Dead Simple Guide to Beating Procrastination

I am a daily reader of by Leo Babauta's excellent zenhabits blog. He's just posted a "Dead Simple Guide to Beating Procrastination" that's worth reading if, like me, you're prone to checking email, twittering, and other stuff to avoid actually doing something.

After his 10-point plan to get you out of your rut, Leo Babauta notes that if all else fails, just take a nap or go outside and enjoy the outdoors or do nothing. Life isn’t all about productivity. Do less. Which is to say, if you are procrastinating, enjoy it!

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Hanlin V3 eReader rocks!

Today, I treated myself to a Hanlin V3 eReader from PDAShop.nl, and man does it not suck! It totally rocks, displaying my entire library of ebooks, including some old copies of Crosstalk and Soundview summaries. It even displays the content of the Powerpoint presentations I accidentally copied over to the SD card.

The only thing I don't like is the crappy way the SD card slot is manufactured. It works allright, but when you want to remove the card you have to really pick it out with your finger. It doesn't do a satisfactory click-and-slide thing like most SD card slots.

Update Saturday, March 21, 2009: The SD card slot issue somehow miraculously disappeared today. I wanted to take out the SD card to put it into an external card reader, forgot all about the aforementioned card issue, and low and behold: it did a satisfactory click-and-slide-thing!

Must-read Agile Journal Column by Esther Derby

I've just read Esther Derby's excellent column on "The Three Pillars of Executive Support for Agile Adoption" in the Agile Journal. It describes the executive support required to successfully implement agile methods in your organization. In the process of doing just that? Read Esther's column!

My new job?

A friend pointed out to me recently that, as jobs go, the newly created position of Caretaker of the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef might quite possibly be the very best job in the world. Reading the site, I have to agree. Check it out at http://www.islandreefjob.com.

My Favorite Mac Apps

Last December I switched to Mac and have since entered a very, very happy period in my personal computing experience. I'm running a clone of my corporate laptop in VMWare Fusion for my remaining Windows needs, and must admit to using a Palm Treo Pro running Windows Mobile 6.1 to stay connected to HQ whilst on the move. For everything else, I use my 15" unibody Macbook Pro. Which means I had to find alternatives to my favorite Windows programs. And you know what: some of the alternatives are actually better!

Functionality: WinApp » MacApp:
• Application launcher: Launchy » QuickSilver
• Virtual desktop manager: VirtuaWin » Spaces (built in!)
• Archiver: 7Zip » iArchiver
• Subversion client: TortoiseSVN » Versions
• RSS reader: Feeddemon » NetNewsWire
• Mindmapping: MindManager 8 » MindManager 7 for Mac
• Texteditor: UltraEdit » TextWrangler
• Diagramming: MS Visio » OmniGraffle
• Project Management: MS Project » Merlin
• Screencasting: uTipu » ScreenFlow
• Video conversion: Videora » Handbrake
• FTP client: FileZilla » Cyberduck (you don't have to switch, because FileZilla is also available for Mac, but I did, because I like Cyberduck)
• RSI monitor: WorkPace » MacBreakZ
• Favorite screensaver: Despair Inc » Matrixsaver
In addition to the items above, I use the following Mac Apps:
• Getting Things Done: OmniFocus
• Writing: Scrivener
• Blogging: MarsEdit
• Tweeting: TweetDeck
• Instant messaging: Skype and MSN
• Audio recording: Audio Hijack Pro and Fission for recording and editing with The Levelator for postprocessing of aiff files.
• WMV plugin for Quicktime: Flip4Mac
• Desktop notification system: Growl
• Timer: FlexTime
• Prevent your Mac from automatically going to sleep, dimming the screen or starting screen savers: Caffeine
• Switch your audio input and output sources with a single click, and even adjust their volume settings: SoundSource

Agile Beerfest

20080615118, originally uploaded by laurensbonnema.

Last night, Guido and Romina came over to catch up and taste some good Belgian beers in our favorite hangout, Café de Tijd in Dordrecht. As always, putting Guido and me together resulted in a buzz of ideas, lots of laughter, and a cavalier disregard of moderation. We kind of maxed out every aspect of the evening. So now, I'm a bit of a zombie.

Get Things Done with Nozbe

Today I discovered Nozbe, quite possibly the best GTD app around. It's simple, minimalistic even, but exactly what you need if you're looking for an online GTD system. When you're not at your computer, you can connect to Nozbe through your phone with the nozbe.mobi app. And if you forgot your phone, the option to print your next actions in a sleek Hipster PDA cut-out version will save the day. If you add DIY Planner templates and a calendar, be it GCal or Time/system, or both, you're set to become highly productive and get things done.