Time Saving Tips – HackALife

Google Wave

Are you using Google Wave yet?

Google Wave is an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. A wave can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.

For a more detailed video(1 hour 20 min) click here.

Google Wave has lots of innovative features:

– Real-time: In most instances, you can see what someone else is typing, character-by-character.

– Embeddability: Waves can be embedded on any blog or website.

– Applications and Extensions: Just like a Facebook application or an iGoogle gadget, developers can build their own apps within waves. They can be anything from bots to complex real-time games.

– Wiki functionality: Anything written within a Google Wave can be edited by anyone else, because all conversations within the platform are shared. Thus, you can correct information, append information, or add your own commentary within a developing conversation.

– Open source: The Google Wave code will be open source, to foster innovation and adoption amongst developers.

– Playback: You can playback any part of the wave to see what was said.

– Natural language: Google Wave can autocorrect your spelling, even going as far as knowing the difference between similar words, like “been” and “bean.” It can also auto-translate on-the-fly.

– Drag-and-drop file sharing: No attachments; just drag your file and drop it inside Google Wave and everyone will have access.

Google Wave can be a time saver and a life saver when trying to get projects done in an office setting. Try it out with your colleagues and see how effective it can be.

Last Minute Christmas Shopping Help

Do you still have shopping to do? Has the time passed so quickly that you find yourself scrambling to get your Christmas shopping done? Or have you waited until the last minute to get your shopping done? Either way your probably a little stressed at the moment and need some help to get your shopping done. Below are some helpful hints to get you prepared for Christmas day.

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Something I find super helpful and easy to get, send electronic gift certificates or gift cards. No need to even go to the store, you can print them at home or email them to your recipient. Amazon.com can help you with all your e gift cards.
Buy gift cards. You may have to take a trip to the store to get these but you usually can get a number of different gift cards at supermarkets, so you only need to stop at one place to find all the gift cards you need.
There are upsides to waiting until the last minute, you can shop with little or no lines and crowds, and the sales become much better the day before Christmas. So save money and don’t fight the crowds if you wait until Dec. 24.
Another easy quick to purchase gift is magazine subscriptions. All you need to do is buy a current issue of the magazine and wrap that up with a note that says their subscription will start in the next month.
Make some coupons to give out to your friends and family. Giving of your time and services is a great gift to receive and an easy one to prepare and give.

5 Tips to Keep you Safe While Driving this Holiday Season

Last year we did a post on ways to keep you safe while driving this holiday season. I think it has important tips and it never hurts to be reminded. So from December 19, 2008 here are 5 Tips to keep you safe while driving this holiday season.

Holiday get-togethers and parties are what make Christmas such a fun time of year. We see friend and family we haven’t seen all year, we get to enjoy wonderful food and enjoy the beauty of the snow. But all these things can turn into tragedies when people are killed or injured in traffic accidents.

Here are 5 tips to keep you safe while driving this holiday season:

1. Don’t drive while eating, drinking or talking on your cell phone. Winter weather is hard enough without those distractions. If you need to use the cell phone, pull over to a safe spot(rest stop or wide shoulder) to use your cell phone.

2. Always wear a seat belt and make sure every passenger in your car is wearing one too. Remember the rear seat is the safest place for children of any age to sit.

3. Do not drive when you are drowsy. Take a nap before you head out or pull over to a safe rest stop (not on the highway) to take the edge off your exhaustion.

4. Be flexible with your travel plans! ??Leave early to avoid the peak traffic hours. If snow is predicted during the time you plan to travel, change your schedule. It is better to reschedule your get-together then to risk the lives of traveling family or friends.

5. Be a designated driver and Dont Drink and Drive! Offer your services as a designated driver and keep drinkers off the roads. If you are drinking, give up your keys. Even one or two glasses of wine or beer can greatly impede your driving ability, especially in bad weather.

Holiday 2009 Turkey Cooking Tips

If you are making turkey for Christmas you may have some questions about the best way to handle and cook it. Below are some tips from Whole Foods Market that can help make your holiday meal the best it can be.

Refrigerate a fresh turkey immediately.
Remove a turkey from the refrigerator about an hour before placing it in the oven.
Don’t stuff the bird! It’s best to cook the stuffing and the bird separately and stuff once both are fully cooked. his method reduces baking time as well.
A whole turkey is safe when cooked to a minimum internal temperature of 165 degrees F as measured with a food thermometer. Check the internal temperature in the innermost part of the thigh and wing and the thickest part of the breast.
Allow bird to rest (covered) for about 20 minutes after cooking. This redistributes the juices and makes for smooth carving.

