Yesterday in my Hotlinking section I mentioned the Compact Calendar put together by David Seah. One of the things I love about the Compact Calendar is how easily it fits into my Moleskine and how nicely it acts as a display calendar in the half dozen places I have them stashed.
Today on Lifehacker I spotted a new pocket of calendar called the "Thumb Calendar." The Thumb Calendar, by Adam Sporka, is an incredibly neat little design that looks ideal for popping into your wallet, hipster PDA or even your Moleskine.
All the way through college I never drank coffee. I tried once or twice but I just couldn't convince myself it was worth it.
When I started working full time (7am to 5pm) that changed. While I still don't drink hot coffee I find it absolutely necessary to have an iced-coffee every morning. Of course that creates a lot of problems.
I have not found a good way to make iced-coffee using hot brewing methods. Brew a pot of coffee - through it in the fridge and invariably you're unhappy. Buying an iced coffee every morning is even more trouble partly because of the money involved and partly because I end up buying a donut (or two) to go with it.
If you figure $4 a morning (for coffee, breakfast and a tip) times 365 days that's over $1400 a year at Dunkin Donuts!
I realized this just recently and immediately cringed at the wasted money. The good thing is it got me looking for a new way to fuel my morning coffee fix. What I found is called "Cold Brewed Coffee" and it's an incredible money saver for hot and cold coffee drinkers alike.
The system I bought (Toddy Cafe Cold Brew Coffee System) is extremely easy to use and makes a more consistent cup of coffee than any of my local Dunkin Donuts. If you're a coffee drinker looking to save money this year be sure to check it out!
Lifehacker's recent System Tray Show and Tell got me feeling really self-conscious about the things that show up on my computer's SysTray. While there are several items that I don't mind keeping an eye on there are a couple of Windows processes that I really don't think need constant monitoring. A perfect example of this is the Windows Local Area Connection icon that sits with a perpetual red X because my laptop is hooked up with WiFi.
Why do I need to see this icon if I never use the wired connection?
I did a little playing around and managed to find two ways to hide the icon. One doesn't appear to work all the time so I'll provide both just to be safe.
Removing the Local Area Connection Icon
This works perfectly for the wireless connection icon but on my machine it doesn't seem to work for the wired one. The first, really simple, option is to completely disable the connection. To do this you can double click the icon to open the Network Connections listing. Once this is done just right click the Local Area Connection item and select Disable.
In the long run this isn't really an ideal solution mostly because it involves completely turning off the wired network adapter. To avoid turning it off you can right click the listing and instead select "Properties."
Under the "General" tab look for the two check boxes and de-select them both. This should disable the icon while leaving the adapter activated.
Last Resort: Hide the Local Area Connection Icon
On my machine this didn't work - it did work to hide the Wireless Network Connection icon though. If you hit the same wall I have a work around that might help both here and in general for hiding icons in the SysTray. To get started right click the taskbar and then "Customize" under the "Notification area" heading.
The next section shows a list of all the items that are currently, or have recently, appeared in the System Tray. Under the "Behavior" column you can change the rules for each of the items - just select "Always hide" to keep the icons hidden.
I carry a Moleskine Notebook everywhere I go. In my own modified version of GTD I use it to keep track of all my projects and "to do's" and it doubles as a solid capture device. Along with my Space Pen my Moleskine is an indispensables part of my daily routine.
Besides my pocket reporter I also keep a couple of Large Moleskine Notebooks for other purposes as well. The most recent addition is my Moleskine Weekly planner - it's a great way to track all your major events and a solid way to keep a paper backup of your Online calendar.
One major problem with Moleskine Planners? They sell out fast. If you're looking to get a hold of one of these great notebooks now's a good time to grab them as there are many available on Amazon. Wait too long and you may not be able to get them until early next year!
Links to all the products are available above.
If you're a Lifehacker reader you may already be hip to this great Firefox extension. Better GMail is a collection of Greasemonkey scripts brought together as a standalone extension. While you can certainly install the scripts individually the extension offers a one stop supply which will work even without Greasemonkey.
Among the additions made by the extension are the ability to create folders in GMail (the one thing I really miss about traditional eMail), a status bar showing the current state of your GMail storage, and the ability to incorporate both Google Calendar and Google Reader into the GMail interface.
Head on over to Lifehacker and grab the extension to see what I mean.
