Writing the "wicked" way

I’ve been looking for the perfect word processor for the Mac for quite some time. When I first broke free of MS Word, I was loving the open-source community and I was all about OpenOffice.

Then, when I made the jump to Linux, I simply adored Abiword and wondered why I had dealt with the bloat of Word and even OpenOffice for so long. (I still use Open Office for other features, but don’t like waiting for the launch for a word processor.)

When I went to the Mac platform, I traded in my OpenOffice for a Mac-specific version of the same called NeoOffice. Frankly, I got tired of waiting so long for it to launch to jot down the idea that I was trying to wrestle, so I started looking for faster options. I looked at Mellel (which was reportedly a favorite of many writers). It came in one of my MacUpdate packages, which pleased me. I liked it ok. I used it for quite awhile. But it always seemed to be a bit lacking. Couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but it wasn’t exactly what I wanted.

I considered getting one of the “blackout” programs that turned the full screen into a writing surface without any distracting menus or pop-ups. I test drove a couple. WriteRoom (with the Windows version being DarkRoom) and even got the iPhone app for WriteRoom to try that one on the fly. Neither worked as I had hoped, I needed it to do a bit more than just blacken the screen for $25, so when the Mac trial ran out, I left it.

I also started looking into notes options that would launch quickly… something like the notepad gadget on Windows… but something with a bit more umph. From there, I discovered TextWrangler, TextEdit (which came with my Mac), and even played with Stickies (also came with the Mac) and a dozen or so others, all in an attempt to find a quick way to keep up with my notes.

I gave up finding the perfect tool(s) and hobbled along, busy with all the other balls I was juggling. Finding these holy grails joined the mass of items on the “I’ll get back to it” list. I find that locating the perfect tools (software) on a Mac can become a full-time hobby all by itself. There are so many options! There are dozens of options that I tried that didn’t even make it into the top contenders list.

But, recently, I found my perfect option. I have a four-pronged approach to the office suite thing – one is for quick notes on my Mac, one is for word processing and “darkening” my distractions, one is for full featured word processing (which I seldom touch these days) and one is mobile.

First, I have a quick-launching multi-note system in XPad. It offers a quick way to get the thoughts down and to make lists for specific projects, ideas and writing projects. It also offers a “slide out” list of all the mini-documents contained therein. It offers cool tools like fonts and highlighter and color options without cluttering the interface with more stuff than I need or want. XPad launches when I turn on my Mac and stays “at the ready” for me to use. And, it’s FREE!

Second, I have Bean. Bean is an oddly named, but beautifully built word processor that launches quickly and handles 90% of what I need. In addition to being there in a couple seconds (literally), it also offers bullets, formatting, highlighting and several advanced features. It even offers a “full screen” mode that blacks out the rest of my computer and helps me to concentrate on the business of writing. I changed the blue background with white text to the retro black background and electric green type of my youth. I love it. LOVE IT. And, it’s also free.

I keep a copy of NeoOffice on my machine, although I seldom launch it for anything other than the spreadsheet app. I don’t really do much with advanced features like mail-merge and the like, so I don’t need those “hefty” features because I don’t do admin work. And, I don’t want to sit and wait. I hate waiting for a program to launch. I despise it.

On the “mobile” front, I absolutely adore that feature-rich note system in Awesome Note for my iPhone. I love that it’s wherever I am, and that it’s able to sync with Google Docs — even the Google Apps version! So I can backup and restore my notes from any location. It’s richly textured and as graphically beautiful and visually appealing as it is functional. I may like bare-bones programs on my computer – clean and crisp is fine there – but on my iPhone apps, I expect beauty. I can’t explain that, but the graphics (even the icon for the app) seriously affects how often I’ll use an app. I’m iPhone shallow, I guess.

