2013 Reading List – Q1

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Here’s a quick post for today. I wanted to share the books I’ve read (or are currently reading) from the first quarter of this year through today. I’ve been trying to read as much as I can to keep my brain sharp and my knowledge broad so there’s quite a lot of variation in there.

That’s it. It’s quite a mix but there’s something for everyone in there. Have you read anything awesome lately? Post a link in the comments!

Daily Gratitude

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This is the first in a series of posts about staying positive and being content with life as it is. I prefer to approach my life with the mindset that one’s mental state is a choice and you can either choose to focus on the negative things or search out the positive. I tend to choose the good rather than the bad. I’ve learned and developed several habits and techniques for achieving contentedness throughout my life. I want to share them with the world and help you be happier and more positive!

People are always asking me “How are you always so positive?”. So, I figured I’d start answering it with real-world, practical techniques that I’ve learned and employed over time to shift my overall perception on life. Trust me, it isn’t easy. There was a time, not too long ago, when I was a very negative person. I spent many years severely depressed during which time I was sad, angry, and lonely. It was only through regular practice of an array of rituals and methods that I’ve been able to come full circle. To live a life where very little affects me negatively anymore.

One of the most, if not the most, useful techniques one can develop is incorporating daily gratitude into life. On a daily basis you can use the following steps to express thankfulness and raise your happiness level. These gratitudes can range from the general “I am grateful to be alive” to the specific “I’m grateful to know how to avoid global variables when writing vanilla JavaScript”. It doesn’t matter too much what you’re grateful for really … thats up to you. Here are three steps you can follow to incorporate daily gratitude into your life.

Write it down!

Whether it’s in your journal, a text file on your computer, or a fresh sheet of paper, this practice has more impact when you put the words down where you can see them. Sometimes these will seem trivial and sometimes they’ll be heady but they just have to matter to you. They just need to be things you’re actually thankful for.

Feel Thankful

This step is all about feeling and thinking. What’s bothering you? Is there a different way you can look at it? What’s good in your life? What can you really be thankful for? Be sure to really feel the emotion and experience the gratitude. This will help your mind to accept the positive energy this practice creates

Do It Everyday

Set a reminder. Make a calendar event. Put it on your todo list. Regardless of the method you use, do this everyday and you’ll start feeling better straight away. I tend to include my gratitude in my 750 word daily writings. This uses the concept of cornerstone habits where, since you’re already doing one thing, there’s less friction to do another thing in the same area or context.

Smile and Breathe

During the process of recording your gratitude try forcing yourself to smile. Chances are, you won’t have to force it but it’s impossible to be angry or sad if you keep smiling. Make sure to breathe deeply and relax … this should be an almost meditative process. Not everyday is going to be amazing and it’s up to you to shine the light into the darkness.

Take today for instance. It was a chilly 29 degrees when I woke up around 08:00. It had been snowing yesterday and the sky was a lifeless, grey color. There was a time not long ago when that would’ve ruined my whole day, especially if I had been hoping for nice weather. We’ve all been there. Instead of bemoaning how “crappy” or “dreary” the day was, you can chose to look on the bright side and look for things you can appreciate.

No matter the weather, if you’re alive to experience it you’re way ahead of the game. If you’ve got two functioning legs and two working arms you’re a lot better off than a large swath of the population. Got a roof over your head? Food in your cupboards? You’re living the life now!

While those all might seem like trivial, obvious things they are still things we tend to take for granted and rarely give more than a passing thought to (if that). The point of daily gratitude is to help you recognize the things in life that you can be thankful for. That might be your girlfriend, your husband, your kids, or your new watch. Once you start thinking of things to be grateful for it’s often difficult to stop!

So, the next time you wake up grumpy or can’t get out of a funk try being thankful. Show some gratitude. You’ll be amazed at how much this will shift your mood and energy to a more positive spectrum. Give it a try and let me know how it goes! Oh … and thank you for reading!

Cleartones :: Ringtones You’ll Actually Want to Hear

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Notifications are not my thing. Almost every app I install I immediately deny it’s request to allow notifications. I can’t stand icon badges. I ruthlessly review my notification center settings app by app to ensure that I’m only receiving notifications how and when I want them. My Do Not Disturb turns on automatically between 22:00 and 07:00. Even after all of that, I had a habit of keeping my phone on silent so I could be distracted even less by new text messages or emails. This has been a pretty common thread among some of the authors I read online so, when one of them spoke up in favor of a ringtone set, I was intrigued to say the least.

