Do you speak English?

Wow, I was impressed with the response to my last blog entry... I'll write more on that topic when I've tried out these systems for a bit longer.

Anyway, I just saw this. I have no idea where it's from, but ... well, maybe finding this as funny as I did means I need more sleep. Anyway, I thought I should share it with all y'all. :)

Bigger than my Pocketwatch

In many of my blog posts so far, I've mentioned how crushed I feel for time... there are simply too many things I want to do, and never enough time to do them - my eyes are bigger than my pocketwatch, so to speak.

Perhaps this failure is exemplified best by the fact that I didn't even have it together to get proper Xmas presents for my family this year. I used to come up with all sorts of random creative themes, or wrapping, or treasure hunts for presents, and this year I've done almost nothing. (Key word 'almost'... If I hadn't done anything at all I wouldn't still be up at 4am. ;)

So I've decided that this needs to end. It's not worth spending the rest of my life being stressed about time. To that end, I've been exploring various to-do list and time management tools.

Getting Things Done

I've been listening to an audiobook seminar series thing by David Allen, the "Getting Things Done" guy. I must say, he's a fantastic speaker. Very skilled with language and imagery. As for his message, I think I agree with it for the most part. One of his key ideas is to make lists and dump absolutely all of your unresolved issues and open mental loops out onto paper, in the form of action items.

His point is that if you can trust that the list contains EVERYTHING you need to worry about, you can then relax and simply execute the items on the list. I haven't finished the book, but ostensibly he has a system of lists that guarantees that, with appropriate processing, everything will get done.

I find it interesting that this is similar to the way a computer's architecture is structured, with data storage happening in a very different piece of hardware from where processing takes place.

Anyway, inspired by his words, I've begun dumping information out of my head and generating to-do lists. I've experimented with various media... I had a paper planner for a while, until I lost it(!) This is very unlike me... I don't usually lose things, so it's just ironic beyond words that the first important thing that I lose is the very thing that was supposed to guarantee my "together"ness. :P

However, I spend roughly 12 hours a day sitting in front of a computer, so I feel like an electronic medium would suit me better. Preferably web-based and accessible anywhere.

Tools for Organization

I've looked at a number of applications and services. Of these, the one I'm most excited about is stikkit.com, not because of its functionality (their beta is still pretty buggy, and they don't support multi-level to-do lists (which are absolutely essential, as far as I'm concerned)), but because I love their interface. You just type stickies in natural language, and it automagically generates to-do lists where necessary. Then you click on the items after you complete them, and they gray out and get crossed out! I'm really just all excited about that one feature, truth be told, because it's so nice to see my accomplishments crossed off! Other apps just erase them from your list or move them to the bottom or something...

I found one other app that I'd like to try out. It's called MyLifeOrganized, or MLO, and it's a lightweight app that you can put on a thumb drive and carry with you. A little more effort than automatically loading in one of my permanent tabs on Firefox, which I also have automatically load when I log in... but it seems like it's pretty powerful and simple to use. Maybe I'll try throwing my lists into that as well as stikkit, and I'll see which one survives longer.

There are a LOT of other tools out there too, but many of them are uber-configurable like ShadowPlan, the multitude of buttons and extensive color palette of which scared me into immediately uninstalling it... too many controls, and no obvious way to get started. Good reviews from users, but I suspect their sense of UI aesthetics differs from mine.

Also, this "LifeBalance" program seems interesting... apparently they use fuzzy logic or something to dynamically adjust your priorities on your action list and make your life better based on your values. I wonder how well it works... I've seen some good reviews of this too.

Of course, it's discouraging to be spending so much of my valuable time finding and setting up "productivity" tools, but if I can get any of these to work for me, the payoff will be more than worth the investment.

Anyway, I'll keep you guys updated on how the quest goes. Any recommendations on techniques and strategies for life management?

Why Computers Suck

There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences.

--P. J. O'Rourke

Philo sent me a link to some P.J. O'Rourke quotes today, and although many are hilarious and insightful, that one stands out as my favorite.

