Hahah, I’m such an idiot. In the process of cleaning up my site today I decided to remove some old databases I don’t use anymore. WordPress just happened to be one of them. I had my site open in a browser window so I’ve just been copy/pasting anything I could find. Sorry to all my RSS readers for the content over-load.
I feel like the 3984734th person to link to Guy in the last week and a half. Honestly, everything he writes is worth it?s? bytes? ? in gold. I wish I had heard this speech when I graduated high school. I?m off to do some thinking? perhaps I should do some traveling soon. I believe that was Brad?s latest revelation? hmmm.
Over on BusinessBits I asked why we don?t see enough ?desktop web apps? (or is it web desktop apps?) out there these days? Well? Lifehacker has posted a very useful one. It puts input boxes on your desktop and you can press Alt-W to search Wikipedia, Alt-G, Google, etc. This is exactly the useful stuff I?m looking for! Anyone know of other cool things like this?
I just wanted to post this article by Ramit because, well, I love it. It?s called Your College is Not a Technical School. I realize its a bit old but I re-read it today and whole-heartedly agree with everything it has to offer. In fact, it inspired me to add a few things to my quotes page.
I felt some history in my veins today. I visited the Chipotle on Evans and Gilpin (in Denver) today. For those of you not ?up? on your burrito facts, this was the original Chipotle and its a few blocks away from the DU Campus. First off, its very small. Second, the lady making your burrito isn?t right in front of you like the newer restaurants. You have to shout to her back in the kitchen, essentially. Third, the line is always out the door. Fourth, almost nobody stays and eats in the restaurant. Fifth, their storage room is under the restaurant; there?s a trap door/stairs to it right in front of the bathroom. Basically, the restaurant has definitely evolved a bit away from the original.
?Meh.?
But seriously, if I had known this was coming I would have spent the extra 2 seconds (times 300 friends) to go through and append the ?date? that I met everyone. Now all that time spent has been almost for no reason. On the good side, I was able to filter out like 10-20 people that I didn?t really have as friends.
Now this new feature requires me to go back and add the date to each person. In my honest opinion, Facebook should do a little bit of math to figure out when high/middle/elementary school was for me. That way I don?t have to go through dozens of contacts and add the years. You guys already know I graduated from Lakewood High School in ?04. Let?s put all those ?high school friends? somewhere near 2004?
Also, why does it assume that when I put ?met in an organization? that it was in the past? We?re still in that organization. So, unless I put a year in (the past) how about you a) assume it was this year and b) put ?You and ____ are (not were) members of _____??
The idea is pretty neat but right now it all seems a bit? cluttered. Since I have so many friends from only one or two years can we make it an iframe or something? Something that I could scroll if wanted but it?s so obnoxious. Perhaps making a ?wall? of friends above the categorization of them? That would look a bit neater I think. You could easily quadruple the number of people on each line then (thus saving precious scrolling time).
Can we start adding previous classes to this timeline? Like a new page on our profile to put all semesters of college? Then maybe it can start highlighting people that were simultaniously in those classes? This way I don?t have to manually think about who did what with me. They can add it to their own profile and then Facebook will do the dirty match-up work. Come on, make it easier for me, please? Plus, I feel I could start to trend how I met people (friends of friends from class last semester, etc). Can our current previous jobs and activites be included in this timeline profile (for the same reasons)? That way I don?t even have to pick a year (mentioned two paragraphs ago), Facebook figures it out for me, again.
Also, can you announce this to people the same way you announced the high school version of Facebook? (A message at the top to be ?hidden?) People will not find this very easily. In fact, I showed a few people today and they admitted they would never have noticed it in the first place.
Okay, thats enough stream of consciousness for now.
Today Noah and I decided to launch the yopos network and I?m excited for the potential it has. The direction of the network is to be decided by our founding members but the two Noahs (Kagan/Brier) and I have some thoughts on what to do with it. Our intention is to essentialy create a group of smart and capable yopos (young professionals). We?ve invited a number of individuals and I?m looking forward to working with our members.But wait, what is our purpose? Well first, it?s to create relationships among yopos such as ourselves. Second, its to spotlight our members and their blogs. Finally, it?s to create an environment for collaboration. The Noahs and I, as I mentioned, have some great ideas and I look forward to seeing what we can do.
Anyway, we sent out our first wave of invites and are starting to receive confirmations back. Be sure to check out yopos.com, bookmark it, subscribe, do whatever, because we?re gonna be big?
I just found a nice site: teleflip.com. It lets you email any phone by just sending a message to [email protected]. No longer do I need to find out someone?s provider and email syntax. Plus, they can reply right back to you. In the past I?ve used AIM to send people messages but I think I?ll be trying this one out for a bit.
From PaidContent.org, ?Since Kann became CEO in 1991, Dow Jones?s total return to shareholders has been 109 percent. By comparison, the New York Times Co. and the Washington Post Co. delivered returns of about 228 percent and 368 percent, respectively.? I would never have guessed. My lesson learned? Sometimes the percieved quality of a publication says nothing about the company.
Ben, at CollegeStartup has written on the importance of keeping track of one?s money. Frankly, I agree with him. Many students aren?t sure how much money they have at any given moment. But that?s alright because those same students typically never have more than $200 in the checking account anyway! Seriously, though. That?s a problem. I?ve been using Microsoft Money for a few years now and couldn?t be more pleased. I actually was a beta tester for Money 2005 and I still use today becuase a) I got it for free and b) I?m most familiar with it.
My point is, it?s important for students to get this kind of software and start looking at how much they?re really spending. With online banking it?s easier than ever. Money will download all my account information for Wells Fargo, Vanguard, IndyMac Bank, my Sears card and even PayPal. What does that mean? Just the mere fact that I can see the value of all my assets at a quick glance.
I personally suggest Microsoft Money becuase I love a lot of the reporting.
Keep in mind that not all of the reports may be apply to you. If you don?t have any investments, your asset allocation is of no use. If you have only started using Money last week, then monthly reports won?t even exist yet.
But, I really like Money becuase it simplifies the act of entering things into the register. For example, Money starts ?remembering? transactions for me. When Wells Fargo downloads a transaction from ?Qdoba? it automatically fills in ?Meals: Dining Out? under the category and all I have to do is reconcile (Accept) the transaction into the register. If I enter a check to my landlord for a certain amount, Money checks to see if this was the rent bill I had scheduled.
Ben, to answer your questions: I don?t think there?s an easier way than reconciling your bank?s downloaded transactions to Microsoft Money?s. You don?t have to do it every day, either. As I mentioned, certain expenses will become ?trended? and even ?remembered?. I actually reconcile only once a week and it doesn?t take much time at all. Plus, I take a few minutes to check how much I spent on meals for the week/month, etc.
A few extra tips:
I realize this is a pretty simplistic view of personal finances but I think it?d help if everyone did at least this. Look to Ramit?s blog this year for an in-depth look at how to manage your personal finances.