Keeping Tabs

Disclaimer: this is not a sponsored post for Google. However, I do use a shit ton (official measurement) of Google products because they work for me! Please use at your own discretion and I will not be held liable for any issues you may have in the present or future due to reading this post. Also Google, if you are reading, I would not mind if you sent me free stuff. Thanks. 

I have a confession to make. I am a hoarder. A Google Chrome tab hoarder. I have a set of ten tabs that I open on startup (or keep open if I am just putting my laptop to sleep) that I always keep open. Due to this, if I am researching something, I can often have twenty tabs open, since I have my normal ten plus whatever ones I am opening along the way. Right now I have these ten plus two others that I am using to look stuff up as I write this post. 

I can feel my work buddy (G-Money the Kiwi) and my hiking buddy (Bugsy) both rolling their eyes at me as they are both inbox zero types of guys. Get this, G-Money even deletes his text messages once he reads them. Yes, deletes the entire string! So sometimes I will send him something and he will ask about it later and I will tell him that he should already have it and he will say that he already deleted the string. Sigh. However, I probably go way too far the other way, and have never deleted a string since the day the dinosaurs walked the earth, or at least as long as we have been able to port texts over to a new phone when we switch (again, thanks to Google!) Also, in my defense, I am a super sleuth at finding the info I need within these old texts, so it is not all in vain! 

As a side note, if you don't already do this, you can set up your Chrome to always open the same tabs upon startup. It can done by opening the tabs that you want to have be your defaults --> going to settings --> on startup --> open a specific page or set of pages --> use current pages. Or you can manually add addresses by clicking --> add a new page. 

I am also a bookmark hoarder. I am guilty of having way too many bookmarks saved that I probably will never return to. I think I feel like I will want them later and then something new comes along (squirrel!!) and I use that information instead. However, I have found that the Chrome Reading List really helps me to cut down on this, as you can put it on the list and then once you read it, mark it as read and then you can dismiss it. 

In my defense though, I do sometimes dislike the attitude that instead of saving things in an organized way, we can just look them up again, essentially doing the same steps over and over that we have already done (definition of insanity?), which can sometimes be a waste of time. Again, I do feel like I have organized them so I can find them easily; however, in some cases it may just be faster to look them up a second time. Also, I do have a favorite pizza dough recipe that I have made dozens of times, so some things are worth saving. 

Side note: you can find the reading list under --> more (three dots) --> bookmarks and lists --> reading list. If you then click reading list, it will open a side tab, where you can click --> add current tab (#3) to add the tab you want. Alternatively, and I would suggest this, you can click --> the pin button (#1), which will pin the shortcut to your browser (#2), and then you can close the side tab and only open it using the shortcut when you want to add a tab. 

I feel like this is similar to the "one touch" principal of decluttering; rather than moving something to a new place and then going through it again at some point in the future, we are supposed to decide right away and just put the thing where it needs to be (the trash, goodwill etc.) So with my bookmarks, should I take notes? Take the info that I need from them and then close the tab? I probably should, as my return rate is probably below 50%. However, it only takes a click to save it, so what do I have to lose? I guess there is a point of intersection where brain power and efficiency are optimal, and then you can go way too far over to one end or the other otherwise. 

Since this is a Google oriented post, I will also say that of my ten saved tabs, eight of them are Google related. You want to know what they are, you say? Okay here we go! 

Feedly: Blog reader (non-Google). Fun fact: Feedly actually used to be part of Google Reader. Does anyone remember that? 

Gmail x 2: Need I say more? Actually, a side note: when I got my first Gmail address, you had to request an invitation! Does anyone remember that? 

Google Calendar: This I use for calendar, tasks and contacts (which can also be accessed on the Gmail tab). 

Google Maps: I use this every day, multiple times per day. This is also probably one of the top ten apps I use on my phone. 

Google Messenger: This is the texting app on my phone, which can also be used from my computer. I find if I am sitting at the computer anyway, it is much easier to answer texts with a keyboard. 

Google Keep: Notes, lists, ideas, thoughts... Also used multiple times a day and often on my phone when I am in the middle of something and have a thought. This can also be shared with other people when planning a shopping or a camping trip etc. 

Blogger: Blog creator. This is probably the least used tab, as I only post once a week, so I may use it twice a week(*obviously not at the moment). However, it is nice to have it at hand for when I get ideas and often I will just start a draft with some notes and then come back to it later. 

