A lot of my business calls are conference calls. When I schedule conference calls I usually schedule them using Windows Live Meeting because I like Microsoft’s VOIP and I also like to use a webcam so I can see the people I’m talking with and so they can see me as well—expressions and gestures add a lot to understanding another party. LiveMeeting has a lot of other things I like too, but that’s another blog post for another day.

The person who scheduled this particular conference call scheduled it through FreeConferenceCall.com. When it was time, I used my magicJack to dial into the meeting at 218-339-2500. Instead of being asked to enter my conference number, I received the following message from magicJack, “Important announcement! Please listen to this entire short message, the number you have dialed can not be completed from your magicJack. For free conference calling set-up you must dial 305-848-8888. You may press 1 any time during this message to connect. Please use this number for all future free conference calling. Please visit FreeMagicConference.com for more information on magicJack Free Conference Calling. Again, that was FreeMagicConference.com.”

So, I disconnected from this call and called the 305-848-8888 number and entered my conference ID when requested. It was not accepted. Obviously, there was no connection between FreeConferenceCall.com and FreeMagicConference.com. I was really frustrated that I was going to have to make this call and use my cell phone minutes. That’s not why I purchased my magicJack.

After the call, I decided to test and see if I could use Google Voice to place the call. Although I haven’t used Google Voice very much so far, I have configured it to ring my cell phone, home land line, and my magicJack when calls are received. When I received my call from Google Voice, I answered it on my magicJack and then I heard the FreeConferenceCall phone ring once; after that I heard a busy signal. I thought that maybe Google Voice was blocking FreeConferenceCall.com as well. To test this theory, I placed the call again, but had it routed to my cell phone instead. This time there was no problem and I was connected. Somehow, magicJack is even hijacking and diverting these calls even when they are made through Google Voice!

I searched through magicJack’s knowledge-base to see if I could find out anything about this and no matter what keywords or questions I entered, I kept getting answers about how to schedule a conference call using FreeMagicConference.com. No explanation at all about why I couldn’t join a conference call.

I did check out FreeMagicConference.com and it is a service very similar to FreeConferenceCall.com and anyone can use it to schedule a meeting, even if you aren’t using a magicJack. I haven’t tried the service, but I may try it one day and let you know how it works. However, being able to initiate a meeting doesn’t help me to attend a meeting at all.

I planned to document all this here on the blog, but I got tied up with other things. This afternoon I read a blog post by Russell, my magicJack pusher friend, about his recent problems (read MagicJack Call to Free Conference Call not Placed to 218-339-2500). In his post he provides the transcript of a chat session he had with magicJack customer service, so I thought I would chat with them too. Customers have to speak out about this and let them know this isn’t good business. Here is the transcript of my chat:

Please wait for a site operator to respond.

You are now chatting with ‘Kiefer’

Your Issue ID for this chat is LTK419075516900X

Kiefer: Hello, how may I help you?

Ricky: Hi, Kiefer.

Ricky: I seem to be unable to join a conference call at 318-339-2500.

Kiefer: Please follow the instructions for making conference calls.

Kiefer: First, dial 305-848-8888

Kiefer: Then press 2

Kiefer: Enter a 3 digit pin to create a conference room number.

Kiefer: And write your conference room number down,

Kiefer: Next is to distribute your dial-in instructions to your conference room attendees.

Kiefer: Dial 305-848-8888

Kiefer: Press 1

Kiefer: and enter your Conference room number.

Ricky: I receive a message telling me I need to call 305-848-8888, but that’s not who my conference call is through.

Ricky: No. I don’t want to SCHEDULE a call, I need to JOIN a call.

Kiefer: Please follow the steps above.

Ricky: My conference call was not scheduled through that service.

Ricky: How do I join a call at this other number.

Kiefer: Thank you for your patience. I will transfer you to a higher level of support. Please hold while I transfer you.

Ricky: Thank you!

Please wait while I transfer the chat to the best suited site operator.

