Merlins Tower

Flip Clock Screensaver for PC or Mac

Posted on January 17th, 2010 by Merlin.
Categories: Computing, Freeware, Gadgets, Life.

I have been looking for a good screensaver for my PC that will give me a nice looking flip clock on my desktop. And I finally found one. It is freeware from 9031.com. Check them out there are a few other screensavers and check out their wallpaper generators too.

fliqlo - is a quick and easy setup - and only has a few adjustments available the left right keys switch between 12 / 24 hour format and up down arrows increase or decrease the size of the clock.

I like this because I can see this from way across the room and even down the street if need be.

I like the clean simple look. Nothing fancy just a great looking flip clock.

Enjoy

Technorati Tags: screensaver, flipclock, pc, mac, freeware

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Using Cornell Note System in Business

Posted on April 11th, 2009 by Merlin.
Categories: Communication, DIY, Freeware, GTD, HPDA, Hack, Human, Indexcards, Life, Notetaking, Office, Pen.

Yes, I use the Cornell Note System in my daily life. I find it a great way to organize my notes and ideas from Meetings, Conference Calls, and What I did or need to do each day. I also use it when reading a new book that I want to take some notes on. I even draw the dividing lines in my notebooks now to help me organize my thoughts there as well. 

I made a modified version of Note Paper from Cornell-Notes.com to include a time clock to help me track my time and what I need to do and what I have completed and what I have coming up. 

I posted it on Scribd.com for all to use.

To use the clock in the upper left  to shade in the time (Begining to end) and mark a Letter or symbol near it and Use the Letter / symbol to Highlite the notes from that time slice.  I also use this with the Cue Column to track my upcoming meetings and schedule for the day.

How many times have you wondered what you did and have not clue where your day went - Keeping this with me allows me to make notes and annotate what I complete and see why I had to push other things off of my plate for the day. In the notes area I am able to write the tips and note things that I didn’t know and this allows me to update documentation and let others know the little fixes I used. I keeps these daily and use the summaries to help me find info I need from past notes / days.

And I have scheduled time weekly  later in the day Friday (while the week is still fresh in my mind) and look over the past week and see what info was good - I sometimes will highlight portions or copy off data and store it in other notebooks for future reference material. But I also scan the more important pages and put it into my evernote  system as well as that come with me on my iphone and it is easily accessable via their web page.

I also want to note every day I  look over the previous day and get my new notepage prepared for the day. Writing down what I need to do - checking my online calendar and seeing what I have scheduled for myself.  This way I have that info at hand even if I am not at my desk. This is also when I summarize my previous days notes making the weekly summary on Friday’s even easier. This only take me about 10 to 20 mins each morning but it saves alot more time through out the day then what I put into it.

Technorati Tags: Cornell, Notes, Note, paper, Organization, Sytem, business, calendar, schedule, free, organizer

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What is Twitter?

Posted on March 9th, 2008 by Merlin.
Categories: Cell Phone, Communication, Freeware, Gadgets, Human, Video, Web Service, YouTube.

What is Twitter you ask - I mentioned it in a earlier blog and got a question to explain it - Well, instead of re-inventing the wheel I will post the video from CommonCraft - Who did the earlier video about what is a blog.

So, now start following your friends 140 Characters at a time.

Technorati Tags: twitter, tweet, twittering, mini, blog, personal, people, comunication, common, craft, video, youtube

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Chatting Online - The Good The Bad and The New

Posted on November 23rd, 2007 by Merlin.
Categories: Anything Else, Communication, Freeware, Human, Web Service.

I don’t know how many of you readers chat online - But I do every once in a while with several friends from across the wide Internet. Friends from High School, Friends from College, Friends that I have met along the way. Well Mostly I have used text chat programs - Well Meebo.com (Free online Chat Program  that connects you to all your friends) to be exact.

But, Recently one of my friends introduced me to 3d Chatting when we saw it on CSI. They were using Second Life.

