Regression

Today, I bought a diary.

For those who don’t know me – or those who are as knackered and, thus, slow-witted as myself right now – I shall take this slowly:

For the last few years, I’ve used a variety of digital diary-type things, including a range of desktop applications on my Mac, most recently iCal. My workplaces have usually provided Outlook, but in my humble it’s quite the worst example of unusable software yet developed. How people can run their lives with it, I’ve simply no idea.

I’ve also tried using my iPod and mobile phone as diaries, and while I can get around the inability to enter data directly (Post-It notes are wonderful things), the access speed is simply rubbish. No, through it all, the master copy of what I’m doing has been in my head, and the backup of things like birthdays and anniversaries – not that I’m remotely good at doing anything about such things – is in my Newton.

Ah, the Newton again. The original handheld ‘PDA,’ and still – still, dammit – the best. Unfortunately, mine is heading rapidly towards its seventh birthday, and while it still works, I no longer feel entirely happy entrusting it with the running of my life. Indeed, I’ve not been carrying it around daily since I started cycling again.

Hence the problem. I need a calendar application. I need rapid-access. I need small size and light weight. I no longer need a contact book – my mobile phone iSyncs nicely with my Mac, which in turn syncs with my Newton and hence is now the master copy. But I do need a calendar.

So I popped into Smith’s and bought a diary. It’s very small, week-to-a-view, and I already hate the inability to back it up. But it might, just might, irritate me less than a Palm thingy or an Ericssony P810. And it certainly cost less.