But that's not what I want to write about today. I want to write about something that was on my bulleted list a couple posts ago: Usability.

iTunes 7.0.2 Sucks

In particular, I want to express my extreme disappointment with iTunes 7.02. And computers in general, but first let me slam Apple for a while.

First, let me explain about iTunes. I used to be an Apple user until around my second year of university, when I switched to Linux. It was only grudgingly that I allowed myself to get sucked into the world of Windows several years later, and I still have a soft spot in my heart for the cryptic elegance of Linux, as well as a deep and abiding respect for the unshakable, yet very expensive, standards of Apple.

To me, the message of Apple was always, "We will restrict our users to our hardware and our software, denying them choice and configurability, but in return, we will give them a quality, impeccably stable system with a slick user interface which is aesthetically unparalleled. And although we will charge them top dollar for it, it will be worth it to them, and they will be more than happy to pay."

I think there's a certain integrity to that statement, which, incidentally, has never been made by Apple in those words, but which they may license from me for an appropriate copyright fee. From graphic designers to "I don't want to know how a computer works" people, to astronomers, musicians, and black-coffee-drinking poets, they have amassed an enormous following that respects their "top dollar for top quality" policy.

I bought an iPod last year, and it has brought happiness to my life. The iPod is a beautiful object, and iTunes has, until now, been an excellent, or at least, stable and passable, software product.

Now fast-forward to September 12, 2006. Apple releases iTunes 7. With software from other makers, I often hesitate when upgrading and installing new versions, assuming that there will be unanticipated bugs, and instead wait a couple weeks to watch disaster strike the foolhardy. With Apple, though, things were different. Their entire business model was based on an unwavering commitment to quality and usability. Apple, I foolishly thought, is a company I can trust. Given that iTunes 6 was a touch on the slow side, I naively thought that iTunes 7 would be an improvement. And thus I clicked on the fateful "Download" button.

Now, when I run iTunes, my computer is unusable. Something that it does causes my "System" process to suck 50% of my CPU, and all of my applications hang for an indefinite amount of time when I click on things in iTunes. It is quite sporadic and difficult to pin down, but the effect is bad enough that I have had to give up using iTunes completely. Ironically, I actually listen to my iPod while sitting at my computer now.

Other people had worse problems, of course, and Apple released iTunes 7.0.1 to fix their issues. Then they released 7.0.2 to fix the rest of the problems. Then, apparently, enough of their customers were happy that they decided it was no longer cost-effective to respond to the desperate cries of users like me on their forums and actually fix their software any further.

So here I am, trying to make a CD for a friend, and barely able to use iTunes to do it. I have actually resorted to writing the track names down on paper to decide the order, which is what I used to do in junior high school when making mix tapes. Sad, sad, sad. It's not that I mind using a pencil and paper (even notepad hangs when iTunes is open), but my faith in Apple has been shattered forever. As soon as I get the time and energy, I will start exploring all of the iTunes clones and alternatives that are out there.

The Real Problem

But I'm not just talking about Apple and iTunes. This problem is much more endemic and sinister. What people need is stable, reliable, simple, and usable software. What the marketing people think people want is flashy, cool, new features and infinite configurability. Actually, that's also what the engineering people want to build. And perhaps it's even what some users think they need.

Unfortunately, all of this feature creep leads to memory-hogging programs that are unstable.

Now, instability is ok if we're talking about bleeding-edge technologies that people are playing with for fun. If you agree to beta-test some cool new software, the risk of instability is part of what you're signing up for. However, once you have valuable data entrusted to a computer, you want to believe that that data is safe. And yet the question no longer seems to be whether a Windows system will get gunked up, crash, and die, but rather, how long will it be safe to wait between full reinstalls?

Computers have made a transition from being high-tech toys to being a fundamental part of our lives. With that shift in roles comes a shift in responsibility. Microsoft and other developers of major applications now bear the responsibility to create systems where stability and security are the highest priorities. Of course this is a daunting task, but my point is that they shouldn't be putting their effort into adding bells, whistles, dynamic 3D shadows, and irritating talking paperclips to Word.

