Monday, September 30, 2013
Septemmmmmmberrrrr!
Often by the time I get to the end of the month, it feels like the month has flown by. This month didn't fly by. It wasn't a bad month, it was a packed month.
It was a packed day. I'm weary and worn out. So, let's fly through this.
The Big Elements
simplify - canceled two credit cards. That's about it.
diet and exercise - I've been doing better. I've been sending Lori my Lose-It results from each day. I've been walking regularly. Still not running. Not sure why, I think it's been a lack of time in the evenings.
work - busier than ever. I thought I'd have more time to research and read up on the discipline, but it's just been far too busy.
family present ideas - Lori's presents have been wrapped for a few days now. I'm pretty proud of that fact. Now need to start thinking about Christmas presents. :) Though we do have one from Ben to Rachel.
Top 5 Most Viewed Posts This Month
It was a packed day. I'm weary and worn out. So, let's fly through this.
The Big Elements
simplify - canceled two credit cards. That's about it.
diet and exercise - I've been doing better. I've been sending Lori my Lose-It results from each day. I've been walking regularly. Still not running. Not sure why, I think it's been a lack of time in the evenings.
work - busier than ever. I thought I'd have more time to research and read up on the discipline, but it's just been far too busy.
family present ideas - Lori's presents have been wrapped for a few days now. I'm pretty proud of that fact. Now need to start thinking about Christmas presents. :) Though we do have one from Ben to Rachel.
Top 5 Most Viewed Posts This Month
Googlefail (@gmail)
Now when I press "C" to compose a new message in Gmail, I see this. The first I saw it I was like "Uh - what? Wait! Nononono." And then I recognized "hikingfan@gmail.com" because Google uses it all the time in its promotions.
This should be labeled as an advertisement and the arrow to the $ should be bigger and the background of the entire popup should be a different color to stand-out more. And there should be a checkbox for "Never show this again."
Otherwise, perhaps this is the newest way for Google to make money.
Probably not. This may not be evil, but it's pretty lame.
This should be labeled as an advertisement and the arrow to the $ should be bigger and the background of the entire popup should be a different color to stand-out more. And there should be a checkbox for "Never show this again."
Otherwise, perhaps this is the newest way for Google to make money.
Probably not. This may not be evil, but it's pretty lame.
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Cutting the Cord, Day 1
At our last house, I literally cut the cord. The cable TV to the house was strung from a high pole near the back of our house into a tree, and then at an angle down to the corner of the house. It was unsightly. The power line was also unsightly, but it was more to the side over the garage so it was less obvious. I cut the cord at the house, wound it back to the property line, cut it again and threw it in the trash. We'd never have cable. Satellite TV was good enough for us. When we moved here, we assumed being on the north face of a hill covered with trees that satellite coverage was impossible, not to mention the frequent overcast skies, so we went with cable. Later a salesman convinced us that satellite TV was in fact possible. So I've had cable or satellite for the past 21 years. I shudder to think how much money that's cost.
We are going to attempt to "cut the cord" and give up cable/satellite. We've had enough of the high prices and paying for stuff we don't want. Did you know, whether you watch it or not, over $5 of your bill each month goes to ESPN?
We've inadvertently been preparing ourselves for this for some time now - a few summers ago when nothing was on, our friends loaned us DVDs of Vampire Diaries and Bones. We binged on those and then Firefly and really enjoyed the ability to watch a single show night after night - it was continuity in our crazy lives. And then when the new season started, we ended up doing that with most shows - letting a lot of episodes build up before we'd watch that show. It also made the experience even easier - instead of remembering the storylines and plot points of a lot of shows at once and having to wait a week to see stuff progress.
We are going to attempt to "cut the cord" and give up cable/satellite. We've had enough of the high prices and paying for stuff we don't want. Did you know, whether you watch it or not, over $5 of your bill each month goes to ESPN?
We've inadvertently been preparing ourselves for this for some time now - a few summers ago when nothing was on, our friends loaned us DVDs of Vampire Diaries and Bones. We binged on those and then Firefly and really enjoyed the ability to watch a single show night after night - it was continuity in our crazy lives. And then when the new season started, we ended up doing that with most shows - letting a lot of episodes build up before we'd watch that show. It also made the experience even easier - instead of remembering the storylines and plot points of a lot of shows at once and having to wait a week to see stuff progress.
Print Sift
Some more stuff I've read recently...
