This year I have made a pledge to be uber organized (although I do every year). This includes taking diligent notes and maintaining a calender. I decided to take a new approach keeping my life together on a laptop instead of traditional pen and paper. Here’s “my system”:
My “system”:
Ubuntu
First I got an old hand-me-down laptop, wiped it clean, and installed Ubuntu.
Why Ubuntu? Well, first of all, it’s cooler. But the main reason I opted to switch was because of the simplicity and cleanliness of the operating system. I didn’t need much, just an OS that would do exactly what I wanted without a whole lot of background processes. Plus, I am a complete Nazi about having complete control over my computer. In Ubuntu you can change and tinker with everything.
There are also certain aspects of Ubuntu that I think make work easier, namely the “workspace” feature that essentially gives you four desktops to switch between.
Open Office
I then made directories for each class in a directory named “School”. When I sit down for a lecture I open Open Office’s Writer and create a document. (I’d show you a screen shot, but I’m still messing with getting Ubuntu and my USB wireless adapter to play nice).
By using Open Office, I assure that I will always be able to open up my document on any computer. Because if it comes down to it, I can always download Open Office.
Sunbird
Sunbird is Mozilla’s foray into the standalone calender market. While it’s only in version .3, the build seems stable enough to use for me. I put all of my homework, classes, and work schedule in here.
Back it up!
Once a week or so I load my “School” directory onto a USB flash drive. Just in case my computer tanks.
What to do:
It’s nothing complicated, but it is definitely the most organized I have ever been. Although it has only been a week, we’ll see how it goes.
I know there are more organized people out there. Are you one of them? How do you keep your stuff together? Similar to Blog Herald’s How I Blog series, I think we should share how we organize our workload. Who knows, maybe we’ll all pick up a trick or two.
Shoot an email to scblanda@gmail.com detailing how you organize yourself and the tools/programs you use. I’ll post as many as I can. If you would like, include a picture of your workspace and website to be linked.
[tags]Sunbird, Open Office, ubuntu[/tags]