Elsewhere Online: Freeware, fullscreen writing for OS X?

In the world of "Getting Things Done", the popular producitivy methodology by David Allen, productivity is often hampered by lack of focus. Writers, like myself, are especially susceptible to all the buttons, menus and toolbars of a typical computer program and sometimes we just need a plain page to focus our attention.

Hog Bay Software has provided one answer to the help you focus on your writing, WriteRoom, a plain and simple word processor that allows you to quickly dump your words onto the page without getting caught up in all the other distractions of your computer. In Full Screen mode it reminds me of the old days writing in Wordstar or WordPerfect when you could only run one program at a time, except for maybe SideKick and had to focus on what you were doing.

Freeware, fullscreen writing for OS X? Hog Bay Software seems to be reading 43folders and courting Merlin and other writers. They have just released a full screen writiing tool called WriteRoom...

(Via 43 Folders Board.)

Technorati Tags: creativity, technology, organization, gtd, macintosh, software, computers, free

Mom, what's this memorial all about?

Mom, what's this memorial all about?
Originally uploaded by dewelch.

Finishing up our last week here in Hawai'i. Yesterday we spent the entire day visitng the USS Arizona Memorial, the USS Missouri and the USS Bowfin, along with their associated museums in Pearl Harbor. It is truly an all day affair.

We arrived around 10am, by bus, but the earliest tickets (free) available to visit the Arizona were 2 pm. We purchased our tickets for the USS Missouri and the USS Bowfin and took the free shuttle over to the battleship. After about 1.5 hours we returned to the Arizona Memorial Visitor Center, toured the memorial and museum and then finished up the day visiting the USS Bowfin. The audio tour for the Bowfin was top-rate and included in your admission.

Our friend picked us up on her way home from work and we finsihed the day with a nice dinner.

Table Sketch from restaurant

Table Sketch from restaurant
Originally uploaded by dewelch.

Whenever I am in a restaurant that puts paper on the tables, I take the opportunity to do a quick sketch. Maybe I am hoping that they will be so impressed that they will give me my meal for free. (SMILE)

I did this one at Kit and Kitchen, an Italian-Asian fusion restaurant here in Honolulu. You can find some pictures of the excellent food on my Flickr account by clicking on the picture.

First Day in Hawaii

100_1607.JPG
Originally uploaded by dewelch.

Click on the picture for bigger verson and a few more pictures from our first day in Hawaii, on the island of Oahu.

2nd Great American Backyard Campout is coming! On June 24th

This sounds like a great excuse to turn off the computer and enjoy the great outdoors for a while. Sometimes we all need a good excuse to get away from it all...or, at least, get away from a little of it.

Discover a wild new world in your own backyard!

Gather family, friends and neighbors-- the second Great American Backyard Campout is coming! On June 24th, folks all across America will come together in backyards, parks, and camps to enjoy a night of star-gazing, listening for nocturnal wildlife, and exploring a whole other world right in your backyard.

Be part of this nation-wide event! Add your campsite today and we’ll help you make the most of your event with packing lists, recipes, nocturnal wildlife guides, exploration activities, a night sky-guide, local weather and more.

Link: The Great American Backyard Campout

Technorati Tags: hobby, outdoors, hiking, parks, events, astronomy, free, cheap, kids, children, wildlife, birds, birding, birdwatching, education

NO MORE POLITICAL CALLS! - I CRY UNCLE!

Ok, until after tomorrow, and possibly later, since I often receive political calls the day after the election) I refuse to answer my home telephone line. Nine out of ten calls this week have been automated voices with this senator, that representative or some judge trying to convince me to vote for them.

You know what? The chances of me casting my vote for you go down directly in proportion to the number of unsolicited and unwanted automated phone calls I receive. There are a hundred different ways to get your message out and bombarding people in the last few days before an election, in the most annoying way, is absurd. If you haven't made your position clear by now, find another job.

Sure, I can, and do, let my answering machine take the calls, by even listening to this drivel second hand is annoying and a waste of time.

Thank goodness that cell phones are currently immune from this stupidity. I have been so close to turning off my landline telephone for months and this just might be the one thing to push me over the edge. If the rules against cell phone solicitation ever change I might just go back to carrier pigeon for my messages. Cleaning out the pigeon house will still be more enjoyable than listening to the dreck that masquerades for politics.

Technorati Tags: california, losangeles, exploit, poiltics, telephone, telephony, anger, stupidity

Elsewhere Online: Learn computers with pictures - In Pictures

Great introductory computer books are always welcome, not only for new computer users, but also for those more experienced. Free books are even better.

Unmediated directs readers to this site, where you can download FREE, graphically-rich, computer books to help you learn more about Windows XP, Microsoft Office and more.

Learn computers with pictures

In Pictures has published 22 computer books under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 license. These books cover computer basics with several operating systems, productivity applications and basic web design and programming. These books make maximum use of images...

(Via unmediated.)

Technorati Tags: howto, how-to, tutorial, technology, windows, microsoft, software, computers, freeware, shareware, free, cheap, books, learning, education, read, reading, book