Getting Things Done - For the normal human

Feature: Practicing Simplified GTD: "Practicing Simplified GTD"

I can't remember the first time I picked up David Allen's "Getting Things Done" book, but it's been quite a while. **Actually, I lied... I looked in the book and found the receipt! ;-) I bought it on March 11, 2005. So, while I didn't lie about it being quite a while, I did in fact know the date.

Anyway, I read through the book and was pretty fascinated by a lot of what he had to say. A lot of it makes sense... but the process he uses seems WAY too complex for me. Because of how complex his process was, I fell in and out of trying to use it, and eventually boiled it down to pretty much only email, and I even purchased David Allen's GTD Outlook Plug-in. I honestly still use it, to some extent, and using it to file things based on project has come in handy from time to time... but quite honestly I review items so little, that the up front work to file each item takes WAY too long for the VERY minimal return I get from it, if ever. Because I came to this realization recently, I have been trying to think of a way to still use some of the methods and ideas, but make things even more simplistic and, above all, EASY and fast to deal with.

I had grabbed a copy of the above post from Lifehacker, and I may have started to read it but didn't have the time right then (probably why I grabbed it for later). I just read through the whole thing today because I am feeling VERY much out of control and disorganized and vowed I would do something today to try and regain some control. I wanted to share it because I think I am going to try this method and adapt it to my needs.

Now that I have my BlackBerry and have been relegated to only my work laptop as my only PC (my personal PC is no longer booting up and I haven't had time to figure out what it is... but I'm betting dollars to pesos that it's the motherboard), I wanted to start getting my life in sync between the two devices. I will figure out the easiest way to do that across those two devices and make sure it translates to my other potential devices. My key reason being that, I have to be able to add or subtract or see items on a to-do list at all times... and I'd rather not do that all from my BB only... though, that is a possibility if "Tasks" through Outlook is too cumbersome. Currently, I do not have a wireless sync between Exchange/Outlook and my BB... and I don't hook up my BB more than say twice a day (if I remember) to sync data between them. So "Tasks" so far has not been a great method for me. I may move to something like "Don't Forget The Milk" on the BB only, unless I can find something I like that allows me to do things in "the cloud"... but I'd rather find something that syncs in case my connection is limited.

I'll try and post back with what I figure out for myself. I'm always interested in what others do if you're interested in sharing.

Headphones and Bluetooth Headsets

I have two things on my mind as I sit on my flight to Dallas. The first is headphones, and the second, more troublesome and disturbing to *me*, are Bluetooth headsets.

I'll start out with headphones because I'm using them as I type this on my berry. With all the travel I've been doing, I've had a chance to try the various headphones I own. For a while I have been using my Sony Over-The-Ear Noise Canceling headphones. The sound is decent, but the bass is only good if you turn on the noise canceling feature, which isn't always wanted. Even then, it sounds more "boomy" then punchy (i.e., sloppy). I also should point out that the volume through the berry on them couldn't get very loud at all, but that's more an issue of the drivers in them not being very efficient. I tried the headphones the Curve comes with, and while they can get loud (VERY loud), they do nothing to block out background noise, which there is *plenty* of on a plane. They also have a *serious* lack of bass or fullness in their sound. So, they absolutely sucked on the plane, but they were okay in normal quiet environments (aside from the weak, less full, sound). I also have a pair of Shure in-ear headphones that I fitted with the sponge inserts (so they breath and don't create a suction in my ear while flying... before changing to this, on one flight, it caused me *serious* pain and an ear infection as it caused mucus to enter my ear canal from the pressure changes and the suction... it woke me from a sleep from the pain). These let in a tiny bit of background noise, which I actually appreciate, while still providing strong bass and full sound. They are what I am using right now to listen to music while I type, and they are proving to be mostly comfortable. Though I expect I will have some pain later... Nothing too bad. I also have a Motorola Bluetooth Stereo Headset that works really well for music and the occasional call interruption while listening, but it does little to block out background noise, and you aren't supposed to use BT on planes anyway. I guess my point is, the in-ear headphones are currently getting my vote for plane use, but I lean towards the BT Stereo headset for everyday (non-plane) use. They've been working well for me when in the house and yard work, even mowing the lawn, and the biggest reason I favor them is because of the lack of wires to get in the way. I don't think I realized how nice that would be when I first bought them, but now I would like even better BT Stereo Headphones. There are even some that include noise cancellation, but I don't know that I am willing to spend close to $200 for a new pair. I will most likely stick with what I have for quite some time.