The ringtones I’m referring to are known as Cleartones Organics: a minimalist, natural, professional set of ringtones and notification sounds. The company also produces a non-organic set of tones and sounds but I was way more interested in the natural stuff. The tones are comprised of recorded instruments including bells, chimes, wood blocks, and others. I had put off buying it because, well, I found it hard to legitimize spending any money on ringtones, let alone $10 or $17. Boy was I wrong. After months of re-scheduling a reminder to pick this up I finally decided to take the plunge and purchased the organic ringtone set. I decided not to go with the full organic set but I quickly learned what a bad decision that was and got ahold of the notification sounds before writing this review.

You can listen to a sampling of the sounds included on their web site so it’s not an entirely deaf purchase. Once I listened I was hooked on these beautiful, minimal tones. After you pay for your purchase you’re provided with a link to download a zip file containing all the sound files. The set included ringtones optimized for both iOS and Android so everyone can use them. If you’ve put ringtones on your phone before you’ll know exactly what to do. As I was one of the uninitiated (I’ve never put a ringtone on my iPhone), the steps are fairly straightforward. Cleartones provides these when you buy your set but here they are in case you really need to know. Warning: These instructions are for iOs users. I don’t have an Android phone and haven’t the slightest idea what you would need to do.

  1. Unzip the archive
  2. Open iTunes
  3. Open up Preferences
  4. Under the Show section, make sure that Tones is checked
  5. Select Tones in your library
  6. Drag the audio files into the Tones section
  7. Plug in your iOs device
  8. You should now have a Tones menu item when selecting a specific device
  9. Click on Tones (mine was next to Apps)
  10. Choose your sync options (selected or all tones)
  11. Sync your device

Once that is complete you will be able to assign these new sounds to events on your phone through the Sounds section of the System app. At this point, you can go nuts setting each ring and notification to your exacting specifications. One cool feature of iOS is that you can set specific sounds for specific contacts which adds to the level of customization afforded to you by having 100 elegant, beautiful sounds at your disposal.

An interesting byproduct of getting these tones on my phone is that I started using the built in clock and calendar notifications again just so I could hear them! I now love getting a text message or a new email because the sounds my phone makes are no longer jarring or electronic. They’re calming and relaxing. I actually like hearing my phone go off … and leave it on ring almost all the time. Another benefit of these ringtones that I love is that they aren’t the embarrassing, lo-fi ringtones we’ve all heard before. They’re the kind of sounds that you wouldn’t mind going off around a client or in a meeting. It’s not that lame 90’s rap song that you thought would be cute. It isn’t your favorite cartoon character’s catch phrase. It’s not a robot announcing your phone’s brand. We’ve all known one of those novelty ringtone folks at some point or another. Come one, let’s keep it classy!

My girlfriend loved these tones so much that I picked up a copy of the ringtone set for her as well and you’ll be tempted to buy them as gifts for the everyone you know. Trust me, you will not be disappointed when you buy these ringtones. The next time your phone rings in a busy office or airport, there will be no doubt that it’s your phone. You’ll see other people’s heads turn to see what made that lovely sound. Seriously, it’s time to dump those 90’s style video game noises and step up your game with Cleartones, the best notification sounds available … period.

Three Rockstar Tips for Curing Your Insomnia

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I’ve suffered from insomnia all of my life. When I was a younger man I loathed sleeping. I felt as if I was wasting precious hours of my life in the doldrums of slumber. I was a quintessential night-owl and even late into the morning I would have trouble falling asleep. This lead to chronic oversleeping and regularly pissing off my ma. As I’ve gotten older, I require much more sleep to function than I used to but I still have a very hard time falling asleep. Whether it’s due to an over-active mind or too much caffeine I still can’t fall asleep without considerable effort. In my search to conquer this interminable foe I’ve tried countless techniques, mostly without success. So, over the last year as part of my energy management makeover, I’ve learned and applied some amazing new techniques that have helped me fall asleep faster and more reliably than ever before.

First off, I ran across a product on Amazon one day called the Nightwave which was referenced in a post I was reading. It’s a small device that emits a pulsating blue light that you watch and sync your breathing with. Inhale when the light grows, exhale as it fades. I did not feel comfortable spending nearly $40 on a hardware device and set about finding an iOS app that could do the same thing. I ended up with Sleep Lantern and it is a fantastic software implementation of the Nightwave hardware concept.

