More About Structure, And Another Gluten Warning

As hesitant as I was to attempt to add structure to my life, it’s turning out to not be as difficult as I feared it would be.  I think the key is to add new things one at a time, with some time in between to adjust.  Well, there seem to be several keys, but that’s a big one.

Someone recently gave me a Palm Pilot.  I resisted initially, thinking that if I can’t seem to make a paper organizer or an online task list work, I wouldn’t be any more likely to make proper use of a Palm.  I was wrong!  It’s amazing.  It fits right into the way my mind works, somehow.  It syncs with the software on my computer and fits right into my purse.  I keep my task list on it (a very long end ever-growing list of every little thing I would otherwise forget to do).  I look at the “Today” view of my task list so that it isn’t overwhelming, seeing all those things I have to do, and it feels like those things I have to do in the day in question are in more manageable chunks.  I’ve been learning how easily overwhelmed I am, and now that I realize that about myself, I can structure (there’s that word again) things so that I don’t shut down when contemplating the enormity of everything.

I keep my shopping list on the Palm, too, with items divided by store, and I just delete them from the list as I go, and then add new items as I think of them.  No little scraps of paper in my purse, and no need to carry a little spiral notebook or start new lists as the old ones get all scratched out, anymore.  I have items in my Office Documents like my list of the supplements I take, which includes brand names, dosages, and prices, so that when I need to buy more I remember which ones to buy; and various gluten-free product, company, and ingredient lists.

I have the little folding keyboard that goes with it, too, and I can use that to work on my NaNoWriMo novel if my laptop doesn’t work and I’m at a write-in.  I won’t be able to write on it in the program I usually use (though I did message the software’s author to ask if he would write a version for Palm for next year), but I could write in Word and then transfer it when I get home.  (My laptop is very old and cantankerous and I’m not sure how much I can count on it to work on any given day.)  The Palm has wifi, and that is awesome, since the wifi on my laptop hasn’t worked for a long time.  I’ll be able to update my NaNo word counts even if I’m not home.

End of commercial for Palm.  For now. 

And other news in the Tampalama Adds Structure To Her Life Saga:

When trying to figure out a glutening not long ago, SS said maybe I should keep a food diary.  I groaned.  I hate keeping food diaries.  But, the more I thought about it, the more I realized how it could have come in handy, had I been keeping one during the last few glutenings.

Yesterday morning, we were talking about the last time I was glutened and neither of us could remember what had caused it, even though I’d figured it out at the time it happened.  I finally remembered.  It was the WalMart Great Value brand corn tortillas I’d bought a few months ago.  The package says “gluten free” on it, but I noticed the day I bought it that it was the last of the old packaging design, and all the packages with the new design had a shared equipment warning.  I debated about buying it, wondering if they changed the gluten info when they switched to the new packaging because they had discovered it was mislabeled earlier due to the shared equipment situation or if they actually had changed where and  how they were made at the same time they changed the labels.  I took the chance and bought them and used them a few times.  That was during a time when I was being glutened in more than one way (also, a store brand acidophilus I was using at the time seems to not be gluten free).  I hung onto the tortillas, though, and gave them a try again Sunday night, just to test, and I reacted.  That was the glutening we couldn’t remember the source of, yesterday.  And that was what convinced me to start a food log.

I created a new blog and made it private (the whole world doesn’t care or need to know what I eat).  I’m keeping the entries simple, with a list of what I eat each day.  I don’t bother with measurements and such because it isn’t a weight loss food diary.  I make notes about things that might or might not be pertinent later, like which Dunkin Donuts location I got my coffee from the last two mornings.  I made categories for the two major reactions I have to gluten (abdominal pain/gas, and bleeding, usually two to three days later).  I made categories for the types of foods I’m eating, as well, just in case that might spotlight any other trends (i.e. I’ve suspected for some time that I also have a problem with dairy, but I’m not ready to come completely out of denial about it.  Many gluten intolerant people also cannot digest casein, a protein in milk.  I generally only react with digestive symptoms to dairy products when I’ve been glutened, but I always seem to become congested and sinusy after I eat cheese.)  I had to laugh this morning when, just beginning today’s entry, my category cloud showed “coffee” in huge letters.  At that point, it was the only category that had more than one entry in it.

