My friend is definitely a power user. While not a professional Geek, he certainly enjoys the learning and doing parts enough to have grown well beyond casual use. He frequently trouble shoots his own problems, customizes his software configs, and tweaks his system in interesting ways. I know that when I get a call from him, either he needs a sounding board to bounce an idea off of, or he has a real problem that will require more than a reboot or a reinstall.

He has had his share of Vista complications. Foremost of which is Cannon’s decision to support Vista on it’s combo Printer/Scanner/Copier/Fax systems starting with the model directly after his. He was able to get the XP driver installed and he can at least print. Alas, scanning and faxing seem lost to him. His other major issue, which others have repeated, is installing software. His work around to the access issues he has encountered is to use the “Run As” command on the Setup.exe in order to execute it as Administrator. This has resolved the majority of his issues, although it did require several reinstalls of software he has setup before discovering it.

In the end he is genuinely happy with both Vista and his new hardware. I hope that others find Vista as positive an experience as he has. Unfortunately from the reports I have read, he seems to be among the minority.

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I have just heard the first reports back and he described it as “Blown Away.” He seems to be enjoying Vista itself, beyond the new hardware benefits he is getting. I hope that my cautionary tales of Vista’s successes and failures helped him in having a positive, yet realistic, mindset for the transition. I will gather more in depth information tonight and we’ll see if the initial enthusiasm holds up under scrutiny.

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This system served me well through college and up until I got my first “Tech Support” job. I was working as a bench tech at CompUSA and one of the other techs was trying to sell his palm pilot pro. This was in 1998 and I already had a newton message pad. But it had never really supplanted the organizer for all my planning needs. Now I had an opportunity to get a pilot. It even had the “upgrade card” to make it equal to a Palm III. I don’t remember how much he wanted for it but I knew it was a great deal. I also had to get an adapter to plug it into my Powerbook 3400. But once I had it up and running there was no looking back.

I completely digitized my organizer. Every scrap of paper, every phone number, every note went into the palm. I swore that I would carry it everywhere, and I did. I searched for a great belt holder and pen/stylus. I was going to be fully mobile. I’ve always considered myself a road warrior with nowhere to go. The palm accompanied me to the mall, camping, on job interviews, and even doing the laundry. You see my paper organizer was always with me and significantly larger so the palm was easy to justify and carry. I just never became as easy to use.

I upgraded to newer models and constantly searched out better programs and accessories. I read palm pilot news sites and discussed them on some of the first forums dedicated to palms. Yes I was a true believer and followed in the way of the palm. I ever wrote a short story almost entirely in graffiti. My whole life was in there and I could find no fault in it.

No fault, but always a nagging feeling. I was still looked upon as the organizer, but doing so seemed harder. I felt more pressured to look at my palm. I was always trying to justify using it more or buying another accessory. It had become an extra step in everything. I had to force myself to look at it to see what I had to do. I stopped writing in it as much.

Now I don’t mean to portray this as an overnight change. I have been using a Palm OS device for 8 years now. I have always found it useful but never inviting, functional but not empowering. I always felt I should be using it more than I was. The most productive I ever felt with it was when I found a program called MacNoteTaker the let me sync a folder of text files to it, edit them on the pilot and sync the changes back. This was true power and one of the few things I really miss when I went from a mac to a Linux box.

Now I find myself looking at my palm pilot, which is also my phone, only when I have to. Things have been lost in it’s to do lists and the notes are almost completely empty. Only the calendar and contact list are regularly used. I feel that after 8 years I could get a non-palm phone, provided it syncs my calendar and contact list on Linux, which none of them do, and be just as productive.

So now I’ve gone back to paper. I have found GTD and it’s working well so far (2 weeks in). I’m carrying a hipster PDA based on the templates from DIYPlanner.com and joined the 43 folders forums. But the real proof of my return to paper is this writing itself. It his being written on my first Moleskine, or at least the first draft is. I rarely write and yet I have spilled out 6 pages so far and I feel better about it than The entire short story I wrote on the palm (As I add “Finish Short Story” to my next action list).

I feel that in returning to paper organizing has become about the information again. I am worrying much less about what I am doing with that information and more about what I am doing. Hopefully this will help me make the most out of GTD and stop missing so many of the things I need to be doing. Plus if I start writing more then writing behind the keyboard should get easier.

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• I need to clear out the Moleskine that this lives in before I finish it out and start another one.
• I hope that by finally transcribing the contents I can get some perspective on my views at the time.

I have one more long piece and a short one that I hope to get up soon. This is coming out in near first draft form. I have decided to do only minimal editing and just post it as it was written. I would love comments and feedback, as long as you remember that these were from a year ago and a lot has evolved since then.

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• Expansion of writing as both a skill and a habit within my regular routine
• Journaling my thoughts and interests for my own and others review
• Communicating my realizations and conclusions on certain topics
• Generating a conversation with others who may find my ideas compelling
• Chronicling my experiences and exploits so others may learn from my mistakes

I also think there is value in stating what this blog isn’t and what I hope to keep it from becoming.

• A Diary
• The complete chronicle and record of the insignificant portions of my life
• A list of web pages I think are useful (For this I suggest my del.icio.us page)
• Links to content without attempting to contribute to the topic or discussion
• A money making venture
• An Ego centric tribute to my own greatness and intellect

I hope this will give us both a better idea of what I hope to achieve and avoid with this effort.

For the sake of full disclosure, I have started this blog 4 times in the past, in different forms. None of them has taken off beyond a few casual posts on a semi-regular basis. I hope to hold myself to a tighter schedule this time. I would like to post three days a week as a minimum. I’m not sure how realistic that is but as least it’s a good goal to set initially.

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