Let me just say, I know I've been bubbling to friends, family, and ... well ... the whole Twitterverse about how excited I am to go to the SharePoint Conference next week. But seriously, when the sessions were finally released and I was able to log-in and start building my own personal agenda ... I thought I had died and gone to SPfangirl heaven. On first pass I quite literally had some time slots with 4-5 sessions I wanted to sit in. It took days and the advice (and gentle ...um... "prodding") of coworkers and SP-sympathetic friends to decide what I am going to attend in person as opposed to what I will be listening to digitally in the wee hours of the nights following conference close.

Without further ado, I have pasted my chosen sessions and evening events below for all those who asked. w00t - just a few more days ... ! ugh, now I have to figure out what to pack =/

So when I bought my new car I signed up for new car insurance - at the time I gathered quotes from a few different companies and settled on Progressive. One of the reasons I made that decision (apart from the slightly lower rate) was their website, another reason was their cutesy commercials, and lastly - their TripSense (now myRate) program. Basically, you sign up for the discount with your policy - plug this little device they mail you in to your car's computer - and start raking in the discounts (provided you have good driving habits). Okay, the discount was appealing (starts off @ 5% and based on my driving so far will build to 10% at next renewal) - but also the ability to be able to log on to a website and view all the details of my trips. I get that that's weird ... it's a little big brother ... but I can actually compare myself to the "avg myRate user". Here is a screenshot, as you can see I drive a lot less (and better!) than the norm. A+ me =)


... I guess had the results been different I might not be singing praises ... but whatevs.

Progressive myRate Program Blog

So ... I have been taking a break from tweeting for awhile now, focusing on the important work of making connections with all my facebook friends, or whatever. Actually, I kind of put twitter on pause for awhile because I was having difficulty with the constant influx of information. I'm not talking about the "just made a peanut butter sandwich" kind of info, the kind that actually benefits me. That and I have to admit that when celebrities and tv shows and other people with not too much to say started hyping Twitter as "the next big thing" it kind of lost something for me. Regardless, it was too much and I wasn't in the place where I could gracefully and efficiently consume it.

Anyways, I'm considering slowing lifting my finger from the STOP button and entering back into the Twitterverse - I'll be checking out different apps and add-ins, etc to figure out what way I want to get my info out of Twitter - but to kick it off right I decide to run some Tweetstats... turns out my top words are "sharepoint" "day" "work" "time" and "good". No big surprise there ... maybe a little hooked on phonics but what do you expect? Big step up from the last time I took a look @ my Tweet Cloud and discovered that I say my own name more than anything else =/

So yah, see you on Twitter (maybe) feel free to give me a follow ... if you want to hear me talk about My Day at Work Spending all my Time being Good at SharePoint. w0rd.

tweetstats / cloud generated from the TweetStats website

This post is going to be short and sweet, I just wanted to point out the cuteness that is the way Free/Busy info is presented to you when you utilize the "Scheduling" button in the ribbon of a calendar appointment. I love how the little nits (knits?) I used to have about moving around in Outlook have almost all been addressed in this version.

Previously, when scheduling a meeting you could jump to the free/busy info to view your invitees availability ... but, even if you had access to view their calendar appts you would have to hover over the appt or right click - open to actually see some details. That's important to me since I make a habit of stepping on folk's "unimportant" meeting conflicts =)

This ties to my previous post as well pointing out that Outlook2010 has made it easier to view folk's free/busy info without having to crack open a meeting occurrence.

I'm telling yah, all these seconds I am regaining in my calendaring processes are going to add up ... and I guess give me more time to post to my blog? Or eat lunch. One of those things. hmmm.

