So I think my first project should be a quick little app to keep track of the things I need to do. This is well-trodden ground and I could easily just pick up a free app to do it, but it should provide a good exercise, and I'll get to do it like I want.

Basically, the way I want to do it is pretty similar to the project-tracking database I wrote for work, or at least the sidebar view I made for it. The basic UI is just a list of things to do with short summaries, categorized by their due date, and icon- and color-coded for status and rushness. In a non-work setting, The former could translate to vague timeframes of "now", "soon", "long-term", etc. and the latter could translate to "importance". I'll also have to work in some support for recurring events, like "pay the non-automatic bills." I don't think I'd need all the categorization I have at work - my personal projects are much looser than the client-driven work ones, so maybe just a tag or two would do the job.

Really, the goal is to just get a list of things that I have to do in my face at all times (or, at least, in a place I will actually check regularly, so maybe I'll have it send me email). I've historically had a nasty tendency to let things drift out of mind, but I'm putting an end to it, and I'll make this app reflect that. I'll use my natural aversion to red "past due" text to keep me going.

I'll have to pick a medium. My default lately is XPages, which is my work development environment, but I'm always itching to try something else. Nonetheless, XPages may win out - if nothing else, I don't want to bother writing a user authentication and DB access system or any of the other "structural" elements that would stand in between me and getting it started. The whole point is to make sure I actually get crap done, after all, not spin my wheels with abandoned drafts.