You are now chatting with ‘Kyle’

Your Issue ID for this chat is LTK419075516900X

Kyle: Hi, Ricky.

Ricky: Hi, Kyle.

Ricky: I seem to be unable to join a conference call using my magicJack.

Kyle: May I know the exact nature of your problem with full details please?

Ricky: These calls are one of the major reasons I purchased it.

Kyle: Okay

Ricky: I am trying to connect to a conference call at 218-339-2500.

Ricky: My call gets diverted and I receive a message telling me how to SCHEDULE a call through your service. I don’t need to SCHEDULE a call, I need to JOIN one.

Kyle: Ricky conference call will not work with MJ not unless you will be the host of the conference call.

Ricky: It has always worked before.

Ricky: Why will it not work now?

Ricky: I don’t understand.

Ricky: This just started happening on Monday, and it persists.

Kyle: I’m sorry but we have a new update that you cannot connect to a conference call not unless you’re the host

Ricky: So, I’m just out of luck? There is nothing I can do?

Ricky: Where should I escalate my complaint?

Kyle: Ricky I am at the escalation level and I am explaining this to you,

Ricky: So, you’re the CEO of magicJack?

Ricky: I want to make sure that people there know this isn’t acceptable.

Kyle: No I am one of the escalations.

Ricky: And, do you have a supervisor?

Ricky: Can I chat with your supervisor about this?

Kyle: Our superior will be available in the morning Ricky

Ricky: OK. How should I contact him or her?

Kyle: You can chat us back Ricky.

Ricky: So, I need to go back through all this again? Tomorrow morning?

Ricky: That’s even more frustration.

Ricky: At what time will the supervisor(s) be available?

Kyle: In the morning Ricky I do not have a specific time

Ricky: Do you know a time zone? Morning where? I’m in the Eastern Time Zone.

Ricky: It’s always morning somewhere. )

Kyle: We are in FLorida Ricky, it’s EST here.

Ricky: I’m really not wanting to be a pain for you, but I do want to resolve this problem. I purchased your product as my solution to attending costly and time consuming conference calls and now I find that I’m not able to do so. I just need to make sure this gets fixed.

Ricky: OK. I’ll try back in the morning. If I include my Issue ID, can I skip retyping all this?

Kyle: I understand Ricky as much as I want to help you, but I can’t

Ricky: Thank you Kyle. I hope you have a good rest of your evening.

Kyle: And you as well Ricky, have a pleasant evening.

So, the bottom line is that they are no longer allowing their customers to connect to conference calls via the magicJack unless the customer is the host of the call through their service.

I’ll try chatting tomorrow morning and see if I can get to an escalation supervisor. I’ll keep you posted!

Update: I did some research on FreeConferenceCall.com and how they make money. I found a really short and simple article entitled, The Skinny on FreeConferenceCall.com. I don’t know if magicJack has to pay when people use their service to connect to these lines, but I’m doubting it. I end to think they just want their piece of the free US Toll calling pie and they want to force their users to give it to them. I plan to broach this with the supervisor tomorrow morning if I’m able to actually talk to one.

Update: I have filed a form 2000B – Billing, Privacy, or Service Quality Compliant with the FCC. Here is the text of that compliant:

magicJack no longer allows calls to be placed to FreeConferenceCall.com phone numbers, which means that I can’t attend many conference calls that others schedule for me. They play a message that I can schedule a conference call through their own FreeMagicConference.com service, but there is no way to join a conference call someone else scheduled using the other service. They used to allow this and then suddenly I noticed they were blocking the calls on Monday, August 24. I have contacted customer service and they tell me, “I’m sorry but we have a new update that you cannot connect to a conference call not unless you’re the host.” They don’t give any reason for the change in policy, nor was any warning given.

I don’t know if this is a violation of FCC policies or not, but I wanted to bring it to your attention in case.

