Frequently Asked Questions

Several years ago I became enthused with a Perl MVC framework called Catalyst (link opens in new window). I wrote a simple web application using Catalyst, mostly to play with (and learn) the technology. The web app works flawlessly to the best of my knowledge and belief. I use it every day to send myself a happy/inspirational/thought-provoking message via email. I offer this as a free service to the world. If anybody finds value in it, you are welcome to use it for free forever. No obligations and no strings attached. Of course if you absolutely MUST send me money because you are receiving so much value from this web application that you want to compensate me, I will accept it. :-) Thank you.

The idea is to program yourself with random thoughts or messages, typically things of a happy/supportive nature. For example, one of my reminders is

To die for an idea; it is unquestionably noble. But how much nobler it would be if men died for ideas that were true.

-H.L. Mencken, writer, editor, and critic (1880-1956)

I guess that's more philosophical than happy/supportive or inspirational. But you get the idea. So here's how to make it work for you:

1. Create an account (if you haven't already) and log in. (Look! That was easy and you're already 1/3 done...)
2. Create some messages. Make sure at least one of them is active.
(I think the nuclear missles get launched if you don't have at least one active message -- just kidding!)
3. The system will pick one of your active reminders at random each day and send it to you.
(BA-BAM!!)

For those who are curious and want to know more how the system works, here it is in plain English:

• The system distinguishes between messages which have been sent and messages which have not (yet) been sent.
• All messages start out as unsent.
• When you add a new message it goes into the list of "unsent" messages. This means you will receive it sooner than any messages already marked as sent, but if you have a lot of unsent messages, that could take a while. You might even forget you added the message to your personal database by the time you receive it, which is kind of fun!
• Every day the system picks a message at random from the pool of unsent messages and sends it to you, marking it as sent.
• When no unsent messages remain, the "sent" property of all your messages is cleared and the process begins anew... on to infinity.

That's it for now. In the future I may add additional features. Here is a short list of some possible enhancements I have thought of:

• one-time reminders
• allowing the user to give weights to reminders (so that some reminders are received more often than others)
• allowing the user to categorize reminders
• allowing the user to share reminders with friends/others (possibly through the ability to publish/subscribe to "feed"s).
• a mobile version.

For now I just want to get this done and "out there". If people use this and request/want features, then I'll add them as my circumstances permit.

HAPPY RANDOMIZING!