Let me explain what I’ve done so far, with the hope that someone out there on teh Interweb would be able to help me out. I’ll post an update when I get it sorted out. (Sorry, I’m not posting screen shots to save time.)

One wiki, one plugin, and minimal code

So far I’ve been able to get away with minimal code. I installed MediaWiki Version 1.15.2, one plugin, and added a couple of variables to the LocalSettings.php to configure and register it within my wiki.

To add article comments, I found the extension: Article Comments by Jim R. Wilson. With little effort, I can embed a comment form in any MediaWiki page.

To embed the comment form on every new page, I added the extension’s markup to the special pages Newarticletext and Noarticletext. To figure out which pages to edit, I found all the default system messages listed on the page http://{mediawiki_server}/index.php/Special:AllMessages, where {mediawiki_server} is replaced by the location of your server.

This extension only adds comments to the Talk page of an existing article. While I can set the form to display on blank pages, I encounter errors when submitting the form because the article doesn’t yet exist, so the talk page can’t be created.

The $1,000,000 question

How do I convince MediaWiki to create a new page as soon as it’s requested? Can anyone point me in the right direction of recent resources?

Happy 30th Birthday SPAM ~ from Gizmodo

Since last week I’ve been receiving upwards of 300 spam comments a day. I somehow made it onto the Internet radar, which is proving to be a mixed blessing. Fortunately for the ones reading my blog, I activated the Akismet spam filter, which comes installed by default with WordPress, and only needs a WordPress.com API key to activate. This plugin reviews submitted comments against a spam database, deletes the obvious, and marks the questionable content for me to approve.

On top of this, I added the marvellous reCaptcha plugin to both my comment and secure contact forms. Users need to verify two words in order to submit their forms. This prevents automated comment spamming bots, with the additional value of decrypting digitized copy from old books as part of a library project.

A pet peeve of mine is seeing well known, high profile blogs with spam comments, as if the owner doesn’t care about the quality of their community, only the amount of comments against their posts. For this reason alone I will continue to moderate comments against my blog. Readers who comment regularly will have their comments approved automatically from their third comment onward, unless their comment matches other triggers.

This week’s Spammy Award goes to

I don’t plan to make a regular habit of glorifying spam, but I have to give the spammers credit. Everyone needs to fill out the reCaptcha before the form will submit, so this assures me that all my comments are made by human beings, even those that automatically process into my spam folder. What an amazing waste of time and energy it is for the people copy and paste spam comments into blogs all day long. I don’t mind that they submit; the more submissions they make, the more digitized text gets verified. A total win-win on all counts.

Also, with few exceptions, some of these comments are really, really, really funny. If you’re going to spend the time posting spam comments against blogs, you might as well make them interesting. Here are samples from a few that I found fascinating:

• “Guru, thank you for such wise advice, especially on a Thursday.” (It was Monday.)
• “Thank you, looking forward to many more visits!”
• “Is it really exciting web site? Tell me more!”
• “A very interesting read. I long to know more about you blog”
• “Thank you for the informative work!”
• “A very impressive and well organized site.”
• “An excellent work! KEEP IT UP!”

I’m so excited about these comments. They stand as testimonials for the quality of my work. Especially the last

And for my next plugin

I’d like to install or write a plugin where I can set up a list of words that stop comments from being stored in the database after they make it through the reCaptcha. Almost all of the spammers reference the same domain URL for the first 500 or so, then switch to a new domain for the next batch. I already remove the bulk of those comments with custom SQL directly against the database, but stopping these comments from entering the database at all will save me lots of time.

Can anyone out there in the blogosphere recommend a WordPress plugin that operates like a censor:

• Provides input to store a list of user-defined words
• Intercepts all comments after successfully posting
• Ignores the database write for comments that match the criteria
• Saves comments that pass through the filter into the database

Please comment below for the world at large to read, or respond to me privately. I look forward to discussing your suggestions!

Example Ink Blog

Click image to view The Other Coast February 18, 2009

When I saw this comic strip in the paper this morning, I had to laugh. So much of today’s communications media: phone, text/SMS/MMS, email, TV, online publishing—are only available as long as there is enough storage to keep them. The Way-Back Machine on the Internet Archive helped me recover my Tablet PC Blogs posts in a jam, but if all the hard drives in the universe were full, what would have happened then?

