Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with scheduling

Help my computer become strict and overbearing.

mammary16 — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:56:34 -0800

I'm looking for special task-scheduling software, and am looking for suggestions. Lately I've been setting small daily goals for myself - twenty minutes to study Esperanto, twenty minutes to learn a song on guitar, twenty minutes to perform a discrete work task, etc., and am really starting to believe that the less time I give myself for a task the better I perform.

I remember studying for the GRE, and the software I used included a "virtual proctor", instructing me at different points to end or begin a section. Does something like that exist for everyday life?

As such, I'm looking for a program which I can use to micro-schedule my day, with special alarms at specific times (1:10, 1:20, 1:50), etc. Ideally, the alarms would also display the task to be performed. Even better, I'd like something that reads aloud the text I've entered for that alarm. That way, a computer voice could cue me for my next task!

I've seen a few examples of this sort of thing online, but I thought I'd ask you all if you have a particular program you like, isn't very demanding on system resources, and (possibly) has the extra functions I've mentioned above.

Thanks!

Scheduling software for tracking field personnel?

ollyoop — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 10:20:38 -0800

Scheduling software for tracking field personnel? I've googled and found several options for tracking shiftwork employees but what I'm really after here is a simple scheduling software package (preferably not in the cloud) that can do the following things:
(1) set up a series of groups (ie. field camps)
(2) assign employees to these groups (ie. project leaders and their assistants)
(3) assign dates to the individual employees (ie. Jim M. is out in the field from July 2 to July 19; Sara H. is out from July 2 to July 15; etc.)

I have tried Google Calendar - I really like the drag and click interface - but I have 40+ people to manage each year.

Any suggestions welcome!

A concert...without fries on it? In Pittsburgh?!

ADoubtfulTrout — Fri, 29 May 2009 15:43:01 -0800

Going to a concert at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Pavilion this Saturday. It starts at 7:00, and it takes about an hour to get there from Shadyside/Oakland. What can we do to eat a tasty dinner? I haven't been to the Post-Gazette Pavillion before, so I don't know if there are good food places there, but from what I've found online, it's overpriced and bleh (standard Pittsburgh fast food fare).

Here's the problem: if the show starts at 7, and I assume that I need to leave 30-40 minutes for parking/getting in/leeway, and it takes me 45 minutes - 1 hour to drive there, then I'm looking at a 5:00-5:30 departure time from Craig St (between U. Pitt and CMU).

Do I...
- Pick up a lunch to go for the pair of us and try to fit it in a 1 gallon clear plastic bag? (recommendations on where to get a bag lunch?)
- Bring food and dine in the car before the concert? (the atmosphere is so...lovely)
- Eat at the Pavilion, braving lines and fast food?
- Eat out near the pavilion? Where is tasty? When is reasonable?

Any other advice for the pavilion (is it the sort of place where you need to get there early? Where getting in/out of the parking lot is nuts? Do they have especially worthwhile beer? Should I watch out for my umbrella/Mefites?)

How do I identify a company that develops online registration/scheduling software?

ewiley28 — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:09:11 -0800

How can I identify software for online registration for soccer training sessions? I'm thinking there are some solutions out there that are basically blackbox that can then be tailored to my site, but I haven't been able to turn them up. I don't want to use just something like regonline.com because I have people signing up for each session and there are dozens of different sessions in a week. I've seen a couple of software programs on website that look like they could work, but I wasn't able to find any information on the development of any of these, so I don't know if they are in-house software or if they are some sort of commercially available product.

Ideally, I would like to be able to show initially two months (current and next) when a person signs in with the date clickable if there are spaces available for them to register that day. Then, by clicking on the date, it would show the specific sessions available. There are 8 sessions most days and can be up to 8 individuals in a session, but the software would need to be able to note when 8 had been met and show that session as not available.

So, how do I go about identify a product that can be used to provide this type of service? I'm thinking that it's probably something that will need some development/tailoring to make fit my needs, but I'm guessing the company that has developed something like this would be designed to handle that.

Scheduling OSX system updates

pompomtom — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:11:54 -0800

How do I specify the time of day of OSX system update downloads? I would like to schedule OSX 10.5 system updates to download all updates at 5am each day (ideally without installing them, but I can probably live with them being installed). The system preference pane allows me to specify daily or weekly, but not to specify what time to perform the download. Can this be done?