I’m including a section in each day’s entry for soaps, lotions, detergents, etc., which I’ll just paste in from the day before and only change when I change brands.  I’ll make notes of anything unusual that happens, like the times I have opened a file folder of paperwork from Boss and had a half-cup of bread crumbs fall out onto me (I spoke with him about it, explaining what crumbs can do and asking for his help since I was trying to rule out as much as possible in my attempt to figure out how I was being glutened, and he said he will be more careful about eating lunch near the paperwork he is working on).  I have a section in every entry where I’ll go back in and make a note if I have any reaction, and I’ll put it into the appropriate reaction category.  Eventually, I should be able to pin down what causes the mystery reactions I have sometimes.

Speaking of mystery glutenings, I have another entry in my drafts folder that will be published soon . . .

And speaking of WalMart (as in the mention of the Great Value brand corn tortillas, above), I was looking at their gluten free products on their web site (a search feature I had touted in a previous entry) and was still very impressed with it . . . until I got several pages into the list and saw Goldfish crackers, fudge brownie ice cream, and bread.  Wheat bread, yes.  In the gluten free search results.  So, I have to add a warning here, to anyone who took my advice and went to look at the list: Be careful!  Take nothing for granted!  And always read labels before you buy, because even if something was gluten free last time  you bought it, it may not be anymore.

More soon.

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Mercury In Retrograde

So, I saw on Friday that Mercury is in retrograde from 9/6/09 – 9/29/09 (or 9/7/09 – 9/30/09, according to another site).  My initial reaction: “Well, no sh*t.  That was obvious without looking it up.”

Some exerpts from an article on Astrology Zone that I found interesting:

At several points throughout the year most of us will be bombarded with the maddening effects of Mercury in retrograde. Mercury is a planet which governs all transportation and communication issues. Mercury is not an emotional planet, but rather a highly objective, truth-seeking one. It rules intelligence, education and truth. When it is in retrograde, some of its power is held back.

When Mercury starts turning in an apparent backward motion, we will start to feel the effects of this event days or even as far as two weeks earlier. When the planet normalizes we will see the tempo of events pick up in our lives as the planet becomes “stationary” and then speeds forward.

Gemini and Virgo are signs ruled by Mercury, so if you are one of those born during those months, you will be complaining especially loudly. . .

I’m a Gemini, and I’d never given any thought to Virgo also being ruled by Mercury, but I have to laugh, because my rising sign is Virgo.  I wonder if that makes me even more apt to feel the effects of Mercury Retrograde.

What happens when Mercury retrogrades? You miss appointments, your computer equipment crashes, checks get lost, you find the car you just purchased during Mercury retrograde is a lemon. . . All machinery and things with moving parts–such as computers, VCRs, camera equipment, garbage disposals, and so forth, will reveal any weak links now. It is critical that you back up your data system and be more careful and vigilant than ever. Projects will demand more time and money than anticipated this month. . .

Things get lost when Mercury messes us up. Take NOTHING for granted. . .

. . . try not to start new things. If you have to start a job during a Mercury retrograde period know that the nature of the job is likely to change dramatically over time. Perhaps the person you report to will leave, or your responsibilities will be very different from what you thought they would be. Or your company won’t be ready to take you on, and you won’t have much to do until things are reorganized. But remember, if this was a position that you tried for in the past, then you’ve got the vibes working for you rather than against you.

The first clue that Mercury might be retrograde was the number of misunderstood communications with the wedding last weekend.

