Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Syncing my devices, systems and life

Way back in the early mists of time, by which I mean September of 2012, I mentioned that I sync up all my lists and stuff once a week: 
  • Friday Sync! A new checklist for a variety of weekly tasks organized into one session - syncing devices and calendars, preparing the week's to-do lists, meal planning, watering the plants, etc.

I have a checklist displayed vertically at my desk that reminds me every Friday (the day I work from home) I should do the following: 
  1. Order my groceries for the week and plan what I will cook when. 
  2. Use my Google calendar to make my daily To Do lists for the week.
  3. Transfer notes I've taken on my EPHEMERA sheet to wherever they should really go - this might involve sending emails, making calendar items, reserving library books, or placing To Do list items.
  4. Use my camera phone to take pictures of the attendance sheets and grade sheets for each of my classes. Yes, I still keep track of attendance and grades on paper. 
  5. Sync my phone to my computer. 
  6. Review my email inbox and then sync my Google Calendar and my Gmail account to my iCal and Mail programs on my computer. 
  7. Plug in the external drive I use for computer back ups and run Time Machine. 
  8. Water my plants. I only have plants that thrive on infrequent watering.
 
This is a numbered list because I do these things in this order on purpose. Syncing my phone AFTER taking a picture of each attendance sheet means that I have that information stored digitally in more than one place, for instance. 

Since this is a standard part of my work week now, I never have to worry, OH GOD WHEN DID I LAST CREATE A BACK UP OF MY COMPUTER? I know it was Friday. I never have to think DO I HAVE ANY RECORD OF THIS ATTENDANCE SHEET THAT I SEEM TO HAVE MISPLACED? I know I do, as of Friday. And I usually find the attendance sheet under the syllabus anyway, but it is still nice to make that momentary panic as brief as possible. 

3 comments:

  1. Your blog is one I look forward to seeing in my reader each week- your cleaning routine is something that's proven most useful with a little one around!

    Even better, though, is how technology can take something like your handwriting on a post and remind me of saved postcards and playing with our dolls in Davis at Christmas. Thanks for the sweet memory!

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    1. Awwww, thanks for letting me know! I can only imagine how our poor dolls must have had a terrible time deciphering my handwriting ... in 6th grade I actually did extra credit for my handwriting grade.

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