Help me help them.

sophist — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 10:33:03 -0800

I need help implementing a fair scheduling system for a time-limited resource. My workplace shares time on an fMRI machine for research between a large number of people. My lab has recently grabbed a consistent block of time (6 hour blocks x 3 days a week x 6 months) and is wondering about the best way to split it up between people. We will end up using more time than this and going outside the reserved blocks, but we also want to make sure that the (6) different groups within our lab (~35 people) get access to time within the block in equal measure. Scheduling and requirements change, so it needs to be flexible. We cannot simply assign equal portions of the blocks to each team, as they all have different needs that change from week to week.

A google calendar has been proposed for keeping track of scheduling, as coding something from scratch will take too much time and many of us already use or sync to google calendar anyway. I'm looking for a way to limit people's ability to grab all of the time right away. Perhaps a lottery or a rotation or opening more of the time as it gets closer, I am not sure. If there is a better free, off the shelf solution than google calendar that will easily solve this problem then I would be open to hearing about it.

How do we make web-based scheduling available to patients?

blueberry — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 22:31:48 -0800

Looking for a way to allow people to schedule their vet appointments via the web. My friend is setting up an animal acupressure business out of her home. While she is like Dr. Doolittle when it comes to animals, she's like John McCain when it comes to HTML.

We want to set up a pretty basic web site for her: main page, FAQs page, maybe a page with how-to-get-here directions... however,

here's the gist of the question:

She would like to have a page with a calendar so that people can see appointment availability and also make appointments via that same page (that is, say a client sees there's an opening from 2pm to 6pm on Tuesday, so they click on something and then are able to make an appointment from 2–3pm). The calendar could show a month or a week at a time, but would need to have a "next week/month" and "previous week/month" so people could schedule weeks/months in advance.

Once clients filled out the "schedule appointment" form
(which would ask for [day/time], name, phone number, email address)
and clicked submit, the schedule calendar would be updated so that that block of time would no longer be shown as available for other people to make appointments.

If it matters. there are only two durations of appointments that would be needed: 90 minutes for new clients, and 60 minutes for previous clients. It would be nice if she could somehow tell the scheduling software that after a 90-minute session, she'll need 30 minutes to take care of all of her notes (so she would be unavailable for other appointments), but maybe that's too intricate and she'll just have to book 2-hour slots and then tell the people that it'll actually only be 90 minutes in-office.

Finally, there are two forms that new clients need to fax in before their appointment (an intake form about their animals various info, and a form that just needs the signature of their veterinarian). I was thinking that it would be good to have an automatic confirmation email go out right after the person makes their appointment—the email would say hello, list their appointment date and time, and include a reminder about the need to fax in the two documents.

Is there some sort of web plug-in or something out there that can do this calendar-scheduling this for her?

Right now she has no web page, so if your suggestion requires something specific ("...Such-And-Such requires that your web host be running Apache v4.3 with the retro-encabulator and prefamulated ammulite..."), please let me know so we can choose the proper hosting place.

Also, she's on a Mac, so if you happen to know of any WYSIWYG web page builders out there that would allow her to easily set up something like this on her own, please throw those suggestions my way too.

So just to recap: web-based calendar/scheduling program that she can embed in a page and doesn't need to touch or fiddle with—just look at to see her schedule.

Thanks in advance!

Web-based appointment scheduler for Exchange?

CrazyGabby — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 07:47:02 -0800

Does anyone know of a web-based appointment scheduler that integrates with Exchange? I have several advisors who see students, and I would like to add a feature to our website to allow students to see available times and schedule an appointment with his/her advisor. We use Exchange, and to really meet my requirements the system would need to integrate directly with an advisor's calendar, or at the very least allow an appointment to come through as a "proposal" that the advisor could then save directly to his/her calendar.

The closest I have found so far is this. Overall it looks ideal, but it only does RSS feeds and/or import of calendar data. However, it should give a good overview of what I'm looking for.

If a solution doesn't already exist, does anyone know if it's even possible to build something like this? Or is Exchange too locked down?

Thanks in advance!

Don't forget your massage, redux

goshling — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 03:07:33 -0800

So, I may have found a solution to this issue, but I'd like some input from those of you with greater insight into internet security & privacy issues. I had a few hours to spare on Thursday, due to a no-show appointment and I found myself looking at online scheduling applications. I managed to find one that is both free and works for Australians, so I've been noodling around with it a bit and while it's not perfect, it seems quite usable.

