(originally posted July 9, 2007 - Updates at the end)

Things are going just swimmingly with the new website design. I hope to be able to have at least the new template up within the next week, maybe two weeks at the outside. I found a couple free templates I like and am busy ripping apart the CSS and combining elements from each that I like into a single template. Even when I get a version up here, it won’t be anywhere near finished, but it wont be a hideous eyesore, either, like this one is (yes, I hate this one a little more every day).

Unfortunately, I can only spare a couple hours a day to work on it. School has started back up (summer session) and between that and the writing and just, well, life in general, I have every day planned out to the minute.

Speaking of which, let me introduce you to a handy little application I found. It’s freeware called TimeTo and can be found at http://www.davidberman.com/software/timeto.php. I have only been using it a week or so, but already I am really liking it. I have used several time management type software solutions in the past, and they were each either way more than I needed or way too simplistic. In the end I reverted to a regular old Excel Spreadsheet with some custom VB scripting. It was a little unwieldy, but since I built it, I knew it’s quirks and worked around them easily enough.

Happily, after about a week of use, I haven’t given up on TimeTo and am actually beginning to get more complex with a few of it’s capabilities. I will not even try to extol its virtues or decry it’s shortcomings, as I just don’t know the product well enough yet. I will say, however, that just by using it for a week, I have become solidly aware of problems I had with my old system, and so far any concern I had has been happily cast aside.

TimeTo is, for now at least, a perfect solution for me. That may change come fall semester when things start going crazy again, but for now I am enjoying a new system and actually finding ways to gain myself an hour or so of free time a day. If you are someone that is easily distracted or just never seems to get to the bottom of your To Do list, you might want to give it a try. I did, and so far I don’t regret it a bit.

**Update**

2 weeks left in the semester, so work on the site has been sparse as I prepare my final paper and presentation. It will pick up again soon.

TimeTo is still working well. It will be interesting to see how it works with the daily details of employment when that kicks in next week. The more I use it, the more I like it, and I think I am ignoring all the big-time “power-user” options. Hopefully I’ll figure out some of those during the 2 week hiatus between semesters.