FIGURE A

On my Palm IIIc, I use different colors and fonts to organize my Date Book.

Date Book also provides a Week view, as you can see in Figure B.

FIGURE B

In the Week view, colors are again used to display my schedule on my Palm IIIc.

Family schedule items
Prior to being a Palm IIIc user, I created a shortcut: (fs). The designation (fs) in front of a Date Book entry indicated this was a family schedule item.

What items are family schedule items? There's the school year calendar for one, including school holidays, grading periods, conferences, PTA meetings, standardized test dates, early dismissals, and the due dates of any school projects requiring my involvement.

Another family schedule item might be a doctor appointment for my children. I can book an appointment for them based on the availability of either my husband or myself. We can coordinate our schedules with a minimum of conflict using WeSync. For more information on WeSync, read Kevin Quin's article in the January 2000 issue of PalmPower magazine at http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue200001/pda001.html.

Hallmark events
Other uses for the Date Book are what I call the Hallmark events; in other words, occasions that require cards. When I input an event such as a birthday or anniversary, I set a reminder for at least five days in advance. That gives me time to buy a card and get it in the mail. (Yes, I know I can use eGreeting sites on the Web to send a virtual card, but there are occasions when actual hardcopy signs of affection are still a nice touch.)

Address Book
Remember that paper planner, with numbers crossed out when the phone number changed or someone moved? That's just tacky! And remember how after you ran out of room under certain alphabet letters there was nowhere for the overflow to go except under the letters X or Z? How much room did you have for a home and work telephone number, cell phone numbers, fax numbers, home and work addresses, multiple email addresses, etc.?

Your Palm Address Book allows you to capture all that information plus organize it into categories. Included in the Address Book are customizable fields and the ability to add a personal note about the individual.

I have a category called Restaurants with all my favorite take-out places (hey, I'm sure even B. Smith and Martha Stewart, the divas of gracious living, order the occasional takeout meal). There's a category called Medical with all the family's medical providers. There's a category for retail stores and a category called Work with all the numbers of my coworkers and business contacts. Under the Business category, I list the utility companies' phone numbers and our account numbers, and I have categories for our auto insurance carrier, service people, etc.

Under the Quicklist category, I have an entry for each household member. These entries are marked private and hidden as they contain their social security and medical insurance numbers. I also created a category called Kids. In this category, I listed the school phone numbers and the numbers and addresses of the kids' classmates. And you know those numbers that you used to pencil in your paper date book as they were only needed for a short period of time? I created a category called Temporary. You can have up to 15 categories in Address Book, so customize to your heart's content.