really make sense for my email to be tied down to one computer, does it.
I started off using AOL back when we had Dial-up. Oh those were the days, the first and only time I'll ever use chat rooms for anything. But quickly after that, Microsoft tricked me into signing up for Hotmail since it was part of their MSN messenger application (which really hasn't even been updated since then). I must admit, I still use my Hotmail account today. I use it for any junk site i have to put in a registration for. It works great as a spam box. But only a few years after I started using that... Google decided to launch their own amazing service, Gmail. They trumped the other dominant companies (yahoo and Hotmail) at the time by offering unlimited storage for free online mail.
I am still using Gmail right now (look I just got a message!) and I couldn't be happier with the service (except it needs a task list). I think at last count, i have 1 primary Gmail account and 20 other Gmail accounts that support it in a variety of secret ways. But hands down, being able to check my email from no matter what computer I'm on ( or my iPhone) is the best means of accessibility for me.
I started using Outlook when I started working at a corporation. I only have one computer at this company and I only check my email when I am at work. I suppose they are supposed to back up the information in my email, but who trusts those tech guys anymore... So if my email or computer were to corrupt or crash at work, Poof! all gone. That is the #1 reason to use web mail. If your computer crashes (which IT WILL!!!!!) you're email is all backed up if you use a web mail service like Yahoo, Hotmail, or Gmail. Outlook, or evenThunderbird (Mozilla's alternative to Outlook) do not provide this functionality, and if your computer crashes, it should cost you quite a bit to get it back (Believe me, it's a REAL PAIN! to get it back).
Summary - You never have to worry about losing your email or contacts! You can access your email from any device that connects to theInterweb . You never have to worry about a bulky program trying to load and hoping it doesn't crash. You just cant go wrong with web mail I tell you! Oops! I forgot the best part... the SPAM FILTER! Just reference how many I get with how many you get... Ready??? Less than 10 a Year. And even the ones I get are obvious... They are some person I don't know telling some gibberish story, (you can see it in the preview text). That's it! It just works well andeliminates all the hassle that comes with a computer crash.
Remember... You should never be afraid of a computer crashing on you. Don't let your Tech control your information, only manage it.
Many people don't even think twice about what email they use. It was of course the first thing someone offered them for free. This is usually AOL since it was so huge when people had dial-up, but in our city, Charter is the dominant beast. Now people are stuck using their AOL email address because they have since the start of the Internet (beginning of time). And also Charter forced people to use MS Outlook. This is a great program for people that only use one computer. However I use anywhere between 3-7 different computers a day (sometimes more). So it doesn't really make sense for my email to be tied down to one computer, does it.I started off using AOL back when we had Dial-up. Oh those were the days, the first and only time I'll ever use chat rooms for anything. But quickly after that, Microsoft tricked me into signing up for Hotmail since it was part of their MSN messenger application (which really hasn't even been updated since then). I must admit, I still use my Hotmail account today. I use it for any junk site i have to put in a registration for. It works great as a spam box. But only a few years after I started using that... Google decided to launch their own amazing service, Gmail. They trumped the other dominant companies (yahoo and Hotmail) at the time by offering unlimited storage for free online mail.
I am still using Gmail right now (look I just got a message!) and I couldn't be happier with the service (except it needs a task list). I think at last count, i have 1 primary Gmail account and 20 other Gmail accounts that support it in a variety of secret ways. But hands down, being able to check my email from no matter what computer I'm on ( or my iPhone) is the best means of accessibility for me.
I started using Outlook when I started working at a corporation. I only have one computer at this company and I only check my email when I am at work. I suppose they are supposed to back up the information in my email, but who trusts those tech guys anymore... So if my email or computer were to corrupt or crash at work, Poof! all gone. That is the #1 reason to use web mail. If your computer crashes (which IT WILL!!!!!) you're email is all backed up if you use a web mail service like Yahoo, Hotmail, or Gmail. Outlook, or evenThunderbird (Mozilla's alternative to Outlook) do not provide this functionality, and if your computer crashes, it should cost you quite a bit to get it back (Believe me, it's a REAL PAIN! to get it back).
Summary - You never have to worry about losing your email or contacts! You can access your email from any device that connects to theInterweb . You never have to worry about a bulky program trying to load and hoping it doesn't crash. You just cant go wrong with web mail I tell you! Oops! I forgot the best part... the SPAM FILTER! Just reference how many I get with how many you get... Ready??? Less than 10 a Year. And even the ones I get are obvious... They are some person I don't know telling some gibberish story, (you can see it in the preview text). That's it! It just works well andeliminates all the hassle that comes with a computer crash.
