Posts

Found this gem on Jim Grisanzio’s weblog…

_I hate multitasking. Absolutely despise it. Always have. I’ve poked fun at this idiotic notion of multitasking here, here, and here, too. And I try to ignore — or at least placate — people who tell me I should multitask more (as if I’m not forced to multitask enough already). Instead, I’m making a major effort to narrow my activities and focus focus focus. The more I do this the more relaxed I become and the more successful I feel.

So it was nice to read this article in Fortune today by Anne Fisher, who interviewed Stephanie Winston about her new book — Organized for Success: Top Executives and CEOs Reveal the Organizing Principles That Helped Them Reach the Top. It seems multitasking is not held in high esteem among successful senior execs:

The biggest mistake most people make, according to Winston, is multitasking. “Successful CEOs do not multitask,” she told me. “They concentrate intensely on one thing at a time.”

I need to add

Organized for Success : Top Executives and CEOs Reveal the Organizing Principles That Helped Them Reach the Top to my reading list.

Doing things one at a time and focussing on them is how I operate and the Getting Things Done Methodology has enabled me to focus.

While tracking the Washington States Governor race I discovered two excellent sites. The first is Sound Politics which is political weblog and OrbusMax which is Northwest Drudge Report like web site.

I love OrbusMax’s slogan, “Around the work in 80k” Hard to believe that the source of this lightweight site is greater in size than the memory on my first computer.

Here’s a round up of interesting posts from Sound Politics.

• Next Time, Dino?
  • Stray Mark Strut (All you need is ten) (Includes a photo of an example vote given to Gregoire in the recount)

    • Precinct 1823

      • Eyewitness Report from Chernobyl
      Despite some similarities to the Ukraine at least we’re getting through this without a poisoning. I’ve talked to at least 20 folks that voted for Gregoire, they all now say that they’ll never vote for democrat candidate again in the state of Washington. Not sure if that will hold in 4 years, we’ll have to see, some of the activities in King County do seem suspicious.

    My final thought is I don’t understand how whoever ultimately wins this race will ever have a mandate. I’d rather see a complete revote, one thing my children will never say is that their vote does not count.

Ryan Block at Engadget writes:

TiVo, listen up and listen good: these things have dual tuners (don’t even try and tell us it’s not necessary), they record HDTV, rock HD video on demand, and still do 60 hours of regular TV. And they cost the consumer nothing but an extra $10 per month.

I loved my Tivo before getting the Comcast box. I’ll be honest I would not want a Comcast box without the Microsoft software so phone Comcast and say I want my Microsoft powered DVR!

With over a month of trying I haven’t been able to sell my Tivo Series II 60 hour units. (I have two). No one wants them, I’ve advertised them on Craigs List, our Micronews ad service and even as my display name on MSN Messenger. No sale.

I am selling them for a 100 bucks each (buyer pays shipping). IF you can’t get the Comcast DVR in your area I recommend them.

On the radio tonight I heard a story that many absentee votes from our troops overseas were not counted in the Washington State Governor election. This is a slap in the face for folks who’ve volunteered to fight for our freedom around the globe.

If you have a moment please take the time and call the Washignton Secretary of State Sam Reed at 360–902–4151. Let him know that we need to count these military ballots as well.

More headlines on this fateful day in Washington state are over at OrbusMax.

Two weeks ago I completed phase one of the 20/20 program at the Pro Club. It’s been a complete tranformation for me and I’m excited to move onto the next phase which is all about keeping the weight off. Curious what this is all about? Check out my previous posts about the program:

• I’m on my way to 20/20 Life{.TitleLinkStyle}
• Powdered Shakes, Working out and getting into the flow of a new job{.TitleLinkStyle}
• Precisely Counting Calories and Yeh Baby I’m losing weight!{.TitleLinkStyle}
• Tracking 20/20 Progress with Excel{.TitleLinkStyle}
• Spinning at the Pro Club — I did it{.TitleLinkStyle}
• Weight loss update{.TitleLinkStyle}

So how did I make out?