YouTube: I use this a lot for research. In fact, I almost never use it for entertainment, unless you call watching travel destination videos entertainment, which I guess you could. However, I am mostly doing it to find out the answer to something. 

ChatGPT: This is a new addition, and my second non-Google tab. I don't use this very often (despite all of my posts about this recently). I do also sometimes use Gemini (which is a Google AI platform) to create images (like the Canadian Thanksgiving Beaver or the cat at the top of this post). 

A runner up and one I don't have pinned is Google Photos, which I not only use to look at photos, but sometimes to remember certain trips or times. Often when I am doing a travel recap, I will go back and look at my photos and/or GPX (map) files to remember dates, names, places etc. Also, if you have your location enabled, you can see all of the photos you have taken on a map, which can be quite handy. Wow, making this list really makes me see how much of the Google Kool-Aid I have drunk! Bottoms up! 

Are you a Google user? Do you keep any tabs open all of the time? What method do you use for bookmarking or saving things to read or use later? 

If you haven't already, you can fill out this form with any questions you want answered for my upcoming ask me anything post!!

This post is part of NaBloPoMo. You can find the rest of my posts for this challenge here. You can find the list of participants and their information here. 

How To: Plan Your Vacation With AI

I recently fiddled around with AI a little to see what it could offer in the way of vacation planning. It is not all encompassing but it can definitely be a good place to start! Here I will walk you through what I did to create an example of an itinerary for a trip to Germany in December. I used ChatGPT, which can be found here. To get information you just type what you want into the chat box; you can also paste information in the box and ask it to summarize, analyze or expand on the information. 

First, I asked it to create a seven day itinerary in Germany in December that could be done without renting a car, all within 150 miles of Frankfurt, and it should be fun for kids aged 10 to 15, with interests such as WWII history, castles, medieval cities and traditional German food. I did this and it spit out a good itinerary, but then after reviewing it, some of the places were a bit out of the way, like one day was 150 miles to the west of Frankfurt and the other was 150 miles to the east, which seemed like too much time spent on transportation and not enough spent in the cities themselves. 

Additionally, some cities on the list had lots of large government buildings, which seemed less important to me than WWII history or castles. I decided I wanted less government buildings and maybe a live sporting event, which would be fun for the kids, so I told it to edit those parts and it did. It even told me that if I want to go to a live hockey game, I may want to get tickets early, as they sell out fast. Here is an example of one day on the itinerary: 

For this example specifically, I asked it to provide some restaurants with vegetarian options in old town and it came up with seven of them. Here is an example: 

I then asked it use the finalized itinerary and do the following: Please use the last itinerary to provide a cost estimate for four people, using the train or bus and staying in low/mid range hotels. It broke it down by category and summarized it here: 

Obviously this may not be exact, and I have not fact checked it yet, and we would probably not eat out every meal or need two hotel rooms, but this is a pretty good start! I then decided that with four people, the transportation by train and bus seemed a little high, so I asked it to recalculate using car rental and parking in the estimate instead. Here is what it came up with: 

It also reminded me of the following: 

Additional Tips for Car Travel

Insurance: Ensure you have adequate car rental insurance coverage. Check if your personal car insurance or credit card offers coverage to potentially save on additional rental insurance costs.

Navigation: Use a reliable GPS or smartphone navigation app to help navigate unfamiliar areas and find parking locations.

Parking Apps: Consider downloading parking apps specific to German cities to find and pay for parking more conveniently.

Autobahn Rules: Familiarize yourself with German driving laws, including Autobahn regulations, speed limits in certain areas, and winter driving conditions.

Isn't this cool? As you can see, you can really drill down if you want to. I don't know if we will use all of the suggestions, but will likely use a couple of them, so it is a lot easier than having to do all of the research myself! Please let me know if you would like more info on what the full suggested itinerary looks like! In addition, let me stress that my favorite way to find good travel suggestions is from real people! So, I will ask all of you: if you have ever been to Germany, do YOU have any suggestions of places to visit within 150 miles of Frankfurt? 

Have you ever used AI to plan a vacation? Have you ever used AI for anything else? If so, what was it and how did it go? 

Email 101

I normally work in an office. We have fancy email addresses with the company name dot com and we spend a lot of time sending emails back and forth to clients. So it never ceases to amaze me how badly people behave over email. 

