OS Agnostic

I had a lot of comments on my last Evernote post on the blog and emailed to me. Since then, I learned that Evernote will likely never be available on linux, (they had a thread about this but it has since been deleted) and they don’t seem to be making it work any better through Wine either. So I have pretty much stopped using it. It is nice software, and if I only needed to sync and capture on Mac and and PC, I would almost definitely use it.

I have continued using Evernote for two things- to capture screenshots at work (since I ONLY use Windows @ work) and to store recipes at home on my laptop. It works exceedingly well for both of these things.

As for universal capturing and saving, I still have no real solution. I’m back to using Google Notebook most of the time, but that, of course, is not offline accessible (unless they integrated Google Gears sometime and didn’t tell me.) I have tried and like Microsoft One Note, but can’t use it consistently because it is Windows only. Also, the data model is less than transparent- I prefer my notes to be stored in plain text XML (which Tomboy notes does beautifully.)

If anyone has any other suggestions for global note taking I’d love to hear them!

My iPod, purchased for $100 from my mom, who bought it from my sister when she didn’t want it, who bought it from my other sister when SHE didn’t want it, has been limping along for a while now. It’s had weird battery problems since I’ve had it- this was OK, since I charged it every night. Lately though, it started only playing sound out of one channel, and then that channel started to cut out too.

I have two back up MP3 players- a 2 GB Sansa Clip and a 1GB Creative Zen Nano Plus, but I’ve never set up either for podcasts, which is what I use the MP3 player for about 90% of the time. The thing I LOVED about the iPod is that it would automatically download my podcasts and sync them when I hooked the player up to the computer, and would delete the ones I’d already listened to. As far as I know, no other MP3 player can replicate this functionality.

I can’t afford another iPod right now, though, so I started looking into the best possible solution for my Sansa Clip, which has a podcast folder separate from the music folder. One nice feature of the Clip is that you can delete files directly from the device. This took care of one of my problems- I didn’t want to have to go through all the podcasts every evening and figure out which ones I’d already listened to. The Clip will also remember where I am partway through a podcast. So all I needed was an easy way to download podcasts and get them on the device.

I have gone through this before. I went thorough every podcatcher I could find for Windows and every program had some little annoyance. So this time I tried Linux programs. I attempted Amarok first, but the podcatching features on that are a little… opaque. So after a little search, I hit upon gpodder. This little program does exactly what I want- lets me subscribe to a podcast feed, download new episodes, and transfer them over to the device. The one little catch is that you have to set the mode on the Clip (Settings -> USB mode) to MSC before Ubuntu will recognize the device.

I have been using my new setup for about a week now and am pretty happy. As long as I remember to delete the podcast from the device, everything goes smoothly. There are some advantages as well- the Clip is tiny, and I can clip it (big surprise, huh) to my clothes- esp. handy when I don’t have pockets. The 2 GB of space can hold a good number of podcasts- I save 1 GB for podcasts and the other GB for a “shuffle” selection of music. The Clip is a durable little player too- I’ve washed the player once, and it still works. I’ve dropped it multiple times. It has sat around in the bottom of my bag with my keys, and still looks (almost) new.

I was thinking of asking for another iPod for xmas, but now I am not so sure. I do like having all of my music on one device, but it’s really not that big a deal. The 120 GB iPod classic model is a little bit of overkill for me. The 16GB ipod nano would fit almost all the music I care to keep with me; that’s a little tempting. I worry about the durability, though- my old iPod scratched easily, and the way I mistreat MP3 players, I really need something durable. (Same goes for phones, incidentally)

I’ll probably stick with the Clip for now. Besides being cost effective, this means I can start moving away from the proprietary iTunes, which I find too big and clunky for my tastes. It also has weird non standard ways of storing things, which bugs me no matter what program I am using.

Image Credit: Clip on keyboard by BuhSnarf

Sometimes I see something- maybe an electronic gadget, or a book, a CD, or a piece of furniture, and am filled with all consuming WANT. Today, it happened again- this time, the trigger was a house.

The house, as you might expect, is beautiful. 2 stories plus an attic, finished basement, nice yard, garage. Wood Floors. Big kitchen. A wonderfully landscaped yard, and within walking distance of work (assuming, of course, that I continue working where I am now.) It’s also close to some friends of ours.

I can’t stop thinking about it.

What is it about this house that fills me with such desire? I have a house. It’s…. ok. I mean, it’s perfectly livable. Why would I need more than twice the livable space that I have now?

I can’t think of too many ways the space would change my life. Having a backyard not in view of a major street might mean I’d spend more time outside. A bigger art room might mean I’d embark on some larger paintings again. One of the biggest improvements would be the fact that we could place litterboxes gar away from living spaces, so I’d have to smell it less. A walk in closet might mean I have fewer wrinkled clothes an an easier time picking out outfits. The garage is large, so I could have a workshop set up instead of having to take out tools and move a car every time I want to make something. These are all little things.

I also wonder how much a beautiful house (rather than the OK house I have) would change my outlook. I doubt it would make me happier.

The house is much more expensive than our current house - which would be OK if I get a professional position. I also worry about the Diderot Effect - once I have a new house, wouldn’t I want new furniture and other stuff to go in the house? What about curtains, rugs, etc?

My gut tells me that a house won’t make me happy. I also knows that the house will likely sell before I know if I have enough to purchase it. I know that selling my own house, right now, is a horrible idea, not only because of the market, but because I have enough on my plate as it is. I am rational enough to realize this isn’t going to happen.

But the irrational part of me will drive by the house again and again, until I see a little sold sign in the yard. Then I’ll feel a little pang of regret, but I’ll move on.