- Joined
- May 9, 2002
- Messages
- 12,685
This is a question for all you digitally organized types out there
My father's birthday is coming up at the end of the month, and I want to get him something useful. I've got him knives for several years. However, this past spring my grandfather decided that at 75 years of age it was time for him to stop selling for the family business and turn that over to my dad. Well, my father is a great builder and really sharp in business. However, his organization skills are on par with that of his son's....he has none
When he goes on sales calls he takes an ancient leather binder and when you open it a multitude of drawings, patterns, and post-it notes with dates and times spill out.
Now, he's not going to be able to get away from the clutter of some of that stuff. However, he really needs to be more organized when it comes to keeping track of people. Several times I've had to try to dig up old messages to see if I could find his lost info.
Here's a few things that I need in a PDA:
Ease of use. I'm not talking about being easy for most technically savvy people to use. I mean, if they made a PDA that had a giant red button in the center that spells out "ON", that would ideal I love my father, but he is not remotely even in the 20th century. I need something that does NOT have a lot of bells and whistles.
Not Expensive. For one thing, my dad might sit on/drop/forget this thing in the first week he owns it. Also, due to a tax error NOT in my favor, my wife and I are pretty strapped for cash for the next couple of months (some one want to explain to me WHY I have pay taxes on something that I OWN??...nevermind. We'll just say "Dadgum Gubment!: and leave it at that) A $500 Palm like my wife's is not in the cards. Besides, her's does everything under the sun which would both confuse and anger my father.
All my dad needs is something that will organize times, dates, names, and numbers easily so that he can schedule meetings a little easier. internet or WiFi or any of that jazz is not needed. I have no idea if they offer it a lower end model, but a "write and type" feature would be nice so that he can scrawl out some notes without pecking them out.
My plan is to get him a tool that is so easy to use that even he will try it out. Also, I'm going to make him a nice heavy duty leather holster for it with his name and everything stamped into it. I figure that if this gizmo is hidden in a hand-made and very smart looking case from his son...then he might actually carry it and thus figure it out
Any advice would be much appreciated. I have shopped for a few of these myself (never bought one though). However, being the geek that I am, I would want everything you could get and then some. For my dad, I need to ease him into this sort of technology.
Thanks so much
Jake
My father's birthday is coming up at the end of the month, and I want to get him something useful. I've got him knives for several years. However, this past spring my grandfather decided that at 75 years of age it was time for him to stop selling for the family business and turn that over to my dad. Well, my father is a great builder and really sharp in business. However, his organization skills are on par with that of his son's....he has none
When he goes on sales calls he takes an ancient leather binder and when you open it a multitude of drawings, patterns, and post-it notes with dates and times spill out.Now, he's not going to be able to get away from the clutter of some of that stuff. However, he really needs to be more organized when it comes to keeping track of people. Several times I've had to try to dig up old messages to see if I could find his lost info.
Here's a few things that I need in a PDA:
Ease of use. I'm not talking about being easy for most technically savvy people to use. I mean, if they made a PDA that had a giant red button in the center that spells out "ON", that would ideal
I love my father, but he is not remotely even in the 20th century. I need something that does NOT have a lot of bells and whistles.Not Expensive. For one thing, my dad might sit on/drop/forget this thing in the first week he owns it. Also, due to a tax error NOT in my favor, my wife and I are pretty strapped for cash for the next couple of months (some one want to explain to me WHY I have pay taxes on something that I OWN??...nevermind. We'll just say "Dadgum Gubment!: and leave it at that
) A $500 Palm like my wife's is not in the cards. Besides, her's does everything under the sun which would both confuse and anger my father.All my dad needs is something that will organize times, dates, names, and numbers easily so that he can schedule meetings a little easier. internet or WiFi or any of that jazz is not needed. I have no idea if they offer it a lower end model, but a "write and type" feature would be nice so that he can scrawl out some notes without pecking them out.
My plan is to get him a tool that is so easy to use that even he will try it out. Also, I'm going to make him a nice heavy duty leather holster for it with his name and everything stamped into it. I figure that if this gizmo is hidden in a hand-made and very smart looking case from his son...then he might actually carry it and thus figure it out
Any advice would be much appreciated. I have shopped for a few of these myself (never bought one though). However, being the geek that I am, I would want everything you could get and then some. For my dad, I need to ease him into this sort of technology.
Thanks so much
Jake
I'm pretty sure she knows all the tricks and wouldn't allow it
The one thing that has endured was my 3x5 daytimer I carried in my front pocket and the print out of the address book that I did once a month. Buy him a good pocket knife and 3x5 daytimer kit (it also includes an address book). He probably wont use the daytimer and if he loses the pocket knife maybe I'll get lucky and find it. So buy him a good one.
