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First Day with the New Workflow


in Worky

Hearkening back to my post last week about how to best integrate an iPhone with an existing, primarily Microsoft-based work process – I think I may finally have it. And I say ‘finally’ because I’ve been hammering away at this like one of the Seven Dwarves ever since. This whole mess really deserves a graphic of some sort, but part of the new flow is that I start work promptly at 9am – so that will have to wait.

I get up at 7:30, shower, feed the dogs then 8-9 is for blogging, RSS feed reading and personal email. At 9am the whistle blows and currently I’ve got only 9 minutes to finish this post. If that sounds rigid it’s because it is – and I need it to be that way.

dopey-dwarfEmail: I’ve abandoned Outlook for Thunderbird – a free, open source and lightning-fast email client with many of the same features and none of the ridiculous loading or lag time. I’ll write more on all these new cogs in my workflow wheel later.

Calendar: Google Calendar was the hands-down winner due to the fact it’s compatible, or has a plugin, for just about every productivity application out there. It plays well with others.

Contacts: Still working this one through. I’d love it to be Thunderbird, but it’ll likely end up being Plaxo as I already have a well-worn account there and the import/export and networking features are slick. Ideally I’d like something that can sync comfortably back-and-forth with my iPhone.

Tasks: This is the discovery I’m really excited about, as I am a GTD disciple and list-making maniac. You name it and I’ve tried it – Remember the Milk, the native Outlook task list, SimpleGTD, etc. After my own painstaking research and reading about 100 blog posts on the subject there is a very clear winner: Toodledo. Thank goodness I found this wonderful site, its iPhone application, Google Calendar and FireFox plugins and iGoogle gadget. My task list nerdery will now know no bounds.

I’ll revisit this post throughout the day (but only during scheduled breaks for personal time, mind you!) and update you on how the new workflow is working out. Wish me luck, and if you feel a need to remark “Gee, Dave. I remember my first beer,” I’ll understand.

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33 Reasons Janet Rules


in Heartwarming

I could actually list 33 reasons my little sister is the coolest – but that would take all morning. Will you good people settle for a quick 5?

janet-dave-tub
“What’s with all the bubbles, bro? Mom says there’s no such thing as sea monsters.”

  1. She looks just like me. Not the other way around – I was here first.
  2. She loves to perform back-breaking landscaping work getting ready for her Mother’s memorial. Although that particular trait won’t begin until next week.
  3. She’s excellent at pool, and will only get better now that we have our own table!
  4. She actually cooks for fun. Which is, in turn, very fun for me.
  5. She is an excellent dog-mommy.

janet-pumpkin
Pumpkin and Janet make up after the previous evening’s kerfuffle.
(It’s hard to see, but she has a ginormous bandage on her chin.)

Happy birthday Janet! Seems like only yesterday you were making fun of me for turning 33. Not so bloody funny anymore, is it? And what better way to celebrate someone’s special day than with embarassing photos I just dug out of storage? Actually, they’re not that bad – but only because there are still about 9 boxes I haven’t gone through. Perhaps we’ll require a part 2.

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Ridin’ With my Pixie


in Animalistic

pixie-charger
I have to ride in the back again? I’m calling Sharpton.

Yes, she resembles a retarded Mogwai. Or may also be the result of a genetic experiment which crossed a piglet with an adult male bullfrog. But little Pixie Pye is all mine – and I loves her! She’s fitting in well with the family and I can’t wait for her to meet Janet and Rhuby next week. The Three Fugsketeers will come together at last!

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Friday’s Quizzlet: Quotent Quotables


in Friday's Quizzlet

It’s my favorite day of the week again, kids, and your live Quizzlet questions are once again required. Off to a bit of a late start today due to a drywall delivery – but it’s time to get this thing started. Please leave your inquiries in the comments and I’ll answer them as I get them. Update: Got what I needed. Some of you should seek help immediately.

Appetizer: What, in your opinion, is the most quotable movie of all time? – Jennie SMASH

First of all, great to have you back, Ms. SMASH. Or is it MISS? We all have our favorites, and for me it’s a toss up between Blade Runner and Goodfellas. Quoteable movies are contextual for me though, in that the flicks I ape depend heavily on the people I’m with. One of my favorites from Blade Runner is the entire soliloquy from Roy’s death scene. Although this guy almost did it better. Almost.


