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Some cool tool I use

Over the years I have found a few tools that I really like and use to run my life.  I find that using tools to keep my life organized helps reduce my stress level.  The biggest problem, I suffer from is lack of focus.    These tools give me a little piece of mind by giving me reliable storage of information that I can retrieve later.  By not having all of this extra stuff in my brain all the time it helps to lower my stress level.

Here are my most used tools:

Keepass – Password safe.  This is a great tool for storing all the passwords I have to various web sites and financial institutions.  It is available for free under the GNU public license from http://keepass.info.  Keepass features include synchronize files with other Keepass files, password generation, and evaluation of password strength.   The encryption is good and provides more protection than writing the passwords down and leaving them under your keyboard.

Evernote – My extended brain.   Evernote is a great tool for collecting information online for later reference.  You can sign up for a free account at http://evernote.com.  The free account limits you to 50 Mb per month; the paid account gives you up to 500 Mb per month.  One of the things I really like about Evernote is the ability to access your information in several different ways.   The first method is using a web browser from my desktop or from my phone.  The second way is using the Evernote Windows Client. The third way is using an iPhone or Android App.  Notes can be created manually by cut & paste or typed in.  Note can also be emailed in.  There is a Firefox plugin that allows you to capture a note in one click.  The Evernote client is very helpful for organizing your notes adding tags to your notes.  The client is my preferred method for using Evernote. One thing I really like the system does Optical Character Recognition (OCR) on all photos uploaded so that you can search for the text in a photo.

Pandora – Streaming Music – Gives my just the music I want to listen to.  You only get 40 hours per month of listening for free otherwise it will cost you $40 for the year.  You can specify any kind of music and create your own radio station.  Go to http://pandora.com to try it out.

Remember the milk – To-do list – Gives me a great way to capture all my to-do items.   To-do items can be entered via the web interface or emailed in.   Remember the milk allows to-dos to be tagged and viewed by tag.   So I usually sort items in about 10 project folders and then tag the items I want to do @NA.  All the items tagged with @NA become my to-do list.  Go to http://rmilk.com it is free to use.  You can become a premium user for $25 per year which comes with a few extra benefits like access to an iPhone and Android app.

3×5 index cards – My Scratch Pads – I have lots of 3×5 index cards around my workspace.  They are the perfect size to write down notes and track my work for the day.

Gmail - My personal email – I use this Gmail as my email because of ubiquitous access.   I can access it via my cellphone, and web browser from just about anywhere.   I have most of my email sent there.  I have not had to delete anything yet from my email account I have plenty of space.  One thing I try with my personal email is to keep my inbox empty by creating a to-do folder and placing items that require an action in that folder.  I review that to-do folder on regular basis.  Go to http://gmail.com to try it out.

Google Calendar – Let’s me sync my work calendar and personal calendar into one place.  I use Google calendar because it give me access to my calendar from both my cell phone and my desktop.  I am able to sync with my work Outlook calendar and give insight into my day appointments. Go to http://calendar.google.com

TrueCrypt – My personal encryption choice – I use TrueCrypt to encrypt important data on my flash drives that I carry with me.  The encryption is good enough that even the government will have a hard time decrypting the data in the file.   With this tool I don’t lose any sleep about carrying around confidential data on a flash drive.  If the drive is lost the data on it is completely encrypted and useless to anyone without the password.  The most important thing is to choose a good password, the longer the better. You can try TrueCrypt for free at http://www.truecrypt.org/

PDFCreator – I use this to generate PDF files on my desktop system.  I try not to print anything on real paper these days.  Instead I print anything important to a PDF file then save it in Evernote.  The PDFCreator is free under the GNU public license.  Go to http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/ to download it and try it.

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How do I want the story of my life told

The other day I was thinking what would I want to have that my grandchildren read about me.

Would it be like this

Rob worked 60 hours a week, mowed his lawn every weekend and watched a couple hours of TV every night and played mindless online games most of the night

or would it be better if it said something like this

Rob was very conscious of the choices he made and focused on the things that made him happy, which helped him make the people around him happy.

Just before I wrote this post I removed my Cable TV box and have decided that I am only going to watch TV programs that I truly enjoy; which is about 2 hours per week this TV season. When I reflect on the amount of  lost time I have invested into various TV programs over the years.  Only to see them canceled and the story left dangling like a loose thread in my mind.   If all goes as planned the TV executives should have me down to 0 hours in a year or two.

I have recently started listening to Pandora in the evenings.  Pandora gives you ability to create your own channel and listen to the music you want.   I have 4 primary channels that I listen to (Hard Rock, Spa Channel, Jazz, Nature Sounds). I have been writing in a journal almost every evening with music playing rather than the TV.  I find the music is less distracting and much more enjoyable.  I have been journaling for a about 6 months consistently which I think it has made me more reflective.

One thing I reflected on the other day was I don’t place a lot of value on stuff compared to the value that I place on learning and experiences.   I was trying to think of where some of the toys from my childhood could be; they are all long gone. The experiences of my childhood remain with me.

When I was growing up, my family was very self-reliant. We raised our own vegetables, chickens, and pigs.   We made maple syrup one year with 6-8 maples on the property. We heated our house with wood and coal when oil was too expensive.   My children today are missing the experience of being self reliant.    They have come to view food as what the food industrial complex says food is. My wife and kids look at the vegetables I grow and they are not sure what do to with them!  This is because I’ve been growing desert adapted and heirloom varieties of vegetables. They don’t look as pretty as the ones in the store. What is wrong with an orange tomato? Especially if it tastes excellent. How about purple beans they sure tasted good but they were not a hit with the family.

In conclusion, I really don’t want to be the middle aged guy who comes home from work with most of my life force drained. After getting the kids to bed, sit in the glow of the TV and just barely absorb what little it has to offer. I want to get out and experience new things.   Try a new bottle of wine, try new food, hike a new trail, travel somewhere new and spend a week.   I want to connect with my roots, and grow at least some of my food and share that experience with my children. It is a great learning opportunity for the entire family and a step back to self-reliance.

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