The site is www.clickbook.net

I'm curious as to how they fund this application and make a living.

More important, is it secure? Can I trust the developer to be not evil and to be good enough at securing their data?

Their FAQ contains a lot of silly typos, which makes one wonder about their general sloppiness, and is also a concern as my calendar on their site represents my business.

They are getting a list of my clients names, mobile phone numbers (maybe landlines) and email addresses, no mailing addresses, DOB or credit card info or anything else. How would you feel about this as a client?
Benefit to client: seeing my schedule & booking when it is convenient, reminders via email and/or SMS so they don't miss their appointment and make me sad and I charge them for the time they missed.
Benefit to me: clients can see my schedule online, so can see that I am not answering the phone because I am with a client (my receptionist only works limited hours each day). If I am unable to answer the phone, someone could book themselves into the next available slot. Auto email/SMS reminders a day or so in advance that include a disclaimer that missed appts may be charged a fee, thus making them responsible for not showing up and making me feel unguilty(yes, I just made that up) when I tell them they need to pay me for the missed session.

I want a seamless solution to scheduling & reminders, and I want me & my clients to feel secure that all data is safe & secure

Is www.clickbook.net it, or do I run away?

Nifty scheduling/scripting tips?

d. z. wang — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 16:15:06 -0800

Nifty scheduling/scripting tips? See this recurring calendar events thread for an example. Or, a cronjob that prints out the day's weather, output from remind, and a to-do list just before I wake up. Or David Seah's Compact Calendar. Don't be fooled by the categorization. This doesn't have to be techy. And if you know of a calendar program that runs in text-mode on *NIX, uses vi-like keybindings, looks like the Compact Calendar, accepts scripting like remind, and produces pretty printouts---well, I might just squeal like a girl.

How can I get my calendar and my task list to play nice with each other?

shallowcenter — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:22:10 -0800

My calendar and my task list aren't playing nicely together. Freelancers, how do you manage your schedule and your to-dos so that you can visit clients, conduct interviews, and get the work done? I'm looking to you guys to help me get unstuck. It's not so much a procrastination issue as it is figuring out how the hell to stop overscheduling myself.

My workload consists mostly of small to mid-size projects with numerous, generally tight deadlines. Each week I project out for the next week the tasks I need to get done: interviews of sources, research for stories and projects, and then the actual writing. The problem? Unless it's an actual appointment -- a phone interview, say, or a client visit -- I don't allot time to do these tasks.

So I'll tell myself that on Friday I need to write x, but then on Monday I set up a couple of interviews for Friday for project y because, hey, there's nothing on my calendar for that day! Then all of the sudden I do the interviews Friday and realize I have insufficient time to get x done.

So how do you manage your time, your workflow, your calendar, and your task list to ensure you're not always playing catch-up? Do you slot a specific amount of time to actually do you work and treat it as a sacrosanct appointment that cannot be infringed upon? Something else? Tell me the secret, oh wise, productive ones!

What is the most streamlined and effective way to use Sharepoint to track and manage events?

thewrongparty — Mon, 12 May 2008 09:04:59 -0800

Hello, cat-herding, project management expert mefites! Please help me figure out the most streamlined and effective way to use Sharepoint to track and manage events. I work at a non-profit currently going through some growing pains. We added more people to our education department and are taking on much more work than in the past. We are updating our systems to manage that work. The chosen system, by managerial fiat, is Sharepoint. The additional work that I am responsible for is the management of our outside speaking engagements.

Here is what the tracking of a typical speaking engagement entails:

*We are hired to speak at someone else’s event, so I need to gather all the details of their conference (due dates, location, agenda)

*Set up all of the travel arrangements & accommodations for the speakers (our staff)

*Set and meet lots of deadlines, different for each event (Oh, I wish this was automated somehow. Since I manually add these to people’s calendars, it’s like I need reminders to add reminders)

*Make sure everyone on both ends understands what is going on, has all of their materials, the final versions of presentations, etc.

*Be able to quickly and easily report on the status of each several events that are all at different stages – what’s due when, what is missing, what the different players need to do, what’s been completed, what’s been discussed between various players.

I don’t really come from a meeting planner/events management background and struggle a bit (okay, a lot) with time management. I feel like there must be a simple strategy to get a handle on this stuff beyond the one used by the staff member who used to do this. She just kept everything neatly filed and scheduled in her brain. My brain lacks that feature; I need something external.

