the air

Normally when I have free time, I generally sit around and watch tv or simply unwind by listening to some relaxing ambient beats. However, many folks will tell you that you should use your free time to be productive and still unwind. Generally I would balk at the idea of doing work, but LifeHack has listed 20 great ways to use your time wisely

• Reading file. Clip magazine articles or print out good articles or reports for reading later, and keep them in a folder marked “Reading File”. Take this wherever you go, and any time you have a little chunk of time, you can knock off items in your Reading File. Keep a reading file on your computer (or in your bookmarks), for quick reading while at your desk (or on the road if you’ve got a laptop).
• Clear out inbox. Got a meeting in 5 minutes? Use it to get your physical or email inbox to empty. If you’ve got a lot in your inbox, you’ll have to work quickly, and you may not get everything done, but reducing your pile can be a big help. And having an empty inbox is a wonderful feeling.
• Phone calls. Keep a list of phone calls you need to make, with phone numbers, and carry it everywhere. Whether you’re at your desk or on the road, you can knock a few calls off your list in a short amount of time.
• Make money. This is my favorite productive use of free time. I have a list of articles I need to write, and when I get some spare minutes, I’ll knock off half an article real quick. If you get 5-10 chunks of free time a day, you can make a decent side income. Figure out how you can free-lance your skills, and have work lined up that you can knock out quickly — break it up into little chunks, so those chunks can be done in short bursts.
• File. No one likes to do this. If you’re on top of your game, you’re filing stuff immediately, so it doesn’t pile up. But if you’ve just come off a really busy spurt, you may have a bunch of documents or files laying around. Or maybe you have a big stack of stuff to file. Cut into that stack with every little bit of spare time you get, and soon you’ll be in filing Nirvana.
• Network. Only have 2 minutes? Shoot off a quick email to a colleague. Even just a “touching bases” or follow-up email can do wonders for your working relationship. Or shoot off a quick question, and put it on your follow-up list for later.
• Clear out feeds. If my email inbox is empty, and I have some spare time, I like to go to my Google Reader and clear out my feed inbox.
• Goal time. Take 10 minutes to think about your goals, personal and professional. If you don’t have a list of goals, start on one. If you’ve got a list of goals, review them. Write down a list of action steps you can take over the next couple of weeks to make these goals a reality. What action step can you do today? The more you focus on these goals, and review them, the more likely they will come true.
• Update finances. Many people fall behind with their finances, either in paying bills (they don’t have time), or entering transactions in their financial software, or clearing their checkbook, or reviewing their budget. Take a few minutes to update these things. It just takes 10-15 minutes every now and then.
• Brainstorm ideas. Another favorite of mine if I just have 5 minutes — I’ll break out my pocket notebook, and start a brainstorming list for a project or article. Whatever you’ve got coming up in your work or personal life, it can benefit from a brainstorm. And that doesn’t take long.
• Clear off desk. Similar to the filing tip above, but this applies to whatever junk you’ve got cluttering up your desk. Or on the floor around your desk. Trash stuff, file stuff, put it in its place. A clear desk makes for a more productive you. And it’s oddly satisfying.
• Exercise. Never have time to exercise? 10 minutes is enough to get off some pushups and crunches. Do that 2-3 times a day, and you’ve got a fit new you.
• Take a walk. This is another form of exercise that doesn’t take long, and you can do it anywhere — but even more important, it’s a good way to stretch your legs from sitting at your desk too long, and it gets your creative juices flowing. If you’re ever stuck for ideas, taking a walk is a good way to get unstuck.
• Follow up. Keep a follow-up list for everything you’re waiting on. Return calls, emails, memos — anything that someone owes you, put on the list. When you’ve got a spare 10 minutes, do some follow-up calls or emails.
• Meditate. You don’t need a yoga mat to do this. Just do it at your desk. Focus on your breathing. A quick 5-10 minutes of meditation (or even a nap) can be tremendously refreshing.
• Research. This is a daunting task for me. So I do it in little spurts. If I’ve only got a few minutes, I’ll do some quick research and take some notes. Do this a few times, and I’m done!
• Outline. Similar to brainstorming, but more formal. I like to do an outline of a complicated article, report or project, and it helps speed things along when I get to the actual writing. And it only takes a few minutes.
• Get prepped. Outlining is one way to prep for longer work, but there’s a lot of other ways you can prep for the next task on your list. You may not have time to actually start on the task right now, but when you come back from your meeting or lunch, you’ll be all prepped and ready to go.
• Be early. Got some spare time before a meeting? Show up for the meeting early. Sure, you might feel like a chump sitting there alone, but actually people respect those who show up early. It’s better than being late (unless you’re trying to play a power trip or something, but that’s not appreciated in many circles).
• Log. If you keep a log of anything, a few spare minutes is the perfect time to update the log. Actually, the perfect time to update the log is right after you do the activity (exercise, eat, crank a widget), but if you didn’t have time to do it before, your 5-minute break is as good a time as any.

So how do I use my free time? Honestly, I have had very little free time for the past two months. Now that I have some free time, I think I’ll be spending most of it just reading, preparing for my GRE’s, and practicing my culinary skills. In addition, let’s not forget that I’ll also be getting back into the groove of updating this blog regularly. The moral of the entire story is to use your time productively, always. This will help you accomplish more and prevent events from getting out of hand.

