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GTD Tip: one-key opening of INBOX notebook in OneNote

September 5, 2010
One of the most useful applications I have discovered since I had to switch to Windows as my main OS is OneNote, a really great note-taking application which I use for pretty much every data-storing and note-taking need. I use a OneNote notebook as part of my GTD inbox. Today's very simple tip is how to assign a keystroke for opening my Inbox notebook from anywhere in the system. Here are the steps:
  1. Download and install AutoHotKey, if you don't have it already (it's a really useful free application, well worth exploring).
  2. Add the following line to your default AutoHotKey.ahk file (normally in ~/Documents/AutoHotKey.ahk):

Pocketful of Dough - Tips on Tipping

September 3, 2010

“What kind of establishment do you think this is?”

“How dare you insult me!”

“You think you can get in with that?”

It’s just after 8 p.m. on a balmy summer Saturday and I’m heading toward one of New York’s most overbooked restaurants, Balthazar, where celebrities regularly go to be celebrated and where lay diners like me call a month in advance to try and secure a reservation. I don’t have a reservation. I don’t have a connection. I don’t have a secret phone number. The only things I have are a $20, a $50, and a $100 bill, neatly folded in my pocket.

On remembering and dealing with people's names

September 3, 2010
A person's own name is the single most important word to him/her; it is intimately tied to his/her identity as an individual. How you deal with people's names can have a profound effect on their impressions of you: Think about the times you've felt special when someone you admired addressed you by your name in a sincere tone; or think about the times when you've felt belittled when someone negligently called you by the wrong name, or worse, maliciously made fun of your name in front of you.
via stanford.edu

I've always been extremely bad at remembering people's names, and it's caused me my fair share of embarrassment during my life. While I lived in Switzerland, I was always amazed at how well people in general could remember names. I don't know if they train them for it, or if it's a cultural trait, but many times, for example, I was greeted by name by people I only met briefly weeks before at a party. By then, I could barely remember their faces! Lately I've been making an effort to consciously remember people's names, and it does have a positive effect, both on myself and on other people.

Hierarchical copying with cfengine3

August 27, 2010

I recently posted a snippet to perform hierarchical copying in cfengine3. As I was attempting to integrate this mechanism into my copy of cfengine's COPBL, I realized that no additional functions or body components are needed. Thanks to cfengine3's list expansion, all you need to do is include in the existing copy promise the list containing the desired list of suffixes to try. For example:

Becomes:

While this looks at first sight even longer than the original (and of course, in this case you could just specify ${sys.flavour} directly in the copy_from statement), it is much more flexible. Instead of defining different sections for each class that you want to handle (e.g. suse_9, redhat_5, etc.), the same code is able to copy the corresponding binary directory for any operating system, you just have to put the corresponding bin.* directory in your repository.

Trying out The Pomodoro Technique

August 26, 2010

The basic unit of work in the Pomodoro Technique™ can be split in five simple steps:

  1. Choose a task to be accomplished
  2. Set the Pomodoro to 25 minutes (the Pomodoro is the timer)
  3. Work on the task until the Pomodoro rings, then put a check on your sheet of paper
  4. Take a short break (5 minutes is OK)
  5. Every 4 Pomodoros take a longer break
via pomodorotechnique.com

I'm giving the Pomodoro Technique a try today for my work. Looks like a nice way to split time, and a nice complement to GTD as a mechanism for the "doing" part of it.