This past weekend, I helped Carolen get her life organized. We spent, oh, six or more hours poring over paper planners and Palm PDA. (Pocket PC's have a user interface from hell and we Berkeley students like to stick it to the man when we can, so we avoided it.) After much debate over the advantages and disadvantages of each, we concluded that although Palms were much more expensive than paper, it was, by far, the most flexible and most portable way to get one's thoughts down.

We spent a lot of time looking at paper planners first; we found that paper planners are an economical, easy way to write one's thoughts and plans down. People can use paper very easily since it is one of the most common forms of media. But paper planners did not work for her. She wanted to have something with a list of tasks, a weekly calendar broken down into hours, and a monthly calendar, which was a tall order to fill. And, none of the paper planners accommodated Carolen's hectic school schedule: most of the days ended at 5 pm when Carolen's days usually went well beyond that into midnight. That was the final straw.

So, we decided to look at the Palm PDA's. She settled for a Palm TX because of its beautiful widescreen display and the virtual silkscreen area. The built-in wi-fi was an extra bonus. And so far, the PDA has been working great. I set up a miniature Getting Things Done-like system for her using the built-in Tasks and Calendar programs, emphasizing that every little thing she needs to do needs to go into the system. That way, she won't have to juggle so many things in her head.

Palm doesn't have a "How to use your PDA effectively" book that recommends different ways and approaches of using a PDA. I had to figure this out myself over the past five or six years, with the help of other peoples' systems and Getting Things Done. So, here were my recommendations to her on effective use of a Palm, based on my experience of micromanaging my schedule and tasks on the computer and on a Palm:

• In Tasks / To Do, I created a category called Projects. Every project in my life is anything that takes more than one action to accomplish. Each project has a measurable outcome, such as "Move out of apartment", "Finish Japanese paper", and "Debug Perl script". Each project is assigned a four- or five-letter callsign, such as "JPN" for Japanese class or "AC" for my work with the Academic Centers.
• I prefixed all calendar items with its own four- or five-letter "callsign."
• That way, I can quickly look up projects based on its callsign. :)
• In Tasks / To Do, I created different categories for each context. Certain actions can only be done in certain environments. For example, I can only update my website if I'm on-line. So, I have these context categories: @Anywhere, @Computer, @Errands, @Home, @On-line.
• In Calendar, I created different categories based on the areas of my life. I'm not sure if this is the most efficient way of doing things, but using Palm's week view of my calendar allows me to see whether the majority of my time is spent studying or in class, or goofing off. So, my categories are: Activities/Club, Business, Carolen, Personal, Plans, School major events, School office hours, School routine (things I have to do regularly), Study blocks, Transport (time spent on the bus, train, or LRV), Work, and Work Search (since I spent a lot of time finding a job last semester).

I think this new system having a positive effect on her. Although her workload is still stressful, she's definitely not as disorganized anymore. In fact, an SLC tutor went up to ask her, "When and where is the all-Tutors meeting?" and Carolen whipped out her PDA, found the time, and answered with certainty, "5:30pm." I'm so powd! Hooray for organizational tools!

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Oh, I'm so excited! Today is the day (hopefully!) that my fate is decided. Where will I work? :) I'll be glad as long as some decision is made. And, this weekend, I am rooming with a friend of mine, Tingting, in Mountain View, CA. It's a suburban city in Silicon Valley, south of San Francisco. It seems like a nice place, and it at least has an active night life.

I still want to send late Christmas letters to everyone I know, updating them on what happens. It's always nice hearing from people on where they are in life. One of my friends is working at an architecture firm now, and I'm happy that she's doing what she wants to do.

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Stephen Colbert : In street lingo, are you running to stick it to the man?
Al Sharpton: I don't know what street you got that language...

Stephen Colbert : The urban street. The mean streets.
Al Sharpton: I'm sticking up for a lot of people that have felt that no one has stuck up for them, but I'm not trying to stick it to anyone.

Stephen Colbert : Not even the man?
Al Sharpton: Who's the man?

Stephen Colbert : Let's pretend for a moment that I'm the man. Now, stick it to me.
Al Sharpton: uh... I'm not sticking it to anyone.

Stephen Colbert : Not even the man? He's very stickable.
Al Sharpton: I don't get thrilled by sticking it to you, I get thrilled by stopping you... sticking it... st... you're sticking it to me.