Reorganizing My Life

So as my long-time readers will remember, I no longer have a decent PIM device to help me keep my life organized, like I used to have. This is complicating things for me, as I am finding it difficult to remember appointments, tasks, and that sort of thing. I thought I had found an online replacement in a service called Sandy, which not only allowed me to put down the things that I needed to remember, but would also let me send to it via e-mail and would send me reminders via e-mail and SMS. I could send Sandy a nice e-mail saying something like, "Remind me to change the cat litter in two weeks" or "Remember my 9:30 am doctor's appointment on July 20th," and Sandy would add it to my calendar and send me a reminder whenever I wanted. I wasn't super-diligent with Sandy like I was when I had my Treo, but I was really starting to get into a groove.

So it was with extreme sadness that I found out this past week that Sandy is going offline. The guy who created the Sandy service was hired by Twitter, and he's taking all of his Sandy IP (that's "intellectual property" to you non-tech types) along with him. That means Sandy will be gone, and I'll be out of luck again until I can find a replacement. Bad news is, I haven't found much that's promising...yet.

(Unrelated aside: it's very challenging, but I am pleased to say that I am not completely without skills. I can eat a double-dip of cookies-n-cream and peanut butter cup ice cream on a waffle cone and drive stick at the same time.)

There are services that are available, like Google Calendar, but so far they're all much more limited in features. For example, some don't offer tasks or tasklists. Others don't provide e-mail or SMS reminders. Still others are limited in their interface, such that I could only use the web to enter, edit, or delete. Basically what I need is something that I can control through e-mail, SMS, or mobile web interface, that provides calendaring, tasks (with timeframes and reminders), and contacts, and that provides e-mail and/or SMS reminders in the timeframes that I specify.

So far, I haven't found it. If you have a recommendation, feel free to drop a comment or an e-mail (see the blog description above and look for the description of the address).

Finally, Monday night has become my TV night. NBC starts with Chuck, follows up with the classic Heroes, and finishes with the excellent Christian Slater vehicle My Own Worst Enemy. (I'm still in my media and news boycott, so this is pretty much the only TV I actually watch, aside from sports.) Unfortunately, I just found out that My Own Worst Enemy will be cancelled after only 9 episodes. I am extremely disappointed...looks like lots of things I use or enjoy are getting whacked these days. Oh well, at least I get another hour of my free time back. I'll just be interested to see what sort of schlock NBC puts back in its place.

Thanks for reading along.