The Column

Motto: Okay Google... what's your goal here?
IntroThis post is going to be an expansion on something I wrote about in Column #354. It will (hopefully) complete the series of posts I've written lately about productivity software, Google, Getting Things Done, and all that. Specifically today I'm writing about Google products, and my growing disillusionment with them. This post will be thorough, longer than most, and generally more well put together.
Setting the Googley StageI'll caveat this up front by saying they are great on the whole, most of my quibbles are just that, quibbles, and that I have them because I'm a power user. I am in deep with Google.
Google Products I Still UseGoogle SearchGmailYouTubeChromeChromeOSChromecastChrome Remote DesktopGoogle AssistantGoogle HomeGoogle PhotosGoogle MapsGoogle DriveGoogle OneGoogle NewsGoogle SheetsGoogle DocsGoogle SlidesGoogle DrawingsGoogle FormsGoogle KeepGoogle CalendarGoogle VoiceGoogle BookmarksGoogle FitGoogle Earth…

Motto: Keep It Simple, Stupid
I suck at what I'm about to write about.
An overarching theme for most of my posts lately (and because my writing so closely relates to my thinking, an overarching theme of most of my thinking lately), is how perfection is truly unattainable. Not only personal perfection/perfection of the self, but the perfect tool, the perfect photo, the perfect anything. None if it doesn't really exists... but nearly everything I deal with on a day-to-day basis is good enough. I need to learn to live with good enough (in moderation).
Example given: I love containers. It's kind of an embarrassing or stupid thing to even admit; but I love them. I love how they organize the things we need and how they make those things easier to move around.  I love backpacks and messenger bags.  I love waterbottles and lunchboxes.  To stick with one example for the sake of argument, let's look at containers meant for drinking out of - I'll loosely call them waterbottles. 
I ow…

Motto: This is essentially just Facebook

My little family unit just took our first 3-person vacation... and we liked it so much we decided to go for immediate seconds.

We spent 3 days, 4 nights in lovely lovely Las Vegas - in a way super holy cow nice house with a way super holy cow nice family. We saw the Strip, where we ran into a pair of old friends from a cruise. We met up with the Best Man. We hung out by the pool and drank delicious beverages and ate ice cream like we were kids. We were kids, and it was super nice. The kind of nice that makes you realize you’re doing things right in this world.
On what was scheduled to be our last full day of the trip, we decided to change our flight home. Rather than leaving from Vegas, we would leave from San Diego. Then we rented a car to get down there. Driving they the Mojave Desert listening to the score from the movie Rango was super fun.

Turns out it’s cold in San Diego. If you’re packed for 100 degree Vegas, you may not be perfectly su…