Flying high with your PalmPilot
Now that I have finally answered all his questions, the plane pulls away from the gate and starts to taxi to the runway. What do I do now? Should I turn off the PalmPilot? This question was easy to answer. I called American Airlines to find out if the PalmPilot was approved for use on their flights. They stated "I'm sorry. You own a what?" I clarified what "it" was and they more directly said, "No electronic devices shall be used during taxi, takeoff, and landing, but I'm sure while you are in the air it should be fine, like a laptop PC." You needn't worry that the innocent AAA three volts that power your PalmPilot could take down a plane or force it to taxi into a jetway uncontrollably. You don't have to worry about hearing, "Folks, this is the captain again, someone appears to have used a PalmPilot on this flight, we are about to hit the side of a mountain, please assume crash positions or turn off your PalmPilot." Unless, of course, the pilot and copilot have been using their own PalmPilots instead of piloting the plane.

PalmPilot mating rituals
On the social front I recently conducted a mini-survey to ask women what they thought of men asking for their phone numbers and then having them program it into their PalmPilot. This, of course, presupposed a discriminating woman would give out her number to a particular PalmPilot-packing prospective paramour. Some of the more interesting responses included:

"I would immediately think he was a womanizer, and that he probably has a whole collection of numbersÉ"

"What is that thing anyway?"

"I feel special because I made it into his 'Book' "

"Who cares, it's actually kind of cool. Geeks are very desirable these days."

One of these women was wearing roller skates, she must be stuck in the 70's. Guess which one of the responses was hers. The right answer to this question depends on your rapport with the giver of the information and how well the act is performed. I always find that under that much pressure my "4s" become "9s" and my "5s" become "8s." You decide if you can take the heat and get it right, otherwise you risk losing contact with this person. If you are lucky enough to own a Palm III with infrared and so does your partner you should zap each other and then skip the courting and go right to the chapel.

Generally, it takes a little longer to use Graffiti to write a number than it would to use a pen and paper, no matter how good you are at it. People are programmed for the faster speed of the more traditional means. When taking information over the phone and having the person repeat it six times because you are having a "Graffiti jumble," it's probably not good etiquette and it gives the PalmPilot, and possibly you, a bad name. Quotes like "I can't get this damn thing to work!" or "Could you repeat that a seventh time, I made a mistake and had to go back, my Graffiti is a little off today?" will lower your credibility and anger the information giver. While this may save you from having to transcribe the information at a later time, it will definitely be bad for the giver of the information.