Now onto Bluetooth Headsets (non-stereo) for everyday phone use on the go. It is nice being able to communicate handsfree, yet private, with a Bluetooth headset, but finding a headset that meets all of my requirements is proving impossible. The reason I'm even on the hunt is because my dogs literally ate my previous one that worked fairly decent for me. It was a Jabra Mono/Stereo headset that was essentially a standard mono headset in appearance and function, yet you could plug in an optional left (other) earpiece and get stereo sound. The sound quality wasn't as good as my Motorola Stereo set, but it allowed you to only use the single piece when not needing stereo music. This made it very pocketable, which is important to me, and the sound quality of the mono piece was generally better than most mono headsets... It also could raise the volume very loud so I could hear my callers in loud environments. It had a separate on/off switch that means it would only turn on/off at my will. It also had a vibrate feature that was great for alerting me of calls while driving with the stereo very loud, etc. I don't want to be that guy walking around with a BT headset in his ear even when not talking on the phone, so pocketability is key. I'm also not going to be that guy with a phone and headset perched on my belt... No thanks (so no BT Headset case).

I have been searching for the best option and was hoping to raise the bar in noise cancellation in the process. My Jabra was ok, but there certainly room for improvement. I had also gone through about 5-6 other headsets before finally settling with the Jabra. Too many headsets have a combination of the following problems: horrible background noise issues; horrible reception (though this is often the fault of the phones BT transceiver and not the headset) to the point that putting your phone in your pocket degrades quality; horrible fit; not enough volume for loud areas; battery life; etc.

Recently I purchased the BlueAnt Z9i because it got decent reviews and was supposed to deal well with background noise... It is also *very* tiny in length, but it was rather thick and stood off my face farther than I would like. In using it, it didn't fair very well. There was still an abundant amount of background noise, and the volume wasn't that great. It also seemed that people couldn't hear me that well. I returned that after about a day of use and opted for the Aliph Jawbone 2 because it was supposed to be the absolute best for noise reduction. I'm sure it works really well for some peoplean but I had several issues with it; 1) to power it on, you hold the talk button, but this "button" is essentially the entire front/outside of the headset. So putting it in my pocket would inadvertently turn it on/off when you weren't expecting it... So you try to answer a call unsuccessfully. 2) this same issue of the talk button being the entire face of the unit, and how easy it is to press, means that trying to adjust the headset better into the ear to hear better frequently resulted in ending a call... This was most frustrating. 3) the fit wasn't spectacular. 4) my callers still heard plenty of background noise, but they did say they could still hear me clearly. I would love for this headset to work for me, but I will be returning it as well.

I still don't know what the right headset will be for me, but thank goodness I can return them when they don't work well for me. I'd simply go without one altogether, but between driving or needing my hands free while troubleshooting something while on the phone with support, I have found it hard to not have one. Some I may try, there is a Plantronics Discovery 925 (I think) that seems decent, a Motorola H12 that may work and was recommended to me, and possibly some others. In the end, I may get the same headset my dogs ate, because at least that was "good enough" for quite a while, and the battery life was incredible at something like 8hours of talk time and 10hours of music!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

BlackBerry is proving a decent eBook reader using MobiPocket

I wasn't sure at first if the BB would be the right platform for trying to read eBooks, and I'm still certain that a true eBook reader like the Kindle would be better than it, but after using it for a while now and actually enjoying it, I'm ready to say it works (for me).

I also was able to find a post on how to fix the OTA (Over The Air) MobiPocket book store on my new T-Mobile Curve (I will post that at a later time because it also made the Sprint Mobile NFL app work on my T-Mobile Curve and probably other things). Since I got the store to work, and I was looking for something new to read and wanted to read Dan Brown's "Angel's & Demons" and not finding it physically in the several places I tried to but it, I decided to buy it from MobiPocket for $7.99.

