We're in the big leagues now baby! I have decided to make the move from Blogger to Wordpress. This blog will no longer be updated (like that was a frequent occurrence anyway). All new posts can be found at my new blog. You may also notice the new name. Please give your input on that and the move in general (at the new blog please!).
I'm not the kind of person who likes to take notes. This isn't really the problem that it sounds like because I can member most things without having to refer back to a little scrap of paper.
Much of my note-phobia originates from a) my horrible handwriting and b) the difficulties in trying to come up with a good organizational system for pieces of easily torn notebook paper. My original solution, Levenger's Circa, solved the second problem (for the most part) but not the first.
Prior to my Circa debut (no, this isn't my life story, I am getting to the point) I had had one fleeting experience with computerized note-taking. These notes were marvelous, clearly organized and infused with sarcasm. I was in love. Sadly, at the time computerized note-taking was not practical (no, not because it was 1980 and computers were the size of small armoires) because I did not yet have a laptop. This all changed in the winter of 2006/2007 when I got a MacBook of my very own. I started off, like most novice note-takers, in MS Word. But as I pointed out in my earlier journaling software review, Word lacks the capability to organize multiple documents. At this point I was using the glorious Schoolhouse 2.0 to organize my assignments (having recently moved on from the not-so-glorious iCal). Schoolhouse contains a fairly rudimentary note-taking system (basically a version of TextEdit which stores documents to the application rather than a file) which I used happily until the end of the year (its probably the reason I did so well in biology1).
It seems like a rather anti-climactic ended, right? Well its not the end. *Dramatic music*
Frankly, for all my praise Schoolhouse isn't really the best solution for me (although that could all change with the possibility of a third version come-September).
(Sorry, putting this post on hold, there's a new episode of The Burg)
Anyway, as I was saying, Schoolhouse isn't really the best assignment tracker for me (I think I'm going to crawl back to iCal) and its certainly not the best note-taking system. This is where Journler (the winner of the first Software Sumo) comes in.
After realizing that lots of numbers and abbreviations make note titles frickin' awesome2 I came up with a simple little cataloguing system to use with the journaling superstar. The system has three components: the subject (a letter abbreviation), the quarter number and the note number. For instance, ENG.1.5 would mean the fifth English note of the first quarter. A title can then be tacked onto the back (making for "ENG.1.5: The Rise of Hemmingway", which sounds an awful lot like a sci-fi film). Another nice thing about Journler (which I neglected to mention in the review) is its wiki-like linking between entries. So, if I make reference to a concept I can then link back to a full entry pertaining to it, something which I really liked doing in VoodooPad.
So, there you go. If you were able to read that entire thing I commend you and know you know all my note-taking secrets (which you probably didn't want in the first place).
1 Not to brag, but I was
2 As it were, that's how I described the liver on my bio final.
Now, really, my fortnight-long hiatus wasn't my fault (blame teh internets!!!1 and teh japanese!!!1), frankly I was too busy playing Puzzle Pirates and reading The Prince of Tennis (a fantastic manga) to worry about writing stuff.
I figure that in order to make up for all the missed posts I have to do somewhere between 30 and 100 today, so stay tuned!
(P.S. I guess these aren't so extended. Whatever. One down, 29-99 to go.)
So, I'll admit being an absentee blogger wasn't all R&R, there was oft a time when I felt that I should blog about something but then I got that "when you see a dead muskrat don't run an electric current through it to try to bring it back to life" feeling (you get that too, right?) and I decided to let laying lieing lying ???ing blogs lie.
Anyway...maybe I'll get back into the swing of things, maybe I won't, who knows. Just don't expect me to reanimate this muskrat again.
(P.S. I started a "Housekeeping" label to keep track of all my apologies, announcements, etc.)
Update: And when I logged into HitTail I found a plethora or keywords (most of which pertaining to Skitch or journaling app comparisons).
(P.P.S. I forget, just a sec.)
(P.P.P.S. (a minute and a half later) It may have had something to do with more productivity posts "after the jump" (aka, tomorrow) but I'm not sure)
(P.P.P.P.S. I know this is getting a little absurd, but I finally remembered it. What the hell is a "href" anyway?)
