eric135

Evernote and "Evernote: The unofficial guide to capturing everything and getting things done"

Evernote      

For the past year or so, I've been keeping notes in a plain text file saved in a Dropbox folder. I don't organize it at all, it's pretty much a dump of whatever I am reading, listening to, or written in my Moleskine notebook that I wanted to keep digitally.

It's a pretty simple setup, especially after I downloaded the Blackberry app. I can view this notes folder anywhere I have internet access, including my phone.

The problem with the Dropbox app is that it doesn't have any search function. If I'm looking for something specific, I have to scroll through the whole file, and now that it's getting to be a big file, it's getting to be a hassle. 

So I wanted to upgrade to a note-keeping system. Specifically,

• I want to be able to keep my notes online.
• I want to track tasks using the Getting Things Done method.
• I want my notes to be secure.
• I want to be able to sync my notes and retrieve via the internet.
• I want to be able to work with my notes on my phone.
• I want to use tags, and be able to pull up notes easily via the tags.
• I want to have the option of sharing specific notes with others.
• I want to be able to store images.
• I want it for free.

For the past couple of days, I've been giving Evernote a try. I have been reading tweets and blog posts about happy Evernote users, but the last time I tried to figure it out (more than a year ago) it didn't seem very user friendly. So either they've fixed that problem, or I've become more saavy (probably a good deal of both).

The tags work great. Tags are on a list by alphabetical order, but when viewing a list of all of my posts, all tags for that note are clickable so you can drill down into all other Notes with that tag. 

When the tags aren't enough, Evernote comes with a search function so you can find just about anything quickly. 

I would highly suggest reading Daneil Gold's Evernote: The unofficial guide to capturing everything and getting things done. I've assigned GTD tags by urgency (!!today, !!ThisWeek), location (@work, @phone, @computer, @waiting) and by project (.christmas, .resume, etc.)  I haven't had the need yet but if I interacted with others and needed input/response I would have another cluster of tags like #fred, #ethel, #lucy, #ricky. By searching for groups of tags, you can get a pretty thorough working list of things to be done:

• Searching "!!today" shows the stuff you want to do today.
• Searching ".projectX and #lucy" shows what tasks you've assigned to Lucy regarding Project X.
• Searching ".projectX and @waiting" shows what tasks for ProjectX are awaiting input/response from anyone.
• Searching ".projectX and @waiting and #ethel" shows what you are waiting for from Ethel regarding Project X. If you want to finish it today you can add the tag !!today.
• By saving searches, you can use them over and over again.

Evernote has launched a new function called Evernote Clearly. After running the install, now when I am reading a web page, I have a button on the browser that re-loads the page stripping off all the ads. You end up with a much more readable page that you can also adjust the font size. You can click on a button and beam that as a new Note directly into Evernote. Images are included, and all the links work (even if you just click-and-drag, when you paste into a new Note, the links work, which is nice). 

Some other nice features:

• You can send notes to Evernote via email, and you can assign tags via email.
• Images are scanned for text, and they will show up in search (for Premium users).
• You can imbed audio files.
• The free version includes a monthly allowance of 60MB of data. After that, it's $5/month or $45/year.
• You can generate URLs for specific Notes. For notes written in my Moleskine, after I type them into Evernote, I run these URLs through tinyurl.com and write the ~7 character string (the random characters after "http://tinyurl.com/") in red next to my Moleskine notes. This way, multiple note-taking sessions will have the same tinyurl for the same subject.
• You can grab the note URL and clip it into Google Calendar, so if there is a note associated with a calendar event you can read it.

Evernote also comes with apps for the iPhone 4S and Kindle Fire that Santa's going to get me for Christmas.