No Comments »

It seems that DreamHost is having some more server issues that is preventing from all their clients from enjoying a trouble-free experience. I apologize in advance if my blog is unavailable periodically but since the problem is not in my end, there is not much I can really do.

No Comments »

Now that I am back from Nashville, I can confidently say that I am thrilled to be home and not have the burden of driving for over seven hours. The IERC2007 conference was actually pretty interesting and informative. For the most part, the conference was geared towards academia and professionals. My poster presentation went well and I was encouraged by a few professors at Virgina Tech, Texas Tech, and Penn State to go ahead and take the GRE’s and apply to their respective grad school programs. Looks like my plans will be changing a little bit for the summer.

I was unable to take any photos since I forgot to pack my digital camera. However, in hindsight, there weren’t many “Kodak” moments. My professor did take a picture with me next to my poster presentation so hopefully she can hook me up with a copy of it.

New MacBook

I also went out and bought myself a new MacBook. Although this is not a very feature-laden laptop, it is both gorgeous and perfect for my needs. The only gripe I really have is the fact that it lacks a DVD burner. However, it really is not a major concern since this laptop is mostly for work and not recreational use. I have to admit that I am really surprised by what I have been missing out on by not using Mac OS X sooner.

1 Comment »

Lately, Apple and Amazon have begun pursuing the sales of digital music without DRM. This move is being closely watched by all the major music labels as well as everyone else because success could spell the end of DRM. Thousands of pundits and consumers have voiced the shortcomings of DRM such as lack of interoperability and limited flexibility. Essentially, DRM-free music is designed to give the consumer maximum flexibility while ensuring a profitable business model. In other words, companies are trying to get customers to abandon “stealing” music from P2P networks and have them buy it legally. If you think about it, it’s a great idea since you get the music legally with the same flexibility that “stolen” music offers. However, there remains one BIG problem with DRM-free music, cost.

DRM-free music is not cheap. What the companies fail to realize is that piracy cannot be defeated without offering a product close to the price of piracy. Companies need to sell music at very low prices before they can expect piracy to decline. How can you expect piracy to decline when you are selling DRM-free music on iTunes for over a dollar? That same music, with the same quality, can be had on many P2P networks free of charge. This brings up two questions:

1. What about those lawsuits?
2. Why bother competing when you know the music is available free of charge?

Question 1 Answer

The lawsuits do nothing but to illustrate those who are naive and foolish enough to get caught. In fact, I would say that for every individual caught, there are over a thousand who get away. When it comes to staying safe from those legal eyes, many people are simply too stupid to take preventative measures to ensure their safety. By adding an IP-filter list or using private trackers, you can significantly reduce your chances of getting caught. I’m not advocating the theft of digital music, but the lawsuits are frivolous and serve no useful purpose other than to “scare” others.

Question 2 Answer

In most cases, you would be correct to assert that if a company is going to charge consumers and if the product is available for free, consumers will go the free route. However, when it comes to downloading music, consumers want ease of use. To download illegally, the smart consumer has to take preventative measures and work hard to find the music in a condition which meets their expectations. Generally, it is much easier now, but when you are stealing music, you still have to search. This is especially true if you are trying to locate works by an obscure artist that is not very popular. However, let’s say iTunes offered music that was DRM-free for only $0.10. Now you can download hundreds of tracks without regret for little cost. In fact, you can download 200 tracks for only $20 and you’re still within reason. Sure, you could download those tracks for free, but at least now, you have a convenient location to go to for all your music needs. However, the most important thing to understand is that you cannot eliminate piracy. It is, however, possible to reduce it if and only if you offer the consumer more value for extremely low cost. At least, that’s the way we all hope it would work.

No Comments »

I just received word that my poster for the IERC2007 conference has been greenlit and is currently in production. This process marks the culmination of an entire semester’s worth of effort and lobbying. Now I can safely say that I am ready to rock and roll and head on down to Nashville, TN this weekend. The picture below is a quick snapshot of my poster. I know it is not much to look at, but it did take some time to make in Microsoft Publisher. Please note that the image is quite large in terms of dimensions and is a little over 600 kilobytes in size.

On a side note…

I earned a 3.83 GPA for the past semester. Here’s a quick rundown of my grades:

• ISYE310: B
• ISYE371: A
• ISYE450: A
• ISYE430T: A
• ISYE 498: A
• ENGL 104: A

All courses were 3 credit hours for a total of 18 hours. My cumulative GPA is now up to 3.8 and I still do not have an internship. How amazing is that? And yes, for the third time in a row, I will be recognized on the Dean’s List for Spring 2007.

As a way to congratulate me, my parents have decided to purchase an Apple MacBook for me. In a way, I will now be able to run my digital life amongst three different operating systems: Windows XP Professional, Ubuntu (Linux), and Mac OS X. I purchased a Dell laptop for my brother and that should be here sometime in mid June. I decided that I will get my MacBook around the same time so that both of us can open our “presents” at the same time. I know its cheesy, but my brother really earned that Dell and for me, my grades are whatever. However, I did say to myself that if I had gotten a 4.0, I would have bought the MacBook the same day. Nevertheless, do not fear my Windows-loving brethren. I am not abandoning Windows yet. In addition, I think I would rather abandon Windows for Linux than Mac OS X.

No Comments »