*Be an AA (Administrative Assistant), not be in AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) ... not that there is anything wrong with AA, but it doesn't have anything to do with Outlook 2010... at least not that I have noticed yet.*

So yah, for ya'll who actually know me in real life you are undoubtedly well informed of my pull herself from her bootstraps, coming of age, me against the world career climb. The one that started in the mean streets of Administrative Assistant-dom and eventually (with the help of a friend called SharePoint and -admittedly- an extremely tolerant boss / IT Director) ended me in the illustrious roll of SA (SharePoint Administrator - soon to be real live Systems Administrator). That was dramatic, I realize, but if you could crack open my brain and take a look inside (and brains were more like treasure chests of thoughts, feeling, and memories and less like bowls of gooey spaghetti) it is that story you would see - so deal! eek - blog ADD strikes again.

The whole point of that was to let ya'll know that scheduling meetings used to be my life ... it isn't now (thank goodness), but calendaring efficiency is still extremely close to my heart.

This post focuses a bit on the scheduling goodies offered by Outlook 2010. Okay, MS marketing blurb excerpt first.

Lucky for me we do utilize Exchange Server @ my company, however, it's Exchange 2003 so we're missing out on a few of the options ... but I won't complain too much (at least not in this post) because the features that are available make me happy enough that complaining isn't necessary (yet.)

Look and Feel meh ... it's grey ... I'm sure I can change the color scheme - but who cares. What is intriguing is the ribbon (I know there are a lot of people who had a heart attack when the ribbon showed up in Office 2007 - but I liked it, always have, and I'm glad it's permeated all the 2010 product). One thing I've noticed is that I believe the ribbon is now more intuitive, I'll focus on that more in my Word and PowerPoint posts, but so far I'm not doing nearly as much hunt-and-pecking as I did when I started using Office 2007. And don't say it's because I'm so used to the ribbon with Office07, because it's changed, dangit.

Now the first thing I noticed about calendaring in 2010 is that some of the calendar groups I had created previously (that vanished a few months back in that special magical way things seem to vanish in Outlook from time to time) are now back. For serious, the calendar groups and all the calendars I put in them appeared for me. In addition, there is now a heading for my Team (all the peeps exchange knows report up to my bossman), and a heading for "Shared Calendars" (the couple of peeps who have explicitly given me view permissions to their calendars). See screenshot to get an idea of what I'm working with.


So all that is nice, we already know how much I like it when Outlook gets smart and does stuff for me... but check out what happens when I actually select one of the groupings. For fun, I'll select the group created for my team ... why you ask? Well, because there is only one person on that listing who actually shares his calendar with me, the rest I don't even have read access to. In past versions of Outlook, if I tried to open one of their calendars I would get a nasty pop-up saying I don't have access or the calendar can't be found or some such, and do I want to let them know I am engaging in professional stalkering by sending them a sharing request. Truth being, I don't care what the actual appointments say, I just want to know if they are busy or out of the office - without having to add them to a meeting request and then hit the scheduling tab. *deep breath*

So check the screen shot, it took about 10 seconds to populate this view and you can see clearly who is here and who isn't ... who's busy, etc - you can even see the appointments that are actually shared with me. And using some of the big knobby Fisher Price buttons in the ribbon I can interact super easily ... like by choosing "New Meeting With All". The sad thing about the meeting scheduling is that (I'm assuming because of our version of Exchange) I can't seem to use the "Meeting Suggestions" taskpane that is newly available in Outlook 2010 when I launch a new appointment. I'll find out the reasons why for sure and post back on it.

There are other things I already know I will love - like the option to email my calendar, which allows me to (with a click of a knobby button) to email a lovely listing of my free/busy/available slots. I will post on that feature specifically in the future, but I want to get editor access to another calendar before I do ... because I would love to be able to say calendar delegates (like an Admin Assistant) will be able to send their bosses availability to others. I can't say that though until I see it with my own eyes - so for now, let's just be excited about the features above.

