EverNote and the geek lunch order
I just discovered EverNote today and have been playing around with it a little. Nifty app.
Here's the note I hammered out as my wife called to ask me to stop by Wendy's on the way home for lunch. Only a geek would include conditional processing in a lunch order...
HOWTO merge multiple PDFs into one file using ghostscript
Here's a quick and dirty way to merge multiple PDF files into a single file for those like me who are too cheap to buy Adobe Acrobat. :^) Found here.
gs -q -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sOutputFile=mergedPDF.pdf file1.pdf file2.pdf file3.pdf
Digital audio recorder
My cellphone has an audio recorder function, which I use more often than the telephone functionality. I mapped the recorder to a button on the main screen, so I can launch it easily.
I listen to a few podcasts regularly on my commute to work and back. It's extremely nice to be able to just pop open the cellphone, hit two buttons, and record a short note on a website to check out or a book to look into. Every few days, I listen to the audio clips and transcribe any relevant info on my Palm. This trickles its way into my "system" on the next hotsync. Fits well into the GTD methodology. In fact, David Allen suggests carrying a digital recorder for that purpose.
Having the recorder built into the cellphone reduces the number of gadgets hanging off my belt. I'm already carrying cellphone, Palm, and pager. This week, I'm filling in for the IS Physician Liason, so I'm also carrying a Blackberry. Every couple of months, my turn to be on call rotates around, so I spend the week with an additional pager and cellphone on me at all times. My belt starts to look like Batman's utility belt with gadgets hanging off everywhere. I have to be cautious when picking up one of my kids, for fear of knocking something off.
It's hard to believe that I'm complaining about having too many toys to carry around. Ten years ago I thought it was cool to carry a pager because it signified that I was "important." Now I'm looking for ways to consolidate because I have too many gadgets.