-1-
From Facebook Beginnings, GoodRx Cofounders Bring Simplicity to Prescriptions - some good lessons here on problem-solving. (Fast Company, Nov. 2012)
-2-
How Ben Rattray's Change.org Became a Viral Consumer Watchdog - it's not just politics. (Fast Company, Sept. 2013)
-3-
-1-
From Facebook Beginnings, GoodRx Cofounders Bring Simplicity to Prescriptions - some good lessons here on problem-solving. (Fast Company, Nov. 2012)
-2-
How Ben Rattray's Change.org Became a Viral Consumer Watchdog - it's not just politics. (Fast Company, Sept. 2013)
-3-
Week 26 (Final)
Sunday afternoon - I stayed home with the children this morning instead of going to church (details below). Ended up getting quite a bit done. Completed everything except for 20 items. Some of them can't be done until tonight and some just keep getting pushed from week-to-week so I need to make an effort to get to them this week because I'm tired of carrying them.
This week:
This week:
- Schedule: A quiet week at home and at work, as far as my calendar is concerned. Illness has forced us to cancel weekend plans.
- Family: Spent Thursday evening with Rachel decorating and wrapping Lori's gifts. Now I have to wait until her birthday for her to open them. I guess I like wrapping stuff last-minute better.
- Reading:
Fast Company Oct. 2013,Putting Jesus in His Place,Aliens in the Gift Shop,The Final Summit, Reader's Digest Sept. 2013, Days of Blood and Starlight - Simplification:
Cleaned up my inbox? Not that it's staying clean.Recycled some stuff at work. - Diet & Exercise: One day staying under my calories. Will be over on Monday and Tuesday. Still just over 10 pounds above my goal. I've been here before. I've been much closer before. I was noticing this morning at my weigh-in that I've had Wii Fit for over 1,600 days. I'm lighter, but then I don't use that consistently, I ought to be a lot lighter at this stage.
- Sunday: 10 completed, postponed 5 (11 planned)
- Monday: 36 completed, 7 postponed (
3134 planned) - Tuesday: 21 completed, 18 postponed (
343539 planned) - Wednesday: 29 completed, ? postponed (
333550 planned) - Thursday: 26 completed, 27 postponed (
29303355 planned) - Friday: 21 completed, 32 postponed (
232852 planned) - Saturday: 45 completed, 35 postponed (
2629303562 planned) - Sunday: 46 completed, 20 postponed (
2325262955 planned) - Total: 233 completed (
2102081811601391135520 not done) - Once and Done:
849279736354473316 tasks not done - May Repeat (only counted once):
121312111 task not done - Daily:
15161716 - Can Be Done Early (might still repeat):
556154514744422515 tasks not done - Nice to Have:
141148141139138136135 tasks on the list
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Thanks for the motivation, @RunKeeper (A Work-Related Post)
Got this recent email from RunKeeper. Awesome!
Relevancy: Oh yeah. Came mid-day, so it must have been right after I completed a walk.
Branding: Yep, RunKeeper's pretty consistent in their email design.
Technical: No issues.
Messaging: Great. Simple message. So simple, in fact, that it's odd that they've chosen such a small font. It's fine on a desktop, but an email from an entity that's mostly about its apps and this email couldn't be read on a mobile device. This seems like a surprising oversight.
Follow-through: A link offers a chance to post to Facebook, but it's a generic link to my RunKeeper profile, no mention of my 1,000 mile success. There's also a link to tweet out your success, which I did. In includes the hashtag #RK1000 (not #RK1K?) which is quite successful - several new people hitting the mark each day and not all in English even. But even more, RunKeeper's missing a great opportunity. They should be using IFTTT to immediately congratulate someone who posts that hashtag. Even if it's automated, it just further spurs on and validates the person who's put in all that effort.
Summary: Was very cool. I hadn't been watching closely and so that was a really nice touch. It did make me a little sad that I haven't run (except for Miami) for quite some time, just a lot of walking. Not sure why I haven't run. No one's fault but my own.
Here's the email:
Relevancy: Oh yeah. Came mid-day, so it must have been right after I completed a walk.
Branding: Yep, RunKeeper's pretty consistent in their email design.
Technical: No issues.
Messaging: Great. Simple message. So simple, in fact, that it's odd that they've chosen such a small font. It's fine on a desktop, but an email from an entity that's mostly about its apps and this email couldn't be read on a mobile device. This seems like a surprising oversight.
Follow-through: A link offers a chance to post to Facebook, but it's a generic link to my RunKeeper profile, no mention of my 1,000 mile success. There's also a link to tweet out your success, which I did. In includes the hashtag #RK1000 (not #RK1K?) which is quite successful - several new people hitting the mark each day and not all in English even. But even more, RunKeeper's missing a great opportunity. They should be using IFTTT to immediately congratulate someone who posts that hashtag. Even if it's automated, it just further spurs on and validates the person who's put in all that effort.
Summary: Was very cool. I hadn't been watching closely and so that was a really nice touch. It did make me a little sad that I haven't run (except for Miami) for quite some time, just a lot of walking. Not sure why I haven't run. No one's fault but my own.
Here's the email:
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