It has been in the rumor mill for quite while that Microsoft was going to release a blog publishing tool. Well they did it and released “Windows Live Writer” I thought it was going to be more of an integration into office rather than a stand alone blog publishing tool.

So far it looks decent, but I will reserve more critical judgements until I have posted more with it. This will be my first post using this tool and I am going to try and use it for 10-15 posts then write a review of my experiences detailing the the input, output, tagging, multimedia, & wordpress integration.

**update** if you want a more detailed commentary, check out Om Malik’s blog post regarding this.[tags]Microsoft, Windows Live Writer, Blogs, blog tools, blog publishing [/tags]

Everybody, be extra nice to your system administrator tommorow, and shower us with lots of presents. 😉

I’m taking the day off in celebration, not really… My day off tommorow just happens to be coincidental.

[tags] [/tags]

Well i’be been an onfolio user for quite some time and microsoft bought them recently which pretty much kills the idea of them supporting firefox ever again.  So for the last week, i’ve been trying out new RSS readers.  Most have them have been online as I currently use 3 diffferent computers and would like my feeds accesible wherever I go.  The 2 front runners have been Rojo and Bloglines.

I have resisted bloglines for some time as I just can’t stand the looks of the interface.  step in Rojo.  Rojo is incredibly pretty and I really like what they are doing in the the social aspect of a blog reading, taggingn, etc.  Only one problem, there aren’t any shortcuts to quickly run through my feeds.  Reading feeds with a mouse can be extremely time consuming.  So i’m giving bloglines another shot and have been using it all day.

Does anybody have know of a way to change the interface of bloglines and make it look less circa 2000?  Right now the looks are my really only complaint with bloglines as the shortcuts they have provided make it easy to blast through my feeds efficiently.

[tags]RSS, RSS Reader, Bloglines, Onfolio, Rojo, feeds, shortcuts, GTD[/tags]

My vacation is coming to an end tommorow as we drive back to chicago.  I am thouroughly refreshed and relaxed. I’m looking forward to getting back into the swing of things.  North Carolina has been wonderful, but I’m missing my dog and cat.  I’ve been gone long enough.  I should be back tommorow evening and am looking forward to spending the rest of my vacation back home hanging out with some friends.

See you soon…Hope everyone’s still reading.

-Jeff

Posts will be extremely light the next 2 weeks as I’m leaving for vacation tommorow.  I’m going to try and post a bit from the road and maybe post some pictures of my trip.  This will all be time and net access permitting.

Boy do I need this vacation.

[tags]Vacation, North Carolina, Asheville, Carolina Beach, Fayetteville, Relaxation, Rest, Wilmington[/tags]

I just read a great blog post on I will Teach you to be Rich talking about barriers being your enemy to getting things done and reaching your goal. Barriers can be something physical or mental. It is up to you to determine what those barriers are and overcoming them.

My biggest barrier to manifesting my goals is procrastination. The internet is probably my biggest item in procrastination, but it is also where I do all my research to accomplish things. I certainly can’t shut the internet off completely as I need it to do my job and my goals are internet based. But I can certainly shut off the internet for periods of time to actually get some real work done in helping myself manifest my goals. Maybe I should take an hour offline for every hour that i’m on… Do you think that is reasonable?

What are your barriers to achieving your goals? Isn’t it about time you started removing them today?

[tags]gtd, lifehack, goals, small business, barriers[/tags]

Izzy Video is a videoblog  that teaches you how to take better Digital Video.  Very  nice vlog that  teaches you how to get more out of that DV cam that is collecting dust in your closet.

[tags]vlog, digital video, dv, dvcam, video blog, video, howto[/tags]

I just checked the Barcamp Chicago website and it looks like they finally found a venue and a date.  Chicagoan’s: keep july 15th and 16th free.  Venue:  648 W. Randolf St., Chicago IL.

I will definately be there and can’t wait to hook up with some like minded techies and entrepreneur’s.  It is great that someone is organizing a Barcamp in Chicago, as we in the midwest tend to miss out on events like this as they tend to happen in Silicon Valley.

[tags]Chicago, Barcamp, Barcamp Chicago, Conference, un-conference[/tags]

Just got my wife a new Macbook, and i’m loving it. I’m slightly jealous.

Not much else to report, been busy getting ready to leave for a 2 week vacation to North Carolina.