Tagged as: Idea, Learn, Tip-For-Life, Useful
Mar
14
Remembering something is usually a case of you did or you didn’t. I’ve often found it amusing for things like birthdays when people will say that they remembered, but they just didn’t say anything about it. Really…well that’s hard to imagine.
The thing is, some people have better memories than others. Everyone is different and is able to remember things in different ways. Laugh if you must, but I remember wanting a photographic memory like Cam Jansen when I was a kid. Then I could rapidly flip through books and not need to study! How wonderful that would have been! But alas, my dreams did not come true. Even now I often wish for a better memory.
But just as remembering something is pretty binary (i.e. you did or you didn’t), those of us lacking in the memory department have to make do with what we have. Otherwise we will be mocked. Who will mock, I do not know. All I know is that mocking will occur.
3 Memory Aids That I Use:
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Remember The Milk
(RTM for short)
Besides having a pretty amusing name, this is a website whose sole purpose is to create TODO lists. It’s refreshing for a website to be so singular in its purpose in this day of do-everything-until-we-take-over-your-life websites. In any case, I initially signed up for an account on the site, thought it was cool, and promptly did not hardly ever use it because visiting another site everyday wasn’t too practical.
But then they developed a Firefox extension that changed that up! They developed an extension for placing an RTM pane whenever a Gmail tab is opened! It maintains the overall look and feel of gmail so you (or at least I) don’t feel like it’s out of place at all. Since I much more often have a browser tab open for Gmail, I was much more able to use the service. And I have. And it’s great!
The concept is nothing new, you just put in due dates. But since it’s in front of my face at least once a day (since I check my e-mail once a day), it’s actually useful. And it’s on a remote server so I don’t need to worry about losing it or keeping different lists in sync.
So there are 2 ways to use this baby:
Either will do, just do.
-
Phone calendar
Okay so I don’t have a smart phone. But that doesn’t mean that my phone is dumb! (Ha…ha…)
But almost all phones nowadays have some sort of calendar feature. And that’s fine and dandy for checking what the date is. But there is often also the ability to schedule events. So I use my phone (a Motorola, by the way) and put in reminders for certain things that I need to get done.
This is especially useful when I’m out and about. Often my phone is one of the few things that I’ll carry with me. I could actually text message a reminder to RTM which is cool. But I’ll be honest, I’m cheap when it comes to text messaging. And Verizon charges $.15 per message. For the amount of reminders that I put in for myself, that could get pricey. Haha laugh if you want, but the calendar reminders are free.
-
Google Calendar
Calendars have been around for ages. The print versions are still quite popular and understandably so. But as computer usage becomes more and more prevalent, we are transferring much of the things that we do in tangible form to things that we can do through using the computer.
Personally I use the Google calendar, but really there are many such applications floating around. I figure that I already have a Gmail account, so why not. (Of course, this line of reasoning sounds that in my post Google’s Taking Over The World…And I Don’t Like It.)
Anyways, a nice feature of Google calendar is that I can have it e-mail me before the event occurs. I don’t use the application everyday, but awhile back I input all of my friends’ birthdays. Now it will e-mail me the day before someone’s birthday, so I’ll never egregiously forget a friend’s birthday!
Granted, it’d be better if I just remembered. It would show that I care more. It’s not that I don’t care. It’s just that I don’t want to make a mistake! It’s my failsafe, if you will.
Do you have other tips for fellow forgetful fellows (or gals)?
Tagged as: Gross, Seen-Around, Tip-For-Life, Work
Jan
31
There are some things that happen in life that cause you to become speechless. For some, this happens more often than for others. For me, it just happened. What in the world do you say when you walk into a stall and someone is sitting on the toilet doing their business?
Wait a second, something is not right. Oh yeah, I’m not supposed to go into a stall when another person is already in there.
- “You forgot to lock the door, you ninny.”
- “Surprise! I’m here!”
- “How are those TPS reports going?”
