I just love stuff like this

The PocketMod is a little eight-page booklet for you to customize, print and fold. I just made one for my up-coming San Antonio trip that includes my emergency contact information, flight schedules, hotel name and number, plus a couple of lined pages for taking notes, a couple of pages of check book register to keep track of my finances, and a sudoku game. The software isn't without its glitches just yet; the text I entered into the blank custom page showed up on screen but didn't print and I had to use a work-around. Still, I'm going to keep a close eye on it; it's useful as can be. I'd recommend using CutePDF to print to a file so you can double check your print-out before wasting paper.

By way of LifeHacker.

Happy Birthday, Charles

Today is Darwin Day, commemorating the birthday and celebrating the life and achievements of one of the most influential biological scientists in history. Expect a lot of hoopla next year, which will mark both the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Robert Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of the Species.

I also wanted to write about a nifty service offered by the Blue Ocean Institute, through which you can text message their "fish phone" and instantly receive a reply as to the sustainability of the fish you are considering. However, it doesn't seem to work from my phone, which is probably Cincinnati Bell's fault. Then again, maybe the number was overwhelmed by the fact it was mentioned in the New York Times today and collapsed under the strain. I'll try it again in a few days. Meanwhile, I'll keep carrying the little wallet card I downloaded from the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program. I learned about the fish phone from Mark Bittmans's excellent food blog Bitten.

Jotting Notes

Well, the ice storm didn't pan out at all. All my neighborhood got was loads of cold rain, which was enough to make me stay home today. I futzed around the apartment all day, occupying myself with reading, laundry, cleaning and making a kick-ass pot of cranberry bean and tomatillo soup.

I also signed up with Jott.com today and spent some time learning how to use it. I'm quite taken with it so far. I call the Jott number from my cell phone and from there I can send myself reminders (it texts a message back fifteen minutes before the due time), send events to Google Calendar and send to-do list items to Remember the Milk. I can also send a message to Blogger and Jott will transcribe and post it. The voice recognition seems to work really well. I can't figure out why this is a free service, but I'm not complaining.

Map My Run

I've been playing around with a website I stumbled upon and it's fun. MapMyRun is a tool mostly for runners, but it's quite useful for dog walkers and hikers as well. Bascially, you pull up a map of the location you want to chart, put in your markers and the site calculates the distance. Pretty cool, eh?

I've included a map I whipped up (in about three minutes) of Eden Park. I'm not sure if the distance takes into account elevation or if it is "as the crow flies." To the FAQmobile, Robin!