Here’s my newest addition to my set of knives. I figured that I do a lot of cooking outside the home and I always worry about damage to my pricey set. I’m building my new set of commercial knives where I won’t care too much if someone else wants to use them. I’m starting off with the 3 ½ inch scalloped sandwich spreader by Dexter.

Dexter knives are pretty much industry standards and you’ll find them in many commercial kitchens. What I like about Dexter knives are the quality and the ease of cleaning.

This knife is replacing my Shun Classic U2. The U2 has never failed me and I never sharpened it—I bought it back in 2009. I just worry about losing it. In terms of use, the Dexter knife does a great job. I can assemble a sandwich in minutes. What I like about the Dexter more than the Shun is that the Dexter is a little flexible which makes it fun to use as a spreader. Mind you the U2 is a “utility” knife, I like using it as my sandwich knife.

More about this knife
Built to be both tough and sanitary. A textured, slip-resistant, easy-to-clean polypropylene handle withstands both high and low temperatures. An impervious blade-to-handle seal provides the utmost in sanitary qualification. Stain-free, high-carbon steel blade, with an individually ground and honed edge, excels in commercial use. Made in USA. Items marked with the NSF logo are NSF Certified.

When making drafts for websites, many web designers use the following paragraphs to fill in for content:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vivamus laoreet interdum leo, id elementum augue posuere sit amet. Morbi non est tortor. Suspendisse accumsan ligula quis lorem vestibulum ac mollis nunc vulputate. Donec rhoncus dui et libero rhoncus et tristique lacus feugiat. Praesent ornare sem in ipsum condimentum id dapibus dolor rhoncus. Duis placerat faucibus lorem, quis suscipit justo porttitor aliquam. Aliquam varius ante non tortor rutrum tincidunt. Sed accumsan felis tristique nibh fringilla at scelerisque arcu luctus. Nulla rhoncus, eros vitae lacinia ultricies, urna orci luctus velit, non faucibus dolor ligula a lorem. Sed consequat, purus nec vehicula iaculis, dui arcu dapibus nulla, in gravida erat sapien sed ante. Proin facilisis, ante eleifend sollicitudin suscipit, magna metus dignissim mauris, ut iaculis turpis nunc in odio. Vivamus odio felis, sollicitudin sed adipiscing non, porta ut enim.

The latin has some kind of meaning but for most of us, it doesn’t mean anything. Web designers like to use this text to illustrate the font and spacing of what real content would look like.

For me, I prefer words I recognize. I found Bacon Ipsum. The random text displayed looks something like this:

Flank pork chop hamburger kielbasa biltong. Strip steak rump ham hock, beef ribs spare ribs kielbasa brisket frankfurter speck jowl. Speck bacon cow, tri-tip filet mignon pork loin leberkas shank chuck pork prosciutto short loin boudin pastrami jowl. Speck ground round boudin, capicola short loin swine turkey tri-tip fatback tongue chuck tenderloin strip steak. Corned beef bacon t-bone, biltong capicola leberkas pork shoulder. Rump pork belly leberkas ham hock, meatloaf shank turducken filet mignon bacon turkey bresaola jerky.

For complete website mockups, I also like to add pictures. Forget the pictures of cover shots or studio pictures. Let’s add some pictures of meat. For pictures, I use baconmockup.com.

References:
http://baconipsum.com
http://baconmockup.com

On a PC

You can add dot leaders between tab stops or choose other formatting options in the Tabs dialog box.

1. Type the text that you want.
2. On the horizontal ruler, set the tab stop that you want.
3. On the Page Layout tab, click the Paragraph Dialog Box Launcher.
4. In the Paragraph dialog box, click Tabs.
5. Under Leader, click the leader option that you want.

When you press ENTER to start a new line, the formatted tab stop is available on the new line.

On a Mac

1. Type the text that you want.
2. Click on Format, Tabs.
3. Type in where you want the tab position to be.
4. Select the alignment (right for most of us).
5. Choose the style.
6. Click Set at the bottom, then OK.

References:
Microsoft Office

I have my version of how I take notes on this website somewhere but my kids are getting to that age where they will need to use Cornell Notes.

“The Cornell note-taking system is a widely-used note taking system devised in the 1950s by Walter Pauk, an education professor at Cornell University. Pauk advocated its use in his best-selling How to Study in College.

The Cornell method provides a systematic format for condensing and organizing notes. The student divides the paper into two columns: the note-taking column (usually on the right) is twice the size of the questions/key word column (on the left). The student should leave five to seven lines, or about two inches, at the bottom of the page.” -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornell_Notes

Instead of doing this on lined paper, I decided to just make my own. To make this template, I used Microsoft Excel. Don’t laugh. Microsoft Excel is great where you know you’ll need solid lines. In fact, many of my templates start off in Excel then move to another graphic software when I run into limitations.

