Looting vs. Finding

Could the scream of racism be any louder?

Lists, To-Dos, What-Nots

Man, I love lists. I spend half my day making lists and rewriting my lists, and I never really get around to doing anything on them but boy, what great lists!

Today I came across TaskToy.com which appears to be an online place to keep your to-do lists. I'm going to give it a whirl--why not? I've got nothing better to do. Better add, TaskToy, to my list...

Webpage Snipets - How to Save That Info

I'm still looking for that "best of the best" program to save bits and pieces of web pages. I use InfoSelect, and have downloaded tons of programs, but I'm still not completely satisfied with any of them. Here's where I'll post links to the newer finds.

NetSnippets - Free

PDF Reader - FoxIt

Adobe is starting to cause problems for lots of folks, yet we still want to read our PDF files! Enter FoxIt!

This little program is small, fast, and does what it's supposed to do: allows you to view and print PDF files. Neat.

Drop a Load - Instead of E-mail for Attachments

Where to put those enormous files people keep trying to send via e-mail? Drop them at DropLoad.com, then send the url for pickup. Nifty. DropLoad.com. Files are kept for seven days, then deleted whether downloaded or not, so this is temporary, but oh such an easy way to trade files.

Extract Revenge with Net Disaster

Finally, a way to anniliate other sites, without causing actual damage. They say, "Find a need and fill it," and the folks behind Net Disaster really took that to heart.

The premise is quite simple, yet oddly satisfying: Choose your target and go for it. Maybe your work's site, or your ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend's chronological musings of their trek across South America? Whatever, doesn't matter.

Start by going to Net Disaster, then choose your weapon, put the url of your target site and watch the fun. I really have to get out more.

43 Things, New Place to Wile Away Your Life

Just discovered the site, 43 Things which looks like a great place to waste tons of time, like I needed another distraction. Sheesh. My work will never be done, and I'll only need come back here to see why. I set up an account with my standard user name of OneMoreBite, so if you go visit, you can easily find me there. ;-)

It's fun because you can post goals or wish lists, etc., and you can find people in your area with those same dreams. Might be a new way to hookup, we'll see. I think I've made more friends since I became active on the Internet than I have over the last 30 years in the "real world."

Blogger Sucks Lately!

I've had trouble getting anything to post on Blogger for more than a week, and it's tiring. When you go to the trouble to write something witty and wonderful, you just want the world to see it, ya know! So, then I hit Publish and wait and wait ...

Sometimes you get an error, sometimes it just keeps waiting. So, that's it. No big huge rant this time. I'm just tired.

I did waste an enormous amount of time putting up a bulletin board for my OneMoreBite site, although it's not open to the public so no point in putting the address here just yet. I tinkered with it for hours on Saturday, trying to get the stupid smilies to display correctly, and it's not even important! What's up with that?

Monitor Body Fat by Going to Toilet

There are some strange goings on in Japan at a company called Toto regarding innovative toilet design. No simple go and flush for these folks. No, they like technology; consequently, we have toilets that can give you an entire health assessment, including body fat percentage, your weight, glucose in your urine and blood pressure. How this is all possible via your daily "deposits" is beyond me. Next you know the toilet will nag you to eat more fiber.




I've been refreshing their page over and over in the hopes of seeing an image again. It was some cartoon characters showing off a toilet to a little girl and I just have to know what's the deal. It looked as if the toilet was talking. Is that it? A talking toilet for toddlers perhaps? "Hey, you. Yeah, you. Come over here," says Mr. Toilet.

More research to come ...

Slackers Sell Spare Time for Fun and Profit

Here's an idea. Lots of people just sit around doing nothing all day, so why couldn't they market that wasted time to someone who desperately needs it, like me for instance? I could use a 16 hour day, and hey, they're wasting 12 or more hours every single day, sitting on the coach, doing nothing, so why not sit around and make a profit at the same time? (Note to self: Be sure profiting on sold time and sitting around at same time isn't double-dipping for IRS purposes).

Just think of the possibilities! More productivity for the busy bees and more money for the slackers! It's brilliant.

All I'd need is some machine to suck the time from the slacker's reality, bottle it up (maybe tablets would be nicer for the Busy Bee buyer), and then deliver it all nice and tidy. That would be so awesome! Anyone genius inventors want to take a stab at this, just go for it, and let me know when it's finished so I can be the first to try it.

Please call 1-800-GetTime if you want to buy time or sell time. Call now. There's no better time than right now! So Call. Now.

Time Wasting as an Art Form

I've been known as the "Queen of the $1000 Car", and "The Procrastination Queen," and for awhile I was the self proclaimed, "Ms. Fitness," (before there was a real title called Ms. Fitness, mind you), but now I think I'm deserving of a new title: "Queen of the Time Wasters." You think you're easily distracted. Hah! You've got nothing on me.

