From Slavery to Freedom, PC
Style
By David Shamah, The
The pressure is mounting and the house is a mess, and
I've got one week to go before the crowd comes to fress.
Meanwhile the kids are running underfoot and I'm under so much stress, this is
the wrong week to keep them home from school for a spring recess!
The cleaning seems to be endless, and I haven't even
started thinking about the menu, But I had better
think fast, because next week 25 people are going to descend on this venue. They'll
all be here for the Seder, of course, an annual gathering, a celebration of
freedom for me and you. But it’s a big production, one that to carry out
successfully requires a great deal of ingénue.
The "Festival of Freedom" is an apt name
for this holiday. You have to work so hard to pull it off; working on these
endless chores is drudgery - its slavery, almost certainly, we portray! But on
the big night, when everyone sits down to the grand buffet, it's certain to be
a grand show, a marvelous soiree.
But there's just so much to do! I could use a little
help, but ask these kids to do some work and they start to yelp. Little Irving
and Morris, Shirley and Bella, they’re very sweet kids, but the way they run
when I ask them to put things away or groceries to shlep,
you'd think I was trying to feed them a salad made of kelp!
All day on the Internet, surfing and playing and
downloading MP3s galore - compared to all that fun, obviously getting ready for
the holiday is a bore. Getting them to vacuum, wash windows, and straighten up
closets is like going to war, meanwhile I'm stuck with all the work – and boy,
are my arms sore!
I need help – I need them to work! Without some
assistance, when the guests come I am going to end up looking like a jerk. I've
tried to convince them to help, promising a reward and a perk. But so far, the
duties I have assigned them they simply shirk.
What I need is a system, a way to keep track of their
doings. This way, I can make sure they do their chores properly, the execution
of which I will be constantly reviewing. I am sure that once I implement my
system, complaints they will be spewing. But I don't care – if these kids don't
get off their backsides and work, they can be sure there will be trouble
brewing.
I need some to keep tabs on them, to make sure that
to a task schedule they keep, whether they are assigned a task major or minor, like
which floor they need to sweep. I'm no ogre – I'm not looking to turn them into
robots, or simple working sheep; I want them to enjoy their vacation, but
without their help in cleaning, the chometz and
garbage are just going to stay in one big heap!
So, surfing the Internet looking for a scheduling
program to install – you know I always turn to my computer first, it really
does it all – I found a program that would make sure the kids stay on the ball,
letting the family on Seder night stand tall.
What it comes down to, in my opinion, is ensuring
that there is clear communication, making sure everyone knows what to do is
likely to cut down on frustration. And with MediaBee,
the program I discovered, organization is a vocation. When it comes to
organizing tasks and assignments to get ready for Pesach, this app is a
sensation!
MediaBee is an organizer, which can run on one
computer, or within a home network, on many. This program has many features to
help organize tasks, whether one or twenty. For assignments that need to be
carried out, confusion there will not be any. And the best thing about MediaBee is that it doesn't cost a penny!
MediaBee lets you set up a scheduler, where you
assign all family members a task
Whether its shopping or
cleaning, or washing dishes and flasks. It's got an automatic reminder system,
so you remember to nudge and ask whether they've done their work, or whether
their laziness they're trying to mask.
You can sent out reminder messages (e-mail and even
cell phone, in certain places), and make sure all tasks synchronize. There is
also a progress bar, so if a kid does their work conscientiously, they can get
a prize. For each task you insert information, like if to finish the job you
need any supplies; with this system, you make sure that getting tasks done on
time is something everyone tries.
You can classify tasks by any number ways, whether by
people or responsibilities or hours and days. Color-coding is another tool that
will catch everyone's gaze, when they check out the MediaBee
assignment list, there will be no doubt as to what
assignments their task list portrays.
In a sense, MediaBee is
like a calendar you put on the wall, like those big assignment grids you find
in schools, in the hall. Its main tools ensure that when it comes to their
tasks, no one has the opportunity to stall; and it’s a lot neater and far more
efficient that a notepad, or some other reminder pad
on which information you would scrawl.
But MediaBee has many other
uses – like keeping tabs on assignments teachers give the kids, and measure the
progress of the work that they did. This way, you make sure they stay ahead,
that their grades don't begin to skid, so that they don’t get detention or even
left back, G-d forbid!
It's also good for group leaders, or for folks who
need to get together, to meet. You can set your agenda, and make sure it isn't
incomplete. That's because you can collaborate on the agenda with others by
publicly publishing it on the Internet – no small feat. Running a meeting using
a tool like this is not a chore, it's a treat!
Besides organization, MediaBee
has some other useful and fun features too, like letting you see the local
weather (works for
You can also subscribe to news and other
goodies (via RSS) and interesting photos from various sites, providing one and
all with visual delights. But all the while, MediaBee
does not forget what it does best and what it does right – giving you a handle
on what everyone is up to, and making sure they carry out their assignments,
helping you out with your planning plight.
So does it work, you ask? How will my Seder
go? Will it be a flop, or a dog and pony show? Of course I can't predict the
future – that no one can know. MediaBee, however has had
one positive effect, though.
Instead of arguing over who needs to do what,
like I was trying to make them unfairly wash extra pots, the kids gather round
the PC to compare notes, to see whom, when it comes to tasks, is coming out
tops. What a great system this is – I hope it never stops!
MediaBee requires Windows 2000 or XP. Download it for
free from http://mediabee.com.
NOTE: In last week's discussion of the Gimp
photo editing program, I mentioned that the one disadvantage of the program for
those used to Adobe Photoshop was the unfamiliar interface in the Gimp.
However, these is a useful tool that can help make the Gimp more user-friendly
for PS users, and that's GimpShop, which will reorganize menus and tools to look
more like what you'd expect from the Adobe program. Unlike PS, though, GimpShop – as well as the Gimp itself – is free! Download GimpShop from http://plasticbugs.com (download links are on
the middle of this page). For Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
ds@newzgeek.com