• Software

    Keeping A PC Awake and Unlocked

    There are times when I really, really hate the auto-sleep feature on my computers. Because having a machine lock itself when I am monitoring something is a major pain in the patootie. So I came up with a way to keep the machine awake and unlocked.

  • Software,  Tools

    Finding a Habit Tracker

    Do you know how well you do on actually completing the things you consider habits? I’m a big believer in tracking habits so that I have the hard-and-fast numbers to show me, eliminating my mind’s bias in how well I do.

  • Software

    Generate Text With Excel

    Microsoft Excel, which is a spreadsheet meant for crunching numbers, may be the tool of accountants. But I rely on it heavily to help me with text. I generate text using Excel in order to feed data cleanly into systems. No, Excel is my powerhouse for assembling text. It occurred to me that people might get some benefit from learning how to do this, so here is my method:

  • OneNote,  Productivity,  Software

    A Tour of My OneNote Work Productivity System

    I had to recently switch from paper to electronic notes for work due to the need to do fast searches. Searching through five notebooks that were haphazardly backlinked was almost impossible. I made the switch to OneNote, and have worked hard to get a simple but workable system. This is a tour of how I use OneNote for work.

  • Productivity,  Software

    Review: (10+2)*5 Timer – Instant Boss

    When I really need to blast through a lot of work, but really don't want to, I use the (10+2) * 5 method invented by Merlin Mann. It's a modified Pomodoro method, but instead of 20 minute work sessions followed by a 5 minute break, it shortens both work and break times. I prefer (10+2)*5 to Pomodoro because the 10 minute start seems do-able, whereas the 20 minute block often seems insurmountable.