Item	Before	Today
Weight	205 pounds	160
Blood Pressure	126/72	110/70
Cholesterol	231	146
Per Cent Body Fat	29.6%	18%

What did I learn?
Lots, but my top 4 take aways were:

1. Always wear a heart rate monitor when working out. I believe that in the past I never truly worked out, I never broke a sweat, this was because I never worked hard enough.
2. Get proper shoes for running. I was running in cross training shoes and it hurt. It wasn’t until I got properly fitted at the Foot Zone in Redmond Town Center was I able to get running.
3. Eating less doesn’t mean you’ll lose weight. In fact you might lose less. I found I had my best weight loss when I kept my calories at the 1500–1600 range.
4. Meal tracking is critical, its the only way I can make sure I get the right amount of fat and calories in for my day.

So what next?
I now meet with my trainer twice a week (instead of three times) and my dietician goes to a bi-weekly schedule from weekly. This lasts for 12 weeks. I still work out 5 days a week but my trainer appointmnets are now focussed on weight training. I still want to drop approximately 3 pounds to bring myself to my ideal body weight.

The program has transformed our family life. We no longer eat fast food, in fact the idea of eating disgusts me. For fun my wife and I enjoy running together which is something I’ve never imagined doing or enjoying as much as I do. In fact I’m watching for upcoming Northwest runs to try and participate in a real event.

Inch by inch.

Mike has just joined my team and talks about the interview process in his weblog. Welcome aboard Mike!

The MSN Deskbar is a hidden gem in the new desktop search which the MSN team [shipped in beta form today][1]. From the [help page][2]:

With MSN Deskbar, you can create shortcuts that let you quickly start programs, open documents, or go directly to a website, just by typing a keyword in the Deskbar search box. For example, you could create a shortcut that automatically opens the Hotmail home page when you type hotmail into the Deskbar search box.

Some examples of queries you can create (what cool ones can you come up with?)…

To create a shortcut that	Enter this in the Deskbar search box

Opens a website (for example, http://www.hotmail.com) when you type hotmail

@shortcutname,webaddress For example, @hotmail,www.hotmail.com Be sure not to include any spaces after the comma.

Performs a query on a Web page when you type (shortcut name) (search term) For example, quote msft for a stock quote, or encarta einstein for encyclopedia articles about Einstein.

@shortcutname,webaddress$w For example: @quote,https://moneycentral.msn.com/scripts/webquote.dll?iPage=qd&Symbol=$w. @encarta,https://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/search.aspx?q=$w Tip: Try performing a search on a website such as encarta.msn.com. When you see your search results page, your search terms should be included at the end of the web address in the Internet Explorer address bar. Copy the web address but replace your search terms with $w. Use this new web address to create your shortcut.

Opens a document (for example, resume.doc) when you type resume

@shortcutname,c:(document path)(document name) For example, @resume,C:resume.doc. Be sure not to include any spaces after the comma.

Opens a program (for example, Notepad) when you type note

@shortcutname,=[program command] For example, @note,=notepad.exe Be sure not to include any spaces after the comma

I changed from Cingular to T-Mobile this last week and kept my phone number. It was easy and it worked!

Here’s all I had to do:

1. Let my service contract for Cingular end so I could move on.
2. I called T-Mobile and told them my Cingular phone number and Cingular Account Number
3. T-Mobile sent me a new SIM chip (I have an XDA II phone that is unlocked so all I needed was the chip)
4. Replaced the Cingular SIM chip in my phone with T-Mobile and it worked with my original phone number.
5. Changed my GPRS settings to point to T-Mobile’s settings.

I did call Cingular today just to confirm that I was removed from their system and the customer representative confirmed that I was no longer a customer.

I moved from Cingular to T-Mobile because Cingular does not have an all you can eat data plan.