/home/brad

I’ve finally found what I’ve been looking for as far as notes / organization at work goes. I discovered org-mode for Emacs while I was researching and testing some ways to keep me organized. I had gone the wiki route previously, but I found that the dependency of a database and browser just didn’t suit my “have it when / where I need it” ideals. Sometimes, I have to log into my work machine from home, and forwarding my X display can be painful. Since a lot of the time I was using Lynx to view pages anyway, I figured I would opt for a more text-based approach. I’ll go into how I’m using org-mode, but for further information, please check out the website.

Timesheets
I have to keep track of time I spend working on various things. Usually I used a pad and paper for this, but a lot of the time I don’t want to have to stop, write something down, then jump back. I have a timesheet.org file open in Emacs during the day so that I can switch to the buffer and enter my time. I use one headline per week, and create a table for the time. It works out nicely because now I have one file with my timesheets. I started this about a week or two ago, but I have no plans of entering all of my old time here.

Scripts, Utilities and others
Throughout the course of the day, I’m using a lot of different tools to get my work done. Sometimes I’ll discover something new and helpful and I’ll want to keep the command around for future use. For that, I have a scripts.org file to keep things organized. For customer information, right now I have one big customers file, but I think I’m going to start splitting that out into separate files soon.

The thing I really like about org-mode is being able to collapse the various levels. It keeps the information I don’t need right now out of my way while at the same time keeping everything in text form, so I can read it anywhere. I know I’m not harnessing the full power of this mode, but it fits my needs and perhaps it might fit someone else’s needs out there as well.

I’ve covered some very basic things up to this point, and really, that’s all I’ve needed to use Emacs in my daily workflow. I’ve not really dug deep into any of the special modes available, with the exception of the modes that load based on filetype. For the most part, the modes don’t offer anything special to this newbie, but one thing that annoys me is the auto-indentation. I haven’t had a chance to research the fix for that yet, but by default I don’t want any auto-indentation to occur. I’m sure it’s probably a few simple lines added to my .emacs and I’ll have what I need. Speaking of .emacs, and my cheatsheet, I’ve installed a wiki so I can keep things that evolve, such as my cheatsheet in one place. I’ll work on putting my .emacs online as well shortly, so people can point and laugh at it. :) But, at this point, I can safely say that I can navigate around and edit pretty easily, at a basic level.

What’s next on my Emacs plate? Well, I’d really like to figure out a way to log notes / time spent on tickets at work. Currently the ole pen and pad method are what I use to do this. Ideally I’d like to be able to set something up to ask me for a ticket number and then open a new file based on that. I’m sure there’s a way to script it, I just have to sit down and research it. That would resolve the note portion of the problem, but then comes the time tracking. I suppose I could whip up a small spreadsheet or something to keep it electronic as well, or check out one of the numerous time tracking apps out there, but what would really help is something that would keep everything in one place. There might be something out there, there might not be. I’ll have to search around and find it.