When I started writing this post, I had high hopes that I would be able to recover the data from my damaged USB drive. Sadly, my USB drive activated just long enough to say goodbye. The LED on the drive glowed for about 30 seconds and then fizzled out. The bad news was I lost my portable storage. The good news is I didn’t lose all my data. » Read more: Where’s your data?
Archive for the ‘Organization’ category
Where’s your data?
March 5th, 2010Don’t forget to date it
October 4th, 2009Lately, I have been going through my filing cabinet and old boxes in storage. Inside are old paper documents from years ago; notes, pictures, diagrams, charts, etc. Some of these documents have dates in the header or footer or on the back, while others have no hint of a date. The challenging part is trying to place a document that has no date in the proper timeline with others that do. Unfortunately, in the past, recording the date a document was created or updated wasn’t high on my list of documentation activities. I do have to say that over time I have developed some better documentation habits.
Good documentation habits:
- Record the date the article was created
- Record the purpose of the document (what was the problem you were trying to answer)
- Record who was involved with your document (name, email, phone)
- Record the date the article was modified
- Record action items (what were the next steps for this document)
- Use filenames that include the date as part of the title
- I use a date format of YYMMDD for example 091004
- If you’re sharing this document, you can always use YYYYMMDD or 20091004
- Using this method helps you quickly figure out the earliest and latest versions of a specific file
- Listing the files alphabetically will by default show them in chronological order or reverse chronological order.
- When viewing the list, the year changes the least, then month, then day
- When printing, add a header or footer that prints out the print date and/or filename_date
- Group like documents together
- Fasten them together with paper clips or staples or 3 ring binders.
Develop good documentation habits now and you’ll avoid wasted time in the future trying to figure out what a document is about and why it was created in the first place. An added benefit is that you’ll have a paper trail that will help you track an idea’s development over its lifetime.
Christmas is coming, be ready
August 9th, 2009Get Ready
I hate to break it to you, but this year Christmas is coming in December. It always seems to sneak up on us. Everybody seems to forget about it until just before Thanksgiving. That’s when most of the stores dress up their aisles with decorations and start playing Carols over the PA system.
During the week leading up to Thanksgiving, many avid shoppers are planning out their bargains and schedules for Black Friday; the crazy day after Thanksgiving when people get up at ungodly hours to fight insane crowds to get unheard of deals. People start rushing about trying to get all their shopping done in one day.
Get Set
Now that you’ve remembered that Christmas is coming soon, the question is what are you going to do about it? Are you going to repeat history, have another stressed out Christmas? Perhaps you might try something different, have a plan to get all or most of your shopping done before Thanksgiving comes.
I decided a few years back that I wasn’t going to participate in the madness of Black Friday. My wife and I used to brave the crowds to save a few bucks, then I started to realize that my time is worth much more than the money I saved. Instead of trying to get the bargains on that one day, we make a list of each present we will make or buy and started saving for each of those presents. We also start doing shopping research, so we will know a good value when we see it.
Do you know what you’re going to get for family, friends or colleagues? Have you given it much thought? Did you know you could buy or make your presents early? You can take advantage of when they’re on sale early and in stock?
Need a few ideas on what to get for Christmas, here are some links from Dave Ramsey’s website:
Go
You don’t have much time, you need to decide what you’re going to do about Christmas. It’s coming soon.
Why not join me and plan to have a stressless credit-free Christmas. Do your shopping early and do it using cash only. We’ve been doing it since 2006.
For the last 2 years, my wife and I have spent Black Friday sleeping in, then waking up and going to a pancake or waffle shop. They’re kind of empty because almost everybody’s out fighting the crowds. Later, we might do some finishing touches on our presents, we get them wrapped up and get them mailed off for our loved ones who live out of state. Then we’ll get the Christmas tree out and start decorating the house. Of course we’ll have the music of the season playing.
Till then, I hope you’ll have a credit-free Merry Christmas
Mobile Family Album
August 2nd, 2009Family Pictures
How many times have you been to a dinner, social event or even a family reunion when someone asks if you have current pictures of the family? This happened to me a while back. I had to admit that I didn’t have any current pictures in my wallet.
A bright idea
I decided to take my advice in my blog capture your ideas, so I brought up notepad and added the following note “todo: update picture collection in wallet” Before I was finished typing in the note, it occured to me this is kind of silly.
- Your phone has a camera right?
- Your phone can display pictures right?
- Are you ever without your phone?
- Most people in general, as American Express would say, “never leave home without it.”
Take your Family Album Mobile
Here are some ideas for your Mobile Famly Album
- Sources of pictures
- use pre-existing images, usually jpg
- scan photos
- scale them when necessary to fit your phone resolution
- Take pictures with your built-in camera
- Picture ideas
- Your significant other
- You with your significant other
- Your family members
- Your Grandparents
- Your Parents
- Your Children
- Your Grandchildren
- Your Siblings
- Nieces & Nephews
- Your Aunts & Uncles
- Your cousins
- Your Pets
- Don’t forget your future family members too
Why didn’t I think of this a long time ago?
Till next time, “todo: update Mobile Family Album”
