Time Management Software - Offline Version

Time-management software...
Originally uploaded by dgray_xplane

How often do you take notes? Do you use notebook, agenda or papers? I take notes almost everyday.

I have an agenda and i use it when i attend meetings. Sometimes i do not want to use keyboard and like to draw something on it.

I use calendar extension for Thunderbird mail client. I recommend this tool if you use Thunderbird. It allows you to add tasks, reminders, notes, events and see them on calendar. These features are similar to Outlook's functions. Also you can synchronize calendar with your Google calendar.

I sometimes use Google. I prefer it because it is an online calendar and easy to use. Another reason is i am addicted of Google tools and i can integrate calendars with the other Google applications.

Google notes is my another favorite application. I use it for taking web notes. With a Firefox add on i can take web notes easily.

I have tried many other tools to take notes. Now i use tools that i listed above. Yesterday i was looking photos on flicker. I saw an interesting note taking picture and i really liked it. Now i want a notebook with squared line paper and a good pencil. I may use this technique soon.

Look at it on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/38075047@N00/145761460/

I also learned that i can blog a photo on Flicker with Flicker and Blogspot entegration. I wrote this post on Flicker and then sent it to my blog. I needed to edit on Blogspot editor but it is a nice feature. I may use it again.

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The Runaround Dilemma

Do you think sometimes people want more than you can give? I do. Unfortunately my workplace is not far away from users. They come and say their work is more important than the others. Imagine that ten people come like that. Which work is really important? Of course we have some procedures for ordering works. But users do not want to understand. They just want their works to be done. In this case managers should be clear and decisive.

We should aware of which works are really important. All important works are not urgent. We must separate works into two dimensions. Importance and urgency. Then we can find which works to do and which works not to do. Avoid not important and not urgent works. Do urgent and important works first. Plan important and not urgent works. And lastly delegate not important but urgent works.

THE RUNAROUND DILEMMA

• Because we don’t know what is really important to us, everything seems important.
• Because everything seems important, we have to do everything.
• Other people, unfortunately, see us as doing everything, so they expect us to do everything.
• Doing everything keeps us so busy, we don’t have time to think about what is really important to us.

          (Source: Franklin Covey Company - Focus document)

• important adj 1: of much import, carrying with it serious consequences; weighty, momentous, grave, and significant
• urgent adj 1: pressing, compelling; calling for or demanding immediate action; anything characterized by urgency

          (Source: Oxford English Dictionary)

 The idea of importance & urgency matrix comes from Franklin Covey Company. I saw the four quadrant shape then i decided to share with you.

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Do It

Daily Planning

1. Check today’s appointments.
2. Make a realistic list.
3. Prioritize (ABC, 123).

     Source: Franklin Covey Focus document

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Sending Mail with CDOSYS

In Send .Net Runtime Error messages with Email article i used sample code for sending mail in .net 1.1 version. Then I realize that it does not work in upper versions. I found a new way to send mail. It works in .net 2.0 and upper versions. This function has standard definitions in it. You can improve this function by convert some variables to function parameters. For example message body, from user and to user. It will be more flexible.

System.Web.Mail.MailMessage class is obsolete in .net 2.0 and upper versions. You must use System.Net.Mail.MailMessage class.

    1     Public Shared Function SendMail() As Boolean

    2 

    3         Dim iMsg As Object

    4         Dim iConf As Object

    5         Dim Flds As Object

    6         Dim strHTML As String

    7         Dim strSmartHost As String

    8         Dim blnStatus As Boolean = True

    9 

   10         Const cdoSendUsingPort As Integer = 25

   11         strSmartHost = "mail_host" 'modify

   12 

   13         iMsg = CreateObject("CDO.Message")

   14         iConf = CreateObject("CDO.Configuration")

   15 

   16         Flds = iConf.Fields

   17 

   18         ' set the CDOSYS configuration fields to use port 25 on the SMTP server

   19 

   20         With Flds

   21             .Item("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/sendusing") = cdoSendUsingPort

   22             .Item("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/smtpserverport") = 25

   23             .Item("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/smtpserver") = strSmartHost

   24             .Item("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/smtpconnectiontimeout") = 10

   25             .Item("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/sendusername") = "user" 'modify

   26             .Item("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/sendpassword") = "pass" 'modify

   27             '.Update()

   28         End With

   29 

   30         ' build HTML for message body. 'modify

   31         strHTML = ""

   32         strHTML = strHTML & ""

   33         strHTML = strHTML & ""

   34         strHTML = strHTML & " This is the test HTML message body

" & DateTime.Now

   35         strHTML = strHTML & ""

   36         strHTML = strHTML & ""

   37 

   38         ' apply the settings to the message

   39         Try

   40             With iMsg

   41                 .Configuration = iConf

   42                 .To = "to_user_mail_address" 'modify

   43                 .From = "from_user_mail_address" 'modify

   44                 .Subject = "This is a test CDOSYS message (Sent via Port 25)"

   45                 .HTMLBody = strHTML

   46                 .Send()

   47             End With

   48         Catch ex As Exception

   49             blnStatus = False

   50         End Try

   51 

   52         ' cleanup of variables

   53         iMsg = Nothing

   54         iConf = Nothing

   55         Flds = Nothing

   56 

   57         Return blnStatus

   58 

   59     End Function

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Copy As HTML

When i copied code from Visual Studio and pasted it to my blog, i wasted too much time for formatting. Now i have a tool for copying source code from VS in html format. So i get html code of source exactly what i see in VS. The name of program is Copy as HTML.

After installing the program you can use it in VS. Just select code and right click. You will see Copy as HTML menu item.







When you select it an option window comes. I use options that you see below.













And here result:

1 ' Review the values of the assembly attributes

2

3 <Assembly: AssemblyTitle("")>

4 <Assembly: AssemblyDescription("")>

5 <Assembly: AssemblyCompany("")>

6 <Assembly: AssemblyProduct("")>

7 <Assembly: AssemblyCopyright("")>

8 <Assembly: AssemblyTrademark("")>

9 <Assembly: CLSCompliant(True)>

You see it is useful and very easy to use.

You can download the program from http://www.jtleigh.com/people/colin/software/CopySourceAsHtml/

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