Tools to have on hand:

Heavy duty roasting pan with rack to keep the turkey from resting on the bottom of your pan.
Trussing string to tie the turkey legs together.
Aluminum foil to cover turkey when cooling.
Wooden spoon & large metal spoon.
Fat separator for a leaner gravy.
Basting brush to baste turkey with melted butter, or bulb baster for basting with pan juices.
8-cup measuring cup.
Fine sieve for straining pan juices.
Wire whisk for making gravy.
Good quality carving set.
Instant-read meat thermometer.
Apron

Time Saving Tip Tuesday: Putting Newton’s Laws To Work

freeimages.co.uk photos of objects Welcome to another Time Saving Tip Tuesday! Another chance for you to enact a strategy to save you time throughout your day. Another chance to form a transforming habit that will free you up to enjoy life and not have that overwhelming feeling that there is too much to do and too little time.

This week we’re going to use a little science to help us with our time saving tip. I was never all that great at science in school, but I think that this simple law can be used as we consider how to save time throughout our day. One of Newton’s (a really smart dead guy) laws of motion was this: Objects in motion, tend to stay in motion and objects at rest, tend to stay at rest. While I’m sure Newton said it much more eloquently, the general idea is that something that is sitting still will not move unless an outside force makes it move and something in motion will not stop unless an outside force makes it stop.

What does this have to do with saving time? Everything. Because so often, we can find it difficult to get started on a project or to-do list. We are ‘at rest’ with that particular project or even ‘at rest’ completely, sleeping or sitting on the couch. While rest is necessary, resters must beware. The longer you stay at rest, the harder it will be for you to get into motion.

So this week’s time saving tip is simple: Get moving. Don’t allow the illusion that there is too much to do to keep you stationary. Find a small, simple task that is easy to do and start with that, then allow the momentum of completing that action to propel you into the rest of your day. You will find that as you continue to stay in motion, the momentum of your action will give you the energy you need to continue on with the rest of your day. Your list will seem shorter and less daunting when you make the decision to ‘begin motion’ and get started on what you have to accomplish that day.

Time Saving Tip Tuesday: Making A List, Checking It Off

stockvault_4704_20070301 Ever wish that there were more hours in a day? Maybe 28 or even 30 hours? Just enough so that those things you never have time to do you could actually get done, shorten your to-do list a little bit, ease the stress of having ‘too much to do, and too little time’?

Learning how to save time and be efficient with tasks that we must do throughout the day is an important skill to acquire. Companies and businesses invest millions in trying to get employees to work more efficiently, and families and individuals wrestle with feeling rushed and having too much to do.

If you’ve ever had any of those feelings or been in those situations (and you’re lying to yourself if you say you’ve never had those feelings) then check out HackALife every Tuesday this fall. We want to provide you with ‘Time Saving Tips’ that, if applied, will make your life more efficient and ease the stress of a ballooning ‘to-do list’.

Our first tip is a great place to start: Make A List.

Making lists serves multiple purposes:
1. A list takes the things bouncing around your head that you are trying to remember and gets them out on paper so you don’t spend brain power trying to remember them.
2. Lists help you organize the tasks from priorities to optional items that need to be done.
3. Lists help you visually see the tasks that you’ve laid out for that day.
4. Lists communicate to your family or co-workers the things you’d like to accomplish that day.
5. Lists make you feel good when you cross the items off.

So now that you know the benefits of making a list, here are some steps to make a list.

Step 1: Free write all of the things you’d like to get done during the day. (Be realistic…there is always tomorrow)
Step 2: Organize your list. Place the items from most important to least important, then structure times that you’d like to accomplish those tasks. (Remember the other things you need to do that day and structure your to-do list around them)
Step 3: Start on one thing. Your list can only be accomplished one step at a time. Getting started creates the momentum you need to feel good and get going.
Step 4: Cross items off your list. Nothing feels better than crossing those items off and visually seeing the progress you are making.
Step 5: Live the day! Make sure that you control your to-do list and your to-do list doesn’t control you. Life is more than what you can accomplish that day. Don’t forget to breathe deep and smile a few times throughout the day.

We’d love to hear about what you think about this time-saving tip and others you might share with us! Join the conversation and leave a comment below.