Redesigning our family finance

The art of personal finance has been a topic of interest for me for most of my adult life. Some people feel strongly about it, choosing all manner of tools, software, processes, etc.; while others employ no real system at all, opting for a more intuitive sense of financial decision-making. That’s a wide spectrum of …

Customizing Chrome’s “new” tab

Ever bore of the new tab screen in Chrome?  It’s what you’re presented with after doing a CTRL + T. Well, with the magic that is extensions, you’re free to change this.  There are a host of replacements available on the Chrome Web Store.  But I’ve always appreciated a low-tech, unobtrusive approach.  I’ve used the …

Email, the new Todo

Shockingly, over a year has elapsed since I last spoke about my digital life-hacking.  That’s a pretty terrible commitment to the discipline of writing and contemplation.  I can blame that on so many things: raising small, needy humans; steadily growing home-improvement lists; active social calendars; too many screens and not enough books.  But the truth …

The lack of file tags in Windows

So, I’m supposed to be working on this month-long challenge.  But hey!  I found some other project to work on.  It’s in service of my recent computer switcheroo, with which I’m a little obsessed lately. Since recently switching from OS X on an iMac to Windows 10 on a laptop, I sorely miss file tagging. …

Platform Interchange

I suppose that the “Slippery Slope” phenomenon applies to me right now.  A chink in my Apple armor developed some time ago.  Then I got out of the iPhone world all together, which amazed me as much as it did my friends. The recent maturity of Google’s cloud services (Photos, Drive, Music, etc.) had a considerable …

Modernizing my email

A few months ago, I did an overhaul of my digital life.  Those posts were all about switching smartphone platforms from Apple iOS to Android.  What was most revealing to me was not the hardware and software differences, but just how I get things done now. In the end, I’m not unhappy with my switch.  I tend to …

The hunt for the perfect cell phone plan

I am nothing, if not occasionally obsessive.  I get fixated with certain projects, plans, or life goals  Well lately (as in the last 6-9 months), I’ve been rather preoccupied with finding the perfect, affordable cell phone plan. The last time I was this worked up about hacking my status as a cell phone user, it was …