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Walking away...
Jan. 6th, 2007 08:06 pmI've gotten pretty good at thinking over purchases and concluding, before going to the checkout, that some fairly large number of them aren't really necessary. Among other things, Galina and I have cut our eating out almost to nil, today's foray at the Phơ Hoang on Bay Area being the first time since our return from Colorado. And then today, at the Office Depot, I decided to put a number of things back on the shelf, as they really won't help me chase the elusive butterfly of O (as in "organization").
I probably should have walked by the Invoice Manager by Intuit, too, as it turns out. Then again, maybe I can put it to use.
As is the case with a lot of software out there, it turns out that Invoice Manager gives you fairly limited options with regard to layout of invoices and the information that is reflected in them. I got a good start with the program this morning, until Galina and I decided to go out and visit garage sales, and then did a few more tweaks after we got back, so that at least for now, I was satisfied with how my invoices look (even if they aren't quite as explanatory as I'd like). The next step was, of course, to get the invoices to my clients...
I haven't actually sent, as in snail mail, an invoice in years, so I was looking forward to using the email feature of the software, until it became clear that the program is designed to send invoices through the Intuit servers! Now, there was a dialong box that popped up on the screen to say, among other things, that the only information Intuit captures when an invoice is sent is who it's from and who it's going to, but in my experience, problems don't tend to crop up when people follow the rules, but when they don't. ("Tend" is the key word there, as it is indeed possible to design systems that are brain dead at birth.) A line about surface composition of the road to hell comes to mind in this context.
Moreover, as we seem to be hurtling with abandon toward a society where everyone snoops - or can - on everyone else (and Uncle Sugar assumes the role of head snoop), I'm not exactly excited at the prospect of Intuit - or a rogue employee, or someone with skillz - figuring out who my clients are and further, how much money changes hands between us.
But it turns out the program comes with no way to save individual invoice files (though what is emailed from the Intuit server is a PDF), so the choice would seem to be either send a printed invoice or have Intuit send a PDF. I fixed the problem - I think - by downloading PDF Creator from SourceForge, so that now, I can print-to-PDF instead of relying on a network pipe that makes me intrinsically uncomfortable.
Natalie called around 6 pm, indicating she'd be down at about 7. She called again at 7:10 pm from a tapioca tea place not far from where she lives, asking what flavor I want. At any rate, she's is knocking on the door as I type, so I will cut this post short.
Cheers...
I probably should have walked by the Invoice Manager by Intuit, too, as it turns out. Then again, maybe I can put it to use.
As is the case with a lot of software out there, it turns out that Invoice Manager gives you fairly limited options with regard to layout of invoices and the information that is reflected in them. I got a good start with the program this morning, until Galina and I decided to go out and visit garage sales, and then did a few more tweaks after we got back, so that at least for now, I was satisfied with how my invoices look (even if they aren't quite as explanatory as I'd like). The next step was, of course, to get the invoices to my clients...
I haven't actually sent, as in snail mail, an invoice in years, so I was looking forward to using the email feature of the software, until it became clear that the program is designed to send invoices through the Intuit servers! Now, there was a dialong box that popped up on the screen to say, among other things, that the only information Intuit captures when an invoice is sent is who it's from and who it's going to, but in my experience, problems don't tend to crop up when people follow the rules, but when they don't. ("Tend" is the key word there, as it is indeed possible to design systems that are brain dead at birth.) A line about surface composition of the road to hell comes to mind in this context.
Moreover, as we seem to be hurtling with abandon toward a society where everyone snoops - or can - on everyone else (and Uncle Sugar assumes the role of head snoop), I'm not exactly excited at the prospect of Intuit - or a rogue employee, or someone with skillz - figuring out who my clients are and further, how much money changes hands between us.
But it turns out the program comes with no way to save individual invoice files (though what is emailed from the Intuit server is a PDF), so the choice would seem to be either send a printed invoice or have Intuit send a PDF. I fixed the problem - I think - by downloading PDF Creator from SourceForge, so that now, I can print-to-PDF instead of relying on a network pipe that makes me intrinsically uncomfortable.
Natalie called around 6 pm, indicating she'd be down at about 7. She called again at 7:10 pm from a tapioca tea place not far from where she lives, asking what flavor I want. At any rate, she's is knocking on the door as I type, so I will cut this post short.
Cheers...
