Tag Archives: GTD

Hipster PAA, at work usage

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Today, the PAA made its @work debut, with the following to report:

  • Took some notes from the insurance company on the follow up to yesterday’s accident. I have on a 3×5 card, claim number, claim center phone, and everything I need to move forward.
  • A reminder on some RedHat configurations that need to be changed in our standard build. This will be transferred to the Palm PDA tomorrow, in the proper category.

    • OK, two items, not an auspicious start. But it’s a start. And everything is in one place.

    I outfitted my Hipster with a hack I discovered on a site I can’t remember right now. The gist is, take two fresh cards, preferably color cards, put both at the end of the stack. As you “file” the cards from the front, put ‘em between the color coded ones. In this fashion, you don’t inadvertently give away one with important stuff on it. And you have an “end” and “very” end of your stack.

    Small steps, taken consistently.

    -k-

    h/t: Dave, for aptly pointing out that a Hipster is not a PDA, but a PAA (Personal Analog Assistant). See the comments on the post, wherein I ask, and am enlightened, on the acronym.

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    GTD Omission

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    As part of the personal side of GTD, I’d heartily suggest going through the glove boxes in your cars. They become all-too-frequent burial grounds for the last 6 years of registration cards, emissions test receipts, and safety inspection certificates. Since you only need the current one, it’s a great idea to get rid of the old ones when the current one is put in. Seems simple now.

    Also, please be sure to have the card from your auto insurance carrier in there as well. My 2001 registration receipt didn’t double too well as one of those.

    -k-

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    GTD, Day the Last

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    The humidity and heat are gone, my little vertigo problem is over, and the last bastion of detritus has been attacked and mostly conquered. The trash bags mounding on the deck attest to the foregoing.

    In yet another departure from the book, I’ve got little projects, duly noted, that will remind me to hit those little hidey-hole pockets that I’ve left begging.

    When you’ve tossed your OzCis1 documentation, I think you are entitled to a little latitude.

    -k-

    1 – For those readers who know what this is, thumbs up. For old guys like me, who have totally forgotten what it was even all about, I forget what I was saying..

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    Rolling on with GTD

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    The last couple of days have not seen the massive GTD progress we enjoyed on day one. This is partly because we made great strides in the first day, so there’s less to be done. And the chores that remain are those that we’re not nearly as enthusiastic about.

    Plus, for the last two days, I’ve been suffering from positional vertigo. For those of you unfamiliar with this malady, it strikes at any moment, sometimes the room spins, sometime you spin as though in a vortex. Moving your head from side-to-side or up and down sometimes sets it off. This is about by fourth go-round with it, and the best cure is lots of sleep, keep cool, and drink lots of Gatorade or other sports drink of choice.

    I have done some research on Hipster PDAs; I still think these overwhelmingly low-tech devices will be a valuable asset. We’ve got our files in order, and an in-box that is approaching what it should be, in terms of manageability.

    So all things considered, I’d give us a B letter grade so far.

    -k-

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    GTD, Part 1

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    OK, SWMBO and I spent the day going through crap we’d saved and squirreled away where we’d be sure we had it. Only we couldn’t find it. I’m not so sure we can now, because it all has a place.

    Things learned:

  • We had plenty of buckets to store stuff, due to neglect, the buckets filled and overflowed.
  • Never, never just stash something to get it out of sight.
  • We departed from the book’s advice not to use Pendaflex files. We had a good supply if them, and it seemed pointless to waste them.
  • Every Pendaflex is populated by one or more properly labeled manila folders.
  • By all means, invest in a Brother label printer. One that does not depend exclusively on a computer to operate.
  • I didn’t need a $15.00 book to accomplish what we did today. What happened here today was an old-fashioned dunging out.
  • My inbox is now populated with stuff I’ve accumulated, usually to capture contact info, an URL, and such-like.

    • We broke stride with the book in other aspects as well, in that a lot of items were processed (usually via shredding) on the spot. There are two smallish bookcases to conquer tomorrow. After that, what passes for my upstairs office, which will result in another dunging-out. I’m glad the trash guys come by twice weekly.

    -k-

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    Moleskine’d

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    I guess you’re really are on the GTD bandwagon when you purchase your first Moleskine. I went to the bookstore the other day to enhance my Ruby library, and picked up a moleskine on a whim, whilst waiting in the checkout line.

    I must admit the hype surrounding these things is seductive, the craftsmanship is great, and they were used by Hemingway. After getting it home, I submit the following:

  • The thing is too pristine. How do you properly write “buy cat food” in such an opulent book?
  • It is not reconfigurable. What you write is where it is, period.
  • At $14.95 per each, not something I want to make random doodles in.
  • The price and general opulence of the thing simply put me off.
  • Anyone who has read this old blog knows by now, that I’m no Hemingway.

    • So it’s the Hipster PDA for me. The moleskine has been passed on to SWMBO, as a birthday stocking stuffer. She writes a longhand journal, and will get much more use of it than I will.

    -k-
    Update: I’ll buy SWMBO another moleskine, if she digs it, and wants another. Moleskines have no place in my current mode of operation. Unless, of course, I become a Hemingway :)

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    GTR to GTD

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    On my way home today, I bought Getting Things Done. I was rolling along nicely reading, then SWMBO came home, and we talked awhile. It was then time to apply the ice to my recalcitrant foot, and I read some more. I skimmed ahead a bunch after that.

    GTD is one of those books that I wish I could instantly absorb and implement. I’ve spent hundreds, if not thousands, in trying to manage all the crap associated with the logistics of my life. I got as many good ideas in the 70 pages of GTD I’ve read and skimmed, than any do-it-this-way-or-die-and-by-the-way-we-sell-supplies outfit I’ve previously encountered.

    So, my first step remains to GTR (Get Things Read).

    -k-

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    GTD, Old Man Style

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    Dave Slusher has cracked the cover of his copy of Getting Things Done, after having the book for two years.

    Like one of the commenters on Dave’s post, I’ve been following Lifehacker and 43 Folders for a while now. I also have been motivated to buy the book. SWMBO and I are off work this upcoming week, and in between the “Honey Do’s” on the list1, I hope to get some reading in.

    I’m not sure how to read something that isn’t subtitled The Definitive Guide, but it’s high time I gave it a shot.

    Thanks for the encouragement, Dave!

    -k-
    1 – The ol’ Honey-do list needs no GTD suggestions, being run as it is by SWMBO. She makes the list, I do the stuff thereon. Simple.

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