Time… to die.

Goodfellas is full of them, but I think my favorite scene is when they stop off at Tommy’s mother’s house, with ‘whackee’ Billy Batts in their trunk, because they need a butcher knife to finish the job. Not only does Momma (Scorcese’s real Mother) refuse to let them leave without feeding them, but she insists on showing Jimmy and Henry her latest painting.


One dog is going East and the other one is goin’ West. So what?

“Looks like somebody we know” says Jimmy as he notices the man in the painting’s uncanny resemblance to Batts. Kills me every time.

Soup: What would you do now if you could have any job ? – Dana G.

I would have loved to have been a professional actor, and I think I could have been if I’d had the drive when I was much younger. Stand-up comedian is also high on the list. Back down on Earth where reality reigns, the answer is undoubtedly: Homicide Detective. Intrinsically I have always hated watching people commit and get away with horrible crimes and I know that bringing peace to families that have lost a loved one must provide a satisfaction unseen in any other profession. Or maybe I just read too many Encyclopedia Brown books as a child. Granted, there’s a big difference between the Case of the Disgusting Sneakers and a triple home invasion gang blackout suicide pact.

Salad: Are there, apart from 7&7 and crown & ginger, any Canadian cocktails? – Joanna A.

It’s technically a shooter but my University days are littered with memories of the infamous, and very Canadian, Prarie Fire. There are several variations but the one you see up there is a normal sized shot of tequila adorned with several dashes of Tabasco. The amount of hot drops you get usually depends on who ordered it for you, how they feel about you on that given evening and whether or not it’s your birthday. If you’ve been a dick to someone recently, it’s your birthday, and that person is headed up to the bar for a round of shots – kiss your ring goodbye. Figuratively and literally. I hear that’s actually possible if you’re heavily into yoga. Also look into Swish. And then immediately wish you hadn’t.

Main Course: What is the most heart-wrenching song ever recorded? – Lauren N.

That is easy. I made the mistake of having my iPod on shuffle and subsequently hearing “The Drugs Don’t Work” by the Verve. Normally that wouldn’t be a big deal, but my Mother had been dead for less than two hours and I was driving back from the hospital. I had always thought that tune was incredibly sad, but let’s just say I’m lucky I was able to keep the car on the road that morning.

Dessert: What is the best tech advancement of the last 10 years? And where are my keys? – Scott W.

The continued evolution and societal importance of the internet, hands down. As for the keys, they’re in a brown grocery bag under your sink. You dropped them in there because you needed a free hand for a box of cat litter, and then stored the bag without removing them. You’re welcome.

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They are Not Quarry. They are Family


in Animalistic

Just caught myself saying this to the dogs after they bumrushed Boss the cat for no apparent reason:

“Please leave the kitties alone. They are not quarry. They are family.”

So now, not only am I talking to the dogs as if they were humans on a way too regular basis – I’m speaking to them as if they were learned English thespians. Perhaps soon they’ll start lifting their pinkie toe-fingers whenever they lap from their water dish.

Needless to say at this point, I’m very much looking forward to the human company that the May 16th Bonnie Pye memorial brings with it. Tally ho.

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I Ride Anything I Get


in Viral

An Irish friend sent this video to Monster last night and he sent it to me. It floored me like a car bomb, I was laughing so hard. The kind you drink. Basically it’s just a scummy drunken Irish couple arguing in the street, but the unmistakable Emerald Isle dialogue is absolutely brilliant. Warning – drunk Irish people swear. Sometimes both creatively and profusely:

“Why do you like ridin’ hippos?!”
“He’s foookin’ good lookin’ fer a knacker!”
“It went all the way up my gaol and it’s foookin’ big!”

Somewhere, Brendan Behan is beaming with pride.

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Workflow Confessions – Helping You Help Me.


in Worky

In an attempt to better utilize my new Apple-flavored device for work-related tasks, I am attempting to transfer my email universe completely out of Outlook and into Gmail/Calendar. Last night I installed Remember the Milk on the phone and also added plugins for it to Gmail and GCalendar. This quad-fecta should conceivably connect my task list, calendar, email addresses, phone numbers, email accounts and all in a mobile-friendly manner.

juggleThere is, however, a problem. I’ve been using Outlook for over a decade and I’m having a really hard time envisioning GMail ever having the fanatical level of organization that I’m used to and require – lest I lose the plot, tear off my shirt and go sit at the end of my dock for the rest of the business day.