In contrast to my post about what happens on the Internet living forever, I present the alternative view. My friend Wayne Radford, the self-proclaimed “King of Poco”, put this bug in my ear over lunch one rainy afternoon. The short version is that our online publishing efforts, though wide reaching, are only temporal.

Way back in the dawn of time the human race shared stories of their heritage through the spoken word. In each family or tribe was a storyteller who entertained, provoked thought, and presented their traditions and history to the current generation. Before that storyteller died, he passed the mantle to the next in line, to carry on the tradition.

In our electronics-crazed age, we are disconnected from one another. We listen to our personal stereos. We play portable one-person video games. We share a sense of community, but that largely occurs online. Which reminds me of another great cartoon I saw this week.

Click image to view Zits for February 15, 2009

The sad fact is that Social Media encourages online activity that makes us feel like we’re connecting with others. In reality we are still playing by ourselves in a large room with several others. When our kids were in preschool we arranged play dates so they could “get to know other kids”. It was an interesting phenomenon that even though they were in the same room, each of them enjoyed the experience of playing with a different set of toys—they rarely interacted, or played the same game together.

It soon became apparent that we arranged those play dates for other reasons besides our children’s social development; we arranged these dates for us to socialize with other parents. This became clear to me when I compared my wife’s impressions of the play dates where the parents of the children stayed to chat, with the ones where the parents dropped their kids off and left to run errands. My wife always felt a greater sense of connection when given the opportunity to socialize with other adults. Go figure.

Back to my original point. I wrote this blog entry and published it for the world at large to read. Well, actually, only the interested three or four of you will take the time to read this post. While my work makes me a published author for however long the post is kept on the server, when the lights go out, it’s over.

This is a different experience than that of a printed book, which has the opportunity to live for on centuries (or not!) on a library bookshelf. Even then, the written word is still temporary. What matters most are the real-life connections we make with each other, right now. It’s easy to hide behind a pseudonym or a web site façade, an instant messaging nick or an avatar. It’s far more difficult, and scary, to present ourselves as we really are.

I’ve had the great pleasure of joining various meetup groups, technology user groups, and other business/social networking groups that meet face to face. It’s fascinating to watch the dynamic within each group. There are those who use these occasions to promote their services, but still more who want to meet the real “you” behind the online “you”.

Which leads me to my next point: I’ve been invited to speak at Northern Voice on February 20, 2009 about “Putting Your Blog to Work”. I’ve been keeping this pretty quiet, as I’ve been too busy to even think about my presentation. Plus, it’s my first time ever going to this conference, and I am not sure quite what to make of the whole thing.

One thing is certain: Face-to-face connection is what is required to create true permanence in the hearts and minds of others. I intend to share the real “me” behind the online “me”, and meet and get to know the real “you” behind your online “you”.

I hope to see you at Northern Voice. Let’s put the “Social” into “Social Media”.

Answer: “You can’t force Google to do anything!”

A search for this question returns several tales of woe from developers caught in the midst of updating their websites, but found Google already indexed their content, errors and all. When we least expect it, search engine spiders work their magic. However, when we most need to update our indexed pages on Google, we are forced to wait. And wait. And wait.

Another running joke is that what happens on the Internet stays on the Internet—forever. I consider this a joke because this has always been, but so many people think it’s something new.

I received an email from a fellow STC member who was concerned that her posts on the international STC Member Forum were viewable by everyone on the world wide web. Yes Virginia, there is no santa clause… everything that is public on the Internet lives on in some exebyte of storage somewhere. I can still find my circa 1990 Usenet posts on music theory when I search archives for my very first internet email address. Send me a private message and I’ll email you that address so you can search Google Groups for yourself and see what a total dweeb I was.

What this tells me is that on the Internet time stands still: At the same time, people can be judged for their failings even as they are praised for their achievements. How many times have you seen political leaders brought down due to their undergraduate affiliations? These remnants can haunt them long into their retirement, because posts from the past can share equal billing with those of the present.

On one hand, this can be used to our advantage. When Tablet PC Blogs was hacked I managed to recover and recreate most of my own blog entries using the Way Back Machine. The blog owner, Laine P. Heiny, also used the archive to restore most of the work for the rest of his site.

Another advantageous incident for me was when I  blogged about cloud computing for Duo Consulting. Immediately after the post went live, I received a request to reprint the article in its entirety from Jeremy Geelan, the editor of another online cloud computing zine. This other magazine is a type of content aggregation factory, only they contact authors personally, and provide credit, a bio, and backlinks. I am honoured they considered me a “fresh new voice”, and likewise I have no qualms about referring people back to them. I even Duoed the experience.

