Author Archives

    Bryan Sims

    Posted on

    Adobe Acrobat Seminars

    by

    It is no secret that  Adobe Acrobat is one of my favorite programs. I am excited about the launch of version 9 and am curious about what new features that Adobe has added to make Acrobat even better for lawyers.

    Fortunately, Adobe appears to want to answer that question. Rick Borstein has announced on his blog that he will be free 1 hour eseminars where he’ll “show off the latest legal-specific features of Adobe Acrobat 9.”

    Rick says that during the seminar, you will

    • Find out which features are in which version of Acrobat
    • Learn how to create a PDF Portfolio for a Closing Binder
    • Discover the new and powerful Document Comparison tool to help you spot changes fast
    • See how to accelerate Redaction workflows with pattern-based search
    • Split documents for electronic filing workflows
    • See new, easier-to-user forms creation and data collection tools
    • Use enhanced Bates Numbering to help you manage your case
    • Take advantage of new ClearScan OCR
    • Export PDFs for re-editing in a word processing program

    Right now he has three different seminars scheduled. I am getting ready to sign up now. If you are at all interested, simply click here to go to Rick’s blog and sign up.

    Posted on

    Great Gesture from Rocket Matter

    by

    Rocket Matter has announced that they are offering RocketMatter free of charge to attorneys who have been displaced by the recent floods. The free service will be available to those attorneys for the balance of 2008, or until the attorney establishes their new permanent home.

    This is a gracious offer from Rocket Matter, as well as a great opportunity for those attorneys to try out Rocket Matter and see how it works.

    On a related note, I will heed Ernie the Attorney’s call and link to the Linn County Bar Association. According to Ernier, the Linn County Bar Assocaition does not have a Google page rank. So hopefully a few links will help that.

    Posted on

    Another TechnoFeature

    by

    Yesterday I had the pleasure of having my review of the Canon ScanFront 220P scanner published as a TechnoFeature by TechnoLawyer. A reprint of my review can be found on my Files page or by clicking here.

    My summary of the review is that I loved this scanner and I would recommend it for anyone who is looking for a network scanner.

    On a somewhat related note, I would also recommend that if you are not currently subscribed to TechnoLawyer, that you click over to their website and sign up. It is one of the best sources of the practical application of technology to the practice of law that I have found.

    Posted on

    Eating While Traveling in Oregon

    by

    Recently I spent some time the Pacific Northwest. We spent time in Portland and Astoria Oregon as well as Ocean Shores, Washington. I love this area and always enjoy visiting. While in Portland, I found the best doughnuts that I have ever eaten at  VooDoo Doughnut. The doughnut shop is a little hole in the wall shop next to an adult theater. However, the doughnuts are absolutely to die for.

    Triple Chocolate PenetrationI had a Triple Chocolate Penetration, which was a chocolate cake doughnut (picture the taste and texture of a cake, not a typical cake doughnut). The doughnut was topped with a delicous chocolate frosting and then covered in Cocoa Puffs. I also had a dirt doughnut, which was a raised doughnut covered in vanilla glaze and covered in Oreo cookies.Multnomah Falls

    If you ever visit Portland, I cannot suggest highly enough that you stop at VooDoo Doughnut to pick up some doughnuts. We were there at about 9 am on a Sunday morning and the line was out the door.

    The best meal that we had in Portland was at the Multnomah Falls Lodge. I particularly enjoyed the French Onion Soup (topped with swiss cheese). My wife loved the Salmon Salad Croissant. The bonus is that this restaurant not only has great food, but that it also has beautiful views. The falls here is absolutely beautiful. Plus, there are great views of the Columbia River. Further, if you are so inclined, you can hike to the top of the falls for a view from 600 feet up.

    Also in Portland, we tried the Brazil Grill. I wasn’t crazy about the Brazilian steakhouse mehtod of serving. I think I prefer choosing my meat and how it is cooked. However, they had the best roasted cinnamon  pineapple. It had just the right amount of cinnamon and was roasted perfectly. I will definately have to try this dish at home.

    Another great dining experience that we had was in Astoria, at the Bridgewater Bistro. My wife had the dungeness crab savory cheesecake, which she swore was delicous. I had a fantastic prime rib. If you ever happen to find yourself in Astoria (a Goonies convention, perhaps), I recommend that you try the Bridgewater Bistro. I recommend that you make reservation, however. We were there on a Monday night, and were lucky to get a table.

    Posted on

    Using a Blog to Manage Information

    by

    My wife has asked me why I blog about the books that I read and the hotels that I stay at. After she asked the question, I realized that one of the main reasons that I do this, is so that I can find the information again when I need it.

