*blend

*blend is all about integrating. Finding and using all the best tools and using them in YOUR life. From tech to ways to cope with teens... I hope to help you *blend...

I love comments and feedback, so please feel free to email me or post comments..and good luck with YOUR *blend!

I’ve been following, well, um, TRYING to follow, some of the principles of GTD - “Getting Things Done”. As badly as I want to start CPORD (Collect, Process, Organize, Record, Do), I can’t manage to get past just surviving day to day. I even bought David Allen’s book last week. Are there any resources for “Getting Things STARTED”?? There are plenty of great ideas, and so easy to implement, I thought I’d share a few, and hope that by sharing them, I’ll be better at doing them!

Inbox Zero: If you are like most, you’re email inbox is overflowing with things you need to do, reply to, file, or do SOMETHING with. Start by going through your inbox and, as quickly as possible, process your messages:

• Delete: Get rid if the spam, junk mail, and other obviously useless stuff.
• Defer: Put it in a”Pending” folder if you need to respond or generate an action from it
• Respond immediately if it literally will take less than 2 minutes or is so Earth-shattering that it just can’t wait
• archive it if it doesn’t require an action but you need to keep it
  (from 43Folders)

Once you are down to ZERO messages in your inbox, go back to your pending folder. Now start plowing through: Respond to them and get rid of them, or generate an action from them like adding a task to your to do list. Your goal is to have NO items waiting on your attention in your mailbox. If you have a huge amount of mail, this could take a while, but is well worth it. Just think about how much easier it’s going to be to stay on top of things when you are done!

Start Dashing!: This is my favorite GTD trick, and it’s one I’ve been using long before GTD became a web site, or a book. (I just never called it a “Dash”, more like a “Last resort”! But it works.) Procrastination will bury you. That big project is intimidating, or boring, or just plain sucks, so we find reasons NOT to get it done. But by using dashes - short bursts of focused attention, it will get done. You may even find yourself working beyond your dash because the feeling of actually getting it done is oh-so-good. So just what the heck IS a dash? Pick a set amount of time or amount and focus on that one project for that length of time or until that amount of work is done, and don’t stop until that bit is done. Just little dashes will get you towards your goal of completing the project: 10 minutes working on the presentation you have to give next month, however long it takes to fill one trash bag from that pile of junk in the shed. You get the picture. Set a smaller goal, and the bigger one won’t be so hard/boring/sucky.

Get it off your brain: Focus your to-do items into a to-do list, either on a notepad (which you should never be without!) or your PDA notes, or whatever you use to jot notes and keep your to-do lists on. When you think of something you need to do, buy, pick up, etc, WRITE IT DOWN. Use that list to work off of. Don’t let that stuff keep jumping up in your Brain:

• “DARN it, I was supposed to take that box of clothes to the church yesterday”
• “I wonder if  Bob is finished with that proposal yet”
• “I need to check on my 401k contributions, maybe I’m not putting in enough”
• “We need milk. I better pick some up on the way home.”
• “The oil change car is overdue”.

This stuff will distract you all day, and make you feel overwhelmed and overworked, when all you are is over-worried. Instead, you can keep on top of things with your to-do list and let your brain focus on the job hand. And crossing stuff off a written to-do list feels REALLY good. Marking it on your PDA note file feels good, too, but there’s nothing that compares to pulling out the pen and scratch through that sucker knowing you earned the write to scribble that line. Like Zorro :)

I think that’s enough for now. Maybe I’ll come back to the GTD topic more often, and share with you some of the other tricks to get through your day with less stress and more productivity.

Whoa. 2008? What happened to July-December of 2007? I find it very hard to believe that 6 months got away so fast, and I never noticed it until now. Let’s see if I can get back on track!

I put this together just to get a rough idea of what I needed to get done over the next 2 weeks. I thought I would share it and make back-to-school shopping a little more optimistic for most of you reading this:

My Back to School Shopping and to-do list
Here is an estimation of what our back-to-school shopping list will look like (and cost!)

• 6 pair of gym shoes: $150
• 6 pair of school shoes: $300
• 30 jeans / pants / skirts: $600
• 30 shirts / blouses: $600
• 6 backpacks : $90
• 42 assorted one, three, and five subject notebooks: $200
• Folders and looseleaf paper: $20
• Pens, markers, colored pencils, rulers, etc: $60
• 6 visits to the optometrist: $360
• 5 pair of eyeglasses: $500
• 6 haircuts: $120
• 2 immunization boosters: $50

Total: $3,050

Now, don’t you feel better?

And I just can’t help myself:
Total cost: $3,050. Having peace and quiet restored at home for 9 hours each day? PRICELESS

It’s now 2 am. After having woke up after 11 am, we got some breakfast/lunch, and headed to the Smirnoff Arena. I’m not going to go into a bunch of detail about the day. It was great, the kids had fun, and it may the only time in their lives they get to see Ozzy.