So, every night before bed I plug in my iPad mini, start up Sleep Lantern and I’m asleep (most nights) within 15 minutes of hitting the sack. I set the timer for an 11 minute session and am usually asleep before the cycle ends. This app alone has revolutionized falling asleep quickly and it is incredibly relaxing as well. It works so well that my girlfriend, who doesn’t even have my problems with insomnia, asks me to put it on when we fall asleep together.

Secondly, I discovered the wonder supplement called melatonin. I take 3mg about thirty minutes before I want to fall asleep and it naturally relaxes the body, enabling a smooth transition from waking to sleeping. In recent years I’ve become a convert to the power of vitamins and natural remedies and melatonin has become yet another weapon in my fight against sleeplessness.

Lastly, on those really bad nights, I’ll put on my favorite noise generator Simply Noise and allow the dulcet sounds of pulsating brown noise to help me relax my mind and drown out any other noises that could distract me or keep me awake. I use this app all the time when I need to focus or remove distractions from my environment and it works equally well in dispelling insomnia.

Using these tools and techniques you can regulate your circadian rhythm to get better quality sleep (and more of it!) every night. I never thought I’d be that person who goes to sleep at 11:00pm and wakes at 7:30am everyday but, by utilizing the tricks outlined in this post, I’ve become someone who rarely goes a night without six or seven hours of solid sleep and you can too! Do you have any tips for curing insomnia? Post ‘em in the comments below!

Toggle Notifications in Mountain Lion using Drafts and Hazel

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Everyday, when I kick back in my arm chair to meditate, I usually make sure to turn on “Do Not Disturb” mode on both my iPhone and disable notifications on my Mac. That way messages and outside distractions are silenced when I need them to be. It is very important to me that my meditation goes uninterrupted and notifications have a way of happening right when you least expect them to. Unfortunately, I often forget to disable notifications on my Mac and it’s usually just as I’ve pulled up a blanket and closed my eyes. This leads to me having to get up and turn off notifications and then having to start the relaxation process all over again.

I did this today and I thought to myself “There has to be a way to automate this”. So, I postponed my daily nap and got jamming on some research. As I began thinking how to start this automation I was reminded of a technique I saw a while back that used Drafts and Hazel to change the volume on your Mac. You can read about it here. I was then reminded of this post on TUAW about scheduling Do Not Disturb mode with AppleScript and Automator. So, after a bit of searching, I found both articles and got to work combining the techniques for my own purpose.

First off, this automation won’t be for everyone. It requires a few applications that aren’t free (but are awesome) and some nerdiness that some users might not be ready for. Nevertheless, if you’re feeling daring then read on. Here’s the list of what you’ll need to follow along:

  1. A Mac running Mountain Lion
  2. An iPhone
  3. Drafts (iOS)
  4. Hazel (Mac)
  5. Dropbox
  6. disable-dnd.applescript
  7. enable-dnd.applescript

Once you’re setup with the apps and environment detailed above you’ll be ready to go. The first thing I did was grab the two scripts from the TUAW post and modify them for use with Hazel. Namely I just needed to put the code inside of a block like so:

on hazelProcessFile(theFile)
    — Do stuff here
end hazelProcessFile

Then I created a Drafts action to toggle DND mode. BONUS: Click this link on your phone to import the action. My action creates a file called dnd.txt in a Dropbox folder. In my case thats /Apps/Drafts although you can set this in the app. I set the action to create a new file and drop the text from my draft into the body of the note.

Then I popped open Hazel on my Mac. After adding the Drafts folder to the folder list I created two rules … one for disabling notifications and another for enabling them. These rules take action depending on what text is found in the contents of the file and can be downloaded here. I used the following codes:

  • ddnd = disable notifications
  • ednd = enable notifications

I set the Hazel rules to run the corresponding script if the above codes are found in the file being analyzed. Once the script has been run I also set the rule to move the file to the Trash. After a bit of testing it worked!!

Now when I sit down to meditate, nap, or just don’t want to be disturbed I can just open Drafts, create a new note with the contents ddnd, trigger my toggle dnd action and voilà, notifications are disabled on my Mac and I didn’t need to leave my chair! If I want to enable notifications I just do the same thing but type in the code ednd. Not only was this a practical and useful automation, it also allowed me to try out some techniques I’d never used before. Anybody got any other awesome automations like this? Let me know in the comments.

