I was gone for the weekend, thus the lack of posts. It was more of a work driven “vacation” but was a very needed getaway for the weekend. I am a huge fan of road trips so even just driving somewhere I’ve never been and snapping some quick pictures is my idea of a vacation.

Here I am just a little ways north of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. I haven’t had a chance to go camping in the last few years so it was nice to get out into a more wooded area with more wildlife and breath some really fresh air.

This is at the lovely Coeur d’Alene lake watching a boater make his way to the docks. Hopefully this summer I will have a chance to go boating on the lake. There is a resort right behind me that I’d like to visit mid to late summer as well.

Unfortunately we didn’t charge our camera battery before we headed out so we could only snap a few shots. Plus our camera memory stick was pretty close to full so I only manage a few shots. I did get a couple videos with my phone but they are stuck on my phone’s micro sd card until I can buy a card reader.

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The “Dead-Zone” is what I call a specific weight range. To really understand what I’m talking about I need to give a little history about myself…

A few years ago I was in a near death motorcycle accident (one of my top 10 stupid moments in life). I essentially smashed my tibia and fibula out the front of my leg.

Luckily, all the kings horses and all the kings men were able to put me back together again.

Because of that life changing event I became a gym addict (from physical therapy). I went from 127lbs to 172lbs over the course of approximately 1.5 years (all muscle, with a loss of bodyfat). I vowed never to be skinny again (I have deep seeded issues with being skinny from my childhood). I set the weight range at 160-162lbs.

Today I weighed in at 161.5lbs….

With all the talk about bloggers keeling over from such intense stress and lack of exercise I found this interesting because my loss of weigh has actually been due to putting in an increasing number of hours on the computer for blogging and various other work.

In turn, I have been eating less and exercising less. Ultimately this must stop. I have a busy three days ahead of me, beginning tomorrow but after the storm has calmed I will work on getting a “Fitness” page setup to show my progress back to the top. Plus I’ll post articles about fitness, nutrition, etc. Of course I’ll have to talk a little about some of the ridiculously stupid people I’ve seen in the gym.

If you’re into fitness, getting ripped, etc., you should check out bodybuilding.com. I learned a lot from the articles available there but beware the forums….they can be a bit cultish at times.

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I am just totally exhausted. From the recent hub-bub about bloggers dying from the extreme stress (just like any other job) I decided I had better get to sleep before I just keel over.

I actually have my normal full time job and then work on web stuff and blogging until about midnight to 1am. So maybe I have double the stress? In that case I better get to sleep and stave off shortening my lifespan. Back to write some more posts tomorrow!

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It seems like lately I’ve been using my cell phone a lot. What would I do without it?! It’s still surprising to see so many people unaware of the nifty little tricks our cell phones are capable of, especially in a business environment.

If you’re still fresh to cell phones take a few minutes in your spare time and check out your manual. I was shocked at how big the manual was for my first cell phone. Of course, I fell prey to the typical guy mentality of disregarding the manual.

I’m pretty tech savvy so I of course figured out the majority of it myself but I was surprised to find a few little features in the manual that I didn’t know about.

Of course, doing a Google search for your phone could clue you in on some other neat things you can do with your cell phone!

Here’s a list of the things I use my cell phone for aside from calling:

An alarm clock - I’ve used my cell phone as my alarm clock for years now. For some reason it’s more effective and easier than a normal alarm clock. Plus, if you’re stuck somewhere and want to take a quick snooze you’ve got your alarm right there with you.

Phonebook - Of course this is the most common use aside from calling but I have addresses, notes for people, etc. that I might need in the future for each contact.

Internet - For about a year I used my cell phone for EVDO because I couldn’t get dsl or cable internet where I lived. EVDO is so much better than dial-up

Entertainment - Pretty much all cell phones have some form of a game…and when I’m utterly bored and stuck somewhere it’s just enough to keep me busy and entertained.

Make shift flash light - I can’t tell you how many times I manage to get stuck in a dark room or something and can’t see anything. My cell phone screen is so bright it will illuminate the room to where I can find even small items.

Texting of course - I don’t text a lot, but I do text every day. It’s my way to keep in touch with my girlfriend while I’m at work and a pretty easy way to get a message to someone quick without having to talk to them. I’m not big on small talk so a short and sweet text message is perfect for the job.

Pictures & Video - Cell phones are great for a quick snapshot or video. Now that phones are getting more and more high tech, this is a feature I may use more often once the quality starts really going up. Now that phones have way more memory it’s not an issue having 50-100 pictures on your phone either.

