I tend to keep random notes most often ...
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hmmm (Score:5, Funny)
I post them on first posts..
Re:hmmm (Score:2)
Every post-it note is a first post.
Collection of .txt files full of stuff. (Score:2, Informative)
I guess I'm old fashioned enough to think a text file is good to store things like phone numbers, mailing lists, ect. You know.. text... in a text file.
To-Do lists (Score:3)
Most of my notes are things to do. I use the first four systems, and more! Electronic is fine sometimes, but paper is good too.
I'm really, really, really, really forgetful (I think this is a mental problem -- my somewhat younger brother was diagnosed with something while he was at school, although he has it worse than me. Although my parents know not to get cross with him, which they didn't for me.).
I also put things off far too easily -- I shouldn't be posting here now, I was going to practise my German...
- My smartphone task lists (also on the PC). It started with one list, but "Read some book" isn't very important (and is now on a to-read list), "visit British Library sci-fi exhibition" is on the to-visit list, "Buy bicycle pump" has to wait until I'm shopping (so it's on the to-buy list), and "book flights" is on the urgent list, which is shown on the home screen.
- My tasks notebook at work (A5 notebook, separate from my A4 actual-work book). This has work tasks. I'm sufficiently forgetful that I have to write down things like "forward email to manager", even if it's the last thing said in a meeting and I'm returning immediately to my desk. It's satisfying to cross really old stuff from the list. Although sometimes that just means dumping all my thoughts on the problem into Bugzilla.
- Lists on bits of paper at home, for a specific purpose. I have three at the moment: lists of things I need to do/buy before going on three different holidays/trips in the next 6 months. ("Buy plug adaptor for USA", "See if I like cycle touring" (friend invited me on one), "Learn more German")
- Lists in text files. There are only a couple of these, they're not very important. The one in ~/photos records all the albums I've not yet geotagged and commented.
- Implied task by presence in a directory. Anything in ~/downloads is 'illegal', and I very, very slowly decide whether the creator gets some money. Often I only decide when they (eventually) play a gig nearby. Anything in ~/website/recipes/to-do is a rough recipe and some photos ready to put on the recipes bit of my website; some of it's over three years old.
- Post-it notes. These are for emergencies, I stick them to the bedroom light switch, or my bicycle. ("[Go to] bank [on the way to work]", "Oil bicycle chain [because it takes 2 minutes but I won't remember otherwise]"). I have to hold the "bank" one in my hand as I cycle to work, otherwise I'll still forget to go -- and I cycle past the bank!
- Grocery list -- we have a house-list, on a kitchen whiteboard, and also one on a grocery app. I think I'm the only one who uses the app, but I do most of the shopping anyway.
I think that's everything, except my head. As I've probably made clear, it's extremely unreliable, but the smell of my cooking is a constant stimulus: I need to take it out of the oven in about 15 minutes.
Re:To-Do lists (Score:5, Informative)
Oh, I missed the email ones
- My email inbox is unfinished stuff in some way (everything else is archived). Starred things are more important, Emails to myself are very important, especially if I leave them "unread".
Re:To-Do lists (Score:2)
bingo
Re:To-Do lists (Score:2)
So you don't trust your memory?
I keep random notes in my head. No paper or Post-It notes, no PC or PDA needed.
Those random notes are always with me. And after I'm done with them, the memory of them fades. I can remember all of my banking and credit/debit card numbers. I can also remember all current user IDs and passwords (a ridiculous number of them are in use) for instance, but none from last year. Same for shopping lists - I just remember what is to be bought, and that list is forgotten a day later (except for stuff that still needs to be bought).
More permanent lists of information are kept both as text files and printouts - example: list of MAC addresses of devices on the LAN at home.
Re:To-Do lists (Score:2)
So you don't trust your memory?
Sort of, but I usually know when I'll have trouble remembering something I need to remember.