Remember... You should never be afraid of a computer crashing on you. Don't let your Tech control your information, only manage it.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Halo3 + Wikipedia = Really Easy Exams
So last week I decided to get an xbox 360 randomly... Yeah I'm not a huge Microsoft or Halo fan by any means, but there are enough flaws with their servers to justify my bane. However, as much as I've detested that game since the first one came out (because it feels like everything is HUGE and its almost intolerable to move around with that control setup), I've actually become quite a bit better at the game in the last week or so. So if you happen to play the game also, hit me up under my (now usual) name... Bredonkulous.This week was also our exam week for school. It's always a shot in the dark as to what is going to be on those. I was both lucky and unlucky this year. I had a lot of really easy classes, but that just means that I either already knew the material or else the material was so basic that I could have looked it up on Wikipedia in 5 min before the test and learned everything that we covered in the whole course. In fact, that is how I do most of my homework now a days... it has become much easier and faster for me to look up the answers to homework online rather than even opening the book once the whole term. And unfortunately I still usually do better than a lot of the class.
So moral of the story is that I did very well on most of my exams and became decent at Halo3. Not exactly the most business oriented productive week, but you need to take a break every once in a while or else people end up getting hurt...
Thursday, November 8, 2007
iPhone (Your Phone X 100)
The day the iPhone came out, I decided to stop by the store to see if they had any left. They allowed us to pre-order early so it only too me a few days to receive my iPhone by mail.
Let me tell you, people can say that they don't like certain things about it. But compared to any other (common) phone on the market right now, and i would much rather have an iPhone with less than perfect features than a crappy, plastic, low quality, phone that hasn't added any new features in the last 5 years.
My phone, while not perfect by any means, is absolutely awesome compared to the what I used to carry around. I don't use it for an iPod much, since I already have my iPod Mini built into my car, nor do I use the calendar feature since I use Google for everything (Mail, Calendar, Documents) and the iPhone though it would be OK to sync with the Mail part, but not the calendar part... But I have internet whenever I want, and that comes in more handy than i thought it would.
The only other problem I have with the (non-hacked) iPhone is that it is currently only with AT&T. If you haven't heard it before: This company is TERRIBLE! (at least for our area). I did have better success when we went to Cedar Point in OH. But around town, and on Campus especially, I can barely make a call. And the company with the fewest dropped calls would not build in a whole animation and settings around the phone dropping calls if they actually practiced what they preach.
But I love my phone, Hate the provider, but am always looking for it to be updated with new features, (yeah you cant do that with your verizon brand razor can you....).
Let me tell you, people can say that they don't like certain things about it. But compared to any other (common) phone on the market right now, and i would much rather have an iPhone with less than perfect features than a crappy, plastic, low quality, phone that hasn't added any new features in the last 5 years.
My phone, while not perfect by any means, is absolutely awesome compared to the what I used to carry around. I don't use it for an iPod much, since I already have my iPod Mini built into my car, nor do I use the calendar feature since I use Google for everything (Mail, Calendar, Documents) and the iPhone though it would be OK to sync with the Mail part, but not the calendar part... But I have internet whenever I want, and that comes in more handy than i thought it would.
I did hack my phone of course, since its as simple as going to a website and clicking a button... However, that was much more bittersweet than I had hoped. It did (before I set it back to normal) crash quite often. It would get into loops of just crash after crash until it reset itself.
The only other problem I have with the (non-hacked) iPhone is that it is currently only with AT&T. If you haven't heard it before: This company is TERRIBLE! (at least for our area). I did have better success when we went to Cedar Point in OH. But around town, and on Campus especially, I can barely make a call. And the company with the fewest dropped calls would not build in a whole animation and settings around the phone dropping calls if they actually practiced what they preach.
But I love my phone, Hate the provider, but am always looking for it to be updated with new features, (yeah you cant do that with your verizon brand razor can you....).
Shoddy Shipping
Click To Enlarge)My warrenty expired on my current laptop (an IBM T42) after the 4 years that I've had it. Good times. So i decided it was time to throw in the towel and get a new laptop. So I ended up picking out a new T61p (also an IBM). I ordered this laptop on the 9th of October and it came around the 2nd of November.... Yeah, I waited almost a month for my laptop to come. It didnt even start shipping till the 26th! Now normally I'm a strong advocate of IBM but in this case, they were a little slow, even for me. But to top it off, IBM switched their shipping service from DHL and FedEx to UPS Ground...
