When it comes to scheduling my life, including appointments, meetings, birthdays and events, I’ve been struggling ever since I ditched my Franklin planner and went with a PDA. I used my Handspring loyally for about a year with some success. I felt more on top of things, but I also felt that I was spending a lot of time inputting and checking.
Writing on paper was so much easier.
Then I started freelancing and I couldn’t sync my PDA with Lotus Notes at my client and I’ve been at a loss ever since. It’s especially troublesome when another client inquires about my availability on Thursday and I can’t remember my availability because my calendar is on a computer in Ada and I’m in my office at home.
Bah.
Really, the PDA poriton isn’t as vital to me as the ability to view something from whatever computer I’m accessing. Yes, having something portable would make things a bit more convenient, but I’m not THAT busy. I’m not calling clients from the road or scheduling appointments on the fly. I do that mainly when I’m at home.
So I’ve been experimenting off and on with some online calendars, none of which has thrilled me to death.
Today, I came across something new. 30 Boxes. It’s a calendar with some Ajax action thrown in. It’s also promoted as shareable, but I’m not into that aspect very much.
This, my friends, has potential. This is Day 1, of course. And Day 1 is never a true measure. What I need is to make it to Day 7, or Day 12. Something more substantial. Yet this option feels more exciting than any of the others I’ve tried. A step in the right direction indeed.
I’m terrible with calendars. I use Outlook for work, but it doesn’t sink with anything I’ve got. When away from the computer, I rely on the old memory. ha. You can guess how well that goes ; )
Funny, I was just today considering getting a PDA just for calendaring. I should try out 30 Boxes and see if it’s a good fit for me!
I dropped my .Mac account last year and went through the process of finding another solution too. I feel your pain!
I’ve finally gotten to the point where I keep everything in my Google calendar. I can view it and modify it from my Google Homepage, sync it iCal, and share it with others if need be.
The only complaint that I have is that it doesn’t have ToDo functionality built in yet. ((I’ve been using RememberTheMilk for ToDo’s and so far I’m happy with it. I especially like the fact that it integrates somewhat with the Google Calendar AND I can (and do!) have a RTM widget on my Google Homepage, so everything is right there in front of me from any computer when I need it.))
By far my favorite feature of Google Calendar is the ability to have it send a text message to my phone to remind me of things throughout the day.
Good luck with your search for a solution. I know it’s not easy!