John Barleycorn and I are breaking up … again

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I didn’t drink a drop of alcohol last year. Seriously … I went 365 days without touching a drop. To say this was a monumental achievement would be the understatement of the decade. I’d been a pretty heavy drinker since my teens and in 2011 it really got bad. Dealing with the death of a friend while simultaneously going through a very bad breakup would have been bad enough but I was also broke all the time and the company was not doing well. I was drinking every chance I got. I was even drinking on my lunch breaks instead of eating!

During this time I lost control of every single aspect of my life. I was out of shape. I was totally checked out at work. I was doing nothing to improve myself and I had pretty much alienated almost every friend I had. I was angry and negative. I was withdrawn and moody. I felt like everyone was against me and no one gave a damn what I was going through.

After several months of this self-imposed prison sentence, things eventually came to a head at the office and I was told, in no uncertain terms, that if I didn’t stop drinking I would lose my position and standing at my own company. When put in such a polarizing position, the choice was easy and I stopped drinking. I checked myself into a behavioral cognitive therapy program and got sober. During that time I grew immensely as a person and got my life under control for what felt like the first time ever.

When I resigned from the company this year I felt free, like I had all the world in front of me. I also let loose a bit and told myself that, after an entire year of putting other people’s expectations ahead of my own needs and desires, I was entitled to relax a bit and have a drink or two. Invariably this worried those closest to me but I assured everyone I was fine. I could handle it. I wanted to live a little. Turns out, I was dead wrong.

See, my decision to stop drinking in 2012 wasn’t much of a decision and wasn’t really “mine”. It was a situation that was forced on me by my “best friends” and colleagues. None of these people actually cared about me, they were just concerned about business, about the dollars and cents. They were worried about their titles and positions and I had become a major obstacle for them. Nothing more. Since I wasn’t about to let a gang of woud-be usurpers take my life’s work from me I got sober ASAP. I took back control of my life and (I thought) my company. I struggled with my demons and I conquered my fears. Not a one of those so-called “friends” gave a crap. None of them believed I could actually do it. In fact, I’ve always believed that the option to get sober was really just a way for them to make themselves feel better and give me enough rope to hang myself. No one was prepared for me to actually get sober.

So, I stayed on the straight and narrow path. I stopped hanging out with friends. I stopped going to shows. I stopped doing pretty much everything in order to avoid the temptation to drink. I was miserable in some ways but I was sober for the first time since junior high. It didn’t improve any of the relationships I had already destroyed in my professional life but it did wonders for my relationship with the woman I love. So I stuck with it and really learned to enjoy sobriety.

The worst part about quitting drinking is a thing I’d never heard of prior to therapy. It’s a beast of a condition called anhedonia and it’s one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever endured. Basically, after years of maintaining artificially high levels of dopamine caused by heavy and excessive drinking my brain couldn’t actually enjoy things normally anymore. The lower, natural levels of dopamine that are present when one enjoys something weren’t enough for me to actually feel any joy. Everything was boring. All food was bland. Sex wasn’t fun or enjoyable. My work, which has always been a source of immense joy, stopped being rewarding. I was frightened and scared. I felt like a numb, wooden soldier and I didn’t know when, or if, things would change. Eventually, my brain’s tolerance to dopamine was lowered and I was able to start enjoying things like a normal person.

I never want to experience anhedonia again.

So, what’s all this got to do with John Barleycorn and why am I writing this post? John Barleycorn is the personification of alcohol in an old British folk song and was used by Jack London as the title of his auto-biography. I’ve recently been reading a great series of posts on his life and his pursuit of thumos. His opinions about alcohol interested me a great deal. Jack London had never particularly liked drinking but, since it was the activity of choice for the world he was a part of, he did it to be part of the crowd, to fit in. He writes quite a bit about how John Barleycorn is a thief and a charlatan. It began to dawn on me that I had my own troubles with old John Barleycorn and I started seeing a correlation between the person (Mr. Barleycorn) and the thing (alcohol). (BTW, if you’re looking to read some Jack London stuff you should pick up his complete works. You’ll get almost everything the man has ever written in a single Kindle book for $3 … which is just plain awesome. I just bought it.)