    Sure, I could make notes about the various hotels, or books, or cool software programs that I find, but where would I store them so that I could find them again? A blog, however, is a perfect way to store this information.

    Not long ago, Kevin O’Keefe blogged about using a blog as a personal knowledge management tool. Kevin explained:

    With a blog, you file what you read or hear and want to keep in a blog post. Make a note or two offering why the information is worthwhile. Upload key files to your blog. Blog live from seminars you attend. Why make hard copy notes that end up getting tossed or lost?

    A blog gives you complete navigation by category & sub-category, tags, and a complete search. You can find what you want over the years.

    Plus, the blog is fully searchable using Google.

    In the little more than a year that I have had this blog, I have found myself searching my past posts to recover some information that I could not easily find another way. You may not want to post information for everyone in the world to see. Nevertheless, you may want to create a blog that is not publicly available, just to manage your own information.

    Posted on

    PicLens Makes Pictures Easy to Use

    by

    A couple of months ago, Matt Homan recommended PicLens for anyone who “EVER view photos or other images in the web.” At the time, I thought the suggestion was interesting, but I did nothing other than bookmark Matt’s post and the PicLens site.

    Recently I was using Flickr and was again frustrated at how awful their browsing ability is. After getting frustrated, I remembered PicLens and quickly installed the software in my browser. After using it for just a few seconds, I was hooked.

    PicLens allows you to create full screen immersive views of pictures on a variety of websites, including Flickr, Google Images, MySpace, Facebook, and others.

    It is a great program and it is easy to use. I recommend you try it out.

    Posted on

    Going Paperless?

    by

    I am a huge advocate of moving to a paperless office. In my experience, it is simply a more efficient way of doing things. If you have not yet made the decision to move to a paperless office, Lawyer’s Weekly has a good article on how to get started.

    The two attorneys interview for the article both stated that would not go back to paper, one of them stated “I don’t see how digital could not be more efficient.”

    Posted on

    The City of Books

    by

    Powells City of BooksWhile in Portland, I was able to visit Powell’s Books, which claims to be the world’s largest independent used and new bookstore. I can’t verify this, but I can verify that it is huge, and, without a doubt, the coolest bookstore I have ever been in. To get an idea of the organizational structure of the store, check out this diagram.

    It has loads of books lots of different floors and rooms in which the books are displayed. Fortunately there are maps available at the information desks, and the books are well4 Books catagroized. Thus, despite the fact that there are thousands of books to choose from, it was relatively simple for me to wander into the Fantasy & Science Fiction area and spend the better part of an hour browsing books.

    The big problem was trying to decide what books not to buy. I got out of there buying only four books. However, there were many more that I wanted. Further, they had Cory Doctorow‘s Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town on sale and I did not pick it up. I am still kicking myself over that. Although I love Little Brother, Someone Comes to Town is my favorite Doctorow book. Yet I do not yet own it.

    Other than that, my visit to Powells was wonderful. If you like books and you are ever in Portland, you must visit this bookstore.

    Posted on

    Using TripIt

    by

    I have written before about TripIt. TripIt is a travel organization website that allows you to forward your reservation confirmations to the website and it automatically builds a travel itinerary for you. When I wrote about TripIt before, I had not yet tried it.

    I am currently traveling in the Pacific Northwest right now and have used TripIt to organize my trips. After trying it out, I admit that I love it.

    Adding reservations is a piece of cake. You simply forward them to plans@tripit.com. You assign them to a trip on the website and your trip is automatically populated with the reservation information as well as information such as weather, maps, and directions.

    Also, they have great customer service. I made reservations with a regional hotel chain as well as a single hotel. TripIt could not automatically interpret the reservation information. This means that I had to enter the information manually (not really an onerous task). Given that I might stay with either hotel in the future, however, I submitted a request to TripIt for them to add these reservations to their programming.

    I received a personal response from someone at TripIt who asked me to resubmit the reservation email and copy her on it. After doing so, I received a second email from her telling me that TripIt has parsed the information from my emails and added them to my trip.

    Additionally, I can easily access TripIt via the web browser on my telephone. Plus, I can send an email to TripIt and the service will email my trip to me. This is very convienant while traveling.

    In sum, this is a great service, that is easy to use, and is staffed by friendly, helpful people. What is not to like? I will be using TripIt for any future trips.

    Posted on

    Time to Register for 2008 ISBA Solo and Small Firm Conference

    by

    I just received the registration brochure for the 2008 ISBA Solo and Small Firm Conference. This is shaping up to be another great conference and I am really looking forward to it. There are three programing tracks with lots of good programs and speakers scheduled. I urge you to attend if at all possible.

    If you register before July 15, you can take advantage of the early bird discount.

    You can find out more information about the conference here. You can download the registration brochure here.