So, I want to call out a lovely little feature in Outlook 2010 that has already improved my productivity after just a couple days usage. I've been applying GTD (David Allen's Getting Things Done) principals to my work/life management for a few months now. Of course, as an avid Outlook user (see previous posts on my journey with Taking Back My Life w/ Outlook 2007) one of the most important techniques I learned through GTD has been helping me manage my inbox / tasks / calendar. For me, there have been some minor hiccups in bending Outlook functionality to what I need to accomplish when processing my inbox. Mainly, when I receive email that needs to be turned into a task (which of course, unless it takes less than 3 minutes to deal with, it will end up in my tasks as a next action or a project) – Outlook lets me drag the email into tasks, but I still have to take the extra step to delete the email. And yah, it's a small thing … but when you are processing hundreds of emails at a time it adds up … and frankly, the extra step is annoying – so there.

Well, Outlook 2010 has addressed mini-workflow processes like that with one of their new features, Quick Steps. The little marketing blurb is below – as you can see it's a pretty flexible feature … and it's super easy to do. They even (of course) start you out with some suggested Quick Steps like "Forward to Manager" and "Send Email to Team". I love it when the tool is smart enough to use the directory information to know who manages you and who you work with … I mean, duh, right? Use the info that's there, software – make my life easier!

From within the Outlook ribbon – expand the My Quick Steps area and click "New Quick Step – New Custom Pick from List of All Actions" … building your little mini-macro is as easy as naming the Quick step and clicking your way to happiness. Press "Create" and you're done … easy peasy.

My new step is now easily accessible and with a single mouse-click I can create a task and delete the email all in one swoop. So yes, Outlook 2010 … a thumbs up for productivity ;P

Yes, lovelies - your Angi has *finally* been recognized by the mothership. A couple of months earlier I had filled out the application form for the Office 2010 technical beta ... taking special care to point out the fact that I am a professional Office component evangelist (SharePoint Admin ;p) ... and that I would be talking about my experiences and giving lots of feedback ... and so on. So, when I received the email inviting me into the program I was ... well ... I admit it, overcome. I immediately told my work friends, and posted to my FB ... and made my pc inoperable for an hour while I installed my first pass at the available downloads.

So, as I type, I am smiling lovingly at Outlook 2010 (sadly, due to an insane week, I've not had a chance to do much more than type in stsadm commands and answer email). But again, I babble. The point of this heralding blog post is this ... I have something to frickin talk about for a change. And so I will. (also, we are allowed to - which I was waiting to get thumbs up on ... not willing to risk having my beautiful prize yanked away from me).

Flickr Photo Download: my (angirankin's) tweetcloud

well, it is official ... myself, sharepoint, work, and samnagle are my most tweet-worthy topics. Is that a cause for concern do you think??? hey, ya'll, angirankin rocks - you should follow her on Twitter if you want to learn ... more about angirankin. =P

Windows Mobile 6.1 – New Windows Mobile Software for Pocket PC and Smartphone

If I haven't made it clear enough thus far in my previous blog posts, I have a strong overwhelming desire to acquire new technology on a consistently regular basis. When I am forced to trudge along with the same laptop, mobile device, or mp3 hardware for over a month I get itchy ... 2 months and I start surfing CNET with drool running down my face ... 3 months and I can barely function for the green-eyed monster I become looking @ my coworkers new MacBook Air or iPhone.

There was a time when I replaced my mobile device every other month on average (timeline below spans about 9 months) :

• Device #1 / Motorola Razr: dropped in toilet
• Device #2 / Blackberry 7290: replaced after a month (became obsessed with a Sidekick)
  
• Device #3 / Sidekick: replaced after 2 months (Sidekick 2 released)
• Device #4 / Sidekick 2: covered with swarovski crystals (shut up peanut gallery), replaced after 2 months because it couldn't receive corporate email
• Device #5 / Blackberry 8700g: sensible device (tool not a toy), got bored after 1 month and upon my new obsession with TBYL w/ Outlook 2007 (made weak explanation that I needed a Windows Mobile 6 device to fully adopt the principles of the book)
• Device #6 / T-Mobile Wing w. Windows Mobile 6: This was one of the first Windows Mobile 6 devices and I have had it for about 3-4 months. It is slow. It is clunky. The battery life sucks. And I am B-O-R-E-D with it.