There are no folders. Filters can replace Outlook rules, but there are no folders to sort mail into. I don’t like the way the conversation threads have the most recent emails at the bottom of the page. Having all 7 of my frequently used email accounts aggregated into GMail should be convenient – but I don’t like having it all bundled together on the same screen – even with GMail’s “labels” attached to each separate account. Am I doomed to return to Microsoft’s diabolical fold? I’ve attempted similar transformations in the past.

Here’s what I’d like. Nay – what I’d love. Share your systems. We all have one. Especially if you use GMail. Share your personal processes and workflows here in the comments and list any online or application based tools you depend on to get the job done. How does everything talk to each other? Phone syncs? IMAP? POP? Let’s get it all out on the table. I’ll get the ball rolling with some specific items to address:

  1. What do you use for email?
  2. How do you manage your contact list?
  3. To what extent is your mobile device part of your workflow?
  4. What do you use for a calendar?
  5. Have you modified any of the above with plugins or addons?

Take it from there, if you dare. You’ll feel better, I’ll blatantly steal your best ideas and we may all learn something useful in the process. You make me want to be a more productive man.

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iPhone: My First Week as a Proud Owner


in Nerdery

Apple, how I loathe thee, let me count the ways. It’s been exactly seven days since I traveled to Kingston, bit the bullet and bought an iPhone. As a long time PC guy and legacy Blackberry fan it was a tough decision but admittedly – I in no way regret it. What a wonderful little piece of gadgety goodness. Here are some of my initial thoughts after a week of use.

General iPhone Observations

  • I’ll start with my very favorite feature – voicemail. With my Blackberry and every other cell phone I’ve ever owned I hated having to call in, enter a password and then listen to 17 voicemails on Sunday morning which went something like “Hi, this is Skip. But you probably know that cause my name will be in your call log. Anyway, just wanted to call you and see what you were up to. Call me back, but it’s in no way important and I shouldn’t have even left this stupid, redundant message. Bye.” On the iPhone voicemail callers are presented in a list as buttons, and you can listen to delete them in any order without having to enter a password! There is also a “speaker” button at the top right of the voicemail screen which allows you to listen to said messages without even having to put the phone up to your ear. I love this!
  • The call quality and volume is always top-notch, and I’ve yet to drop a signal or ask someone to repeat themselves. But then again, Mushmouth doesn’t call me anymore.
  • I bought an accompanying headset which is great for the car, never getting laid again and lying on the couch without the strength or motivation to sit up and grab your phone. It synchs seamlessly with the iPhone as soon as you switch it on and you can answer calls by tapping the top of it. It’s also very subtle so I’m not going to look like a complete iTard. Operative word there being “complete”.
  • It’s nice to have a camera on my phone again and I look forward to using it with Facebook and TwitPic to share my silly adventures. I’m hoping to find a Wordpress plugin that can auto-post to the blog as well. There’s no flash and it only works well in bright areas but I can live with that.
  • The UI is terrific, with nothing but a touch screen and solitary button to worry about. The screen keypad takes some getting used to, but after a week my speed and accuracy has improved dramatically. I do, however, type in landscape mode whenever possible.
  • Email is definitely decent with the ability to separate different POP accounts into multiple inboxes. Currently I’m running everything into GMail and then over to the phone using IMAP to save on data transfer costs. I have yet to come up with the ideal workflow for the email, but I’m getting there. I am seriously considering abandoning Outlook altogether and using Google Mail, Calendar and their respective Remember the Milk plugins for all business processes. This is a scary jump to make but I have a sneaking suspicion it’s the way to go.