There may be times where SEO may not work in your favour, especially once you are on their radar. While on the one hand I am fortunate that my site is picked up to be indexed on a regular basis, one update caused the marketing and legal departments of a previous employer serious concern due to my wording choice. On the upside, I’m glad that my wording commanded attention. On the downside, that was attention I didn’t need. Because of it I lost five hours of paid work while I made the changes to appease my past.

Depending on when you read this, those posts may still appear on search engine results. See? When we most need the spiders to crawl….

Travel the Internet carefully. Nowadays just about everybody “Googles” the people they meet. Your Internet persona as characterized on all the different social media services are open game for prospective employers and clients, teachers, classmates, your kid’s softball coach—everybody, actually—to find out more about who you are, what you’ve done, and where you’ve been. A strong online persona can help you win business over your competitors, whereas a negative online persona could be detrimental. Likewise, in some circles, no online profile at all could be a sign of a lack of maturity in your chosen market. But it all depends on your goals.

Where do you fit in the grand scheme of the high I-Internet? Are you a blatantly public person who could care less how people perceive you? Or are you of the select mindset that no persona is a good persona?

My secret is found in our family’s running joke: “What do you get for the one who has everything?”

The answer:”BATTERIES!”

Going somewhere with no charge at all

Earlier this year, the NiMH batteries in my digital camera ran out of juice just as we entered the restaurant to celebrate my wife’s birthday. I usually remember to charge the batteries before important events, but this time I had forgotten. The spare set, also being NiMH, were useless as well. NiMH batteries drain slowly, even when not being used.

Fortunately, we were close to the Superstore, so I rushed in to pick up a pack of alkaline batteries. From my experience, alkaline batteries work better in electronics devices. They generate a higher current, run devices for a longer period, and best of all, don’t drain when they’re not being used. Alkaline batteries make ideal backups.

However, once I reached the battery aisle I was hit with a dilemma: Staring out at me from the shelves were two stacks of Pure Energy brand alkaline rechargeable batteries. I remember using them ten years ago, but hadn’t seen them since. I thought the company had vanished off the face of the earth. But here they were.

Left standing in the aisle

Pure Energy Smart Charger

What made my decision more difficult is that I had caught the product in between release cycles. On the same shelf were three different versions: their old green-packaged batteries from long ago, their recent black XL brand product, and their newly revived bright green and yellow packaging that showcases their environmental consciousness. I wasn’t sure which version of the product to buy.

All the packages boasted batteries that could be charged 500 times or more. All the batteries boasted a higher output than NiMH. And even more confusing, each package offered a charger with different features, and one “starter kit” came with twelve batteries instead of the usual eight.

Eventually I went with the black XLs, (no longer sold). The four AA and four AAA batteries came with a smart charger that also charged NiMH batteries. As I still owned stock in Energizer NiMH batteries I thought I should make an attempt at backwards compatibility.

Ready for use with no charge required

The best deal of all was that these batteries came already charged up. As I needed the batteries for my camera that minute, this product met my immediate need. I didn’t need to purchase an additional set of disposable alkaline batteries for use while waiting for these to charge. Add to this the benefit that they have a 7-year shelf life: You can always count on your spare rechargeable alkaline batteries because they hold their charge when not being used.

More strangeness: the company boasts that these batteries don’t suffer the dreaded “memory” effect, which reduces the total potential charge if recharged too frequently. In fact, quite the opposite: recharge them early, recharge them often, and the batteries will last longer.

Canadian bakin’, eh?

I think my all-time favourite part about Pure Energy is that it is a Canadian company, and their product is a Canadian innovation. Through their feedback form I asked if they were planning to develop other sizes besides AA and AAA, because I regularly use 9-volt and D cells. In my message, I gushed:

“Your products are amazing. I have been using rechargeable batteries in my CD player, flashlights, digital camera, and bluetooth keyboard and mouse for my computer for the past 5 years. I was frustrated that my NiMh batteries would drain even while still in the case, waiting to be used.”

Stephen Meldrum, the  Vice President of Sales, responded immediately. While they would like opportunities to develop C and D size batteries, AA and AAA reach over 80% of the battery market. However, they partner with OEM manufacturers to develop custom products for different markets, and recently developed both NiMH and rechargeable alkaline cells for cordless telephones.