I’m a writer by trade — mostly a content and marketing writer for my clients. I write, do web work, and SEO submissions. That doesn’t take much word-processing power. It takes a little knowledge and a lot of creativity — and the ability to capture the creative sparks when they fly. I find that having to wait for my software to launch actually discourages my productivity. If it’s a quick launch, I’ll add a thought or an idea on the fly. If I know I have to sit and wait for it to launch — even for an additional 5-10 seconds — I think, “Oh, I’ll just remember this and jot it down next time I’m working on that.”

The fact is… I don’t remember and I’m not patient. I’ve quit trying to pretend that I will or that I am. I know my foibles and I now find the tools I need to work around them. Resistance is, after all, futile. It’s particularly so when fighting my own nature. These tools make my life better and my business stronger and for under five bucks, I have them ALL.

Even in this economy, that’s a GREAT deal!

I’ve been collecting a host of twitter tools for a blog entry for some time now. Although this is not an exhaustive list, it may be enough to help expand the usefullness of one of my favorite social media platforms. Check them out for yourself:

Twitter rank – Like pagerank for twitter users.

Twitter search – Want to look for particular terms (or your own name, brand or competition) on twitter? This is the tool!

Twitter Fan Wiki: Apps – Want to find the best of the twitter platform apps for your own use, check out this exhaustive list.

Twitter alerts: TweetBeep – Would you like an email when someone on twitter mentions you or your products or your company — or even your favorite topic? This is the tool… but beware, too-general terms will overflow your inbox in minutes!

Twitter pictures: TwitPic - Expand the platform from 140 characters to include photos with this service.

Tweet from Firefox: TwitBin – If you love Firefox as much as I do, and would like to twitter directly from there, try this addon.

Twitter in groups – Want a way to narrow the collective into groups and specific conversations/discussions? Try tweetworks.

Tweet-grid – Select a handful of topics you would like to follow and create a browser-based grid to hold them all. I tested this during the election and found it to be quite useful.

Twitter directory – get listed here and find people with similar interests!

Prettify your twitter – grab a twitter background to rise above the norm.

Twitter hashtags – a way to group specific keywords/topics when trying to stay on top of twitter speak.

Tweet clouds – ever wonder what you tweet about most often? Find out!

Twitter cost – once you start following some of the bigger names, you may find that you don’t have the time to read all those microposts. Check the guy/gal here before committing to a follow — or do a vanity check on yourself. Are you worth the cost? Are they? (Also shows the political index of any twitter user.)

And, if all this talk of Twitter is like Greek to you, try Jason Hiner’s excellent Twitter article as your intro to this platform. It’s from May of this year, but is a great starting place for those new to twitter or twit-wanna-bes.

I’d welcome any additions to this list, so tell me what you guys use!

(Note: Bluebird photo courtesy of gracey of morguefile.com)

Until recently, even if you didn’t have a “network” enabled printer, you could putz around with the thing and get it to work… especially if you have a dedicated server to run it through.

Those days are over.

In the same way that the win-fax modems put the stupid in a periperal, the printers are now relying on the CPU of the host computer to run the things. This means that they need a constant connection with that host computer.

Thus, if you try to “share” it across a network, a whole host of ugly (and hard to troubleshoot) things can occur… like intermittent printing, endless spooling, and serious wait times — I’m talking up to 12 minutes to print a simple .txt file!

So, if you think that a printer you are going to buy now might EVER need to be on a network, do your research carefully and skip on over to Best Buy and New Egg and CNET for the reviews and the ratings (stars for BB, eggs for NewEgg) and read what others say about the products.

Like I just told my “social networking naysayer” father — social networking isn’t just about Twitter and Facebook… it’s about using the collective knowledge to make better choices. (He still resents that I call his time spent on NewEgg as “social networking” time — of course he’s just a lurker, he never actually leaves any reviews of his own.)

I’m wearing him down.

So, save yourself the headaches, stress and frustration — do the research first and don’t assume that the old “tried and true” methods will work. You can’t simply add a printer or even lock it in via TCP/IP or, set it up as a local printer by specifying the IP address and share name of the printer.

Times have changed.