Over the past month I’ve allowed J.B. to sneak back in and start stealing pieces of my life again. It started out just enjoying a beer with friends. It slowly went from one or two beers to a beer and a whiskey. Then it graduated to a beer and a shot once or twice a week. Then two beers and two shots three or four times per week. Recently, I’ve been drinking a lot more than that and I’m finding myself in some of the very situations that I worked so hard to get out of last year. While my own internal struggles with my darker, self-destructive side continued, my drinking was starting to affect my relationship to the point where my girlfriend (and best friend) decided she didn’t want to be around me if I’d been drinking. This coming from the person I am about to start sharing a home (and a life!) with was an eye-opening experience and really got me analyzing my behavior and thought processes in a way I hadn’t in over a year.

After much deliberation with myself I’ve decided to quit drinking again. John Barleycorn and I are officially on the outs. I’m not going to be as militant about it this time around. I still love the occasional glass of wine with a good steak. I long for a cold beer on a hot summer day. I’m not going to deny myself these small pleasures. I will, however, stop drinking on a regular basis, putting large swaths of sobriety in between any of the times I do toss one back. I’ll save up for those special occasions and maintain a sober and healthy lifestyle otherwise. I won’t be giving up my friends or the things I love again. I just need to remain in touch with my own values and remind myself why I’m doing this. For my own sake and the sake of my new life I’m going to get this problem under control. No more excuses. No more listening to the dulcet whispers of Mr. Barleycorn. This time I’m gonna get sober and stay that way for myself, on my own terms.

Mid-afternoon Meditations

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For the past week I’ve been reading Tony Schwartz’s book, The Power of Full Engagement, and it’s really been opening my eyes to a new way of managing my life. I’ve been concentrating on my time-management quite a bit lately and working to stem the tide of my overbearing predilection to procrastinating but have been hitting some major road-blocks. I’ve regulated my sleep patterns and improved my eating habits. I’ve worked exercise into my days and have even been getting out for walks here and there. I’m making a todo list every morning and have been really good about diligently plowing through my daily tasks. That is until about 3:00 in the afternoon when I just run out of steam and my productivity takes a nose-dive. I’ve allowed it to frustrate me time and time again but those days are numbered.

The book teaches a totally new way to manage your life, not through time-management but through energy management. It provides a walk-through of several techniques to improve your ability to manage your energy through out a day to remain alert, on point, and engaged with whatever life throws at you. Ranging from tips to manage your physical energy through maintaining your spiritual energy by focusing on what’s really important, this book is a wonderful tool in the fight against energy depletion.

One of the tips I’ve really taken to as of late is the practice of taking a mid-afternoon break wherein I lie down, relax, and just focus on my breathing for 30 minutes. I grab a blanket, stretch out in my easy chair, and let go for a little while. The technique is based on Zen Buddhist techniques that are thousands of years old so who am I to argue? Making this minor change to my daily routine has introduced a new level of productivity that has surprised me a great deal. After a meditation session I’m more alert, have more energy, and I’m able to get back to work with more focus and determination.

I’m really bad at relaxing though, and always have been. I’m one of those “my brain never shuts off” types so it’s always been difficult for me to just stop, breathe, and take a break. Unfortunately, this doesn’t change the fact that I actually need a break. Historically I’ve just pushed past it, worked through it, or become distracted by any number of shiny things. I’ve experimented before with various noise generators to help me focus on a specific task and to relax before bed with great success. I use a few different apps for this. On my iPhone I regularly use an app called Simply Noise which is a brown, pink, and white noise generator. About two months ago I stumbled onto a gem of an app called Magic Mind (sorry, Mac only) which blends nature sounds, relaxing melodies and isochronic tones in an array of programs designed to bring about specific frames of mind. It’s been incredibly useful when meditating because it allows me to focus internally while blocking out the sounds of everyday life.

There have been countless historic figures that have been staunch proponents of a siesta or nap in the afternoon. I’d always held the opinion that naps were for the old, the lazy, and the very young. I never thought I’d become a napper but I’ve discovered a way to extend my energy and focus while simultaneously obtaining some much needed relaxation. While it’s true that working from home allows me much more freedom to engage in this act than if I had a regular 9 to 5 gig, that doesn’t mean I would stop the practice if I were to go back to that life. At this point, I’m a total convert to the mid-afternoon meditation and will be making this habit a permanent one. How about you? Do you have any meditation stories or tips to share or questions about my own techniques? Let me know in the comments below!