No one likes UPS, because no one likes waiting two weeks to get what they order! But the best part of this whole process wasn't opening my laptop when it finally arrived; it was watching the shipment tracking oddly enough. Here's what I mean:
(FYI "CN" stands for China, and read it bottom to top)
| Package Progress | |||
| Location | Date | Local Time | Description |
| LANSING, MI, US | 11/01/2007 | 6:25 A.M. | DEPARTURE SCAN |
| | 11/01/2007 | 5:20 A.M. | ARRIVAL SCAN |
| LOUISVILLE, KY, US | 11/01/2007 | 4:10 A.M. | DEPARTURE SCAN |
| | 11/01/2007 | 1:29 A.M. | IMPORT SCAN |
| LOUISVILLE, KY, US | 10/31/2007 | 1:35 P.M. | BROKERAGE RELEASED SHIPMENT. SHIPMENT IS SUBMITTED TO CLEARING AGENCY FOR FURTHER CLEARANCE |
| | 10/31/2007 | 11:39 A.M. | IMPORT SCAN |
| | 10/31/2007 | 11:06 A.M. | THE SHIPMENT IS BEING HELD BY BROKERAGE FOR REASONS BEYOND UPS' CONTROL / BROKERAGE RELEASED SHIPMENT. SHIPMENT IS SUBMITTED TO CLEARING AGENCY FOR FURTHER CLEARANCE |
| | 10/31/2007 | 7:54 A.M. | IMPORT SCAN |
| ANCHORAGE, AK, US | 10/27/2007 | 4:16 P.M. | DEPARTURE SCAN |
| | 10/27/2007 | 3:49 P.M. | ARRIVAL SCAN |
| INCHEON, KR | 10/28/2007 | 1:52 A.M. | DEPARTURE SCAN |
| | 10/28/2007 | 12:32 A.M. | ARRIVAL SCAN |
| GUANGZHOU, CN | 10/27/2007 | 8:46 P.M. | DEPARTURE SCAN |
| LOUISVILLE, KY, US | 10/26/2007 | 4:56 P.M. | THE SHIPMENT IS BEING HELD BY BROKERAGE FOR REASONS BEYOND UPS' CONTROL |
| GUANGZHOU, CN | 10/26/2007 | 6:23 P.M. | EXPORT SCAN |
| | 10/26/2007 | 6:20 P.M. | HUB SCAN |
| SHENZHEN, CN | 10/26/2007 | 3:20 P.M. | DEPARTURE SCAN |
| SHENZHEN, CN | 10/25/2007 | 2:58 P.M. | ORIGIN SCAN |
| CN | 10/26/2007 | 2:17 A.M. | BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED |
There are a few interesting things this data:
1) The packages from IBM usually come from china, and are usually here within a few days. This was still the case (must have been a FedEx Jet). But once Kentucky got their hands on it... It was shut down, apparently they didn't like my package so they decided to not only stop it in its tracks, but SEND IT BACK TO CHINA! Then it jumped over to South Korea!!! and then to ALASKA!! So it couldn't get in from the right of the country, so they decided to ship it around the WHOLE WORLD to get it in were no one was looking...
2) Whatever tricky move this was, apparently payed off (after UPS DROVE it from ALASKA to KENTUCKY!) Billy Joe Bob working customs or whatever, decided that the same package was safe for delivery this time and forwarded it on to MI.
But the moral of the story is that now I have a sweet laptop, but it took it almost a month to get here instead of the TWO DAYS! it should have taken. Doesn't it make my desk look so much fuller?
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Weekend at State
So this weekend kicked off with a road trip to State to visit Johnson and Xuan at their apartment. The road trip was full of adventure in itself. But as soon as we walked in the door, I noticed that Johnson had just purchased Guitar Hero III. So we started jamming on that right away. It was much better than the first two if you are wondering, especially since its on the Wii.
Saturday was the big game day! Filled with lots of pre-gaming fun. Then Johnson took off to the game with the rest of the pre-gamers, leaving just McLovin and Xuan and myself to watch the game on the big screen. After McLovin's "first half nap" from all the partying he had been doing, the game really got tense as state looked like they could take the lead. They ended up losing like they have for the last six years, but it was pretty interesting. But nevertheless, post game excitement never fails.
After McLovins long nap, he called up TommyG and we were off to see the best drummer State has to offer... However, Tommy's Phone died as soon as we left the apartment and we ended up walking around town unable to find our destination. After trying to avoid the hordes of band kids, we met up with TommyG and Xuan and just went to get some Sushi. Then back for some more post game fun... and with the time change, there was an extra hour for McLovin to turn into this...
Sunday was busy, McLovin and I packed up our gear and headed our around the town for the day. Xuan went off to Quiz bowl. They didn't end up winning but had a great time competing in it. Eric and I went to lunch with ClaireBear and then he went to watch football all day... Colts and Patriots.....(worth it). and i went to see the Bee Movie, with ClaireBear. As animated as that is, it was really funny. And oh the colors... so vibrant!
Then randomly, two of the guys weren't able to make it back that night and Jimmy Eat World just happened to be playing in concert that night. It was an awesome concert with, by far, one of my favorite bands. Then some crazy bitch tried to take my iPhone away because i took a picture... since that makes a whole lot of sense. If i can see 20 people at a time taking pictures on their razors, I'm not giving up anything to someone working min wage... But despite that, it was awesome and after that, hit up jimmy johns and headed for home. Eric taught me how to drive more aggressively so we didn't git in any accidents from merging traffic.