Also, the drivers for Vista are not all created equal. Very few of the lower-end printers have decent drivers for Windows Vista 64-bit machines. (They do well to support standard 32-bit machines).

And before you buy, Google “problems with ________ (insert the model you plan to purchase) with __________ (the operating system(s) you plan to use) on a network.” Then read and be scared… very scared.

That just about does it for my rant’o the day. It’s late.

Need a practical, median priced gift for your favorite artist, writer or student this year? Know someone who would benefit from a GTD command post that would fit in a pocket or purse?

Maybe a little bitty notebook could be the cornerstone of your gift giving season (you save money if you buy in bulk!)

My own love affair with the Moleskine:

Despite my love of Moleskines for everyday use, I really appreciate the artistic side of things where these little gems are concerned. I enjoy them so much that I’ve been collecting some sites that show off the best illustrations, hacks and accessories for the little volumes.

I know that they now make smaller and brighter colored versions (Volant versions). I just got the email yesterday. It’s pretty fresh news. But, I’m a traditionalist when it comes to my notebooks.

I’m not saying I won’t try one of the tiny ones — it looks like those may represent a “can’t help myself” episode in full force. Gee, I love paper and pens and pencils (Oh. My!)

Newfangled colored and flexi-covered versions aside, today I’m going to share a few cool things with you, fellow classic Moleskine lover. And these things can make a notebook into a token gift or an amazingly rich gift… depending on how you play it.

Moleskine Art:

Some ideas for the artist in your life. Select a Moleskine Small Sketch Notebook (pocket-sized) and add a high quality graphite pencil set and art erasers. If you are particularly fond of this artist, add in a lust-worthy water color pencil set and/or travel watercolor brushes or professional quality colored pencils to create a portable art studio.

Smashing Magazine’s Collection of Moleskine Art
‘Skine.art – a site dedicated to the decorated moleskine
Flicker Hive Mind collection over on FivePrime.org

Hacks:

A writer’s Moleskine Hacks – Mikes version from 2004, but still quite applicable (and I use the writer’s tools PDFs printed out and glued into my own). Add a package of post-it tabs, brightly colored index cards, a fabulous pen (I highly recommend the Namiki Vanishing Point Raden if it’s in your budget. I swear by mine.) You may prefer to opt for a high quality mechanical pencil, instead. Be sure to tuck an Amazon.com gift card in the pocket to support their reading habit. And dedicate it to the writer on the inside cover. No writer likes to be caught out without a place to capture ideas. IMHO, there’s no better, quicker, easier tool to capture those thoughts on the fly than a properly outfitted pocket-sized, ruled Moleskine notebook. Leather covers are nice too (see below.)

GTD Moleskine Hack for Students – Great gift idea! This How-To printed out with a brand-spanking new Moleskine, a good no-skip pen and a mechanical pencil, a few Post-It tabs, a package of index cards, a large rubber band and an eraser. Add a funky, properly sized sticker and tuck an “emergency $20 bill” in the pocket alongside a prepaid calling card and you have a “to die for” gift that will actually be enjoyed and appreciated.

Accessories:

Want a beautiful, handmade leather case for your favorite notebook? Try Gfeller Casemakers.
Want one that’s got the midas touch, and is made to order? Try Sojourner Leatherwork

To whet your appetite for bitty notebooks:

If you aren’t already a convert, learn more about all things Moleskine over on Moleskinerie. Those of us who are already in love with these little notebooks will wait, we are patient. It’s only a matter of time before you join us in our addiction.

It’s amazing how complex life can become. Writing, it seems, is more difficult every day. I love to write, but whenever I sit down to do that (especially creative writing) I find myself torn by the constant dings of this program or flashing notifications of that one.

Sure, I should be more disciplined when I write. I should ignore all that noise. I should be able to just mentally turn it off — but I can’t.

