Schedule keeping

Pictured here are some of the key elements of my yesterday:

• My new* mindless knitting project.  Noro striped scarf with colors 221 and 268 on US 10 Addis (larger than usual needle size for this pattern).  Using picking rather than throwing for the 1x1 ribbing and it is going well outside of a few hand cramps and trying to keep the yarn tensioned appropriately.  O.o
• My work Blackberry.  I only use it for work and don't keep my personal calendar on it outside of blocking out time.  I could use it for personal use but I just don't want to be available 24/7....nor should I be.  However, I keep it with me, usually in my purse, because if I lose it, I have to give up my first-born, err, yarn stash fill out multiple forms.
• My personal phone/PDA Verizon Samsung Model something-something running Windows Mobile 6.  I have been keeping my personal calendar on this piece of equipment but it has betrayed me.  When I traveled between time zones, which was in late October, I had to manually change the time zone.  I use it for an alarm clock and it is too taxing to mentally adjust the time.  However, when I changed the time zone back, all my appointments did not move back, unknown to me.  (Really, why should they move in the first place?)  So, I arrived for my haircut yesterday a full hour early.  See first bullet point and how useful it was to have knitting with me. 
• The nice new 2009 paper calendar given to me by my hair stylist, Vicki.  With the nice paper appointment card for my next haircut time.

I suppose I should go to the Verizon store to see if there is anything like, oh, an update I can get for the Windows OS.  But since the Samsung won't sync on my Mac without a $40 application, I may be SOL.  I should have made a better-informed choice last year but this was (and is, for the most part) a pretty cool mobile phone.....just not for appointment keeping.  I keep hoping Apple and Verizon will have an agreement for a nice iPhone in the next year.  I *could* get an iTouch right now, but that would mean carrying another little electronic box with me.  /sigh

Tell me, how do you keep your schedule or calendar?   Electronic or paper?  Any suggestions for me on maintaining my appointments?  Frankly, this isn't the first appointment I have had, err, difficulty with in the past several months. Normally, I am never late nor would I forget an appointment and I always used to try to arrive a little early. It may be the user and not the equipment..........

Here's another little annoyance: 

A Noro knot.  It wasn't a surprise since it is common knowledge Noro is not good about "no-knots" but how do I get from a nice olivey-green to a bright aquamarine blue in a gradual transition?  I don't.  I'm irritated at the need to cut out knot and yarn to get to a better color transition.  Normally, it would be no big deal but today it is.  (Wow, winter cuticles!)

It is snowing today and blowing.  We had planned a quick trip to see my mom today but roads are ice-covered and hazardous in the Fox Valley so that visit will be delayed until tomorrow. 

I think I'll take Stacey's suggestion and go down to my studio and inhale some fiber fumes in between laundry loads to calm down.  Then maybe a nice cup of hot cocoa and a fire in the wood stove will be relaxing and just the thing for a cold, windy, and snowy day. 

*Not really new.  I started it last year and it was, ahem, misplaced.  I found it last week.

Comments

[Cookie]

Paper. Actually, it's a huge year-at-a-glance thingy. I don't trust anything that needs batteries or that I can throw in a fit of anger.

/ahem

I'm sorry about the Noro Knot. That's why I cake yarn with color changes. I need to know ahead of time if there is trouble coming.

Stay warm and try to relax.

xo

[Carrie]

I set my appointments on yahoo calendar and make it page my phone with reminders.
Bummer about the knot. You know, as much as people love their colors you'd think they'd be more careful with that sort of thing.

[kmkat]

I use iCal on my Mac running OSX 10.5.5. (Is that Tiger? Leopard? I can't keep them straight.) Someday I will figure out how to work my Palm with the Mac and iCal so I can have my calendar and address book with me all the time and update them on the fly. Alternatively, I could remember to sync iCal and Address book with my iPod. In the meantime, I try to remember to print out a paper copy of my calendar for the next two months whenever I go to a meeting. But I almost always forget. Whyohwhy is this sooooo hard?

When I made Noro scarves last year for Christmas gifts, I just cut out the knots and spit-spliced. Even when there was a sudden color transition it didn't seem like a problem to me. Maybe I was rationalizing, but I couldn't see where the color changed suddenly vs. gradually, unless I knew where to look and focused really, really hard. Of course, YMMV.

[Nora]

I use my Outlook calendar at work synched with my Palm (yes, I have a Palm - such a luddite) for my work/weekday personal appointment calendar. We use a plain old paper wall calendar for family and kid scheduling. My biggest problem is actually remembering to LOOK at the calendar to see what's coming. Not my strong suit. Sometimes I'd rather not know.

xo

[Angie]

I have returned to paper calendars after messing up on two attempts at Palm Pilot. I love D*I*Y Planner (diyplanner.com) and have managed to find my favourite elements to fit my binder. This dovetails with David Allen's "Getting Things Done" which I am still working through.

[Stacey]

I switched to a paper calendar. A simple wire bound one from Barnes & Noble. All the electronic stuff and big planners just ended up being a mess. Did sniffing the fumes help? Sitting in the LYS didn't help. The snobby ones were there. Hope you feel better soon and get your phone straightened out.
xoxo

[kay-from the back yard]

I have a Pocket PC(about 6 years old), my third one. So I've been paperless for many years. I sync with Outlook 2007 and Google Calendar, on both desktop and laptop. My iPod also syncs calendar and contacts, but it isn't useful to me. I couldn't be without my Pocket PC.

But sometimes I look at those paper planners and get wistful about simpler times and smaller carbon footprints.

[Kim]

I keep a paper calendar. I'm old school that way. Noro knots are so annoying! But the good thing is that you can spit splice.