I've had a gmail account for quite some time now, but never really used it. I mean I did some testing with it a long time ago, but never actually became a "user" until recently. I don't actually send email from the address nor do I really receive it there directly. However, I've recently set it up to collect the emails from my plethora of accounts. This allows me to get all communications in one place. (I knew the functionality was there but never took the time to set it all up until a few weeks ago.) Let's just say, I'm really diggin' it.
Using gmail allows me to check accounts that I really can't get to when at a client site. Granted, I probably shouldn't but I occasionally get something important that needs attention and otherwise I'd not get to see it until late evening when I actually get to sit down and check my emails...(all of them). On top of that, I get a list of all my communications in one view. I currently label each email with the name of the account that is comes from as well. Pretty handy...
All that being said, I'm an even bigger fan of Google Calendar. Being a linux user, I haven't found a really good calendaring application that does the things that I want it to do. I've never really been an organized person anyway, but after missing a few appointments, I decided it was time to get organized. Now I may be a geek, but I hate carrying around phones, pagers, and PDA's etc. Google Calendar allows me to place items on my calendar and recieve email notifications, and even get reminder messages sent to my phone, (which upon receipt, I immediately set a phone alarm). Its not that I'm that busy, its actually quite the reverse as far as events go. I usually have so few, that I'm not constantly checking a planner, etc so I forget appointments since I'm not constantly seeing them glaring back at me. So far, its proven worthy. I was even able to schedule a conference call and invite other people to the meeting and receive their reservation, etc. Hopefully this will help me turn around my organization problems.
Even cooler still: Google Analytics. Just a few short lines of javascript give me some pretty intense reporting as far as my website traffic. (Not just lifewithryan.com either, but numerous other sites that I work with and will be launching soon *I hope*). Simply login and view visitor stats...(which has been proven to be most useful as of late when I discovered a most unwelcome visitor from our neighbors to the north. That will be remedied very soon, she knows who she is...surprisingly, she's figured out how to use a computer...may wonders never cease).
Now I don't want to sound like a commercial for Google, and while this stuff has been around for quite a while now, I've been a little slow on the uptake. Now that I've starting using it, I don't see how I'm going to get by without it should it ever go away. There are some many features that I haven't even gotten into as well. Perhaps I never will, but its nice to know that there are some options out there.
Oh yeah, I should probably mention how much I'm paying for this stuff...erhm...NADA, Zip, Ziltch, Zero...not a sausage...not one red cent...
How does google do all this? I don't care...thats why they're the shiznitikus.
