More Useful Quicksilver Triggers (with a dash of Automator)

After reading
Lifehacker's excellent ideas for Quicsilver triggers , I decided to come up with a few of my own that were inspired by the post.

Of the 9 posted on the site, the one I found the most useful was the trigger that moved an application to the applications folder.



From there I decided that there were 3 other places that I moved files to regularly.
These were:
Documents,
School Documents
Trash

I made the same basic set up and used Ctrl-alt-cmd + D, S, and T respectively.

I also realized that this setup would be great to move various files and text clippings to my Inbox to be processed later.

A while ago, about six months after getting my laptop, I set up an Automator application called "Launcher" that just launches all the tedious applications that I like to use without thinking about whether they are active or not. These include: Activity Monitor, an iTunes controller, a multiple desktop controller and more. The benefit to doing this is that when logging into my computer, it isn't slowed down by trying to launch everything at once (due to the fact that Automator waits for one action to be finished before starting another, e.g.: series v. parallel)



Thus I created one last trigger: Cmd-alt-ctrl + L to launch these with one keystroke.

Finally, I created a trigger to print out certain items in a folder I have cleverly titled: To Print.
I did this by first creating an Automator application titled: Print which consists of two parts

1) Get Specified Finder Items (Done by just dragging the folder into the workflow)

2) Print Finder Items (found under Finder actions)



I think that at school I will end up using this application/trigger to print off my homework and my daily agenda every morning so that it is ready to go when I wake up.

What interesting triggers have you come up with that you use frequently?

My attempt at GTD

Like everyone else on the face of the planet, I keep stumbling across GTD pretty much everywhere I go. While getting the Book seems like the obvious solution, due to my local library's short supply, it seems that I will not be renting it anytime soon. (However, I am planning to perhaps buy the book this week if it will really change my life as so many claim) Fortunately, thanks to the miracle that is the Internet, I have managed to scrape up several bits and pieces of this "GTD" philosophy.

I have tried to put what I have learned into practice over the course of the summer, but since I have been on vacation, I have not really had any major tasks to track. Even so, the idea of dumping all the ideas in your brain into an inbox has come to be incredibly useful (what I know about GTD can be summarized into: Inbox, Contexts, Projects, Actions). The system that I have worked out so far involves iGTD , a webapp known as Jott and a few moleskines.

Jott is a free way to get your thoughts typed out and emailed to you. What you do is, after registering, you call their number and leae a message. The message will then be transcribed and will arrive in your inbox minutes later. I use this when I am out and about and realize that there is something I need to do when I get back. Then when I arrive home, my email reminds me of that important task.

The moleskine also functions as a collection device when I am away from home, however it is almost exclusively used in scenarios when leaving a message to Jott would be rude or inconvenient (e.g. at the movies).

Then later, when I return, I transcribe the tasks to iGTD where I can assign them various contexts. There, I can export and print the tasks as to-do lists based on context.

Once I get to school, I hope to set up my system to print off a daily to-do list every morning as I wake up. (I also hope to have read "Getting Things Done")

Cheers,

Why?

The blog is really just a simple journal. As of now, my main goal is simply to track how my year is going and how various habits, techniques, and gadgets help me along the way. If you have anything you believe I should try out, please email me at: tekstudent (at) g mail (dot) c o m.

A little bit about me: I am a rising sophomore in college. I use a Macbook at the moment, but grew up on windows (and a little DOS). I am by no means an advanced computer user, but I am certainly an internet addict. I hope that this information will give someone either aid or entertainment!

Again, any feedback is greatly appreciated!
Until we meet again,