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- May 7, 2006
The Joy of the New Old Thing
May 7, 2006Read moreA couple weeks ago I starting having battery charging issues with my PowerBook 12″. As it turned out, it was the adapter being faulty; it was providing enough power to run the laptop, but apparently not enough to charge the battery. Prior to diagnosing this, however, I had assumed the battery was just dying and it was time for a new one. The old battery was getting maybe 1.5 to 2.5 hours of use per charge, which I regarded as being pretty much par for a notebook computer.
With the new battery, I get over 5 hours if I keep the display dimmed, and I must say that it’s really made a big difference in the enjoyment I get out of the experience. I never would have thought that doubling the battery life would make this computer so much more enjoyable. I feel a lot less tethered. Originally, I was quite irritated that I had to buy a new battery, but now I am totally digging it. To preserve this enlightened state of existence, I’ve been much more careful about how I’m recharging it. For example, I charge it to 100% and letting it drain naturally instead of keeping it “topped off” all the time; this is apparently better for it, and helps maintain its capacity.
There are a few other things in the “replacement” category that I suspect would bring me joy. Surprisingly, getting a faster computer is not one of them.
- May 6, 2006
The Curious Thing about Little Sisters
May 6, 2006Read moreMy sis and I get along pretty well these days, which is kind of surprising since we’re actually pretty different. Take physical appearance: when I tell people I have a sister, they automatically assume she will be the size of a small moon because I am; they’re always surprised when they meet her and find she’s actually quite petite. By the way their eyes shift back and forth, I know they’re thinking, “He must have eaten all her food when they were growing up.” Yep, pretty much! :-)
- May 6, 2006
Living in The Movies!
May 6, 2006Read moreMy sister cracks me up…I wonder what it would be like to ride the train into Boston with her at the ungodly hour of WTF-o’clock. Maybe I’ll have to give that a try! I wonder if they have a “bring your brother to work” day!
- May 4, 2006
The Printable CEO™ IV: Task Order Up!
May 4, 2006Read more
I was at The Museum of Useful Things last week…what a great store! The website doesn’t do the place justice; they carry much more than is shown online! I was excited to see they carried the Ex-cell Noteminder Check Rail, which is used by restaurants to hold orders in the queue.
I’ve wanted one of these things for years, thinking it would be useful for prioritizing my own tasks. I got the idea by watching a worker at McDonald’s manage a priority queue during a busy lunch period. She put the priority items (for cars) on the left, scanning the tickets constantly to stay on top of what food needed to go in which bag . I was impressed; apparently I am not alone in this observation.
Now that I have my check rail, I need something to put in it! This type of task management has been on my mind a lot since I re-evaluated The Printable CEO™ series and noted that there were two major missing elements:
- Something useful for focusing on a single task
- Something useful for very high level strategic planning
Today I’m addressing the first one. Introducing the Task Order Up!
UPDATE: I changed the name from “Task Order Slip” to “Task Order Up” after reading Damien Tanner’s trackback…much cooler sounding! :-)
- May 4, 2006
Portion Control
May 4, 2006Read more
I was at Black Ink in Harvard Square last week, and was drawn to this green cafeteria tray with matching cup. I don’t know why…I just had to have it.
My sis says I can use it to control the size of the portions I eat, much as we theorized with Mr Bento. We actually both have them now, but haven’t taken any pictures of it yet. I guess I just like things that hold food…weird! :-)
Here’s another shot of the tray. I may use this as a photo prop for the bizarre asian snacks that I’ve been trying. There are so many…they all deserve to be celebrated (and then eaten). I haven’t been shooting many pictures lately, but now that it’s warmer I’m feeling more in the mood.
