I was handling a customer support request today and it read something like this: I changed a setting and now I get an error. What's wrong? My knee-jerk reaction was to think, "Well, then what was the error?!?" You see, I'm a problem solver. I love to dismantle things and figure out why something isn't working properly. To me, the first step toward the solution is to figure out what the problem is.

With insight into why people don’t read manuals and why features sell products: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001048.html Also: http://www.jnd.org/dn.mss/simplicity_is_highly.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000062.html From the Norman essay: Logic and reason, I have to keep explaining, are wonderful virtues, but they are irrelevant in describing human behavior. Trying to prove a point through intelligent, reasonable argumentation is what I call the “engineer’s fallacy.” (Also, the “economist’s fallacy.”) We have to design for the way people really behave, not as engineers or economists would prefer them to behave.

For while now I’ve wanted to put a computer in the kitchen. Here begins the process of actually realizing that goal. Why would I want a PC in the kitchen? Here are a few reasons why such a computer would be convenient: Recipes: Use the Internet to find new recipes and manage favorites digitally. Videos: Watch cooking podcasts and follow along where there's plenty of counter space. Internet: Check email, do a quick search on Google, or log into IM.

As promised earlier, here are the goals I have set before myself to complete by the end of 2008: Run 500 miles - Yup, that’s right. I plan on running five hundred miles this year. I’ve often called myself a running rhinocerous in comparison to my gazelle of a wife, but my last run (a half marathon in San Jose) helped me to finally get over the “less than totally enjoyable” experience I had during my first marathon and consider long distance running a sport I can do.

Now that I’ve started organizing myself into discrete lists of projects and contexts, I feel the weight of remembering all those tasks lifting from my mind. But even as I began this endeavor, I quickly ran into the problem of motivation. I had planned on a longer entry about this, but today I found another blog post that echoed my thoughts exactly. Basically: The best way to get things done is to do them.

One of my resolutions for the new year (I’ll list them all later), is to get organized. I know that “get organized” is a wonderfully vague goal, but for me it just means that I want to do the following three things: Forget fewer tasks Spend less time thinking about what I have to do and more time doing it Always have something to look for when I'm at the bookstore/library or the movie theater/rental shop.

From this post on the venerable Joel on Software: Go to walkscore.com, and type in your address. What you’ll get is a score with detailed locations of common destinations within walking distance. My work got a 66. Where I went to college got a 72. And my current residence gets a 75. Walkability is one of the things that influenced us when we bought our home and why we like living in this area so much.