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A sample of my tech life

I use tools in my life that just feel like breathing to me. Thought it might be interesting to list the tools I use in a typical day. Tools include hardware and software. Today I used:

  • Amazon Echo to turn off lights, check the weather, and check the time.
  • I used Siri to send text messages while I was driving.
  • I used Siri to find information on the web.
  • I used Dreamweaver for coding as well as Notepad++
  • I used Microsoft SQL Server Management Console
  • Visual Studio 2013 and Crystal Reports
  • I wrote code in Adobe’s Coldfusion, PHP, and ASP.NET’s c#.
  • I wrote stored procedures in MS SQL and data manipulations in MySQL.
  • I used Terminal to change ownership and permissions on files.
  • I used multiple email clients.
  • I chaired a change advisory board using a watered down version of Robert’s Rules of Order.
  • I used Zoom for video conferencing and screen sharing in two different meetings.
  • I configured a WordPress installation including customizations of plugins and writing my own functions for a child theme of the Advanced Newspaper theme.
  • I used Coin (a single credit card which consolidates my other credits cards into one) for payment
  • I used the Narrative camera for life logging with photographs
  • I used Github Desktop for version control on one machine and Subversion for version control on another.
  • I explored automating parts of my life with Alfred App’s workflows and Automator as well as Jenkins and Selenium.
  • I used YNAB for budgeting and Hootesuite, Skype, Facebook Messenger, iOS Messenger, and Twitter for communications.

There was more but I am tired.

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Back to work

I spent yesterday, my last day of vacation, glued to the computer working on a client’s website. Today, I have returned to Cubeville to fulfill the duties of my day job. 2015 ended great! I am apprehensive about 2016 but so far so good.

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Sunday, January 3, 2016

This is not a year in review post nor a resolution post.

I’ve been on a two week vacation and it has been heavenly. Perhaps I’ll publish details later. Today represents the last day of my vacation, or as Cathy likes to put it, the day Doug stresses, curses, begrudges tomorrow, and wishes he had taken a longer vacation…or every Sunday. But that was then this is now. I plan 2016 not as stress-free but as a stress managed year. Everything shall be taken in stride!

So what is on today’s plate? Client work, scout planning, personal planning (have to set some goals), family time, and then we will see if there is any time left for other things. January promises to be a trying month. It comes pre-packed with many activities and two incredibly immobile and important deadlines. This month, those two things will be my focus and everything else is secondary.