I have documented my complete experience, including chat transcripts at: http://rickyspears.com/blog/2009/08/magicjack-hijacks-my-free-conference-calls-to-218-339-2500/

Update (2009-08-27): I was able to chat with a supervisor. The bottom line is that they will not provide any explanation for the change and she says that I can’t chat with anyone higher than her, nor can I call anyone higher. Here is the transcript of our chat:

Please wait for a site operator to respond.

You are now chatting with ‘Morgan’

Your Issue ID for this chat is LTK419075595198X

Morgan: Hello, how may I help you?

Ricky: Hi. I chatted with support last night on Issue ID: LTK419075516900X. Then I chatted with an escalation representative on Issue ID: LTK419075516900X.

Morgan: One moment please…

Ricky: Kyle told me I could chat with an escalation supervisor today.

Ricky: I would like to chat with an escalation supervisor, please?

Morgan: Okay

Morgan: One moment please…

Morgan: Thank you for your patience. I will transfer you to a higher level of support. Please hold while I transfer you.

Ricky: Thank you, Morgan!

Please wait while I transfer the chat to the best suited site operator.

You are now chatting with ‘Myrene’

Your Issue ID for this chat is LTK419075595198X

Myrene: Hi Ricky.

Ricky: Hi Myrene.

Myrene: One moment please…

Ricky: I’m rather disappointed that I can no longer ATTEND conference calls. I would like to get some sort of explanation about why this changed if I can.

Myrene: aRe you having issue with the conference call?

Ricky: Yes. I can’t ATTEND conference calls that other people schedule through services like FreeConferenceCall.com.

Myrene: Alright, I believe you want to Join a confenece call, right? I am sorry but you cannot call that number, magicjack does not support that number. However, you may create your won Conference call . first, create your free magicjack conference room number, – Dial 305-848-8888.

Ricky: I just get a message saying that I have to use FreeMagicConference.com to schedule a conference.

Ricky: However, that doesn’t help me to attend one someone else scheduled.

Ricky: I used to be able to attend them before Monday.

Myrene: That is the new upgrade in our system that i cannot change it Ricky.. I understand how your feel believe me but we cannot change it anymore.

Ricky: Can you tell me why this was changed?

Ricky: Perhaps, why the company felt this would be good for your customers?

Myrene: Before we do not have our own conference phone number but now since we have upgraded you as  a MJ user can create a conference call for free,

Ricky: I hear you.

Myrene: Thank you for that Ricky

Myrene: And for allowing me to explain it

Ricky: However that addresses why you don’t want people to SCHEDULE calls, but it doesn’t explain why you won’t allow people to ATTEND calls.

Ricky: From a customer perspective, it’s rather rude.

Myrene: We are open with your opinions and suggestions Ricky.. Please do not worry… I  let the higher dept know about this so that they are aware of this as well.

Ricky: Can I chat with anyone higher, myself?

Myrene: I am sorry but this is the higher level that you can chat with Ricky.

Ricky: OK. Who can I call and talk to about this?

Myrene: we as a supervisors… and once we end this chat i will copy and paste our conversation so that they are aware of this.

Ricky: So, you’re saying there is nothing more I can do to get an explanation unless I involve a body outside of magicJack? Like the FCC or BBB or something?

Ricky: I would really prefer to talk to someone there and get an explanation.

Ricky: I just don’t see why some explanation is that difficult.

Myrene: If you are going to create a conference call… the other can join the conference

Ricky: Even if you lie to me, I won’t know the difference. )

Ricky: But I don’t schedule these calls. Other people schedule them. I can’t force them to use one service or another–the way you’re forcing me.

Myrene: I know that you are now frustrated with this but i do not want to lie with you because i do not want you to expect.

Ricky: Just so we are clear: are you saying there is no way for me to get an explanation about why I can no longer attend a conference call that someone else schedules via FreeConferenceCall.com or any other service?

Myrene: I am afraid yes.

Ricky: OK. I’ll take this as gospel… for now.

Ricky: Please let my displeasure be known where you can, and I’ll let my displeasure be known where I can.

