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Sometimes I have days where I feel like the Tasmanian Devil. No, not the real thing (they're kinda funny looking), but the one from Looney Tunes. You know, the one that spun around in circles really fast and went BLAUGH BLAUGH PUUUUZH!
I think this feeling results from my lack of organization. I have a dual attitude about things like messes: on the one hand, "bless this mess," and on the other hand, "BLAUGH BLAUGH PUUUZH!"
I remembered way back (in the "good ol' days"?) that I used MS Access to help with some of my organizational woes, namely organizing my fanfics. That was back when I used a PC. Needless to say, not going back and doing that again-- ever. Really, the only reason I even use Windows these days are for my old favorite games. I don't think I'd ever intentionally buy something meant for Windows if it was productivity-based.
That said, MS Access doesn't exist for the Mac-- at least not for Office 2008. So I looked into other "database programs," and stumbled across Bentō, from the makers of FileMaker Pro (aka a humonguously bloated, super-expensive program that only really rich individuals or hapless businesses might use). I haven't actually fiddled with it yet, but I've watched the tutorials and tours and the one profile that might relate to me (Gabrielle, the student). Of the templates they have included in the program, a few look like they might relate to fanficcing... which is frankly just ONE aspect of my digital disorganization.
Basically, I'm trying to figure out all the components of my digital disorganization.
* School notes (some professors don't like it when you use a laptop to take notes though, so there's no guarantee that, even when I do restart at CSUN in the Spring semester, that I'll be doing this. I want to, though, because I think it's a lot easier to find notes and related class things when they're digital. But the question is, do I let a program organize the files, or do I organize them the way I want? Once upon a time, I HAD to organize everything myself, because Windows never had any sort of intuitive system for organizing things on the fly. As a result, I organized things like pictures and music how I wanted, and I always knew where things were. But now, with so many files, many of them able to be used in numerous ways, my old organization doesn't help much. I need more meta-data. And I have ideas for using things like my school notes in multiple ways, e.g. RSS feeds on a website, keeping track of my "learnings," and maybe helping out classmates. How to keep it all in an easy-to-find place?!)
* Fanfics (For me, fanfics aren't JUST fanfics, e.g. text files or *.html files. They're also planner files, images --what I call "ficart" or sometimes simply things like banners-- and websites. Plus, fanfics themselves have multiple ways of being organized, and the hard part is remembering them all: fandom, pairing, genre(s), number of chapters... am I forgetting anything?)
* Websites (The mother of all monsters on my hard drives. I have a favorited folder I call "Sites" which has everything I ever intend to upload anywhere on it. I thought doing it this way --regardless of where I was uploading it: to .Mac, CSUN, or my own domain-- would keep me organized, but instead I'm left floundering-- files that I want to publish may not always be in website folders, like school/class notes, CSUN clubs/orgs, or images I want to use in layouts. When I want to design a new layout, I have folders upon folders of downloaded templates, but they're more or less organized by NAME, so unless I have Finder set to view Thumbnails, that doesn't really give me a good idea of what the final LAYOUT looks like. Plus, I don't think I have a single "completed" website; it'd be nice to have a "to-do" list for each website so I know what I have left to add and how to go about doing it.)
So, any ideas? Do any other Mac users on this FL use Bentō, and if so, how? And if not, do you use anything for organization? What? (And is it cheap or free?)
I think this feeling results from my lack of organization. I have a dual attitude about things like messes: on the one hand, "bless this mess," and on the other hand, "BLAUGH BLAUGH PUUUZH!"
I remembered way back (in the "good ol' days"?) that I used MS Access to help with some of my organizational woes, namely organizing my fanfics. That was back when I used a PC. Needless to say, not going back and doing that again-- ever. Really, the only reason I even use Windows these days are for my old favorite games. I don't think I'd ever intentionally buy something meant for Windows if it was productivity-based.
That said, MS Access doesn't exist for the Mac-- at least not for Office 2008. So I looked into other "database programs," and stumbled across Bentō, from the makers of FileMaker Pro (aka a humonguously bloated, super-expensive program that only really rich individuals or hapless businesses might use). I haven't actually fiddled with it yet, but I've watched the tutorials and tours and the one profile that might relate to me (Gabrielle, the student). Of the templates they have included in the program, a few look like they might relate to fanficcing... which is frankly just ONE aspect of my digital disorganization.
Basically, I'm trying to figure out all the components of my digital disorganization.
* School notes (some professors don't like it when you use a laptop to take notes though, so there's no guarantee that, even when I do restart at CSUN in the Spring semester, that I'll be doing this. I want to, though, because I think it's a lot easier to find notes and related class things when they're digital. But the question is, do I let a program organize the files, or do I organize them the way I want? Once upon a time, I HAD to organize everything myself, because Windows never had any sort of intuitive system for organizing things on the fly. As a result, I organized things like pictures and music how I wanted, and I always knew where things were. But now, with so many files, many of them able to be used in numerous ways, my old organization doesn't help much. I need more meta-data. And I have ideas for using things like my school notes in multiple ways, e.g. RSS feeds on a website, keeping track of my "learnings," and maybe helping out classmates. How to keep it all in an easy-to-find place?!)
* Fanfics (For me, fanfics aren't JUST fanfics, e.g. text files or *.html files. They're also planner files, images --what I call "ficart" or sometimes simply things like banners-- and websites. Plus, fanfics themselves have multiple ways of being organized, and the hard part is remembering them all: fandom, pairing, genre(s), number of chapters... am I forgetting anything?)
* Websites (The mother of all monsters on my hard drives. I have a favorited folder I call "Sites" which has everything I ever intend to upload anywhere on it. I thought doing it this way --regardless of where I was uploading it: to .Mac, CSUN, or my own domain-- would keep me organized, but instead I'm left floundering-- files that I want to publish may not always be in website folders, like school/class notes, CSUN clubs/orgs, or images I want to use in layouts. When I want to design a new layout, I have folders upon folders of downloaded templates, but they're more or less organized by NAME, so unless I have Finder set to view Thumbnails, that doesn't really give me a good idea of what the final LAYOUT looks like. Plus, I don't think I have a single "completed" website; it'd be nice to have a "to-do" list for each website so I know what I have left to add and how to go about doing it.)
So, any ideas? Do any other Mac users on this FL use Bentō, and if so, how? And if not, do you use anything for organization? What? (And is it cheap or free?)