BUT

It was hot. Not just “hot” but humid, sticky, thick air that you could barely breath, and there was VERY little shade, and nearly everyone there, including ourselves, were dressed in black. If it weren’t for the hose tents set up for people to drench themselves in, there is no way we could have made it all day.

The crowd was dense, and mostly drunk/high. I don’t care if people want to smoke a joint, but I personally can’t stand the stuff. I kept trying to find a place away from people where I could sit and take a break, but it never failed: I’d find a place, a nice curb in the partial shade of a tree, and take a seat. And here would come a group of folks, sit down right next to me, and light up. It was annoying enough when it was just me, but when my kids were sitting with me, I got a little ticked off. Have a little consideration, okay? I mean it, I REALLY don’t care who’s doing it, I’m even for legalization (maybe I’ll go into my reasons for that in another post), but like so many other personal lifestyle choices, I don’t want to be a part of YOUR decisions. And I’d prefer my kids have the option when they are older whether they want to get high on marijuana, instead of getting high now just by being near you. Luckily, they all thought it smelled like crap and moved away each time some rude punk lit up next to them.

Once in, you could not leave, unless you wanted to stay gone. So, market geniuses they are, a bottle of water cost 4 bucks. Needless to say, most of cash went to water. And $81 went to cheeseburgers for dinner. And it was a pretty nasty heat-lamp burger.

On the upside, hubby and 2 of the kids had a great time in the mosh pit at the 2nd stage. The others amused themselves shopping and “checking out the eye-candy”. Of which there was an abundance, of every kind. From clean-cut to grunge, even a few in kilts. They had all kinds of cute young boys to gawk at.

The ages of the crowd ranged from 3 year olds, to 70. I saw at least 2 grannies in their motorized wheelchairs cruising around (I think one was even banging her head to Devil Driver). One old man had his oxygen tank with him, and was using his cane to bang out the bass beat on the pavement. I had a good time crowd watching, and after a while of feeling self conscious at my rolls sticking to my wet tee, I loosened up after watching a few quite large scantily clad young women stroll by in thigh high leather boots with 4 inch heels or platforms, fishnets, skirts that didn’t quite cover the hind end, and corsets that could barely contain their um, “ample” cleavage. And frankly, they looked just fine. They fit in with everyone else, no one cared what anyone else looked like. It was pretty awesome. Frankly, I felt more out place for just being dressed in a tee and jeans. Hubby told me before we left I should take my funky clothes, because he knows I won’t dress in my preferred mode in my hometown. You know, reputation to uphold and all. But I thought I’d look stupid, a 30-something year old mom with her teenage daughters dressing like an 80s punk throw-back. But as always, hubby was right. This was someplace my dog collars, chains, pony tails, and combat boots would have been completely acceptable. Oh well.

As for the main stage events, it was all right. First up was Lordi, they sounded more like an 80s metal band than the speed metal of today, and so I kind of liked them, but I couldn’t understand a single lyric. Not because of them in particular, but the sound levels in the arena were enough to make you think a jet liner taking off was good music. Lordi had some elaborate outfits, but it was still daylight when they took the stage, so were hard to see clearly from the lawn. We had 2 seat tickets, but stayed with the kids on the lawn. After Lordi was Static X, then Lamb of God, who got a massive circle pit going up on the lawn. That was an interesting sight.

Then the Man himself took the stage. Ozzy. I’ve seen him in concert before, but was still pretty excited. He wasn’t doing very well, and kept apologizing to the crowd for singing like ’shit’ and explained he had a blood clot in his leg and wasn’t supposed to be on stage, but he was there trying his best anyway. The man is a legend. He could have come to the microphone and hummed, and the crowd STILL would have screamed for more. The kids never really thought about his age until they saw him in person, and afterwards said “He really is getting old, isn’t he. Pretty cool he makes good music still”. GOOD music? Kids these days can’t fully appreciate an artist, can they!

I didn’t take my camera after all, and even though it would have a been pain to haul around and keep dry all day, I wish I had. I want pictures of my kids screaming and laughing and having a good time. One of the oldest bought a disposable camera, and I’m hoping her pictures turn out well. We snuck out during the very end of Ozzy’s performance, and finding the truck, getting out of the parking lot, then back onto the highway went very quickly and smoothly.