So the mobile device dude @ work had pretty much convinced me to return to Blackberry ... when I caught the news that Windows Mobile 6.1 is released... the website promises an easier and faster interface. And I realize it's just a .1 upgrade ... and the promised features/upgrades aren't all that fantastic, but it will justify (at least in my mind) getting a new device ... and we won't be able to get corporate email on iPhones until at least July (if even then)... so let's see, if I get a new Windows Mobile 6.1 device in the next month, I will be totes ready for something new again come July / August.

Perfect! Review of whatever I get pending =P

Time for a TBYL check-in ... see, I refuse to leave you hanging out there wondering if maybe I am keeping up on things, or if maybe I'm not ... I have committed to seeing this through and therefore I gift you with a view of my awesome inbox:



yah ... so as you can see indicated by the 140 emails in my inbox (including 32 unread messages) ... as well as my bright red tasks (that means overdue =) ... I have not completely kept up on the TBYL principals, however, I am doing better! Perhaps real changes in my life need to be reached after long winding roads where I make small gains and have the occasional set back. hmmm ... that could be an angirankin life lesson (will have to think on that).

Needless to say, the image above was my "before" as of 3:11pm on 3/30/08. And below is my "after" as of 3:31pm ... a whole lot less email and a whole lot more tasks.



And here, my friends - is what my calendar for the week now looks like (I dutifully booked out time to attend to my major strategic next actions).



And now, 3 hours later - I am proud to say that I just addressed my inbox again and it is still gloriously empty.... however, I did not address about 8 of my assigned SNAs for today - so it may be time to revisit how much care I am putting into scheduling out my time to complete the individual actions.*smile*

Finally released from lock down, thanks to BiggestFan for the head's up that my SL Blog is available once again (yah, duh, Blogger - I am not a spammer - eesh).

Anyways, I published the draft posts I had from the last week ... and some of them are way long and rambleee so if you go there make sure you bring to cup of coffee and like I dunno a game of mahjong or something to entertain yourself.

word-life-son.

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Goodreads | it's what your friends are reading!

Woot! Always on the look-out for something new to scope on the web (not new to the web, but new to me) ... I just came across a site that combines two of my loves: online social networking and books. goodreads is a site where you (and your friends) can share recommendations, ratings, and reviews of books you have read or are going to read. Using the super simple "bookshelf" tools you can also save books to your "to-read" shelf as a way to organize what you want to crack open next. Recommendations are made to you based on the books you have read/rated - and of course you can add friends to your list based on similar likes/dislikes.

I like to think of this site as an online book club without the commitment or the requirement to invite people to your house =) ... so far I don't have any friends so if you join, add me! (wow that sounded a lil desperate ...)

Well, our return train trip wasn't quite as eventful as the outbound trip, but while my daughter watched a movie I allowed my thoughts to drift back to my conversation with SquarePants on the way to Seattle a few days ago. Blerg ... as always, dwelling on what is past - I am beating myself up about not getting some kind of copy of the letter that went with SquarePant's Mobility Package.

I have been putting some thought into it and I think there were some misses on that letter, but it could be that I just skimmed over them because they are so obvious.

• IM
• Online Networking Sites (SP? Facebook?) / presence management
• Conferencing Information (Audio / web)

So if I were to build the perfect Mobility Package I think it would consist of the following:

• Blackberry 8830 World Edition / Verizon Business Service w/ unlimited text, international calling, and unlimited data
  
• yes - I would choose a Blackberry, I have had multiple Blackberrys and multiple Windows Mobile Devices ... if I had it to do all over again in a corporate environment it would be crackberry all the way. That said, if an iPhone were currently viable in corporate land I would fully toss one of those in there - because then the new employees would know how dang cool our company was.
  
