MikeHickerson.com

The next couple of OneManOffice posts are going to describe products from a great company, 37signals.  If you want to know more about their philosophy for building simple, useful, elegant web-based applications, check out their book, Getting Real. 

Backpack is an online organizational tool, a place to keep your notes, lists, ideas, events, photos, files — basically, any bits of information that you would want to keep track of.  You can create separate pages based on whatever categories you feel are useful, and then fill those pages with your notes, lists, photos, etc. (Full disclosure: If you sign up using the link I provided, I’ll get discounts to my own Backpack account.) 

Here are some pictures that might help make more sense. 

Backpack is based around pages.  You create these pages based on whatever categories you want.  They are listed in a sidebar, generally in alphabetical order, but you can “cheat” on that order by adding numbers or blank spaces to the front of a page name. 

Once you’ve made a page, you can add your content - text notes, lists, photos, even dividers so that you can further organize your life. Here’s the top of my home page, where you can see the different items you can add.  As you can also see, Backpack includes a calendar feature (which can read Google calendars), a reminders function that will email you one-time or repeating reminders, and integration with 37signals’ Writeboard, an online document creator. 

Then, you just start adding!  Here’s a page that I create to help me keep track of books that I want to read. 

(iBackpack is a little snippet of code so that I can use Backpack on my iPhone - cool, eh?) 

What makes Backpack so great, as opposed to say, oh, any of the other organizational tools out there? 

• It’s free.  Actually it’s free for your first 5 pages, but that’s very useful in and of itself. That’s how I got started - created a free account and set up a few pages.  I used the free account for months before I upgraded.  And the upgrades are not expensive.  The lowest level upgrade is $7 per month. (All of 37signals’ products are based on monthly subscription rates.) 
• It’s easy. It’s very intuitive, and there’s really nothing to learn.  There are certainly some tricks that you can pick up from the user forums, but you can start using Backpack out of the gate without any kind of learning curve. 

Is there anything else you need to know other than it’s free and easy to use? There is one more cool feature that will make it very useful to anyone who has to share information with colleagues in other offices.  Recently, Backpack added a multi-user feature, so that it can act like an intranet for files, notes, or other things you need to share.  You can also make Backpack pages public, making it a very easy way to create simple webpages.  Here’s a public copy of my reading list, so that you can see exactly how behind I am. 

Well, this is quite possibly our final Monday as a family with two kids.  Elizabeth is due to give birth to our son this Friday, May 2 (which is also my mother’s birthday).  Agatha was right on time - born at 8:00 am on her due date - while Ginger was two weeks late.  Just about everything is ready - we have a name picked out (it’s a secret), a crib, a freshly painted pirate-themed nursery.  Not everyone is ready, though: Elizabeth asked Ginger what she thought of baby brother.  She shook her head and said, “No like!”

In other news, we received yet another free television, this time an HDTV from Elizabeth’s aunt!  While there, we also received several family heirlooms that had belonged to Elizabeth’s grandmother.  I claimed this incredible Gillette Aristocrat safety razor.  Elizabeth insists that I not use it, but, if I did, it came with several dozen extra razors.  

If I did decide to convert to “wet shaving,” at least I have some good guidance from Andy Crouch. 

With all the hubbub over college rankings each year, wouldn’t it be great if there was a simpler way? Looks like Google has figured it out.  When you search for a business on Google Maps, you can rank it - ostensibly so that you can say, “Wow, great pizza!” or “Don’t use this plumber!”  I am amused that Google Maps lets you rank universities in the same way.  Sorry, UC - looks like you only got 3 stars out of 5. 

Note that you can order the search results by ranking.  I would NOT recommend this as a way of picking a college. 

Occasionally, I talk to people who are a little put off by the name of the Emerging Scholars Network.  ”I’m not a scholar!” they say, and they don’t think of their children in that way either. 

But an interesting study was just released by the Dept. of Education, entitled “Parent Expectations and Student Achievement.”  Here’s how the Chronicle of Higher Education ($) summarized it:

The Education Department released a report on Tuesday that offers new insights into the factors influencing whether parents expect their children to enroll at four-year colleges, and suggests that many young people who could succeed at such institutions are not being encouraged by their families or schools to apply.

The study found that parental expectations vary widely between different races and income levels, and that many parents think their children won’t be able to finish college when their grades suggest otherwise. 

I had a professor in college who was an incredible teacher.  It made sense, because educational theory was one of his specialties!  He freely admitted that he was not a good student in either high school or college - he had a 2.7 GPA as an undergrad - and he applied to grad school almost on a whim. Once in grad school, though, when he was able to focus on a subject that he was truly interested in, his grades took off.  He earned a PhD and is now a tenured professor.  He also taught me one of my first lessons in academic grace, but that’s a story for another time. 

What are your expectations, either for yourself or your children? 

A continuing series on free or low-cost tools for the one person office. 

Office suites - not physical offices, but stuff like word processing, spreadsheets, presentation software, etc. - are necessary for conducting business.  Microsoft Office dominates this field, but can be expensive ($150 for the most basic package, $400 or more in other incarnations).  Fortunately, there are some excellent free alternatives.

