Day 130- GCal updater

130-GCal Updater

A few months ago, I wrote a post on syncing all your calendars together in order to get your life focused. At the time, I thought it was not too difficult. But Google has made it even easier. With just a quick download, you have a program that will automatically sync your calendars together--specifically GCal and Outlook.

And this is really great. I use GCal at home because it is always there and always on. Even if I cannot get to my laptop, I can borrow someone else's computer and still have access to my computer. I also like how GCal sends me e-mail reminders if I want them. And now they offer text messeges, too.

But Outlook is the office interface we use at work. Outlook is perfectly fine for us. But I hate trying to navigate the at-home interface.

I like the Outlook/GCal program because it is 100% automatic. You just tell the program how often you want your calendars synced and it will do it.

What I do not like is that this program only syncs your main GCal. If you are like me and keep seperate calendars for seperate parts of your life, GCal will not transfer everything over for you. On top of that, it takes everything from Outlook and plops it into your main calendar.

Ideally, I would like to see google fix this problem. I would like them to know that my outlook dates should go into my Work Calendar. I would also like the program to be able to take my personal activities (like dates with Xine, house meetings, and concerts) and sync them into my Outlook so that I didn't have to keep two calendars open at the same time at work.

Overall, I am excited about the GCal updater. But it really isn't all that great for advanced outlook and GCal users. If you know how to do anything beyond setting up an appointment at the right time on the right day, this program is not for you. Because frankly, this thing does not do anything you can't already do for yourself.

However, if you only keep one main calendar, you don't add labels or do any advanced calendar features, this will make you very happy.

Sorry about all the empty days without posting. It has been my goal to post once a day. But the beginning of the week was crazy busy. And then I got sick. So, now it is Thursday and I am posting for the first time.

Day 51- Google Organization- GCal

Day 51- Google Orgaznization-GCal

This is part of a multipart series on organizing your life using Google. Previous entries include GMail, Google Reader and iGoogle.

A few weeks ago, I realized that I have been keeping 5 calendars. Five! Five separate calendars! My hand held, my outlook, my gCal, iCal and TheDailyPlate. My handheld comes with me everywhere. Outlook is just for work. TheDailyPlate is for my food. gCal is for home and iCal is on my laptop. Needless to say, all these calendars for different spheres of my life were causing me to double or even triple book myself.

Streamlining by Syncing-
I realized I needed to streamline. So, i synced my iCal and outlook with my GCal. Neither of which are very difficult to do. I also keep gCal open in my firefox tabs at all times. So, when some one at work or home schedules an appointment with me, it syncs with the other calendars. So, while I am still keeping 5 different calendars for 5 different occasions, they are all keeping up with each other.

Seperating Business and Pleasure-
on GCal, since I am keeping 5 different calendars in one place, I make sure they are different calendars. Both GCal and iCal give me the option of keeping mulitiple calendars seperate. They are all color coded by type. Keeping them seperate lets me know if the event approaching is preparing for a phone call or a dinner date with the housemates or something I have to do while I am running errands.

To Do Lists-
In theory, GCal can send me to do lists via my phone. But my phone is old and Jankey. But thanks to syncronized calendars, I can program my iPod to remind me of things I need to do. And with GCal and gMail, I can have my to do lists emailed to me.

Holidays, movie release dates, and election dates-
As a community organizer, it is important for me to keep on top of dates I can link into. Holidays, election dates and local events are a great way to stay in the know. Public Calendars are a great way to have other people do the grunt work for you. FOR even has one on national anti-war protests.

Meetings and Appointments-
I make a lot of meetings with people. Whether it with friends, family, workmates or housemates, gCal lets me invite people to meet through gMail. So my address book and calendar are also all synced up.

Stop Design has some other ways to make your gCal work for you.

Next time, I plan on reviewing the beta for Firefox 3. If you have not made the switch from Safari or IE to Firefox, I highly recomend it. Just click on the shiny button on the right hand side and you will wonder why it has taken so long for you to switch.

Google Organizing- iGoogle

Day 50-Google Organizing

This is the next segment of my multi-part series on organizing your life with Google.

When Google came on the scene in 1998, the Internet was swamped with so-called web-portals. The financial brokers of the day were pointing to companies like AOL, MSN and the Disney owned Go network and their eyes were turning into gigantic dollar signs.

But Google, with its search engine that actually worked and stark, clean interface brought people over to their folds and away from all the flashing lights and gizmos that were distracting people from the real glory of the Internets. Check out this ten year old article from Salon.com on why every one should switch over to Google.

Well, ten years later and now Google has gotten into the web portal game. But, with the rise of Web 2.0, we see a Portal 2.0 where you get to decide what goes on your homepage.

