Daily Life

A Day in Software

I recognize that it’s kind of sad, but I am a hardcore computer junkie and a significant percentage of my work and play are done on the computer. So here’s a peek into the software I use daily:
Waking up:

  • Southwest DING! – Check for low airfares to/from Phoenix. Find that there aren’t any.
  • Mozilla Firefox – Check e-mail, Facebook, Digg, Engadget, Dilbert.com, XKCD.com, and New York Times. All banner ads huffed by AdBlock Plus plugin. But it’s bloated and RAM-hogging, so I won’t use it for the rest of the day.

At work:

  • Internet Explorer 7 – Work stuff in an all-Microsoft environment. Lots of ASPX web apps that don’t work with standards-compliant browsers.
  • Microsoft Office 2007 – More work stuff… Greatly eased by Microsoft SharePoint Portal, one of the best CMS and project management suites out there.
  • Instant Messaging – Office Communicator for work contacts, Pidgin or Meebo for personal contacts
  • Windows Remote Desktop Connection – log in to lots of systems remotely. Login to my home machine to stream MP3s.

The coffeeshop:

  • Safari 3 Beta – Surf sites, correspond with web design clients. Using Safari because it’s the fastest browser on Windows, standards-compliant, and makes me feel like all of the Mac hotshots in the coffeeshop.
  • Adobe Design Premium CS3 – Web design with Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Photoshop.
  • Gmail – check with clients, share documents and web copy, load PDFs and Word documents without having to download them.
  • Microsoft OneNote 2007 – Track progress on design projects.
  • Pidgin – IM with friends. Share links to pictures of pitbulls attacked by porcupines.
  • WordPress – write this blog post to refresh brain between romps in code.

Home:

  • iTunes 7 – Crank up the tunes. Sync iPod with new DRM-free music from eMusic or iTunes Store.
  • Picasa 2 – Load shots from yesterday’s bike ride off of my Canon PowerShot S3. Maybe upload them to Picasa Web Albums and blog about them.
  • e-SWORD – Get confused about something in the Bible that says men with long hair bring shame upon themselves. Consider a haircut. Cory then tells me that it was written in a cultural context to age-of-Christ Jews, so I’m overreacting.
  • Safari 3 Beta – check deals on Woot.com, newegg.com. Pay bills.
  • Windows Media Player 11 – Watch Star Trek: The Next Generation or Futurama.
  • FL Studio 7 – Write jazz fusion licks. Bang head on desk because of the steep learning curve. Go back to newegg.com and check prices on a desktop computer with hardcore audio interfaces and a MIDI keyboard.

Yep, I am lame and spend too much time on the computer. But it makes me money and keeps me connected to a lot of friends that live outside of Fort Collins, so I make no apologies.