For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way. Something to be got through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.

Fr. Alfred D'Souza

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The Annual Chairman Letter from Warren Buffett

Berkshire Hathaway - Shareholder letters from the Chairman, Warren Buffett. This may be the most popular read of the weekend!

Though the path has not been smooth, our economic system has worked extraordinarily well over time. It has unleashed human potential as no other system has, and it will continue to do so. America’s best days lie ahead.
Good to have some positive sentiment. I've read these shareholder letters for about 12 or 13 years now and there is always something interesting to see. This year is no different! Just past the introduction I particularly liked his overarching goals summary:
In good years and bad, Charlie and I simply focus on four goals:
(1) maintaining Berkshire’s Gibraltar-like financial position, which features huge amounts of excess liquidity, near-term obligations that are modest, and dozens of sources of earnings and cash;
(2) widening the “moats” around our operating businesses that give them durable competitive advantages;
(3) acquiring and developing new and varied streams of earnings;
(4) expanding and nurturing the cadre of outstanding operating managers who, over the years, have delivered Berkshire exceptional results. 2009-03-02

Technology and CPA's

  1. Technology resources for CPAs. The CPA Technology Advisor - print media, but has plenty of online resources including podcasts.
  2. The Tech Gap - tech accounting blog by Gregg LaFollette of Sioux Falls, SD
  3. CPA Technology Blog - Brian Tankersley of Knoxville, TN
  4. Tick Marks Blog - by Dan Meyer from Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN. Tick Marks is a classic accounting term! 2009-03-02

Self-Management, Time Management ... David Allen and David Forster

David Allen: Getting Things Done (video captured at Google, 10/19/2007, GTD and the Two Keys to Sustaining a Healthy Life and Workstyle). 45 minute summary of his GtD methodology. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qo7vUdKTlhk 2009-03-09

DA talks about the Matrix of Self Management, with Control and Perspective as two keys. At the top of the matrix is the Captain & Commander -- high perspective and high control. This position balances control of the details with the perspective of doing what is important.

  • Control - what do I have, how is it organized, can I find it? Awareness of what is possible.
  • Perspective - where is my focus? What is on the horizon and where do I want to focus today: Now, next year, 5 years from now? Is it time to shift focus?

David presents several different cuts from his newest book (2009), Making It All Work, in a piece titled: What Kind of Self Manager Are You. Workflow management steps (lists, projects, processing, weekly review, etc.) and Horizons of focus (roles?) are other details.

Although David Allen's lists are basic and simple (and a Google search will reveal the details), Mark Forster has squeezed these concepts into an even more basic and simple methodology he calls the Autofocus System. The details of Autofocus are on his website. The quick summary is:

The system consists of one long list of everything that you have to do, written in a ruled notebook (25-35 lines to a page ideal). As you think of new items, add them to the end of the list. You work through the list one page at a time ... continued at Autofocus

A short video of Mark Forster showing his notebook with pages of lists provides a good point to think about the fact that we have to consciously think about how to keep a list of what we have to do. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF1ngJAyD_s 2009-03-09