Alternatively, I should be able to physically turn off all the distractions, disable the notifications, log out of all the programs that clamor for my attention before I even begin a serious attempt at writing…

But I won’t. I don’t. It’s too much trouble. Besides, once I’m finished, I’d have to go back and try to remember everything I turned off and flip it all back on. What a hassle. So… I tell myself:

“Maybe it’s just better to wait until things are quiet to write. Now’s not really the best time… later I’ll be more focused…”

And that’s how the writing I really want to do never actually happens.

Now, I have a way to do it all — keep all my techie stuff up and working and have a clean slate to do my writing without distraction. I’ve looked at several of the “blackout” programs that take your stuff off-screen and give you a blank slate for writing.

Most of them look like one of the old computers my father built in the late 70s and early 80s. So, there’s an attractiveness for me to that black background/green text look. It reminds me of the Multi-mate program I used when I was first hired as a reporter at the newspaper in St. Mary’s County, MD.

So, it has some sentimental value and a offers me a reminiscent feel that others may not enjoy.

Today, I tripped across one that was free! And it’s multi-platform. So no matter if you are a Mac user, a Windows buff or a Linux fan — there’s a version for you. You can change some of the colors to fit your own preferences and there’s even a PDF Manual available for those who need to know everything about a program.

This writer’s tool is called JDarkRoom. Check it out for yourself.

It’s not really a word processor. It’s not going to tell you if you have spelling errors or grammatical issues. It’s basically a typewriter — a distraction-free environment for those who take writing seriously and need a place on their computer to slip into the creative “zone” for a few minutes… or a few hours.It delivers your writing in a plain text file that you can then import into a word processor for editing, spellcheck and format tasks.

Personally, I find it terribly alluring. It’s already got a place of honor on my iMac’s Doc. I love it.

Until recently, I found it exhausting to juggle all the online “faces” of me. The social networking thing was just completely out of control. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been evaluating where I spend my online time (socially speaking) and where I enjoy being the most.

I wanted to do the 80/20 thing on social networking (the same way I’ve tried to apply it to other portions of my life). What I didn’t expect was to get all tied up with a massive time-suck while doing so. But, stuff happens.

It all started when I rediscovered Tumblr…

My Tumblr Experience

I’ve had a Tumblr account for forever, but it was just sitting there… like so many of my social identities. Recently, I wondered if I could use it as the “go to” place for all my online snippets and info. My experiment has become my own little monster. It sucked up alot of my time for a few weeks. I was always tweaking the layout, getting my own URL, trying new ways to get the information up there quickly and easily.

I fell in love! It’s so easy to post, so quick, and with a sidebar RSS here on WB, it makes my updates insta-matic!

I’m not willing to go with ONLY a Tumblr Blog — although the thought has been tempting. Using it really brought me into the “soundbite” era — and I now appreciate media catering to the “television-commercial-length-attention-span” I once despised. Gone are the overwhelming urges for long, verbose blog posts. (I’d rather just grab something interesting (or bizarre) that I find and slap it up on my Tumblr.)

Blogging on the Fly: No — REALLY!

Having a shortcut on my Firefox browser makes it easy to grab my online finds and share the golden ones. (If you want something to get ALL your social networking options in one place, try Sharaholic.) I also purchased Tumblrette for my iPhone (for $1.99) and find that having a quick and easy way to post when I’m out (including quick snapshots from my iPhone’s camera) makes me use the Tumblr blog much more often. It’s probably the best 1.99 I’ve ever spent at the apps store.

Tweaking it so my Twitters are automatically included, and so my blogs here on WB are also auto-magically added (along with other social networking automatic updates) has resulted in Tumblr becoming my personal online mashup.

I know that when I get time, I’ll be tweaking it more. I’d like to (eventually) host it myself — I’m not even sure if that’s possible yet. The brief research I’ve done hasn’t turned up any simple methods to accomplish this. In the meantime, visit my ever-evolving tumble log over at angelaallenparker.com.