We finally arrived home at like 1:30am and I went to bed since i had to get up for work at 7:00. It was well worth the trip as you can see.
I have been slacking to get this updated since I started it. But as you can see, Xuan hasn't put anything up since then either. I think we should race to see who can be the best blogger... Do you accept the challenge xuan?
Saturday was the big game day! Filled with lots of pre-gaming fun. Then Johnson took off to the game with the rest of the pre-gamers, leaving just McLovin and Xuan and myself to watch the game on the big screen. After McLovin's "first half nap" from all the partying he had been doing, the game really got tense as state looked like they could take the lead. They ended up losing like they have for the last six years, but it was pretty interesting. But nevertheless, post game excitement never fails.
After McLovins long nap, he called up TommyG and we were off to see the best drummer State has to offer... However, Tommy's Phone died as soon as we left the apartment and we ended up walking around town unable to find our destination. After trying to avoid the hordes of band kids, we met up with TommyG and Xuan and just went to get some Sushi. Then back for some more post game fun... and with the time change, there was an extra hour for McLovin to turn into this...
Sunday was busy, McLovin and I packed up our gear and headed our around the town for the day. Xuan went off to Quiz bowl. They didn't end up winning but had a great time competing in it. Eric and I went to lunch with ClaireBear and then he went to watch football all day... Colts and Patriots.....(worth it). and i went to see the Bee Movie, with ClaireBear. As animated as that is, it was really funny. And oh the colors... so vibrant!
Then randomly, two of the guys weren't able to make it back that night and Jimmy Eat World just happened to be playing in concert that night. It was an awesome concert with, by far, one of my favorite bands. Then some crazy bitch tried to take my iPhone away because i took a picture... since that makes a whole lot of sense. If i can see 20 people at a time taking pictures on their razors, I'm not giving up anything to someone working min wage... But despite that, it was awesome and after that, hit up jimmy johns and headed for home. Eric taught me how to drive more aggressively so we didn't git in any accidents from merging traffic.We finally arrived home at like 1:30am and I went to bed since i had to get up for work at 7:00. It was well worth the trip as you can see.
I have been slacking to get this updated since I started it. But as you can see, Xuan hasn't put anything up since then either. I think we should race to see who can be the best blogger... Do you accept the challenge xuan?
Saturday, November 3, 2007
First Timer
So this is my first blog post. I have a few friends that are running on this site... like MCWASP and VOCHILD, and I decided to give it a try for a while.
Why dont we start off the with good stuff. This weekend is the big Michigan State vs Michigan game. So McLovin and myself decided to drive down to State for the weekend. We ended up leaving like an hour late (since McLovin wasn't packed up on time). Then threw the address into the Civic's navigation and off we went. About 20 min into our trip, we decided to take a detour to speed up the trip (against the better judgment of the nav system). For about 45 min we went down curvy farm roads and missing our turns. As it turns out McLovin is no navigator.
But the rest of the trip was smooth, just a few near death experiences and some lessons from McLovin on weaving through traffic 101. This is in direct result of Michigan highway drivers who are oblivious when they dive. You know what I mean... Those people that dont get over from the left lane when you are coming up on them. Especially since they ride right next to the person in the right lane at 71MPH.
At some point I'm going to have to trick out this blog page so it doesn't look like a template. I'm somewhat of a web designer by trade and hate looking the same way everyone else does.
I'm sure that the rest of my posts wont be as long as this one ;) but I thought I might as well get it all out on the table. Thanks for blogging with me and I'll be sure to follow up.
PS. MSU is getting it handed to them.... 14 to 3 toward the end of the first half.
Why dont we start off the with good stuff. This weekend is the big Michigan State vs Michigan game. So McLovin and myself decided to drive down to State for the weekend. We ended up leaving like an hour late (since McLovin wasn't packed up on time). Then threw the address into the Civic's navigation and off we went. About 20 min into our trip, we decided to take a detour to speed up the trip (against the better judgment of the nav system). For about 45 min we went down curvy farm roads and missing our turns. As it turns out McLovin is no navigator.
But the rest of the trip was smooth, just a few near death experiences and some lessons from McLovin on weaving through traffic 101. This is in direct result of Michigan highway drivers who are oblivious when they dive. You know what I mean... Those people that dont get over from the left lane when you are coming up on them. Especially since they ride right next to the person in the right lane at 71MPH.
At some point I'm going to have to trick out this blog page so it doesn't look like a template. I'm somewhat of a web designer by trade and hate looking the same way everyone else does.
I'm sure that the rest of my posts wont be as long as this one ;) but I thought I might as well get it all out on the table. Thanks for blogging with me and I'll be sure to follow up.
PS. MSU is getting it handed to them.... 14 to 3 toward the end of the first half.
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