Aldoblog

I’ve been a subscriber to the Sigalert service for a while. It’s a real-time traffic monitoring service that aggregates information from the sensors embedded in highways and major thoroughfares and CHP and CalTrans information about incidents like accidents, and combines it with mapping and routing functions, to give you a very complete picture of just how ugly traffic in your region is.

Rochelle and I are, shall we say, fond of cocktails. We’ve been known to drink a few, and even make a few for friends and guests. And, we’re always on the lookout for new ones, especially things that are easy to make and serve. This year’s find: Trader Joe’s Organic Strawberry Lemonade.

I purchased Saft, a plug-in for the Safari web browser on Mac OS X, a while back, after using the demo version for a couple days. I’ve found a number of features well worth the $12 purchase price. The latest release adds yet another terrific feature.

I don’t think you can fully appreciate the genius of the latest iPod shuffle ad until you’ve been watching the NCAA Tournament in a sports bar with a zillion TVs, and the spot is suddenly on 20+ screens all around you, especially if they have the sound turned up.

After the first round, it looks like I had some great picks. One of my ESPN Tournament Challenge entries (labelled “Whimsical” in the graphic) is in the 100th percentile, just outside the top 10,000, of nearly 3 million entries. It looks more impressive than it really is.

Just a few tournament predictions…

I am a huge fan of Amazon.com, having started using it to buy books shortly after they launched, and expanding my purchases through them ever since. They’ve never failed to impress me with a very high level of customer service. So Wednesday I signed up for Amazon Prime, which provides free 2nd day delivery on all orders (no minimum order amount), and overnight delivery for $3.99, for one year.

I wrote before that I’ve been reading David Allen’s Getting Things Done, and it’s already clear that I like his system. I’ve also been reading a few different web sites where different people write about their experiences using the GTD system. One post in particular talked about the necessity, and the joy, of having lots of file folders on hand, for immediate use as soon as you need to group things together. I was, to say the least, a little skeptical.

Like a lot of other Mac aficionados, I followed yesterday’s announcements by Apple quite closely. A lot of people are writing about them, so I’m just going to jot down a couple of thoughts I’ve had that I haven’t seen elsewhere.

Mentioned in the lead paragraph of that NYTimes article is the spreadsheet which Rochelle put together prior to our trip to France in 2002. Since publication we’ve actually had people inquire about getting access to it, so I thought I’d put it online. Some background will help you make the most of it.