 

Retirement, MRSA, Vids, Joshua Bell, Dementia, Chondroitin

• A NY Times (eric135/eric135) article about how it's as important to prepare psychologically for retirement as it is to fund your 401k or IRAs. Hell no. I'm ready psychologically.
• Athletic trainers see rise in MRSA Infections.
• A very weird exercise video. Obviously CGI but still oddly hypnotic. They need to make one with kitties. No idea what the hell is going on in this exercise video, but I laughed so hard I snorted like a pig.
• On January 12 2007, Joshua Bell played a 43-minute concert at the L'Enfant Plaza, one of the stops on Washington DC's metro. It was an unannounced free mall-side concert given by one of the best (probably the best) violin virtuosos ever. He played on a 1710 Stradivari. JS Bach's Chaconne, Schubert's Ave Maria, and other masterpieces ended... to thunderous silence. He made $32 in change, after 1070 people rushed by, few even looking his way.  He usually makes about $1000 per minute. You can hear him for a short while in the video clip in the middle of the article.
• Dementia Care costs worldwide reach $315 billion.
• A list of things to make your offline life easier. My favorite, of course, is to not feel ashamed to use a ManPurse. I have several. Unlike the author of the article, I don't think backpacks count.
• Now they're saying that glucosamine and chondroitin may not offer any real benefits. I've been taking a supplement (the pills are so big I had to check the label to make sure they weren't suppositories). I think they have increased my flexibility, and it has been a long time since I've had a flair up. Figures. Next thing you know, they'll be telling us that there are problems with Ambien... Oh, wait...

Fish? or does the business just Smell Bad?

A PalmPix shot of one of two surviving Beta's kept in glass jars around the nurses' station. It's part of the Fish! philosophy, based on this book about increasing productivity in the workplace.

It started with the fish-hurling antics of the fishmongers at Seattle's Pike Place Fish Company, where to the delight of tourists, fishmongers hurl fish through the air and then subsequently catch and wrap them for the tourists. I am not sure exactly how this logic works, but it has turned into a productivity tool for big businesses (including hospitals). The concept is sound: if workers relate to one another (and to their leaders) on an emotional level that indicates trust, commitment, honesty, pride and humor, those workers tend to be more productive, and tend to provide better customer service.

I dunno. It seems to me simply TELLING people to be happy and thus become more productive seems, intuitively, silly. People are happy because they are happy, and provide good customer service because they have the training, the ability, and the desire to do so. I'm not sure how this can successfully be mandated by management.

Especially hospital management.

Again, corporate lemmings pay good money to attend a workshop, they get a free book, they buy a dozen fish (who die horrible deaths that have led to nightmares on my part) and they wonder why people don't just start laughing themselves silly while nursing productivity goes through the roof and patient care becomes superlative with Press Ganey's all at the 99th percentile.

They can't figure out why nurses are leaving the bedside, many to leave the nursing industry altogether.

They can't figure out that patients do indeed want that special personal touch -- but more importantly, would like to survive their hospital stay with their life and limbs intact.

They are bemused and befuddled by the number of nurses who are opting for "travel" nursing positions -- and yet own permanent residences less than 20 miles from where they are employed as "travelers."

They wonder why agency nursing, where the guarantees of no-nonsense non-political "fish free" per-diem pay "inexplicably" draw seasoned nurses away from traditional core positions.

Unbelievable.

Cleaning out my files...

I have had a pretty productive couple of days working in my office. I have reduced the number of manila folders in my filing system by 54 folders and about three reams of paper (I still don’t know where I can drive it to shred it, it will take me FOREVER to shred it on my own shredder). I’ve sent a couple emails to local corporate shredding services, but I’m probably not the kind of customer they serve – their ads mention coming by with big trucks carrying shredders the size of refrigerators, or they want to come by and put a wooden box about half the size of a clothes dryer, and for a monthly fee, they come out and pick up the box. When I show them my little crate box with my three reams of paper, they will laugh. None have mentioned the possibility of me driving myself down there and doing the shredding myself.

If there are any entrepreneurs out there, this seems to be a real unfulfilled need.

I’ve also managed to more effectively use my ToDo list with next-action items and I trust my system pretty well. I can go to my palm first thing in the morning, and with only a few moments of reading, can get started on my first task of the day. I try to make them easy ones just to give me a positive blast at the beginning of the day. My large projects I save for after the first hour or two of starting.

I’ve set up a new category, “Productivity,” to handle this latest craze of mine.