Organizing in the new year

In my new quasi-administrative role as the writing program coordinator, I’ve had to do something that I don’t ever remember having to do before: I’m keeping a calendar.

Oh sure, I’ve sort of kept a calendar/schedule in the past with things like iCal or the Yahoo calendar set-up, both of which email reminders of things. But to be honest, I never felt compelled to keep one of those old-fashioned paper calendars, mainly because I couldn’t see hauling it around with me and also because my week-to-week schedule just didn’t used to be that busy. I mean, I have always had meetings to go to and such, but basically I could just keep it all in my head. As the writing program coordinator, I’ve got more meetings, advising, etc., etc. So I decided it was time to be a grown-up.

My colleagues have been somewhat surprised and amused at my seemingly newly-found anal-retentive tendencies. But the truth of the matter is that my flaky/ laid-back/ non-planned/seemingly easy-going manner has always been pretty much an act. When I have to, I can be as tightly-wound as any other academic.

Anyway, I actually have kind of enjoyed calendar-keeping. I have one where I can organize a month at a time, and I have to say it’s kind of satisfying to see what I’m doing for weeks at a time. It’s kind of, ah, fun. I should have started keeping a calendar a long time ago, even if I didn’t have anything to put on it in the first place.

And, now that I’m in an organizing mood, I’m playing around with the so-called “Hipster PDA.” The creation of Merlin “43 Folders” Mann, the Hipster PDA is really a bunch of index cards clipped together in some fashion and it’s used to keep notes and such. Amazing. And yet, despite its simplicity, there are a ton of different web sitesand links and variations on the original “design” out there.

So far, I’ve just been using my index cards to keep track of attendance in my two face-to-face classes and as a way of keeping track of “to do” lists. And I have to say that if nothing else, it’s very convenient having some index cards to jot things on.

One thought on “Organizing in the new year”

  1. Hi Steven,

    If you are still looking for a Hipster PDA implementation, I use the Flip-Top Notepad by Cambridge. It is available everywhere for about $5. The black, microfibre case has leather at the hinge, holds a 3×5 notepad and has a sleeve for a pen. Pockets on the exterior and interior of the front cover are the perfect size to hold half a dozen 3×5 cards each. It is the perfect, ready to go, Hipster PDA. Cheap, too.

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