Site Screw Ups

Nov 1 is the day that my hosting contract was to expire with PDAFiction's current web host.

I've been sort of busy and sort of sick for the last month, and I never got the site uploaded to a different web host. In fact, I just couldn't face the task and wimped out. On Saturday, I renewed for a year with the current web host, and bought triple the amount of storage. It just seemed like less hassle.

NOT!

Suddenly, it is impossible to download Mobi and MS Reader books.

According to the new contract, I am entitled to 24/7 Priority Tech Support. I contacted the web host on Saturday. It's Monday afternoon. Nothing's been fixed and I can't get them to respond at all.

One way or the other, this will all be fixed soon. Either my current web host will undo whatever they screwed up while upgrading the site's storage capacity -- or the site will be moved to a new hosting service, regardless of how big a pain in the ass it is.

Anyone have any suggestions or experiences (good or bad) with cheap web hosting? I'd love to hear about it : dany at pdafiction dot com

Sheesh.

Sheryl Swoopes Comes Out

Sheryl Swoopes has made it official - there are lesbians in the WNBA. Or at least one that we know of.

It's a good interview. Go read.

Brainstorm Support Forum

My new favorite app, Brainstorm, now has a bulletin board support area.

You don't need to register to read the posts.

It is brand new, so the postings are few. But they do include this welcome response:

"People ask if they need to buy separate licences for (eg) their desktop and their laptop. The answer is that we licence the individual. One user, one licence."

Great app - get it for your desktop and laptop.

EverNote

Palm 24/7 has a nice review of Evernote

There is no PDA vrsion (yet) - but there is a PC version, and it is free. Evernote is fascinating. I'm still learning my way around it - but I have no hesitation in recommending it. Plus, it's free.

Get it.

And check out the Evernotes Users forum.

And GTD Wannabe's Evernotes Templates collection

I'm also trying out ritePen with my Tablet PC - and, so far, thinking very highly of it.

Maggie Is Home

If you've been following the story of Maggie Bushway -- she's home from the hospital now. No need to send any more e-cards through the hospital link, since she will not receive them.

You can keep up with Maggie's recovery on her Update Page

PDF Creation

If you are interested in creating ebooks or other documents in PDF format, but can't manage the cost of Adobe Acrobat - Nitro PDF Pro may be the alternative you've been looking for. It normally costs about $100.00 - but for the next two days, it is on sale for $50.00 through VCom

Find out about NitroPDF here - and download a trial copy to see if it is to your liking.

If it is, act before Oct 15 to get the $50.oo pricing available here.

Cards for Maggie

If you haven't sent a card to Maggie Bushway yet, these pictures, posted by her father, should inspire you.

This is one terrific little girl. Send her an e-card

Send an E Card to Maggie Bushway

If you have a Tablet PC, you probably know who Rob Bushway is. He's a frequent poster at TabletPCBuzz.com, a Microsoft MVP, and in general a really helpful guy.

His daughter, Maggie, is fighting brain cancer. She is also struggling with seizures. Maggie is back in the hospital this week, and Rob Bushway has asked that anyone who can send an e card to Maggie. She's hoping to paper her hospital room with them.

Go to the hospital's e card page enter Maggie's name (Maggie Bushway) and wish her well.

This is one remarkable little girl. Rob has posted some pictures and updates about Maggie's latest hospitalization here.

Brainstorming

Since I got a Tablet PC, I've been on a semi-futile quest to make it at least as productive as my Palm Tungsten T3.

TEO ( Tablet Enhancements for Outlook ) is useful in so far as it adds pen functions to Outlook - but it is still Outlook. I just can't find anything to replace Datebk5.

OneNote is great. It's the best thing Microsoft has done since Publisher (yes, Publisher. I love Publisher. Is it a coincidence that Chris Pratley is in charge of both teams?) If I could use it on my Palm, I would. But OneNote doesn't include any scheduling capabilities outside of sending things to Outlook. Back to Outlook... I've never liked Outlook...

Agilix' GoBinder has nice scheduling. And it covers many of the same tasks that OneNote does.

But, we're getting sort of pricey here. Taking all possible discounts into account, that's $40 for TEO; ~$40 for OneNote after rebates galore; $45 for GoBinder if you can get the student discount -- and I still haven't replaced all the capabilities of Datebk5, which costs $25 for the full version.

Bummer.

And don't get me started on editing in Word with a pen. ::snort:: I'm eagerly awaiting Loren's program, which is not yet out of Beta. Why isn't this built into Office 2003???

However, there appears to be a bright spot. After Datebk5, my main Palm app was/is ShadowPlan.

I'm a list maker and an outline user, which is probably why I love my Palm. There is no project I can't plan in Shadow. The entire PDAFiction web site, including every format for every story, is tracked in Shadow. I've forgotten at least half of everything I ever knew - but at least I had the foresight to make a note of (some) of it in Shadow and Datebk5.

But how do I get that stuff out of my Palm and onto my Tablet PC, where I can work with it?

I find mind mapping software somewhere between confusing and over-kill. I can see that MindManager is a great program, for instance. I just can't see how it would fit into anything I do (at least, not at that price). I've looked at other mind mapping programs, including the open source FreeMind. (If you can't afford MindManager, FreeMind seems a good substitute.)

I must be too linear - I just revert them to their outline views.

Today, I discovered, via James Fellows in the NY Times, a sort of combination brainstorming/outlining program from England called Brainstorm. Here's how he describes it:

"BrainStorm is a return to the early days of personal computing, in its resemblance to outstanding DOS-era programs like XyWrite and GrandView. Its display is text only, with no graphic grace notes, and the only thing it does is manage lists - of ideas, tasks, references, names. Behind this simplicity is surprising power, or so I have found since buying it on a friend's recommendation several months ago. The program makes it very quick and easy to add, subtract, rearrange, or reconsider information you are working with."

There's a 30 day free trial. And, there is also a 50% discount if you enter the code "2534."

I have very high hopes for Brainstorm. It looks like Shadow on a big screen.