Crane's Thing #16

I think many of use these on-line productivity tools already in our lives without thinking just how convenient they are.  I chose Yahoo! for my start page because it just seems visually ergonomic to me.  It can easily be customized to only show the things you want.  For example, I like to have the weather tool on my home page so I can quickly see how hot or cold it is.  I can always click on it to be taken directly to the national weather service if I am curious to see the weather prediction for the next ten hours.  This has prompted me to bring an umbrella on more than one occasion!  My home page also has my list of stocks and mutual funds that I can glance at to compare them with their respective indices, and I always like to see the headlines from the Associated Press.  I always feel fully informed by the end of my first cup of coffee.

Now, I may like Yahoo! for my home page, but I feel Google Calendar is superior for scheduling my day, week, life ... About a year ago, my wife and I were having difficulties keeping our competing schedules straight.  We decided to try Google Calendar since we already had gmail accounts.  Now, I don't know how we manged before we used it.  We can see each others schedules and color coordinate activities to visually assist us.  I also like how compatible Google is with smart phones and integrated it is with other on-line applications.

As far as to-lists, my life seems to be ruled by them.  I use my phone to help me keep up with my lists, but I sheepishly admit, I still find myself jotting notes and lists down on notepads.  I guess I'm old fashioned; I just seed to think better with paper and pencil. 

I would certainly recommend any of the tools I mentioned above to anyone wanting to better organize their lives.  I would suggest to them that they try a home page of a service that they use for their e-mail.  That way you already have an account with them, and there is no need to change or forward your e-mail.