I have no problem remembering three sets of bank account details, plus the associated passwords (all different), and all my other passwords. But I can't remember what everyone (including me) agrees to do during a meeting. I remember the 'melody' and rhythm of their speech, but not the words. Ask if I want to watch a film, and I won't know from the title, but seconds into the intro I might tell you I've seen it before.
I thought of something to write here while reading a page on Wikipedia, but I closed the tab and couldn't remember what it was now. "Recently closed tabs" had it.
I'm most reliable at remembering where I put things. I think I could tell you exactly where 99.9% of my possessions are -- even stuff I haven't used for ages, but just chucked in a random drawer.
I think I remember my actions very well, music/voices almost as well (but not the actual words in speech), and places I've been before reasonably well, but not if I was just following someone.
A few times I've said "excellent, [band] is playing in London! I've wanted to see them for ages" and a friend has said "erm, you've seen them. Last year. Remember? [idiot...]". And once they give me some information other than the name of the band I might remember the whole event -- how I got there, who I was with, who I met, what I did, stupid stuff, what went wrong... but not the band.
So you don't trust your memory?
The other way to interpret that doesn't apply: if I remember something, it's correct (according to my observation/interpretation, etc). The alternative is I don't remember it at all (like the unknown bands -- there's nothing there to mistrust).
Re:To-Do lists (Score:2)
So you don't trust your memory?
I keep random notes in my head. No paper or Post-It notes, no PC or PDA needed.
I don't keep random notes, in my head or otherwise. If it's not important enough for me to remember, or for others to provide me with the look-up material, I don't need it and won't keep it.
So my answer would be none of the above.
Re:To-Do lists (Score:2)
Or, for book lovers, Tuesday Next?
Re:To-Do lists (Score:2)
There was a joke in the Bulgarian army.
The master sergeant says "Whoever is too dumb to remember should write things down, the way I do."
I never understood it. I have no complaints about my memory, but it eases my mind to have things written down... I even remember things better once I've written them down. Now a days, I put stuff in my organizer. I even have an entry "Stuff to read/watch/play when I have time."
Re:To-Do lists (Score:3)
So you don't trust your memory?
Oh, hells no: my memory is like a steel trap - nothing gets in, nothing gets out. Especially if we're talking proper nouns (people's names, places). Electronic daytimers were a godsend for me - I'm the sort who has trouble remembering to check the daytimer.
If your memory handles that sort of thing, I am terribly jealous.
Re:To-Do lists (Score:2)
So you don't trust your memory?
Oh, hells no: my memory is like a steel trap - nothing gets in, nothing gets out. Especially if we're talking proper nouns (people's names, places). Electronic daytimers were a godsend for me - I'm the sort who has trouble remembering to check the daytimer.
If your memory handles that sort of thing, I am terribly jealous.
My memory handles many things fairly well, including such things as shopping lists, appointments, and login credentials. However, it has its limits, and luckily I'm aware of them.
Here is possibly the worst flaw with my memory: I can remember names and faces, but linking a name to a face appears to be a very slow process, which might still fail even after many encounters with a person. It often happens that when I meet a person unexpectedly, they know me and address me by my name, but although I know that I know them (recognize the face), I have utterly no idea who they are (name not linked to face). It's actually quite difficult to talk to someone for several minutes without using their name, but I have considerable practice...
Other than using a phone to (perhaps rudely) take their photo and tag it with their name on being introduced, I don't think there is an easy solution for this memory failure. Even then, I'd have to somehow browse through an assortment of photos to find the one which matches the face talking to me. Also perhaps a bit impolite, and hard to do surreptitiously.
Re:To-Do lists (Score:3)
Other than using a phone to (perhaps rudely) take their photo and tag it with their name on being introduced, I don't think there is an easy solution for this memory failure. Even then, I'd have to somehow browse through an assortment of photos to find the one which matches the face talking to me. Also perhaps a bit impolite, and hard to do surreptitiously.
