A few years ago, I heard about the rage of saving your favorites online (or “bookmarks” as Netscape and Firefox calls them). The advantage was that you would have all your bookmarks in one simple place. For those of us who use multiple computers (home, work, laptop, friends, etc), this was certainly an attraction. I couldn’t recall the number of times I would have to “re-Google” something because I was at the wrong computer. I don’t mind re-googling when it is something easy. For instance, I already know that Dreamweaver’s extension list is at adobe.com and I can just click a few times to get to it. But there is really a better site called…. something about a zone…. dreamweaverzone.com? No, that’s not it… dmzone.com?… no…. ahh, yes.. dmxzone.com. Having your bookmarks with you can really save time.

Posted in: Websurfing & Computing

I was recently informed about a new website called Dodgeball that, unbelievably to me, has been purchased by Google. Now, in theory, anything that Google does is typically genius or at least smart. This, however, was the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen. Which means, of course, that it necessarily involves cell phones. Almost every “cool” website that uses any kind of interfacing with cell phones, is typically, about as uncool and geeky as I can imagine.

Posted in: Websurfing & Family

I was reviewing TechCrunch’s post from March 2006 about the state of Online Feed Readers because I’ve been wanting to find a way to read and track my feeds online. I’m a pretty heavy news junkie - for at least the things I like to read about (sorry, Associated Press), but I’m sort of bound to my computer to track and manage my feeds. Sometimes, I have a little extra free time where I’m waiting for someone or something and there is internet access nearby, so I’d like to be able to check out the latest feeds and catch up on them.

There are plenty of ways to do this online, but I don’t just want a reader. I want to be able to manage those feeds efficiently, too.

Posted in: Getting Things Done & Computing

I thought I’d take a quick break from the series to review a few things about car dealerships before we get into Part III - The Test Drive.

Let’s review how you might have wound up at a particular dealership in the first place. As you know, car dealers spend an enormous amount of money on advertising - radio, television, and newspaper. They also use a lot of billboards and online advertising. Under “newspaper”, I’m including the little auto trade magazines you see at fast food restaurants, Walmart, etc.

Posted in: Saving Money

I must be alone. Apparently, the thought level on this subject is so high I can not hope to understand it. Or it is so common as to be unquestionable by anyone. I’m talking about those surveys that are handed out to college students near the end of each semester asking them to rate their professor on a variety of skills. The surveys are supposed to be anonymous, although I’m sure I’m not the first student to be highly suspicious of this administration claim. Considering the time and expense for all involved, I struggle to comprehend how these surveys could be of any use - to anyone. The only sad answer I keep coming back to is that they are a token gesture toward students who don’t think very far beyond their #2 pencil. Maybe I’m wrong.

Posted in: Ideas

I’ve been listening to Andrew Peterson a lot again lately, and this the last song from “Love and Thunder”. It gets me every time. I’ve been meaning to post a lot more, but I’ll hopefully be making up for lost time here in the next few weeks, so stay tuned. For the moment, I thought I’d share this. If you can, break your piggy bank and head over to Andrew’s site and buy this CD. You won’t be sorry. To listen to this is at least three times more powerful than just reading the lyrics, but hey, I can’t exactly promote a song about Love by ripping this into an MP3 and posting it on my website, but I would if I could because I think everyone would surely be convinced to go own this CD after that.

Posted in: Music

The baking sun scorched my eyebrows as I rambled by the dusty, brown Plymouth with the tan, torn leather top. With its grease-smeared windows, hot leathered smell, and spots of rust - especially near the tailpipe - I had hardly noticed it. Surrounded by newer sedans and large sport-utility vehicles, it had its own vibe. But the bumper sticker on its rear bumper - carelessly crooked - made me pause for a moment.

Posted in: Short Stories

I’ve been playing with Joe’s Goals for a few months. Joe seems like a pretty good guy who just got married on August 26. I don’t know if that was one of his goals or not, but he has definitely worked hard to make such a simple free goal tracking application. He is nearing 10,000 users. If you are needing a simple way to track some goals that you need to get done each day, I’d highly recommend considering Joe’s Goals. Unlike a lot of goal tracking software, Joe’s Goals is very simple, very Web 2.0, and very hip. A child could use it. Try it and see if it will help you to remember to get those daily chores done a bit more often.