• IBM Thinkpad
• rugged and reliable (as a person who has dropped her share of laptops, IBMs stand up to the klutz test)
• w/ wireless broadband card
  
• Software Authentication VPN Access (no need to carry a stupid token)
• Corporate Instant Messaging ... MSN Messenger
• If the company uses MS office suite, I would encourage use of the integrated messenger service for presence management
  
• Twitter
  
• okay, I really want to say Facebook here ... for community networking and status updates, but I am going out on a limb and saying just use Twitter. Twitter is tons lighter, and much faster. I know it isn't all the rage yet, but I have a feeling it will be ....
• Audio / Web Conferencing: Integrated into IM?
• You know, ideally all 3 - IM, micro-blogging, and audio/web conferencing would be presented in a single package - but nothing too heavy or expensive. I am not an expert on this by any means so instead I will just say that it is a worthwhile concept.

Okay, so those are the things I would suggest for a mobility package, as well as links to training resources (online) and also the dreaded printed hand outs for initial configuration. At the training resource online location I would also set the frameworks for community user groups, so that employees using the tools could showcase what they do for others. It would be a place where new employees could get help or utilization ideas.

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sigh - my other blog is still locked down, what's the dealio Blogger???

Hello Ya'll ... I guess I knew yesterday when I posted that I might be away for a few days thatI wouldn't be able to stick to it =P

Besides, in our grand travels from P-Town to Seattle I had a topical conversation for this blog. As luck would have it, my daughter and I ended up sitting across from a suited guy who was extremely harassed and distracted by the multiple beeps and buzzes emitting from various parts of his body. In addition, he had forgotten his power adapter for his laptop and I was kind enough to offer my own (oh Dell, your adapters are so compatible). So turns out this dude ... let's call him SquarePants ... just got a job @ a large company based out of Seattle (company shall remain nameless). On his first day he was given what they called his "Mobility Package" and was told that it was his responsibility to utilize those tools to be 100% accessible at all times. I am not sure if this was an exaggeration on his part, but he seemed panicked enough about it that I tend to believe it is true.

What Is A Mobility Package???
Always the inquiring mind, I asked if I could take a look @ this alleged technological leash ... he said sure, and maybe I could answer some questions for him. Not feeling entirely confident that I was the correct person for that job I asked him if he was directed to anyone @ the company who could help train him or get him setup using these tools. "No" he said ... as he handed me a sheet of paper and said "Read this". Okay, first of all, I was soooo tempted to snap a pic of the stuff he showed me, but I didn't want to put him in a weird spot so you will just have to put your imagination hats on and use my imagery.

Welcome Letter
Wow, what a welcome ... I don't have it verbatim by any means but generally it was as follows:

"Welcome to XXXXX,

Enclosed you will find the following:

• Blackberry Mobile Device & Manual (device and service chosen based on your company role)
• Device: Blackberry World Edition 8830
• Plan: Verizon Enterprise Corporate Voice & Data (Int'l Included)
  
• Notebook Computer & Mobile Accesories
• Dell Latitude D630
• Wireless Broadband Access Card
  

Passwords (it is your responsibility to change your initial passwords):

• BIOS: XXXXX
• Network Username &  password:XXXXX / XXXXX
• SalesForce: XXXXX
• .. there were some others I can't remember ..

Please be sure to acclimate yourself with these tools as soon as possible, if you have any trouble setting up your device please contact the Technical Help Center: XXXX."

Um, okay - not so welcoming ... but also not so confusing, and I pointed out that there was a number to what I assume is a Help Desk. He said he doesn't feel comfortable calling them, because he has a problem that he thinks might be stupid. erm ... okay ... what is your problem? Well, apparently he can't even log into the laptop to do anything - and he is afraid that if he keeps trying he will lock himself out. wow ... pressure! In actuality, the issue was pretty easily solved - he had forgotten to choose the domain when he entered his username and password ... I (kindly, I think) pointed out that they really didn't call that out in the letter, and maybe he should give them that feedback. (uh - yah right).

So now he can get into his laptop - yay! Problem number two is that he has never seen a Broadband Access Card, and had no idea what to do with it. It occurred to me @ this point that this clearly intelligent guy was just plain in technology overload ... I mean, the thing came with software to install (I did wonder why that wasn't done in advance by IT - but whatevs) ... and after we got the sw installed it pretty much worked with no problems.