Myrene: Sorry didn’t quite catch that

Ricky: Please let your supervisors know that I am displeased and why.

Ricky: I will do everything I can do publicize my experience.

Myrene: Affirmative Ricky

Ricky: Thank you, Myrene. I hope you have a good afternoon!

Myrene: I hope so.

Myrene: You are welcome

Update (2009-08-27): I have just found out that calls to FreeConference.com are being blocked in this same manner as well.

Update (2009-10-07): About a week ago I received my paper copy of my complaint to the FCC and I filed it away. Personally, I think these paper copies are quit wasteful in the modern electronic age, but that’s what they do. Oh well. This afternoon I received a call from someone named Andrew at magicJack saying that they had received their copy of the complaint and were offering me a full refund on my 5-year contract. I called him back. He was very friendly and professional; I think we had a really good conversation. I told him that I was generally happy with my magicJack and wanted to continue using it–so I didn’t want a refund. I explained that I wasn’t sure about the legality of them blocking access to certain numbers and the only way I could discover that was to file a complaint and leave it for the FCC to decide. He explained that they had reached out to the free conference call companies but said they don’t seem to be willing to work with magicJack to provide free access to their numbers for magicJack users, so it’s unlikely that this functionality will be coming back any time soon. I expressed to him that the consumer will continue to lose as long as CLECs, the VOIP operators, and the Free Conference Call companies all continue to hold onto their current business models and are unwilling to work together to find a solution that works for their customers. A third party will come along eventually that does meet the consumer’s requests and they will wish they had worked together sooner rather than later. It was nice to get to finally express my opinions to a real person at magicJack. [By the way, I am not at liberty to disclose Andrew's direct phone number at magicJack, sorry.]

As an educator, I see all types of people seeking training. Even more so, I see all types of people who aren’t seeking training. If you are a lifelong learner, or even if you’re someone who thinks their education ended in high school (except for the daily school of hard knocks), I think you might want to read this article.

I will warn you that if you pay attention, it might have the effect of increasing your position in your company, or some other company, and increasing your salary as well. So if you’re happy where you are in life, you may want to skip this one.

My laptop runs Vista Business and one problem I have is that when I need to Shut Down (Turn off) or Restart (reboot) my laptop, those things aren’t options in the Start menu. When connected via RDP you you only have the options of Log Off and Lock.

I’ve found a nifty little work-around that may help you as well. Click on Windows Security instead of where you normally click to turn off your computer.

In the Windows Security area, click on the Shut down options button—this is the little arrow beside the Shut Down button in the lower right-hand corner. Here you can access the options for Restart, Sleep, Hibernate, and Shut Down.

Enjoy!

I chose a 500Gb Seagate Barracuda 3.5” Internal SATA hard drive. This ought to last a while!

I installed it in my open drive bay and wired it up. No problems there. I did have to change a BIOS setting so the computer would recognize it.

I installed the Seagate DiscWizard software and followed the instructions to clone my old hard drive to the new one. I confirmed that all the data seemed to have copied over properly then I switched their places and rebooted from the new hard drive. It seemed to take it forever to boot up! I was able to see the Windows log-in page relatively quickly, but it took about 45-minutes for all my programs to load and for the computer to stop accessing the hard drive.

This wasn’t acceptable, but I didn’t know what to do at this point. I hoped it would improve.

Every night, my computer seemed to lock up too and was totally unresponsive. So, for a few mornings, I waited patiently while it booted and all my programs loaded. I couldn’t seem to figure out what was slowing down the hard drive.

The last thing I had installed was the Seagate DiscWizard program. I didn’t really need it any more, so I decided to uninstall it and see if things improved. My boot times did improve greatly. It seemed to take only about 15-minutes to boot, load all my startup programs, and quit accessing the hard drive. This still wasn’t ideal, but a significant improvement none-the-less.

Then I noticed that every morning I had a blue screen of death (BSOD). So it wasn’t just locking up, now I could see an error. It said, BAD_POOL HEADER. I hadn’t heard of this before and didn’t see a whole lot about it in searches that was very helpful.

