Archive for ‘Gadgets and Gear’

November 26th, 2009

Ommwriter and Distraction-free Writing

I’m sorry for the lack of posts during November; work and my social life have conspired to steal time away from me, and I decided that this blog was less of a priority than some of the other things going on in my life. To satisfy some of my ‘get things onto the Internet’-urges, I’ve thrown http://blog.breki.se onto the net. It’s a Tumblr-based weblog where I post some random rants and link to things that I find interesting or otherwise noteworthy.

As some of you are already aware, I’m working on a fantasy series and have gone through several different pieces of software during the course of the past eleven years. My first notes were taken, aptly enough, in Microsoft Windows’ Notepad (back in Windows 95, if I recall correctly), and now writing in OpenOffice and planning in VoodooPad. It’s working out quite well, I think.

Or rather; so I thought. A few days ago, I discovered Ommwriter, and it changed my entire perspective on writing. You see; I’ve always had problems with distractions and jumping from one thing to another while writing. Ommwriter, with it’s minimal layout and Zen-like audio score, does everything possible to remove any distractions you may have. It gives you the text you’re working on and nothing else.

You could argue that it’s the same concept as Writeroom, and you would be right. You would be right in the same way as one is ‘right’ when one claims that McDonalds and Fuddruckers is essentially the same thing. What Writeroom does well, Ommwriter does better.

However, there are a couple of flaws that I feel I have to bring up. For one, there is no formatting. It is, essentially, a more beautiful version of notepad. If I were to want indentation for the first line in every paragraph, a phrase in italics, or something similar, I’m out of luck. Writing a book in this would be impossible due to the extreme amounts of formatting that I would have to do in post-processing. Blog entries also become difficult due to the inability to add links.

What it all boils down to is that Ommwriter is good at one thing – writing text – but it is extremely good at that one thing. Until it gets better at doing other things, I think I’ll continue to write in OpenOffice with Full screen-mode turned on.

August 20th, 2009

Keeping On Top of Yourself

Productivity, Efficiency, Getting Things Done, these catchwords of the 21st century are everywhere. While I sometimes think they are taken to extremes, I definitely agree that they are important. I once wrote a post of my own describing the way  I’ve implemented the GTD philosophy into my life. This post is mostly obsolete today and I feel it’s only fair to write a new post on the subject. If parts of this entry feel familiar it’s because I’ve copied and revised portions of my previous entry.

Goals and aspirations
The goal of any productivity system should be to increase productivity while decreasing the amount of things you need to carry around in your head at any time. Sure, it’s easy to think “Milk, bread and maple syrup? I’ll remember that!” before you go to the store, but how about if you have ten of these shopping lists to keep track of? How about if you also need to remember to return a DVD you rented? Or if you also need to exchange a pair of pants that you discovered had a hole in them? … While needing to call customer services for your cable modem, and they were only open between five and six in the evening?

If you could keep track of all this while living a normal life, you probably don’t need a productivity system, but for most mortals, it’s a handy tool.

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April 21st, 2009

Portable Duct Tape

According to Wikipedia, survivalism is “[...] a commonly used term for the preparedness strategy and subculture of individuals or groups anticipating and making preparations for future possible disruptions in local, regional, national, or international social or political order. Survivalists often prepare for this anticipated disruption by learning skills (e.g., emergency medical training), stockpiling food and water, preparing for self-defense and self-sufficiency, and/or building structures that will help them to survive or ‘disappear’.

After reading the latest book by Neil Strauss, Emergency, I’ve spent some time wondering about my own level of preparedness, just in case TSHTF (The S**t Hits The Fan). Even though I’m not going through the extreme measures Neil Strauss went through, there are a couple of small and pracical things everybody can do to have a slightly better level of preparedness. Today, I’ll be talking about something as simple and basic as portable duct tape.

Duct TapeFirst things first. Together with the Swiss Army Knife, Duct tape is probably the number one piece of gear that we remember from watching the number one survivalist, MacGyver. The name “duct tape” comes from its use on heating and air conditioning ducts, a purpose for which it, ironically, has been deemed ineffective. It’s also been called “gaffer tape”, “hurricane tape”, and, quite simply, “the ultimate material”. It’s such an universal tool that sayings like the following have surfaced about it: “Two rules get you through life: If it’s stuck and it’s not supposed to be, WD-40 it. If it’s not stuck and it’s supposed to be, duct tape it“.

It comes in a large doughnut-shaped roll which makes it quite unportable, and the best way to carry it around is to stick it in a bag or – depending on your own sizes and proportions – put your arm through the hole in the middle. Either way makes it quite inaccessible and difficult to reach when you need it quickly.

That’s why I invented, together with a Greek friend of mine back in grade school, something that we called “the back pocket duct tape carrier”. It is, quite simply, a flattened roll of duct tape that allows you to carry it in your back pocket, shirt pocket or any other form of slim carrying device. It can even slot into your wallet quite comfortably.

The only ingredients you’ll really need are:

  1. Your roll of duct tape
  2. A business card, playing card or other “hard” paper of similar proportions.

Starting the rollFirst things first, begin by attaching one end of the duct tape to the playing card and rolling it lengthwise. Naturally, you could roll it over the short side of the card, but this would lead to a smaller and clumsier roll. In this example, I’m using one of the collectible playing cards that came in my Collector’s Edition of the latest World of Warcraft expansion pack. Not like I’ll be using it any time soon.

Make sure that the roll of duct tape follows the edge carefully. This is important as the slightest degree of inaccuracy here will make the remaining laps uneven and crooked. It’s an aesthetic call whether you want to start at the edge or in the middle. I usually start a quarter of the way up the card.

Keep rolling until you’ve got a roll as thick as you want it. I suggest rolling it slightly thinner than a finger’s width to keep it flexible while still carrying large amounts of duct tape with you. Still, this is purely a matter of preference and you’re best off experimenting with your own solutions here. Depending on how you want to carry the roll, different widths will be appropriate.

Duct Tape Roll part 2Once that’s done, you’ve got something that looks something like this. I decided on a simple thin roll, just under half an inch (about 1 centimeter), so that it fits in my back pant pocket without creating a bulge or feeling in the way.

As you’ve no doubt noticed by now, you’ve still got a piece of paper sticking out of your roll. I prefer cutting it off with a knife, as scissors will leave a hard edge. I cut mine off with a knife and then used the file on my Swiss Army Knife to file down the edges.

Even though carrying around a miniature roll of duct tape won’t help you too much WTSHTF, it’s small things like this that make us more likely to tackle the smaller emergencies in life. After all, duct tape has even saved astronauts by allowing them to perform emergency repairs on leaking air units.

I’ll be returning to more survivalist-oriented posts in the future, but don’t expect this to turn into a “Six ways to kill a man with your bare hands in case he’s trying to steal your water”-weblog. After all, this weblog is dedicated to the ultimate attainment – the pursuit of happiness – not survivalism.