If you don't want silly horoscopes or stories about which Hollywood socialite is in jail, you don't get it. You want a live RSS fee from your your favorite news source or blog, its there!

Now, I know everything I need to know just by checking out my home page. Look below, and see what is on my iGoogle portal.
As you can see, I keep my top stories from google news BBC, the Onion and The Los Angeles Angels and the UUA close at hand. My Google Calendar with all my agendas are there, the weather for the next three days are close at hand. With one touch, I have my google docs that I have been working on recently. And my GMail in a live RSS feed. Plus, I can keep tabs on my financial situation with my stock portfolio.

Everything can be easily rearranged so that I can keep track of things without it getting to jumbled or confusing.

So, much like google reader, I can read eight websites at once.

My next google organization tip will be how I keep my Calendars straight with Google Calendar.

Competency Moments of the Weekend: I have made it half way through Lent without breaking down and buying myself a meal yet. I visited two free museums yesterday. Discovered that the DC Heritage Trails are very well designed and I look forward to walking all of them.

Competency Question of the Day: Has any one downloaded the new Firefox 3 yet? If so, what do you think of it?

Google Organizing- GMail

Day 38- Google Organizing0 GMail


This is the next segment of my multi-part series on organizing your life with Google. While the tips here are specifically for GMail, they can be tweeked to fit any email system around.

You are young, you are hip, you have GMail--just like every one else. And I don't blame you. I LOOOOOOOOVE my Gmail. With seamless integration with Google Calendar, Google Maps, and our new friend Google Reader as well as gChat, tons of space and an awesome spam blocker, it is hard not to fall in love with it.

But what does your in-box look like? I bet it is full of old messages from a year ago and tons of thing you want to read but haven't yet. I bet your in-box brings you stress and anxiety.

I bet your in-box doesn't look like mine.

I treat my GMail in-box like my post office box. I grab the mail, sort it, throw out the junk, read the things I want, save what I need and toss the rest. I *Don't* just leave it in the in-box.

That would be ridiculous! Imagine if your mail carrier met your post box full of read mail and old junk!

So, here are some tips for organizing your GMail life:

1. Labels- Unlike other e-mail carriers who have folders, GMail has labels. Utilizing Labels and Filters can make sure you know when your new mail is here. Learn to be a GMail Jedi Master from Lifehacker.

2. Trusted Trio- Trusted Trio is a great way to sort through your mail. Simply put: Archive what you want to keep, Delete what you are done with , and Star what you need. Then, every month, clear out your Archive and unstar what you are done with.

3. Mailing Lists- Do you have a bunch of people you regularly email, but they are not connected enough to make a Group? Make a mailing list instead. This way, you can save time and energy by just mailing the list instead of trying to remember every one you know.

With these easy steps, you can clean up your in-box and make your GMail account bring you joy, instead of anxiety.

Competence Moment of the Day: After realizing my Earlham W-2's had not arrived yet, I called Earlham HR and found that they had sent my forms to my previous address-in Richmond! They are now en route to DC.

Google Organizing- Reader

Day 36- Google Organizing- Reader

This is the first post of what might be a multi-part series on how Google.com can help keep you organized.

If you are like me, you have a series of websites that you check often. For me, I always start my day off with Google News-that super awesome news aggregator. But there is also NPR and loads of blogs on: fitness, health, finances, organization, entertainment news, business news, crafting, and local events.

Some sites update once a month or once a week. Some sites update dozens of times a day. Figuring how to keep up with my news and blogs takes forever. And too much of my time is spent just catching up on posts.

Enter Google Reader!

Google Reader is an RSS aggregator that will collect, organize and syndicate all of my favorite websites into one handy site. So now, I can cruise my Reader for fifteen or twenty minutes in the morning and then save what I want to read later, on my breaks.

Google Reader is really easy to use. If you already have a Google account, you just click on "Reader", often found on the upper left hand corner.

Here, you can see my main reader page.


The blue Bar on the left hand side is the list of all my websites, organized by theme. The middle is where you will find all the articles in condensed form. And you can look at stories that have been saved for later and shared by you or your friends.

Here are some headlines from BBC News and NPR:

With Google Reader, you can share stories, save them for later or email to folks.

Now that you know how Google Reader works, how do you set it up? Whenever, you see a website with an RSS icon like these:
Or the word "Atom/RSS"- Click on it. It will ask you which reader you want it programed into. It is just that simple.

So, what once took my hours to organize, read and review, now takes my coffee break.

Competence Moment of the Day: I walked both to and from work for the first time in weeks, which felt fantastic!