Category Archives: Review

Finding the flow

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To do lists are a very personal thing. I’ve tried more more than my fair share of personal task management software and never been satisfied. I find most personal task management software to be glorified shopping lists. I always end up going back to my notebook with a pen.

For the past week I have successfully been using Kanban Flow to manage my to do list. Tasks are represented on cards. You can drag and drop cards through various states – for example, today, in progress and done. For me dragging something to done is as therapeutic as running the pen through an item on my paper list – I can stand back and wallow in my sense of self achievement. I have used other software where completed tasks just disappear, and at the end of the day I don’t feel like I’ve achieved anything.

Kanban Flow includes a Pomodoro Timer. I’d never heard of the Pomodoro Technique before using Kanban Flow, but have actually found it to improve my focus and productivity. The basic idea is that you work focusing on one task for 25 minutes, and then take a five minute break. Every four cycles you can take a longer break.

My biggest gripe with Kanban Flow at the moment is the lack of offline mode and reduced usability on my phone. But given it’s only in Beta, and it works better for me than anything else I’ve tried, I can live with these gripes for now.

I couldn’t wait for my ice-cream sandwich

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Oziel and I got sick waiting for Google to provide the Ice-Cream Sandwich OTA update for our Nexus S phones. After listening to TWIG, we decided to take matters into our own hands. We found instructions for downloading and installing the ICS from Google, and applied the update ourselves (no rooting required). This was unproblematic. The process took longer than expected to move from the warning triangle to the next step – but it got there, just wait (and make sure you pressed the volume up and power at the same time).

Licensed to Drive

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Upon repatriating to Australia, I went to the RTA in Wynyard to convert my Swedish drivers license to a NSW drivers license. According to my reading of the rules on people immigrating to Australia, I would be issued with a full NSW licence.

For those that haven’t experienced the wonders of the NSW licensing system, there are four levels of license – learners, red provisional, green provisional, and full. Obtaining a full license takes roughly the same period of time as an undergraduate university degree, but in my opinion still fails to train good drivers. Having driven for more than the required period of time for a full license I didn’t want to drive with unnecessary restrictions.

During my initial enquiry I was told that as I had previously held a NSW driving license, my time driving in Sweden did not count. Thus I would be returned to the red provisional license I held prior to moving to Sweden.

In other words, if I had never got my NSW drivers licence, I would be issued a full license. But as I held a red provisional red before leaving Australia, I would have to return to this level.

I obviously wasn’t happy, and questioned the reasoning. The officer at the RTA told me that I was obviously not able to understand, and asked if I need her supervisor to explain the rules to me. Hoping for a more reasoned discussion, I said yes.

For the next 10 minutes I waited while they reviewed all the paperwork. Mercedes, the supervisor, came and saw me and said the guidelines were unclear what should happen in this situation, but to leave the matter with her and she would call me. In the mean time I should get a translation of my license, which has to come from NSW Government’s Community Relations Commission.

European driving licenses have been designed so that they do not need to be translated. There is a set of standard numbers across the European Union to identify the various bits of data (eg. 1 is surname, 2 is given names). However, for 75 AUD the NSW government takes 14 business days to translate a European license to English. I know someone is being ripped off here …

After two weeks Mercedes called me back. She said she had some luck with the policy review board, and to bring everything in and she would tell me more. After waiting the final couple of days for the NSW Community Relations Commission to do their thing, I put everything together and headed back to the RTA.

Mercedes told me that the policy review board wanted me to go back to my red provisional license, but she was able to successfully argue my case. After paying an additional 157 AUD for a five year license, I was on my way – full license in hand.