brian schettler

A friend and I used the free online whiteboard sharing app Skrbl the other night to discuss some programming ideas. While it wasn’t perfect, it was useful. There are probably better applications out there, but in a quick fix when two people may not have the same software installed or want to install extra software, this worked well.

Tags: collaboration, gtd, online, sharing, whiteboard

This looks very promising. You can type in regex expressions to see what gets matched in the text. I’ve never been too good at regular expressions…by the time I figure out what I need, I could have just retyped the whole document. That’s no excuse not to learn it, however, and I think this website will prove useful.

Tags: programming, regex

Ah, I’ve recently found something that makes rmilk so much better: keyboard shortcuts. I’d always get a little frustrated when I’d have to edit a task and it’d switch to another task before I could get finished. Keyboard shortcuts will make that a lot easier.

The only problem I have now is that I have too many lists, almost. I have my Outlook tasks which is synchronized with my phone, but I hardly ever use those. I have Remember the Milk, which I’m using for medium term tasks (like papers/homework due in the upcoming weeks), and then I have a daily to-do note that I keep on my desktop using Stickies for Windows.

Tags: gtd, organization, planning, rememberthemilk, rmilk, tasks

Recently I’ve been using the free, tiny Violet UML Editor for class programming projects, but it’s simple enough to use that I think it could be useful in many applications where a flowchart might be needed. I like that the program is just a simple java “jar” file that can just be executed right from a folder or USB drive…no installation needed (provided you already have Java installed). On the plus side, it saves its files as XML files, so it plays nice with my source control server.

Tags: editor, free, java, program, uml

What is with this crazy weather? I was going to make homemade ice cream for lifegroup tonight but I think it may be too cold.

Tags: lifegroup, weather

I’m trying out Remember the Milk. I don’t really know if I want another time management tool in my life, but we’ll see. So far I really like how you can type in fuzzy dates and it gets them right. 🙂

Tags: gtd, planning, rememberthemilk, rtm, tasks

I’ve been using Don’t Break the Chain to bring in good habits and get rid of old habits. It’s a website that helps you keep track of what you’re doing daily. For example, I want to do sit-ups every night. If I do my sit ups, I mark off the day. After a few days, I have a “chain” going, and the motivation is to not break the chain by skipping a day. I’ve heard that this is a good method for doing lots of things. I’ve even turned it around and mark off the days that I DON’T do some of the habits I want to break. I remember reading about this quite a while ago (It was Jerry Seinfeld’s trick), and now someone has made a web utility out of it!

Tags: good, gtd, habits

Ahh, FedEx.

Tags: commercial, fedex, video

I guess it’s not quite up to 3-1-1, but it’ll do. Still, I wonder how much a service like this costs.

Payne County now has 2-1-1 phone number

Payne County was among a group of counties in North Central Oklahoma to launch a new non-emergency 2-1-1 phone number today. When you don’t know who to call for help with health or human services issues, just dial 2-1-1. This will help put you in touch with the information you need and keep 9-1-1 more available for true emergencies. For instance, officials are hoping 2-1-1 will be utilized to coordinate shelter and transportation during storm events, etc.

Tags: 211, 311, 911, assistance, city, help

Ooh, I’m liking the new WordPress 2.5. Nice to get stuff for free.

Tags: wordpress