And if you are just starting to blog… it’s a great “leg up” on the process. Tumblr makes blogging really fun. And it’s low-maintenance and it’s multi-format friendly. It’s a great way to create your own online “mashup” and can even be used to organize research and online finds (if you use your tags intelligently).

Now, I’ve “whittled down” my online time Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts and I don’t spend much time on them anymore. The others are there, and I add them to my profiles, but I don’t really spend time with them. (I can’t… all my extra time is spent on my Tumblr!)

While putting the polishing touches on my brand new website, I played with the cool wordcloud tool over at Wordle.net. If you want a “search engine” view of your website, with a little more organization and a lot more visual appeal, go make a wordle of your own.

Wordle's Word Cloud for WickedWriter.com

For the past week, every spare moment has been dedicated to the search for my own personal Holy Grail for my entrepreneurial business … A project management tool for the freelancer who collaborates with others.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? I’ve reviewed dozens (literally) of the options currently available. From the over 60 options I’ve seen, I’ve narrowed them down to just a few and then gone searching again over and over.

When I discovered Worketc.com, I started rethinking what I’d like this project management tool to do. I thought that maybe there was an “all-in-one” option out there that would replace all the little web-based apps I have started to use as well as the others I’m still seeking and/or evaluating.

Worketc.com has almost everything I want… close, but no cigar. I may have to settle for it, but before I’m willing to “settle” for anything, I wanted to define exactly what I want and search one more time.

In a perfect world, I’d be able to find a system that has all the tools I need to work more efficiently (from anywhere) the way I already work. I am no longer willing to change the way I work, the service I offer to facilitate the tools I use. Enough of that already!

With that in mind, I’ve created my “wish list” in two parts. One part is “Must Have” items and one part is the “it sure would be nice” list the third portion is me dreaming a bit, but still…

The program must have:

1. Simple intuitive interface
2. Tasks list that is sortable by project and by assignee
3. Email notification of assigned and completed tasks
4. Quick glance of latest activity on each project
5. File uploads area
6. Meeting notes area
7. Client login
8. Ability for clients to see progress
9. Client task list that they can check off

Would be nice:

1. Internal email
2. Contacts Management Database
3. Journal function
4. Searchable Notes area
5. Ability to create tasks via email
6. Timer (punch clock) and time sheet
7. Simple invoicing
8. Simple accounting
9. Multiple calendars (for each involved party, listing their tasks)
10. Ability to import calendars into Outlook and to subscribe in gCal

In a perfect world:

1. An offline option that syncs with the online option
2. Interactive whiteboard area for visual tools when meeting with clients
3. Ability to upgrade to self-hosted on my server
4. VOIP option built in for use with client and collaborative meetings
5. Ability to record and store whiteboard/telephone/webinar meetings in the project file area
6. Ability to host up to 20 people for a webinar
7. Ability to backup to/use from a thumbdrive
8. Skinnable and brandable
9. Logon widget for wordpress for clients to use from my website

I’ve said for some time that my business really isn’t that complex, and it isn’t. A tool like this would meet most of the needs I have in an easy-to-use, customer-friendly and portable option.

I love CashBoard for my timer, invoicing and simple accounting online. I’d like it even better if I could merge those features into an all-in-one freelance solution like this to work from anywhere. I can imagine the day when I would only need to find a computer with a browser to work from anywhere, and then could sync that data with my own freestanding version daily at my own computer as an “onsite” backup.

With that freestanding version, I could also continue working even if the Internet was down or unavailable or otherwise “wanky” and then sync the next time I connected. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Today, I’m back to the drawing board again. Now that I’ve finally reviewed enough to know what’s available and have considered more thoroughly what I need, what I want and what additional features would make it a “silver bullet” for my business… I need to try to find what will most closely meet my specs.

After the third round of shorting, I have a list of ten (some free, some paid) including (in no particular order):

• Webasyst.net
• EasyProjects.net
• 5pmWeb.com
• CentralDesktop.com
• CreativeProOffice.com
• OfficeZilla.com
• Sosius.com
• ProjectOffice.net
• OnstagePortal.com
• MyQuire.com
• WorkETC.com

But I may go back to the proverbial drawing board again. None of these offers everything I want, and many only offer a small number of the items in my “must have” list. The weekend is still young.

