PJ Trader

As a writer who has a day job, I’m often looking for ways to make my life easier.  Particularly in being able to use lunch hours and breaks to squeeze in a little work on the ol’ ms, or at least be able to jot down those “ah-ha” moments when they pass through the brain cells.  Sticky note tend to get lost and I do wash my hands in the bathroom, so inking a note on my palm isn’t a good method.

I’m also not a fan of lugging my laptop around, just so I can haul it out for twenty minutes of writing while noshing my PB&J.  (Besides, strawberry jelly makes the keys stick.)  A USB thumb drive is a partial solution, but if there’s a choice between digging in my bag for the thumb drive, popping it in the computer, and firing it up to add a note, I’ll probably opt for the note on the palm method.

Many mobile professionals are trying to “work in the cloud”, which is the concept of using web applications and/or storage to manage their work.  Given that we generally have good internet access in my part of the world, this idea appeals to me.  Web apps such as Zoho for example, are free web software designed to do everything from word processing to spreadsheets to complicated databases and more.  I was quickly becoming enamored with their web word processor which can be used offline (after installing a Google Gears component).  When you reestablish web access, you can sync the two files back up.

Google Docs was a long-time favorite of mine.  Offline editing access is being rolled out in the next few weeks as they meet Zoho’s challenge. 

Both of those solutions are ideal for a writer to store manuscripts in a secure, online environment.  I’ve had one too many thumb drives fail to completely trust a hardware solution for backing up important documents.  In the cloud of the world wide web, at least you’ll be able to retrieve your documents if your house burns down with everything in it.

The problem with both of those solutions is, however, that I can’t reach them from the current office I perform the day job at due to firewall restraints.  I can’t fault the restriction, even though I chafe at it.

So recently I signed up with Microsoft Office Live workspace, which is not quite the same, yet does the necessary functions quite well.  With Office Live, I store documents in my online storage space.  I can then read a view-only version of the document and share it with whomever I like, but if I want to edit it (and share the editing function with someone else), then the document opens using the computer’s already installed Word software.   When I save the document, it saves it right back to the Office Live workspace location.  If I should lose connectivity, at worst all I have to do is save the document to my local computer.

I like their user interface and the ease of use.  I can make quick notes directly in the workspace by adding a document called (duh) Note and entered some information.  There are also templates to make contact lists, task listsand other useful tools, including entire templates of workspaces for the home, event management and more.

The enjoyment comes in that I can sit down at any one of my computers at home or work and pull up a document out of my Office Live workspace and work on it, knowing that I can safely store it back in the cloud when I’m done.

And, OK, so I won some free software for signing up for an account.  But that doesn’t make using the site any less enjoyable.

A question arose in a writing loop I’m in about character flaw.  One person asked “Don’t we learn from our mistakes?  So why would a character continue to do the same thing over and over again?”

The answer in writing, of course, is that our characters must be propelled to change in order to gain the goal of the story, or else tragedy strikes.  In the romance genre, our heroine must trust the hero will return for her, despite her abandonment issues from when her father walked out when she was four.

In real life, it’s not so simple.  We all know women who continually chose men who are bad for them, even when Prince Charming is standing right there.  Or a cousin who always has to have the last word about everything.

This lesson was very eloquently demonstrated Sunday morning by the return of Robin.  Robin, you see, is an American red-breasted robin who I like to think was hatched in a nest outside our living room window. 

But I’m afraid Robin may have ended up with the short end of the worm one too many times.  Sunday morning the dogs and I were doing our usual sleep-in on the living room couch (don’t bother to ask why we weren’t in bed).  About 7:30 I heard this banging noise.  Dawson jumped off the sofa and ran to the window where he barked several times. 

The banging continued.  Finally, I got up to see what was the matter.

As I watched, Robin would hop onto a branch of the bush, then leap towards the window, bounce off, and land in the bush again.  He’d hop down to the branch he started on again, leap, bounce, and land.

Robin did this about 45 times that first round.  He came back about 8:45 for a second try, bouncing off the window another 20 or thirty times.

I heard him again yesterday morning  and again today before I left for work.  Bob has also reported Robin’s bouncing off the window several times.