Then, there is my VCR situation of late.  It began days ago, when my one-dollar-yard-sale VCR that I bought when my older one stopped working began to eat tapes.  I managed to get the tapes out (it ate two before I was convinced it wasn’t a one-time fluke) and I wound the pulled-out and wrinkled tape back into the cartridge with a fork (hey, I was eating dinner at the time and it was handy), but of course I realized I shouldn’t use that VCR anymore.  Then the fun began.  Someone Special loaned me her VCR, and when I hooked it up, I couldn’t get the picture to stop rolling and messing up (or at times, going completely blank).  This was both while watching the TV through the VCR and while watching a tape.  We concluded that something must be wrong with that VCR and I called Mom and Dad to ask if I could borrow theirs until I can get a new one.  (Money is always so tight that even a VCR purchase is a big deal that has to be planned for.)

Well, I got Mom and Dad’s VCR home Thursday night and tried to hook it up (the same exact way I had it hooked up the last time I borrowed it, mind you) and I couldn’t tune in any channels with it.

I’m going to cut this story short and leave out the part about the huge temper flareups I went through that night, and jump right to the part about how I lost my pliers.  I had them, and then I couldn’t find them, and whatever happened in between was a blur.  I needed them in order to disconnect what I’d done and try it again with different cables, so I wasted . . . gosh, it must have been close to an hour but it felt like two . . . doing nothing but going in circles, looking for the stupid pliers.  They turned up back against the wall, under a table, where I’d evidently flung them in frustration.  Ok, so, pliers located, I went to work.  And still couldn’t get it right.  I was on the phone with Someone Special when I said something to the effect of, “Well, I’ll try using those red, yellow, and white plugs instead, but I need my flashlight to see where they plug in.  Crap.  Where’s my flashlight?  I just had it . . .”  I still laugh as I remember SS saying, “Oh, no.  No, no no.”  (She was laughing, too.)

It didn’t matter.  I found the flashlight, but nothing I tried got the VCR working.  I gave up, finally, and went to bed.

Friday morning, I went in to work, put coffee and water into the coffee maker, flipped the switch, and nothing happened.  *Sigh*

Remembering how, Thursday, Boss was having trouble with his cell phone, his computer, his email (no matter what computer he was on) and something else (I don’t remember what, now), and Mom telling me about how, when she was baking last weekend, both her can opener and her timer broke within minutes of one another, it dawned on me that our friend Mercury was likely in retrograde, so I looked it up.  And it is.

But it isn’t all bad.  There are some positive aspects, as well.

More exerpts from the Astrology Zone article:

Why would the Universe give us Mercury retrograde? Because to move forward it is sometimes necessary to backtrack and reconfigure our paths in life. It is important to reconsider, repair, reflect, and reconnect. Mercury forces us to slow down and fix what’s broken, and in so doing, rethink things. It also gives us time to get to projects we have put on the back-burner.

Some activities are lucky or actually improve when Mercury retrogrades. You are likely to bump into old friends that you haven’t seen in years. Adopted children tend to find their birth parents during Mercury retrograde periods, or people locate their long lost siblings. Prosecutors often find clues to crimes that had previously remained unsolved for years. (Although sometimes the reverse is true–there is a greater danger, or example, that police can bungle evidence during a Mercury retrograde period, for clear thinking doesn’t come easy for any of us then.) Mail that went astray weeks or even years ago shows up during Mercury retrograde. Some things that were lost reappear.

Now is also a good time to dress old wounds, clean up relationships or to simply bury the hatchet. Some people have great breakthroughs in psychotherapy during a Mercury retrograde period. For salesman, it is a positive time to backtrack over previous contacts rather than call on new ones. It is a perfect time to schedule work on projects that you haven’t had time to do and you’ve let pile up. Bring your resume or portfolio up to date, and clean out your closets. Take time to paint the house. Clear your decks.