OpenOffice/NeoOffice

OpenOffice is an open-source office suite (NeoOffice is a version for Macs).  It’s similar to Microsoft Office, but 100% free.  If you’re accustomed to using Word or Excel, then it will not take you long to get used to OpenOffice.  

The next two options are both based online - they are great options if you have a good internet connection or need to collaborate with others, but maybe not so great if you are still using dial-up or tend to edit documents while out and about. 

Google Docs

If you have a Google account, then you already have access to Google Docs, their free, online office suite.  Google Docs includes a word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation creator.  Its interface is simple and easy to use.  While it doesn’t include as many options as Microsoft Office or OpenOffice, it will be sufficient for most users. 

Zoho

Zoho is not as well-known as Google Docs, but offers an incredible array of software options.  I use Google Docs because the rest of my team uses it.  However, if I were starting from scratch, I might use Zoho instead.  It offers the same word processor/spreadsheet/presentation trio as Google, and then adds an note taking program, database,  project management, CRM software, online meeting software, invoicing and more.  All of Zoho’s products are free to start using.  The business-oriented products - like CRM, invoiving, project management - start off free, then add fees if you increase your usage.  

Both Google Docs and Zoho are web-based, but Zoho added offline access and syncing in 2007, and Google introduced offline access earlier this year and is in the process of rolling it out to its users. 

Since all of these are free, I actually use a combination of Google Docs and NeoOffice.  When I have documents I need to share with my team, I use Google Docs, but use NeoOffice if I’m editing, say, a Microsoft Word doc or Excel spreadsheet that someone emailed me.  I use Apple’s iWork for presentations and for “nicer” publications (like my prayer letter).  iWork is not free, but is still much cheaper than Microsoft Office ($79, $99 for a family pack to run it on up to 5 computers in the same house).  

Last Sunday, I spoke at Dixie Valley Church of God in Louisville, at the very gracious request of their pastor, Lindsey Cornett.  He offered me the chance to introduce his church to the Emerging Scholars Network, and the visit resulted in a number of good contacts and good conversations. 

Daniel is one of the Biblical models for ESN: a scholar, devoted to God from his youth, who became a redeeming influence in the kingdom of Babylon.  If you’ve never thought about Daniel as a scholar, noticed how he was chosen to be taken to Babylon. 

 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility-young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians.The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service. (Dan. 1:3-5) 

Here in Kentucky, we’re accustomed to hearing the term “brain drain,” when bright young students leave the state for better opportunities elsewhere.  This was not a brain drain - this was a brain vacuum!  Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, purposely sought the best and the brightest among the young Israelites, so that they could be trained in the ways of the Babylonians. 

Daniel and his friends not only persevered: they flourished.  Here is the final assessment at the end of their training. 

 At the end of the time set by the king to bring them in, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom. (Dan. 1:18-20)

Everything else that Daniel would accomplish was made possible by that early commitment to both God and his studies.  

At the last Following Christ, Harold Dean Trulear gave a truly memorable talk about Daniel.  I’d encouraged you to give it a listen.  More audio from Following Christ 2002 is available online. 

And you think that was good, then check out what’s coming at this year’s Following Christ.

I recently finished reading for the first time Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  I purposely say “for the first time” because I suspect that this is only the first of many readings.  When reading, I like to flag passages that speak to me, that I would like to come back to and record for later study.  As you can see, Life Together wound up with many, many such flags. 

Here’s one passage that struck as being particularly appropriate to the university. Bonhoeffer is contrasting a community built on the Word of God in Jesus Christ with a community built on human desires. 

The basis of all spiritual reality is the clear, manifest Word of God in Jesus Christ.  The basis of all human reality is the dark, turbid urges and desires of the human mind.  The basis of the community of the Spirit is truth; the basis of human community of spirit is desire…In the community of the Spirit the Word of God alone rules; in human community of spirit there rules, along with the Word, the man who is furnished with exceptional powers, experience, and magical, suggestive capacities. There God’s Word alone is bring; here, besides the Word, men bind others to themselves.  There all power, honor, and dominion are surrendered to the Holy Spirit; here spheres of power and influence of a personal nature are sought and cultivated.  It is true, in so far as these are devout men, that they do this with the intention of serving the highest and the best, but in actuality the result is to dethrone the Holy Spirit, to relegate Him to  unreality. (Life Together, 31-32, emphasis added)

Doesn’t this reflect the university in many ways?  It is absolutely true that there are many, many “devout men (and women)” within the academy who have “the intention of serving the highest and the best.” And they often succeed.  Consider, as just one example, the incredible life-saving medical advances that university researchers devote their entire careers to.  Yet they neglect the One who truly is the highest and the best.  

