Guest Post: Geek of the Week: The Guest Geek Speaks about RTM

Please welcome my husband, Tony, our guest geek! Tony is a former singer/actor/Target employee/UPS worker/sledge hammer-wielder and current working for a non-profit guy and the father of our child. He is very handsome and has a deep Darth Vader voice. He's also quite funny. That's why I married him 10 years ago!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



As promised by Lauren in the Monday "Vid", I am at last posting about a really slick piece of web 2.0 that I'm using.

I know you've probably read posts past (or past posts, both sound very alliterative), where Lauren wrote about Jott (which, if you have a mobile phone and email, you HAVE to start using), and Sandy (also pretty cool).

I should make a disclaimer here. While I like "the technology," I'm really too lazy to learn all of the tricks. For instance, Lauren will be coming in after I've finished this post and adding links. I know I could learn it, but I've got a block when it comes to that kind of thing. I'd rather watch the trees outside [editor's note: or play WOW]. Trees are fascinating. Hidden hyperlinks are not. It's just my opinion, I'm not judging you if you like hyperlinks more. You're probably awesome in other ways.

I also have the unfortunate problem of being completely incapable of remembering day-to-day details unless they are on my calendar [Google calendar, of course (if you aren't using it start)], or on my task list. I can remember entire plots of books. I was a professional actor and had no problem remembering massive numbers of lines, staging, cues, music, etc. You see where I'm going. In this, I lack all awesome-ness.

Jott was the beginning of my memory overhaul. For starters, I've never remembered to write down my mileage for my job. With Jott, I can just call it in (J on the speed dial). As I learned Jott, I wondered if it could schedule things on my calendar [see important need for this in paragraph above (must not forget diapers, must not forget diapers...oops, forgot diapers)]. It CAN schedule things on my calendar! I just jott "google calendar" and it shows up. I know it has something to do with voice-to-text. But to me, it's like Harry, Ron and Hermione are in my Blackberry.

However, there are only so many things that need to be calendared. Some things are just tasks.

For about the last year and a half, I've been using the Franklin Covey organizing system on my work computer. I love Franklin Covey, but to access it, I have to bring my computer home with me (it's a laptop, so not completely out of the question), and even when I do bring it home, my task list is still not readily accessible, because I have to turn on my computer. It's a great machine, but terribly slow. By the time it gets started, I've forgotten what I needed to do.

Enter the Jott-friendly-program, Remember the Milk (RTM), your own web-based task list. Since we always seem to have a computer running around here, access is instant. The interface doesn't make me completely move away from the concepts behind Franklin Covey, either; I can still prioritize my tasks.

You have a couple of choices with RTM. You can go to the website, and really dig in or you can access/edit your list from a widget on your igoogle homepage. Also very handy, is the nifty Jott sync. Just jott "Remember the Milk", say the task and it shows up on your list. The other super-handy feature for Blackberry/Email junkies (like me) is the ability to email a task to your list. Did I mention it can sync with Google Calendar?

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have CONVERGENCE!!

And so I don't forget really crucial stuff (like remembering to buy food for our child), Lauren can email tasks directly to my list. Sometimes, I do wonder why someone as brilliant and "with it" as she has hung around with me for the last decade (10 years on the 10th of July)!

Now, I have to try and remember why I'm sitting at the computer typing.

Geek of the Week: Twhirl

Looking to get more out of twitter? Try twhirl.

twhirl is a cool "desktop twitter client," which means, in Lauren-speak, that you don't have to go to the twitter website to tweet or see tweets from your friends. It "sits" on your desktop, and has an interface like google talk.

Other cool stuff? twhirl will shorten urls for you on the spot (like tinyurl, but it's a part of the client), and let you post pictures in twitter via twitpic. It makes using twitter a total breeze.

Also cool? I can send a direct message to my personal assistant, Sandy, without opening up my browser. By the way, Sandy is really awesome.

Geek of the Week: Sandy

Need a personal assistant? How about a free one? Meet Sandy.

Sandy is a "remote command line app (I have no idea what that means)," or, in my mind, a nice lady you tell stuff, she remembers it for you, and reminds you about it in a timely fashion. It's cool.

Check this out. I e-mail her this:



It appears in my Sandy account like this:




I also receive a daily digest of the day's activities. Here is an example from someone who is much busier and more important than I:



Sandy synchs with my Google calendar (and with my husband's, or whomever I choose), so I can just send her a quick e-mail with a list of appointments, and she calendars it for me. I can also create lists, set shared reminders (via text or e-mail), organize my contacts, and many other cool features that I have yet to discover.

Favorite thing: I can communicate with Sandy via my Twitter, my Jott, or g-talk accounts. That's right! I can send her a tweet, call her, or send her an IM. SO convenient.

Least favorite thing: Communicating with Sandy is relatively straightforward, but there is a definite learning curve to do more complex things. Right now, I'm struggling to add something to a grocery list I've already created.

Overall? It's PERFECT for adding appointments and to-dos to my calendar, and might be cool for all of my GTD lists, especially once I'm back 2 skool and life becomes much more of a juggling act.