Simplify Some More

I have two sexy little electronic toys that are supposed to make my life simple. One of them helped me miss an appointment the other day. The offender was my iPhone. I've been keeping my calendar on it since I got it. I'm going to keep keeping it there too. But there's a problem when I get more than three appointments on one day. (A fairly common occurrence) I have to scroll down to see the later appointments and I'm not used to doing that. Otherwise I love the calendar on my phone because it fits in my pocket or in a little holster I can carry around on my belt. It's the first belt clip for a cell phone that I've ever had that didn't drive me absolutely bonkers. I never had any luck keeping my calendar on my Palm Pilot. There was something about having to grab that little stylus and write "graffiti" and then use the stylus to tap on the thing to see what the little dash on the date was for.

I still use the Palm. I keep my expense report and other Word and Excel documents on it. Not only can I look at them, I can change them on the Palm and then sync them with the originals on my computer. The Palm's a far better alarm clock than the iPhone too. The phone's "alarm" is wimpy and doesn't repeat itself until you turn it off like the one the Palm can be programed to do. So I keep them both close. The Palm in the car usually, and the iPhone on my person or real close.

The iPhone has another down side too. It comes once a month. The bill for the thing is $86.30 unless I use it too often to talk to the council president. Then it can get downright scary with the "over the plan" minutes.

But neither one of these wonder machines is worth two bits as a collector of information. I can't take notes fast enough with either when I'm on the phone or in a meeting to make them any good at all for recording commitments exchanged when I'm talking to someone. For that, no one has (in my opinion) invented anything that comes close to the good old yellow pad.

I can't get along without my iPhone in a normal world. If the $86 ever became an issue I could live without it, but until I can't afford it, or someone invents something better at the dozens of things I do with the phone and the applications that can be downloaded for nothing or next to nothing, It's staying with me...and my Palm...and my yellow pad.

But if I was starting over, and somehow instinctively knew how important simplicity would become in our outrageously complicated world, I'd stick with a pocket calendar, (one of those free ones your banker gives you in December) and my yellow pad. Once you drink the Koolaide and start to live with the apps and Internet in your pocket, it's tough to exorcise them from your life. But for anyone out there who is still a smart-phone virgin...you can do everything in the world with a $6 package of yellow pads (last you about a year) and a pocket calendar.

Your insurance guy will probably buy you the calendar.