CloudHQ: My new favorite cloud integration tool

So it's been a while, and the reviews here are getting kind of stale, but I've been prompted to write again and I hope you'll appreciate the effort!

Improvizations uses Box.com for file storage for a number of reasons; easy management, commenting and tasks on files, great searching, etc. We also don't like it because of it's lack of (or weak) integration with several of our other tools; Bamboo HR, LiquidPlanner, iCims and others. Heck, it doesn't even have a link to gmail for file sharing. We also use Google Apps and it includes 1TB of drive space we don't use. We'd like to because it hooks into gmail and other tools that box doesn't.

We've considered dropping box and moving to drive several times but the security and management tools just don't cut it. Well a solution is on the horizon. I'm testing CloudHQ, a sync tool that works with dropbox, google, box and a million other cloud storage locations (even evernote!). From now on we can save files sent to us via email directly to drive and it will sync to box. We can link up Hubspot CRM which ties to Drive now and have prospect background and other documents available to sales because it links to Drive. And we can still use box to manage client access, although when an IT dept won't allow Box, it might allow Drive, increasing collaboration potential with clients and vendors. And get this. Even the sharing controls follow the file from one cloud storage to another. That's on my list to test because if I can keep all my management activities in Box I'll be really happy!

Guitar Lesson Software

OK. I'm going to try and come back to this blog. It had a great start and then I got off onto mostly business pursuits. Not that those have slowed. I'm just missing the cool stuff out there. Anyway, for a friend I decided to find some good guitar software and I came across this site. It reviews all the primary tools for people to learn guitar I've seen on the web. Good stuff.

Don't buy that if you don't have the CASH!

OMG! I'm relaxing watching the boob-tube during physical therapy the other day (don't ask) and on comes this financial adviser to chat on this coveted morning show spot. She's very excited and has so much she wants to communicate to save the world.

OK. Tell me.

The theme of the conversation was how be smart financially both during and after getting out of debt. Not a bad topic really. Should take about one minute to communicate. (See the end of this entry for the answer.) She talked with a 30 something man who just bought a new car, fully financed of course, and then lost his job. Another couple, both working stiffs making good money, couldn't do much more than pay their bills even after 'catching up.'

"I feel so badly for you. Who would have expected you'd lose the job so quickly? Let's help you work out a payment plan with your debtors. If you call and ... blah, blah, blah.

"It's really hard isn't it? We work like crazy (buy lots of toys on credit) so we should be able to 'make a living' and have a life. The main thing you need to do is have a budget.... blah, blah, blah.

NO! It's NOT hard. I'm losing my patience and screaming at the TV. We're not talking about the working poor here. We're talking middle and upper middle class with regard to income. There is no excuse. I'm going to save you reading a ton of books and listening to talking heads pamper your weak minded selves. One sentence. Memorize it. Live by it from now on. You will be much happier. I promise.

Don't buy what you can't pay for in CASH. The only exception being your house and for goodness sake don't buy a house you can't put down 20% on and have a 20-30 year mortgage. Don't get me started on 40 year, adj rate, no money down homes you never should be living in or 7 year auto loans, or huge TV's financed no interest for 3 years, or that new bedroom set no money down and no payments for 18 months your spouse just had to have either! Wanna stay out of trouble? Don't buy what you can't pay for in CASH.

End of discussion.

Goodbye Joes Goals

Mini Status Report of the tools:

1. Don't Break the Chain = My favorite. I use it every day and it's helped me get more stuff done.
2. Joe's Goals = I can see that this might be an excellent tool. But one I'm just not using. And not using means not for me. Bye Joe.
3. 43 Things = This is somewhere in the middle. I think it's a good site, but I'm not drawn to use it every day. I'll keep it for now.