Data Extraction testing

Extracting Data From Outlook 2007

Logbook notes

  1. Yewell's Jewels, i.e. free files, from the Lab with Leo Laporte 2009-03-10
  2. OurDoings is a creative online photo organization / blog. Free hosting for photo's, organizes into groups by date, allows you to tell a story via time. Not sure how they are making any money - but it seems interesting. 2009-03-11
  3. Examples of tools for creative use:
    • The Newspaper Clipping Generator - your text is placed in a newspaper clipping, with your choice of date, headline, and newspaper title. Slick! 2009-03-11
    • Wordle generates “word clouds” from your text. The cloud shows words that appear more frequently in a bigger font. Everything is relative to your text. The Wordle result is a colorful word image. 2009-03-11
  4. DATA SOURCES!!!!
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    Listable.org is a data repository that is user built for the purpose of making and sharing lookup lists. Everything from US State Names to Most Commonly Used Passwords. Excellent resource for any data needs!
    Data is provided on an HTML page, JSON (JavaScript Object Notation), a MySQL insert query, or Plain Text. 2009-03-11
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  5. Another potential data source: the District of Columbia data catalog DC has provided public access to city operational data through the Internet. Now the District provides citizens with the access to 274 datasets from multiple agencies, a catalyst ensuring agencies operate as more responsive, better performing organizations. 2009-03-14
    • This is getting good! WSJ on Saturday 3-14 has an opinion piece on http://www.nebraskaspending.com/NebraskaSpending.com. Transparency by disclosure of massive amounts of data continues. This reminds me of the banking data that is available through the OCC or the Fed. Didn't seem to make much of a difference in detecting the subprime mortgage fiasco.
    • On a larger scale there is a movement among state governments to Show Me The Spending Catchy title! Javascript enabled US Map of states, color coded to show disclosure. The map is part of the National Taxpayers Union - interesting site! 2009-03-15
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  6. Moving on to other data types, the US Geological Survey has data at http://tin.er.usgs.gov/ 2009-03-25
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  7. KatMouse Mouse wheel enhancement for Windows. Tipped off by Steve Gibson on Security Now. 2009-03-11
  8. Another Steve Gibson reference, Malwarebytes.org, a site dedicated to fighting malware. Malwarebytes has developed a variety of tools that can identify and remove malicious software from your computer. 2009-03-11
  9. Extracting Data From Outlook 2007 2009-03-11
  10. 100 Powerful Web Tools to Organize Your Thoughts and Ideas categorized listing with descriptions of tools for self-management and productivity. 2009-03-12
  11. And in another mind mapping vein UNO pdf or UNO description - the UNiversal Organizer. Referenced from http://mysteriousflame.com/new-way-mind-mapping/ and http://lifemuncher.blogspot.com/2008/01/something-cool-to-play-with.html 2009-03-12
  12. Genuine Curiosity - another productivity and interesting things in the world blog. GtD and time management as well as cool tools.
  13. Equipment-free exercise regimen at one hundred push ups site. (and of course there is a companion site: two hundred sit-ups
  14. Booklet Creator - free online tool that allows creation of a booklet from a PDF document. It reorders pages so that after printing and folding the pages you get a small book. Prints 8 1/2 x 11 portrait pages 2-up side by side. The key to the booklet creator is that pages are reordered, for example the last page and the first page are printed side by side. At the the of the process, order the pages, fold in the middle and you have a half size book. You choose the number of pages in a booklet, so a 20 page document printed into booklet size of 8 pages will print 3 signatures. 2009-03-14
    • PocketMod is also a booklet, but is 8 pages printed on a single sheet of paper. The result is a small book with guides on each page. These guides or templates, combined with a unique folding style, enable a normal piece of paper to become the ultimate note card.
  15. Each Day Empty - love the title, promotion of shortcut keys in Outlook.
    • Ctrl+Shift+V = move an e-mail to a different folder
    • Ctrl+Shift+Y = copy an e-mail (possibly to a task, or even a folder)
    • Alt+S = To close an item
    • Ctrl+Y = to go to a different folder, Outlook will display the ‘Go to Folder’ dialog.
    • F11 = put cursor in search address book field
    • and this one is a real treasure, how to quickly save attachments. Alt+F, N to open the Save Attachments menu item, A to save all, and then select the folder to save in and press Enter. DONE. really!
    • The blog author has a small utility Fingertips, which is worth checking out.
    • And the David Allen link that brought me here in the first place: TwitterFountain for GTD Summit 2009-03-15
  16. Class Timer, also useful for stopwatch functions on your PC. 2009-03-31
  17. VideoCacheView - Copy video files from Web browser cache. Another utility from NirSoft.
After watching a video in a Web site, you may want to save the video file into your local disk for playing it offline in the future. If the video file is stored in your browser's cache, this utility can help you to extract the video file from the cache and save it for watching it in the future.
Similarly WebVideoCap by NirSoft can be used to capture Flash video and RTSP/MMS streams.

Writing on a Typewriter

David McCullough gave an exclusive interview to the Belmont Vision and the following comment was published intact about his writing tools.

McCullough: I do write on the same typewriter. I bought the typewriter second hand in 1965. I probably paid $25 for it. It’s a Royal, upright standard typewriter and it was made in 1940. I have written everything I have had published on that typewriter and there is nothing wrong with it. It works perfectly. It was made in the USA and made superbly well. I like it because I like the feeling of making something with my hands. I like pressing the key and a letter comes up and is printed on a piece of paper. I can understand that. It’s not out in the ether somewhere. I like it when I swing the carriage lever the little bell rings like the old trolley car. Lots of people including my own children tell me, remind me how much faster I could go if I used a word processor. I don’t want to go faster. If anything I’d like to be able to go slower because I don’t think all that fast. And maybe the typewriter is writing the books. I don’t want to risk changing it. As long as it holds up, I’ll hold up.

2009-03-27

Free E-Book about the software industry and the case for free software

After the Software Wars by Keith Curtis, 292 pages, available for free as a PDF.

Given the technology that's already available, we should have cars that drive us around, in absolute safety, while we lounge in the back and sip champagne. This book explains how we can build better software and all get our own high-tech chauffeur. NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW: "Keith Curtis, an 11-year veteran of Microsoft, takes a programmer’s approach in “Software Wars,” attempting to systematically build a case that free software can help pave the way for a 21st-century renaissance in many fields ranging from artificial intelligence (cars that drive themselves) to the human journey into space (space elevators). For Mr. Curtis, free software is all about leveraging our collective intelligence."

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Page last modified on March 31, 2009, at 11:40 AM