Reader’s death gave me a Fever

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I’ve been an RSS user for longer than I can remember. It’s been my de-facto way to get news and consume web content for at least the last seven years. I started out using NetNewsWire and, in combination with Google Reader, it forever changed my RSS usage. I was able to ramp up the amount of content I could consume to never before seen heights. Over time I tried out several different clients but the backbone remained the same … Google Reader.

Once I got my 1st generation iPad, I immediately saw it as the perfect way to consume news feeds and subsequently tried out every RSS client I could get my hands on (or afford). Eventually, I settled on FeedlerPro which, while not the prettiest app in the world, gave me the unprecedented ability to check my news feeds anytime, anywhere, quickly and easily. When I got my iPhone 4, I picked up the iPhone version of FeedlerPro and was in RSS sync heaven.

I could check my news feeds on my phone and weed out the cruft and read things of interest. Later, I could browse new articles at my leisure in between tasks at work on my iPad. At lunch, I’d use my Mac to power through the remaining new articles and spend a considerable amount of time in the “blogosphere“. This setup lasted for awhile but, in time, my needs changed and I went looking for a new RSS client solution.

I’d been hearing great things about Reeder for iPhone and, when it went on sale last year, I gave it a shot. It replaced FeedlerPro in an instant and the app has remained on my home screen ever since. It’s beautiful, fast, and fun to use. I’d heard some noise that the iPad version of Reeder wasn’t as close to being as good as Reeder was for iPhone so I went looking for something else. It turns out during my first forays into this arena I’d already purchased (and deleted) the app that turned out to be a perfect RSS companion for iPad, Mr. Reader. On the Mac I also ended up using Reeder which is such a beautiful and capable app that I sometimes open it up just to look at it’s simple lines and understated color scheme … oh, and also to get new cat videos!

This has been my trifecta of news ever since. Unfortunately, I never gave much thought to the glue that held it all precariously in place. I had been using Google Reader to sync and store all my subscriptions and unread articles. I’d never given a second thought to it because hey, it’s Google. They’re not going anywhere, right? Wrong. Recently Google announced that they are shutting down the Reader project on July 1st, 2013. The end. Chapter closed. Fuck off millions of loyal users.

Since then the pundits have been out in droves discussing the finer points of why the decision was made, who wins vs. who loses, what’re we going to now. While much of the discussion is interesting, I really didn’t care about most of it. All I cared about was figuring out how I was going to save my news feed routines and maintain a synchronized RSS subscription service. While plenty of offerings are coming out of the woodwork (Feedbin.me, Newsblur, Feedly) I wasn’t happy with any of them. The problem was, I never used the web interface for Reader. I only used it as a syncing service. That being the case, I used clients on various platforms to interface with my RSS feeds which meant I had to find a syncing solution that worked on iPad, iPhone, and Mac. This proved quite difficulty due to the abrupt nature of the announcement from Google and the relatively young (almost infantile) alternatives.

A few months back I had heard some chatter about a self-hosted feed syncing service that piqued my interest. Not because I needed a new service (after all, I had Google Reader right?) but because it was an independent developer charging money for quality software and I’m all for that. At the time, I really didn’t have the cash to lay out for software I really didn’t need and I didn’t have a web host or domain to install the software on. Fast forward to the present day and the software is much more relevant to me (and possibly anyone else who’s a fan of RSS).

So, last weekend I took the plunge and purchased a license for Fever and I am so happy I did. Fever is a self-hosted RSS syncing application that runs on a web server using PHP and other standard web technologies. It is supported by Reeder and also has a beautiful iPhone client called Sunstroke. It’s private and wholly controlled by me. It’s nirvana.

I’ve never used web software that installed so seamlessly and easily. After I setup my account I was able to download the source code and upload it to a folder on my web server using SFTP. Once the files were copied, I ran a script which verified that my server could handle the install. After confirming I could run Fever I was issued my license (after happily forking over $30) and was able to start using it immediately. I grabbed an OPML version of my Google Reader feeds and imported that file into Fever. Once I got my iPhone hooked up properly I was able to read my feeds! Simple. Easy. Fantastic.