I'm impatiently waiting for the day that glasses come standard with a HUD and a small camera, so when I look at someone it automatically tells me who they are and how I know them.
Re:To-Do lists (Score:3)
Other than using a phone to (perhaps rudely) take their photo and tag it with their name on being introduced, I don't think there is an easy solution for this memory failure. Even then, I'd have to somehow browse through an assortment of photos to find the one which matches the face talking to me. Also perhaps a bit impolite, and hard to do surreptitiously.
I'm impatiently waiting for the day that glasses come standard with a HUD and a small camera, so when I look at someone it automatically tells me who they are and how I know them.
Me too, but trying to wait patiently. 'Cos it's likely to take some time...
Re:To-Do lists (Score:2)
I would rather go another way than of the quite visible glasses gadget and use a chest mounted micro-camera plus a headphone. And my "mp3 player" will tell me who this may be. And then I can take it out of my pocket to "switch it off" and so see the complete people's context on screen.
That should be possible with today's technology. But what if the machine gets the face recognition wrong?
Re:To-Do lists - MAC addresses? (Score:2)
What could you possibly need with a digital (or, frighteningly, a hard copy) list of MAC addresses of your home LAN?
Either they've already been applied to your DHCP server rules (hopefully not used for wifi router security!) or you don't care about the link layer on a home LAN.
I realize I'm nit-picking an example, but it is a strange one...
Re:To-Do lists (Score:2)
OCD much?
Re:Collection of .txt files full of stuff. (Score:2)
Same here. Started out with the PalmOS memo database, when I went from PalmOS to Maemo I exported them to .txt files.
I have a bookshelf's worth of info in my pocket, and I can instantly search it, back it up or send a copy.
Why people still use paper, I can't understand.
Re:Collection of .txt files full of stuff. (Score:2)
I use text files for what you might call computer-related notes. Basically stuff like IP-adresses, netblocks and the like.
For passwords I use KeePassX.
For things like grocery lists I use the notepad app in my smartphone.
For random work-related stuff I use paper notebooks that I keep on my desk.
For random "real-life" stuff I tend to either use the "post-it" dashboard widget for OS X or actual post-its that I stick on my fridge (the latter for more important stuff while the digital ones are more for random things I want to remember but suspect I'll forget).
On my white board (Score:3)
I usually have random notes when I am in my office. And I have a white board to have a quickly available writting space. Once I am no longer in a rush, I copy the information to where it should be.
Moleskine (Score:2)
Re:Moleskine (Score:2)
I have a couple of Moleskine journalist notepads in the 5mm graph, they are great for taking notes in a meeting - especially if you work somewhere where the meetings rooms are small and the meetings are frequently large, meaning you often have to take notes with nothing to rest your notepad on.
Re:Moleskine (Score:2)
I second this. The Moleskine paper is extremely nice to write on, and I like the idea of keeping my ideas forever.
I'm the opposite. My tasks book is very thin -- once a page is entirely crossed-out tasks I tear it out.
my 3B pencil makes a slightly noticeable sound when I write in my Moleskine, loud enough to e.g. irritate a sensitive person next to me at the library.
3B is very soft, don't you find your lines get think and smudgy quite quickly?
I prefer fountain pens (which have a hidden advantage that no one else in the office "borrows" them, and the disadvantage that whenever I use a biro it feels uncomfortable).
Re:Moleskine (Score:2)
If it's very soft then the lines would get thick.
Notepad (Score:2)
I only write down random tasks that my manager is quick to throw around; tasks that he orders via phone and can't be arsed to detail. They all go in a TXT file which I have on my machine and once finished, I delete the row(s) of text pertaining to the task.
Various for me. (Score:2)
If it is computer related stuff, then it would usually be in text file(s) or something. If it is not, then it is usually on papers like post-it stickers for short lists. Or bigger papers for long one. I do use my old CASIO Data Bank 150 calculator watch, if I don't have access to them to note. I don't own PDAs, cell/smart phones, and planners.
