I've found that dedicating an email address to my handheld has some advantages; I don't accidentally lose anything, mail synchronizations (both at home and on the road) are faster, and I can easily send myself short notes from other people's email accounts and automatically get them on my device.

As we get ready for Jarod's playgroup, I sneak a peek at Tide Tool, at http://www.toolworks.com/bilofsky/tidetool.htm, to check out today's tide table, pictured in Figure F.

FIGURE F

You can view today's tides with Tide Tool.

Our playgroup is meeting at the beach, giving us a chance to get the kids out in the fresh air for a change. I haven't bothered with a printed newspaper in years, so Tide Tool is handy for planning beach excursions and amazing your friends with your knowledge of the tide, phase of the moon, and sunrise and sunset times. It may not the most exciting Palm application, but it's easy to use, well written, and free.

Speaking of newspapers, AvantGo (at http://www.avantgo.com) on any Palm OS device makes a great substitute. Using AvantGo, I mark Web sites such as PalmPower, CNET.com (at http://www.cnet.com), and the Wall Street Journal(at http://www.wsj.com), and I download their contents when I synchronize to read later. My list of AvantGo channels is pictured in Figure G.

FIGURE G

I've selected these Web sites to be viewed using AvantGo. Click picture for a larger image.

On my Palm m505, the channels appear as in Figure H.

FIGURE H

Surf the Web with AvantGo.

You can even go on-line with AvantGo and a modem or cell phone, but I find it's faster to use Palm's (MIK) Mobile Internet Kit and a specific query application, such as the one from Weather.com, when I need information on the go.

Heading out the door, my handheld joins my Palm Portable Keyboard and cell phone in Jarod's bag. The added bulk of the keyboard is well worth it; if Jarod naps, I can get some work done.

The parents in Jarod's playgroup are a mix of stay-at-home parents like myself and a few parents with flexible schedules who make our get-togethers whenever they can. It's a social outing for the parents as well as the kids. Today, I'm quickly engrossed in a technical conversation with one of the moms about a side project we've been working on. At first, a stick in the sand suffices, but eventually the math gets a bit hairier than I'd like, so I take out my handheld and launch Quicksheet (at http://www.cesinc.com/quicksheet/index.html), pictured in Figure I.

FIGURE I

A spreadsheet is easily created with Quicksheet.

I then use Quickchart to plot a graph, as shown in Figure J.

FIGURE J

A graph can be drawn with Quickchart.

In college, like most other mathematics and engineering students, I always toted a programmable calculator, which was quickly relegated to the responsibility of balancing the checkbook when I graduated. There are a variety of good calculator programs for the Palm platform-my favorite is Russell Web's RPN, at http://www.nthlab.com, shown in Figure K.

FIGURE K

RPN is a scientific calculator for the Palm platform.

However, for serious number crunching, nothing on a Palm handheld beats a good spreadsheet. Here, too, the platform shines, but I've settled on Cutting Edge Software's QuickSheet. It packs a load of features, including an Excel conduit and charting, it uses only a modest amount of RAM, and it's well supported by Cutting Edge Enterprises. For most of the things I'd want to do away from a computer, I've created simple workbooks in Excel and downloaded them to my handheld. It's also easy enough to create small spreadsheets right on the handheld.