43 Things are WAY too many

The next test is a wonderful social networking todo list site called 43Things. I went there expecting a typical social networking site and got one. And I'm NOT a social networker. I like to complain and harass the people I know. However, I got quickly hooked. So I wandered around. Read the FAQ. Looked at one of the site owner/authors 43 things and became inspired to read more books. Easy enough. I get stuck in the rut of reading magazines and work stuff only. So, it was easy to add it to my list directly from his. Wow. Nice. At the bottom of the goal page is a place to report similar goals. One of the cool things about 43Things is that you see how many people are working on the same goal, read their blog entries, cheer them on, etc. Then I noticed that one could add a challenge to ones goal. So I did it. Easy enough. I've already finished my January book and I can't say I would have without 43Things.

I added a few more goals (note that they should be showing up in the column to your right) and then decided to look around more. There is a very nice summary page. Recent blog entries, list of things to do, at the bottom a summary of other stuff; 43places.com for places to go, 43people.com for meeting interesting people, allconsuming.net and listsofbests.com for lists of books, music, movies, etc. to complete.

One of my goals (and something I also put on JoesGoals, is to learn French. I added it to 43Things and I was amazed at how quickly I got a reply to my Learn French Fluently init blog post. I actually encouraged me to try another learning source and I am! So the rub is that anything that helps one get the important stuff done is GOOD. So far, all three sites do this and I refuse to make my choices yet.

Next I went to the other sites I mentioned that show up at the bottom of most pages. I added a list of books at listsofbests.com. That'll take forever. Allconsuming.com is NOT as logical as the others. Hard to find what one is looking for so I just left it alone. Enough for one day.

All in all I already can highly recommend this place. Only time will tell if it's one that I keep using.

Co-op America

I belong to this organization, and although I don't agree with everything they produce, this particular article about nuclear energy (or nucular if you are a big shot politician) peaked my interest. "Solar power, wind power, geothermal, hybrid and electric cars, and aggressive energy efficiency are climate solutions that are safer, cheaper, faster, more secure, and less wasteful than nuclear power. Our country needs a massive influx of investment in these solutions if we are to avoid the worst consequences of climate change, and we want you – our 60,000 e-activists – to help us lead the charge for green energy – a safe, prosperous energy future."

Habit Forming Part Deux - Joe's Goals

So here I am a few weeks later and I find myself thoroughly thrilled with "Don't Break The Chain." It's simplicity is the key. Don't underestimate this bit. You might notice I missed Qi Gong on 1/12/08. Well, as you can imagine, THAT lead to a lengthy discussion with myself, and even with Jeff at one point, about mitigation; how I might erase the miss to keep the chain going. The chain had already become so important I was willing to circumvent it's inherent simplicity just too keep it going. I could do a full 2 hour session to make up for it. How about 'enter your favorite penance here' to allow me to mark that day as not missed? What an idiot! One cannot change a missed day with anything. It's gone forever. From that I learned. DBTC is made for those tasks that one wants to make a habit. Yes, I knew that weeks ago, but now it's sunk in.

Summary: I LOVE this tool and will continue to use it while testing the others.

So, off to try the next on the list; Joes Goals. Another elegant and simple approach not so much for getting stuff done, but for creating change in one's life. It's so simple in fact that there is no documentation anywhere. You learn by using it. It took me about five minutes to see everything. He's got some really nice coding in there. Call it Web 2.0? It does what you expect, when you expect. The major differences between JG & DBTC are that with JG one can see more than one goal at one time and that Negative Goals can be set; e.g. "Don't eat fast food." The display one can post on a blog (look to the right) or iGoogle isn't quite as nice. You have to go to the website to make updates. This is one thing I like much better about DBTC. So, since I don't want to add more actual every day have to do things, I'm going to use it for two things I want to make sure to do several days per week. Neither tool does this well (maybe one of the next ones on the list?) Joe's Goals DOES allow one to set which days of the week the task must be done, but that isn't what any of the items on my "I wish I could really do all this stuff all the time" list. So we'll fake it. I study French. My goal is several times a week and I'll track my actual days. I'm also trying some eye exercise techniques from Deepak Chopra's Perfect Health. Wow. What a great book and CD that is.