Cornell notes work. I’ve used it in the past. The only problem I have with it is that it doesn’t seem to utilize the entire sheet. In my template below, you’ll notice that I put some “check boxes” to formulate some kind of list…something like a summary of the summary.

Download:
Cornell Notes (PDF)

I was in a meeting the other day and someone noticed my paper where I took notes. There are many thoughts on how people should take notes and there are some really good ideas and some really bad layouts. So I decided to make my own. Why? Because I can and I believe that I’m a little more effective when I work on the templates I know best. One of the things that I’ve found is that some templates out there have too much information and blank space that I’ll never use or they are too blank where it doesn’t have all the things I need.

The template I made fits my needs where I can take general notes, write down the associated tasks, make a list of people who I need to call in relation to the notes, and an area where I can doodle or highlight the important things that I need to remember. It’s laid out cleanly.

I’m also in the process of making another layout just for managing projects. While I like the stuff that Day Runner and Franklin Covey put out, it just doesn’t suit my style.

Download the PDF and try it out. The best thing to do is print as is. Don’t print to fit. Contact me if you would like a custom template for yourself.

Resources:
Edel Note Taker (PDF)

I was stuck in a bind the other day…needed to create a DJ solution. I was helping out friends with their wedding. They gave me a USB stick with all the songs they like (by the way, this is great if you can do this for your DJ).

I didn’t want to buy a full DJ package to handle this. The next solution I found was djay by Algoriddim. I remembered this product from MacWorld last year. I was instantly transformed into a DJ…at least to the attendees and more importantly the bride and groom.

While you can do the cool things like swipe to scratch, djay has a feature where you can view the waveforms to help you cue the music. My favorite feature is automix. Automix will take all the songs from an iTunes playlist and mix them with different transitions between like echo, fade, backspin, and more.

Thanks Algoriddim for saving me!

I’ve been searching for a ‘weekly calendar template’ out there and haven’t found one that suits my needs. I ended up making this template in MS Excel. This calendar template features 30 minute increments from 6am until midnight. 6am to midnight is my general awake time.

I would like to make a 24 hour calendar but those don’t fit neatly on paper.

Here’s the calendar: Weekly Calendar (XLSX)

Enjoy!

I found out that I was lacking a certain kind of sound on my guitar pedal board. I have a tuner, chorus, distortion, flanger, overdrive, and reverb pedal. I was looking into getting a digital delay and tremolo pedal next. Instead, I decided on getting the Line 6 M5 pedal. The two main reasons why I wanted to get this pedal was; my wife has the M13 and this pedal has over 100 built in effects.

Here are some specs:
Sound

• Over 100 stompbox effects
• Simple one-effect-at-a-time design
• Dedicated knobs control each effect parameter
• Tap Tempo syncs for time-based effects

• Built-in chromatic tuner
• Heavy-duty all-metal chassis and footswitches
• Included DC power adapter
• Dimensions: 6″W X 2.4″H x 6.5″D – 2.5 lbs.

Inputs/Outputs

• 5-pin MIDI in/out
• 1/4-inch mono or stereo inputs and outputs
• 1/4-inch expression pedal jack
• True Analog Bypass or DSP Bypass

Overall, this is a great pedal. The pros are that it has a lot of effects for a really great price. The only thing I don’t like about it is the size. I think it could be a little smaller.

References
Line 6

Here’s a template I use for Funeral/Memorial Services. The document is in MS Word format.

References:
Funeral Service Template

I’m in the process of making a new binder/planner system for me. It was missing a task list to help me manage tasks.

For a little history, I have been shopping around for the ultimate planner. I realized that I’m too picky and could not conform to another person’s standards. The other part was that I couldn’t justify getting a planner that contained a blank calendar and pages for contact information.

It’s almost set. I’ll release it to you once it’s all done. For now, you can have the task list. Here’s my logic behind my system. The first column is the status–in progress, delegated, canceled, etc… Pick your symbols and roll with it. The second column with the triangle is my priority system…triangle, delta, change. Or something like that because you have to constantly prioritize and juggle things around. In this box, you can put numbers or letters.

The rest is self explanatory. Oh, I forgot about the main box at the top labeled Category. I use category for things like home, work, school, shopping, or other.

Enjoy! Comment on what you like or don’t like. I’m constantly changing these to fit my needs. I’m interested to see what you’re lists look like.

Task List – Made with Excel 2010