When I mentioned I’d be blogging their story, he asked me specifically to point out the environmental benefit of rechargeable alkaline batteries. As the only true direct replacement to disposable batteries this product enables us to have a significant impact on reducing waste entering landfills and green house gas emissions.

Freedom has its price

On average, the smart charger completes the charge cycle in under 6 hours. Each compartment charges independently. The green LED above each battery blinks during the charging cycle, and lights solid when finished. This instructs the user to remove the batteries.

When I used NiMH batteries exclusively, I got frustrated that my spare set never held their charge, so I got lazy. I left the batteries in the charger 24/7, because NiMH can’t be overcharged. Not so true with rechargeable alkaline.

Smart Charger corroded when batteries leaked

Again, I got lazy, and didn’t obey the solid green LEDs instructing me to remove my batteries from the charger. I left them in overnight. Actually, I left them charging for about a week.

One morning I awoke and noticed that two of the LEDs were lit red.

On further inspection, I realized the charger had been corroded entirely. I was beside myself. The tech in me reamed out the writer:

The word alkaline should have been a clue.

The only downside of my Pure Energy experience is due to my own neglect, which should serve as a warning to all: Pay attention to the little green lights, and don’t leave the batteries in the charger longer than twenty-four hours. Twelve hours should be sufficient, as a standard charge completes within six to eight hours.

From Pure Energy’s website news releases, I learned that they are the world’s only manufacturer of rechargeable alkaline batteries. All this and Canadian to boot. I hope this technology takes off.

Update 2008/12/24: A recent post on redflagdeals.com linked to an online book that compared the power output of rechargeable vs. standard alkaline batteries. Visit Batteries in a Portable World for more information. I never noticed this problem with my batteries, but then I only use them in my low-power consumer electronics.

“What’s the next step? Where do we go from here?” I asked. In the back of my mind I thought, “Great! Lots of time for blogging.” I wrote my last full post was dated November 6, so obviously I didn’t spend as much time blogging as I thought. What did I do instead?

WHY I didn’t blog

It couldn’t have been because I ran out of things to say. I have over 20 draft posts of thoughts I’ve collected since I started this blog, posts I intend to complete but haven’t had the time. During my sudden rush of unemployment I took the advice of my friend and former coworker: I spent time with my family. By the end of the past month my kids’ school was pretty darn sick of seeing me. It got to be a running joke that I helped my kids to be late for school every single day I didn’t have a job to go to. On my first day at my new job, my wife had them at school early enough to play with their friends before school.

Then I evaluated what I was good at, so that I could write a resume that showed my “stuff”. I spent a serious amount of time producing my technical writing portfolio. If you download it, be sure to drop me a line to suggest samples I should include that may be similar to your needs. One interviewer suggested that I show the source material for my illustration samples so that he could see what I started with. The current version of the portfolio includes those updates.

Technical writer off the mark-et

Last week I started a new position as a contract technical writer with a local company with global impact. Their core focus is developing communications products that served the military defense industry and is expanding since they were acquired last year by the one of the largest cable-service-network technology providers in Canada. There is so much diversity with lots of room to grow.

My new colleague commented that I am fortunate to be one of the blessed few who managed to find work during a slow economic point in history. I can’t claim all the credit for this. However, I will state that I have always been the master at WHY (What Have You). I am willing to go the wire and push myself to get things done.

What kept me busy over the past month was my web programming, SEO consulting, and WHY (What Have You) kind of work that I’ve been known for, being the “jack of all trades, master of none”. (Or as I like to call it, the “master of jack-all”). I’m still working to clean up the last bit of a number of projects, and I have more on the go once they’re done. Obviously busy-ness is not an option in my life—it’s a requirement.

Before I left my last contract I had just started a number of projects to help my friends and colleagues, which served to keep me occupied, exercise my skills, and teach me new things along the way:

• SEO consulting for a startup company that matches small cap companies with investors through promotional video
• Converting PhotoShop layouts into W3C standard xHTML/CSS for a graphic designer
• Developing learning materials for an SFU course on topic-based authoring for a content strategist
• Building a web site, and transcribing the theme song for the Transformers Animated Series into sheet music for my son

So now you know all about me and the What Have You work that explains WHY I’ve been so silent this past month. As the dust settles from my burning the candle at both ends, I hope to get back onto a regular blogging schedule once gain.

Feel free to leave me some comments to let the world know what’s going on in your life. How have you been handling the work situation during this economic slowdown?