By the time this weekend is over, I’ll have found a workable solution — even if I can’t have all my desires filled by a single option. I’ll review again and pick the best of the lot and get my data settled in a new home. I’ll let you know what I find.

In the meantime, if anyone has a suggestion that will satisfy my list, I’d LOVE to hear from you!

I’m loving Pandora. I really am. I like “discovering” new music that comes pre-matched to my musical tastes. It never gets old and there’s always some new artist, style or song to enjoy. If you haven’t tried it yet… go … do it. Now.

I have also found a literary version of the same “database analysis approach” to recommending new things to try, it’s called WhatShouldIReadNext.com. So if you want to get some qualified recommendations for your next book, give it a whirl.

Once you find the book you want to read, why not read it in the same way NetFlix lovers watch movies? Check out BookSwim, it’s the NetFlix of books. If you prefer to read your book recommendations online, why not try DailyLit – and read the books you want in “bitesized” pieces via email or RSS. That way, you can read it on your cell phone/smartphone as easily as on your computer monitor. (Try on one of the free titles for size before committing to buy.)

While the price of doing business (and everything else from driving a car to buying groceries) continues to soar, there are several new developments that make it easier to do business from any location.

Many of these mobile tools are remarkably effective and some of them I consider essential. Even better (considering today’s economy) many of them are low-cost or free!

Take advantage of online apps

You all know about some of the more popular online web-apps like Google’s suite (Gmail, Google Docs and GCal), but you may not know some of the more recent additions.

Desktop: Interested in having a web-based desktop that you can customize and access from anywhere you can launch a web-browser? That dream is now a reality thanks to the good folks at eyeOS. A simple log in will create your personal desktop that is universally accessible. It’s an awesome idea, and it’s brand new.

Music: Pandora lets you carry your favorite music with you and listen from any browser. You can sample your favorite artists and get exposed to new ones based on your tastes. By ranking the songs in your personal “radio stations” the system learns what you like. I work with music and this helps me to feel “right at home” anywhere I’m working. It’s wonderful — and it’s free.

Accounting/Timer: Keeping the books and keeping up with your billable time has never been easier. I can work from any Internet capable machine by simply logging into my Cashboard account. The timer keeps my records, and I can shoot off invoices and get an instant overview of my accounts (who owes me money and who I owe time). Working somewhere else isn’t the hassle it once was. This one isn’t free, but it’s reasonable and it adds enormous flexibility.

Thumb drives are cheap and convenient

If aren’t an early adopter, you may not have an ongoing love affair with your own personal “lipstick” (aka “jump” or “thumb”) drive yet. Today, with the prices plummeting on these little gems and the available storage space moving up, it’s time to begin the romance.

Owning one will open up new mobile worlds. If you are buying your first one, get the largest one you can comfortably afford. An 8 gig is ideal.

If you are worried about security, consider TrueCrypt. It’s not a simple setup, but it’s bulletproof. Be sure to back up your thumb drive to your computer once a week.

Keep your personal stuff with you

Bookmarks: If you feel lost without your Firefox bookmarks, you can now take your bookmarks with you too!

You can use Foxmarks to sync your bookmarks from anywhere to anywhere else or you can use a portable version of my favorite browser to carry it all with you on your thumb drive, external hard drive or iPod. I’ve tried several bookmark sync extensions over the years, but none are as sweet as Foxmarks and you can access them from any webbrowser (even IE) by logging into My Foxmarks, once you set up your account.

Quicklaunch: The bookmark toolbar in Firefox is probably one of the most productive tools I’ve ever set up. I use it to keep my most often visited sites a single click away. Syncing with Foxmarks or using my portable Firefox means I have this information at fingertip access. I use this for my Google calendar, Remember the Milk (task list program that merges with GCal), Cashboard, twitter, Facebook, financial sites, Pandora, W3 validation site and my own websites.