Posted in: Getting Things Done

Came across this site that sells some pretty wild shirts and thought I’d pass it along your way. There are some great shirts, this being my favorite (especially when you recall that the area that patriots (uh, ‘rebels’ as the British called them) in the 1770’s used to meet was called “The Liberty Tree”. After town meetings, they would meet their to plan their tar-and-feathering of shirksome, British, corporate pollywog types. And a few slightly more nefarious activities there, too. We should have Liberty Trees again today.

They also have a small section of “Anti-Hillary” t-shirts for those of you gearing up for 2008. A few of the shirts have those long “Top 10″ lists on the back of the shirt if you are into that sort of thing, but I prefer the bold, brief statement that says it all like the one pictured here.

Posted in: Culture

I was at a friend’s house recently and was watching him navigate his own system. It occurred to me how much more efficient he could have set up his computer. I’ve often thought this when I’ve seen other people’s computers, so I thought I’d finally share some ways in which I try to be as efficient as possible. Hopefully, this will help save you some time each week.

The Windows taskbar is a great tool and can really save you a lot of time if you use it to its maximum potential. Otherwise, it is just a waste of precious screen space. In fact, this friend had his taskbar in the “auto-hide” mode which made sense partially because his taskbar wasn’t working that well for him.

Posted in: Getting Things Done & Computing

Sometimes, when you are down and out, between jobs, just trying to get by, you might be tempted to take a job that you otherwise would not have considered. I’ve seen engineers working at Walgreens. I’ve seen mortgage brokers working as roofers. No matter how bad it gets though, there are some jobs you should never consider.

Most people will automatically make wild claims that they would never do certain things for money - bank robbery, for example. Or prostitution. But, those are personal moral choices that people make because they lead to an undesireable lifestyle which, along with the potential criminal penalties, most people do not want to venture into.

Posted in: Community & Culture

As a father of six homeschooled children, I get a lot of questions from people on how to homeschool - where to get started, how “legal” is it, what type of curriculum to use, what does the father do as compared to the mother, what about socialization, and how to actually, functionally, do it on a day-to-day basis.

Rather than email each person separately as I have been doing, I thought I’d develop a series that anyone can read so that hopefully they can benefit from what we’ve learned - and our mistakes.

I will try to answer the above questions and more (feel free to leave comments / suggestions if I’ve overlooked something). But first, a few disclaimers.

Posted in: Homeschool

It isn’t often I come across a music list that I can nod and agree with most of it. Usually, music lists are very narrow and tainted toward a certain kind of music. But the Guardian, a UK newspaper, has published a very good list of what they believe are Albums that have changed music - or more accurately perhaps, the character of the music industry at the time of their popularity. I hardly think any album has ever changed music - since it really is something we are discovering and perfecting (or perhaps “damaging” depending on one’s opinion). Perhaps the only thing wrong with this list (which recently was awarded a Yahoo Site of the Day) is that it excludes any serious country/western influences and classical/new age. Other than that, the list is a very solid list.

Posted in: Music

Steve Pavlina has done it again with an almost outrageous article called 10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job that will be sure to infuriate some people. Yes, you know who you are. Granted, Steve makes a relatively small fortune (by some people’s standards) so maybe he is more comfortable saying what many of us think but are afraid to say.

Posted in: Small Business

You should hire me if…

• you are looking for someone who is talented and a quick learner.
• you are in need of a technical minded person.
• you appreciate ideas and creativeness as much as you appreciate quality work.
• you want a person you can trust to get a job done - someone you don’t have to watch every minute.
• you want an employee who cares about his work and what it represents to the firm.
• you are looking to grow a quality team with more quality people.
• you believe teamwork is only as good as the individual contributions of the team members.
• your company is a steady or growing company with good ideas and decent potential.

Posted in: Management