The feeds in Fever are separated into two main buckets, Kindling and Sparks. I’m still getting used to how the two interact but basically, feeds that are sparks are used to aggregate content from your kindling and produce “hot links”. These links are given a temperature as to how relevant they are to you based on the algorithms that analyze your feeds. I’m still a total newb at this so my hot links haven’t really been all that hot. It’s really of no consequence because you can read your kindling and sparks without ever using the hot links feature.

Fever provides tons of customization and preferences for the software, the feed groups, and the individual feeds you’ve subscribed to. You can change the default ordering of posts, show unread counts (or not), and even add your own sharing mechanisms (if you know how to piece together the proper URL for whatever service you’re using). I used this to setup a Pinboard sharing shortcut because, well, because I could (and Pinboard freaking rules)!

There are plenty of keyboard shortcuts too for you efficiency geeks out there (wait … I’m one of those geeks). You can show or hide read and unread articles, open links in your browser, show excerpts, and a host of other fun stuff, all without your hands leaving the keyboard. This is a must have feature for me and it’s just another reason why this is one heck of a great piece of software.

All that being said, Fever isn’t going to be right for everyone and parts of it still aren’t perfect for me. The lack of any iPad clients is a big let down. I love my iPad mini and read on it all the time. I’d really like to be able to consume my news feeds on the device but there’s just nothing out there yet. The need to run your own server and having to install software on it could be pretty daunting for the non-tech savvy crowd out there. There’s also no native Mac client. I was able to work around that by using Fluid to interface with the app and it’s been a pretty good bandaid solution for now. There’s news that Reeder for Mac and iPad might eventually get Fever support like their iPhone client and I’m excited to see where that goes.

All in all, I’m very happy with my choice to go this route for my RSS needs. I’m able to happily subscribe and read all the news feeds I want knowing that my syncing service isn’t going anywhere. I can rest assured that I’ve helped a fellow independent developer make some money and stay in business for a while longer. While everyone else will be lamenting the fall of Google Reader in July, I won’t be affected in the slightest. Seriously, if you’re worried about how you’re going to sync your news feeds when Reader shuts down, look no further than Fever. You’ll be glad you did.

[Book Review] DK Essential Managers: Project Management

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I’ve been managing projects for years … probably most of my adult life. Everything from digitizing medical equipment blueprints to complex web applications to playing in bands. Over the last several years my work led me to research and learn quite a bit about project management in a more formal manner than I’d ever known it before. Over time I’ve refined my knowledge but I’m always searching for ways to make project management better, smoother, and more accurate. After digging around I found a link to the DK Essential Managers: Project Management book, was impressed by its succinct but informative content, and want to let everyone know about it.

This book turned out to be a no-nonsense, real-world manual for project management. Sure, you won’t find any in-depth case studies or anecdotal stories about fictitious characters doing what the book says but if you’re looking for a practical, go-to book then look no further. At $4.99 for the Kindle version this book is incredibly well priced for any budget and the value you’ll get from it far outweighs the cost. The paperback can be had for as low as $2.75 if you want (or need) a hard copy. If you do any project management at all, this book will guide you through the steps needed to help you keep your projects healthy.

The book uses a six phase approach which provides a rough outline for any type of project. They are:

  1. Initiation
  2. Definition
  3. Planning
  4. Control
  5. Implementation
  6. Review

The book takes you chapter-by-chapter through each of the six phases, providing solid advice and real-world solutions to common scenarios and problems. I wish I’d found this book 5 years ago … it would have saved me a lot of time, energy, and money. All of the infomation presented can be applied to projects of any size and of any type, making it a versatile and definitive field manual for managing the stuff you need to get done.

The section on time estimataion was an especially relevant topic as I’m working to get my own life back on a decent schedule while repairing some routines and habits. In the past, my time-management skills have left something to be desired and it’s an area I’m constantly working to improve. One of the things I was focused on when working with a development team was improving our ability to estimate work before, during, and after projects. I struggled to find concrete, useable advice on estimation techniques, formulas, and the like. I found a lot of theories but nothing that I felt could be reliably applied to our work or could repeatedly produce accurate estimates. This book’s section on the subject is a scant 2 pages but it’s filled with more useable tips than I’ve found in books that devoted two or three times that.

