Evernote tips and tricks

I am late in the Evernote game but in the past few days I have been experimenting with the service to help solve some of my daily pet peeves like remembering going to a talk but being unable to remember what has been said or having taken down some notes but lost them. Another one I had was to save a page of information in books. You could take a picture but it gets lost in a sea of picture and really, the picture quality isn't that good. 

In this post,I will detail the various uses I use Evernote for and how I use it.

1.TALKS

Evernote is great for saving notes on talks. First, they offer you a audio recording option. If you are using the free Evernote as I am, however, there is a limit on the data size of the note but capturing an hour's worth should not be a problem. For notes on the talk itself I prefer to using the pen and paper but I use Scannable to take a picture of my notes to put in my note. A bit more about that later. There is also an Evernote template you can use in taking down your notes. What's really good about the template is that it prepares you to leave with an action steps checklist. Additionally, you can also take quick photos and append them to the note. I got this idea from an Evernote blogpost about using Evernote for Conferences.

Evernote also allows you create note folders where you can group your notes together. So all my talk notes goes in one folder, my healthcare notes in another etc.

Notes folders

2.HEALTHCARE

It is also great for saving your insurance policies so you can get to them in a jiffy. Because I get a little confused by the names of the policies, (Hello insurance companies please name them for what they are!) I use a simple naming convention I created for my own reference: . So for example if I have an endowment plan from AXA, I would name the note AXA END 12345678. Some insurers do provide a PDF copy of their website so do check your insurer's website, download them and place them in Evernote. This is helpful for if you are meeting a financial adviser and they want to refer to your policies.

I also scanned a copy of my company's medical card, you know, just in case.

2.FINANCE

For finance, I again use Scannable to scan receipts of products that are under warranty. This is great as Evernote backs up onto the cloud and you'll still have your receipt even if your phone is lost. Also, you'll find all your warranty receipts grouped in one place, giving you peace of mind since these digital receipts do not fade as the real ones can. 

3.BOOK NOTES

The last one is for copying pages in a book. This is particularly useful if you borrowed it from the library and have to return it. Below, you will see that Scannable uses its processing logarithms to optimize the image. For example the text and lines line up in the image on the right but not on the original image on the left. In my (admittedly) limited testing, the process also generally increases contrast.This technology is almost like magic! 

Before and after algorithm processing

After processing the various images, Scannable makes them into a PDF and you can then entitle your note with the name of the book.The really great thing is that all these notes are accessible online and if you upgrade to a premium plan, searchable. Ah...technology...got to love it.

I'm pretty sure there are other even more awesome uses for Evernote. Let me know if you use Evernote for some other purposes! Sharing is caring!

Fragile life

This is a post I've been meaning to write for some time but could not bear to put it into words.

My friend messaged me on Facebook that our mutual acquaintance has passed on. Perhaps 3-4 months before he asked if I wanted to be part of his music group. I replied in the negative, citing time constraints and the like. Granted, this is not the only friend I've known that has passed on, the news still hit me hard. He was after all, the one who tutored me through the grade 5 theory exam, going to his home every week. He was the one who bothered to organise gatherings with his malaysian friends so I can widen my social circle. He was the one I've known to be a kindly uncle figure who would do his best to help you if he can.

Life is fragile and we would be prudent to treasure our relationships.

#YearOfCosmere

Not too long ago, I discovered booktubers. Now, by the power of the intrawebs, I'm considering to participate in the #yearofcosmere event after being informed of it by one. Essentially, it is a read-a-long of Brandon Sanderson's books. At the end, because many of his books are related, there will be a live discussion on the Goodreads #yearofcosmere group page(which if you are an avid reader is a godsend). Honestly, I don't usually reread books or join book clubs in their activities. But it's Brandon Sanderson, and it's fun once in a while to feel like you're a part of the reading community.

As an aside, if you haven't read him, now's the perfect time!