Cigars

Had a very nice Sunday morning in the garden tasting this cigar. Its a Por Larranaga Petit Corona. A brand that has become more easily available recently in the UK. I purchased it from CGars (http://cgarsltd.com/), its 5 1/8 inches with a 42 ring gauge. I bought it as a single and it cost £6.80, although it is also available in 5's, 10's, 25's and 50's. I thought it was an excellent cigar, nice looking construction with a good cap. It gave an even burn with cedar and spice notes. I would class it as a mild-medium smoke with a good aroma. Generally a good quality small cigar worth spending time with, not a quick smoke and good to the end. On my 100 point scale it came out with 84. Time didn't allow me to taste the Jose L. Piedra, but that is next on my list!

Photo credit http://flickr.com/photos/da_ladd/)

Cigars

During the week I got a nice selection of cigars from my usual merchant http://www.cgarsltd.co.uk/. I plan to taste two of them over the weekend, Por Larranga Petit Corona and a Jose L Piedra Petit Cazadores and post my reviews here. I plan on using the Cigar Aficionado 100 point rating system which is as follows:

• Appearance - 15 points
• Smoking Characteristics - 25 points
• Flavour - 25 points
• Overall Impression - 35 points.

Hopefully the weather will be kind and I'll get to sample them in my garden with a nice glass or two, if not it will be the conservatory!

(Photo Credit http://flickr.com/photos/arbron/)

Note Taking with Technology

I am a big fan of One Note (I use a tablet PC) and I am currently testing Evernote to see if that provides a better solution. It's early days, but whilst I like the ability in Ever Note to synchronise notes by using the cloud, I don't like the layout and UI as much as One Note. I'll keep persevering for a few more weeks and make a decision at that point.

(Photo credit Paul Worthington)

Technology

After lots of trial and error I have finally got my GTD system into some sort of stable framework. I am an Outlook (2007) user and have the Netcentrics Add-In which is excellent, so use that for all N/A's and categorising both tasks and e-mails. Kelly Forrister (see my Blog links) has produced an excellent White Paper on how to set-up Outlook without the addition of an add-in. It can be purchased from the David Allen Company http://www.davidco.com/.

Paper

I use a Moleskine for work notes and one for personal notes. In both my office and my study at home I have In-trays and reading trays along with a Tickler File. I must say originally I was a bit unsure of these, but they are great for filing papers that you will need in the future. While for many years I made do with tickler sets that I had made myself - I can highly recommend the ones that the David Allen Company now sells, in fact use the above link and see all the cool gear that they are now selling - along with the tickler I particularly like the files, zipped folders and file rack. On first glance they may seem a bit expensive - but are superb quality.

After a bit(?) of a hiatus - I have decided to get some life back into this old Blog. I will be concentrating on talking about business in general (mainly the Professional Services Environment, in which I work), golf, cigars, wine and GTD. So here goes..............

(Photo credit http://www.flickr.com/photos/elenchos/)