For the last month I’ve been going nuts trying to hack the ExtJS javascript application framework, recommended by the Technical Adviser from the company’s Web Services department. I have no problem applying different plugins to my project. However, when I try to add custom behaviours to the objects, I get that little red Firebug that shows me the hand and says “not so fast, cowboy!”

I’ve read the scant Learning ExtJS wiki, and tried to translate the ExtJS API Documentation to build sample code, all to no avail. Piecing together fragments from the ExtJS User Support Forums has been equally frustrating. I’ve found the user forums extremely hostile to newbies. The common complaint is that they don’t believe that the ExtJS forum is meant to teach users JavaScript OOP. I think the user base grew from version 1. Now experts by version 2, they forget that others haven’t been along the journey with them.

Many of the users are so ExtJS entrenched that they assume the reader has committed every single post from both version 1 and version 2 to memory. One would have to, because the accepted response to many questions is only one line of code without context, and the reader is just supposed to “get it”. (Strangely enough, the original poster often does.)

Add the additional stress of my having to find a new job, and you have my current befuddled state.

JavaScript This Fifth Edition is completely revised and expanded to cover JavaScript as it is used in today”s Web 2.0 applications. This book is both an example-driven programmer”s guide and a keep-on-your-desk reference, with new chapters that explain everything you need to know to get the most out of JavaScript, including: Scripted HTTP and Ajax XML processing Client-side graphics using the canvas tag Namespaces in JavaScript–essential when writing complex programs Classes, closures, persistence, Flash, and JavaScript embedded in Java applications.

An understanding of OOP is essential in understanding the way ExtJS extends common prototypes. Fortunately, in my last-ditch effort to plow through unexplored regions of the forum I stumbled upon a recommendation to purchase a really good JavaScript book, JavaScript: The Definitive Guide (5th Edition) by David Flanagan. Several users recommend this book to help users understand the object-oriented JavaScript programming concepts behind ExtJS, stuff I managed to miss by coding script as a writer rather than a software developer.

I only hope this recommendation didn’t come too late. It will take up to a week to receive this book if I order it by mail, but I know Chapters has it in stock. Wish me luck.

In that article I wrote that I felt:

…a discussion of FrameMaker, Robohelp, Captivate, and Acrobat may possibly be completely overshadowed by Adobe’s Acrobat Connect web conferencing system built on the AIR platform.

Well, Adobe Connect is very cool. I am intrigued by how well the technology enables a user to host webinars without having to download any additional software. Any user can create an account on www.adobe.com that gives them their own unique “Connectnow beta” URL to share with up to three participants at a time. Users can share desktops and specific applications, and run virtual meetings just like the one we held tonight, only on a much smaller scale. (In response to a remote member’s question, users can purchase a subscription to the Pro version if they need more resources. At the time of this writing, it’s only $39 USD/month.)

Adobe Technical Communications Suite

However, the major breakthrough for Adobe is how well the AIR platform integrates not only Adobe-branded applications like FrameMaker, Acrobat, RoboHelp, and Flash, but also embeds files created in other applications into a single file. Adobe is well-known in the world of multimedia, so of course embedded Acrobat 3D, audio, and video files play well. However, I was not expecting how well it integrated even Microsoft Office files. I really shouldn’t be surprised—after all, AIR is an acronym for Adobe Integrated Runtime.

Last year I won a ticket to attend the Massive Technology Show through a draw at an STC meeting. As part of the conference I got to attend a mind-blowing workshop on Adobe’s fledgling Flex and Apollo platform for building Rich Internet Applications (RIA). Even though I took notes back then, I don’t have a clue what I got myself into. That platform eventually became Adobe AIR, and it “AIRs” on the side of extreme coolness.

But wait, there’s more. That very same integration that makes AIR such a delight also exists in the ubiquitous Acrobat format as well. Now a PDF is no longer just a means to preserve your fonts and layout in a print-like version of your document. Now you can embed user-interactive 3D models from virtually any 3D CAD design software, Flash SWF applications, video, audio, and live Internet streams, into a PDF portfolio.

For this reason, coupled with the Connectnow live meeting, file sharing, and more web site, I’m so glad I waited to update my Technical Communication PDF portfolio. Right now it only contains a few projects I completed in my Writing and Testing Software Manuals class at BCIT. Acrobat Pro Extended ver. 9 provides a wizard that I can use to create a PDF portfolio that includes samples of all sorts of work I’ve done: graphics, movies, flash, audio, spreadsheets, web application prototypes—there is no end to what I could do.