I also really enjoyed an article by Ron Archer, that looks at Mercury Retrograde from a mindfulness perspective.  I’m quoting the entire text of the article because all of it applies to some of what is on my mind lately:

“The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.” -Thich Nhat Hanh

It’s Saturday morning and I just completed my “weekly review.” For those not familiar with the popular “Getting Things Done” book and methodolgy, the weekly review is part of an overall system for managing projects and tasks.

David Allen, who created this system, also practices karate. At the beginning of the book David uses a phrase from martial arts: “mind like water.” He says to imagine throwing a pebble into a still pond. The water ripples appropriately to the weight and mass of the pebble, and then returns to calm. David advocates his GTD system so that we too can have a mind like water- calm, responding to inputs appropriately- not overreacting or underreacting- and then returning to a state of calm. It’s really about developing a state of mindfulness.

Wikipedia defines mindfulness as:
Mindfulness is calm awareness of one’s body functions, feelings, content of consciousness, or consciousness itself. Mindfulness plays a central role in the teaching of the Buddha where it is affirmed that “correct” or “right” mindfulness is the critical factor in the path to liberation and subsequent enlightenment.

In astrology the planet Mercury is a symbol for our mind, ideas, and communication and learning styles. Mercury is never more than 28 degrees away from the Sun, symbolizng how closely our mind relfects our true inner selves.

About thee times a year the universe gives us the opportunity to become more mindful when Mercury turns retrograde. This means that from our perspective on Earth Mercury appears to move backwards. This is only an optical illusion caused by where the two planets are in their yearly orbits.

The effects of this phenomena include minor mishaps with communication, transportation, and paperwork- all things that are under Mercury’s domain. For example, losing your keys, dealing with a computer crash, or misreading important contracts are more likely during the retrograde periods.

All of these annoyances are really symptoms of a mind that’s moving too fast and in too many directions. When Mercury turns retrograde it’s time to do all of the “re-” words: reconsider, review, rehearse, and remind. It’s a time to revisit where we’ve been, realign with our goals, and recommit to what’s important.

The phrase “a mind that’s moving too fast and in too many directions” makes me think of ADD.  It’s funny, because I was wondering the other day if people with ADD tend to feel the effects of Mercury Retrograde particularly strongly.  I love the “mind like water” concept.  I’m going to do some more reading on that.

Mercury will be retrograde from September 7, 2009 to September 30, 2009. During that time it will move from 6 degrees Libra back to 21 degrees Virgo, where it was in mid-August. Think back (re-member!) to mid-August. It’s time to review what was happening then, re-engage with something that was left unfinished, and revitalize it.

Moving from Libra back into Virgo describes a period when our focus will return from socializing back to working; from compromising back to discerning; from expressing back to analyzing. Virgo energy wants to plan, order, and schedule. With Mercury moving back to this sign it’s time for us to look for things in our life that need to be replanned, reordered, and rescheduled.

During the rerograde period Mercury will make a couple of stressful contacts to other planets. On September 17th Mercury will be challenged by Pluto. On this day we may be forced to face some news or facts that we’d rather avoid. Chances are it’s something that we avoided back in August and now we have to reconsider it. Around the 23rd Mercury will join up with Saturn and oppose Uranus. We’ll have to decide whether to cling to the past or accept a new idea, plan, or proposition. No need to rush into making your choice; Mercury will pass back over this spot in early October after it begins moving direct again.

The lesson of Mercury retrograde is to simply be more mindful- stop and think. Don’t be afraid to sign a contract; read it twice and make sure you understand what it contains. Don’t worry about losing your keys; look where you’re putting them. Don’t fret about a computer crash; back up your computer now.

Mercury retrograde periods are good times for doing lots of things that require you to go back over something. For example, editing a paper or manuscript, cleaning out files and closets, renewing subscriptions, licenses or registrations, or reconnecting with old friends. Give yourself permission over the next three weeks to slow down, clean up loose ends, and develop a mind like water. Namaste‘

I’ve blogged before about my clutter problem, and this weekend I actually made the first chunk of noticable progress that I’ve made in months.  It felt great, to finally make the shift from being overwhelmed by it to actually digging in and making a difference I can see.  Because doing this represents so much more to me than simply cleaning up a mess, it sort of represents a life-changing turning point, something I’ve experienced several of, lately.  I plan to be blogging some more about that in the next day or two, but my goal is to have dug myself out from under by mid-October.  Starting this during this particular time may be even better timing than I’d realized.