I have been told that I make things way too complicated and I agree. I have been using this ugly access database as glorified checklist, loose pieces of paper with scribbled notes, and flagged outlook emails. This non-system system is a big FAIL in many ways too boring to go into detail. Also, the outside speaking engagements are only one of many projects I am keeping track of in my department and it really gets in the way of completing other things, so that’s another issue.

So, I am writing this because I thought some input from experts might help me figure out if some of the ideas I’ve come up with to transition all of this from my current method of operation to Sharepoint were off track and the beginning of another ineffective mess.

Also, yes, I realize that the ineffective mess in this scenario may primarily be me and a new system won't really make a difference. I’m a bit embarrassed to admit how much I’ve been befuddled by all of this, so yay for the anonymity of the tubes.

I don’t want to make this question even more long and boring, so I’ll pop in and answer your questions if this is all too vague…

You need concentwation.

Saxon Kane — Sun, 11 May 2008 20:26:53 -0800

How do you develop focus, drive, and personal discipline? Hi there. I'm looking for advice -- both psychological/philosophical and practical -- on how to develop my sense of personal discipline.

There are a number of areas of my life in which I feel like a stronger sense of focus and drive would really improve my performance and make me a happier & more productive person.

In particular, my work. I'm a PhD student, just getting into the dissertation phase. I do a lot of reading, writing, research, and grading. Often, I procrastinate (especially on the writing/grading), leaving things until the last minute. I usually perform pretty well under pressure, but I do often get the sense that I'm not performing up to my level of capability. And, in terms of grading, I feel like I don't give my students all that they deserve. When I read papers, I get easily distracted after 1 or 2 essays, and my comments become vague and not too helpful. Inevitably, I'm left with 15 papers left the day before I've promised to give them back, and I rush through them and the students don't get a lot of great feedback or help for their next project. I'd like to be able to focus more when doing my research; instead of reading for 30-45 minutes, then taking an hour break, I want to spend more time really focusing on the texts and getting a lot out of them. I'd also like to be able to get into a habit of writing regularly, and not having to churn out 20 pages in a night.

Other issues include things like working out regularly, sticking to a healthy diet, and just getting out of bed in the morning when I need to rather than hitting the snooze button 10 times.

Practical advice is welcome, of course, but I have tried many things like to-do lists and setting aside certain times during the day for specific tasks. I guess that I need a way to ingrain a sense of focus and discipline into my psyche. If any of you have had particular success it going from slacker to champ, please let me know.

Scheduling a 1-time future job in OSX?

aberrant — Sun, 11 May 2008 04:17:24 -0800

Mac OS X (Leopard): at(1) replacement? I need to run a shell script, once, at a specified time in the future (ideally, I'd like to be able to specify "X minutes from now, do this", equivalent to "at now+X minutes").

However, at(1) is broken on OS X (and it's not just because atrun is disabled: at's got some serious time conversion errors) and I can't figure out how to do this via launchd.

Running 10.5.2 if it makes a difference.

Short of using sleep, is there an easy way to queue jobs up for future processing but make it so that the job is only run once, then dequeued/deleted?

I want my four day work week back!

desjardins — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:56:08 -0800

I need to make a case to higher management to move to four-day work weeks for our department. They're already sold on the "soft benefits" (less commuting, improved morale, greater efficiency), but they're concerned about having enough coverage on the weekends. What's the best way to figure out the logistics? The department is ~50 people, split roughly evenly into three teams. Currently, we work five 8 hour days, Monday - Friday, and every four weeks we work a weekend day (we are off Friday of that week, so it still adds up to 40 hours worked). We rotate betwen Saturdays and Sundays, so for example, I worked last Sunday, and four weeks from now, I will work on Saturday. Each team needs at least one member to work on the weekend. Plus, every person needs to be here on the same day of the week so we can have a departmental meeting.

Ignoring people's personal preferences for the moment, how can I structure this? My initial instinct is to make a list of employees in an Excel sheet, with days as columns, and block off hypothetical schedules. We want everyone working Monday - Thursday or Tuesday - Friday (because no one will want to work Saturday - Tuesday) and to work a weekend day every four weeks as in the current system. Is Excel the best way to handle this?

My SQL/PHP shareware programs for tracking projects?

gov_moonbeam — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:12:26 -0800

Moving an Excel spreadsheet schedule into MySQL/PHP The group I work for keeps a getting too big to navigate Excel spreadsheet of all of th projects we're currently working on. Other groups in the department need to start getting access to this information (currently on a network drive), so I'm looking into tools for putting it up on the Intranet.

