Yak Shaving -- [MIT AI Lab, after 2000: orig. probably from a Ren & Stimpy episode.] Any seemingly pointless activity which is actually necessary to solve a problem which solves a problem which, several levels of recursion later, solves the real problem you're working on.

[Note: I've decided to tighten up the YSR posts, cutting the fluff that nobody reads anyway and trimming it back to a more manageble level of five useful hacks, tips, tricks, and tools.]

#685 Form Finder -- The Internet Legal Research Group has a index of over 2000 free legal forms for such areas as basic agreements, credit and collection, employment, leases, loans, and estate planning. The forms are even guranteed to be state-compliant. (HT: Lifehacker)

#686 Online Tool -- Web site PDF Pad lets you download printable calendars, flags, graph paper, Smith charts, staff paper, storyboards, and Sudoku sheets.

#687 Google School -- When you Google a Bible verse by itself, you often get a whole lot of junk hits. A better method is to use the English Standard Version by searching with the letters ESV. For example, searching ESV Psalm 23 gets you, as the top hit, the 23rd Psalm in the English Standard Version. (HT: Middlebrow)

#688 HowTo -- Solve a Rubik's Cube

#689 Download of the Week -- Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2007 is a free program that helps you manage your small business' finances. The program lets you create and email invoices, track expenses and employee time, store and organize all your customer, vendor, employee, and financial information -- even list items on eBay. A useful and cost effective solution for micro and small businesses. (HT: Lifehacker)

See also: The Yak Shaving Razor Archives

Have a useful recommendation for making life more pleasant? Send them to me at jpcarter[at]evangelicaloutpost.com.