And an update: Last night, I tried one more time to get Mom and Dad’s VCR to pull in the cable signal because I was really tired of not being able to record my soap, and I discovered that if I tipped it slightly, the signal came in.  If I laid it flat, it lost it again.  Tipped: good.  Flat: bad.  So, for now, it’s sitting in a box where it can remain tipped until Dad and I have a chance to open it up and tighten whatever is loose.  Problem temproarily solved.  Someone Special said on chat this morning: “Sometimes things don’t work the way they are…so you have to tilt…shift…change perspective…”  Kinda profound.

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Photo Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

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Fifteen Things

If someone had told me, when I was a kid in the ’70’s, that when I grew up I’d be able to type a message into a machine, press a button, and someone clear across the world could read and respond to that message within seconds, I would have been astonished.  I wouldn’t have been able to wait to grow up!

If they’d told me we would have tiny telephones that we could carry in our pockets and talk on just about anywhere, especially using tiny wireless earpieces that would allow us to have both hands free to drive or do whatever, I wouldn’t have even been able to imagine it.  Seriously, I remember when I bought a 25 or 30 foot phone cord, when I was in my late teens, that allowed me to walk around with the phone in my hand (hands; the receiver in one and the base in the other) and not be forced to sit in one spot to talk.  I thought that was the ultimate in freedom!

I remember “taping” Saturday Night Live with my best friend, back in the late ’70’s.   We taped the audio with our little portable cassette players (placed on a chair, in front of the TV speaker) and listened to the skits over and over again all week, recalling the visual in our minds.  We’d heard about something called a Betamax, that allowed a person to record TV shows and watch them later, and we were in awe.  We didn’t actually know anyone who had one, but that was what we would buy if we were rich, for sure!

My family and I used to go to Disney World when I was a kid, and I remember being particularly amazed by the Carousel of Progress‘ future predictions.  It showed a woman sitting in front of her TV, actually buying things over the telephone when they appreared on the screen!  When Home Shopping first caught on, I remember telling my friends that I’d seen that at Disney.  There was also a teenaged girl in her bedroom, watching music videos while she talked on her phone!  Pre-MTV!  Who knew?  Walt Disney did, apparently.

If someone had shown me a picture of a laptop computer, especially one of those little netbooks, and told me they could do things that those huge computers (the kind with all sorts of buttons and lights and reel-to-reel tape things; the computers that spit out cards with holes in them) couldn’t do, I’d have said, “Nuh-uh!”

And all this has inspired me to make a list of Fifteen Phrases That, If I’d Heard Them When I Was A Kid, Would Have Made Me Say Huuuhhhh? So, here is that list:

1.  ”Google me”

2.  ”Call me on my cell”

3.  ”I’ll email you from my laptop”

4.  ”I need new batteries for my mouse”

5.  ”I’m talking to you on my bluetooth”

6.  ”I.M. me”

7.  ”Text me”

8.  ”Virtual reality”

9.  ”TiVo the show and watch it later”

10. “What’s in your Netflix queue?”

12. “It got caught in my spam filter”

13. “What kind of anti-virus do you have?”

14. “Do they have free WiFi at that coffee shop?”

15. “I need to buy some new memory”

The Wedding Photographer

My youngest nephew is getting married Saturday (I’m posting this entry just after midnight Thursday, but technically it’s Friday now and I can say the wedding is tomorrow).  I’m going to be taking the pictures.  It’s going to be fun, but I’m also nervous because I’m not a professional, or even a skilled, photographer.  I’ll be using Sister’s digital camera, which is a point-and-shoot type camera that won’t require a steep learning curve for me.

