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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ukuleletonya.com\/blog\/images\/09macworld1.jpg?resize=234%2C352\")
Since I have to work in an office for my living (gee, where\u2019s my fairy godmother to give me money-making ukulele talent instead?), I\u2019m happy that one of the main tools I use is a Macintosh. It provides an interface that gets out of the way so I can get my writing and design work done without having to worry about the computer\u2019s operating system.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve been a Mac office since 1986 (I know, that\u2019s before lots of you were even born!) and one of the side benefits of running a Mac for so many years is our long-standing tradition of attending the annual MacWorld Expo<\/a> held each year in San Francisco.<\/p>\n While Mark and I started attending in 1988 (believe me, it was a much different expo back then), for the past decade or so, my dad and I have made MacWorld Expo an after-holiday date. Dad flies to Sacramento, I pick him up and we travel in my trusty 1987 Mazda 626 (36 mpg!) to San Francisco, where we take in the show and some great dining.<\/p>\n Inside the hall were hundreds of vendors selling all things Macintosh. Yet there was not one ukulele-centric product in the whole Moscone Center—but my sore feet can assure you that <\/span>I looked on both sides of every aisle!<\/p>\n If only I was an ocarina enthusiast instead of a fan of our favorite four-string instrument, I\u2019d have hit the jackpot with Ocarina<\/a>, a program by Smule that transforms your phone into, yes, an ocarina. You blow into the phone’s microphone at one end of the iPhone, finger the appropriate on-screen \u201choles\u201d and the sounds of an ocarina come out. Really.<\/p>\n Folks wandered by the Smule booth, laughing and shaking their heads with smiles as the sounds of \u201cHey, Jude\u201d played out from an iPhone. It\u2019s an admittedly cool program, but it\u2019s not an ukulele, so I kept walking.<\/p>\n At last year\u2019s MacWorld Expo, I\u2019d already met up with ukulele player and Mac enthusiast\/writer Andy Ihnatko—so I thought I\u2019d give him a break this year and not crash his book signing session at Wiley Publishing\u2019s booth. Frankly, I think last year he was more than puzzled to find the first question thrown at him about ukuleles, not computers\u2026and I didn\u2019t feel a need to repeat the scene.<\/p>\n So I wandered.<\/p>\n By the second afternoon, I\u2019d given up on finding ukulele-related items and satisfied myself with a search for the perfect case for my iPod Touch. Dad and I had perused both halls of the expo and we were doing our final pass through to make sure we had no more urges to decimate our Visa cards on software and geeky gadgets.<\/p>\n \u201cTonya! Are you Tonya?\u201d<\/p>\n A smiling guy had crossed over from the other side of the aisle and was headed my way.<\/p>\n \u201cDo I know you?\u201d I asked (being eligible for AARP membership these days, I figure I can play the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcI don\u2019t remember\u2019 card with impunity). Attired in an OmniGroup<\/a>-labeled jacket, he didn\u2019t look dangerous. So I kept smiling.<\/p>\n \u201cI read your website,\u201d he said, reaching out a hand to shake mine. \u201cI play ukulele, too.\u201d<\/p>\n Aha—finally a fellow combo Mac\/uke enthusiast!<\/p>\n And that\u2019s how I met David Messent—ukulele player from Seattle and OmniGroup\u2019s official \u201cSupport Ninja\u201d (honest, that\u2019s what his business card attests to). That’s us, playing “air ukulele” above.<\/p>\n David shared that he started playing ukulele after his 2006 honeymoon in Maui; impressed by the music and dance they saw there, the newlyweds decided Allegra would take up hula and David, a violinist during his school years, would tackle ukulele.<\/p>\n \u201cAllegra bought me an Oscar Schmidt that Christmas,\u201d David explains. \u201cI dove right in and immediately \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcfelt whole\u2019 again! By the way, still no hula dancing to be seen in our house.\u201d<\/p>\n David goes for the good stuff in ukuleles; he currently has an ukulele rotation of a 1920s Martin Style O (soprano), an Earnest Instruments<\/a>\u2019 Palomino (concert) and a Ko\u2019olau<\/a> T-1 (tenor) he bought himself for Christmas a few weeks back. \u201cI also have a couple less exciting ukes that live on my desk at work and get loaned out to friends,\u201d he points out.