Since I became a Mac user about two years ago, I’ve had basically zero problems with my Macbook Pro. It just works.
However, when I was on vacation in Oahu last week, I installed an update to the OS (via the automatic software update feature) and the machine quit booting and started complaining of a crash in Spotlight. Basically, it wouldn’t boot up and it was unusable.
I tried a bunch of stuff on my own based on articles that I could find on the Apple support site and elsewhere. I also ran Disk Warrior to try to correct the problem myself. Nothing was working - and I was “without laptop.” Yikes!
I was returning to Boulder from Oahu yesterday, so before I left to catch my flight I made an appointment at the Apple store in Boulder at the Genius Bar for 8pm last night (Friday). I had no idea what to expect, but figured I’d try it out. So far, so good - it was nice that I could get an appointment for the next day, even at night when it was very convenient.
I got there a few minutes early, and they called me right on time at 8pm. I explained what had happened, and the guy got right to work on my Macbook Pro. He had the ability to easily do a network boot from my machine, and that included all sorts of diagnostic tools he could use. Within 3 minutes, he was rerunning the cumulative O/S updates for Leopard. This took about 10 minutes to complete, and my machine started working just fine again. I left the Apple store by 8:30 - no charge.
My normal email routine has been (for about ten years):
Keep it open all the time, letting my email client check for email once a minute and potentially make a little “ding” sound if my speakers are on.
Check my email very often - sort of a constant micro task within any major task I am working on (even while I was programming)
Treat email items in my inbox as a sort of to-do list.
Once a month or so, go nuts and “clean it” down to about 20-30 items.
Repeat.
This is obviously pretty distracting and disorganized, but somehow it’s always worked for me as a knowledge worker.
I’m always late to the party on stuff like this, but I’m giving Inbox Zero a shot based on all the hubbub from my Twitterverse. When I read about Inbox Zero, it really boiled down to just common sense. You convert every message in your inbox into an action. Those actions (for me) are (in order of preference):
Delete/Archive
Forward/Delegate
Respond Now and Delete (I’m using a relaxed 3 sentences rule at the 95th percentile - it’s stupid to me to be so rigid as to never allow more when there’s merit to having more)
Defer (goes in my to-do list, I’m using the GTD-influenced tool called “Ghost Action” for it’s utter simplicity - so far so good)
Do it Now (just do the necessary thing, if it will take me just a few minutes)
Today was the first day I committed to trying this system, and I had 150 messages in my inbox. My inbox has alway acted as a near term to-do list for me. Of those 150 messages, I applied the first action (Delete/Archive) to about 60% of them - I was really surprised it was that many. After all, this had been my “to-do” list that was sitting in my inbox. Well, I had already done a bunch of them but hadn’t gotten to a “clean up/purge” event for my inbox yet so they were still sitting there, annoying me every minute of every day. I delegated a few things, and just took care of a few things, and created to-do items in Ghost Action for about 15 things. So, really, only 10% of what was in my inbox at the start of the process was really a to-do like I thought it was.
And now, my inbox gives me a really nice feeling when I look at it:
I also set my mail app to only check for email once an hour. There are really very few “fires” that have to be dealt with right now in my email. My goal here is to not be so distracted by email and consciously “process” it on a schedule rather than to just “check it” all the time to see what’s going on and react randomly to some of it but not all of it. This is really the key insight of Inbox Zero - again it’s just common sense.
I’ve tried “getting organized” in my email before, and have failed. This time I am using some best practices that I found and a key difference is the process vs check philosophy, so I feel like this time it can work.
My only real fear is that people will not perceive me to be as “fast” to respond on email. I have about 10 contacts that often write me for a very quick answer to something. I often respond in minutes, and I think they often count on that. I’ve taken pride in that. But when I think about that expectation, I think it’s bogus. Hopefully it won’t be a big deal.
I’ll blog more about my progress with it and let you know if it’s sticks for me or not. If you’re using this system, please let me know any key tips/insights that you’ve learned.
I’ve got over a year of blogging under my belt now (along with a big bacon classic), and one question is burning in my mind.
Did I make a mistake by going with multiple blogs? This is my personal blog, and as you can see, I blog about all kinds of stupid stuff, right along with some other, perhaps interesting stuff. I use this blog for sometimes random, sometimes technology, and sometimes personal/family thoughts. Then I have ColoradoStartups.com (which is more widely read) where I try to stay very much “on topic”.
On the one hand, it’s really nice to be able to blog about stuff only my mother would care about, and not annoy my ColoradoStartups.com readers with that kind of junk. It’s also really nice to know I can post any random, silly thought that my friends might care about without dumbing down the content for more “serious” readers on ColoradoStartups.com.
On the other hand, I’m not building my “personal brand” (like Feld.com, or AlexKing.org). And I’m not giving my readers the full “experience of me” (as dumb as it sometimes can be). That makes me wonder if I should have just one blog.
Things got worse this summer, when I picked up the tempo on the TechStars blog. Now there are three. That one is a bit easier to decide about, because it’s a “company blog” and it gets contributions by several people, not just me. But there are certainly some articles being written on there that ColoradoStartups.com readers would enjoy.
So what’s a guy to do? Is it best to keep the blogs focused and cross post the relevant stuff on an as needed basis? Or did I make a mistake when I decided not to just blog everything on my personal blog?
Thanks to my friend Alex, I discovered these amazing Hubble photos today. I love the top photo of the aptly named Sombrero galaxy, which apparently has some 800 billion (yes, with a B) suns.
You don’t seriously think we’re alone, do you?
Yep, my name is on the moon. I admit it. I don’t actually carry the card, but I’ve been a Planetary Society member for about 10 years now.
I just got back from a family vacation. I went with David Brown and our families rented a house on the beach in San Diego. We visited Legoland, Sea World, the Zoo, etc. San Diego is a great kid-friendly town.
Randomly, I brought along An Inconvenient Truth with me to watch. David and Kris (Brown) had seen it and told me that it motivated them to buy their Prius hybrid. Gore presents some pretty compelling stats, and it certainly gets you thinking that something fundamentally new is going on. To me the most salient point is that we’ve gone from 2 billion to 6 billion people on the planet really, really quickly. This will obviously cause more stress on the planet, no matter what your views on global warming are. I thought the movie did a good job of explaining the issue, but left something to be desired in terms of how to go and do something about it. The web site has a “take action” area that picks up where the movie left off.
While I was gone and avoiding email, my friend Ari Newman invited me to join GreenDimes. This is a cool web site that makes stopping your junk mail easy. It costs about a dime a week, and they also plant a tree each month for you. Sure, you can sign up to stop your junk mail for a buck, but I wanted to get the trees too and support this site, so I signed up. If you’d like to sign up, please accept my invitation.
Anyway, I guess I’ve gone a little greener in this last week. Maybe for my next vacation, I won’t rent a SUV.
I’ve sort of reconnected with the world of education in the past few months. I’ve spoken in two different universities about TechStars in the past couple of weeks, and just met with my 5 year olds kindergarden teacher and principal today. Every time I’m around a teacher, I always get the urge to sincerely say “thank you for all you do.” This is a very under-appreciated group.
Maybe next time you meet a teacher, tell them thanks.
I had an experience tonight that backs up my theory that when people drink, it’s like a truth serem. Or maybe it’s just that since their inhibitions are lowered, they more easily say what’s on their mind.
What really sucks is when you didn’t know what was on their mind, and you find out, and it’s not such a good thing. But I suppose it’s better than just not knowing.
