Getting More Things Done

While running at the gym today I had a burst of inspiration.

Actually, that's not entirely true.

Inspiration generally arrives for me after perspiration, not during it. I had finished showering and was towelling off when I had my idea. Maybe I should have done a Greek and run out yelling 'Eureka!' but the people of Hong Kong aren't enthusiastic about public nudity, and having had my exercise for the day, another run was out of the question.

It's rather inconvenient that I only seem to get inspiration when naked and soaking wet. Oh well, at least I know what my muse is...

Anyway, a bit of tinkering with a prototype in a spreadsheet, a hamfisted attempt to write a page of code, and a two minute call to a hairy man in Folkestone later, my Get [More] Things Done! Tool was ready.

I like to see it as a distillation of all the useful advice people have doled out on the internet about Getting Things Done, making yourself rich, being a more productive member of society and so on. I'm in awe of such types. I'm definitely not taking the piss.

OK, it probably is a little bit insincere, but you should have come to expect that. And instead of you having to wade through a two hundred page book to glean a trite observation like "buy low, sell high", I'm giving it to you straight. And providing tips on efficient multi-tasking too.

Mind you, some people love to be told in great detail how clever and special the author is (and by extension the reader) so perhaps I should spew something more here.

I also have a few bugs in the code - it's meant to give you investment tips, but although it will tell you when to buy or sell shares, it won't say what in, which is quite unhelpful. But then if you're taking investment advice from my gibberish-bot, well... This should be fixed by the end of the week though. Better to get it rushed out there than not there at all, eh?

So as another month rushes towards me, I realise I haven't got round to finishing the second version of the Automatic Comedian. I did think of putting out v1.5 as a stopgap (it's modelled on a different comedian and might be easier to create), but perhaps that's next week's project...