Then after a few days of this, I noticed that my Mozy backup hadn’t backed up in 8 days. That was how long it had been since I had installed the new hard drive. I figured that it must have been trying to back up in the middle of the night and was having trouble with the new drive and so it was crashing.

A few searches turned up some instructions which I wasn’t totally comfortable with, but i figured that I didn’t have much to lose. I could always go back to my old hard drive if I needed to and use the new one as additional storage only. Those posts indicated that when you upgrade a hard drive and clone it that things get mixed up with the Volume Shadow Copy service. Here were the steps that I went through to fix it:

1. Go to device manager
2. Click "View" and select "show hidden devices"
3. Scroll down to "storage volumes"
4. Click on the "+" to expand
5. Click on each one listed and right click and uninstall. Say no to reboot requests.
6. Reboot
7. When windows comes back up it will reinstall the hardware you uninstalled and ask you to reboot.
8. Now the storage volumes are installed correctly. My guess is that they changed to reflect the new drive configuration.

This not only fixed my problems with the Mozy backup, it also eliminated my blue screen crashes at night, and improved my boot time dramatically. It now takes about 5-minutes from pressing the on button until I’m logged in, all programs are loaded, and the computer has quit accessing the hard drive. I think 5-minutes is about where I was with my old drive, and I very rarely turn my computer off, so this is no problem. I’m back in business with a bigger hard drive that is working great for me!

I hope this post might help someone. Good luck!

No Page Numbers!
It probably comes as no surprise to my readers that I am goal oriented. I set goals and carefully track my progress. Reading is no exception. When I’m reading a printed book and I start a new chapter, I will flip forward to see what page the next chapter starts on and then mentally calculate how many pages I have left in the current chapter as I read and turn pages. I used the eReader ebook reader on Palm handhelds for many years and I loved that it always showed the page number I was on and I could easily access the starting page for the next chapter. eReader would recalculate the page numbers if I changed fonts or font size.

This is one of those things that bugs me about the Kindle 2. It does show your progress through the book at the bottom and it shows little dots on the progress bar where the chapter breaks are. Instead of page numbers though, it displays something called Locations. For example, in the book I’m reading now, it has a total of 4945 of these locations. The page I’m on now is displaying Locations 3505-12 (this means Locations 3505 to 3512; I don’t know why it feels it has to truncate the second number). If I push the 5-way controller to the right I can see that the first page for the next chapter displays “Locations 3600-3604″; I don’t know why it doesn’t display this as “Locations 3600-12″ to be consistent). Then I press the back button to go back to where I was. So, in my head I have to subtract 3505 from 3600 to get that I have 95 locations to read. I don’t know exactly what a location is and the number displayed per screen, or page, isn’t consistent. I find this very frustrating.

A Few Features I Would REALLY Like to See:

• AutoScroll: I don’t know it this is possible or practical with the Kindles’ electronic paper technology, but it would be nice to have the text scroll. With this feature, a reader wouldn’t have to press the Next Pagebutton, but the words would just automatically scroll up the screen. This is another of the features from eReader on the Palm and Pocket PC that I really like.
• Rapid Serial Visual Presentation: This feature would add Zap Reader like speed reading functionality to the Kindle. Once again, it may not be possible with the electronic paper technology.
• Menu Wrapping: The Kindle 2 doesn’t have wrapping menus. This means, for example, that if I’m on the Home menu and want to go to the Experimental option that I have to push the 5-way button down 4 times. If it had wrapping menus, I could just push it up 3 times. For many longer menus, this is rather frustrating.
• A General Notepad: Although I can write notes on the Kindle and they are labeled with the location in the book I was reading when I made the notes, there is no way to just write notes. For example, as I read, I get a lot of ideas of things to add to my Task list, or general notes for myself that aren’t about the book I’m reading (even though the book may have inspired the thought or idea). I guess I could create my own little custom book with some custom headings and add notes there, but it seems a little clumsy when I really just want a basic notepad.
• MP3 Tools: I understand that the MP3 player is an experimental feature, but it’s incredibly basic. I know that Amazon wasn’t trying to create an iPod killer with the device, but I think they could greatly increase adoption by improving the MP3 player. Right now you can’t see the titles of MP3 files or your progress through them. This makes it useless for MP3 audio books. It’s probably similar to using an iPod Shuffle. It’s probably only useful for some music that you like to listen to as background music while you read.

