Merlins Tower

Cool Tool: The Portable Burr Coffee Grinder

Posted on July 11th, 2010 by Merlin.
Categories: Camping, Coffee, Food, Hack.

This really is a nice Grinder for Coffee Beans - Portable and convenient.  I needed a easy to clean and something small and easy to stash. This fit the bill and works really well. I bought mine off of Amazon - As I do for alot of my items.

Some people call me a coffee snob as I like the best of the best coffee’s.  I still use my aeropress - I have a k-cup Brewer and I am trying my hand at roasting my own beans too.

This works so well for the Aeropress and for work when I bring in some fresh bean to all of us to try out. This is just such a simple grinder and so easy to use and works like a charm. Not much else to write about on this but go and buy one today for a nice Burr Grind.

0 comments.

Simple iPhone Speaker Enhancer - Low Tech

Posted on January 17th, 2010 by Merlin.
Categories: Anything Else, Cell Phone, Communication, Hack, MP3, Music, Toy, Weird Stuff, iPhone.

I could not pass up sharing this simple smartphone ( Blackberry, iPhone, Droid etc) Speakerphone Enhancer. I wish I would have thought of this - This really is a quick and dirty (only if you leave the glass dirty) Solution that really works. I can’t believe how well this works. I tried it today and the sound is increased - Now this is not hi-fi - But it works in a pinch when you need a little extra boost. Make sure to put the speaker side down - The bottom of the iPhone down. This causes an echo chamber and increases the volume of the sound. Just a little quick and easy solution. Great from when you are away from your regular speakers or dock.

But if you want a little (Well a lot better speaker system for your iphone - I would suggest checking out this page at amazon: Iphone Speaker Docks.

Info From UnPlugged.

Technorati Tags: iphone, blackberry, rim, speaker, dock, cheap, hack, speakerphone, enhancer

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Following Your Passion - Susan Boyle Loved by Simon Cowell

Posted on April 19th, 2009 by Merlin.
Categories: Anything Else, Hack, Human, Life, Music, Video, YouTube.

Reading some of the latest blogs this weekend - I was catching up on VideoTVFilm.com and he Shared the video of Susan Bolye Singing on Britian’s Got Talent and I just had to share this video here on Merlin’s Tower as well - All I can say is WOW! - She is an amazing singer and really has some talent.

This relates back to a previous Post about Hacking your Brain - and One of the things that is mentioned there is to Follow your Passion and Susan did just that and it paid off for her. Take a look at it and use Susan as a inspiration to you to follow what you are passionate about. She has been singing for years and following her passion - Now use this to find what your passionate about and do something about it  today.

Check out this video of her singing -I Dreamed a Dream (Almost 30Million Views on You Tube)

http://www.dailymotion.com/videox8ymn0

and here is another one of her singing - Cry Me a River

Links:
Susan Wants to be as famous as Elaine Page - Here is her page on the internet - I would never had heard of her except because of Susan.

and here is a video of Elaine Page Singing the Same Song as Susan

And Here is one of Susan Boyle’s Fan Sites

Check it out - There are many other links to her videos and interviews that she has done over the past week.

Again Congrats Susan - Way to go!

Technorati Tags: susan, boyle, britan, got, talent, singer, amazing, passion, dream,

1 comment.

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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Things that Are not there Anymore!!!

Posted on March 9th, 2008 by Merlin.
Categories: Communication, Gadgets, Hack, Human, Pittsburgh.

I was playing around on Twitter today and found this great tool for twitter called TerraMinds - It allows you to search for a topic you want to see if anyone wrote about. I did a search on there for Pittsburgh and found some interesting articles. But I was lead to LyriqueTragedy and her web blog - DawnPapuga.com - And she wrote about Things that were not there anymore and specifically to Pittsburgh - But there are the general topics as well - Such as the handwritten note - to quote her on this:

There’s something magical about handwritten letters. To receive a handwritten letter from someone is a gift.

Boy isn’t that so true - I think this leads me to why I love to use my fountain pens and write things down instead of using a computer for everything.

Yes, Email is much faster. But, receiving a letter from a friend that was written down is way more personal.

