Backpack for note taking (with minimal page use)

A while ago I came across this nice article about how to use Backpack for taking notes in school. The post is greatly informative and I learned loads from it, but my (and many other’s) complaint are the great amount of pages one would use in using this method. Theoretically, each day means a new page. If you have more than one class a day, we are talking several pages a day. In a few short weeks, you’ll be looking a quite a few pages and be moving toward the high-dollar Backpack account. For the power note taker, I guess this would be a great idea. However, I only take around 30 lines of notes a class. Instead of re-writing pagini’s article on how to use Backpack for notes, I will just add a few short points for those using it the minimalist way.

• Instead of doing a new page for each day, try breaking it down into each section of the book or class. For instance, in my English class we focus primarily on certain novels which take around 2-3 weeks each. I create a new Backpack page for A Raisin in the Sun and keep all my notes related to that book as well as lists for homework and other things to do with the book. I also keep links to Sparknotes and other helpful reference material. In other situations, you can break it down into chapters of the textbook, certain information material, or major test. Whatever way you choose…
• Instead of having a class master page, I just made my homepage the way pagini suggested (with the schedule) and added one note for each class. Then under the note I would add all the material needed for the class. Works great as I don’t have too much information for each class page. If you or I had any more I guess a full page for the class would be the most reasonable solution.
• Don’t keep the pages forever! I keep a nice three-ring binder labeled “Old Backpack Notes”. Whenever I am finished with the material I have in Backpack, I email the page to myself and print it out. I use dividers to keep everything together, and it frees up space. I do tend to keep the pages in Backpack for a few weeks even if I am not using it, just in case. You can also easily re-add the information into Backpack if need be by just creating the page again and emailing the self-sent email back to your secret address.
• Finally, if a project is too big (i.e. thesis papers, large reports, etc.) keep them in a separate page. Generally, I classify “big” as including more than two other pages (for instance, two books), having it’s only calendar in Backpack, or taking a pretty long while to complete.

Alright! Of course, this isn’t dogmatic and is just the way I use Backpack for my schoolin’. Let me know what you think and mix stuff up to create your own method. Cheers pagini and Backpack!

Ten Applications I am looking at right now…

1. Yojimbo

2. Backpack

3. OmniOutliner

4. Cocoalicious

5. Bloglines

6. MAMP

7. Xchat-Aqua

8. Firefox

9.  MediaWiki

10. VooDoo Pad Lite

Ruby on Rails => My New Girlfriend

Ruby on Rails is fantastic. That’s probably the greatest way to describe it. For years, I have stuck my nose briefly into about every programming language known to nerd, starting with Python and ending in Objective-C. Ruby was found somewhere in there, a long time ago. After each and every failure, I usually respond to the situation by promising myself to never program (or try to program) again. But this is different. I have always claimed to hate Web apps, swearing by NetNewsWire and Mail.app rather than Newsgator and Gmail. There’s just something about Ruby that I always liked, and I love Backpack. What makes it great is it’s simplicity–something the Mac usually leads the race in.

I started my little adventure by roaming around the net like Babe the pig in the big city, and then I came across the Rails website. Hmmm, how great. But see the problem was, I am lazy. I am too lazy to install MySQL. Too lazy to get PHP to run. Too lazy to update my Ruby distribution, then install Rails…Just lazy. Lazy is a trait of mine. When all hope seemed lost, I came across MAMP, a great little Mac app that runs a MySQL database and Apache server right from within your Applications folder. The thing I love about it is there is almost no configuration, you just hit “Start the Servers!”, and they start! Well, sorta. I fucked around with MySQL for like two hours, and it wouldn’t work. Finally, I rebooted to clear out what processes were running, and sure enough there it went…Now onto Rails!

Rails was pretty easy, too. I went the lazy route again, and found myself another little friend named Locomotive. Locomotive is the exact same thing as MAMP, only it does Rails. They work together well, except for one little thing. Try as I did, I could not get my Rails apps to connect to MySQL server. So, if you have this problem too. Do what I did. Open your app folder, go into config, then open database.yml. In your development setup enter this:

socket: /Applications/MAMP/tmp/mysql/mysql.sock

That took me hours to figure out. I’m an idiot. Anyway, now I am watching videos and reading tutorials, and making all kinds of things. Scaffolding is such a great concept. It really is. Cocoa was great, but Rails has won my heart. Plus, like the dudes from SubEthaEdit, the developers have German accents. And everyone knows Germans kick ass. Literally.