So far I've been able to read it more situations than I would if it was a physical book for the simple fact that I have my bb with me at all times and never really carry physical books with me unless I know I am going to be able to read (which isn't often). I'm already a slow reader, but add in the fact that I don't often have what I'm reading with me and it can literally take me months to finish a book. So far, using the bb, I have been able to get quite a bit reading in (comparitivly). It's also great for reading at night since it has its own light source.

Finally, the other nice feature about using the bb is that one thing serves two purposes for me at the same time. You see, I like to listen to movie scores that match the mode of the book I'm reading while I read. So the bb can serve as both my media player and my book. On top of that, it has Bluetooth Stereo (A2DP), so I can use my wireless headphones which I like while laying down (nothing to get tangled when moving around). Also, the device is so light that my arms don't get tired while holding it, and I find myself not having to switch my position much, if at all.

So far I am very happy.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Viigo Beta on the BlackBerry

Today I realized there was a beta of Viigo for the BB that gives the same updated user interface as what I was using on my WM Treo. This made me very happy because I was missing the updated UI and features. I also have to say that I am happy with how stable the beta is on the bb as opposed to what I was experiencing on WM. I truly do not think the instability I saw on WM has anything to do with Viigo's development. Most apps on the WM platform had issues, which is why I switched to the BB.



One feature that is planned but currently unavailable (and I got a response from Viigo that a timeframe is currently unavailable) is the Audio/Podcasts feature which *was* working on the WM beta version I tested. I'm guessing the delay is a download issue since the BB goes through either a BIS or BES. I've found that several things that worked or pulled down one way on my WM device either do not work on my BB or react/display differently. I've been attributing this to BIS. I've also noticed and heard from my friend how some things do not work for him that work for me, or vice versa. I have to believe that this is due to how the carrier manages their BIS servers.



One instance of this is, on his T-Mobile Curve, the MobiPocket OTA eBook Store does not work, yet my Sprint Curve works with it just fine. On the flip side, true html web and html email work perfectly for him on T-Mobile, while not at all on Sprint.



I intend to post more comparisons when I get my T-Mobile Curve at the end of this week (hopefully).



One thing that was apparently just released by Sprint for the BB, and I just installed, is their mobile NFL app. I'll be semi-bummed to lose that switching to T-Mobile, but not enough to stop me. I'm not sure that app is all that good anyway, and Wi-Fi is much more important to me, as well as html email and web.





Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

GPS Navigation from a phone

Now, as I hope you are beginning to see, I believe there's really no substitute for a dedicated device for most things. However, having a device that is spectacular at a couple things, while having the ability to do other things pretty well, is usually a good thing in my book. It may not be the best at that additional function, but hopefully it gets you by in a pinch. The BlackBerry is a stellar wireless email device, and a great phone. So far, I've found it to be a more than adequate music media player (video hasn't been a priority for me so far, so I haven't tested that), and I'm even starting to think it may be a pretty nice eBook reader (but I'd much rather have a Kindle). Now I'll discuss my thoughts on it being a GPS device.

First, I'd like to point out that I've never owned a stand alone dedicated GPS device up to this point, but I've used them many times and understand their strengths and weaknesses. This isn't a review of dedicated GPS devices, but I will tell you I will probably own a Navigon 2100 Max sooner than later, and the following are some reasons why I'm switching to a dedicated device...

The first GPS experience I "owned" was the Palm GPS kit for the Treo 650. It consisted of a dedicated Bluetooth GPS unit and Tom Tom Navigator software. I have to say that this combination was generally VERY good. The Tom Tom software was literally identical to the standalone units, and the GPS receiver was a REAL chipset being used in regular standalone devices. The feature set was great, and navigation was easily as good as a standalone unit. So you may be asking, what's the problem? Well, all was great until the phone rang and you took the call. During the call, any turns, exits to take, etc, would not be announced because you were on the phone and it basically was put on pause. Another downside was that, because the GPS was Bluetooth, you couldn't use a Bluetooth headset at the same time for calls... And I don't like to hold the phone while driving. The other piece that bugged me was the multiple devices and having to plug both it. The plugging in part was actually pretty ingenious on Palm's part, because they gave you a car adapter with two charging wires for both the phone and GPS. The last piece is that the kit cost about $250, which was cheap for GPS back when I bought it (VERY cheap actually), but map updates through Tom Tom are not cheap and are one off things.

