This last year has not been a insignificant year for me. There has been a lot happening in my life good and bad; even some life changes that we all go through and I wanted to share some thoughts that I have been reflecting on for 2008. I want to start by saying I don’t believe in new years resolutions. I prefer to reflect and course correct where possible, but when I look back at the last year there are a few things about this last year that come to mind.

Productivity can be a trap

I spend a lot of time thinking about how to be more productive and remove the daily noise, but productivity obsession can be a distraction just as easily as the guy who wanders into your office twice a day. The fact is that productivity obsession can be a drug we take that helps us lie to ourselves about what we are achieving.

The reality is that it is a lot less about getting more done than it is about getting impactful things done. One other concern that I have is that time optimization often puts people at the bottom of the pile.  One CEO that I know says he “Considers the ROI of every conversation”.  While I agree we need to make tough choices about how we spend our time, I am concerned that the ROI approach means that I am the center of my world.   I want to be a person that puts others first.

Mint the best web app ever

I won’t lie, personal finance has never been my thing.  The money comes in, and the money goes out. But success in personal finance comes when you plan, budget, execute and manage.  Success is about living within your means and spending less than you make. This year I discovered a tool that has continued to improve how I manage the money I have and plan for the money I would like to have.  This app is Mint.com.

I have thought that quicken has sucked forever, you need a degree in personal finance to use it and the endless options means that setup and use is time consuming. Money was better although not much, but I have multiple machines and I want to access my accounts wherever I am and whenever I need to.  I also had problems with various banks and access.  

Here is the thing, Mint took me 30 min’s to set up and I spend 30 minuets to wire in my budget each month. Mint looks good and makes me feel happy about managing my money, especially now that I have the iPhone App so I can manage my money on the go. I expect that I can meet my financial goals this year, because I can easily track my progress.

Hockey is back

For the last few years I have lived in denial and I ignored the sport of my youth. I dreaded the idea of putting on a pair of skates and I all but avoided any Hockey on TV or in the stands. But this year something came over me. It started when Detroit won Lord Stanley’s Cup.  I spent many a Sunday afternoon at the Gym running while watching Detroit dominate almost every team in the league. Then in the NCAA, both North Dakota and the unlikely Notre Dame had great seasons which renewed my faith in college hockey as one of the most exciting leagues in all of sport.

This year I got over my fear of getting out on the ice. It is not that I haven’t skated in the last few years between when I quit playing and now, but I really had no desire to play.  Then something changed; I can’t say what for sure. I just picked up some new gear and just showed up to play.  I have been enjoying my late night skates in a way that I cannot explain. I genuinely love being out there.  All this in spite (or maybe because) of the fact that my first skate left me with crushed cartilage in my wrist.

Failure is good

I had a number of failures this last year. I think the one I regret the most is failing to recognize when I was failing and not failing faster. That may sound silly, but I think this is a often overlooked point. I won’t dwell on this other than to say, failing is good. Learning from failure is better.

Other things I learned (that are self-explanatory)

• Sometimes smaller is better (Microloans, Microdonations, Microblogging)
• Be a peacemaker
• Twitter is a waste of time and I love it
• You have to be self critical, but not a self crippler
• My iPhone is the killer application for my productivity needs.  (Sorry MS, but it needed to be said.)
• Clover machines make the best coffee (now, where can I get one)
• I should upload my photos to flickr more often

I hope that 2008 was a good year for you. I hope you laughed a lot and ate great food. I hope you avoided false sentiments and instead shared your heart with the people in your life. I hope you used technology to improve your life and gave back from your bounty to those in need. May 2009 bring us all peace, joy, and love. 

Well it is Christmas and I have been very busy.  In planning my Christmas, I have had to focus on being productive at work so I can go on vacation and not think about the office.  I have managed my plan for my dogs getting boarded with “remember the milk,” but I have been running behind on the Christmas shopping. That is until this week. 

I discovered the new Amazon.com iPhone application. This application along with a Prime membership means I have been able to shop for presents while waiting at the eye clinic, in line at the grocery store, and even at the vet while my dogs got their yearly shots.

The worst part about this application is that it is so easy to make purchases.  Once you have set up 1-click purchasing shopping is just a finger tap away.   As with all time saving items that are connected to your bank account easy of purchase could mean spending more than you planned.

The ability to impulse spend was one of the first reactions of several reviewers including a review by Yahoo Tech.  But for the mobile worker with an iPhone I can overlook the danger of impulse purchase, for the amount of energy that can be spared with this app.

While this app is feature rich, it is at it’s best when it is doing merely basic product purchases for known items. I haven’t had much luck with the Amazon Remembers feature and it really only seems like a novelty. 

You can review the application more at on Amazon’s application site.

I have really grown to love the CBC radio program Spark.  If your anything like me the CBC is not one of the presets on my radio dial. But I highly suggest you add it to your podcast list. Spark, hosted by Nora Young, is a radio program about technology and culture.

