I Love Gadgets

March 3rd, 2009

i-love-gadgets

I love gadgets.

Software, hardware, jelloware, you name it – I love them all. I love playing and utilizing bleeding edge technologies, I love figuring out how to hack a gadget into a “franken-pod”, and I even enjoy (for the most part) fixing the stupid programs and gadgets when they get out of line.

Gadgets are plain fun, and just lately, I’ve happened upon the greatest gadget in the world. It puts every computer productivity system to shame, and even bests the mighty iPhone. It’s cross-platform, completely ubiquitous, amazingly intuitive, and adjusts itself to user behavior. On top of all that, it’s portable, meaning that you can use it in any computing environment!

No folks, this is not part of Google’s plan to take over the world, or something that Steve Jobs cooked up, or a piece of Microsoft bloatware. This is as open source as it gets, allowing your imagination and creativity to have no bounds.

We’re talking about the incredible “Pen and Paper”.

Recognizing the power of this simple application, I try to use it as much as I can. (Well actually, I use a small variation known as “Mechanical Pencil and Notepad”, but the principle is the same).

How often do we write throughout the week? Sure we type emails, do twitters, and IM our friends – but what about real, thoughtful communication? This is what sitting down with Pen and Paper does to you. Suddenly the “lol”s don’t seem so important, and you write instead about the stuff that really matters. Each word, each letter is there for a purpose. (‘Cause it takes so long to write them!)

I use my notebook as a “lifestream”. In it goes calendars, todo lists, journals, song lyrics, scripture meditations, projects, sermon notes, etc. Information that I plan on preserving is then transferred to my personal wiki, giving me a chance to revise content for spelling and grammatical integrity.

It’s a system I hope to stick to for at least a few years!

How about you? Is Pen and Paper among your favorite gadgets? I am rarely without my Confederate haversack which contains my Pen and Paper, among other things.

- Walter

Posted in Uncategorized | 12 Comments »

Here there be comments...

  • HAF

    March 3, 2009 at 1:10 pm

    I could tell the author of this post just by the title. :-D
    I need to put Pen to Paper more frequently before writing the old fashioned way becomes a lost art form.

  • Walter

    March 3, 2009 at 11:40 pm

    @HAF
    Pen and Paper will never become a lost art form. It will endure, as it has for thousands of years…. :)

  • Esther

    March 4, 2009 at 12:31 am

    most certainly special things can come from pen and paper!

  • Sheila Delson

    March 4, 2009 at 8:45 am

    Walter…O My, you have grown into such a wonderfuly artful and creative writer, via key entry or paper and pen!
    Yes…I love pen and paper! In fact, there is a peer-suggestion that one cannot keep everything ‘together’ anymore unless they are PDA connected. Many of these people have become clients because…guess what…they are STILL disorganized and are more stressed than ever! Reason? They are too electronically connected – i.e. enter the PDA (and other similar instruments). Now, I’m not totally denying electronic potential – I use it myself (like right now). But…we must remember to use it wisely, and that it should not replace the grace and ‘true’ connectivity of the synergy that is transmitted via the activity of pen-in-hand. Total reliance on “gadgets” just simply cannot address or accommodate the way human beings are ‘wired,’ and many of those who have gone that route are often under greater stress. There is a deep need for us to ‘touch’ our work and our communications in order to make them personal, sensitive, and truely gift-like. No matter what, there is nothing that can replace personal ‘human touch.’ Thank you so much for sharing your own thoughts on this very important, and rapidly declining process.

  • Angie

    March 4, 2009 at 8:47 am

    I like pen and paper! Though I often scribble instead of write legibly. Work to be done on that score :-) .

  • Camille

    March 4, 2009 at 9:34 am

    Excellent thoughts, Walter! You have given me more hope for the younger generation.

    I, too, enjoy Pen and Paper. The only PDA I have is our oldest daughter. She keeps me on task along with our wall calendar in the kitchen.

