the last paper calendar?

Every year since, oh, maybe 2004 or 5, the idea crosses my mind (as January approaches) that I might finally make the big leap and forego a paper day planner and keep all of my appointments and daily notes on some form of electronic device instead.

But every year, I end up doing the same thing: I decide there isn't an electronic setup that seems truly workable, then I hop into my car, scurry into Staples or Office Depot, and select a fresh new day planner, usually something with a black cover and gold lettering, large but not cumbersome, nice but not one of the truly costly ones, with enough room on each day's square to write several notations in my usual hasty flourish. I usually get the sort where the month can be seen all at once, a series of boxes.

Somewhere in the garage I have most of these planners going back to my days in the nail salon, back in the eighties, when I first formed the day planner habit (although those days, I chose the kind with big pages for each day so you could note hourly appointments). Except for a couple of recent years where I tried large blank desk-blotter calendars instead, almost all have been roughly the size of a standard office folder.

This year, it might just happen that I make the huge conceptual leap and do everything electronically, something I'm taking seriously only because the graphics and features of the iPad daytimer app seem to overcome my previous objections.

More musings about this heady topic soon...