But he stumbled upon a similar program that is much cheaper to user (FREE!!!) It is called IMVU - IMVU - I think spoken like ICQ.com (I MV U) is a really cool 3d Chat Client - You can have 3d Rooms that multiple people can chat in at one time, you can dress your 3d Avatar, fly, build rooms, build chat environments and much more.

I used this with several of my friends where we had a blast using the 3d environment to have some fun and play around in. Depending on the room, clothing you wear and what actions you bought (Yes you can buy things but Honest it really is free if you just use and play with the basics)  - You can add new life into your chats.

Since, this is free to use and chat with - I would recommend trying this out with a few friends - or perhaps meet a few new friends with the “Find Someone to Chat with Button” You will have a blast.

Merlin

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Exercise for the Mind: Free Daily Crossword Puzzles

Posted on March 7th, 2007 by Merlin.
Categories: Communication, Freeware, Game, Hack, Health.

I enjoy trying to exercise my mind and one of my favorite past times is working on crossword puzzles.

Recently I was shown the puzzles at Puzzlers Cave there are hundreds of puzzles available to play and solve - and the best part is there is nothing to join or pay for. Being free is even better then learning a new word or concept from a well devised puzzle. The Cruciverbalist (Someone that makes a crossword puzzle) come up with some of the most interesting puzzles.

The only problem is that you can not take them with you. So, if you need a puzzle or two to take with you on the bus or to pretend to look smart the next time you head out for a cup of joe at the local coffee shop feel free to visit the puzzle archive at the CapCod Times Website.

And if you need to some help on crossword puzzles check out my previous article on crossword puzzles and solvers.

Technorati Tags: crossword, puzzle, crossword+puzzle, cruciverbalist, printable, freeware, free, mind+exercise, exercise, exercise+for+the+mind

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Online Tool: Visuword - Online Visual Dictionary

Posted on February 1st, 2007 by Merlin.
Categories: Communication, Freeware, GTD, Hack, Journaling, Notetaking, Office, Search Engine, Web Service.

Previously I wrote about the Visual Thesaurus and now I found another cool online word tool - VisuWord - They call it the online visual dictionary. I have to agree - I like how it interlinks the words and visually shows you which words are related and which ones are the same and which ones are opposite. This can be a fairly useful tool - Not something I will use everyday but can be quite useful to have in your arsenal of word tools. Like using a mind map but of words and their inter-relationship.

Technorati Tags: visuword, visual, word, words, dictionary, thesaurus, online, tool, online+tool, mind, map, mind+map, gtd, hack

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Guide to Writing in Elvish - Free Online Tutorial

Posted on January 29th, 2007 by Merlin.
Categories: Anything Else, Art, Communication, Drawing, Freeware, Hack, Journaling, Movies, Sketching, Tutorial, Weird Stuff.

Had a long hard week and for some fun I learned a new language - well only learned how to write in Elvish. Ever see those fancy scrolls in Lord of the Rings or any of the other movies / books / games that have Elvish Language written on them? Well This web page has a quick and easy guide on how to convert any english writing in very artistic and fancy elvish writing. Well To the left is my first time trying to write Merlins Tower in Elvish. It really is pretty easy to follow along and accomplish. I can see doing this with a nice broad nibbed fountain pen or a wide italic cut nib. I didn't have any of my wide nibs with me so I had to make due with what I had at hand. This was accomplished with my art book using a find sharpie marker to get the nice broad strokes. (I filled in the lines I drew) I really want to try this out with some of my calligraphy pens when I have a free moment. This guide can be printed out for ease of use. This would be pretty good for making your own scrolls and Mystical Books. Or if you just want to hide what you are writing.

Well thats all for today - Enjoy - Stay Warm and enjoy some nice tobacco in your pipe - You know I am. 8 :-?  <– Merlin Smoking a Pipe  

Technorati Tags: calligraphy, handwriting, fountain, pen, fountain+pen, ink, art, elvish, lord, of, the, rings, scroll, writing

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