The rehearsal is Friday at 5:00 in a town that is about an hour and 15 minutes away from where I work.  I normally work until 5:00, but I emailed Boss to ask if I can leave at 3:00.  I didn’t think I would need to go to the rehearsal until I spoke with Sister tonight (Thursday night) to have her read me the list of photos I need to remember to take, in the order they will happen.  I asked her where I should stand to take some of the ceremony pictures, so I won’t be getting in the way but can still get the shots without other people blocking my view, and she said she didn’t know.  That was when I realized that I really need to be at the rehearsal.  I hope Boss says it’s ok to leave early.

I’m really pleased with how I did my list, though.  I made a table in Word with three columns and three rows, then copied and pasted parts of the list into each cell and printed it.  I folded it accordian-style so that only one cell shows at a time and it’s small enough to keep in my palm while I take the pictures, and I’ll just flip to the next cell as I progress.

I’m taking deep breaths, hoping I can do a good job for the kids . . . and hoping I can give them some beautiful photos to cherish.

Misc. Stuff

I think I joined blogguiltfree.org the other day.  I’m not sure.  When I clicked “submit”, it took me back to the same page, and I can’t find my blog listed.  I’m just not sure . . .

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I’ve decided to try participating in NaBloPoMo for April.  I don’t think I have ever blogged every day for a month, in any blog or online diary I’ve ever had, but the challenge might be a good thing.  I don’t know yet whether I will stick to the theme or not, and I don’t know when members get to find out what the theme for the month is, but I’m going to give it a good try to blog every day.  Some of it may (likely will) be silly stuff, though . . . be forewarned!  (I’ll be really lucky if the theme is silliness!)

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I finally posted the picture of my hair on the floor of the beauty shop.  It’s been over two weeks since I got it cut and it took that long to get it out of my phone.  It wouldn’t go by email or text, so I finally sent it via Bluteooth to my other phone and then transferred it to the computer via the USB connection I have for that phone.  (I still need to get one for my newer phone.)  I still don’t get it, though, why photos that are even smaller file sizes than that one won’t transfer, by email/text or Bluetooth.  But anyway.  Eventually I’ll get the USB cable and that (hopefully) should solve the problem.

So is it just me, or does the pile of hair on the floor look bigger than my cat?

And, oh! All the channels!

(Yes, I know . . . this is also not the post where I continue writing about my reorganization.  Soon.  I promise.)

So.  I went without cable TV for the last couple years because I was trying to cut back wherever I could.  It sucked, but I adjusted much better than I thought I would.  In fact, the challenges were interesting at times.  With my trusty antenna, I was usually able to watch ABC (fairly clearly, even, if the wind was blowing right), CBS, CW, and two local networks.  Occasionally some other channels would come in clearly enough to view them, but those five were usually the basic channels.  I tape All My Children every day, and I watch it while I eat dinner in the evening.  Sometimes I could see it clearly, but for the last couple weeks, it’s been very snowy and the picture would pop in and out.  But I am often easily pleased by the small things in life, and a day when I would go home and find that All My Children recorded with a clear picture that day was always a nice little bonus.

Well, even though the extension went through for the deadline for the dtv conversion, I figured I’d better be making a decision anyway about what to do about the TV.  The TV in my living room is capable of receiving a digital signal.  It was a Christmas gift from my ex.  (Before he was my ex, of course.)  My VCR is not capable of receiving a digital signal, however.  I don’t know whether one of the converter boxes would have made it possible to record with the VCR, and I actually never went far enough to check into it.  The main reason is that the digital channels I was able to watch on the TV with the antenna were even more at the whim of . . . whatever it is that makes an antenna TV’s reception either good or bad (atmospheric conditions?) . . .than the analog channels were.  If I got a good digital signal, it would be really nice for an undetermined amount of time, and then would pixilize and freeze up until I had to change the channel.  That amount of time could be anywhere from 30 seconds to maybe ten minutes.  One time, I watched a whole show before it froze up.  So I came to the conclusion that once the converstion went through, I could expect to have a very low chance of being able to watch any show in its entirety with an antenna.

