New Crowdfunding Project: Goal-Fish
Goal-Fish is a new site offering a customizable to-do list by . It has categories, such as chores and fun, with constraints (day/night, indoor/outdoor, current pain level, cost of supplies, etc.) for available tasks. Once you ask it for a task, it presents a simple description, and you can open detailed instructions if you wish. Learn more hereThe
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I had fun drawing them. I made the carpet blue for the vacuuming so it would look like the fish was vacuuming water.
I tried to make the detailed instructions a bit humorous, and I tried to think of different scenarios, so I mentioned a dishwasher, even though I don't have one, but I also included instructions for washing dishes by hand. You can edit any of the default tasks, changing the detailed instructions to more closely suit your situation.
You probably will need to change which tasks are marked as overloading: for me, it's based on the textures of the things I have to touch in order to do those tasks, so by default "grocery shopping, wash dishes, wash smudges off walls, clean doors, clean out fridge, wash light switches, wash windows, go to cinema" are marked as overloading. That's the sort of thing that's going to be different for everyone, but hey at least there's now one site on the net that considers the default person to have an aversion to sponges. :)
You can change "pain" to spoons, energy reserves, or stamina on the "Edit Preferences" page. If you do, the numbers invert -- if you have 0 pain, or 10 spoons, you can do anything, and if you have 10 pain, or 0 spoons, then you can do things like "take a nap", "drink some water", "eat some food", and other basic selfcare stuff that will hopefully increase your spoons. So use whichever metaphor works best for you.
on my account, i have a category for "Tea" to help me pick which tea to make and "Cats" for litter box/playing with them/taking them for walks/snuggling them.
I find tying a bit of clothesline around my wrist while I walk around the flat doing chores lets me play with the kitten while still getting stuff done.
When I'm using it, I like to have it pick tasks from all categories, so I get a mix of chores and breaks. For tasks I don't like to do, I set a timer, and then do as much as I can before switching to something else. I'll hide a task for "1 minute" just so it won't give me the same task again right away (it's random, so that can happen occasionally).
The "fun" category will probably include fun things that you're not interested in: you can either delete them or hide them for 99 years. :)
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That is adorable, and very clever.
>> That's the sort of thing that's going to be different for everyone, but hey at least there's now one site on the net that considers the default person to have an aversion to sponges. <<
Viva la diversidad!
>> if you have 10 pain, or 0 spoons, then you can do things like "take a nap", "drink some water", "eat some food", and other basic selfcare stuff that will hopefully increase your spoons. <<
Some thoughts on this ...
1) A more detailed discussion of resource-management with a link to "The Spoon Theory" would be helpful for people who are new at limitations (or have a temporary handicap such as pregnancy or a broken leg). These are things that can go in an "about" or "help" section to expand the site's usefulness for people who need more background.
2) I recommend making "Gather Energy" a primary category along with "Chores" and "Fun." Because you are aiming this site at people who get completely fried, and when someone is not thinking clearly, they may not realize the nurturing options are even on the list. But if they see "Gather Energy" they're likely to think "Aha! That's what I need!" and click it.
If you don't already have a "Meditate" task on the 0 list, I recommend adding that. There are full-body and mudra yoga positions for that sort of thing, guided meditations, all kinds of stuff. At minimum you get a rest break; at best you may gain a spoon or more.
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2) that's an idea. I considered "gathering energy" to sort of be a subset of fun, so all of those tasks are currently under fun. But when I added "bathe" in I was thinking that bathing hasn't really been fun since I was small enough to "swim" from one end of the bathtub to the other. I mean, sure, I don't mind it, but I wouldn't consider taking a bath to be my hobby. But it's not really a chore either.
I think the fun category is a way to take a break from chores. You stop cleaning the house and sit down with a nice puzzle or get some food or play some cards.
I'll think about it, though.
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Depends on your approach. Some people just want to get clean, some want to relax, and some -- even as adults -- break out the fleet of rubber duckies. *chuckle* I gave a bath bomb to a friend once and it resulted in an adorable cartoon of bombing toy boats.