I can waste so much time just trying to write a simple book review, or worse, design a brochure. This is why smart folks pay the pros! It's way cheaper in the long run to just let someone who's good at something do it for you, and you do what you're best at. I'm donating my 8-week course to help raise funds for my son's upcoming alcohol and drug free graduation party from Hudson's Bay High School in Vancouver, Washington, and I'm just having a dickens of a time with my handout brochure.

Buying or selling a home? Call my sister, Linda Brown, or your favorite realtor. Need car repair? Call a repair guy, don't do like I would and go to the book store and then the library, then call everyone and get a million opinions, then research for a month on the Internet looking for the best deal, and then finally call the repair guy.

If someone in Vancouver calls me right now, I'll hire them. I really need to get this done, and frankly, here I am posting about it instead of doing it. That's a time wasting pro in action.

Trust me on this one. I know how to waste time. I'm working on a 12-step program for time wasters right now except I haven't gotten past Step 1: Admit you are ... Hey, wait. That looks interesting. Excuse me, I just have to go check something real quick...

What Not to Do

While watching my morning productive time slip by, I visited one of my favorite sites, the Journal of Improbable Research, where I came across their delightful listing of Prohibitions Competitions.

One of my favorites was this entry from a Bombay Restaurant

Prohibitions are obviously things you SHOULD NOT DO, in case you didn't know.

I happen to own a lovely little volume entitled simply, Don't, a Little Book of Early American Gentility. My copy is a reprint dated 1968, so I don't know the original publication date but judging by the entries, it's been awhile evidenced by this first entry:

"Don't, as an invited guest, be late for dinner. This is a wrong to your host, to other guests and to the dinner."

We wouldn't want to do a wrong to the dinner, now would we?

One more before I go: "Don't expectorate on the sidewalk but go to the curbstone to discharge excess saliva. Men who eject great streams of tobacco-juice on the sidewalk or on the floors of public vehicles ought to be driven from civilized society." Amen, to that.

I'll post more Don't-isms as I find time. ;-) Probably when I should be doing other work, undoubtedly.

Programming Needed Can Pay in Chocolate

I'm rapidly becoming obsessed with saving every link to everything chocolate, so it's getting out of hand. I need somewhere to keep all these links, and despite my best intentions I never keep current with my listings at various and sundry places. In fact, half the time I forget where they are.

I do use Powermarks still, despite it not working well with Firefox, but hopefully one day that will change, or someone will write something equally useful for Firefox. I absolutely do not like having to cut and paste the link, then go to Powerdesk, then make additional keystroks to input the bookmark. I just want to right-click, choose Bookmark, maybe a category and go. Is that too much to ask? Can any programmer type help me out? I'll pay you in chocolate.

I realize there is a Bookmark feature in Firefox but it sucks badly and that's all I'm saying on that subject. I have to be able to search them by keyword or I'm doomed, doomed, I tell you. Check my earlier post on how easily distracted I am, if you need evidence for why this is so.

Blogs and Blogging Tools

Everything related to blogs and blogging goes here for now. Guess I'll date these entries for now and later find some other way to sort them because I'm sure this will grow into a serious list:

Added July 28, 2005: Findory.com This tool claims to "learn" but we'll see. I haven't submitted my blog here though--I always think "I'm not worthy," and first want to make it the best blog ever. Dumb, yes.

Added Mar 4, 2005: This from Loren Baker's Search Engine Journal where he says to go ahead and post a comment. I tried but don't know if my comment posted, and then I didn't want to post again only to find it just was delayed and I then look like an idiot for posting twice, so there you have it. The usual dilemma of the Internet. Did it post? Am I finished? What do I do now?

PingOMatic.com wildly handy for when I submit new entries to my blog The Slimming Pool and Daytrader's Bulletin Pre-opening Commentary.

Any RSS. This is way cool and I just came across it today. It gives you the ability to create news feeds on your site using RSS.

NewsGator

Wiki Application List. Yahoo's nifty API developer types (geeks or nerds never can remember which is which) can use to do all sorts of fun stuff with their massive database.

The Human Search Engine. Contrary to it's tag line it doesn't search for humans but rather is a search engine by and for humans. Get it? Sort of like DMOZ but without the multi-year wait to get listed.

Spurl Set Up Page which I never mastered but I will, I promise.

Del.Icio.Us Another blogging utility, or rss reader, or whatever is the best catch phrase. If you don't know much about RSS readers join the club.

DayPop.com which is an information junkies paradise.

That's a start, anyway.

Can You See Why I get Nothing Done?

