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Sometimes it takes fancier tech to get you to appreciate simpler tech. Several years ago, I bought a Newton 100 for taking notes on and keeping my life organized (fat chance). Some people get their ideas while they're in the shower, I get mine in front of the TV set. I wanted something that would allow me to take notes and to write things I heard while channeling surfing and then offload those notes and grow them into articles, books, plans for world domination, etc. In all fairness, several people I talked to beforehand said that the Newton probably wouldn't be good for this purpose. But did I listen? NOOOOO! After I upgraded the handwriting software to Graffiti, my ability to rapidly take notes when so inspired improved, but by the time I grabbed the unit, whipped out the stylus, powered up and found the appropriate file, I often had missed what I had just heard. OK, so I have a short attention span, but what are ya gonna do?
 Enter my new solution: the PaperPDA (a.k.a. a notepad). My wife gave me a pocket-size notepad for Christmas from Michael Roger Press. It's 4" x 2 1/2" with a cool black holographic cover and about 50 wire-o bound pages of unruled recycled paper. I can carry it with me at all times, whip it out and be scratchin' away in about 10 seconds. It needs no batteries, no special lighting conditions, no software and hardware upgrades and it cost about US$4. The biggest drawback is that I can't automatically offload my notes, but I've found that in sitting down once a week to copy the notes to my computer, I weed out a lot of "what was I thinkin'?" material that would've just clogged up my hard drive anyway. I also find myself riffing on the material as I transfer it (probably adding tomorrow's "what was I thinkin'?" notes, but in amongst all that brainstorming is usually found something left standing and worth building on). My wife bought my PaperPDA at perhaps the coolest bookstore on the planet: Nantucket Bookworks on the tiny island of Nantucket, MA. I missed last year's mecca to the island, but now I sit high above the curly french fry fumes that seasonally emanate from the Brotherhood of Thieves, the pub that my wife performs in every year (and the gig that affords us an annual paid vacation). Right next door to the Brotherhood is the aforementioned awesome bookstore. Besides great books, the isles, walls and floors of Bookworks are crowded with trinkets, artwork, crafts, Archie McPhee pop ephemera and incredibly cool stationary (e.g. my PaperPDA). I've already scoped out next year's PaperPDAs, pens, blank journals, greeting cards and a bunch of other stuff that's vying for the cash in my wallet. Everyone needs pilgrimage. My annual pilgrimage to Nantucket (and this bookstore) is always a time to reflect on what I've done in the past year and what I plan to do in the future. I've hatched most of my life-changing plans here. It's also a time for me to get off the grid (or at least limit my connection to it) and expose myself to ocean, air and a stunningly beautiful island ecology. Every year that I come here (after I lose the downtown area which is crawling with tourists) I'm humbled by what an awesome programmer ol' mother nature is and how overblown and over-hyped our technosphere. No, I'm not becoming a Cliff Stoll or some neo-luddite, but it's nice to wake up and smell the planet now and again and to sit here at the beach composing these thoughts on a humble (and blessedly non-digital) PaperPDA. - Gareth Branwyn [8/11/97]
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