>> I'll think about it, though. <<
My recommendation is to wait a month and then ask people how they are using the site. Would they like this feature, or not?
If you put up a survey for this and other questions -- you'll probably have a list by then -- you can offer people a free membership for answering it. And then maybe some of them will donate if they like the extras.
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But bathing has become quite entertaining lately. When my kitten seems me come into the bathroom, he comes running and leaps into the tub. I rinse the tub out. He stares at the drain in fascination. I plug the drain. He paws at the plug. I turn the water on and let it fill for a while. He paws at the water, claws out.
Eventually, it gets full enough (maybe 5cm deep) that he hops out. I offer him a treat to go back in. The treats are just his regular food that he can eat out of the food bowl whenever he wants, but he's willing to work for them anyway. He comes back in and takes the treat. I offer him a treat to cross the length of the tub. He goes back and forth a few times, but usually gets to distracted playing with the water to take the treat.
Eventually he has had enough and doesn't want another treat, so he hope into the sink and bathes himself with his tongue. Then I turn the water on full and get in myself. He watches me with interest, sometimes pacing the rim of the tub to give me head butts. When I get out, he paws at the little funnel that develops over the drain.
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*nods* A survey is a good idea.
The first extra that I have planned is the ability to change the colours on the site. Black text on white background doesn't work for everybody (including me sometimes). That'll be available to logged out users, too.
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That makes sense.
>>When my kitten seems me come into the bathroom, he comes running and leaps into the tub.<<
How adorable!
>> The first extra that I have planned is the ability to change the colours on the site. <<
Good idea.
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Two problems.
We can take this to email if you like.
1) If I fill in the steps, sometimes they disappear.
This happened when: I filled everything out, added steps, then hit "add new task".
Next page, link appears "you can edit it here". I click.
I go back to the list of tasks.
I find that task and go look at it again to edit it.
The steps are not there!
BUUUUT.
If, on the next page, instead of clicking on "you can edit it here," I just add a new task, I go look, and the steps ARE there!
I am working on seeing what else sets it off, but I just took some meds and am happily foggy.
This is an awesome tool. I am already loving it, and seeing how versatile it can be. Once I have it where I want it, I'll see how it goes!
I already cleaned the cat litter yesterday, and picked up five random things from each room I was in to take back to the right room (a favorite task of mine).
The only other design thing I'd point out, is that when you go to edit a task, "Delete" is bottom left, and "Save" is bottom right. I can cope, especially since there is thank goodness a confirm tickybox, but I keep wanting to reach for it at bottom left, where stuff is in other places I use.
If you want to hit me at email, I'm naamah at gmail.
Love this thing. You are the unicorn-riding sparkly knight for today!
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*stares at it confusedly for a while* oh, i know what's happening. fixed. now when i add a task, the instructions are saved too. check that it's working on your end?
2) about the delete button: yeah, you're right. I kept running into the same thing on the "edit preferences" page. I don't know why I initially did it that way, because your mouse is over on the left clicking checkboxes and then in order to save (which is what you want to do 99% of the time), you have to move it over the right, instead of going straight down. i have swapped them. Now save is on the left and delete is on the right for editing tasks, categories, or preferences.
For consistency, I also moved "save" to the left for adding tasks and categories.
Thanks for the bug reports and the suggestions; It helps a lot!
E-mail is okay,, I'm help@goal-fish.org, but comments are fine too. I get an e-mail when I get a comment on LJ so it's the same either way to me, whichever is easiest for you.
Congrats on moving things to the right rooms and cleaning the cat litter! I did that recently too. My cats deserve to have clean litter more often than they do, but I just can't seem to manage it if my pain is above a 5: bending down is hard. Using the muscles in my shoulder is hard. The litter is heavy. etc. I still feel bad for them, though. We have a couple litter boxes, which helps, but in a perfect world I'd get up and scoop it a couple times a day.
Anyway, I'm really glad you're on the site and you're having fun with it! I'm having fun with it too. :)
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