Never Forget the Dairy

Today I was looking for some way to organize all of the things I have to get done at work. I usually use Google Calendar for organizing my life, but work poses some problems that Google Calendar can't solve. For example, I often have about 90 ongoing projects to work on, none of which have a set due date. Also, some projects are more important than others and gCal has no way of dealing with that. I do not intend to abandon gCal, but I need something to compliment it. I considered downloading some to-do software or potentially using Outlook's built in features. But I have an additional problem. I alternate between three computers at work, sometimes more. So I will only be able to access my list one third of the time. Obviously that won't work.

I did, however find this fantastic web app called Remember The Milk It is a list-making application it it basically does everything I ever wanted in terms of making a list. Here is a screenshot of the list of things I could remember I had to get done in the near future at work:



Basically, you make a list (in my case, the list I am using is "Work"). You add tasks to the list (with the very obvious "add task" button). Then, you can muddle about with the options, setting higher or lower priority, a due date, how long you think it will take, and whatever else you might want. There's an option there for it.

The best part though, is the ability to tag tasks. It should be stated that I love organizing via tags, and so here I am very happy. It works just the way you might expect it to, and is ever so convenient. The only downside I have found is that you can't make "smart lists" that are automatically generated from a given tag.

I intend to use this app, and I would like other people I know to do so as well. This site ALSO has some social networking features (like the ability to share tasks) so it would be great for collaboratively planning something.

Blogging

I've decided to start another blog, in the hopes that I will actually update this one. I've decided to use it as a sort of vomitorium of ideas. (A vomitorium, by the way, is exactly what it sounds like.) If I happen to be thinking about something I find interesting, I'll post it here, and that will hopefully allow me to firm up the ideas floating around. There's also on off chance someone else might find it interesting as well.

So, I've decided it's only appropriate to write my first post here about blogging. This is now my fifth blog, despite the fact that if someone asks me I usually say I don't like the idea of blogging. Each of the four previous blogs have been for a different purpose: my first, five years ago, was to test the waters and see what was up this blogging thing everyone kept talking about; my second was a development blog as my roommate and I worked on a programming project that we ultimately abandoned; my third a collaborative blog about the events of my apartment with my roommates and my fourth a travel blog from when I went to China.

And for some reason, even though I was writing all these blogs, for some reason it took me until fairly recently to realize why saying I was opposed to blogs was incredibly silly. Blogs are used for so many things that it's impossible to disqualify them all.

The sort of blog I'm not a big fan of is a personal blog dealing with emotions and relationships, a sort of online, pubic diary. I am a big fan of talking about those things in real life, and I do it all the time. But the problem I have is the public aspect. Putting your innermost thoughts online for the world to see strikes me as a sort of exhibitionism that I find distasteful. Furthermore, I feel voyeuristic reading them, which sort of heightens my aversion.

There is another, related kind of blog that I am not really opposed to, but I have no interest in reading. That is a sort of journal blog, wherein one talks about what things they did that day. I find those interesting only if I don't have regular contact with the person writing them. Otherwise, it becomes too easy to simply read their blog and feel a part of their life, even though you haven't spoken in months. However, if you haven't spoken in months, then it's perfectly alright.

Taking all that into account, I was warring with myself over the tone I wanted to take with this blog. On the one hand, I could keep it strictly professional, writing like I was writing an article on a particular topic. On the other, I could delve into personal stories to illustrate my point. In the end, I chose a balance between the two. I am sharing my own personal opinions (which are not fact, much as I try and convince people otherwise) which will require occasional forays into my personal life. But not very far, and not very specific. The list of the blogs I've had in the past above is probably about as personal as I'm going to go. I intend to never identify any of my friends, or give any details about their lives. All that will be included is enough to explain why I think a certain way.

So, this blog is the ability for me to explain the way I think, if to no one else, then at least to myself. It would be nice if anyone else were reading, but hardly necessary. I've jumped on the web 2.0 bandwagon, and blogging is a huge part of that. It's possible no one will read after this post, but ah well. I don't intend to watch what I say overly much, so I'm likely to say something to offend people. To that, I say tough luck.