On the way out of the arena we were all given multiple copies of a CD called The Ram by Rich Shapero. It looked like a well produced album, nice cover, fancy inserts, good photography and art. Then we all gave a listen and broke out laughing. It was pure shit, plain and simple. A cross between Weird Al and who knows what else, a folksy singer with death metal lyrics, strumming his guitar and quietly cooing about flesh sizzling in the fire and a chest covered in fur. Now I know why they were thrusting these things into people’s hands “TAKE THEM, PLEASE!” In case you want more info this pathetically bad CD, or the book that goes with it, here are a couple sites: ‘Wild Animus’ Beast-Man, Rich Shapero, Exposed! from the LaRouche Political Action Committee or the man’s own web site, Rich Shapero. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

It is 4:30 am, and we have just checked into our hotel in Dallas. The internet connection here won’t work, so I am writing this to post later, probably after we return home. The drive was long, but went well. Besides the massive amounts of rain, it was pretty smooth. We had hoped the kids would sleep being so late, but no one even so much as napped. They fought over the DVD player, and over who was taking up too much room. Gas prices dropped considerable the closer we got to Dallas, which was nice but upset me. Why am I paying almost 50 cents more per gallon at home??

There must be 4,000 possible restrooms along our route, and I am pretty sure we stopped at almost half of them. Apparently, bladder synchronization is not something I had thought of….

In just a few hours, we will be on our way to Dallas, Texas to attend Ozzfest. By ‘we’ I mean Myself, Hubby, and 5 teenagers. In one vehicle. Two hotel rooms. 4 teen girls and 1 teen boy. To quote a friend off jaiku: Hilarity and mayhem must surely follow…. (credited to dzakstar)

So, it is currently 2:15 pm. The 4 girls are all my daughters, and have been instructed to pack only 2 suitcases total. Since 8 this morning I have had to listen to a litany of complaints about so-n-so taking up much room with her makeup, someone else trying to pack half her wardrobe, and yet another trying to fit her mega-size bottle of special soft’n’silky* shampoo into a side pocket of a duffel bag because she can’t go two whole days without it.

Our two younger daughters are not attending. I had to draw the line at taking ten-year olds with us. It’s going to be hard enough watching the older ones. So the two younger ones need to pack to go to Gramma’s house while we are gone. And that isn’t going smoothly either. They insist on taking most of their stuffed animals, 8 Doctor Who novels, and their own blankets and pillows. Gramma lives ONE block away. I overheard one whisper: “We have room for the puppies. We can’t leave them here all alone”. So now, I keep going outside and counting puppies and kittens to make sure none have been packed under the jammies.

The boy going with us has been friends with Ms. Soft’n’silky since 3rd grade. He came over just a little while ago with his stuff - one compact duffel bag. Something one of my girls couldn’t pack one outfit into much less all the junk they need for 2 days. Thank you for this! I’m still not sure how I’m going to get all this luggage into the back of a Trailblazer.

Right now, all 7 kids are all in the front room watching an episode of Wonderfalls, while I’m sitting here freaking out over the logistics of this trip.

• Where do we put the boy since the hotel didn’t have adjoining rooms?
• Where did I put the tickets?
• Should I take the camera?
• I thought I printed out maps, where did THOSE go?
• Should I go buy bottled water now, or just pick up stuff as we stop for gas?
• Speaking of gas, is the truck still full?
• Speaking of the truck, where did I put my iPod adapter?
• Where is my iPod?
• What else am I forgetting?

And to top it off, I have no idea what I’m packing to wear. Should I take the blue jeans and black dress shirt, or the black t-shirt and dark jeans? (Yes, my wardrobe IS that dull). Maybe I’ll just take both and sit on the suitcase to close it…..

Dear hubby is still at work, and missing out on all this fun. How fair is that? Then again, he’ll probably do most of the driving tonight, so I shouldn’t say anything…

I think I’m just going to go take a nap.

*soft’n’silky is not a brand. It’s what we have dubbed the particular brand of shampoo and conditioner one of my daughters insists on using since she is the only one with extremely long, VERY straight, and VERY thick hair. And she doesn’t share.

*Note. This post is much more personal than any others, and doesn’t apply to either technology or blended families, but it does highlight some of the wonderful things that can come from being part of family and community. Not everything in a blended family is work and struggle!

My family and friends threw a birthday party for me Friday, July 27, 2007. It was awkward being the reason all these people gathered together, but we all had a great time, especially with the Thumpin’ Puppies providing the music for the night. They have a whole slew of new songs not on any of their CDs that I absolutely love, and we tried recording them playing, but with all the kids there that night, and dancing in front of the camera, neither the audio nor the video does the band justice. I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who came, you won’t know how much you being there meant to me. I hope you all enjoyed the night as much as I did, and to the band: THANK YOU. You guys are unbelievable, and I can’t wait to start hearing your music played on the radio!

If you are reading this and have not heard of the Thumpin’ Puppies, check out their web site and sample some of their music. They are original, talented, and down-right awesome.

As for me and the party, I have never been so flattered. My better half, Brian, never ceases to surprise me with all the things he does to make his family happy. This party was all his idea to begin with, and he took care of every detail, from making sure we had a cook, to getting the band equipment down to the hall. While I sat in a lawn chair at 2 am wishing I had stopped with the third glass of wine, he cleaned up, packed up, and got his whole family home safe and sound. I wish I possessed the verbal skill to express to him, and to all of my friends, how much this event touched me. Thanks for the gifts, but you being there was all I asked for!

