This weekend we installed new playground equipment for the Early Childhood Center at Christ Lutheran where I've been assisting for a number of months while their senior pastor recovers from a cardiac arrest. Given the scope of the project, we worked on both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday we ended up with about 30 volunteers who came out to work, while on Sunday, it was more like 5. This amount of participation had a major impact on my role each day, a reality I summarized with the following tweet on Sunday evening: "Yesterday, on the playground construction, i worked less and directed more. Today was more fun, but yesterday was more rewarding."

You see, on Sunday, given the small number of volunteers, it was easy for all of us to stay on task and just keep working. As a result, I worked myself into the ground and ended up with that wonderful exhausted feeling that, at least in my mind, is quite fun. However, on Saturday, I noticed at one point that we hand a number of volunteers who were standing around trying to figure out what to do. Rather than continuing to work, I shifted roles and began to point out things that needed to be taken care of. I got a couple of volunteers going on one project, then a few more on another. Once they were all working, I figured out some other projects that we could get people working on once those were done. In the end, I engaged in a lot less physical labor and I didn't have nearly as much fun, but the volunteers felt as if they were valued and we accomplished far more than we would have otherwise.

So, Sunday was fun, but Saturday was rewarding.

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.

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.