Music - I don’t really listen to music on my phone but I have a few songs that I really like on it and when I don’t have my iPod or aren’t by a computer and really want something to listen too.

Anyway, those are the majority of uses I have for my phone. I use to have a PDA and used it basically like a micro-computer for email, document editing, etc. but I’ve since downgraded to a sleek and stylish flip phone from LG, the VX8700.

I’m sure there are a ton of other great ways to use cell phones, if you have one share with a comment and I’ll add it to the list

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Have you ever had one of those days where you feel like you were insanely busy but you didn’t actually get anything done? Even on the days where I feel like I really accomplished something, I look back and evaluate my work and my day…suddenly realizing that I wasted a significant amount of time.

Earlier this morning I read a post over at JohnChow’s about 5 Online Time Savers. I really felt like they were things that were common knowledge. Unless you’re new to the internet, you most likely already know everything that was posted. So in a sense, the guest blog was preaching to the choir.

I was a little surprised to find out though that some people felt like it was good to have a gentle reminder. I don’t think that could be any more true. We get so caught up in other things we forget about the most useful and simple tools available to us.

Without further ado, Time Management Tips and Helpful Keys - a gentle reminder:

1. Time management is always going to fail you. After everything is said and done, you will have been able to get more done in the time you had but won’t. It’s the nature of life.
2. Set goals, without them, you’re a lost puppy in a caffeinated world going at light speed. When you have something to set your sights on and focus on, you know what has to be done between where you are now, and where you want to be.
3. Use tools available to you to stay organized and on track. Whether it’s a pencil and paper, a PDA, laptop, online tools or something else, there are tons of tools available to keep you and your day organized and focused on your goals.
4. Be aware of where your time is going and prioritize. Knowing where you’re wasting time and knowing when you can waste time is going to help you work and play much more efficiently. Getting your priorities all lined up will help you figure out where and when you can waste time.
5. Get into a routine and stick to it. Routines do suck, I’ll admit that, but they do help you figure out much more efficient ways to do things. When you establish a solid routine you’ll get faster and more efficient the more you do it.
6. Set yourself up to remember the things you forget. I forget things left and right….but I have learned that I will forget those things and how to set myself up to run into those things when I will need them next. For instance, I will forget to call people back by certain times. I know that I check my email as soon as I get home which is at 5:15pm at the latest. So if I email myself a reminder to call those people, I’ll do it and won’t have to worry about remembering anything.
7. Set and Forget….this one goes along with number 6 but I like it. You can spend all day worrying about things, getting things done, calling people, making deadlines, etc. There are notification systems surrounding us. So set a reminder and move on (in a sense forget about it). You have fewer things cluttering your brain while not missing a beat and getting even more done.
8. Stop waiting and start doing (multitasking). I see this one a LOT. So many people say, well I had to wait for this and I had to wait for that…. while you’re waiting you could be doing something else. Get the task started and go get something else started. This is essentially multitasking but a little different (in my opinion).

You might have to learn to use a few things you don’t usually use (ie. cell phone, task manager, advanced email functions, google calendar, etc.) but it will save you time and save you stress.

My girlfriend has a tendency to walk in the apartment and start setting things down. Then later she can’t find anything and is scrambling so she won’t be late. Inevitably, she is late, usually can’t find something and is stressed out. Stay consciously organized and aware. Put things where you know you’ll find them (tangibly and digitally).

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I happened to come across this tonight and wow! I already love Gmail (except for the recent spam problems that should be solved soon) but this just adds yet another reason why people should be using it.

(credit to MakeUseOf.com for the original post)

Part 1:

You can receive email to youremail@gmail.com with a dot in any part of the “youremail” section. For instance, y.ouremail@gmail.com (or @googlemail.com). You can put the dot anywhere in “youremail” and it will go to youremail@gmail.com. That isn’t anything I got excited about.

Part 2:

Here’s the awesome part. You can add extra information into your address! What you do is add a + and then the extra info. you want. So youremail+website@gmail.com (again, @googlemail.com as well).

This one is particularly nice because you can use that to figure out if you’re getting spam from a particular website by signing up using youremail+website@gmail.com

Additionally, if you use labels and filters you can setup filters with this. So maybe myemail+netflix@gmail.com and have them all filtered into a Netflix label. 

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This has been around for awhile but I know tons of people who don’t know about it. It’s pretty nifty and could be pretty useful. 

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