It’s Great for Reading on Planes!
I did have a few plane trips in the last couple weeks. I will admit that the Kindle is an absolutely wonderful way to read when you are scrunched up in an airplane seat. You don’t need to move your whole arm to turn a page, it very small and light so it’s a pleasure to hold and fits well in the seat back pocket. I was just surprised that no one asked me about it, even my seat mates. On the down-side, however, you probably can’t read on it during take off and landing, even though the device is only turned on when you turn a page. Hopefully this will change as airlines get more comfortable with electronic devices and the electronic paper becomes more popular.

Kindle Usability
If you don’t regularly Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox articles, you may not be aware of two articles he wrote recently: Kindle 2 Usability Review and Kindle Content Design. These are well worth reading.

I watched the videos at Amazon again and also discovered some blogs that focus on the Kindle. I knew that the Kindle had wireless access for downloading books and other content, but I didn’t know that it had a browser built into it that would allow the user to check email, weather, go to Wikipedia, and do a lot of other things online.

That $359 price tag had been the biggest thing holding me back, and although the browser is limited, it was the tipping point that pushed me into making the purchase. I’ll be using this for business activities so the price is tax deductable; that essentially brings the price down to around $269. If I buy 10 books this year for $9.99 (or less) that would have been around $20 (or more) then I’ll have spent $100 less than normal; that brings the price down to around $169. At this price point, it’s becoming more palatable to me. I also have an unlimited wireless Internet plan for my Verizon Samsung SCH-i760 Windows Mobile phone. I use it mostly to check email, weather, flight status, research on wikipedia, and stuff like that. I looked at the megabyte usage on my bill and realized that I’m not using a great deal as long as I’m not downloading programs or large graphics to my phone. If I can drop my ~$50/month unlimited data plan on my phone and just use the $1.99/Mb plan when I really do need to access something online via my phone, I can probably divert the funds I would have spent there to pay for the remainder of Kindle in about 4 months or less. After that, the Kindle will actually be profitable for me in that I will be spending less ongoing.

There is a 30-day window in which I can return the Kindle. I’m certainly going to put it through its paces over the next few weeks. Here are my thoughts so far:

What I Don’t Like So Far

• I wish the background was closer to white. It’s kind of a light gray mixed with beige sort of background and I would like to have more of a contrast.
• I was hoping that since I have several options for font size, I wouldn’t need my now-that-I’m-over-40 reading glasses. I probably wouldn’t outside in sunlight, but inside I still need them. That’s not a down side of the device, just a commentary on how my current eyesight interacts with it.
• The devices seems just a little slower than I would expect on page turns. This may be due more to the current state of digital ink technology than the Kindle itself.
• The browser needs quite a bit of improvement. I may post another post later on my ideas for it. Currently it’s at least as good as Internet Explorer Mobile on a Windows Mobile device though, so it it’s still quite usable. Amazon says this is an experimental feature though and I expect it will improve over time.
• The 5-way controller seems a little weak to me. It may be much stronger than I think, but it just doesn’t have a good feel to it. We’ll see how it does over time.
• I wish it had a backlight for night-time reading. Amazon recommends a book light like one might use with a printed book, but I think a backlight just makes more sense.

