Here it is I have found an easy way to keep all my data in sync. The only hurdle left was to find a way to better manage my content for my weblog. BeyondCompare took care of making sure that all my data could be easily found, but I still had a bit of a climb to get the content ready for publishing. I had heard of many recommendations regarding a freeware/donation ware app called w.bloggar. Although I had played with it in the past, I really hadn’t given it a fair shake, so I decided to re-install it and really set it up this time. Movable Type, the weblog software that I use on this server, is a great tool but it is lacking in the formatting department. There’s no spellchecker, no HTML WYSIWYG editor, or any other advanced interface tool. w.Bloggar solves all that. Once setup, w.Bloggar provides you with a desktop application that fully integrates with your weblog. Continue Reading
Author / Michael Ashby
My New Tools Part One – Beyond Compare
Things have been a bit hectic for me the past month or so. I’ve found myself slipping further and further behind, even though I’m working harder and harder. It’s been really frustrating that I haven’t been able to catch up. That got me to thinking about how I am managing my work and how work flows through my office. What I found was that, of all things, I have too much technology. When a work item hits my desk, it can come in many forms, but more importantly, it could live on my Tungsten T, my Alphasmart, my laptop, or my desktop. More often than not, it winds up in more than one place. Clearly, I had to get a handle on my workflow and at the same time, find some new tools to help me manage everything.
Full Moon News
Is it a full moon today or what? Reading up on my newsfeeds this morning was a strange little trip. There’s an extra heaping of oddball news today, but in case you missed it, here’s the highlights.
Orrin Hatch Wants To Blow Up Your Computer – everyone is picking up this story, but I liked The Register’s take on it, “‘I’m all for destroying their machines,’ Hatch said during a Committee hearing Tuesday. ‘If you have a few hundred thousand of those, I think people would realize’ the seriousness of their actions,’ That’s right, if I write and record a song and I find it on your computer, Senator Hatch thinks I have the right to remotely destroy your computer. I don’t know how this could be done, but reality aside (Hatch isn’t using it) this has to be one of the more insane pieces of news I’ve read in a long while. Plasma Energy – Now Available In Mugs! Woohoo! – ever wish you could drink your Coca-cola in a swirling dance of light and plasma? Me neither, but now you can. Although, I have to say, it is kinda cool. How much is that again? Continue Reading
Google Spell Checker
Am I the only one who uses Google as a spell checker? Often times, when I can’t remember how to spell a word, which happens more often than I would care to admit, I find myself using Google to spell check the word. Just by doing a search, Google will tell me if I spelled the word wrong and then give me the correct one. It’s not foolproof, but unless I’ve bastardize the word really bad, it gives me the right answer.
A Birthday Blog
My Mom’s birthday was yesterday and one of the presents that I gave her was a weblog. I’ve never given a blog as a gift before, but it seemed something that she could really use. IMHO she has always been a repressed writer and I thought having a weblog would help set the writer in […]
Drive Thru Trauma
Coffee seems to be a theme with me this month for some reason. I’ve been drinking more of it and posting a lot about it, not to mention all the coffee shops that I’ve been frequenting as well. Luckily, I’m not alone. Anyway, keeping this coffee theme alive… “a funny thing happened on the way to Starbucks.”
Although I can get excited and talk your ear off about something, when I’m by myself I like to think of myself as fairly self-contained. As a customer, I’d like to believe that I’m one of the better ones. I don’t take up too much of your time, I’m polite to all the other customers and carry myself in a professional manner. Being a frequent customer of Starbucks, I’d like to think that although they may not know me by name, the staff think of me fondly as one of their better customers. Well, that may have changed today. I was running a little behind yesterday, which is fairly typical for a Monday morning, so I decided to swing through the drive through there at the Cool Springs Starbucks. It’s the only location in town with a drive thru, so I was thankful that it was on the way to my next appointment. I placed my order and then pulled around to pickup my Venti Columbian roast coffee. The person at the window took my $2, gave me my change and then handed me a hot cup of hell. Continue Reading
Blessed Beyond Belief
I don’t know how it happened, but I have been truly blessed. I run a local Palm OS User Group here in Nashville called NPUG – The Nashville Palm Users Group. Running a PUG, or any volunteer is a real challenge. You have no money, so if you need some it comes out of your […]
My Little Oasis
After all my difficulty on Thursday to find a decent connection, I stumbled onto a little oasis called Perk Central on Friday. I was done for the day and heading back to the house. I had an NPUG Meeting to prepare for the next day and I really wanted somewhere other than home so that I could prepare without distractions. I went by my favorite cigar store, because awhile back I had convinced them to get an Internet connection in their store. They never went Wi-Fi, but at least I would have a reliable connection. I bought a cigar and was just getting setup when I asked, “Where’d the Internet connection go?” That’s when they informed me that they dropped their connection.
It seems that their ISP really jacked up their price and they didn’t find the Internet crucial to their business. Of course they never really marketed it, but that’s another story and beside the point. I was SOL on another connection. With no Internet access, I decided to pack it up and head home. That’s when I remembered “Hey, wasn’t there a coffee shop on my list that had a location in Antioch?” There was only one way to find out, so I passed my regular turn off and headed about 5 miles further east to Murfreesboro road and then turned south until I found it.
Beating My Head Against An Invisible Wall
I have a love hate relationship with technology. I love it when it works, but oh how I hate it when it doesn’t. Today was one of those days where I couldn’t catch a break and my disdain for all things tech reached a new low.
What started this whole escapade was the fact that I decided to get out of my office and work remotely today. Since my office is based out of my home there are a lot of distractions and I thought working someplace else might help me stay more focused today. So I did my homework and created a list of wireless “hot spots” that I compiled off of the Internet and after lunch went in search for remote Internet access.
The first place I tried, Fido Coffee House, didn’t seem to exist. I drove around and around, but couldn’t seem to find it. The next place on my list was Bongo Java and although I found it, parking seemed non-existent. It was located near Belmont University and most of their traffic must be walk up, so I went in search of other locations. JJ’s Market was a small deli, so parking was limited and the place was small. I was planning on staying awhile and JJ’s seemed to be a little too small to hang out for an extended period. The other places on my list had their share of issues, so I gave up on my list and decided to head to a Starbucks near Vanderbilt. I’ve had good success there in the past, so I headed there like it was my oasis in the desert.