"...If I can ease one life the aching or cool one pain, or help one lonely person into happiness again, I shall not live in vain." -- Emily Dickenson
Can a computer increase someone's compassion? What does a machine know of anyone else's concerns? Well, as a Palmtop computer user, you can find ways to expand your caring time. Around Thaddeus Computing, Publisher Hal Goldstein uses his Appointment Book to schedule father-son activities on the weekends. Associate Editor Paul Merrill sets an appointment reminder to call his 93-year-old grandmother every two weeks. He says in pre-pocket-computer days, he often let this slip, even though he knew it meant a lot to her. Managing Editor Rich Hall has anniversaries and family birthdays set up as yearly repeating appointments one week in advance of the actual date, so he has time to buy gifts.
ON THE HP PALMTOP
The Appointment Book use is obvious set an appointment to remind you of a special person or event. All appointments are important, but some are more vital. Your child could have a bad case of congestion and you can set a wake-up alarm to go off periodically so you can easily check on the child's breathing during the night. You might double or triple enter really important appointments so the alarm goes off more than once. Like the birthday example above, you could put a reminder appointment days or weeks in advance to let you prepare for that special event.
You can keep information about the special person in the Notes field of your PhoneBook. The kind of flowers she likes, the toys he's been asking about, favorite music or food, things like that. You can note down promises you made to the person in the past and review them before you call.
If out-of-sight out-of-mind is your tendency, use your reminder system to prompt you to call friends and relatives. Or schedule an hour or more a week for community volunteer work. Your computer will happily help you invest your attention on caring for your fellows.