• by Sean , May 19, 2007

It's 5:18, according to the obnoxiously bright LED readout of the alarm clock next to my bed. Quite early to have another one of these "revelations" of yet something else I've managed to forget.

This happens a lot.

My life seems to be comprised more of a sequence of "remembering things I forgot" rather than "sticking to a schedule." Sound familiar? Well, if you begin a good portion of your sentences with the phrase "Oh sh**, I was supposed to…" or "Dammit! I forgot…" then you're likely in the same boat as I am.

The only reason I say this is because I was reminded (!) of a time when a small little invention was all the rage to help people like me try to remember things. It's called the PDA.

Remember that thing? The glorified pocket calculator that also managed to keep track of your addresses, phone numbers, e-mails, to-do lists, grocery lists, sh** lists (if you're like me), calendars, notes, and pretty much anything else you could think of.

But now, we've crammed all of these lovely little functions into our cell phones. Or Blackberries. Or whatever. It seems that fewer people these days are carrying a dedicated PDA. It's always something else first, with a PDA built in.

My car has a PDA of sorts. It keeps addresses, phone numbers, and even works with the GPS navigation system to bring me to the front door of any of my friends or colleagues, from anywhere in the nation.

So, bottom line: is there still a place for the PDA? What else have we decided is worth converging together into a smaller, more functional, and easier to lose device?