Acquired Attention Deficit Disorder
I think I’m well on my way to acquiring Attention Deficit Disorder. According to this article on CNET News it is possible to actually acquire a form of ADD.
“Dr. Edward Hallowell, a psychiatrist who’s studied attention deficit disorder for more than a decade, has identified a related disorder he calls attention deficit trait, and he says it’s reaching epidemic proportions in the corporate world.”
While I don’t have a CrackBerry and am not addicted to my cell phone I have found plenty of other distractions. I subscribe to about 120 blogs that I subscribe to using Google Reader. I have 5 email addresses that I check (work, home, Gmail, blog, church webmaster). I also check several news websites throughout the day. Add to that a few phone calls during the day and I can begin to see how distracted I can get. I have started blocking out specific times for these activities to prioritize and limit them. I am definitely more focused. Time will tell if I can stick to this regimen.
Always Get a Second Opinion
We recently contacted three roofing companies to provide a quote to re-shingle our house. One contractor quoted us $7000 and another quoted $3000. The third contractor didn’t bother to show up even though we had agreed on an appointed day and time. What a difference between the three companies. I’m not sure how you stay in business when you stand up a customer but I’m glad they didn’t show. They saved me the headache of tracking them down after they didn’t finish the work. I am also amazed that there can be a 130% difference in price for the same job. But the question is will a $3000 roof be good enough and will it equal the quality of the $7000 one? It’s hard to know without some good references. I think some additional quotes are warranted as well.
Comment Spam Has Arrived
It finally happen. I received two comments that Akismet or whether it would have eventually happened given enough time. Don’t answer that. Sadly it seems no place is safe from spam. Thank goodness for Akismet.
Backing Up is Hard to Do
I am trying to pick a good back up method for our home computers and have found quite a few options. I currently have a laptop with Windows XP and a MacBook Pro as well as a few old desktops floating around. First and foremost I would like a automated, reliable back-ups for both laptops. The back-ups need to include docs, pics, videos, email, addresses, calendars and browser bookmarks. I have considered online back-up services like Mozy, Carbonite and JungleDisk. With these services the back-up resides remotely which is nice protection against flood, fire and other depressing-to-think-about catastrophic events. I have also toyed with the idea of setting up a Network-attached storage (NAS). I could either buy one or use one my old desktops with FreeNAS installed. This opens up the possibility of using the NAS as a media server for music and videos as well.
What’s your back-up method?
- Online service (Mozy, Carbonite, etc.)
- Scheduled back-ups to another computer/eternal drive/server/NAS
- Periodically burn a DVD
- Pray and think good thoughts
Wired Magazine Wants Me to Pay More
I just received the last issue of my subscription to Wired Magazine and it included the obligatory “LAST ISSUE!” subscription renewal card guaranteeing me the low rate. What is ironic is that the “guaranteed low rate” to renew is $12 while the annoying subscription cards that fall out of the magazine advertise a one year subscription for $10.
I know it’s only a couple of dollars difference but the fact that Wired openly wants to charge its current customer (of many years) more than a new customer is amusing. (I wonder if this is what Chris Anderson meant in his post about magazine subscription cards.) I don’t think I will be renewing the subscription anyway. Over the past year or two the number of articles that appeal to me have dropped dramatically. For a while there were so many articles on the entertainment industry I had make sure I wasn’t reading US Weekly. The amount of filler material has also increased beyond reason. I used to read the magazine cover to cover and now I am lucky to complete two articles. I think there are better sources for information on technology and business. So long Wired, sorry you have to go.
P.S. What are your favorite places to get your tech/business/culture info?