Palm: Handy or Date With Disaster?

I used to dread being organized.

For five years, I kept a paper-based date book. I hauled around a bulging notebook leaking papers everywhere. I spent more time than I’d care to admit carefully saving scraps of paper and writing down appointments and contact numbers.

Not anymore. Now that I’ve gotten a Palm IIIx, I’ve thrown my Day Runner in my sock drawer. Now, I’m more productive than ever, and I owe it all to an unlikely source: Games.

Every time I turn on my Palm to play cribbage or solitaire, bam! There’s my to-do list right there, helping me keep appointments, remember birthdays, make phone calls and generally make life more efficient. I even have a separate “honey-do” category that keeps me popular at home.

To those who have never seen a Palm organizer, it is a hand-held computer that comes with a date book, address book, to-do list maker and memo pad. It’s small enough to fit in a shirt pocket yet powerful enough to store thousands of names and numbers. The Palm runs for about a month on two AAA batteries.

The folks behind it have done a good job of integrating the programs so that you can, say, link a breakfast meeting to the phone number of the restaurant to a reminder that your client hates green peppers. Palm has several models, ranging from the plain-Jane Palm IIIe at $149 to the wireless-internet-ready Palm VII at $449. There are thousands of small programs available to expand the Palm’s capabilities, including lots of games.

Maybe you hadn’t noticed before, but there aren’t any games in a Day Runner. It takes work to keep all those white pages filled with events and names. And just when you’ve gotten caught up recording all your friends’ names and addresses in neat and tidy rows of hand-printed columns, somebody up and moves to Sheboygan and you have to scratch out that old address and cram in a new one.

To avoid feeling guilty about my paper responsibilities, I would sometimes go for days without looking at my date book. The Palm eases most of that data entry and adds the element of fun.

Here are some ways that my Palm enhances productivity and fun.

* Productivity: I only have to enter a weekly event once; the Palm fills in the other 51 entries for the year.

* Fun: I can play chess anywhere (and play with an opponent who’s gracious enough to give me good hints when I get stuck).

* Productivity: It instantly boots up (try that on a laptop!).

* Fun: I can play a hole of golf with Tiger Woods, or at least a black-and-white pixelated version of him.

* Productivity: I can hook it up to my Mac at home and update my Palm’s contents with the matching organizer software on my desktop.

* Fun: I can read e-books such as “Sherlock Holmes” or “Spell of the Yukon” (free from https://www.memoware.com). There’s even a new Stephen King book, “Riding the Bullet,” that’s only available in electronic form ($2.50 at https://www.peanutpress.com).

* Productivity: It helps boost my image as a loving, caring father by alerting me to family events and anniversaries.

I’ve long wanted one of these high-tech toys but didn’t think I could justify the cost. I got my Day Runner at a warehouse store for about $20, so spending 10 times as much for an electronic organizer seemed pretty steep (a fact often pointed out to me by my loving, caring spouse).

Then a friend got one and let me play with it. I quickly realized that besides being an organizer, the Palm could perform most of the tasks I’d always wanted from a portable computer. Suddenly I was scaling down my tax-refund wish list from a $2,000 laptop to a $200 palmtop.

The Palm comes with matching software for your desktop computer, so it’s like getting two organizers in one. The software makes it easy to set up repeating appointments and alarms.

To enter data directly into the Palm, you write on the screen using a special alphabet called Graffiti. Most of the characters are written the same but there are some differences so it takes a little getting used to. It took me about an hour to get the hang of it.

Don’t get me wrong. I haven’t completely given up on using pen or pencil. I keep a small pad of Post-It Notes with my Palm so I can jot down a quick note (my Graffiti skills are improving, but I’m still no threat to a good stenographer). Later I transfer the note’s contents to the Palm at my leisure.

So I get the best of all worlds: paper, electronic and fun.

Palm Pilot VII

* Features: Built-in date book, address book, to-do list, memo pad, e-mail storage, expense application, ability to beam data to other Palms, wireless Web surfing (with separate subscription service).

* System requirements: Windows or Macintosh

* Size: 5.25” x 3.25” x 0.75”

* Weight: 6.7 oz.

* Storage capacity: 2 MB

* Connection: Serial (USB kit available)

* Power source: 2 AAA batteries

* Price: $449*

* Where to buy it: Most major electronics and office-supply chains; (800) 881-7256; https://palm.com.

*Manufacturer’s suggested retail price