I am kidding myself! This is not working!
I tried to install some windows updates, searching it on Microsoft's website. No way I can get to the information I need without search engine.
I tried to find a phone number of a company's local office, tried to look for it on their website, cannot. I have to google.
So my day proved that my idea of not using search engine is impossible.
I am setting up new rules:
(1) using search engine only after I can not figure it out with my brain after 5 minutes.
(2) blocking news and some discuss forums I often check during the day.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
100 days without Search Engines - day 1
Motivation:
Tired of the endless searching without using my memory, or spending 80% of time searching, without in-depth thinking, I've decided to try to live a hundred days without search engine, yes, no google, no bing, the only exception is specialized acadamic searching tools.
Rules:
When a question in work or research pops up, I am going to rely only on textbooks, electronic books, manuals, asking collegues or experts, then wikipedia. (Wiki is a great tool, but sometimes, it still provides 'too much' information than necessary, and leave me very little time to think or solve a problem myself. But for now I will have it on parole)
Day 1:
I need my bank's statement. OK, I usually type the name of the bank in search engine and search, no, I can not do that now. My bank is Chevy Chase Bank, so, is it 'www.chevychase.com'? I typed it, no (OMG, I have never memorized my bank's website name!!!), now try 'www.chevychasebank.com', 'Bingo!' To avoid forget it again, I created a folder called Person in my favorite menu, and bookmarked this page. I customize the bookmark, so I can use the hint to remember my ID and PW. Why? I usually use three different user names, and 5 different combination of PWs, which are 15 different combinations. (Do I want to do it, no. This is often because of the specific sign-in requirements of a website: the first must be a capital letter, it can not be your name, etc... So at the end of the book mark name, I typed A1, which means ID type A (from A, B, and C), PW type 1(from 1~5). Then I did the same for all the other personal website including credit cards, banks, youtube, etc. Wow, I am feeling organized!
I was able to handle most of the task without much struggling today. The only thing that cost me sometime was a USGS tool called Weasel GIS. I tried to find the tool from the USGS main page. But after about navigating on this site for 10 minutes, I had to give up and used the search tool on USGS main page (powered by google). I considered this half-cheating.
Well, still, I found myself quite focused and organized. The cons are that I may have spent a bit more time navigating on a certain website, or spent time on guessing a website name. But hopefully that guessing process will cut down when I orgnanize them into the favorite folder and getting familiar with my most visited sites.
Tired of the endless searching without using my memory, or spending 80% of time searching, without in-depth thinking, I've decided to try to live a hundred days without search engine, yes, no google, no bing, the only exception is specialized acadamic searching tools.
Rules:
When a question in work or research pops up, I am going to rely only on textbooks, electronic books, manuals, asking collegues or experts, then wikipedia. (Wiki is a great tool, but sometimes, it still provides 'too much' information than necessary, and leave me very little time to think or solve a problem myself. But for now I will have it on parole)
Day 1:
I need my bank's statement. OK, I usually type the name of the bank in search engine and search, no, I can not do that now. My bank is Chevy Chase Bank, so, is it 'www.chevychase.com'? I typed it, no (OMG, I have never memorized my bank's website name!!!), now try 'www.chevychasebank.com', 'Bingo!' To avoid forget it again, I created a folder called Person in my favorite menu, and bookmarked this page. I customize the bookmark, so I can use the hint to remember my ID and PW. Why? I usually use three different user names, and 5 different combination of PWs, which are 15 different combinations. (Do I want to do it, no. This is often because of the specific sign-in requirements of a website: the first must be a capital letter, it can not be your name, etc... So at the end of the book mark name, I typed A1, which means ID type A (from A, B, and C), PW type 1(from 1~5). Then I did the same for all the other personal website including credit cards, banks, youtube, etc. Wow, I am feeling organized!
I was able to handle most of the task without much struggling today. The only thing that cost me sometime was a USGS tool called Weasel GIS. I tried to find the tool from the USGS main page. But after about navigating on this site for 10 minutes, I had to give up and used the search tool on USGS main page (powered by google). I considered this half-cheating.
Well, still, I found myself quite focused and organized. The cons are that I may have spent a bit more time navigating on a certain website, or spent time on guessing a website name. But hopefully that guessing process will cut down when I orgnanize them into the favorite folder and getting familiar with my most visited sites.
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