The Best Design Tools for Improving Your Home

from lifehacker.com:
 

Wandering around Home Depot until inspiration strikes is a terrible idea. If you've got a loose idea for a redesign, re-arrangement, or physical improvement to your house, apartment, or even a dorm room, we recommend these computer planning tools for the job. More » 

new layout

Well, my blog has been kinda broken for a while - it would auto-redirect. I've changed my layout and hopefully it won't redirect anymore. After several years I suppose it really needs to be freshened up.

some recent Social Media and Security/Privacy articles that may be of interest

4 Facebook Security Tips to Stay Safe in 2012 http://www.cio.com/article/print/696212

Facebook's New Timeline: Important Privacy Settings to Adjust Now http://www.cio.com/article/690742/Facebook_s_New_Timeline_Important_Privacy_Settings_to_Adjust_Now?taxonomyId=3119

Facebook May Be Scary, but We Love it Anyway http://www.cio.com/article/696205/Facebook_May_Be_Scary_but_We_Love_it_Anyway?taxonomyId=3119

Social Networking, Ignorance, and Apathy http://www.cio.com/article/696197/Social_Networking_Ignorance_and_Apathy?taxonomyId=3119

Facebook Privacy: How the FTC Settlement Affects You http://www.cio.com/article/695461/Facebook_Privacy_How_the_FTC_Settlement_Affects_You?taxonomyId=3119

well-loved grill, 20 years old, some accessories might be removed

well-loved grill, 20 years old, some accessories might be removed

Brevard Manatees 2011 Schedule

The manateesbaseball.com site doesn't have the same print rev of the schedule brochure that is available at checkout counters, so I scanned it in for reference:

I also input all the dates into a Google Calendar [click here]. Note, this season starts in April.

Puerto Rican Statehood debate

Ok, I only just heard about the debate today, so I'm a bit out of touch. So I googled the topic and found what seems to be a good objective review of the issue:
http://www.essortment.com/all/puertoricansta_rdla.htm

Awsome site for helping kids decide on careers

from Bridges.com:

Introducing IMPACT: Make a Difference Through Participation

Linking careers to current events can help students see how their career plans can have an impact on the world around them. XAP and Bridges are proud to introduce the IMPACT site -- a dynamic site aimed at linking events in the news with career planning. Our first focus is the earthquake in Haiti. Find out how many careers and volunteer opportunities are involved in the process of rebuilding Haiti.

Visit the site: http://impact.xap.com/

Theme Builder Creates Document Themes for Office 2007

I think I found this on Lifehacker.com:

Windows only: Standalone application Theme Builder creates themes for Microsoft Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, and even Outlook emails—allowing you to create a consistent look and feel across all your documents.

Downloading the application requires using Microsoft's annoying File Transfer Manager, which usually requires Internet Explorer, and once you get past that hurdle you need to make sure that you've got the .NET Framework 3.0 and Office 2007 Interop installed—but once you've successfully navigated through all of those, the application is relatively easy to use.

You can make a copy of the themes under your Office Install -> Document Themes directory, and then open them up in the Theme Builder application to customize just about any aspect of the theme. Once you've finished, you can save them out to your documents folder and use them from any Office application by choosing the Browse option under the themes panel's drop-down menu. If you want them globally available, you can save them out to the Office installation directory where the rest of the theme files are.

The application is a bit of a pain to get going, but could be a huge timesaver for making sure all your Office documents have a consistent look. Theme Builder is a free download for Windows only.

Office 2007 Theme Builder [Microsoft via Life Rocks 2.0]

Make Your Own Chalkboard Paint

from lifehacker.com:

Chalkboard paint is a childhood-recapturing tool and a great way to repurpose cruddy furniture. Finding it, and finding it in non-black colors, can be a challenge, so two different sites write up recipes for mixing your own.

Photo by Francis Bourgouin.

The Craft at Home blog has a recipe that makes any acrylic paint of your preference chalk-friendly, though darker colors are still more effective as an actual writing surface. That recipe requires powdered tile grout and glazing medium, which you can usually find at your local hardware store.

If the glazing medium is hard to get at, or you just want fewer steps, Martha Stewart's site explains how to make DIY chalkboard paint with just the tile grout. What's more, her site offers some seriously inspiring ideas on how to implement chalkboard paint in all sorts of spots around your home—we're staring somewhat jealously at the calendar-like pattern shown here.

other interesting links:

Make Custom Color Chalkboard Paint [MarthaStewart.com]
How To Make Your Own Chalkboard Paint [Crafts At Home via Lifehacker AU]

worry-wart

I worry too much, and officially have "anxiety". I just read today, on ehow.com, about how a person can use strips of paper to manage worries. However, I have had a thought that may build upon this technique. I have created a spreadsheet, with examples. Anyone is welcome to use it.

It uses the filtering (drop-down lists) feature in excel. If you get to a point where you're not seeing things you think you should see, check the data tab, and the filter funnel (or clear). Then, make sure you have only one cell selected and click on the filter funnel again. And besure to unclick "yes" in the "am I done with this worry forever" column.

Directions for inventorying worries:

1. enter one worry per line
2. fill out column B for every worry. for the "no"s go to step 3, and for the "yes"s go to step 6.
   
3. for all the "no"s in column B, fill out column C. You can find all the "no"s by selecting the drop-down in cell B1, and select "no". Just be sure to go back and "select all on that column when you're done
4. for all the "no"s in column C, put a "yes" in column E; then filter column E so you can't see "yes" rows - this is the same as throwing that worry away
5. for all the "yes"s in column C, think about when you might be able to do something about it and put that info into column D (of course if you put "never" in column D, you might as well have put a "no" in column B instead - see step 4)
6. for all the "yes"s in column B, get to work! This is where you are empowered! Do your thing! If you come back to the list at some later time and your worry was not taken care of, you'll need to see if you're still worried about it. Think about if you can do anything about it today, etc, and you're back at step 2.
   

Directions for using the worry list as a tickler:

• make sure all data is showing except the "yes" entries in column E
• click on the drop-down in column D and browse through it, selecting things that you want to focus on; things for which the date or event has passed, for instance
• look at the the worry listed in column A and reconsider it, going back to step two in the above list