And even though we were outnumbered 3 to 1 by kids, I am REALLY glad all of you came, too. My girls made some new friends, and got to spent time with old friends.

H and J: Thanks for letting me step on your toes on the dance floor!

And to Brian: What can I say to Superman? “Gettin’ Riggy wit it!”

2007-07-06 Tinkerbears frst time outside, originally uploaded by westxrenee.

Coming outside to play for the first time was too tiring for this little 3.5 week old terrier-shepherd mix.

Here are some of the sites I am currently reviewing:

(Beta) Spotplex provides internet users with real-time ranking of blog articles based on actual impression count.
In other words, you can find what is the hot news today, this week, or this month in real time at Spotplex. This is not a list of articles people recommended or voted for, but a list of articles read most in a given timeframe.
Bloggers can track and analyze their blog traffic with a simple Spotplex code or widget. Not just how many people visit the blog, they can even find which articles people read most and how many people read them. Whenever an article of the blog is read, it will show up at Spotplex in real-time and get noticed by Spotplex users.

RevolutionHealth.com, a free, comprehensive health and medical information site, specifically designed with the Family’s Chief Medical Officer — women and other caregivers — in mind.RevolutionHealth.com offers best-of-breed health information as well as more than 125 online tools aimed at helping individuals take control of their well-being. Revolution Health has partnered with more than 50 companies and teamed with a number of leading health nonprofits and experts to make its innovative approach to health a reality.

Slacker is a new kind of music company. We deliver personal radio that is customized for every listener. Slacker is effortless to use and the music is accessible at home, in the car, or on the go. Slacker Personal Radio has millions of songs with the breadth and depth increasing continuously. The extensive Slacker music library is organized into numerous professionally programmed genre and sub-genre stations and over 10,000 stations that are built around specific artists. Personalization options include adjusting your stations to play more popular vs. more eclectic music, newer vs. older music, or even to play more tracks you tagged as your favorites. Other features include:

• Log in from any PC or Mac to hear personalized stations in CD quality
• Playback through web player, jukebox software and portable devices
• Create stations by combining favorite artists
• Select favorite tracks/artists to play more often and ban other tracks/artists
• Click through album cover art, band profiles, reviews and artist photos
• Easily share stations with friends

I Heart Movies - beta.
A place to organize your DVD collection and view it in several ways, share information and discuss films with movie lovers.

Flektor. Beta. For all the hype about user-generated content, it seems like most of what people post is a vast wasteland of copycat Mentos®-meets-Diet Coke videos, bad parodies, and shaky videos of themselves crashing their cars. Flektor was designed to change that, and bring quality to the user generated content world, even for people who don’t have great artistic skills. Flektor allows you to quickly and easily create, remix, and share your photos, videos, with others via email, on mySpace, or in your blog. “Flektor is completely FREE until the end of our beta period. You may upload and publish as much as you want. When the beta period ends, we may announce a pricing plan for heavy users. ”

Fixya. Beta. FixYa was founded by two entrepreneurs who decided to take advantage of the fact that consumer products manufacturers are not providing adequate support through their web sites. Although these products become more and more technologically advanced, their manufacturers are not allocating the necessary resources that are required in order to provide good technical support. Like any other consumer out there, FixYa’s founders had a hard time finding relevant and updated support information for their printer or digital camera, and therefore decided to create this site. The idea behind FixYa is to aggregate all support information that is scattered throughout the internet in a single user friendly location. In addition, FixYa is a huge knowledgebase that is constantly updated by a live community of users who share their experiences of technical problems and solutions. Through the site’s unique rating system, FixYa is allowing users to find the best solution for every problem and even offer a new solution. Our aim is that over time, FixYa will offer the best solutions for the most common problems of each and every product the site is covering. The best thing about our knowledgebase is that it’s based on true user experience rather than on projected FAQs by the manufacturer.

A comment on a previous article led me to an awesome article about 2 boys getting their first computer for Christmas in the early 80s. I wanted to comment on his site, but had to sign up, so I thought I’d say something here. The 80s were THE perfect decade to grow up geek. Home technology was new, and full of promise. Nothing was taken for granted, and kids all over the world treated as fun and games what many others labor away at (and pay for!) in college.

Their story inspired me to write about one of my first computers I got for Christmas. One that is nearly forgotten today: a Tomy Tutor. While it sounds like a toy, it had AMAZING graphic and animation capabilities, far ahead of it’s time. I locked myself in my room and honed my BASIC programming skills to a razor edge on this baby. The soft keys and purple space bar sure didn’t hurt it’s appeal, either.