Here's why I never get anything done. Today I'm ready to get some REAL WORK done, and here's what's presently open in my browser:

1. PingOMatic.com wildly handy for when I submit new entries to my blog The Slimming Pool and Daytrader's Bulletin Pre-opening Commentary. I haven't wanted to close that window for fear I'll forget all about it. I really need some type of software which has my daily links, etc. but I'll spend a hundred hours searching for software so let's leave that for another day. That gives me an idea: I'll create blog pages for my various interests! Category: RSS Blogs XML

2. Ditto, One Techie's Love-hate Relationship with Technology. I'd say it's more love. This is the type blog I can spend hours reading, so naturally I link to it and then occasionally return to find some new area of interest. Category: Places to Waste More Time or Gadgets Gallore I have a million entries in this category and might some day find time to post them all, but I doubt it.

3. Affiliates article I started to read but was distracted elsewhere and now I don't want to close the page: Category: Affiliate & Marketing

4. RingTones. This looked promising, maybe for the kids to start a site and earn their way through college? You never know. Category: Ideas to Make a Million Bucks Before I'm Dead

5. Miscellanious marketing hype. I spend hours reading marketing pages, really, literally hours. I read them, I print them, I think I'll go study them to see why I want to buy what they are selling, but I never do. It's a sickness. Really.

6. Any RSS. This is way cool and I just came across it today. It gives you the ability to create news feeds on your site using RSS. Category RSS Blogs XML (I really need a catchy name for this category).

7. NewsGator. More RSS stuff. Once I have a central repository for these things, this won't get so out of hand. Really. It's true. I'll be much better organized and life will be swell. Category: RSS, et al

8. Wiki Application List. Yahoo has created a nifty API which developer types can use to do all sorts of fun stuff with their massive database. Google started this trend and it's a good one, so hear, hear. I'm not smart enough to know how it works but I can certainly take code and alter it for my own use, so this is a handy link to keep. I'll file it in Category: RSS ATOM XML BLOG

9. The Human Search Engine. Contrary to it's tag line it doesn't search for humans but rather is a search engine by and for humans. Get it? Sort of like DMOZ but without the multi-year wait to get listed. I'm not yet participating because I ran into trouble getting the Spurl link to operate in my Firefox browser. Don't know what's the problem, so I have to file it in my "Do Later" list where there are baout a thousand other things waiting. Sort of like a DMOZ editor's life I suppose. Hummmmmm
Category: RSS, etc.

10. Spurl Set Up Page which I never mastered but I will, I promise. Category: More RSS (popular category for me this morning I see).

Are you starting to see why I get nothing done? I'm up to over 10 windows open with stuff I either want to research further or spend some time with, and frankly, I have other things I wanted to get done today. I need a 48 hour day!

11. Del.Icio.Us Another blogging utility, or rss reader, or whatever is the best catch phrase. If you don't know much about RSS readers join the club. Sheesh, having a central place to keep these links would be OH SO handy! Category: Blog Hell

12. Now I'm finding some duplicates and some Google search pages so I won't bother to list all those. It just gets boring about now.

13. Oops, I spoke too soon. I followed a link to DayPop.com which is an information junkies paradise. Category: News? or RSS? Is this a sickness? Please tell me I'm going to be all right...

The task I intended to perform was not related to any window opened above, thereby, I'm so totally "off task" as they say in middle school. Focus, Kathryn, just focus.

Musings of a Scatter Brained Redhead

Today I’m looking into photo printers. I just assumed you could print photos on any color printer, but evidentially I was wrong. Suddenly there is a world of "photo printers" and I’m out of the loop, again.

What Drove Me to This Madness?

I want to make life sized stand up cardboard cut-outs; one for me with my weight loss before after photos, and one (or more) for my son Moses just for kicks.

This of course leads me to Amazon.com – why does everything lead me to the bookstore?, and I’ve found lots of books specific to using Photoshop with digital photography. Great, only they are written for the latest Photoshop version, so do I also need to buy that?

Let’s see. I wanted to make a good quality photo print and now I’m up to buying a $400 printer, a $600 software program, and probably $100 worth of books, not to mention the 100 or more hours it would take me to feel I’d at least gotten down the basics of the new software. Sheesh. Why do I do this?

Geek Girl - Make Magazine

Interesting new magazine in book format called Make Magazine. I'd like to subscribe (I always want to subscribe), but I'd like to see an issue first before I shell out $35, so I'll wait. Amazon has current issue at just over $10 (no shipping if you manange to buy something else and get your total over $25), so maybe go that route.

As an aside, a friend recently purchased something, paid extra for 2-day shipping at Amazon and it took about five days so there is no point in paying the extra. Amazon will not guarantee your package to arrive quicker despite paying extra for it. Again, big Amazon rip-off, so beware. Don't do their stupid pay us a fee and we'll give you a break on shipping either -- double rip-off, if they don't guarantee 2-day delivery now when you're paying extra, what's the odds they'll give you better and quicker shipping later when you're no longer paying extra. The annual fee is just to keep one hand in your pocket and my pockets have far too many hands now, so forget the paying in advance for discounts BS.