That was why I made the decision to go back to cable.  I’ll find something else to give up, to make up for the expense.

Well, even though I was aware that I missed several of the cable networks and several shows I used to watch, it didn’t really hit me until last night, after the cable was hooked up and I started to flip through the channels.  I was like a little kid who had just been given a whole pile of new toys!  I didn’t know what t0 play with first!

I’m sure it will be awhile before I start to take it for granted like I did before I cancelled it.

And all day long at work today, I kept thinking about how excited I was to go home and watch TV.  ’Course, I do have other things I need to do, too (leading back to that post I haven’t written yet and made reference to at the beginning of this one).

Getting Myself Organized

In the reading I’ve been doing about strategies for dealing with ADD, I found a list of tips for organization.  Under the heading of “Sticking To A Daily Schedule”, the first item is, “Use a planner or electronic organizer. Instead of hunting for appointments and phone numbers written on scraps of paper, find the right day planner or electronic PDA for you and use it.”

I am the queen of scraps of paper.  Everywhere.  And, of course, I can never find them when I need them.  I’ve tried carrying one of those organizer books in the past (several times), but found I would either leave it at home, not bother to write in it because my handwriting is so bad and my natural inclination is to type as much as possible, or forget to consult it to see what I needed to do.  I don’t have a PDA and can’t afford one, though it’s on my Wish List for Someday.  My cell phone has the standard calendar/organizer in it, but I just don’t have the patience to type on that little keypad.  ”8-2-55-33 666-88-8 8-44-33 8-777-2-7777-44″ (That should be “Take out the trash”, if I got it right.)

I got to thinking about how I had been considering adding another line and phone to my cell phone plan, for another reason, which I’ll explain later, and it dawned on me that there may be a special offer where I could get a phone with a qwerty keypad for free when adding another line.  I was right!  The special offer was for the Pantech Slate.

The reason I had been considering adding a line was because I bought a USB cable and software for my old phone, primarily for the purpose of being able to charge it while on the computer and make a backup of my phone book, but I also realized that I could use it to connect the computer to the internet.  Since I have an old desktop PC that hadn’t seen the internet in ages and an old, no-longer-portable laptop that I’ve been using an aircard to get online with, it dawned on me that using my cell phone and the USB cable would be a good way to go online from either computer.  And it would be much, much cheaper.  (It turns out that the software only works with Windows XP or newer and my laptop has Windows 2000, but that’s ok, because it’s really on its last legs and it’s time to phase out using it so much anyway.  Some day, I’ll get another laptop and it will have Windows XP or newer, and I’ll be able to use the cell phone for either one then.)  Another benefit to having the cell phone connection is that I can use it at work whenever our out-more-than-it-works DSL connection is down.  Several of the things I do at work require a working internet connection.

I compared the cost of having an additional line and adding the unlimited data transfer package to my account with the amount I’ve been paying for the aircard, and I can save over $30 a month and have a phone with a qwerty keypad to keep track of my tasks and notes.

So I ordered it, and it came in, and I really like it.  One drawback, though, was that it has a calendar and notes function but no “tasks” function, like my other phone has.  The good news is that I found Remember The Milk, an online task manager for to-do items, and was able to set up the mobile version on the phone.  This is even better than the phone having its own tasks lists because I can update my list from a computer as well.

Now, of course, comes the part where I have to be diligent enough to use my to-do list and to update it regularly.  I find I’m ok at sitting down and making lists and figuring out how to do things, but I get lost in the transition between thinking and doing (I’ve joked for years that I’m perfectly content to just live in my head, and now I understand why that is).  This is where I need to establish new habits and learn to remind myself not to get so caught up in the over-thinking of a task that I never actually start it.

More on that in my next post. . .