We saw Web Baker’s enthusiastic feedback about Daily Notes, about how he turned it into a great Time Management System app and we just have to ask him his thoughts on life, passions and of course, Daily Notes.
Tell us your background.
Spent three years in the Army and achieved the rank of Sargent. After leaving the Army, I got a job at Motorola. At Motorola, I worked in the Printed Wiring Facility, and was promoted to a Process Engineer, in my Senior year at ASU. I retired from Motorola, after (30) years and went to work for Maricopa County Environmental Services. Started out as a Microsoft Access Programmer, helping one Divisions modify/trouble shoot their databases. From there I went into Enforcement for a few years, ending up retiring from Business Services where I worked for and with the best ever people I have ever had the pleasure to work with. I retired from there after (16) years in October 2014.
What hobbies are you into and how did you get into it?
Growing plants, cactus, succulents, euphorbias, and others, about 40 years ago I started growing some small plants in pots. I enjoyed having them around and taking care of them. I currently have (4) plant houses on my property.
Computer programming – I volunteered at the Desert Botanical Gardens, where
I have over 500 hours, half of those doing Microsoft Access Programming for several departments. In the 70’s I started programming in Basic for a Wolf club I belonged to. As technology changed, computers got better and programming languages emerged. I started in APL, then went on to Fortran and settled down on Access.
Photography, my Dads hobby was photography, he even developed his own pictures. I can remember my first film camera and how, as a teenager, enjoyed taking long walks and taking pictures. Now a days, film is pretty much a thing of the past, but it is still used.
Who/What are you passionate about?
I love all my animals and really enjoy spending time with them; plants are are a real passion with me and taking care of them in my plant houses is a very important time for me to relieve some of the daily stress of life. Taking photographs is like capturing life’s random moments in time. Photographs are memories which I don’t ever want to forget. Making up my own potting soil mixtures is very rewarding to me. Part of this is taking a ride to the mountains where I go and get several containers of small gravel and sand. Back home, I have (4) custom screens I’ve made over the years that are used to screen the sand and gravel into several sizes. Those various sizes of gravel are then used in various soil mixtures depending on the plant, plant size, and moisture requirements. Enjoying life and my time here on earth, is most important to me.
What’s a typical day for you?
At my age (69) and no longer being able to get around like I did when I was younger, anything I am able to do is a blessing. Being retired, I do not have a typical day, every day is completely different. Had I still been working, I could answer this question.
When and where did you discover Daily Notes?
I discovered Daily Notes while looking for a Time Management System, in iTunes, in October of 2014.
What was your initial reaction to Daily Notes and what was its main appeal to you?
I was looking for a program that I could keep track of all my daily activities; activities I had planned for tomorrow and activities planned out several months from now. Once I read everything that was available, within the program itself, and actually started testing it out, I realized this was finally the program I have been looking for to replace my paper Time Management System.
How does Daily Notes help you with your daily grind?
The fact that I could keep track of all my daily activities; activities I had planned for tomorrow; a great TASK TAB that kept track of all my tasks if I completed them, if they were over due, if they are due today, or if they were not to be completed until some future date, and I could set Alarms for those more important tasks; Custom Tabs, that is especially nice, because I can customize the program just for me; keeping track of everything needing to be completed on each day of the month; Filters for viewing (like) information that was recorded on various days, is a great feature; every thing about Daily Notes is extremely professionally done.
How do you use it for your everyday work/personal routine?
Now that I am retired, believe it or not, not going to work five days a week, was somewhat unusual to get use to. Keeping track of my daily activities was one way I could gauge my recovery period (when I achieved a normal daily routine, which I am finding out there is no such thing). During this transition period, I discovered other ways I could manipulate this program into other ways of keeping me organized. Just being able to plan things out in the future has been a great assistance, doctor appointments, lab work, dinner engagements, weekly outings, etc.
What kind of notes do you have in Daily Notes?
DAILY JOURNAL (Daily activities), PLANS FOR TOMORROW (future projects this year), PLANT PROJECTS (tracking soil mixtures for various types of plants, plant watering schedule), PLANS FOR TODAY (what I want to accomplish today), and LONG RANGE CALENDAR (activities / projects for next year.
What for you are the most important feature of Daily Notes that just makes things easier?
Being able to have the calendar above my pages, so I can reference back to a particular date is very nice. Having the ability to switch between tabs, for the same date is very important. Viewing data, using the Filters, is extremely helpful.
What are your other favorite apps/programs/gadgets?
Currently, I have 414 apps for my iPhone 6 Plus and iPads. The ones I use the most are “Outliner” is one of my oldest apps which I have yet to find anything better. “ForeFlight” for tracking weather, “Charles Schwab”, “Numbers”, “Pages”, “Microsoft Office Apps”, “Garmin N America”, “Cinemark”, “ESV Bible Study” which contained a vast library of all my Bible Study books, ”PadCad” contains all my construction ideas and projects, “Basic” for writing an Adventure game, “Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary”, just to name a few. Have several cameras and lenses including a Bushnell Game camera that runs 24/7 to take pictures or movies at night.
How would you recommend Daily Notes to other people?
Daily Notes is for everyone, period! Whoever your are, whatever you do, Daily Notes is for you. From taking notes to doing household inventories to planning a speech to helping you plan that project you are current working on to planning your next vacation or outing with family or friends, you can custom design this program just for you!
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