I was looking for a house a while ago. I sent an email to a prospective landlord (via Craigslist) asking when a good time to see it would be. Here was her response (I italicized it for clarity): 

thanks for the response--i will be showing it next tues (but  remember, it is occupied)-- the dates sound good-- may be best to call me, _____, for a phone interview first-- weekend is good for this  ###-###-####   (or earlier of necessary)--- hope to hear from you

This one was even better (and I have not changed any of the punctuation or wording): 

sorry only for one person.

That is all she (he?) said. Maybe this sounds silly, but I don't really want to rent from someone who can't even treat me as a client. Is this how they write emails all the time? If they are looking for a job, do they write their cover letter like this? Then I thought, maybe I am just being picky and anal about things; I do have a tendency to do that from time to time. So I went (where else) online to find out: What are the proper rules for emailing, especially when it's a business or "professional" email?

I found a great website. It's called 101 Email Etiquette Tips. It is a series of 101 tips, pertaining to sending and formatting emails, email attachments, cc'ing, forwarding, IMs, Business emails, blogs and message boards. Some of them were a little silly, some of them seem self-explanatory, but a lot of them were pretty spot on! 

Here are some of my favorites (I added a couple of comments in blue): 

- Make sure your e-mail includes a courteous greeting and closing. Helps to make your e-mail not seem demanding or terse.

- Spell check - emails with typos are simply not taken as seriously.

- Are you using proper sentence structure? First word capitalized with appropriate punctuation? Multiple instances of !!! or ??? are perceived as rude or condescending. **see lady above

- Refrain from using the Reply to All feature to give your opinion to those who may not be interested. In most cases replying to the Sender alone is your best course of action.

- Type in complete sentences. To type random phrases or cryptic thoughts does not lend to clear communication. **also see lady above

- Always end your emails with "Thank you," "Sincerely," "Take it easy," "Best regards" - something!

- Do not type in all caps. That's yelling or reflects shouting emphasis.

- Typing your emails in all small case gives the perception of lack of education or laziness. **OH! What? See lady above!

- When forwarding email, if you cannot take the time to type a personal comment to the person you are forwarding to--then don't bother.

- If you must forward to more than one person, put your email address in the TO: field and all the others you are sending to in the BCc: field to protect their email address from being published to those they do not know. This is a serious privacy issue! **Do you know how many of my friend's friend's email address I needlessly have due to this issue? So many!

- Be very careful how you use Reply to All and Cc: in a business environment. Doing so for CYA or to subtlety tattle can backfire and have your viewed as petty or insecure. **Annoyingly, the CYA (aka. tattle) happens a lot in my office.

- IMing is not an excuse to forget your grade school education. 

- Don't fall for trolls. Trolls are folks who will post rude comments just to get a rise out of everyone.**Did you guys see THIS post? If you get a chance, read it and then check out the subsequent comments!

- If any email states to forward to all your friends, or just 5 people -- do everyone a favor and just hit delete!

Here is the PDF of all 101 Tips.

What is your biggest email pet peeve? What is the worst case of punctuation or grammar you have ever experienced? You don't have to say who it was sent from, but were they supposedly an intelligent business person?

The World. The Wide. The Web.

I was flying out of Missouri the other day, looking out the airplane window at the flat, tree filled expanse below, and I thought, “Before I came here I never really knew much about Missouri.” Before I came to Missouri, I didn’t realize it would have huge limestone bluffs. I did not know that in the fall, the colors would be so beautiful. I did not understand that there were (smallish) mountains here. I did not realize that they grow almost as much corn and soybeans as Iowa. I was unaware that there are hiking trails and running trails and wineries. Wineries! I did not know any of that.

But you know that. Because I have posted photos and wrote things about many of these things. If I didn’t post anything, someone has. Somewhere on the internet you may have seen something about one or all of the above things.

The internet has been good in this aspect. It has broadened our horizons. It has made us realize what is out there, in the great big world. It has made what once was unknown more accessible. For this, I love the internet. I may have never known that I wanted to travel to Bhutan without the internet. I would not keep in touch with and go visit some of my friends who I have met while traveling. I would not know that there was such a thing as diving with great white sharks, hiking in the fjords of New Zealand, or eating rotten whale meat in Iceland.

I read a lot, so some of these things I may have found out through books, but I think the internet has opened us up to so much. I don’t have to buy a whole book about The World’s Largest Animals. I can just Google it and see what the top 5 are. I don’t need to buy a Glamor magazine full of ads when I can see in a glance what the latest fashions are.