My thinking is that it's not representing actual processes/projects, so tools like MS Project or ActiveCollab would be overkill. We just need a nice basic web accessible database. Other groups use MySQL/PHP shareware for their projects, so I'm on the lookout for something similar. All it needs to track is the project name, person in the department responsible for it, chargeback #, & deadline date. Pretty simple metadata fields. We're a small part of the larger overall process, so it doesn't need to be a formal Project Management tool.

I'm pretty sure our IT department would want something off the shelf instead of requesting custom development work, so I'm looking for any shareware products that might meet our needs and be acceptable for IT.

Who goes when?

pearlybob — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:36:54 -0800

How can we fairly split a vacation home between two families? We have just purchased a vacation home with another family. We are going to set up a Google Calendar to schedule the time that each family uses it.. Basically, we takes turns. They get a week, we get a week. The weekends included. That is easy. The problem comes in when we are trying to divide up the summer holidays. Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day. These are holidays when everybody wants to go and take friends and we need to find a system that works. I have some ideas but I want to see if you guys can give me some better ones. What is the best way to share? What is the most fair to everyone? Any and all ideas appreciated.

Naps: better late than never?

Shepherd — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:57:37 -0800

Can I nap in the evening without screwing up regular sleep? Making a long schedule short: up at 5 a.m., personal projects and phone with long-distance fiancée until I walk to work at 7:30; work until 5 p.m., walk home and arrive 6 p.m. for exercise, dinner, and more personal project stuff, bed by around 10 p.m.

I get reeeeal draggy in the evenings, though; planned exercise is getting rather spotty because I don't have the energy, work on long-term projects is shoved aside in favour of sitting glassy-eyed in front of the computer, etc.

I've thought about napping, but it's not really possible during my lunch hour, and the best time would be from 6:15-6:30 p.m. or something similar. But I have a fuzzy idea that this is too late in the day to nap, it will destroy my sleep cycles, etc. I have searched around a bit, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of solid information on when you can nap.

baseball software for kickball?

thecjm — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:30:20 -0800

I'm organizing a kickball league this summer and am looking for a good windows-based freeware/shareware baseball scheduling program. I'm looking for a scheduling program that offers schedule generation for multiple locations, standings tracking and html output. We're not keeping individual statistics so that's not a priority. Any suggestions?

Is there a way to use a google calendar and outlook exchange without completely mixing the two and can they be synced differently on different computers?

D Wiz — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 07:12:43 -0800

Is there a way to use a google calendar and outlook exchange without completely mixing the two and can they be synced differently on different computers? I have a work computer and a home computer (both Windows XP). At home I use google calendar. At work they use outlook exchange. I am now in the market for a PDA phone. I am looking at both WM6 Pro and Palm. I will probably end up with the palm but I am not sure at the moment. (I have unlimited data on my phone if that makes a difference.) Ok... those are all the background details.

Here is the question: I want the PDA to only partially sync with my work computer and completely sync with my home computer. Meaning I want my calendar/schedule from work to upload to the PDA but I don't want my personal address book or other information to be saved to the work computer. At the same time, when I sync at home, I want my personal calendar on the PDA also. I want both calendars to be visible on the PDA but when I go back and sync it at work, I don't want my personal calendar to be synced with my office computer. Is there a way to do this? Can calendars be kept separately? Also, to do this, is it preferable to use WM over Palm OS or vice versa?

Project Management Software For Frequently Changing Variables

salvia — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 13:07:56 -0800

It's time for yet another round of "What is the best project management software!" Come meet the final contestants. Particularly if you have used Microsoft Project or Open Workbench. I'm trying to figure out the best project management software. Microsoft Project, OpenWorkbench, and dotproject are the ones that have been recommended to me. Or something else? (Basecamp is out. We need Gantt charts.)

We have multiple projects with short- and long-term deadlines, all drawing on the same pool of staff members (and possibly additional staff).

The projects have lots of variables. Most tasks could be done to 98% perfection or 30% perfection, most tasks could be done faster if we threw money at them, and most projects have some "black box" phases where we don't know what we'll do or how long it will take (we can't even figure that out until X or Y happens).

Our best guesses about these variables change all the time, so I find myself repeatedly mapping out short- and long-term milestones, what tasks are involved, how long they will take, who could do them, and what the weekly schedule would then end up being to meet (or miss) the various deadlines.