Email: By setting up IMAP email, and running it through gmail, I’m able to take full advantage of the superior spam filtering and search options offered by Gmail and I an access my email from the web from anywhere. I can also check it from the portable version of Thunderbird I keep resident on my thumbdrive.

IMAP means that I’m looking at the most up-to-date version of my email from everywhere. The changes you make on one machine are visible anywhere you log into your email accounts. Ask your host if IMAP is available for you. It’s a bit tricky to get it set up, but once it’s running, it’s maintenance free.

Research: I adore Zotero! If you do online research and use multiple machines, get Zotero and store your database on your thumbdrive and take it with you wherever you go.

As such, I can point my Linux Firefox browser to the same collection area that I use in my Windows Firefox browser. If I’m at someone else’s machine who doesn’t have Firefox, I can boot my portable Firefox and use the same database from inside my thumb drive without leaving a trail of personal information on a machine that doesn’t belong to me. Unfortunately, for IE lovers, this genius Addon is available for FireFox only.

Passwords: Do you find that you often get out and need tiny snippets of personal information, usernames, and passwords? KeePass Portable to the rescue!

I use the same method for keeping a central (and always up-to-date) database in KeePass as I do in Zotero — I have the Linux version and the Windows version both point to the database on my thumbdrive. I also carry a portable copy of this secure, opensource program on my thumbdrive, in case I’m using someone else’s machine when I realize I need the info. It really is one password to rule them all!

As open source programs, web-based apps and compact media storage continue to improve, so does the ease with which technology workers can live and work. Now that’s nice!

I write down everything I want to remember. That way, instead of spending a lot of time trying to remember what it is I wrote down, I spend the time looking for the paper I wrote it down on. — Beryl Pfizer

My perfect OneNote replacement will go above and beyond. It will:

Launch almost immediately – When I have a thought, an epiphany, a note, a grabbed reference from the web, a blog idea or a quote worthy of saving… I don’t want my creativity and my flow interrupted by having to wait for an application to launch.

Require Few System Resources - It would be nice if I could automatically launch my “everything” PIM on boot – and if it would sit quietly in the background (and in my systray) without sucking up all my CPU and await my commands.

Be Easy to Backup and Transport – It should backup quickly and easily on a thumbdrive and be able to be used on any computer anywhere.

Offer Web Access - It should allow me to install it or access it from my web server so I can “carry” it with me on my iPhone. It should be password protected and secure.

Be Open Source – Of course I’d want to be able to use it on my current Windows OS and on my upcoming Linux machine.

If anyone has found this type of program — without it being horribly complex — please let me know. In the meantime, I’ve downloaded and am testing Chandler to see if it will fit the bill.

(Note: Hats off to Matt’s Idea Blog for sharing the poignant quote!)

Are you just getting started as a virtual assistant, freelancer, remote professional or outsourcing provider? Are you wondering how to find the clients? Manage time and billing? How to get your business on the web?

Maybe you are an old hand and providing services remotely (like me) and what you REALLY want to know is how to gracefully “fire” a client that is no longer a good fit, or you may want to determine if it’s time to try your hand at blogging, or maybe you want to update your existing website to be more effective for your mature business model?

If you want an economical way to find solutions for any of these issues, you may want to sign up for the RemoteProfessionals.com Mini-Conference to be held on April 17th. It’s a great way to get answers from the people in the know!

Presenters include:

• Tiffanie Lyon of Lyon Sales Institute, LLC
• Marsha Kopan of Executive Secretarial Services
• Anna Baron of the Virtual Link
• Karen Reddick of V-and-E-Services
• Mike Price of MLBroadcast.com
• Andrea Pixley of AndreaPixley.com

If you are interested, move quickly. Registration for the virtual assistant mini-conference closes soon, and the workshop sessions are limited to only a handful of earlybirds — keeping the workshop classes small makes them more effective! I’ll be there… maybe you will be too!

