Isolator for Mac, or how to focus on your work

22 06 2008

Okay, whoever said that postponing your work to surf the web for hours is a total waste of time? During one of those session I came across Isolator, a nifty little program for the Mac that helps you focus on the work you actually have to do by toning down the visual clutter on your desktop (I’m using it right now… it is great!)

Besides the quieting of the screen noise I think it also works on a psychological level: flipping the Isolator switch also triggers your brain. By flipping the Isolator switch the I’m-ready-to-do-some-work-now message is send and the brain kicks into work mode.

Possibly even a simple button that you could flip between “Procrastinating” and “Working” would help you to get in the right mood; whichever mood you would prefer at that particular moment.

Now, if I could only resist the urge to blog about it, I could really get some work done.

gr.jakko

 

 





What, no Amazon service?

6 06 2008

So, suddenly I’m not good enough for your service.

Well…  I didn’t want your service anyway.

gr.jakko





Addicted to Harry Potter

2 06 2008

When you say you have an addiction most people just shrug and respond with an uninterested don’t-we-all. They assume you are talking about your regular house-hold addiction like booze, hard-drugs or chocolate. What if you had something darker, more shameful to hide. Something you shouldn’t talk about in public, but you can’t help it because you just HAVE to talk about it, otherwise it would build up pressure and you would start to peel off little bits of skin from your arms until they where all sore and you would have to wear long-sleeves to cover up the mess you’ve made even though it is friggin’ hot outside. That kind of an addiction, like a Harry Potter addiction.

So there, I’ve said it, I have a Harry Potter addiction. I just realized today. I should have noticed the signs earlier, but they were hiding near my blind spot. Today I suddenly had this urge to pop in the earphones of my iPod and fire up the audiobook of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, even though I finished listening to the whole series a month ago – for the I-lost-countieth time already. I have all the books in English and I have read them all several times. I have all books in Dutch and I have also read them. And, to top it off, I have all the audiobooks read by Stephen Fry… seven million CDs crammed in a cupboard, ‘cause that’s how much audio there is to a Harry Potter series.

But they are just soooo good, especially the audiobooks, Stephen Fry is an excellent actor and he adds so much to the already rich Potter world. I can’t get enough of it.

No, I can’t… I have a pile of books to finish first.
Maybe if I just listen for a couple of minutes, and then I stop, nothing wrong with a couple of minutes. I just stop. Yeah… that’s it… yeah, I can do that…

Oh, by the way, I think the movies suck arse and should be buried in the deepest, darkest, foulest pit.

I own all the DVDs though.

gr.jakko