Top 10 reasons my Blackberry is more essential than my left hand

With the recent economic hardships (drink) many companies are looking for ways to cut expenses. My current employer is no exception. Recently the techs in my division were asked by management to provide justification for our institutionally provided Blackberry devices. What follows is my response:

(Note: I work for a hospital which has a strict hand washing policy. Employees are to wash their hands thoroughly, ~30 secs scrubbing with soap and warm water, after every trip to the bathroom)

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My institutional Blackberry is an essential tool to my work as a Sys Analyst II. I use it for the following:

1. Staying in touch with clients and co-workers when I am away from my desk (about 50% of my working hours) via email and Blackberry Messenger app. With my left hand, I sometimes pat clients on the back reassuringly, but my right hand would function just as well.
2. Maintaining a current list of key passwords, volume licenses, and other protected data essential to my job function through the password manager app. I’ve tried writing all of this on my left hand, but the data fades after the multiple hand washings required by institutional policy. Additionally, my left hand is NOT password protected.
3. Making quick notes regarding client incidents using the notepad functionality. Again, I’ve tried this with my left hand, but sometimes a permanent pen is not available for writing on my left hand. The Blackberry does not require a separate writing instrument.
4. Scheduling appointments with clients and co-workers via the calendar. I’ve tried tying strings on my fingers of my left hand, but this hasn’t functioned well. I usually forget what the strings were there to remind me.
5. Managing daily tasks via the task application. Some days, my task list exceeds my five fingers. Doubling up on knuckles has proven ineffective.
6. Reading tech related news feeds via the browser. Palm reading has only proven effective in knowing my personal future. The future of technical innovation is much more muddled and my left palm doesn’t offer much insight.
7. Doing troubleshooting research via the browser (in a pinch). Actually, my left hand has proven pretty effective in troubleshooting. It’s great for checking that the power cord is plugged in.
8. Accessing the Internet/work network via Bluetooth or USB dial-up networking when I am unable to establish a wireless or wired network connection. My left hand has proven completely ineffective as a connection to the Internet. None of my fingers even fit into the Ethernet jack. And believe me, I’ve tried.
9. Remote VPN access via the RSA app. My left hand can change numerical values every 60 seconds, but unfortunately I can only get it to display a maximum of 120 finger combinations. (5 factorial)
   
10. Looking up institutional contact info via People Finder (browser app) or the Contacts app. Again, the hand washing policy is really a problem in this regard.

In summary, the Blackberry is an essential tool to keep me mobile and in touch while serving my clients. I’d still like to keep my left hand, though.

All your favorite reads, all in one place

This post is specifically for my family and friends. A few years ago I figured out how to use an RSS Reader, and it has changed my life. Almost all news-based sites and Blogs have an RSS Feed. It's a simple way of alerting readers when a new article has been posted. Using these RSS Feeds makes it easy to find the latest articles posted at your favorite RSS enabled sites.

Why Use an RSS Reader?

So let's say you have some friends who have blogs that you like to read (this one for example). An RSS Reader will automatically check those sites and alert you when new articles have been posted. Not only that, but you can aggregate all your favorite sites in one place. Then, instead of bookmarking all your friends blogs, your favorite news sites and various other RSS enabled sites, you just subscribe to them using your RSS Reader and go to your reader to see everything.

Getting Started
Probably the best way to get started with RSS is through a browser-based RSS reader. Google Reader is one that I really like. You have to sign up for a google account, but after that, you just go to http://reader.google.com to setup up your RSS feeds.

Now, go to some of your favorite blogs and news sites. On the page look for the RSS icon. Click an icon, and your browser should take you to the RSS link for the page. Copy the URL and then go back to your Google Reader page. Click the "Add a Subscription" icon and paste your copied RSS link into the form.

If you use the Firefox browser there is a great add-on that can make adding RSS feeds even easier. It's called Better GReader and it will automatically notify you when a page you are browsing has an RSS feed. You just click the RSS icon in the upper right hand corner of the page and you can directly add it to your subscriptions right then and there. No copying and pasting required.

I'll probably talk some more about RSS readers in upcoming posts. If you haven't given it a try, do so. It takes a little getting used to, but once you do, I think you'll find having all your favorite news and blogs in one place is very nice.