They actually took the time to sit down at a desk, pull out a piece of paper, select a pen, and put their words in ink on paper. This truly is Magical.

Something that used to be taken for granted has been over taken by email, voicemail, faxing, (All things Digital) - Trust me - I love digital devices more then the next person but… There has to be a time and a place to sit down and write your friend a letter just because…. I know I would really enjoy getting a letter in the mail from a friend - Much more then I would like reading that same letter in email form. Yes, even the same words seem more powerful when put in ink on paper and not just represented on the screen in ones and zeros.

Well this is just my little push to go out and write a letter to someone that cares. And see what happens. You really don’t need to have a fancy pen, fancy paper or anything fancy at all. Just pull out a sheet of white paper from your printer and grab that bic pen that you have been chewing one and just write it down. Nice to write your thoughts down - when you have to think about them first and not have the backspace key at your beck and call. Now you don’t have to pre-think the whole letter but just think about the current sentence you are writing and just write what comes from your heart. I am pretty sure whom ever you are writing will be surprised and will love what ever you write no matter what.

Well now you need to send it to them - I know I don’t have any blank envelopes on hand so here you can make your own. - DIY - Fold Your Own Envelope.

But now that you have it folded what about a stamp - Two things - There are many post offices that are open 24 hours and you can put your pocket change in and get a stamp feed out to you - or go to and purchase a few booklets of the Forever Stamp from the post office - Cost the same as a first class stamp does now $.41 but it doesn’t have a price on it and can be used anytime in the future for no additional postage due. Very Cool - Nows the time to buy in bulk and use them in 20 years. :-)

Merlin

Technorati Tags: Handwriting, letterwriting, writing, ink, paper, envelope, stamps, stamp, make, your, own, envelope, Hack, DIY, Free, love, fountain, pen, analog

2 comments.

Video: 2007 Computer Controlled Christmas Lights

Posted on December 23rd, 2007 by Merlin.
Categories: Art, DIVX, Hack, Life, Travel, Video, YouTube.

First: Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all the readers out there. Thanks for visiting and enjoy the lights.

This year they have about 176 channels of Light-O-Rama and 45,000 lights.
They are located in Pleasant Grove, Utah. For more information, visit Holdman.com/Christmas!

Carol of the Bells
http://www.vimeo.com/440868

More Videos After Break (6 Additional Videos)
(more…)

1 comment.

GoDaddy Coupon Codes

Posted on September 28th, 2007 by Merlin.
Categories: Anything Else, Communication, Google, Hack, Money, Web Service.

Well it was time to renew a few of my domain names and I wanted to save a few bucks off of the domain registration cost. So I went hunting for some Godaddy Coupon codes. I figured I would the treasure trove of coupon codes I found here for all you readers that may want to own their own domain and want to be as cheap as possible.

Hey, I am cheap and proud to say I love a good deal and several of these codes are great deals. Depends on what you are doing and how many domains you have to order or renew but these can save you from 10% to $2 off a registration.

Well here are the Godaddy Codes that I found:

GoDaddy Coupon Code 1: Save 5% on a $30 purchase - Code:           OYH2

GoDaddy Coupon Code 2: Save 10% on any purchase - Code:           OYH1

GoDaddy Coupon Code 3: Save 10% on any purchase - Code:          hash1

GoDaddy Coupon Code 4: Save 10% on any purchase - Code:          chill1

GoDaddy Coupon Code 5: Save 20% off a $50/£25 Order - Code:         BTPS7

GoDaddy Coupon Code 6: Save 20% on shared hosting - Code:   cjc20host

GoDaddy Coupon Code 7: .com Domain for $6.95 - Code:          hash3

GoDaddy Coupon Code 8: Save $2 on a .com Domain - Code:          OYH3

GoDaddy Coupon Code 9: Save $5 off a $30 Order - Code:          hash2

GoDaddy Coupon Code 10: Save $5 off a $30 Order - Code:          chill2

Technorati Tags: godaddy, coupon, codes, coupon+codes, deal, discount, domain, name, domain+name, domain+names, names

3 comments.

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