In my head (Score:5, Funny)
I keep them in my head. If they're important enough, I'll remember them. In fact, I can't recall anything I've failed to remember this way.
Re:In my head (Score:2)
I keep them in my head. If they're important enough, I'll remember them. In fact, I can't recall anything I've failed to remember this way.
I'm doing the same, but... funny enough... I can't recall anything - must be because nothing is important
Re:In my head (Score:2)
Re:In my head (Score:2)
That seems funny but it actually works very well. If it's important enough to remember, people will come back to you for it. If not, the problem solves itself.
Re:In my head (Score:2)
Re:In my head (Score:2)
It's a joke, son. Like saying "I don't remember losing my memory."
Evernote (Score:2)
Re:Evernote (Score:2)
Anyone not using evernote is missing out. One of the best software products/services in 20 years.
50 % of my time is spent using bash (Score:5, Interesting)
tells me anything recent, and
(or some such similar) tells me less recent stuff.
Re:50 % of my time is spent using bash (Score:2)
Re:50 % of my time is spent using bash (Score:4, Insightful)
Now when you search your history for "###" you'll find a load of grep commands...
Missing Option: (Score:2)
Genital branding! (Easy to remember, but erasure is difficult.)
Re:Missing Option: (Score:2)
two men with tatooed penii in the same restroom:
One looks at the other and says "I see you have a girlfriend called 'Wendy' too",
the other replies,
'No I don't. it says:
"Welcome to Barbados, Have a nice day" '
Duh. (Score:2)
New Text Document.txt (Score:2)
Re:New Text Document.txt (Score:2)
New Text Document (157).txt
Google Docs (Score:2)
Depends on the note (Score:2)
tl;dr: Depends on the note
Depends (Score:2)
Development notes and plans go on web pages and subversion checkin logs. Pretty much everything else is on the back of envelopes. :)
Palm PDA (Score:2)
email (Score:2)
decently searchable
taggable for not read (done) / read (done), and deletable when no longer relevant for history
Text files in a Dropbox folder (Score:2)
So most of my random or semi-random notes are on both my computer and my phone.
Paper or PDA sync (Score:2)
It goes on a loose leaf of printer header paper if I'm going to finish it today. Otherwise it goes in Outlook (yech) for work, or on Gtasks for personal.
I still really miss Progect [softonic.com] for PalmOS, that was the best hierarchical todo manager I've ever used.
I tried writing on a smartphone... (Score:2)
...but the ink smeared.
Email (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Same here. I put the prefix "BFM:" in the subject line, to make them easy to search. That stands for "Blog For Myself" which is not important, the main thing is "bfm" is an extremely rare sequence, so it works great as a filter.
Re: (Score:2)
Never even heard of it, let alone played it.
Re: (Score:2)
You're kidding, right? Then again, I don't spend a lot of time texting with teenagers, so maybe I just missed that one. In any case, "bfm" is practically unique in my mailbox, so it works for me.
Random notes belong on random pieces of paper (Score:2)
Random notes belong on random pieces of paper. To do otherwise will contribute to further acceleration of ultimate heat death.
Re:Random notes belong on random pieces of paper (Score:2)
Actually, those small bits of paper would make excellent fuel for accelerating heat death.
Re:Random notes belong on random pieces of paper (Score:2)
It's a good thing.
Desk "Blotter" (Score:2)
I usually use a large desk "blotter" pad; usually quarter inch quad ruled. When it gets full or sufficiently trashed, I just go over it and bring forward anything that's still pertinent to the next sheet. No batteries, no "plan", still isn't obsolete; works well with sketches/doodles, just plain works. Oh yeah, and it keeps my desk clean.
Cheers,
Dave
I tattoo them onto my arm. (Score:2)
Re:I tattoo them onto my arm. (Score:2)
photograph? (Score:2)
I've been doing this a long time, ever since digital cameras with a decent macro function came out in the 90s. Smartphones have just made it easier.
