Buying the Beast

So I finally bought my mac. Almost an impulse purchase and certainly not the model that I was originally looking at - BUT I AM VERY PLEASED!

I finally went for the Macbook Pro and I’ve started to set it up with “trial” applications to see what I might use permanently now I’m in the mac world.

The first thing that I looked into was VMWare, which is a package I’ve used on Windows to create virtual machines and it will allow me to operate the few legacy applications that I need for work in a windows environment. I could have used bootcamp, but I didn’t want to have a windows partition on my hard drive, and as I already have a library of VMWare images with different configurations, it won over the Parallels product too.

I’ve been taking a few notes from podcasts and blogs as to the type of things I should be using on my mac to help with productivity. I’ve therefore decided to evaluate the following products
OmniOutliner - this package came onboard my new mac and is great for lists. I’m sure it has more powerful things as well that I hope will become apparent as I use it more. Any tips are welcome.

Quicksilver - this commonly seems to be “the must have” tool. I’ve got the evaluation copy at the moment, but from what I’ve seen it seems to be very impressive. I have got Merlin’s 43Folders post to gen up on to hopefully get towards being a power user. I’ve reduced the items in my dock to encourage me to use Quicksilver more.

Scrivener - Again the trial version is being used, and I’m constructing this post in it now. Not sure at the moment if I can use it full time. I’d like to be able to use it as a project management tool for projects that aren’t writing projects. I’m sure that it can be adapted, but is it right me me?

Notebook - Final trial piece of software, which at the moment I’m using to replace the journal I used in Microsoft OneNote. It seems to offer a similar way of working, but I’m not sure I need it as well as scrivener and omnioutliner.

If anyone has any tips on the products above or alternatives that might suit me, please let me know.

The Deed is Done

Am penning this post from my new MacBook Pro! managed to get a good deal buying the beast at the airport, as I had intended dropping by the Birmingham apple store on my way home on Wednesday. Got back to the hotel and seemlessly got a bluetooth connection to my phone and transferred the picture over, then got onto the hotel WiFi network to post this. If everything is as simple as this it should be a breeze!!

Going to investigate iCal and address book.

When I get back to base with post more.

Yours happily a mac user

Anticipation

Finally, I think I might have a window to go and get my macbook! I have a long drive on Wednesday, which will hopefully see me into drive by an Apple store mid-late afternoon. Looking froward to the whole experience.

Watch this space!

Good news, Bad news week

This blog experiment (which I'm just picking up again after a fantastic break away with the family) has always been based on the idea that as I finished by planned build up posts, Apple would release Leopard and I'd go and get my first mac. My posts would them continue with the trials I have getting into the mac groove.

I heard a rumour that end of March would be the date of release, but listening to my podcasts this week, it appears that it might be as late as June.

On the flip side, GTD guru Merlin Mann of 43Folders is releasing a new video podcast from Monday. Looking forward to watching him some more.

Another uber mac lifer

Jeremy Mehrle seems to be slightly ahead of me in the uber mac life!

Keeping track of contacts

I have a system, based on a hacked GTD model that works quite well for me. It needs refining, and I'm holding off on spending too much time on that process, until I get the mac book purchased and learn new tools and applications.

One area that I seem to be the most disorganised in (and it stands out like a sore thumb), is contact management. I don't have a single "master" list of contact information, its spread about. Its not even spread about in similar formats, I've got an A5 filofax, Microsoft Outlook Contacts, GMail contacts, Locknote files and my mobile phone address book. Add to that the Lotus Notes address book of the company that I'm working at too.

Its not even that I know I have to look in the filofax for personal contacts, its really just every where!

So, when the mac arrives, I hope to consolidate all my contact information into a mac based application. The plan is to put all my contact information into Address Book.

What I need to know is - is this the best application to use? Does it allow contacts to have sensitive information protected? Thats what I use my locknote files for.

What do you use?

So why mac?

I've always used PCs. At college we had PCs (and Amigas at home), and every since I joined the 9-5 gang its been PCs, its just what is used in the industry that I work in. In my last post I established that I've not got the dream uber job working in creative media with macs - so why choose a mac then? I work in a type of engineering, where the "make do" PC applications are king and aesthetics are an unknown. I try hard to inject a little creativity but my hands are mostly tied.

The mac journey all started with my iPod. I had a 40GB G4 click wheel iPod and I loved it. Unfortunately it took some knocks and was prononced dead last year, but even when its poor corpse was still warm, I'd turned my affection to another - my 4GB black nano.

Just prior to to the iPod switch over I had been getting into podcasts - my first (and I still subscribe) was Tips from the top floor, a very good digital photography show. As I picked up tips on GTD, I inevitably was introduced to 43Folders. You can't read Merlin Mann's website for long without coming accross Leo Laporte or the TWiT network, so I embraced them all!! Before I knew it I'd subscribed to a whole host of material from TWiT, iLifeZone, VFX, TWiM etc etc.

The final nail in the coffin was when I watched the Apple keynote for 2007 and the introduction of the iPhone. It was the first Steve Jobs keynote that I'd witnessed and was wowed by the relaxed presentation style (with my productivity head on) as described in a much better way here. This lowered my defenses and allowed Mr Jobs to infiltrate my brain - I need an iPhone.

So after some major life choices in 2006, I decided to embark on the path to the ubermaclife in 2007. I'm not sure where the path will take me, but I've got a few ideas for build up posts and then I hope to start writting (from a new macbook) about the purchase and setting up of a mac for a PC to mac converter.

Let me know if you've been through similar trials.

Connected Links
Steve Jobs at MacWorld - We come from different worlds [via Presentation Zen]

Simply Why

Just read this!

Birth

So what is this project all about? Well over the last 18 months I've been exposed to a great deal of change, creativity and inspiration. Along with my good friend Mark we embarked on the GTD journey, which to a degree I've embraced and use on a daily basis. As soon as you start digging into this area, the host of information, tips, hacks and other systems is overwhelming though. Within Google Reader I was exposed to a huge amount of people & inspiration. At the forefront of this was Merlin Mann and his 43Folders site. I started subscribing to more feeds and listening to more podcasts and soon came to realise that the whole GTD thing is completely adaptable, depending on what you need from it, what tools and time you have available and the type of things that you process.

The big change for me came 6 months ago when the company that I worked for closed our division. I jumped before I was pushed and went freelance - I was lucky to find work immediately. In the time since then I have started my own company and tried to come to grips with all the finances that come attached to that.

It was at this point that I realised that my system, personal finance & everyday tools I use was just a mess, so this year, 2007, is my year of change. I'm going to arrive at my GTD system, I'm going to settle into running my company, I'm going to make the switch from PC to mac and I'm going to be more creative.

I'm starting a few creative projects this year, and documenting my strive for the uber mac life will be one of them.