Several things that have made my life easier this week:
Google 411 - It’s like 411, but free. That alone is enough to love it. The downside is that it’s automated, so there is some amount of trial and error. Still, save this number in your cell phone, you’ll thank me - 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411).
Jott - “Jott converts your voice into emails, text messages, reminders, lists and appointments.” I don’t use this service nearly as much as I should. But for those times when I’m driving down the road and think “oh crap, I should do that tomorrow”, I call Jott and say “Do (that) tomorrow” and it sends me an email. If I tell it to remind me tomorrow, it will send me an email immediately, AND (are you ready) text me tomorrow. For real.
Knife Sharpening Services - Jef and I have been complaining about our dull kitchen knives for about a year now, but this week they got dangerous. Cutting boneless chicken breast should not involve picking up the knife and pounding it into the cutting board. I finally took the them to a knife store and they sharpened the whole block for $25!
Massage Therapy Internship Clinics - There is a massage therapy school here in Austin, the Lauterstein Conway School, and their Internship clinic offers 1-hour massages for $35! Love that.
To quote their website “These appointments are with students completing their state-mandated 50-hour supervised internship. The interns have had introductory training in sports massage and are qualified to do pregnancy massage, but are not trained in Deep Massage (or Deep Tissue). For specific requests such as attention to injuries or for Deep Massage, we will refer you to professional massage in our Graduate Clinic.”
July 9th, 2008 at 7:23 am
You should try 1-800-411-SAVE, I don’t know what company provides this service but my professor told us about it last week and I love it. It’s free directory assitance provided by LIVE people not machines. The service is great and they even connect your call for free.
July 9th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Jott is going to save my life and possibly others (so I don’t crash while driving). Thanks for sharing.
Did you upgrade the massage to the deep tissue? I need that aspect and wondered if they charged more.
July 9th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Justin - Thanks for the heads up on 411-SAVE, I’ll definitely check it out.
Joe - I love Jott! It’s not perfect, since it’s a machine translating your voice. I used it about 10 minutes ago, and said the word “arf” in a note (I work for a company called “Bulldog Solutions”, the word comes up), and it heard “Marsh” - but it’s close enough for a reminder. As for the massage therapy school - I have gone to the graduate clinic one time, and honestly… I didn’t notice a big difference. I wasn’t looking for deep tissue though, so I probably wasn’t a good candidate for the upgrade. It is more expensive - $50 per session and tipping is encouraged (the regular intern clinic is $35 and no tipping).