- “Ah ha, THAT’S where the smell was coming from!”
- “How’s that crossword puzzle going for you?”
- “Whoa…you know that’s not normal.”
- “Room in here for another?”
Really, how do you respond to that? You can’t. You’re speechless. This is one for the scrapbook (i.e. the blog). It’s even better when this person is from work and you see them around but don’t actually know them. Super!
Tip for life #2340987: Lock the little latch on the door when you are in a stall
Tagged as: Idea, Money, Tip-For-Life
Sep
18
Here are some small things that you can do that might just save your more than you’d think. They’re easy to do, so give ‘em a shot! It’s not a huge list of tips, but these are simply ones that I’ve thought of/started using recently.
- Navy Shower
Directions:
- Turn on water
- Rinse
- Turn off water
- Lather and scrub
- Turn on water
- Rinse off
- Turn off water
- Enjoy the moment of the day that you will be the cleanest
Save yourself water like the sailors had to do on ships. You’ll realize it’s not bad at all. I mean do you really need to have water being wasted while you scrub? I doubt it.
- Coasting in the car - When you’re driving around, think about the fact that only having two action options, accelerate and brake, could not be the most efficient. There is room for some other option: do nothing and let the laws of physics propel you. The momentum that you’ve previously gained can be utilized. All you need to do is be more aware of things going on around you. If there is a red light up ahead, take your foot off of both pedals and just let your car glide along. Positives while doing this are
- Less stress - Coasting, as in life, will let you relax
- Save money - Not pressing the gas pedal will obviously not use gas and that is an obvious monetary savings
- Have fun (and stay awake) - It’s like a game to accurately figure out when to let off the gas in order to coast such that you won’t have to brake at all. Great for when you’re falling asleep, huh?
- Eliminate congestion - I should write about this sometime, but coasting at a constant speed in congestion will not only get you to your destination in the same time, but it will actually start the elimination of said congestion! For those not totally self-centered, this can be seen as a huge positive.
- Always turn off the light when you leave a room. No matter how long you’re gone, it has been verified (okay okay, by the great Mythbusters) that it’s more worthwhile to just turn off the light if you leave the room for ~20 seconds (I don’t remember the actual number).
Pretty simple and straightforward, huh? Let me know what you think about ‘em in the comments. Or even better, give me some other tips.
Edit: I totally forgot that when I was thinking of this post I actually meant to also say that these things will save you money but will also help save the environment! Take that into account, why don’t you?
Tagged as: Quote, Tip-For-Life
Aug
13
Be as adamant when wrong as you are when right.
-Derek Wong
I might not be there. Okay I’m definitely not there. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not still good advice!
Tagged as: Life, Tip-For-Life
Jun
19
Meeting new people is a fact of life. However, have you ever met someone after you initially saw them and recognized them? Now I might be the only one, but I doubt it. I’m not strange enough to be completely alone here.
In any case, I’ve realized something that I think that we would all do well to know. Not meeting someone initially creates an awkward environment. After you’ve already seen them and come to recognize them without having actually met them is a situation in which both of you know that the other exists, but neither of you feel comfortable talking to the other. Not having an introduction can come about in a variety of ways:
- Someone didn’t do their duty when they know both of you and introduced you.
- You are both slightly uncomfortable with meeting strangers.
- Somehow you already know about the other person, but you know that they have no idea who you are. That makes you afraid to approach them.
Okay I’m sure that there are more ways that this can happen. However it came about, if it happens to you you should know that the longer you wait to talk and/or meet the other person, the more strange it will be when you actually do. So just go for it and introduce yourself. Remember that they might feel just as strange about without knowing your name while seeing you in the halls. Or in a group of people. Or around the neighborhood. Or living right next door to you.
The only thing that you have to do after that is not forget that you met them. Because the other person likely did not forget. And then they’ll know that you didn’t care to remember your name. Or even that they met you.
Meet ‘em early, not often.