Time Savers

Don't read this book. Read Microsoft's advertising or the on-line summary instead. I am not generally a Microsoft basher, it's just that this book contains no new ideas. Microsoft is giving it away to corporate customers by the boatload. Here's a summary:

• Digital Nervous System = new term for "wired."
• Intranets are a good thing.

Read the reviews before investing your time in a movie, a book, a new program, or the theatre.

Cut your own hair. Hold the laughter. Ten years ago a late-night informercial coaxed me into buying a "FloBee." This gizmo consists of a tube you hook to a vacuum cleaner, a handheld cutting head with enclosed blades and motor, a tiny bottle of lubricating oil, and an assortment of plastic spacers to keep the cutting head a constant distance from your scalp. Plug it in and buzzzzz, it sucks your hair into the plastic spacer and the vorpal blades go snicker-snack. There are slanted spacers for tapered side cuts. All that's left is to trim the hair over the ears with an electric razor or a pair of scissors.

In pre-FloBee days, I got about 14 haircuts a year. At the time, a haircut cost me $25. Walking to the barber shop, perhaps waiting for a bit, the shampoo, the cut, and walking back to the office made this a two-hour experience. That's 28 hours and $350 a year. I don't know about you, but my time is worth at least $100/hour, so I was investing in the neighborhood of $3000 a year on haircuts. Over the last decade, the FloBee has saved me more than six work-weeks of time. Oh, and I usually run the FloBee over my head while surfing the web.