I'm finding myself having to juggle an increasingly hectic schedule these days, with lots of tasks to manage and random bits to remember to do. I find myself exploring two options to help me make sure I don't forget anything.
One is David Allen's Getting Things Done, which despite its spooky, cult-like appearance, actually presents some good strategies for managing all the little things that pop up in a regular day, in addition to leaving time for the long-term stuff to get done. I just don't know if I can fully commit myself to its routine. It's like programming shops trying to make the jump to Extreme Programming: it's just such a paradigm shift, and it's hard to take the plunge, especially while you're on the clock for clients. I'm only 50 pages into the book, so we'll see where I end up with that one.
More immediately, I'm getting heavily addicted to hour-to-hour time management with my calendar, and I'm weighing the merits of a PDA/phone -- specifically, the Treo 650. Having just sold my K700i on eBay, I have some funds to offset the Treo's rather salty price tag, but I don't know if I want to pick up a phone that would require my wearing a man-purse everywhere just to lug it around.
Either way, the GSM version of the 650 is brand-new and pretty much permanently sold out at Cingular stores, which brings me to my rant for the day: what's with these retail stores having no idea when shipments are arriving? They're sold out of a product, I ask when they expect more, the salesperson says, "We don't know when shipments come in, usually every week or two. Call us and ask in a week."
What kind of customer service is that? Do they want to sell me the most expensive phone in the store? Then friggin' call me when the phone comes in. Also, why doesn't anyone know when shipments are due? Like, at any moment a truck could roll up with its bounty of phones? Not even the manager is aware of the next shipment? Strange. Retail is weird.