I don't know about you, but between my duties at home, with the fshbwl, Genesis, and the eLife, I have a slew of different project areas in my life and I'm constantly trying to keep myself organized and up to date on what needs to be done. Then of course, because I work from home, my office, and my laptop, I need access to my task list from a number of locations. Moreover, I'm not particularly good at mental notes, so, if something is going to make it into my task list, it needs to get there immediately.

So, what's my solution? Remember the Milk. Remember the Milk (RTM) is, at the most basic level, an online task list that allows you to categorize and tag your to-do items, but, the real beauty is the way RTM mashes up with other applications.

For example, when I'm sitting in a meeting and am reminded that there is something I need to do, I can text Twitter with a "d rtm" command and my task will be added to my task list. Or say, when I'm in the car and I recall something that needs to be done. Using my bluetooth I can speed dial Jott, identify it as a message for RTM, and use their voice recognition software to add a task to my list.

Then of course there is the integration with gMail (or a google aps mail account) through a Firefox extension. The result is that my task list sits right next to my inbox and, I can easily add messages that I need to follow up on later to my to do list (which then allows me to tag and archive the message and keep my inbox empty).

As if that wasn't enough, I'm also able to share specific task lists with other RTM users so, Anita and I have some shared items and, if there' something she wants me to get done around the house, she just drops the item in our shared list and I get the hint (sometimes).

Of course, because I'm not always online, RTM also works with Google Gears so, on my laptop, I always have the latest version of my task list and, if I change anything offline, the next time I log on, everything will sync. This will get even better when I get an iPhone and can use the RTM page specifically designed for the iPhone.

RTM is a wonderful tool that I'm sure will only get better over time.

Because I've had a number of instances where I've pointed out some tech thing to friends lately and it's helped them out, I figured I'd post a number of blogs on some of the "lesser known things" that I use on the tech front. Now, nobody could argue that Firefox is lesser known, but it is essential for a number of the other lesser knowns that I'll be talking about later.

So, why Firefox? As I mentioned when the Mac Air came out, I'm one of those people who is diving in headfirst into the whole Web 2.0 (and maybe even Computing 2.0 or 3.0) approach. One example of this is that, the vast majority of my information, is now kept in the cloud, that is, on a remote server that I can access from any web terminal in the world (I'll post on where in the cloud later).

Because the key to my information is no longer my hard drive, but my Internet browser, having a browser that not only performs well but also has the ability to be tweeked for my personal preferences is of utmost importance.

While Firefox is a memory drain and doesn't run as quickly as Safari (although the soon to be released 3.0 edition is supposed to be a huge jump in these categories), the ease at which it can be modified through extensive plug-ins and scripts (I'll share some of these later) makes it my browser of choice.

I have to admit, I love the Mac and PC ads ... most likely because, if a computer matched my personality, I'd be more like the Mac character than the PC one. It's for this same reason that I'm loving this new viral campaign from Mozilla for Firefox.

As the stats run across the bottom of the screen, the lifestyle they are identifying as "boring" doesn't look like my life at all and so, I don't find "boring" to be offensive. However, if I was somebody who embraced the lifestyle they classify as boring, without finding it boring, how would I view this ad?

Now, personally, I don't think Mac is trying to sell computers to people who "are PC" or that Firefox is trying to get people who "are IE" to download their browser, rather, they're going after the much large crowd who use PC and IE because it's all they've been exposed to, however, is it ever wise to insult somebody and then tell them how great your product is?

I'm thinking there's a parallel when it comes to Christians sharing the faith. Is it ever wise to open our sharing of the Gospel by insulting or stereotyping the person we're wanting to share with?

My best friend Dan used to be in sales and his comment has always been something to the effect of, "Whenever I talked about the weakness of the competition, I was just giving them free publicity, but when I only talked about how great my product was, people found what I had to say compelling."

Thoughts?

I'll admit it, I love having a long list of things to do and getting to check them off one by one as tasks are completed. Be it making a phone call or finishing a presentation, there's just something rewarding in that little word, "Complete."

Lately I've run across a few tools that have been wonderful on this front. For a while now I've been a fan of Remember the Milk (RTM), a wonderful little online task list that allows me to file tasks based on my various projects (including a task list that I share with Anita). But RTM recently moved to a whole new level in my book when they developed a Firefox extension that brings RTM to the gmail interface. Not only does it mean that I have to keep one less tab open on my browser, but the gmail interface is more user friendly than the main RTM site and it shows up in with both gmail and google aps (assuming you have your aps domain set to receive the latest gmail site updates).

The other awesome little deal that I found is Jott, a free service that I can call on my cell, tell who I want to contact, and then leave a voice message that is transcribed by a computer and sent via email. Now, this isn't all that exciting because you could just call a the person (although the group feature will come in handy when trying to get the same message to a large group quickly), but the killer feature with Jott is that I can add messages to my RTM or my Google calendar from my phone with just a few voice commands. So, for example, when I was listening to the Geeks and God podcast in the car and they announced the dates for the Web 2.0 conference this summer, I paused the iPod, used my bluetooth and cell phone to call Jott, and added the conference to my calendar. The voice recognition isn't perfect, but if you have a tough word, Jott allows you to spell it out.

Okay, time to get back to checking stuff off!

I've made a couple changes to the site recently. One is the removal of upcoming events because I'm going to be doing the vast majority of my preaching at one congregation for the next number of months so there's no point highlighting the same place week after week. However, if something big comes up, like the Symposium or Conversations of Grace, I'll highlight it in the left sidebar.

I also ran across some interesting bits on using Twitter in productive ways. Rather than just spending all your time telling people what you're doing, it can also be a good way to highlight quick thoughts or updates. So, I'm going to give it a try. I've added a Twitter box where the events used to be and will take advantage of a couple Firefox plugins to point everybody to sites that I think are worth checking out, or update you on where I am in the world and why I'm not blogging. If you follow this site by RSS, you can link here to get my Twitter feed.