iPhone Application Ruminations

  • Landscape is an app which allows you to write emails and texts using the landscape keyboard layout. This is excellent for fat-fingered behemoths like myself who cry themselves to sleep with a melted dollop of Ben & Jerry’s on their chest every night, pining for their Blackberrys.
  • Smacktalk consists of nothing else but a series of animals (guinea pig, terrier, kitten, chihuaua) who repeat whatever you say to them in a high pitched voice. When I visited my father at the hospital last week he laughed his head off, which is rare. This one is obviously going to be huge with children and dementia patients.
  • Dad’s favorite app, however, was definitely Galaga – where the classic 80’s arcade game is recreated on the phone with startling accuracy, right down to the soundtrack. I hope to see a lot of other old games brought back to life in this way. May I suggest Spy Hunter?
  • VoiceNote is another app I’ve used a lot over the last week. When I think of something that needs to be done and I don’t have one of my trusty notebooks in front of me I simply open it up and record the note to be captured somewhere later. Simple, but great for disciples of GTD such as myself.
  • Facebook kind of goes without saying, as does the Tweetie app. Good integration with these popular websites/enormous wastes of time.
  • Fex pulls all my friend’s profile photos out of Facebook and assigns them automatically to corresponding names in my iPhone address book. Not entirely necessary, but very neat!
  • Chordmaster shows you the fingering for any guitar chord you can imagine and also plays an example when you strum the screen. You can also use it to properly tune your mighty rock axe.
  • The Google app lets me check email, calendar, RSS feeds, documents and every other major tool that they offer under a Google account. It tends to be so slow that I don’t use it much, but hey – I live in the damn woods. Maybe this one will get more use in civilization.

Those are the applications I’ve installed and used so far. I would love to hear about your favorites. No doubt there are several hundred I haven’t gotten to yet. If you have any iPhone app recommendations please leave them in the comments. Jesus, I love technology. It’s an amazing time to be alive.

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BonniePye.com Launches to Universal Applause


in Heartwarming

Janet and I have created a website for our Mom which we’d like to share with all of you: www.BonniePye.com.

If you would like more information on the memorial service we are hosting at our house next month, please visit the “Memorial” tab. We have included directions, local accommodation information and absolutely everyone is welcome.

We encourage you all to leave your own thoughts or memories of Bonnie on the “Add a Memory” page.

If you would like to contribute photos of Bonnie to the “Gallery” section, please scan and email them to dave (at) davepye.com.

Thanks very much for all of the support, calls and letter we received during the last two months. Mom was graced with some incredible friends. Hope to see some of you Saturday, May 16th!

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Wednesday Wadio: Doves ‘House of Mirrors’


in Wednesday Wadio

Since I wrote my January piece on the first single, Jetstream, the Doves’ latest album, Kingdom of Rust, has enjoyed a long and glorious reign on my car stereo. I’ve had a huge soft spot for the band since their inception in the mid-nineties, and unlike many of their “Brit Pop” contemporaries they’ve managed both a longevity and musical evolution that has surprised many critics and fans. I doubt they’ll ever be able to write another song as special to me as 2002’s There Goes the Fear that’s not a bad thing because I doubt any band ever will (it’s my favorite song, evah). But I got’s to tell you – House of Mirrors comes pretty gosh darn close. Have a listen…

“If you don’t move to this song I would suggest seeing a doctor right away.” – YouTube Comment

Although KOR is their 4th album in 9 years, it’s been 48 long months since Some Cities and I have wondered more than once if it might be Doves‘ final output. I finally got to see them in Boston on that tour and watching them close with ‘Fear‘ mere feet from the stage was a crowning moment in my extensive concert-going history. Here are some photos from the evening which took place in 2005 at Avalon (now House of Blues) on Landsdowne Street. My worries were, thank goodness, unfounded as the boys from Manchester have quietly returned to surprise us all.

Vagrant-stomping drums, a Spectoresque wall of sound, rockabilly guitar riffs and a chorus that makes me want to roll down my windows at a red light in a busy intersection and embarass myself. How’s that for a testimonial? In skimming reviews of the record as a whole last night I discovered quite a few others.

“House Of Mirrors effortlessly puts one over on the Last Of The Shadow Puppets’ 60s throwbacks with a crashing burst of Ennio Morricone-influenced fingersnaps and Goodwin bellowing like Scott Walker over the top – it’s one of the finest songs they’ve ever recorded.” – MusicOMH.com

“House Of Mirrors shatters along like some unearthed gem from Joe Meek’s record box.” – BBC

Doves-band-manchester

D’ya like our new beards, geezer?”

