where's the "on" button?

Okay, so I'm not that inept...

I made the plunge and switched from using my paper planner to utilizing a Palm PDA. This was quite a traumatic decision for me. I love my paper planner. I like my Nan font and the doodles made with my favorite pen(s). It has various lists of groceries or rosters of guests for dinner parties strewn throughout random pages. I scribble design ideas for the million posters and mailers I'll be creating soon. I like flipping through the pages, and it has pockets for my business cards and post-it notes...it even has stickers. Birthdays are notated by a different color ink, accompanied by an exclamation point and a star.

Now the Palm, as Clay pointed out, can allow me to organize everything the way I want it and more. I knew this already, but I needed him to remind me every few minutes. I had a Palm several years ago (free from former boss - he had no idea how to use it and gave it to me). It was a little bulky with a black and white screen and lacked the bells and whistles of my current one. The battery life was pathetic, so I used it for about 6 months and tossed it in a drawer. I think the boss had gotten it free with the purchase of his laptop, so it wasn't exactly top of the line.

Anyway, the impetus for the big switch was my Entourage email/departmental calendar at work. The six of us in my office were recently trained to use our calendars to increase efficiency and organization. It's easier for everyone to know when I'll be out of the office (in case the media is looking for me for information) or what huge deadline I have looming (so no one will bother me). And, the same goes for everyone else. It may seem a little invasive, but each individual can have private entries, such as doctor appointments. I have access to Clay's calendar to add social events in case I forget to tell him. That's pretty convenient. Well, for those of you unfamiliar with such things, my email calendar will sync with the Palm calendar, so I don't have to enter the same thing twice. Obviously, that is not the case with a paper planner. I would have to type everything on my Entourage calendar at work and then add the same entry into my paper calendar - not a fan of redundancy.

I'm slowly acclimating, and it doesn't hurt that I can do a million other things on this handheld machine. It was nice to sit in my sunroom and read cnn.com wirelessly or check my email. I can "type" a press release in the car for a last minute deadline or share photos with friends. This is all especially helpful when I'm out of town and don't have to carry a laptop with me...it fits in my purse! And, of course, the best part is that I didn't have to pay for it thanks to my government employer.

I'll miss my paper planner, but...oh, my Palm is ringing...let me answer that. Okay, not really.