With all of Apple's new product updates I'm unable to resist coming out of my unannounced hiatus.
So, first off I've gotta say I'm not too thrilled about the iMacs (I was really hoping they would look like this) with their weird black thing and whatnot (I guess environmental friendliness comes at a price– which I'm not willing to pay). And with the slogan "You can never be too thin. Or too powerful." it seems like they're just asking for some mother's watchdog group to accuse Apple or brainwashing their little fanboys girls. (I came up with the slogan "The new iMac– more than just iCandy".)
As for the software updates– four letters for you: h-a-w-t. I gotta love a better iMovie but I think they over-simplified it a little too much, it just looks too simple. iPhoto is looking nice with its new features but it's all the same to me, seeing as how I don't use iPhoto. And as for iWeb, Garage Band, et all– whatever.
I got pretty pumped about Numbers (the new Excel killer) even though it looks (much like Pages) to be more for making your documents pretty rather than powerful. Sadly, when I downloaded the free trial it informed me that I would have to upgrade to OS 10.4.10 which I'm just not willing to do (seeing as I'd have to redo all the icons I've applied). So I'll just have to wait for TUAW to dish out the news.
(Oh yeah, and those new keyboards aren't half bad either).
I love The Burg. The day I discovered it I watched every single episode and still had time to watch wish there were more. So today when I had time to kill at a café I played Hip or Dangerous (see clip below). The only problem is that I had to add a "frumpy" option...because that's just the kind of town I have to live in.
Today I went to the store. I wanted to exchange the largest bottle of teriyaki sauce I have ever seen. I had very specific instructions regarding the brand to replace it with and I had no idea how to go about doing it. Knowing what little I did, I got into the customer service line behind Mr. Creepy-Stringy-White-Hair-And-Bald-Spot, soon Mr. Scary-Just-Walked-Into-A-Column joined us. Based on what little I knew about customer service I assumed the service rep. would be in a dreadful mood and would try to bite my head off despite my simple request and valid receipt. After Ms. Bag-Full-Of-Thing-To-Return was done and Mr. Creepy-Stringy-White-Hair-And-Bald-Spot was done with his transaction (it involved a piece of white paper and a couple dollar bills) it was my turn to approach the dreaded CSR. I think she could tell I was an exchange n00b and she was nicer than I thought and everything seemed to be going well until the topic of the replacement product came up. No one had thought to tell me that I should bring that way with me too so I ran off looking for teriyaki sauce (which, apparently, is a condiment) only to find that I couldn't find the right brand. Dejectedly I returned to the line and told her I just wanted a refund. She asked me if I had the credit card that had been used– no one had thought to provide me with that either. I told her 'no' and I could tell she was starting to dislike me. Then she asked if I had a penny– no one in their right mind would think to provide me with one. Once again I told her I didn't and she sighed and gave me my $4.99 and made me sign and put my phone number on a little piece of paper. I then went on to shopping bliss (except I forgot to buy bread) but now I have to return a paintbrush....
Back from the Great North....it was amazingly boring. In fact, I believe their national sport up there the boredom triathlon (either that or curling). Anyway...I'm back.
Just an FYI: my already lax posting will become nonexistent as I will be going on vacation until the 17thish. I originally planned to use an intricate web of cron scripts (whatever they are) to post a series of pre-written posts but that would take work, and come to think of it, I don't think it would work. So...bye.
As you can see I just added a TUAW article to the sidebar. Those lucky devils have received 1,000 Skitch beta invites to give out and they are giving them away to their readers. Seeing how TUAW had a large readership I assume these will be going quickly if they are not already gone. Luckily for you I have received the princely sum of five invites and I am willing to distribute them among you, the huddling masses. Simply e-mail me either with the address you would like the invite sent to or with it in the body (subject should be "Skitch Invite") and I'll tell the good folks at Plasq to send an invitation your way. (I would say "first come, first serve" but I don't think that'll be a problem). Just a reminder, Skitch is a graphics annotation program for Mac OS X only that I use for all the graphics on this site (and don't they look spiffy?). Skitch also comes with an online storage service akin to PhotoBucket.