What I Like So Far

• I didn’t like the way it looked in the pictures. Many reviewers said that it looked better in real life and it just wasn’t photogenic. I can attest to this fact. It really is a nice looking device when you hold it in your hand.
• It has a good feel to it. It’s not ultra-light, but it isn’t heavy by any means. It has a good solid feel in your hands. The metal back may contribute to this as well. When I saw it in pictures, I didn’t like the placement of the buttons. In actual usage they are exactly where they need to be though.
• The antialiasing of the fonts is really good and it appears much like a regular printed page. Since printed media is usually 300 dots-per-inch resolution and the 3-1/2″ x 4-3/4″ and 600×800 screen means it’s only at about 170 dots-per-inch I’m really surprised.
• Being able to browse the Amazon Kindle store, purchase, and download a book in less than a minute is really nice. By the way, my first book is Making it All Work by David Allen.
• I’ve been reading eBooks for probably 9 years now (my first real eBook reading experience was on my Palm IIIx) and I can certainly say that the Kindle is the best experience I’ve had so far.
• I’ve done a lot of reading in bed on Palm and Windows mobile devices. I find that the Kindle is much easier to hold while laying down. With mobile devices, my hand would frequently get cramps or my arm would frequently tired from the way that I had to hold the device. That doesn’t seem to be a problem with the Kindle so far.
• I really like having the built-in dictionary and Wikipedia access. Being able to instantly access other information and resources is very helpful when reading, but I don’t enjoy reading longer works when I’m sitting at my computer with a full browser and web access.
• I’ve only experimented with the text-to-speech, but I think it’s going to be a valuable feature. The technology isn’t perfect and still sounds mechanical, but it’s not bad and I’m sure it will improve over time as well. With many of these things I keep having to remind myself of this fact in light that i’m an early adopter. A few months ago when I was working with a personal coach in a Brian Tracy program I had the audio CDs and a manual with the text. I found that it was helpful for me to read along with someone else instead of just reading on my own. The mechanical voice will help add this capability to much of my reading now.

Well, that’s all for now. I’ve probably missed some things I wanted to say, but I’ll try to catch those in a future post.

When I was first started studying these methodologies I became very active on several of the Getting Things Done online forums and even started one of the popular discussion groups. I met a lot of wonderful people in those groups and I’ve stayed in touch with some of them over the years even though I’m no longer very active in those groups. One of those friends is Augusto Pinaud.

In November August emailed me and asked me if I would like to partipate in an an interview for his @Context Podcast. I thought it would be wonderful to actually talk with Augusto after emailing him for 6 years, so I agreed.

So, in mid-December I had a wonderful conversation with Augusto and his podcast partner Tara Robinson. They recorded it and it is now available–Episode Nine: Ricky Spears. So, if you’ve been wondering about my productivity system, how I work now, or my history with Getting Things Done, listen to the podcast. I had a wonderfully fun time talking with them and I hope you have just as much fun listening. If you have any questions, feel free to post a comment below!

Who: YOU!
What: A public speaking workshop, “Speaking as a Critical Skill for Your Job.” Presented by the Chair City Toastmasters.
When: Noon – 1:00pm Mondays (February 2, 9, 23, and March 2)
Where: Thomasville Public Library, 14 Randolph St. in Thomasville
Cost: $20

This program will enhance your ability to:

• Present with Confidence
• Speak with Authority
• Respond with Poise and Impact
• Relate to your audience and Build Trust
• Improve your Interpersonal Skills

To register or for more information contact: Sharon Hill at 336-687-7324 or SeaNnc1044@aol.com

My wife realized quickly that this thing is thirsty! It’s quite a hassle to fill a bottle with water, move the presents, crawl under the tree, fill up the reservoir, go to the kitchen to refill the bottle, add more water to the reservoir, and then rearrange the presents like they were before we started. Ok, it’s a 2-minute task total, but do that once-a-day every-day for a month and you’ve just spent an hour watering the Christmas tree and moving packages around. I knew there had to be a better way.

As I thought about the problem, I realized that a siphon was the solution to my problem. However, I knew that a bucket of water and a hose under the Christmas tree was just a little too redneck for my wife. So, I had to come up with some way to disguise it.