“… the more euphoric the music gets; the more miserable everyone in the songs becomes. “Home feels like a place I’ve never been,” protests Goodwin as a preposterously uplifting psychedelic soul stomp called House of Mirrors achieves vertical takeoff.” – Guardian

“Perhaps this restlessness is indicative of certain frustration on Doves’ part in seeing their efforts eclipsed by less imaginative, more mawkish Britpop bands, and in turn, a desire to distance themselves from the sad-sack pack; it’s hard to imagine the likes of Elbow turning in something quite as fierce and paranoid as “House of Mirrors”, a fuzz-soaked stomper punctuated by jarring, bump-in-the-night sound effects.” – Pitchfork

See? I told you it was good. I told ya! Placing these quotes in my own personal testament isn’t as much an effort to back up my own opinion – which I was tremendously confident in the very first time I heard the tune while zipping along the Mass Pike – as they are a desire to point out the way in which the fickle industry is welcoming the band back with open arms. This is a very difficult feat to accomplish (ask Travis, for example), and restores my faith in music being able to get along on its merits alone. For the record, I thought the last Travis record was really good, Pitchfork. You guys vivisected it.

Although there is no shortage of stand-out tracks on Kingdom Of Rust – ‘Winter Hill’ and ‘Birds Flying Backwards’ in particular – House of Mirrors is the one that really grabbed me by the short and curlies. You can grab the record by clicking the album cover above or even just the one song when you get there. This is one to own, kids.

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Meet Owen and Max Harkins!


in Heartwarming

As I eluded in Sunday’s post, at 5 a.m. on that magical morning the world became a better place because Max and Owen Harkins entered it. A big congratulations to Susan, Matt and their families. Of which I am glad to be a peripheral member.

owen-harkins
Meet Baby Owen. We’re now officially only about 40 years from a sequel to Throw Mama from the Train.

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12 Reasons Today is a Good Day


in Heartwarming

1. One of my best friends in the world and his lovely lady had two healthy, baby twin boys this morning at 5:30. Susan and Matt – I love you, send pictures, I vote for “Owen”.

2. I made amends with an important person whom I was a fool to ever fall out with, and it feels terrific.

3. I just raked the lawn in a t-shirt.

4. Last night Boston kicked sweet hell out of Montreal. I entered my friend’s house wearing one of my Bruins t-shirts and was told at the door “You’re going to get your ass kicked wearing that in here.” To which I responded, “What the hell are this group of bumpkins going to do, bite my ankles?”

5. Today was the first time I stopped to pick up my mail and there wasn’t a single sympathy card.

6. I joined the Portland Historical Society and presented my website ideas to some of the board members Friday – which were received extremely enthusiastically. Yesterday one of them, an 82-year-old man named John, came over to the house to drop off photos of the 1985 sea plane crash he was in for me to scan. He rescued his son and another man and then had his house destroyed by a tornado 4 days later. You can’t make this shit up. Why is that a good thing? I just love living here and am meeting lots of amazing people.

7. Last night the same group of aforementioned bumpkins came over to my house after the game and the new basement has officially been christened by a proper Pye Party.

8. I just burned Hotel for Dogs, which Griffin assures me is an awesome movie, and I’m actually really excited to watch it tonight because there’s a Boston Terrier in a lead role.

9. I’m getting an iPhone tomorrow, because Rogers isn’t going to carry the Storm (jerks), and I always nerd out dramatically over new toys.

10. This time next week I’ll have over 400 satellite channels. That’s all I can say on that particular matter.

11. A guy I’ve only met twice at the bar looked up my number, called and asked me to join his Wednesday night beer league softball team. I have until Wednesday to give him an answer, but I already know it’s going to be a resounding “yes”. In a show of perfect timing, I was batting tennis balls for the dogs to chase a few days ago and I nailed one all the way over my neighbor’s hedge – so my confidence level is high.

12. I’m about to go burn scrap wood and trash . I simply loves me some fire.

This all begs the question – what the hell is happening to me? It took a while for the whole loss of Bonnie and Gord thing to properly sink in, but now I feel like some sort of switch has been flipped in my head. I feel thirty-five for the first time – and it’s OK. That’s right – My name is Dave, and I’m thirty-five.

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Here Comes the Gravy


in Appalling

Couldn’t have been happier with this news today. Go frig yourself, you arrogant son of a bitch. And much respect to Jian Ghomeshi for his calm handling of the situation. For the interview in question please see the video…

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