And then, the bodies come up like zombies breaking out of grave sites.
I've always tried to be organized, to make sure I have things written down so as to not forget them and have information at my fingertips. Now, more than ever, I feel I need to write things down before they're gone from my head, forever.
(I'll have more to say on that, next week. Assuming, I'll remember.)
In the mid-90s, I received an electronic organizer as a gift, though I can't remember who gave it to me nor whether it was a birthday present, Christmas gift, or other. This device held all of my contacts, scheduled events, and to-do tasks. It reminded me of anniversaries and birthdays, let me store memos, and track my expenses.
Oh, and it was a calculator that held world times.
The other day, working from home in my basement and listening in on a conference call, I started poking around some desk drawers that I haven't looked in in many years. This desk, to the side of the one where I actually sit with my computer, is essentially a tabletop set atop low filing cabinets, filled with old tax records and receipts, as well as household information and paperwork that DW and I can't bear to part with.
In some of the smaller drawers, we keep office supplies, such as envelopes, paper, blank file folders, and the like. It was in one of these drawers that I found my old electronic organizer.
When closed, the device is about the same size as my smartphone, but thicker. It likely has a thinner profile that the new folding smartphones that are now emerging. The QWERTY keyboard has rubber buttons and takes up the lower half of the opened device, along with function and navigation buttons. The top half has a display that shares real estate with a number pad, for the calculator functions.
I remember using this organizer daily, which makes it no surprise that I'm comfortable throwing my smartphone in my pocket and how it is rarely more than a few feet away from me.
But this organizer was only the start of my gadget collection.
I'm fairly certain that I took this device with me, to Korea, as I recall capturing contact information from some of my friends and students. But sometime after I returned to Canada, I got with the 21st Century, and bought an organizer with a stylus and screen that translated my scribbles into legible print.
Remember Palm Pilots?
I remember acquiring my Palm Pilot sometime after I became a technical writer, and used it for many years. It even had a game to keep me occupied when I was bored.
I had the Palm Pilot at the same that I had a cell phone, and I remember carrying them around at the same time, wishing that somehow, the two could be combined.
I know: crazy idea.
Unlike my first organizer, which worked to the very end and was abandoned for newer technology, my Palm Pilot had a catastrophic failure and stopped working, taking all of my info with it.
Goodbye to all my Korean contacts.
By then, Apple had greatly improved their iPod, introducing the Touch. DW, who had also owned a Palm Pilot but had lost hers before mine crashed, bought the Touch and convinced me to get one, too. The advantage, we agreed, was that the information could be backed up, in case the device was lost or suffered the same fate as our previous organizers.
If only the iPod Touch was a phone, too, I said, as I updated my latest flip phone.
I know: crazy.
Discovering my old electronic devices showed me that since the mid-90s, I've been amassing technology far more frequently than I've cared to admit.
I'm on my third smartphone; before that, I had four other cell phones. Seven phones in 20 years.
Yup, I'm addicted to gadgets. How about you?
I've always tried to be organized, to make sure I have things written down so as to not forget them and have information at my fingertips. Now, more than ever, I feel I need to write things down before they're gone from my head, forever.
(I'll have more to say on that, next week. Assuming, I'll remember.)
Oh, and it was a calculator that held world times.
The other day, working from home in my basement and listening in on a conference call, I started poking around some desk drawers that I haven't looked in in many years. This desk, to the side of the one where I actually sit with my computer, is essentially a tabletop set atop low filing cabinets, filled with old tax records and receipts, as well as household information and paperwork that DW and I can't bear to part with.
In some of the smaller drawers, we keep office supplies, such as envelopes, paper, blank file folders, and the like. It was in one of these drawers that I found my old electronic organizer.
When closed, the device is about the same size as my smartphone, but thicker. It likely has a thinner profile that the new folding smartphones that are now emerging. The QWERTY keyboard has rubber buttons and takes up the lower half of the opened device, along with function and navigation buttons. The top half has a display that shares real estate with a number pad, for the calculator functions.
I remember using this organizer daily, which makes it no surprise that I'm comfortable throwing my smartphone in my pocket and how it is rarely more than a few feet away from me.
But this organizer was only the start of my gadget collection.
I'm fairly certain that I took this device with me, to Korea, as I recall capturing contact information from some of my friends and students. But sometime after I returned to Canada, I got with the 21st Century, and bought an organizer with a stylus and screen that translated my scribbles into legible print.
I remember acquiring my Palm Pilot sometime after I became a technical writer, and used it for many years. It even had a game to keep me occupied when I was bored.
I had the Palm Pilot at the same that I had a cell phone, and I remember carrying them around at the same time, wishing that somehow, the two could be combined.
I know: crazy idea.
Unlike my first organizer, which worked to the very end and was abandoned for newer technology, my Palm Pilot had a catastrophic failure and stopped working, taking all of my info with it.
Goodbye to all my Korean contacts.
By then, Apple had greatly improved their iPod, introducing the Touch. DW, who had also owned a Palm Pilot but had lost hers before mine crashed, bought the Touch and convinced me to get one, too. The advantage, we agreed, was that the information could be backed up, in case the device was lost or suffered the same fate as our previous organizers.
If only the iPod Touch was a phone, too, I said, as I updated my latest flip phone.
I know: crazy.
Discovering my old electronic devices showed me that since the mid-90s, I've been amassing technology far more frequently than I've cared to admit.
I'm on my third smartphone; before that, I had four other cell phones. Seven phones in 20 years.
Yup, I'm addicted to gadgets. How about you?
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