My next GPS experience was through Verizon with their VZNavigator application. Now that I have a Sprint BB and tried their navigation software, I can say that VZNavigator rocks! ... For a *phone* GPS that is. Verizon also updated their software to include traffic updates, but that was less impressive and didn't seem to route you around it... Just showed you when you would slow down (weak). The nice idea about a GPS service like this is that map updates would happen automatically and faster (in theory). However, because of the nature of that service being that the maps/software was NOT on the phone, it 1) took longer to route the trip, and 2) would have to recalculate much more if you went off route, say due to construction or an accident. It certainly would recover, but it seemed it didn't have enough data and couldn't easily pick an alternate route. In fact, it seems you don't get any real choices in choosing routes at all. You have no way to say, "avoid this area because I know it's a mess". Though, not all standalone GPS units have those features either, but the Tom Tom and Navigon I know do. One great thing about the Verizon solution was that my Bluetooth headset worked, and in fact it spoke the directions into my headset, and allowed me to use it during calls (but I would often *not* take a call because the GPS would stop working during that time). So, in closing on the Verizon solution, I'd have to say the it is by far the best *phone-based* GPS solution I've been able to use.

Sprint's solution on the BlackBerry is weak. But I should start off by discussing my reasons for thinking it might be better. 1) The BlackBerry Curve 8330 has a built-in GPS chipset that is autonomous from the cellular transceiver. In theory, this *should* provide better response and ability (in practice, it felt worse than the Verizon solution without a real GPS chipset). 2) Sprint said the GPS was "simultaneous and autonomous", and this made me think that it would work even when I was on a call... It doesn't. I should say that in all cases of phone-based GPS, when you finish the call, the GPS does pick back up where you are, but it's not the speediest thing (in all cases except for the Palm Tom Tom solution which kept the GPS going the entire time), and if you missed a turn while in the call you are in for a lot of rerouting and trying to get back on track. Sprint uses TeleNav for its service, and I think it sucks compared to VZNavigator. I also tried the BlackBerry Maps application, and while it felt more like a traditional GPS centric app, it was one from 1999, and it also became apparent how often the GPS chipset was losing a fix.

I've seen some AT&T phone GPS solutions and wasn't impressed. I also don't think anyone should pick a carrier for a GPS solution, but rather buy a standalone unit.
This is one area where I DON'T believe a multi-use device is capable enough. However, having the feature could come in handy in a pinch, and I don't know that I would be upset because something is better than nothing. Also, I had too many times where I had to take calls while driving (it's part of my job) and got way off track. One time, I was on a conference call that I had to participate in and it was even running long, so it went on for over an hour, and I realized I was no longer on the right path. I actually had to hang up and wait for the GPS to get itself together which took longer than normal and then it had to go through calculating a completely new route. It turns out I went 30 minutes out of my way, so that phone call added an hour to my trip. So, while I was hopeful that the Sprint BB would offer better GPS features, I figured I'd be buying a standalone soon enough.

As it turns out, this post took me two days to complete (I'm busy) and I ordered a standalone GPS to arrive today in time for my week long trip next week. I will be posting my review of my new GPS soon.

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Continued - BlackBerry as eBook Reader

Okay, while I'm still skeptical of the format (meaning, such a small screen and not a dedicated reading device such as the Amazon Kindle), so far I am liking the idea of my BB as an eBook reader for the simple reason that I *always* have my BB on me, and therefore have found opportunities to read where I would normally not have a book with me.