I'd love to have a robust system that could automate calculations and let me play around with scenarios. What will happen if I do Task A the 2-week way or the 3-month way? How much extra help would I need to meet X deadline vs. Y deadline? How much sooner would we finish if we added entry-level staff, or more experienced staff (with the default being that I do everything myself)?

If you've used this software and have an opinion about which is best, I'd love to hear it. Microsoft Project looks like it'll do what we want. (I haven't yet figured out how to get Project to assign a task to "Person A if available, or if not, then Person B.") Or is there something with the same features as Project but with better algorithms for figuring out who is going to do the work as the number of staff assigned to the project shifts around? OpenWorkbench claims it has superior "resource leveling" and "auto-scheduling" -- do you think this is true? And is the learning curve much steeper?

Details: I'm running Windows XP. Something that allowed multiple people (all on our network) to work on the project planning files would be nice, but this is not a requirement. (An additional issue is that one or two of those potential people are on Macs, but my first priority is just getting something that works well.)

How do split personalities synch their calendars and e-mail?

shallowcenter — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 10:11:40 -0800

Posting on behalf of Mrs. Shallow Center: I've started a new job and am going crazy trying to create a system to help me manage my multiple e-mail accounts, calendars, and hardware. Here are the facts:

* I spend most of my time at my client's location, where I have my own workspace and desktop PC (owned by the client). I also have my own e-mail account on the client's domain. Most of my clients e-mail me at this account. I also use this account to maintain a calendar to schedule meetings through Scheduler.

* I also have my own company's laptop at my workspace, which I use to access my e-mail and calendar from my own company's account. I receive a fair amount of e-mail at this account. I can only use dial-up with my laptop, and it is painful. The company has wireless access, but they won't let outsiders use it with "non-client" hardware.

* I do have a company BlackBerry, but my workspace is in somewhat of a "dead" zone, and I get e-mail and calls only intermittently. I have got a Verizon wireless card on order, but I fear this won't work from my location.

* I can access my client e-mail account through the Internet via webmail.

Any ideas -- technical or manual -- to help me keep things organized and work more efficiently? Thanks!

How Can I Create A Work Schedule Program?

miltoncat — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 07:02:55 -0800

Need advice on how to make a work schedule... possibly writing a program? I'm a school librarian. I have to make a new schedule every month for classes to come visit the library. I have to work these classes around not only myself, but the classes' lunch times, PE classes, music classes, etc.

As of now I have the school lunch schedule on one sheet, other classes on another, etc. Long story short, it takes me 2,000 years to plan a schedule every month. (Also other things come up such as field trips, etc. that I have to work around.)

So. Is there a simpler, technology-based way to do this? I was thinking a basic program that has all the info in it that would show a conflict as I go along (It would need to be a VERY basic program, as I'm computer savvy but know very little about programming). I'm not limiting myself to just this avenue... I'm open to any suggestion, as long as I can do it on a computer. I have access to all MS Office apps.

How much free time do you get each day??

katala — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 19:32:11 -0800

How much free time do you get each day?? Please help out a curious bunny :) I'm currently re-organising my daily schedule and want to work out how much free time other people have each day (on average) to help me with my own schedule. If you're interested please post here and tell me:

How much free time YOU personally get each day, measured in hours
"Free time" = the kind of time that's entirely yours to curl up with a good book, work on a hobby, spend time with your family, read your favorite websites, etc. Things you have to, or should, do (work / exercise / cooking / cleaning / organising) don't count.

Please also post a little about your current situation such as:

- How many hours a week you work on average
- Whether you freelance / work from home, or work in an office
- Whether you have children or not
- Whether you outsource things like housework / cooking, or if you do this yourself
- Anything else you think might be relevant or interesting

A very big THANK YOU in advance :)! And I will be checking this thread so please let me know if you have any questions.

Where can I find a calendar with group user sharing options?

leptin — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 18:36:00 -0800

Where can I find a web-based/cross-platform calendar that would allow a group of people to add events, but not modify other people's? I am looking for a solution for our workplace where there is equipment scheduling involved, but currently gCal allows only 2 levels of sharing: either a read-only option, or the ability to edit everything, which is undesirable because of the risk of people deleting others off and putting their own names instead. (The honor system is currently what's keeping things going, but the operation may expand so it is not sustainable.) Thank you very much for your help!