The book covers everything from team management to risk assessment (and beyond), all the while giving you step-by-step guidelines to follow. Now, I’ve been doing this long enough to know that no two projects are exactly (or even remotely) alike so you can’t repeat any plan to the letter and expect stellar results. The steps in this book are more like rails to set your own project management style on. You’ll need to analyze each stage of any project and apply the proper technique in order to improve project performance. After reading this book you’ll be armed with all sorts of tips and tricks you can use. If you’re already doing project management, you’ll use this book like a reference manual. If you’re just getting started this book could be your lifeline. No matter what, if you’re looking for a quick and informative read about project management, do yourself a favor and buy this book.

Cohabitation Chronicles – Trial Runs

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One of the things I suggested when Jordan and I first started talking about living together was the idea of having “trial runs”. These were basically mini simulations of real-world situations that we would find ourselves in when living together. The thought process was that if we could stage enough of these trial runs then we could expose any unknown issues and differences we might have. That way we could discuss them and work out our options before the situations were a full-time reality. We tried our first one this week and it was a smashing success.

The first trial run we did was weekly chores. Generally, we do our chores in our own apartments separately and on different days. One of the biggest goals I have for sharing a home is to not let the mundanities of life get in the way of our happiness and enjoyment of each other. I’ve seen it happen too many times and want to reduce undue friction from regular day-to-day duties as early as possible. So I offered (and she graciously agreed) to help out with her weekly chores. This way I could get a sense of the number, intensity, and overall process of chores as she performs them so I would be able to help out accordingly when I move in at the end of the month.

One of the things I really dig about our relationship is that we’re both total nerds and it applies to a great many aspects in our lives. In this case, my girl emailed me a basic list of chores in the afternoon (in Taskpaper format no less … man I love her). I grabbed that and put it into my Dropbox and shared the Taskpaper file with her. When I got to her place later, we realized that the syncing between shared files in Taskpaper left something to be desired … namely, it didn’t sync them. So, I had the bright idea of using Avocado for this. If you haven’t heard about it, Avocado is a private communication app for couples and it rocks. It has a host of amazing features but the one were interested in was the shared lists. I copied the tasks from the original into a new shared list and it synced perfectly between our phones. We tested it to make sure that completing items synced as well and, satisfied with our tech solution, we were off!

Jordan started out by giving me a tour of her apartment, describing how she normally cleans each area and what process she usually follows. It was a very eye-opening experience for me. I’d spent hundreds of hours in her apartment over the last year but now I was looking at it from a whole new perspective. Along the way we talked about different procedures for cleaning certain furniture and problem areas of the house. Within the first fifteen minutes we hit a pretty tense point because, well, we couldn’t be more opposite in some of our cleaning regiments and I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. So, we decided not to push it and just got down to cleaning.

One of the things I love about cleaning and doing chores is that, for the most part, your body is on autopilot so your brain is allowed to meander and entertain itself. So, while cleaning the dust off of lamps and wiping crumbs off of the coffee table (I’ve got to build a new one of those for us) I kicked around all of the things we had just discussed. Here were some of the main difference we found right away:

  • I’m a Windex kinda guy (I get it from my mother!) … Jordan is an all natural cleaner type of lady.
  • I love a good scrubby sponge … she’d rather use a cloth and avoid the germs.
  • I use copious amounts of Formula 409 on everything … she makes her own degreaser from orange peels and vinegar
  • I use a bucket and dish detergent to mop the floor … she puts a capful of Pine Sol in the sink with hot water

The list goes on a bit but you can see a few patterns come to light. First off, I have obviously lived on my own without any female influence for too long. Second, I use a lot more chemicals than she does. Thirdly, well, a lot of her ways are just plain better for our health, the cats’ health, and the earth’s health. After a while I really came around to a lot of her ideas and appreciated the additional need to use a little more elbow grease. We will definitely have to find a better solution than hand towels for some of the cleaning tasks but I’m really digging the way she cleans her house and together, we were a chore-crushing powerhouse.

I am of the opinion that if we didn’t do this trial run, we would have waited until we were living in (and dirtying up) the same space. Then one of us, on our own schedule and accord, would have done some or all of the chores in their own way. This inevitably would cause tension which could turn into more stress and possibly residual animosity between us. By taking ourselves through this simulation we were able to expose, face, and accommodate our personal differences and come together for the good of our home. We have a few more of these trial runs planned for the upcoming month (including a 4-day non-stop sleepover!) so I’ll be sure to drop the details here. Got any tips for getting chores done with your girl (or guy)? Share ‘em in the comments!