Have you watched Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford University commencement address? If yes, then you'll remember his talk about connecting the dots backward. It can't be more true than in my life!

I have this black-hole sort of mind, that never stops absorbing everything around me (currently seeking satisfaction in books written centuries ago). So like Mr Jobs did say, "You can never connect your life's dots forward but only backward". I have stopped trying to streamline my learning/reading and stopped trying to connect my life's dots forward. Now I simply learn all that interests me and overfeed my ravenous mind.

The latest result, is that I have somehow morphed into a Microsoft Excel Consultant. 
And in this post I intend to connect the dots backward to show how this remarkable change occurred. 

You're probably like me, with a Blackberry phone and BIS subscription and have a separate Internet modem to surf the net on your computer.
Well, I'm going to show you how I surf the net via my MTN Fastlink and my Android phone without any extra charge, just by using my Airtel SIM with NGN1,400 BIS complete subscription plan. And I download heavy files and do all sorts online without any extra charge or buying a data plan. The NGN1,400 BIS complete gets you 1GB data bundle you can use on any device or internet modem of your choice. In fact, if it's exhausted before the 30days plan coverage period, no problem you don't need to wait out the expiration, just follow the how-to here and you can subscribe 12 times in a month (if want). But, if you don't want your BIS plan to auto renew, easy, just follow the how-to here.

And believe me it is crazy simple! And you'll nearly hit yourself for never trying it.

Just make sure you have configured Airtel internet settings on your MTN Fastlink modem. Then insert the Airtel SIM that is already subscribed to BIS plan.
Click connect on your MTN Fastlink software, and VOOM! You'll be surfing the net for free!

In fact, I am writing this blog post via it and have already downloaded 100MB earlier today without a single kobo charge!

I hope you've read my I need more money post, where I talked about how I live from payslip to payslip.
You see, I'm one of those guys who find it nearly impossible to have a savings. I only save to buy some fancy gadget, I find it extremely hard to stash away cash just for the sake of having a savings. I can barely do that for more than two months, 'cos every night my mind will keep coming up with auto-suggestions of what to do with the money.

What ruinous mind I've got!

So, how do I get the best out of my salary?
Well, everything with a bad side definitely has a good side too. Fortunately for me, my mind that makes it hard for me to have a savings also made it extremely easy for me to pursue a wholesome lifestyle, one that is devoid of (nearly) all bad habits I know. So, I end up spending money on just the real necessities of life and one luxury hobby (Swimming). The only time I spend money unwisely is when I have a savings.
At the onset of my working career I tried saving and ended up plunged into a vicious loop of living frugal in the middle of the month and extravagantly after pay-day and the beginning of the month. And believe me, I really tried to break out of the loop but it seemed beyond me to accomplish.

But with the help of my hard-working, though still ruinous mind, I found a great workaround. I found out that I love taking risks. My first swimming experience was in a big river; I put (nearly) an entire year scholarship grant into stocks (and happily lost all); spent my entire free cash after school on a DSLR camera right in the heat of my job search; went to Cotonou for a one-month French language immersion without having any contact there (and got robbed too)... And I'm mighty proud of taking those risks, without the tiniest feeling of remorse.

So back to the main question - how I get the best out of my salary?

I recently got a Samsung Galaxy S2, costing me more than my two months free cash, and though there is now a Samung Galaxy S3 yet S2 is still a very highly rated android smartphone. In fact, it was named the best smartphone at the Mobile World Congress this year 

I won't bore you with the details of all the great timeless features of the phone that makes it a kill. But I will be stunning you with the crisp screenshots that show you all my choice applications on the phone and my widget filled homescreens.

 HomeScreen 1

HomeScreen 2

HomeScreen 3

Have you noticed that we keep making the same mistakes, and content ourselves with finding new excuses?
Well, I have a friend* who while we were at the University was weekly misplacing his copy of the room key. Nearly every week we were either searching a restaurant, turning the next room upside down, mowing a lawn with our hands, upturning his shirts and trousers, aimless walking round the reading room or just thinking of where next to search. I remember a day, after managing not to misplace the key for two weeks, his mind couldn't adjust to this unusual event and made him believe he has misplaced a key that was safely tucked in his left pocket. That day, we went to every room and restaurant we had been to, we left no sand unseen along the paths we took. And when he heaved and put his hands in his pockets out of exhaustion, the key was found.

Life is like a game of monopoly, no one ever gets rich living on his paycheck alone. And for me, I have been barely surviving on my paycheck. The truth is that I have been living from paycheck to paycheck, so bad that whenever my pay is delayed by 2 or 3 days, I feel extremely pressurized and like I will need a loan to come to work the following week. Yeah, it's that bad, everyone in the office notices and they even try to assure me that delay is with the bank.

So, how have I been trying to fix this?

Whenever you search the web for "Best iPhone Apps", "Must have iPhone Apps" or "Most popular iPhone Apps", you'll definitely end up with sites telling you about apps you'll hardly find useful on a day-to-day basis.

So I have decided to put up the list of apps I have found most useful for me, apps I spent most of my iOS hours on. 

How we hold some few in high regard
All because of their family
The deeds of a long gone ancestor
Concerned more about the family line
Than the man's own line
Basing a man's worth on another's deeds
Bestowing nobility on a day old baby

Birth is so much like a lottery
You cannot choose your family
Nor your location and society
Your beliefs, religion and dreams
Your education, learning and hopes
Your fortune, health and dignity
Your opportunities, expectations and capabilities
Are so much determined by birth

Yet there are some brave hearts 
Who against numerous odds
Being ill fortuned from birth
Steered their own course in life
Overcoming lack of proper parents
Lack of formal education
Lack of societal support
Lack of the basest opportunities
Forging their survival in great heat
And still made a huge mark on earth

It is for people on that route
That we should reserve our high regard
People who can't readily dream of a future
Too embroiled in trying to see tomorrow
People who lack life's necessities
Yet good natured and industrious 
People who spend their first decades 
Trying to make up for their ill luck
In the grand lottery of birth 

As one of my friends often say - it is better to know what you don't need than to need what you don't know.
In the video above, I have shown an invaluable trick that teaches you a Microsoft Windows skill you will nearly hate yourself for when you need it and you can't seem to have a grasp on it.

It is simple (but consequentially great) - how to rename a file extension. Now you may say - that is pretty easy, just select the file and press F2. But I bet you, you'll grow older than Methuselah if you think that will work for all (in fact, most) files.

Ok, lets put this to a try! Open Notepad, type some considerable gibberish and save the file as gibber. Now try renaming the file as gibber.doc

Oh no! I just lost, or did I? If you double clicked  on the gibber.doc and Notepad came up, you only changed the file from gibber.txt to gibber.doc.txt
Right click on the file and select properties to see the hidden (non-changing) .txt file extension. And that is what I want you to change to .doc, such that whenever you open the gibber.doc file, Microsoft Word will come up.

If you are able to do that, thumbs up! Otherwise, go watch the video above.

Damn it! That download was at 98% and now I have to start all over, why did you close the laptop lid!!
What the F! Installing updates 1 of 98...!!

I can reel off more, but I don't wanna use more swear words. Sticking with the default Microsoft Windows settings can give you some easily avoidable headaches. And in the video above, I have taken pain to explain a couple of settings change I recommend you make.

However, you can ignore some you prefer at the default settings, like the Updates setting and Lock.