Now, I’m not exactly sure what Robin is trying to accomplish.  Does he see something inside the living room he wants?  Does he mistake the window panes for a branch to perch upon?  Does he see a mate in his own reflection?

I’m not sure, but I do know the stupid bird hasn’t learned from his mistakes yet.

What about you?  What character flaws do you find fascinating?

I went to the gym today before this happened to me.  It was a close call.  Since I’m not a fan of exercise, I find it a challenge to keep myself on the treadmill, elliptical, or bike for my allocated cardio time.  For that, I’m eternally grateful to the boys and girls at Apple for the indispensible iPod (with video, of course). Without it, I couldn’t stay entertained by great music, riveting audiobooks, or even TV shows and music. 

Today, as I was jamming to the tunes on my iPod at the gym, I played “treadmill-American Idol”.  For those of you who’ve never played that, it’s singing along with your favorite tunes ala the popular TV show.  Like, how would you sing the song to “make it your own” while “keeping it real, dawg.”  I had my 80’s playlist going, so I was rocking to:

• Don’t Worry, Be Happy
• Footloose
• Wild Women Do
• Rosanna
• Total Eclipse of the Heart
• Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go (my version was aces better than Michael’s)
• Talking In Your Sleep
• Take Me Home Tonight
• Call Me
• Queen of Hearts
• Simply Irresistabl
• Real Wild Child

The biggest problem with treadmill-American Idol is that you really can’t belt the songs out, at least when you’re at the gym.  I tried this once a few months ago, and the other treadmillers kind of look annoyed.  In fact, I swear I lip-read one of them saying I was a little pitchy.   

Another problem is that if you’re going to sing to your audience, you really have to get into it.  I’m pretty sure the guy over on the elliptical didn’t realize I was “performing” and not trying to communicate with obscene sign language.  So I had to tone it down a bit.

But seriously, I’m thinking maybe American Idol Season 102 when they’re trying to figure out a genre to assign the final six, maybe I can get the producers to get those contestants on a treadmill, crank it up to about 4 miles an hour and see how well they perform to their fellow gym rats.

Or maybe not. 

I’m lazy.  So I like to multi-task whenever possible.  But two things I’ve never been good at combining with other activities is reading books and doing that other thing I’m supposed to do.  What is it?  Oh yeah, writing The Great American Romance Novel.

Like 98% or so of women, I want to lose weight and be healthier.  For me, I know it’s mostly exercise that I need to work on adding into my day.  I sit in front of a computer all day, then come home and sit in front of one all night too.  Makes for a fat butt and not much else.

So, cruising one of favorite tech blogs this morning, I was reminded about some people who combine computer work with being on a treadmill.  I read about this idea years and years ago, but didn’t know how far it had gotten.  Apparently far enough that you can buy desks that incorporate treadmills into them for $4000 or so.  But many have cobbled their own together.  Go check out these links:

http://jkontherun.blogs.com/jkontherun/2008/03/add-a-desk-to-y.html

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/TurningPoints/story?id=3771802&page=1

You knew I had to try this, didn’t you?

A stop at my local computer store netted me a wireless keyboard and mouse to hook up to the computer.  $40

Then off to the local home improvement store for a pre-finished bit of shelving (9″x36″) to lay over the handlebars of the treadmill.  $6

And this is what I got  —>

Now, the blogs are aflutter whether walking on a treadmill while working really is useful in burning calories and overall weight loss.  One camp eschews the notion, saying it’s better to go out and work at a higher cardio pace for a longer time.  The believers simply point out that a slow walk for several hours is better than sitting on your butt. 

I happen to trust the math of it.  One calorie calculator I found online says one hour of writing (for my weight) burns 100 calories, and walking at 2mph for the same 60 minutes burns about 264 calories.  (2 mph IS slow, I know, but all the blogs and recommendations say that the average speed you can comfortably maintain and still use the computer is between 1 and 2 mph.)  I happen to be blogging right now at 1.8mph according to my treadmill. 

So do the math with me.  100 vs. 264.  It seems like a no brainer to me.  While not a substitute for good cardiovascular exercise, I have to think that (a) it’s better than nothing and (b) every calorie burned helps.

I wonder if we can add the writing calories in on top of the walking?  Nah, probably not.

Anyone willing to jump on their treadmill and join me?