Gmail PSA: Assorted stars are now an actual feature!
I’ve gotten back into being a Gmail power user this week starting to work with the band Companion, and was looking for my old extra stars in Gmail Labs to keep my waterfall of e-mails organized. I was nervous when I noticed that it had disappeared from Labs, but happy to learn that it’s a real-life grownup feature now in the General Settings.
Related: I love Multiple Inboxes.
I just earned $240 in 15 minutes by Ramit-ing Cablevision
I’m a longtime fan of Ramit Sethi’s personal finance and general life-dominating advice, and just tried out his negotiation tactics for the first time on Cablevison to extend the one year discounted rate on our internet service. The biggest key that was not previously a big part of my negotiating strategy was being REALLY NICE. Thanks, Ramit!
Oops! iForgot My New iPad On the Plane; Now What? (WSJ)
Skimmed this article this morning and loved the advice to put your name and contact number on the lock screen wallpaper. Obvious, but something I never thought of before. My Blackberry used to have a setting for this; I’m surprised that smarter smartphones don’t.
I’m typing this from my MacBook which now has 4 Gigs of RAM because I’m a computer genius. I’d upgraded RAM on a PC before with assistance, but assumed that it would be more complicated on a Mac, and never looked into it. Turns out, it was even easier.
Crucial.com told me exactly which type to order for my computer, and $60 later I had 4 Gigs of RAM. Then Apple told me how to install it myself. Bam, doubled the speed!
My laptop is now nearly 4 years old, and the Apple store told me that after 5, they consider it “vintage” and don’t support it in any way. Here’s hoping that mine lives even longer than that without problems. My iPod 3G is now almost 10 years old, and still DJ’d our Easter party last weekend.
While reading an ebook from the Brooklyn Public Library last month, I noticed that I was able to read for many days after the due date until I finished the book. Today with the book that I’ve been reading for the past few weeks, I realized it was also past the due date and I was still reading, so I decided to see if my previous book was still there, too, and if they stay forever.
Sadly, I learned that they were both expired, and I could no longer get into the one I had just been reading! The moral of the story is that you can keep reading library books until well after the due date as long as you don’t navigate out of the book to any menus.
How to Quit Instant Oatmeal Packets
and/or How to Quit Wasting Money on Cooked Oatmeal from Starbucks, Jamba Juice, Bergen Bagel, etc
When I changed jobs last year and found myself with a less-equipped office kitchen, I reverted back to instant oatmeal that I could make with the boiling water from the water cooler. BUT—buying a 10lb bag of old-fashioned oats is way cheaper, and doesn’t have weird chemicals, sugar, and salt.
Now, every day I:
- Measure 1 cup of water & 1/2 cup oats into 4 cup Pyrex measuring cup (this size is necessary to avoid it bubbling up and spilling out all over the microwave)
- Drizzle in a little maple syrup
- Microwave for 3:20
- Sprinkle in some frozen blueberries (or bananas, or apples&cinnamon)
- Pour into travel mug
- Eat at work an hour later, still hot!
It takes less than 5 minutes, and the 3 minutes while it’s in the microwave can be used to curl your eyelashes.
The best $11.99 I’ve spent this week: Sigg Bottle Brush
If you are like me, you’ve never truly scrubbed the depths of your water bottle before, and have used it daily for (ick!) 2 years. I tried another bottle brush from Zabar’s a few weeks ago trying to save a few dollars, and came home to discover that it didn’t even fit into the narrow opening of a Sigg. Luckily, Whole Foods sells these, so I was able to pick one up this weekend. Life changing!
My coworker just used it on his non-Sigg, and the bottle went from cloudy to clear. I don’t even want to know what the inside of mine looked like.
Miriam's Funeral
The funeral today was surprisingly helpful for me to find some sort of meaning in her death. I believe that:
1) The world is not fair - some people face more challenges than others
2) Everyone dies, eventually
3) Miriam’s life is an extreme example of the preceding points. Miriam fought cancer for 13 years, and died at 28. She had to deal with an incredible amount of pain, bureaucracy, and many other challenges in a life that was far shorter than anyone would wish.
4) Miriam also demonstrated the right way to live in an unfair world where we and everyone we care about will eventually die. Miriam accepted that she would die but never stopped fighting to live and to make an unfair world better. A parent’s letter read at the funeral described how Miriam had worked with frustrated parents to integrate their son into a new classroom. Miriam was described as professional, empathetic, and ultimately very successful in helping a boy deal with a difficult situation - all of which must have occurred only a few weeks before the surgery that critically weakened her. This is so right that it is painful.Death is terrible, inevitable, and unfair in who it takes when it comes. I am still sad and too ready to be angry with anyone, but I am glad to have found some meaning in Miriam’s death.
I’m too sad to have many coherent words about all this, and appreciate CR’s thoughts above after yesterday’s funeral.
This video just changed my life! I just cleaned my MacBook with a Magic Eraser!
Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
STEVE JOBS, in a commencement address at Stanford, 2005.
(via the Wall Street Journal)
DIY fruit fly trap
With an apartment somehow inundated with fruit flies, I decided to take matters into my own hands yesterday. Thanks to suggestions from wikihow, I set up the following trap:
- Fill bottom of wide shallow bowl w/balsamic vinegar + apple cider vinegar
- Cover tightly with saran wrap
- Stab saran wrap all over with fork to make holes they can get into, but can never, ever, escape from
- Watch as they accumulate in the bowl and out of your entire house.
Just consulted my 2009 archives for this one after seeing 10 too many fruit flies in the kitchen.
Absolute BEST locksmith in New York City: Lockbusters
Put this in your phone right now: (212) 960-8585
I’ve been nervous about locksmiths in NY for years, and grew even more nervous after reading this account a few months back, but Yelp helped me find my dream locksmith yesterday.
Jay has a sparkling reputation on Yelp (57 reviews that are all 4-5 stars), and an appealing web presence, and lived up to my expectations. We got a deadbolt installed within hours, and were charged via Paypal the reasonable price as advertised. So easy, and nothing scammy about it. I will definitely call him if I’m locked out at 4am.