However, sometimes I also think that the Internet has caused us to learn less. Why bother learning the capitols of the 50 states when you can just Wikipedia it? Why bother calling your Mom to ask her who starred in Kiss Me Kate, when you can IMDB it? How many riveting discussions have been cut short by a quick look at Google?

I still have mixed feelings about the internet. Sometimes I think that you don’t really need to know everything off hand and having Google can be a blessing. On the other hand, are we too reliant on the internet, so we are not bothering to remember anything anymore? Which of these things are important to learn yourself and which ones are okay to Google and forget?

Do you think that the internet has had a more positive or negative impact on society (or you personally)? In which way has the Internet helped you in your life? In which way has it made things worse?

Message Received

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Communicating is sometimes hard for me. I don't always like to talk on the phone; I am not very good at expressing myself vocally; I prefer to write things in a letter or a journal or on a post it note. When I was young, my mother used to yell at me and I would just glare at her wordlessly. I am not good with words. If there is a "wrong thing" to say, I may accidentally say it. I take that back, I will probably say it. So I sometimes keep quiet instead.

When I went to college, I received my very first email address from CSU, Sacramento. I had no idea what to do with it. The only people I knew with email addresses were the other students in my classes, and I could just talk to them. Why would I go all the way to the computer lab to email someone that lived right next door to me in the dorms? However, I did go over there to sometimes play solitaire on the computer between classes. Other than that, I didn’t see what all the fuss was about, maybe because there was no fuss.

The first time I went abroad, I lived and worked in France for three months. Every couple of weeks, I would buy a phone card and go and stand on the street at a pay phone and call my parents to let them know that I was okay, where I had been and what I was doing. I sent post cards and letters and beer labels home to my friends. I wrote in my journal and kept a box of scrapbook worthy items (mostly beer labels). There were internet cafes, but they were mostly full of people smoking and drinking coffee in front of empty computer stations. I did have an email address, but I still did not know a lot of people who had emails themselves, nor was using email as a means of communication yet a habit.

I am learning to communicate. I am still not very good at doing it vocally. However, through the means of email, I have learned to ask questions and to ask for help; I have asked people out on lunch dates that I may not have asked before; I have learned things about people that I would not have asked them about. I have made friends that I probably would not have made if I had to pick up the phone and talk to them, not only around the world, but even on a smaller scale such as around the office at work.

Both the internet and I have come very far since the 90s. I did not have that first email address until I was 18. I didn’t really use it until I was 22. And then that was ALL I used the internet for. I didn’t even own my own computer until I was 26. I didn’t need it! I went to the computer lab to study and to write papers and to do research on the internet. Now I use it to find knowledge and different worlds and great people.

The communication lines are now open.

I always wonder if I would be different if I had been a child in a world full of Internet. Would I know more or less? Would I be more outgoing or less? Would I still hand-write Thank You cards or not?

This post is part of the Write on Edge RemembeRED prompt. Today's assignment was:

Many of us remember life before the internet. We wrote letters instead of emails, used encyclopedias instead of Google, and went to parties that weren’t of the Twitter variety. For this week’s prompt, we want you to recall those early memories of being online. Tell us how it impacted your life and what it meant for you. Write about your experience in 600 words or less.



Now tell me -- do YOU remember the days before the internet? When did you get your first email address? When did you actually start to use the internet regularly?

Random Blog Notes

{1}

The travel blog I contribute to, Women Rockin' The Road, was Featured on For The Love of Blogs! 

Go check it out! 

Click HERE to go to FTLOB.

Click HERE to go to WRTR!

{2}

Kate, at Twenty-Six To Life suggested taking a photography class together, then maybe posting on our blogs once a week. You can click HERE to go to the FREE 12 week photography class! Click on week one, download the PDF and off we go! 

Who wants to join in!?

{3}

I buy races like I buy shoes. For a long time I hold out. I don't "need" anything. I am "trying to save money". And then...BOOM! All at the same time, I get three of them. 

So, I signed up for: 

A Half Marathon -- Sept 18

A 10 Mile Race -- Sept 25

A Half Marathon -- Oct 23 

and I am considering...

A 20 Mile Run -- Dec 4

I am hoarding races now. (my precious!)

However, ALL of them are giving me a chance to see new friends and old! 

I can't wait. 

{4}

I am giving away not one but TWO books! Come on over and enter! 

Ends September 7th. 

{5}

I love this:

You can find more of them HERE.

{6}

Labor Day weekend, the end of summer, the last chance to wear white. 

How did it get here so fast?

Do you have any fun plans this weekend?

