| Greetings!
Is it hot where you are? It is quite hot here. High of 90 today, and I believe we may have hit 100 yesterday. And this is cool compared to some of my friends in Iowa, Texas, and other natural furnace locations.
I actually love this summer weather (as long as I'm not in a suit!), and I've been out playing -- golf, tennis, swimming, fishing, biking. Life AND summers are too short when you live here in Michigan, so you have to make the most of them.
With that in mind, I thought I'd have a little fun as we quickly approach the Independence Day holiday, and share with you how I use my smart phone, Evernote, and a little "boy scout planning" to make my summers even MORE fun! Let's get to it: |
Timely Tips June 2012 -- Use Evernote to Store Your Packing Lists (and Have More Fun This Summer in the Process!)
| This is ALWAYS the place to look for your Timely Tip!
In the past, I've shared a strategy for storing lists so when you need to remember something, you'd have it handy. In the 90's, those lists were stored in a planner (hope you don't lose it!), in the 00's, those lists were stored in Outlook synced to a Palm or BlackBerry. But we're in the 10's now, and things have changed once again. BlackBerry is on its last breath, Palm is basically no more, and Droids and IPhones rule the universe (at least for the next week or two.)
This month, I'd like to bring out my strategy for keeping these lists handy, and even give you a couple lists that will help you "execute" your summer fun more efficiently and accurately (I'm not anal at all!)
My updated strategy -- keep these "reminder notes" in Evernote, a free app you can download onto your Droid, IPhone, Droid Tablet, IPad, BlackBerry, and even your laptop! (As a matter of fact, when you sign up for an Evernote account and download the app on these different devices, you can use the same log in credentials on each of these different devices and effectively share your reminder lists on ALL of these devices, with updates and syncing!)
So, I keep my lists on Evernote and update them in real time on whatever device I have handy. Pretty awesome actually!
So, how does this help you execute your summer fun more effectively and efficiently? Easy -- I'm giving you these two lists:
Beach Day Trip Packing List
Camping Trip Pack List
You can take these PDFs and either copy and paste the text into your Evernote, or just save the actual PDF files into new notes in your Evernote. Regardless, you have a great head start on your pack list for either of these two fun summertime trips!
Can you do me a favor? Tell me what I'm missing. These lists are pretty good, but can be better. Tell me what items should be added to these lists, and I'll add them to these files and post the updated PDFs to my web site next month.
And while you are at it, what other "summer fun" packing lists can you think of? (Maybe you could send me some of your pack lists to add to my Evernote account?) Why worry about forgetting something, or having to buy something on the road, when you can simply have your pack list on your phone or tablet and walk around with it while you are packing for your trip to the woods or the sand? Remember the Boy Scout motto: BE PREPARED! (And have a great time this summer!)
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| A Little Follow Up on Last Month's Timely Tips on the "Delayed Send" Feature |
After sending out my May Timely Tips on the "Delayed Send" feature in Outlook and other e-mail software tools, I had a great little follow up from a few Timely Tips readers that provided a bit of a correction to my tip, especially for those of you using MS Outlook on an Exchange server:
Apparently, if you set up an e-mail for delayed send and you are using Outlook on Exchange, you DO NOT need to keep your Outlook open on your computer as I mentioned in the article -- the Exchange server will send it at the designated send time, even if your computer is shut down at that time.
I wanted to get you this corrected info, as I know many of you are on Exchange and probably don't want to leave your computers on all the time when you leave your office. (The power grid will thank you too.) |
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I am basically doing "Dad Camp" with my daughters next week, working with them on their swimming, tennis, and golf skills (and hopefully catching a fish or two with them too.) I'm also looking forward to seeing several friends on the "odd-Wednesday" Independence Day holiday this year.
After next week, things heat up professionally again, with presentations at the upcoming MSAE ORG-PRO event at the Motor City Casino, the Michigan Credit Union League event in northern Michigan, the Indiana Society of Association Executives Annual Conference, and additional client events in Saginaw and Jackson, MI, Appleton, WI, and Chicago, IL. And that is just July!
I'm hoping you either enjoy the heat, or have it break soon for you -- whatever your preference. (Just keep in mind before complaining about the heat that February has a way to pay you back miserably if you do!) ;-) Enjoy your hot summer, and until next month, Stay Timely!
Sincerely,
Randy Dean
Randall Dean Consulting & Training, LLC
or http://www.emailsanityexpert.com
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App of the Month
A vastly improved Weather Channel App
| Weather Channel app -- available on Google Play, ITunes App Store, BlackBerry, and Windows Phones.
Since we are doing an issue on summer fun, what can ruin your summer fun faster than inclement weather? This month, I'm featuring the Weather Channel app as the app of the month.
I actually downloaded this app when I first bought my Droid Bionic last year, and I wouldn't recommend it back then -- why???
IT DIDN'T HAVE RADAR MAPS!!!
But in a recent update, they did finally add in a pretty decent radar map function that allows you to zoom in and out, move around quickly, and even play an animated radar loop. Not bad.
But here is what I really like about this app -- you can add numerous "favorite" locations -- places you travel frequently. I have my hometown of East Lansing, my childhood home of Battle Creek, Detroit, New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Orlando, and Dallas (to name a few) pre-programmed as weather location "favorites", and I can very quickly change my default weather info to one of these other locations.
Being a frequent traveler to these locations, this is VERY handy. It also gives you the 3-day, 5-day, and 10-day forecasts at your fingertips -- also very handy when you have travel coming up.
It is actually a pretty simple app, but it works well for what I need. There are other more sophisticated weather apps out there, so if you are a "weather geek", you may prefer something a bit deeper, but this will work for most of you (and yes, it does give severe weather alerts too -- this week it has all been about high heat warnings and ozone alerts -- what fun!)
Check it out -- a solid free weather app that isn't overbuilt.
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| Next Month a Special Webinar Replay Offer | Here's a little something to watch for in next month's Timely Tips:
I'll be offering a special discounted price for you to access both of my recent webinar programs in streaming format:
Taming the E-mail Beast & Optimizing Your Outlook
Each program was 90-minutes, and featured my best e-mail and Outlook tips, and I'll be offering a "combo deal" where you can access both program replays with a little discount -- that is like having a full 3-hour intensive training session on E-mail & Outlook use at your disposal (and you'll even be able to fast forward, rewind, and pause, so you can master these many tips and strategies!)
More info in next month's Timely Tips. | |
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