    I have notepads galore – and a penpal or two. Everytime I get a real letter, it goes into a special box in my closet. Every now and again, I’ll pull them out and re-read them. Not so emails – most of those are gone with a simple stroke of the delete key.

    As for ‘to-do’ lists – do people really keeps those on some form of technological handheld gadget??? Do they not know the wonderful feeling of striking it off the list with pen or pencil??

    Thanks for the post. I don’t feel so archaic anymore!!

    However – I’m still wondering what a Personal Wiki is, yes I followed the link, – what the term ‘wiki’ even means – and thinking about sending you a leatherbound diary instead.

    Blessings -
    Camille

  • Kitty

    March 4, 2009 at 10:11 am

    Hahahaha. I love this post! :-) Yes, I do text, I do email, and I do blog, I do IM a little bit, but I like the good old-fashioned Pen and Paper best! (Even if it may be hard to read what I write and there is NO spell-check *GASP*)

    All of the ROFL’s and Lol’s and OMW’s of the texting-iming-emailing-blogging-you name it world drive me nuts. I have broken down and started using Lol, but I’m trying to quit. I also have anywhere from 10 to 25 notepads floating around here someplace…. :-P

    Thank you for this post. I loved it. :-)

    Kitty D.

    PS-I love the reenactment haversacks. VERY useful, and not just in 1860′s garb either. :o )

  • Walter

    March 4, 2009 at 10:18 am

    @Sheila Delson
    Thanks! Ah yes – “Crackberry” addicts….

    I must confess, my main reason for using a notepad instead of a PDA or software is portability and endurance. What if my laptop broke down? Would that mess up my life? Especially since I do a lot of work on the computer, this is important. :)

    @Camille
    Yes, people really do use todo lists on software and handheld gadgets. I did for a while! Here’s the most popular web-based app, and here’s another couple todo list apps that I used for a while.

    Why, you ask? They’re gadgets! And geeks (and semi-geeks like me) LOVE new gadgets! :)

    My personal wiki is where I deposit “stuff” that I want to save. It’s sort of like wikipedia on a way smaller (and personal) scale.

    This is where technology shines… I’m horrible at keeping track of sermon notes, writings, and journals, and don’t relish the idea of searching through countless notebooks looking for 1 entry.

    Enter the personal wiki. All you have to do is run a search for your information, and there it is! No more scrounging around through Word documents.

    It’s cross platform, and I keep it backed up.

  • Justin

    March 4, 2009 at 2:54 pm

    Pen and paper is good.

    Notepad is also good.

    (What? Did Justin just mess up subject/verb agreement!?)

    No.
    I often just write stuff on Notepad on my computer and save it if I need to. I probably rely on my computer more than I should…

    But I can also use pen and paper better than most if I have to.
    (I challenge anyone who doesn’t believe that to a duel! Ball points and eleventy-three paces.)

    I have never heard of a personal wiki.
    I shall now look it up.

  • Justin

    March 4, 2009 at 2:54 pm

    On Wikipedia.

  • Walter

    March 4, 2009 at 4:26 pm

    @Kitty
    Glad you enjoyed the post!

    Civil War haversacks are sublime – no doubt about it. Not only are they incredibly useful, but they look hip and cool!

    Jeans and tshirt? Put on the haversack. Slacks and button-down shirt? The haversack compliments them. Fedora and frock coat? The haversack STILL looks good!

    @Justin
    Here is the software that I use for my personal wiki: Dokuwiki.

    It’s PHP based, so I use a local apache server to run it. It stores info in plain text files (which I like better than databases).

    There are also personal wikis that run natively, like an “super dooper notepad”. I’d probably look into those, if I were you. No more scattered text files all over the place…

    Here’s an example.

  • jt400

    March 9, 2009 at 9:28 pm

    Interesting stuff! I love gadgety stuff too. And pencils ARE remarkably cross-platform! That personal wiki looks kind of handy, better than forgetting if it’s in notepad, wordpad, onenote, word, etc. etc!


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