One of my favorite contributors to the show is Merlin Mann, who you may know from the blog 43folders. Based partly on his 43Folders.com post What Makes for a Good Blog?, Merlin has been sharing about voice, obsession, and the importance of trying.  I highly recommend that you listen to this series of contributions to Spark.

The series had 6 themes:

• What Makes a Good Blog?
• Consider Your Audience
• Manage Expectations
• Get Better
• Attract an Audience
• Q & A

I highly recommend that you check out the blog post with a full description on the contributions and download the MP3 files.

Full Merlin Mann Series: How To Blog

So after only two weeks I have decided which applications I like the most for my iPhone. I tried numerous applications in hopes to the best in productivity and as replacements for the applications I have used on other phones.  Below I have listed my favorites and what I have Kept on the phone:

Twitter

Choice: Twitterfon I tried them twitterific, tweetsville, tweetie, twitilator, etc. But none, matched the experience that I have come to expect from tweetdeck or twhirl on my desktop. Until I read a post about twitterfon by VentureBeat reporter MG Seigler. Twitterfon has all the features you would expect and need in a twitter client. It has separate panes for your friends, replies and direct messages. It also has easy access to the search (summize or search.twitter.com as it is now known). My only complaint is that it doesn’t pre-load all panes. You have to click on replies for it to load the panes with new replies. The app’s integration with twitpic and with your location is really nice and makes updates super easy.

Productivity (list making and keeping)

Choice: Remember the Milk As a regular list maker, I have always loved the idea of RTM (remember the milk, but the iPhone makes this application real.The best next action list is one that is with you all the time. It isn’t helpful if you have to flip open your computer to get to it. RTM is so easy to use, it makes it the perfect “next action” application.

Second Choice: Jott So while RTM solves all most all my next action needs, sometimes you just need to talk a note in a hurry. Jott makes that possible with voice recognition. You just speak into the phone and a few minutes later the note appears in the list.  While there is syncing capability with RTM, it costs to set the service up. Paying for two services for list management is just not my thing. But you can use Jott when you are in a hurry and manually sync the lists when you have more time.

Food

	Choice: Open Table I have been a Open table user for some time now. It is a great way to get a table at just about any restaurant. More importantly however, you can avoid wasting time calling or showing up at a restaurant hoping to get a seat. Now on the iPhone this app will give you the times and availability of dinning locations near you. I love this app it is too useful.
	Choice: Yelp While Yelp has gotten a bad rap in the last few months over the negative review scandal (which by the way I am not sure I believe). I love the reviews which have been more than helpful at making dinning decisions for work and personal events.This app gives me access to those reviews on the go.
	Choice: Urban Spoon During the SEOmoz Web 2.0 awards which I judged, UrbanSpoon was one of my favorite new sites. Now the that site has a fun application which can help you beat the dinner doldrums. If you have ever gotten into a rut with eating out. This app can help. Just shake your iPhone and it randomly selects a restaurant in your area. This app doesn’t get a lot use from me, but it is a lot of fun from time to time.

Health

Choice: Calorie tracker by LiveStrong.com I have been on a two year body optimization effort. I learned a lot about how to eat healthy and to exercise in a way that can keep you healthy for a lifetime.  I have been most successful in this quest when I kept a food diary. This app replaces a written or computer based tool by letting me track my food intake where ever I am. You can easily search for food by type, restaurant or manufacturer.  This makes keeping a record as easy as typing a few letters of the food you are interested in. You can also track exercise. After a 2 hour ice time, I can track the calories burned and keep a record of my overall activity.    The only downside… the app hints that it may cost money in the future.

Other Applications:

There are several other applications I am using that are going pretty well but that I could live without like:

• Pandora
• Facebook
• Shazam

Several applications that just failed:

• Bank of America : Not available in my state
• Tweetsville: Crashed my phone
• Loopt:  I just don’t get it.  I like brightkite and other location sites, but this just didn’t seem to have a unique purpose.

Hope these recommendations help, and If you have an application suggestion that I have not tried, let me know.

Religiously, since 1997, I have logged into Hotmail once a month.  I have done this because for some reason during my freshman year I chose to create an account name that didn’t have the permanence of something like my name. I won’t share it here, but lets just say it is not at all related to me.  

I sign in once a month just to ensure that I don’t loose the account or emails that I filed away for posterity.  There were several emails in this account of personal importance and memory, that for whatever reason I never wanted to delete or move to another account.

After years of protecting this account, I finally lost those mails this month when the Windows Live update to Hotmail rolled out. I had a separate folder for each person who’s mail I was trying to keep.  Now those folders are gone. 

I suppose that I shouldn’t make a big deal out of it, It isn’t like I read those old mails its just I didn’t want to lose them. But they are gone and not coming back. So while I am not thrilled with whatever decision left me folder-less, I now have a new problem.  Should I kill this account? I can’t remember the last time I actually sent a mail from this account, so I am tempted to just delete it.   If you see this post let me know, are you still keeping an old mail account that just doesn’t fit you any more?   Why?