The Book of Common Prayer offers the following prayer for universities, colleges, and schools, which points to God as the source and end of all knowledge:

Almighty God, of whose only gift cometh wisdom and understanding: We beseech thee with thy gracious favor to behold our universities, colleges, and schools, that knowledge may be increased among us, and all good learning flourish and abound.  Bless all who teach and all who learn; and grant that in humility of heart they may ever look unto thee, who art the fountain of all wisdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

The journal Nature ($) recently found evidence of significant drug use among academics for the purpose of improving mental ability and increasing productivity.  The Chronicle of Higher Education’s News Blog summarized Nature’s findings like this:

In an online survey of 1,400 readers, Nature found that 20 percent had taken pharmaceuticals for the nonmedical purpose of improving their concentration, focus, and memory. Most of the people who responded to the survey were involved in science, engineering, or education. “The numbers suggest a significant amount of drug-taking among academics,” the magazine said.

The drugs most commonly used were Ritalin, Provigil (which reduces the need for sleep - here is David Plotz’s account of his experience with the drug), and beta blockers. 

Considering the high-pressure, high-stakes environment that many scholars find themselves in, I don’t think it’s surprising that some are turning to performance-enhancing drugs.  It’s not a new trend, either: consider the number of novelists and poets who have turned to alcohol or narcotics to help their writing come more easily. 

I have mixed feelings about this.  I can sympathize (greatly!) with the desire to accomplish more, write more, read more, and to use “artificial” means to get there.  Isn’t this why I drink 2 cups of coffee each morning, to help me become more alert?  I confess that, if I had access to Provigil, I would be strongly tempted to take it.  I struggle to carve out hours in the day to read and write, and adding 8 more hours overnight would be incredible. 

On the other hand, I wonder where this fits into God’s design for our minds and bodies.  We are made in God’s image, with the ability to reason, meditate, study, ponder.  God’s image also includes the Sabbath rest, and a pattern of engagement and withdrawal.  We see this in Genesis 1 and 2, in the ministry of Jesus, and in the promises given to God’s people.  I have a hard time imagining Jesus using Ritalin to help him prep for the Sermon on the Mount, or suggesting that the disciples use Provigil so they could stay up longer. 

I’m starting a new series of posts today, to share some of what I’ve learned about great software for running a low-budget, single-person home office.  They will be grouped together under the category OneManOffice, pending the creation of a catchier, less sexist name.  (Suggestions welcomed here.)  

For the first post in this series, it seemed right to begin with the software that I use to manage this website: WordPress.  There is lots of other software out there that will let you write a blog or manage a website, but I have been very pleased with WordPress.  

What’s so good about it?

• It’s free.  WordPress is open source software, which means that downloading and installing it is completely, 100% free.  You can either create a free WordPress blog on WordPress.com, or install WordPress on your own website (more on that in just a moment). 
• It’s easy to use.  WordPress offers a straightforward dashboard for writing new posts and pages.  It was recently updated to version 2.5, which (IMHO) improved the dashboard quite a bit.  If you want to try it out, I would suggest creating a free blog at WordPress.com so that you can get a feel for the software before committing to it.  
• It’s highly customizable.  WordPress has an enormous community of developers and designers who create themes and plugins for it.  A WordPress theme lets you customize the layout, colors, and overall look of your website, and there are hundreds - maybe thousands - of themes available for free.  (For example, my theme was created by N. Design Studio.)  Plugins let you add new capabilities to your website, like podcasting, stat-tracking, or linking to related content on the web, like I do with my Sphere Related Content plugin. 

Like I said above, there are two options for using WordPress.  The first is free blog hosting at WordPress.com.  If you would like to have your own website (like www.mikehickerson.com), you will generally have to pay for it, but the prices are low (e.g. $10/month or less) for a personal website.   We’re not talking CNN.com here, so there’s no reason to pay an arm and a leg. A lot of website hosts will install WordPress for you, and, as long as the hosting company meets the minimum requirements, you could install it yourself.  WordPress provides a list of recommended hosting companies, and there is also a group of WordPress experts who can install WordPress for you.

To keep it easy, I’d recommend finding a web hosting company that provides a “one click install” of WordPress.  It’s just like it sounds: you click a button, and the hosting company does the rest.  I use DreamHost, and I have been very happy with them.  (P.S. If you sign up for DreamHost via this link, I will receive a 10% referral fee for the life of your account.)  But DreamHost is just one of many excellent web hosting companies.  Shop around so that you can find a decent price and the features that you think you’ll use.

A while back, I wrote about free books online.  Another great resource available for free is iTunesU.  Universities from around the country, including MIT, Stanford, UC-Berkeley, Yale, Reformed Theological Seminary, and about 30 more schools, offer free lectures - even entire free courses - for download oniTunes.  I’ve recently listened to Thomas Friedman talk about the ideas behind his book The World Is Flat (liked it so much I went out and bought the book) and Merlin Mann of 43 Folders speak about managing your time and attention.  Great stuff.  And now you can download free content from PBS through ITunesU.  These are incredible materials for you autodidacts (like me) who couldn’t fit all the classes you wanted to take into your college schedule.  And, if you’re still like me, now you can add unlistened-to lectures and unwatched documentaries to your guilt list of unread books.