<\/p>\n He plays jazz and pop standards, chord solos in the style of Lyle Ritz—but he\u2019s expanding his repertoire lately with Mark Nelson\u2019s fingerstyle book<\/a>, enjoying the Hawaiian tunes \u201ca lot.\u201d<\/p>\n And he uses his Mac to \u201cmanage\u201d his ukulele habit—and has the t-shirt to prove it (see image from back of shirt at left). So how does software help with ukuleles?<\/p>\n \u201cThe intersection of these two ideas clears away all the peripheral stuff that you shouldn\u2019t be worrying about and makes you more productive.\u201d<\/p>\n David uses OmniFocus on his desk-based Mac and it\u2019s also available for the iPhone\/iPod Touch to take along wherever you go.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve actually got a Project in OmniFocus called \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcmusic,\u2019 and it\u2019s got actions in it like, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcBuy new Aquilas,\u2019 \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcPrint \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcMisty\u2019 chart,\u2019 \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcAsk Allegra for permission to attend Portland Uke Fest \u201909,\u2019 and so on,\u201d David says. \u201cThe uke stuff lives in the same database as my work and home actions, but because it\u2019s organized by project, I only see it when I want to. On the other hand, if I\u2019m out running errands I can easily see everything in my \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcerrands\u2019 Context, regardless of which project it belongs to—so I don\u2019t forget those Aquilas!\u201d<\/p>\n Gee, just imagine the ukulele \u201cto do\u2019s\u201d I could have on my OmniFocus list: Finally master an E chord; learn how to change strings; play scales in every key; buy a custom tenor\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n Now, if only the software actually did<\/strong> those things for me!<\/p>\n With lots of new possibilities on my mind to link my computer and my favorite hobby, I bid aloha to David. Hmmm\u2026just imagine if I could organize my life enough with OmniFocus that I\u2019d have more time to play the ukulele. Now that\u2019d be a real benefit\u2026<\/p>\n The next MacWorld Expo (without Apple as an exhibitor, but I\u2019m still heading there!) is slated for January 4-8, 2010. Bring your ukulele and I\u2019ll see you there!<\/p>\n \n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ukuleletonya.com\/blog\/images\/09macworld4.jpg?resize=216%2C171\")
Son, Matt (who is an Apple service technician and sales manager at BitVision<\/a>), joined up with us at our hotel near Fisherman\u2019s Wharf and we rode the iconic F Train streetcars (photo above by Matt Dale), hopping off at the nearest stop to Moscone Center. These cars originally operated all over the US and even in Italy; today they\u2019ll get you from Fisherman\u2019s Wharf and all the way down Market toward Castro for a meager $1.50. It\u2019s a bargain—and a delightful experience to boot!<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ukuleletonya.com\/blog\/images\/09macworld2.jpg?resize=216%2C261\")
I was eying the Lynda.com software training booth guiltily (thinking I really should finally master Bezier curves in Illustrator with an online class\u2026) when a voice shattered my thoughts of self-condemnation.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ukuleletonya.com\/blog\/images\/09macworld3.jpg?resize=234%2C241\")
\u201cOmniFocus<\/a> is a personal productivity application that\u2019s all about getting the stuff you need to do that\u2019s floating around in your head out, and into a system that will let you \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcfocus\u2019 on what you should be doing at any moment in time,\u201d says David. \u201cIt\u2019s an implementation of David Allen\u2019s \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcGetting Things Done<\/a>\u2019 philosophy [and book] and uses the concepts of Projects—groups of actions, usually to accomplish a specific goal—and Contexts—a person, location or tool needed to accomplish an action.<\/p>\n