So, RJ: if you’re reading this, any chance I could buddy up to you and score a copy of the Adobe Technical Communications Suite so I can write a review? You have my email address. I’ll be waiting.

It’s days like these that make me realize I have a tendency to become obsessed with my work because I love the work I do—Fixing stuff. Writing stuff. Hacking code. Teaching methods and principles. Having people listen—This is all good. A close friend of mine told me years ago, Tony, when you find your dream job, you’ll never have to work again for the rest of your life. I’d like to think he’s right.

But even in the dream job, there’s often a lot of work that needs to be done. Often there are competing priorities which just need to be prioritized and then picked off, one by one. Often there are complications when things don’t work out as planned which use up the contingency the project planner factored in for just such possibilities. Issues may even arise that eat into the contingency planned for another project, but that’s a topic best pontificated some other day. Often there are compromises that need to be made in order to get the job done, on time, and under budget.

Even in our dream job, there is often work that we don’t like to do that must be done. My problem, the perfectionist that I am, is leaving well enough alone, and moving on quickly to the next project just because it needs to be done. Also, I enjoy solving the problems and writing a process for later. No sooner do I solve one problem that another one quickly takes over, and the process never gets written.

So, how do we cope, when barraged with a number of different thoughts, activities, and tasks that need to be done, seemingly all at the same time? How do we deal with being overwhelmed by the sheer massiveness of the mammoth task list?

Make a list

The obvious starting point is to understand the subtasks within the mammoth task at hand. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. I remember watching on the Blue Planet DVD series how a group of killer whales drowned and then bit chunks out of a large blue whale calf. The rest of the dead creature sank to the bottom of the ocean, where other scavengers ate its flesh and organs. Eventually small hagfish cleaned out the marrow from within the bones, and small microbes cleaned off the bones themselves. If nature breaks large whale tasks into smaller, manageable chunks, then why don’t we?

Visually map the list

I’m a visual thinker by nature, so I like to play connect the thoughts, drawing my tasks onto paper. Lately I’ve been exploring this free mind mapping tool called Freemind, but using a computer is really counterintuitive to the actual process of planning. However, there has been talk on the DITA Users Yahoo group about converting Freemind map data into a ditamap to link to various topics. Perhaps a computer-generated mind map may eventually work its way into some deliverable some time down the line.

Seeing my thoughts on paper visually helps me to group similar thoughts together, building relationships into what used to be unrelated tasks. I see dependencies where certain tasks need to be completed before attempting to start the next task. Among these dependencies I see which tasks are awaiting response from others. How liberating.

Sample of a hand-drawn map of my current tasks

Sample of a Freemind map of a website project

Prioritize the list

I don’t do this hardly enough. There is usually never any time to explore other prioritizing methods except randomly applying A, B, and C to all the tasks. I prefer letters. In one of my previous jobs our twit of a general manager listed everything as priority 1. He also mispronounced “nuculus” (he meant “nucleus”), and blasphemed “priorize” (instead of “prioritize”). Figures if he didn’t know the proper word to use, he couldn’t do it either.

When the task list is small, this casual approach is usually all that’s takes. When the task list is massive, and the stakes are higher, a more systematic approach is required. I stumbled upon a November 2004 STC Intercom magazines article entitled, Planning a Web Site Redesign in Six Steps, where the authors used a forced choice chart to help their client decide the top five reasons visitors use their site. (I was only going to link to the STC Intercom front page but this article is virtually impossible to find, even if you were logged in and searched for its title.)

While I hardly have the time to breathe at work, I can see how using this chart to analyze and force myself to decide between tasks of seemingly equivalent priority would provide an objective rationale as to why I chose to work on one project over another. When questioned I could refer to the chart which, at the time, showed specific tasks ranking higher in the list. In the face of my many shifting priorities, I will have to experiment with this and let you know how it goes.

Sample of a forced choice chart

At the end of the day

It’s nice to know that I wasn’t the only one who had problems today. When the barista at Starbucks made my drink, the cap fell off the caramel squeeze bottle, and plopped right into my soy covered with espresso shots. It’s probably not nice to derive my pleasure from another’s accidents, but it lightened my mood, and I so needed that.

There are all kinds of other strategies that I’ve explored and would like to use more often, but I’m sure you’re sick of hearing me yak. What kind of prioritizing strategy do you use, however formal or informal it may be?