Here's a good example - the other day a friend of mine called me at 2:30am with a Blue Screen Of Death. What do you do when the computer bluescreens, will not boot in Safe Mode, and tells you only this?

IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

Technical Info:

*** STOP: 0x0000000A ( 0x 010007E8, 0x 0000001D, 0x 00000000, 0x 804D9D57 )

This is completely unhelpful to any normal person who's not a sysadmin and who doesn't have a second computer handy to search for the error message on the web.

The fact is, most people don't even know where their documents are, much less the relationship between the "My Documents" folder in Windows and their "C Drive". These are the people whose computers will fall victim to viruses and crapware, and they won't have the foggiest idea of how to back up their data. Especially when the HP support line gives, "Try reformatting your hard disk and reinstalling Windows" as a first resort. Yes, they said that to my sister, and she lost all her data!

This doesn't have to happen.

Computers should not be difficult to use.

Software and system stability should be a priority.

We, as engineers, need to consider that software is actually used by real people. And we, as consumers, need to hold software makers accountable for these things.

I feel very, very strongly about this. People think I'm joking when I say I hate computers, but I think it's tragic that we are so dependent on them while they persist in their current state of technological immaturity.

Enough for tonight. Good night, everyone, and don't forget to back up your data.

The Princess Bride

A few nights ago, I had some friends over to watch The Princess Bride. Although nearly every American and Canadian I know has seen it, my other friends had never heard of it before. I have, of course, seen the movie probably ten times or more, and I still find it thoroughly enjoyable.

To make things more interesting, I decided to introduce to them another concept that is fairly well-known in North America - the movie drinking game. If you do a Google search for "princess bride drinking game" you can see some examples. Essentially, this is how it works: you make a list of phrases or events that happen in the movie, and when those phrases are spoken or events happen, everybody watching the movie has to drink. Simple. There are more complex variations where each person chooses a character and whatnot, but this is the basic idea.

The list of phrases we used included such phrases as "true love", "man in black", "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die," and, of course, "humperdink". Those of you who are familiar with the Miracle Max scene can understand why most of us weren't able to keep the game up for the whole movie. :)

I noticed an interesting side effect, though. One of my guests was Japanese, and she really doesn't speak any English at all. Yet, given a sheet of phrases to look for, she was able to pick out when those lines were said in the movie, sometimes even before I noticed. I'm only speculating here, but I would guess that if she were to just watch the whole movie start to finish with no drinking game, she would have simply tuned out and stopped listening to the dialogue. I've certainly done that enough with Japanese movies.

Dylan's Brilliant Idea of the Week

I propose that movie drinking games like this be introduced to the high school English curriculum, for a number of reasons:

• Drinking games are available for hundreds of popular movies and TV shows, providing large amounts of culturally-relevant course material.


• The vocabulary list, which is studied beforehand, helps the listener focus on key parts of the dialogue. I've seen this technique used in class before, where essential words and phrases are presented before reading a passage, and it can be quite effective in priming the mind and increasing comprehension.


• The drinking game aspect of this activity scales the difficulty of the game proportionally to the player's success rate. The more words you correctly identify, the more times you drink, and the more difficult subsequent words become. This makes it particularly useful for classes where the students have a wide variety of skill levels.


• Conversely, false positives are punished as well: if you mistakenly think you hear a key word, you have to drink, which makes the game more difficult and thus serves as a small penalty for your mistake, encouraging you to pay better attention so as not to avoid future penalties.


• The alcohol also helps to reduce inhibitions about speaking English, which is one of the most difficult challenges facing Japanese students today.


• Finally, since high school students aren't generally allowed to drink alcohol, making it legal for English class could help instill a heightened interest in English and reduce the "ho, hum, when will English class be over" attitude that I've seen in many of my students.

I wonder if any Japanese Ministry of Education officials read my blog... ;)