The Business of Educating

This is a collection of products & services that I view as being truly great. Some are educationally related while others are things that just better your life.

*What is it?*

A weekly meal & grocery plan that will have you eating great & saving money/time.

*Commentary*

As a teacher, there are certain things you are always short on: time & money. Another guarantee is that teachers love to eat and eat well. Problem: Eating well costs lots of money & time. This does not even begin to address the problems of what to eat, when to eat it, and what you need to purchase at the grocery store to make it.

E-Mealz solves these problems for you. You select a plan based on where you shop, what your diet is (vegetarian, glutton free, weight watchers, normal, etc), and how many people you normally feed. E-Mealz will provide you a meal plan with great variety for the week, telling you what to eat, how to prepare it, and when to eat it during the week. It will also give you grocery list of exactly what products to buy and what part of the store to buy them in. It even takes into account foods that are in season and sales at the store. The Best Part is the Meals Taste Great! My family has made over 30 meals (with no repeats) and they have all been fabulous. We have yet to have a meal that myself and my family has not loved. For $1.25/week, it is a meal plan that cannot be beat.

E-Mealz: Saves you time. Saves you money. Saves you sanity. Fills your belly, deliciously.

Dave Ramsey: Total Money Makeover

*What is it?*

A 7 step plan to get people debt free and reshaping their future.

*Commentary*

One of the greatest struggles educators have is salary: lots of hard work for minimal income in return. It is important for educators emotional health and personal relationships to learn how to take control of their money and live in a way that is debt free, moving them towards prosperity. There is no one better in the industry at giving this advice than Dave Ramsey. My wife and I have had our lives and our family tree changed forever from his advice.

DEVONthink: Let the AI do the Organizing 

*What is it?*

AI powered document database

*Commentary*

DEVONthink is an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G tool. Think about all of your file folders on your computer or flash. Think about those notebooks full of “good ideas” that you had from that one book you read, or that inspirational moment where everything came together. Think about that really important statement you just read on that website, or that cool story that you know will be useful someday. Got all those in mind? Good.

DEVONthink is a database storage with Artificial Intelligence. You first setup your basic folders and start dragging and dropping your files into the program.  That cool website? Clip the whole site, or just quotes, and DEVONthink stores them.  Hit with a piece of inspiration? Type a quick note, and it saves it in the system. Then, when you are looking for that document about that topic, just search in DEVONthink. It will pull up documents based on both the word you searched, but other documents that seem relevant to your quest. There is not space here to write about all the excellent tools that DEVONthink possesses.

This is a killer tool for those who do any kind of regular (or irregular) research, frequent writing/blogging/journaling, information collecting, or lesson planning. DEVONthink is a must have. I would be lost without it.

DEVONagent: Let the AI do the Searching  

*What is it?*

AI bolstered Internet Search tool.

*Commentary*

DEVONagent is the super web search, AI powered tool that makes use of all the major search engines for you. You type your query into DEVONagent. It breaks down your search results based off of relevance. It also creates a word web that shows interrelated words, and refines your search based off of the word combinations you click.  It helps you to focus and filter your results in seconds. Plus, it provides a digest for your to scan to quickly sort through the relevant results.  This is just the start of DEVONagents greatness.

This tool is essential for anyone who is seriously mining the web for important information.