{7}

One of my best IRL friends just moved to Kansas City, which is about 5 hours from me. I am excited! We are trying to make plans to meet up somewhere in the next couple of months. It's amazing how hard it is to find a free weekend between the two of us! And strange how sometimes when you are closer together, you actually see each other less?!

{8}

I just finished the The Guernsey Literary Potato Pie Peel Society .  Whoa. That's a mouthful! That makes 41 books for this year. You can go to my Bookshelf to see how I am doing in the Bookmark Break Challenge and what other books I've read so far!

How is your week going?

Randoms: An Internet List

{1}

I have 161 subscriptions on my Reader. Don't worry. I am not Superman. I don't read any all of them. 59 of them are in a "favorites" folder, which I check most days. The other 102 I periodically check. My Reader has never been empty. It used to bother me because I am OCD and I like things sorted. Now, I don't really care. I will never be able to read them all. AND THAT'S OKAY. (repeating over and over)

{2}

Can someone please tell me what a favicon is? Am I the last to know again? Do I need to have one? Is it cool? Do all the other kids have one?

{3}

Here are a random few posts of note from the past week:

Decoybetty makes Gluten Free Lemon Cupcakes

My3LittleBirds talks about Accepting People as the Are

A Writing Prompt that I Love: My Most Memorable Vacation Was.... (you can link up until August 13th)

Peas and Crayons makes Pizza Rolls (with won-ton wrappers)

Gracie gave us a heads up on a New Malbec

Kate made an awesome DIY project that I am going to copy once I have a wall.

Lisa talks about how being alone is not the same as being lonely. I agree! Rock it!

{4}

You know about Groupon already, right? Just in case you don't, you need to get on it. It's a site where different businesses post a deal and if enough people buy into the deal, the deal is yours! Even if your city is not featured, there are internet deals. For example, I got this 30 dollar photo book for 10 dollars. Score! A great place to store all my photos from my last trip! 

How do you sort your Reader? How many subscriptions do you have? 

Do you have a blog post to recommend (even your own?) Post it in the comments!

Do you have any Internet sites or tips you want to share? 

This post is linked up with Monday Moos at:

I'm Not An Addict, Baby

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I have only been on the internet ONCE in the past 10 days. I know. Crazy, right.

Why is this crazy? What happened to normal life? WHY do I have to check my email every day?

Because it's become a habit, that's why. I mean, I don't need to check it and half the time, nobody, except Walgreens and LinkedIn, have emailed me anyway. So I waste my time getting online to see that Yay, there's a sale on Prell at Walgreens. What a waste.

I also subscribe to a lot of blogs on Google Reader. If you do too, you KNOW how hard it is to ignore! You would rather knock down your Reader total from 798 to 100 (yay, what an accomplishment! and I didn't even have to leave the house!) then....Mow the lawn, pay bills, hang out with that girl from work who keeps asking you to go for drinks, study....you know what I mean. The list goes on and on. Why am I not outside?

And then there is blogging. Why DO SOMETHING when you can blog about it? Or maybe it's "Why do anything UNLESS you can blog about it? I bring my camera everywhere and I document Every.Last.Thing so I can post pictures later to the internet. In fact, right now, what am I doing? I am blogging. When I should be completing the 189 things on my "To Do" List (100 of them which I can probably do on the internet).

So, I would rather live my life. A hike: yes. A drink with friends: sometimes. A book: often. I am an advocate of going outside. I am a firm believer in children NOT watching TV when they can go ride their bikes, run around, play dress up or build a fort. However, as an adult, I am a hypocrite.

So this week, I am going outside. I am going hiking. I will read more. I will spend more time playing board games with my boyfriend instead of ignoring him while I interact with people I've never met. So if I am not around, I am sorry. I am outside in the sunshine, enjoying the environment, soaking it all in.

I will be back in a couple of weeks (addictive personality! cough!) to read all of your blogs and make sure I don't go over 1000 posts in my Reader (obsessed! cough!). Also, for those of you who are visiting from FTLOB, I will eventually go and check out every one of your blogs. Please be patient. It may not happen for a little while.

Does anyone else get this - this angst to get away from the internet, yet the desire to go back to it? How much time do YOU spend on the computer a day? (ps. when I am at work, I am on the computer probably 12+ hours a day. Now, it's more like one[+] hour[s] a day)

Post title credit: Fiona Apple

This post is part of the A-Z Blogfest I am (kind of) participating in. I is for I'm! You can find others of this ilk HERE.