Am I the only one? I searched for "picture" or "photo" and didn't find a post suggesting taking a picture of notes. I figured everyone did this, seems like common sense.
Re:photograph? (Score:2)
I do the same thing, except I take a photo of the list(s) we post on the blackboard we have in our kitchen. The upside to paper is also that if my wife does the shopping instead of me (or vice versa), I can just email her the grocery list.
That's a good point, I can just email the photo to her smartphone if she's stopping by the grocery store. Photos = 1, Paper = 0.
Emacs Org Mode (Score:2)
Since I'm at a computer most of my day, I put pretty much everything in Emacs using org-mode (http://orgmode.org/). The files reside in my Dropbox folder so I can get to them from any computer I'm using. Like most things related to Emacs, there is a learning curve to org-mode but it is incredibly efficient once you master just a few keystrokes.
Re:Emacs Org Mode (Score:2)
I knew I couldn't be the only one. I have been doing the same thing for a number of years, though I tend to use different .org files for different contexts.
Re:Emacs Org Mode (Score:2)
Agreed. I have been using org-mode for years and have rarely needed to consult the manual. Thankfully, it is in a convenient info file format that can be accessed directly within emacs (M-x info).
Notepad (WIN) (Score:2)
nahh, I'm not crazee... (Score:2)
Depends on the medium (Score:2)
For text notes I will either write them on a scrap piece of paper near the keyboard or store them as text files on a computer, depending on what they are. A lot of this is story ideas which I'm likely to forget otherwise.
However, I also have a habit of coming up with a melody or a solo on the way in to work. Since I can't read music, nor do I carry blank manuscripts with me into work, I have taken to singing or whistling these into the voice recorder on my phone.
Some people have said 'if you forget it, it wasn't worth remembering' - I take exception to this and would very much like to know if those people can remember a new melody for 9 hours until they get home and can store it more permanently. There have been two occasions where this has been a major problem, where I came up with some awesome chord progressions at 8:30am and lost them completely by 6pm.
On the first occasion I was able to remember vague snatches of it over the next few days and eventually managed to reconstruct a pale imitation on my stepmother's piano which this time I was able to remember and ultimately went into the song. On my last album, I had the forethought to sing it into my Android phone in the carpark and was able to play it back in the evening by which point I had completely forgotten how it worked. It became one of the main hooks in that song.
Random tool on random write-on-able surface (Score:2)
Using whatever implement that can be found (chalk/crayon/pencil/pen/stylus/fingernail) to transfer the "jottee" onto a random bit of material found - so long as it would not be considered graffiti and it does not say something like "Payable to: ".
I don't keep random notes (Score:2)
I have so many non-random notes that don't have room or time for the random one.
IBM 80 Column Punch Cards (Score:2)
I still have a full box (2500) of IBM 80 column un-punched punch cards that are perfect for impromptu notes, shopping lists,...
My PC (Score:2)
Record almost everything (Score:2)
For stuff which has to travel between work and home I E-mail stuff back and forth. Although the drop box idea is something I will definitely be exploring.
Haha! (Score:2)
Emacs (Score:2)
Whatever paper is available (Score:2)
E-mail myself (Score:2)
Re:E-mail myself (Score:2)
“Every time you email a file to yourself so you can pull it up on your friend’s laptop, Tim Berners-Lee sheds a single tear.”
On my arm... (Score:2)
...in arterial red.
Knives /are/ useful.
whiteboard! (Score:2)
Notebook (Score:2)
4 (Score:2)
Random notes in random places
It's a 2 step process (Score:2)
First I scribble something on whatever paper is nearby, because I can do that faster than I can whip out my phone or start Word or Notepad. Then, if I need to remember it long term, I'll enter it on my computer, if available, or Notes on my iPhone if it isn't.