(NOTE: And if you are just starting out… you may be interested in the one year “startup membership” given as a complementary bonus to all non-members who purchase all-day access!)

If you use Kubuntu and you want a command line string to easily backup the entire Linux system on an external hard drive (for regular backups as well as offsite backups), without encountering recursive errors, permission problems and other headaches, try using this TAR command from Konsole: (more…)

I’ve been following the LiveScribe Pen product since it was announced several months ago, and it occurs to me that this would be a great way for real estate agents to record meetings (and take notes) with both buyers and sellers.

How cool would it be to tap on your notes to “replay” the list of features that a potential buyer wants (when you didn’t quite have time to jot them all down?)

Personally, I’d love a way to hook this into a phone so I could take notes while consulting with a client and have the conversation “searchable” when I’m reviewing notes and completing tasks (with the client’s permission of course).

The chat-boards are already talking about my ideal paper solution — a Moleskin pocket sized notebook with the dot-pattern. Now THAT would be an awesome portable solution for this pen-and-paper loving tech-geek!

If you have a FaceBook account and want a chance at winning a pen — before they are available for sale, join the LiveScribe group. (Find out how here.) They go on sale at the end of this month.

(I’m getting a technology itch again, dang it!)

I’ve struggled for years to find the perfect accounting solution. I saw a T-shirt the other day that capsulizes my love of math. It read: “English Major – YOU do the math.” It fits.

Can I do it? Sure. I can do lots of stupid stuff… like plucking the hairs off my legs rather than shaving them. Or like calculus for example. Been there, done that. But it’s not my favorite activity. Calculus is tied with root canals on my extensive list of things I enjoy in life — albeit these two contenders are rather LOW on that list. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should — and it doesn’t mean you want to.

At my age, I’d prefer if my math were simple and my books were even more so.

While looking around for easy invoicing options, I found a few solutions that may be of interest to others who are trying to do the same or others who are tired of required updates from Quickbooks, battling with Peachtree or trying to figure out Microsoft Small Business Accounting or the Linux baby: GnuCash.

Maybe you just want an easier way to send and track time and invoices. Or maybe you don’t want to be tied to a particular computer or geographic location. In any of these cases, you may want to check into these online invoicing options: (more…)

More cool blogs and useful websites for your viewing pleasure. Today’s selection is for those creative types who design and personalize their own websites and those who help others develop unique websites.

These sites offer tools, tips, tricks and even creative motivation for web workers. Feel free to share your own favorite sites!

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Are you a paper person living in a digital world? Are you (like me) a technology geek who also likes the feel of high quality paper, the smell of ink on a freshly printed page, and you don’t really mind if a drop of ink goes awry, so long as you can use a fountain pen to do all your long-hand writing?

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If you are building your first independently hosted blog for your real estate business and you have decided to go with WordPress, you have already made a great decision.

Now, there are some other items to consider:

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I finally made the switch from my paid password manager program, eWallet (which I loved, but which doesn’t offer a Linux version), to a nice freebie program, which I find quite palatable.

I keep up with far too many username/password combinations, logons and critical (but sensitive) information in my work-a-day world to try to remember them all. Unlike many people, I don’t keep all passwords the same — that’s too risky.

Granted, I had to copy all the information from the old program to the new one (which was a royal pain and took me a couple hours), but now I have all my information on a new program that will work on Windows, Linux, or even on a flash drive! (more…)

If you are a remote services provider, a virtual assistant or a freelancer, you may be interested in cutting corners on software costs — so long as you keep the best, most effective tools in your “virtual” shed.

I recently joined a panel of other remote consultants and virtual assistants for a RemoteProfessionals.com teleconference on starting to work with real estate professionals. During this free “how-to” seminar, I also distributed a handout listing what I consider to be the “Essential Open-Source Products” for those in this business.

If you would like your own copy of this PDF… (more…)