After that, I showed SquarePants some random Blackberry tips (he claims he has been functioning up until how in corporate land without one) and then I turned his Blackberry to vibrate ... because at that point even my daughter was getting irritated by the noise. He pulled out the source of the other beeping noise and it was ... omg ... and actual PAGER ... a two-tone green on green pager! And he uses it for personal communication, eesh. Okay, so then it dawned on me that SquarePants was probably an exception ... where as originally I was forming this whole diatribe in my mind about how his company is really handicapping their new employees by not giving them more of a training session with their "mobility package" ... now some of that edge is off.

BUT - it did get my mind percolating ... memo to self: future blog post: if I were to equip a new employee to be fully mobile, how would I do it ... and where to the boundaries of being corporate "accessible" end and stepping into personal life infringement begin.

off to conquer the space needle (eep - fear o' heights, check!)
boo-tothe-yah. angirankin - OUT!

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Anyone who knows me IRL has probably at some point heard me extol the virtues of Facebook and Twitter while smacking down the lameness of myspace. Why you ask? Well, many many reasons - but I am not ashamed to admit that at some point in the last year or so I realized that myspace is just ... out (no offense myspacers). That is not to say that I don't have presence on myspace, 'cause I do - but I never go to it. In fact, I have a note on my myspace that if you want to keep up with me you should go check me out on Facebook or follow me on Twitter. yah. Okay, that was just some necessary backstory (why is there always backstory with me???)

Anywho, I manage my Facebook and Twitter the exact same way I managed my myspace, the ppl I am "friends" with are ppl that I actually know or have some kind of real interest in following. I have family, friends, and (overwhelmingly) work and other professional contacts. It has been fairly easy to keep my friends list controlled in that way, with the exception of two adds I made through SecondLife (college frat boys) ... but, afterall, it is the exceptions that make the rule. So this last week, all the sudden, I started getting a ton of random friend requests ... well not completely random, I did actually know these ppl to some extent ... old old friends from middle/high school and former coworkers ... even a guy I had a date with when I was in college (but as I recall he got wasted and ended up falling into a pool). So, this leaves me at a cross roads I had not yet encountered using Facebook - you see, when I used myspace I would constantly get friend requests from people I could barely remember, and most often I would ignore them altogether so that I wouldn't have to stretch to remember our history. I do not need over 150 friends online to justify my worth as a human, so there was never much of a temptation to accept their adds.

So Why Do I Feel Conflicted?
So this is weird, but for some reason I have a crazy compulsion in Facebook to accept all the add requests I receive ... maybe it is because I like watching my newsfeed and seeing that random dude from SL uploaded some drunken party pics. Or maybe it's that I want to see which Lost character that chick I met @ the SP Conference turns out to be... okay, not that one - I actually hate those random lame applications (so please stop asking me to be part of your "gang" or vampire "clan" or whatever). But regardless, I see my Facebook network growing at a fairly consistent rate.

My Facebook Friends Block



Eep - and then I found "People You May Know" ... yah, so ... all the sudden I am getting suggested peeps that I may know, and out of every 10 I seem to actually know one! Like this dude that I went to Middle School with, who hasn't changed a bit - and I remember him so I sent him a request. Then, I see a guy I had a crush on and this female who was really weird then and, based on her profile pic, looks really weird now. I did not send either of them a request ... but I have to admit, I am really tempted.

People I May Know Suggestions (out of 15 I actually know 4)


Facebook's goes hyper-viral with 'People You May Know' | Outside the Lines - CNET News.com

What does this mean? Am I becoming one of "those people" who I used to make fun of? I dunno ... but, er, if you are interested in keeping up with my status feel free to add me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter. hee hee.

heehee. working is making my brain numb, but I came across this sweet t-shirt @ the Feed Store and it made me smile. Why? That's for me to know and you to go crazy wondering about.

Feed Store :: Corporate blogs STILL suck




ps> for those in the know - I am jk.