My system (Score:2)
I used a tabbed text editor, and I usually have up to four unsaved files open just for notes. Each one has a vague topic.
Desktop Wiki (Score:2)
I keep all kinds of notes in hierarchical Zim Desktop Wikis [zim-wiki.org].
Zim stores its pages as human-readable plaintext files. That allows you to use your favorite VCS to maintain, backup and sync your notes easily across multiple computers. It's also possible to embed images and LaTeX code snippets. The syntax should be already familiar to anyone who has ever used a Wiki, similar to MoinMoin.
Clipboard and OneNote (Score:2)
Must Construct Additional Pockets (Score:2)
I wear carpenters jeans, with the pockets on the side of the pants leg, and keep a pen and a few pieces of folded up paper in there.
CARDFILE.EXE (Score:2)
Teaches me to be concise, and I never run out of cards this way.
SMS! (Score:2)
I always have my phone with me. So I send myself text messages. Minimal overhead. Plus, it still has a log if the message doesn't get sent out.
(What's up with that, Apple? Can't figure out that a SMS message didn't get sent out and try again when you have a cell signal???)
My system (Score:2)
What I've taken to doing in the last couple of years, at least at work, is to keep a plain text journal. I write down a quick summary of everything I do every day - every email, phone call, meeting, experiment, code revision, idea etc. No pictures, tags, links, or other metadata; just plain text. Well, okay, some URLs, phone numbers, and other ID numbers, but only as plain text. Anything that has structure or metadata ends up being too much work to keep up with, and I stop bothering with it. It can be searched in the blink of an eye for anything, and it can be easily copied to any other system without worrying about any kind of compatibility. Usually comes to like a page or so of text a day.
It helps a ton with stuff like figuring out exactly what I did and when I did it on that project 6 months ago, how I solved that problem the last time I worked on it, when was the last time I asked about something, requests for a summary of what I did over the last month, requests for exactly how many hours total I've spent on a project I've been working on off and on all year long, remembering what it was I was in the middle of last week or yesterday, etc. It's hard to imagine working without it sometimes.
I've thought of doing another one at home for my personal life, but haven't gotten around to it yet.
Re:post them to /. (Score:3, Funny)
Real men don't use backups, they post their stuff on a public ftp server and let the rest of the world make copies.
Re:post them to /. (Score:2)
Just in case anyone seriously thinks this, don't trust info on Slashdot to be findable in the future.
Slashdot's built-in search feature is a joke, and Google doesn't expand all comments when it indexes Slashdot pages.
Only early and up-modded posts are sure to be indexed by Google.
Re:post them to /. (Score:2)
Funny you should say that. With Ubuntu some things take a little figuring out to get the results you want. I'd often post a how to , almost selfishly knowing some time in the future i would need that information and its easy to google your user name and a key word or two.
Sometimes i have found a copy of something i posted become part of a manual.
Re:Business cards of former employees (Score:2)
Business cards of former employers make great bookmarks. :P
Re:Phone vs PC (Score:2)
There is a huge difference between a phone (mobile or not) and a general purpose computing device. Sufficient enough that they certainly should be separated.
Why does there have to be a difference? I have an N900 and it's a general-purpose computing device (I can compile and run stuff on it), although with limited connectivity.
My fantasy computer is a landscape slider smartphone that can dock with a convertible laptop body. And maybe a gaming PC body too :D
Re:Wiki (Score:2)
Me too. I use Dokuwiki though.
Re:My Girldfriend's Ass (Score:3)
Re:Zotero and ReminderFox (Score:2)
Re:Evernote (Score:2)
It syncs notes between my Work PC, my home Mac, the web site, and my iPhone. Notes can include pictures, GPS coords, text, etc.
The "preminum" service is cheap ($5) a month and will do snapshot backups. I have notes and lists going back 15 years, which originated on my Newton, then to Palm, then to Blackberry, then to Windows Mobile and now to Evernote - so they are accessable everywhere and backup-up!