Nagel Family Website

Just wanted to write a quick tech-tip…

I have a Moto Q, which is notorious for having a short-lived battery charge time. I have a desk charger at my desk, but when it’s sitting next to me all night long, it’s not charging. Then I wake up in the morning and, if I was using it the night before, the battery is crying for help.

Well, I took the USB cable (which I don’t use) and plugged it into my Tivo. Then I can charge my phone using power via the USB cable from the Tivo.

In the living room, I have a notebook cooling pad under the Tivo, again plugged into the USB port in the back. If they’re there, put them to use!

This entry was posted by Eric on Friday, April 4th, 2008 at 3:58 pm and is filed under Technology, Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Easter’s here… and that means coloring eggs. I always liked eating hard boiled eggs, but never liked removing the shell. It always seemed that it’d crack into a thousand little pieces, and it’d take me 10 minutes to clean an egg that takes me < 1 minute to eat.

Then I started steaming my eggs, and what a difference! We have an Oster Food Steamer which comes with an egg tray just for this purpose (we all know eggs come in dozens, so why does the egg tray hold 8???). Just fill the bottom with water and set the timer for about 13 minutes. Let the eggs cool a bit then put back in the ‘fridge. When you’re ready for an egg, crack all the way around the middle (around the equator of the egg) and the shell practically pulls off in 2 big pieces.

So there you have it: steam your eggs, and you won’t be swearing at thousands of pieces of eggshell this Easter.

This entry was posted by Eric on Saturday, March 22nd, 2008 at 2:15 pm and is filed under Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Here’s a tip for you: stop IMing your buddies your passwords!

Well, duh. Why would anyone do this in the first place? Because sometimes you’ll be typing in your password and hit “Enter” then look up and realize your buddy IMed you just before you started typing, so you typed your password into the reply and sent it to him.

How do you stop from doing that? Well, you could learn how to type without looking at the keyboard (including special characters), or, when you’re ready to submit your password, use the mouse and click the button, rather than hitting enter.

It won’t help you Linux-folk who think the world should be green text on a black background, but for anyone using a GUI, this tip will prevent you from having to change your password to your bank account, after explaining to your co-worker what your contribution to the conversation really meant…

Co-worker: Hey, did you finish the report for the Peterson project?
You: loverboy69
Co-worker: What???
You: uh… I’m wrapping it up now.
Co-worker: OK, lover boy.

This entry was posted by Eric on Thursday, January 17th, 2008 at 11:14 am and is filed under Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

My buddy Steve Poland has this notebook that’s always with him. He must be on volume 2 or 3 by now, but because he has self-diagnosed adult ADD, he needs this notebook to jot down his ideas as they spring into his mind. Lately, I’ve been thinking of things, but not able to remember them later on. For example, I thought of something I wanted to add to my list of 2008 goals, but now I can’t remember it (oh, now I remember - I want to blog 5 times a week. More on this later).

I also want to start taking notes as I read more. I just started The Millionaire Next Door and have already found a few things to take from the opening pages. So I found an old notebook, ripped out the useless pages, and started jotting down notes, quotes, formulas and other bits of useful information. I simply titled the page in my notebook, and when I jot something down, include the page number.

I’ll eventually have pages for just about everything in my life that I’m constantly thinking about: home improvements, finances, Cub Scouts, etc. I just have to remember to keep this book with me at all times, as my mind is constantly racing. I’ve heard coffee has something to do with this, but when I can only get 6 hours of sleep / night, I can’t give up coffee.

Now it’s time to start a draft post about The Millionaire Next Door and transfer some of my notes in there.

This entry was posted by Eric on Thursday, January 3rd, 2008 at 9:26 am and is filed under Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

DirecTV has this offer for a $25 Target gift card if you sign-up for Starz for 2 months (at $12 / month). So add Starz for 2 months, pay $24, cancel, and get your $25 gift card. Woo-hoo!

This entry was posted by Eric on Tuesday, October 16th, 2007 at 1:13 pm and is filed under Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Lifehacker just reported How to Crack a “Master Lock” Combination Lock but the instructions given (on wikiHow) are very complicated. Here’s how I do it:

1. Reset the lock by turning it numerous times to the right
2. The first number must be passed twice before you stop on it, but the first time you pass the number, you’ll hear a click. So move slowly to the left, and listen for the click. When you hear it, look at the lock and that’s your first number. Now keep going, pass it one more time, then stop on the number the second time around.
3. Time to go the other way… same trick. Go slowly, listen for the click, and that’s your second number. Keep going once around this time, and stop on the number.
4. There’s no special technique for guessing the third number, but finding it is a synch. Just pull on the lock each time you get to a new number. With 40 numbers on a lock, it won’t take long ’til you pop the lock open

My three steps seem easier than wikiHow’s 11, plus there’s no math involved Please use this for good, and not evil. Maybe someday I’ll post a video, or even post a video of how to use a credit card to pop a door lock open, but that’s dangerous knowledge.

This entry was posted by Eric on Tuesday, September 18th, 2007 at 6:06 pm and is filed under Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.