Dave Caolo

This time, Jen Segrest, Ged Maheux and I (no Krystyn Heide again, darnit!) discuss season 4 episode 4 of Battlestar Galactica, the original show’s opening theme and Starbuck’s sweaty garbage ass. Enjoy.

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I use Backpack by 37signals for personal project management (the electronic arm, that is). Recently, I completed a project (go, me). However, I didn’t want to delete the project page and all of its files. Nor did I want to stare at it in the middle of my projects list every day.

So, I decided to “archive” it. By renaming the page with a “z” as the first character, it dropped to the bottom of the list in my sidebar. This is how I’ll deal with all archived projects in the future. The page continues to exist as it was when the project was open — all files, history, communications, etc. in place — but it’s no longer grouped with my open projects.

As David Seah points out, CEOs focus primarily on actions that move their companies forward. As an easily-distracted freelancer (New iMacs are out? Cool!), I need assistance in identifying and accomplishing these goals.

So, I use Dave’s Concrete Goals Tracker (CGT) forms. Each Sunday, I sit down and list the actions I’ll take in the next six days to move my business forward. The CGT makes that fun by assigning point values to different categories of activities.

For example, life-sustaining billable work (like signing a new client or contract) is worth 10 points. Concrete planning or accounting is worth 5, acts of self-promotion are worth 2 and relationship maintenance is worth 1.

I thought I’d share the goals I’ve created for this week with you. This weekend I’ll tell you how many points I scored.

• Order new business cards (2 points) Score! +2
  
• Complete website (2 points)
• Publish WordPress video (2 points)
• Write new blog articles (2 points per)
• Draft new video series (2 points)
• Pitch my presentation “Blogging for Artists” to local galleries (2 points) Score! +2
• Connect with local members of the tech community (1 point)
• Mail proposal to Client A (10 points) Score! +10
• Land Client B (10 points) Score! +10

Check back this weekend. Now, back to work!

The top-of-the-line 24″ model now features a 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB memory standard (upgradeable to 4GB), 500GB hard drive (upgradeable to 1TB), an 8x double-layer SuperDrive and a NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS with 512MB memory.

WANT.

Fellow TUAW blogger Christina Warren and I will take your calls and discuss the top Apple stories of the week, attempt to answer your questions and dish on the latest Apple rumors (3G iPhone, anyone?). We’ve also got some nice schwag to give away (including some software).

To join the conversation, log onto TalkShoe by using the shiny new browser-only client (no downloading required and no registration needed). Just click the “TalkShoe Web” button on our profile page at 10 PM Eastern on Sunday. You can also listen in on the Talkshoe page or call in on regular phone or VOIP lines: dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID: 45077.

See you then!

As a manic Portishead fan, I’m elated to see the first video for a song from Third, their first album in 11 years (it’s also available in iTunes). It’s a lo-fi beauty, with an definite lomographic feel.

Beth sounds as excellent as ever. As a drummer, I couldn’t help but notice the Pro Mark sticks. I cannot wait for this album to finally arrive.

[Via 37signals]

Update: The New York Times has an article on their return.

Episode 3, season 4 of Battlestar Galatica aired on Friday, April 18th here in The States and shortly thereafter Jen Segrest, Ged Maheux and I ( no Krystyn Heide this time) got together to record our reactions as a podcast.

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Note: We discuss details that will spoil the story for those not caught up to the most recent episode of season 4, so if you don’t want to know, don’t listen.

This week we went down a Futurama rat hole, but don’t worry. It’s not very deep. Ep. III clocks in at 23 minutes.

Much thanks to Jen and Ged for staying up late for a geek-out.

You’ll find all (three!) episodes of the show by browsing my Podast cagetory.

It’s time to schedule our next Twitter Meetup. This time there’s a bit of a twist.

Our last meetup drew about 20 people, which was both good and bad. I was thrilled to see so many pro-active techies on Cape Cod.

However, the problem was this. With all of us at a long rectangular table, certain conversations got missed. While I enjoyed talking about blogging at my end, I missed conversations that took place at the other end (and vice-versa).

So, this time I’m changing things up a bit. If you’ve got

• A project you want to talk about
• Ideas you want to share
• Questions you’d like answered

and so on, add it to the wiki page I’ve created (if you want write access to the wiki, leave a comment here w/your email address and I’ll set you up). Your name + topic will be sufficient. That way, we’ll all know exactly who will be holding the conversation we’re all most interested in. Sound good?

The second issue is location. While The BBC (our usual stop) has great Wi-Fi, it’s noisy and the layout is not  conducive to people wandering from conversation to conversation. So, I’m open to suggestions. The only criteria are

• Free Wi-Fi
• Uncluttered set-up
• Not too noisy

It’s also nice if people can get something to eat. The final bit of info is date. We typically meet on Wedensdays, but I’ve heard from people who can’t meet mid-week. How about Friday, May 2nd? That should give us enough time to iron out the other details.

I’m looking forward to our next meetup. Spread the word.

I’ve waited 11 years for a new album from Portishead, and today I finally pre-ordered it in iTunes [link].

I have tremendous admiration and respect for this band. I’m elated that they’re back.

This is where the magic happens, people. Soak it all in.