One thing that actually concerns me slightly (slightly mind you) is that it seems the OTA MobiPocket eBook store doesn't appear to work on T-Mobile's Curve, which is what I'm getting shortly to replace my Sprint Curve. My best friend has the T-Mobile Curve and could not get it to work (and it's documented on MobiPocket's support forum as well as other various posts on the web that this is a problem). He also has a Sprint Curve that his work gave him, and he can get to it through that... but it was spotty for him (his Sprint Curve is going through a BES server from his employer, whereas mine goes through the Sprint BIS server... so that could account for the "spotty"-ness). I was likening the OTA MobiPocket store to the wireless service of the Amazon Kindle, and that seemed appealing to me. Now, I know it's not the same as the Kindle.. not even close really, but the idea that I could finish a book in an airport and purchase and download another right on the spot seemed cool to me. Honestly though, I can sync with my PC... and I could easily purchase a new book before I finish the current one so that wouldn't happen. So it's really no big deal.

I'd much rather have a Kindle, but in the meantime, while the price is still over $200 and I have a perfectly good BlackBerry, I may actually deal with this format for a bit. My biggest concern now is battery drain from the backlight being on for hours while I'm reading. ;-)

BlackBerry as an eBook Reader?

Okay, I read some post about using the bb as an ebook reader. The rationale used was, "you use the bb to read email, why not use it to read books?" It also cited MobiPocket Reader as the best solution, in part because they have an over the air (OTA) eBook store for the BlackBerry.

I have to say I was skeptical since the screen is so small and I wasn't sure what the experience would be like... But the thought of finding yet another use for a single device has always interested me (though I have come to realize that one thing can't be all things well... There are often sacrifices too big to succeed).

I installed MobiPocket Reader and accessed the online book store. I downloaded a sample of Dan Brown's 'Angels & Demons' since I haven't read that yet, but want to purchase it. I figured it might be a decent way for me to see if the bb is a device I could see myself using to actually read a book. I have to say the OTA bookstore and its experience is pretty good.

After reading the sample of the book, I actually found myself kind of forgetting I was using a bb to read the book. This was after much tinkering to get the right font and font size so that holding the bb at a comfortable reading arms length was similar on the eyes to reading an actual paperback. I don't believe the initial font was good enough, but I may have run full circle on the fonts. Once I had that set, other than the limited amount of text displayed on the screen causing constant page turning, it seemed very natural (I was surprised). The process of moving forward and backward in the book is easy enough. To page forward, you can use the spacebar, which is nice and easy, but you can also use the trackball to go forward and backward, also very easy. The last piece of the pie, and I need to do some more testing on this, is how well it would display images in books. Angels & Demons has a picture of the word Illuminati that is pretty key to the story for you to see... It looked great. Very sharp and readable. And the ease in which you can page forward and back made it nice to go back and reference like in a regular paper book.

MobiPocket Reader also has some other abilities I have yet to explore. One of these is the ability to create annotations, and I believe bookmarks. This could make it easy and quick to get to and from various key places.

While I'm still unsure if I'm willing to drop upwards of $10 on an eBook, it's an interesting prospect. Time will tell if I make the plunge, but with my travels and the idea of carrying less, I like the idea. I'm already considering not carrying my iPod and using my bb instead. The fact that it has a standard headphone jack and takes high-end headphones without an adapter is great. Pair that ability with being able to also read a book while listening to music, which is all I do when traveling, it sounds like a pretty slick package.

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Posting from my CrackBerry

So, while I wish there was a native app for posting to various blogs, I suppose email is easy enough. I mean, there's not too much you need to do in a post other than type text, and I'm pretty sure I could post pix from email too.

Posting from my BB is great, because I don't get to sit in front of a computer for personal reasons much, but I pretty much always have my BB and can write my posts in pieces where I get breaks (like this post which has spanned many hours and even in the midst of a family party like right this second).

My brother-in-law is sitting next to me with an iPhone, and it reminds me why they frustrate me so. They are VERY slick on many fronts, but no hardware keyboard and pretty much only a touchscreen, on top of other things like no memory expansion, etc, make me glad I don't own one. But there is a slickness to them, and graphically they blow the BB away... But life isn't eye candy.

Anyway, I have some other observations on the BB I will post soon, like using it for various things.