This afternoon I made a trip to the local hardware store, came home and built my Hidden Christmas Tree Watering System. It works great and didn’t take long at all to put together. It took much longer to write the Instructable, but I’m glad I had that experience. I may write more in the future now that I know how their system works.

Anyway, I would appreciate it if you would check it out and let me know what you think in the comments below or on the Instructables site. I have another question too, would you prefer that I put projects like this on Instructables or just post the pictures and instructions here on my blog. I’m trying to figure out the advantages and disadvantages of each way.

Update (11/13/2008): A couple hours after I posted this Instructable, I received the following email from the Instructables Robot saying it had been chosen as a “Feature”. Cool! Thanks, Instructables!

Your Instructable “Make a Hidden Christmas Tree Watering System” was just featured by one of our editors!

Look for it on the Instructables homepage within the next 30 minutes. Being featured means we think you are awesome.  Keep up the great work!

-Eric

Update (11/15/2008): I just noticed that Lifehacker has picked this up and posted a link to it. There is lot’s of good conversation there. Thanks everyone!

When Steve announced his upcoming book Personal Development for Smart People: The Conscious Pursuit of Personal Growth, I looked forward to reading it. I was thankful to be one of the few to get a pre-release copy to review here.

Let me begin by getting one small thing off my chest. When I first started reading it, it felt really slow and I couldn’t figure out why. Finally it occurred to me that the publisher had chosen a sans-serif typeface. Sans-serif is great for reading on the screen, but it really slows me down in long prose. I missed those little serifs on the letters to help pull my eye along. Maybe this was a conscious decision to force readers to slow down, I don’t know, but I didn’t care for it.

Steve says that in this book he set out to write a book on personal development that was unlike any other. He has spent many of his recent years searching for the “prime numbers” of personal development. He identifies these as Truth, Power, and Love. Steve spends the first half of the book explaining these four elements, including the combinations of Oneness, Authority, Courage, and Intelligence. In the second half of the book he provides chapters on how to apply these elements to the areas of Habits, Career, Money, Health, Relationships, and Spirituality.

The book is a very interesting read. It held my attention well and I enjoyed the stories he shared, even though I had read some of them on his blog before. Although I don’t agree with anyone about everything they believe (where would be the fun in that?), I do think that Steve has come a long ways towards providing some structure for understanding human growth. Although Steve applies his findings to personal development topics throughout the book, the overall concept is very much a philosophy.

I haven’t yet read any of the reviews by other readers (batch 1, batch 2, batch 3), but I think we’ll have to wait a few years to see if Steve’s philosophy holds water. The proof will be in how people apply the information presented here, and how they share those applications with other. Steve has done a good thing in getting bloggers on board with reading and reviewing his book–he definitely understands marketing. I look forward to reading how others have applied this information. Just as hundreds of people have created various systems and programs to help them apply David Allen’s Getting Things Done methodologies, it will be interesting to see if people begin creating systems and programs to help them apply the concepts of Truth, Love, and Power.

One thing I picked up quite readily is how well Christianity, as I understand and practice my relationship with Christ, identifies closely with the core concepts Steve lays out. I’ve been thinking a great deal in recent months about the personal growth movement, Christianity, how these two interrelate, and how to maximize people’s growth in Christ. I need to re-read the entire book in this particular light, but I’m optomistic that this will provide a good pattern for that.

That’s what Steve has provided in this book: a philosophical framework that can be applied to most any area of our lives. I know that much of this works becuase it’s the way I, and I believe lots of other successful people, naturally relate to the world around us. Regardless of whether or not this work becomes the foundation of future personal development, I think it is certainly worth reading–at least once, but probably a few more times to make sure the concepts are fully understood. As with all personal development books, the proof will be in the application. You can’t grow very much by only reading. You have to begin applying what he teaches.

If you’ve read Personal Development for Smart People: The Conscious Pursuit of Personal Growth, or have specific questions about it, contribute to the conversation in the comments!