Opera Notes Battle Chaos
Thursday, 15. December 2005, 14:03:34
I secretly laugh at people who are caught off guard when a day or week turns out to be busier than they expected. You know the ones -- they're flustered and a little put out by how hectic their lives have suddenly become. Their expressions, if not their words, say, "Why is this happening to me, and when is it going to stop?" As if their regular lives are so serene that any increase in activity, any disruption at all to their routine, is a major affront.
On the other hand, I (and most people who live in the real world) are in the completely opposite situation. Our lives are almost always running at full-speed, the universe is almost always 10 steps ahead of us, and we know that our calendars start out full every Monday and continue to fill as the week goes by. We expect chaos. In fact, we're only caught off guard by the rare quiet moments -- moments that can seldom be scheduled. When things actually do slow down (rare) or stop altogether (even rarer), we may be confused, but we're also damn happy. We know it's unusual. We understand it won't last long. And if we're smart, we relish every precious second of peace.
All of which is a prelude to saying that this has been just another average week. I returned to reality from High School Dramaland (yes, all the shows went fine) and spent the next few days scrambling this way and that, trying to stay on top. In other words, situation normal.
On Tuesday, I had another vivid reminder why I love the Opera Internet suite so much. The deadline was tight, and I had to do some really fast research that involved visiting seven or eight Web sites to grab random bits of information, then bounce back to several of the sites for follow-up. In a situation like that, Opera's MDI capability is always a plus, but an even bigger plus in my book is the Notes feature. By using Ctrl+Shift+C as I zigzagged around the Web, I was able to save considerable time -- and probably a fair chunk of my sanity.
I'll admit that I was never much of a Notes user until last winter. I was aware of the feature, and I did store a few stray bits of information there, but I also viewed Notes as a kind of geeky Opera enhancement, nice to have but not really necessary. Then Ken Knox, a friend and a really bright guy, wrote an article on Notes for the Choose Opera Newsletter, which I was editing at the time. That story opened my eyes to everything Notes could do and all the ways that you could use them. I realized they were not geeky at all (well, not really geeky), but rather an important tool that could make my life a lot simpler. I vowed to take better advantage of that tool, and since then, I've lost track of just how many times Notes has saved my time, energy and brainpower ... none of which I can afford to squander, since they're not exactly in great supply!
Thanks, Ken.
And thanks, Opera Notes, for making a tough Tuesday a little easier.
On the other hand, I (and most people who live in the real world) are in the completely opposite situation. Our lives are almost always running at full-speed, the universe is almost always 10 steps ahead of us, and we know that our calendars start out full every Monday and continue to fill as the week goes by. We expect chaos. In fact, we're only caught off guard by the rare quiet moments -- moments that can seldom be scheduled. When things actually do slow down (rare) or stop altogether (even rarer), we may be confused, but we're also damn happy. We know it's unusual. We understand it won't last long. And if we're smart, we relish every precious second of peace.
All of which is a prelude to saying that this has been just another average week. I returned to reality from High School Dramaland (yes, all the shows went fine) and spent the next few days scrambling this way and that, trying to stay on top. In other words, situation normal.
On Tuesday, I had another vivid reminder why I love the Opera Internet suite so much. The deadline was tight, and I had to do some really fast research that involved visiting seven or eight Web sites to grab random bits of information, then bounce back to several of the sites for follow-up. In a situation like that, Opera's MDI capability is always a plus, but an even bigger plus in my book is the Notes feature. By using Ctrl+Shift+C as I zigzagged around the Web, I was able to save considerable time -- and probably a fair chunk of my sanity.
I'll admit that I was never much of a Notes user until last winter. I was aware of the feature, and I did store a few stray bits of information there, but I also viewed Notes as a kind of geeky Opera enhancement, nice to have but not really necessary. Then Ken Knox, a friend and a really bright guy, wrote an article on Notes for the Choose Opera Newsletter, which I was editing at the time. That story opened my eyes to everything Notes could do and all the ways that you could use them. I realized they were not geeky at all (well, not really geeky), but rather an important tool that could make my life a lot simpler. I vowed to take better advantage of that tool, and since then, I've lost track of just how many times Notes has saved my time, energy and brainpower ... none of which I can afford to squander, since they're not exactly in great supply!
Thanks, Ken.
And thanks, Opera Notes, for making a tough Tuesday a little easier.
WIDGETIZE