Simple Pleasures Are the Best

Years ago, when my dad was in his seventies, I tried to teach him how to use a computer.  He was overwhelmed by what was for him a serious challenge.  This was long-enough ago that there were still dedicated "word processors," units which looked like a computer keyboard and monitor, but which had only one function — to create documents.  Learning how to use them was far easier than learning to use a computer and all it's distracting features, even in those days when they operated in a relatively limited field of effort.

My father tried, but a word processor was not for him.

I realized that the only technology my father might appreciate, even master, would be the closest technology to the manual typewriter he'd been using his entire adult life, a machine which would mimic his old Royal's features.  I was happy to show him how to work an electric typewriter, and he took to it like a fish to water.

I believe that one should consider before racing to adopt the latest technology, particularly if you are efficient using the technology you're used to using.  You should account for the expense, time to adjust, retrain, and even the loss of some aspect of your current process that you might come to wish you had retained, for whatever reason.

I posted about whether or not to agree to software updates years ago.

Be at ease with your own expert notion of what's comfortable for you.

Always use the simplest effective technology.

Blogging Hiatus

Please read today's post on my Meta blog, which explains my recent absence from these pages.

Note-Taking

It is not true that you remember everything, or even that good ideas invariably resurface when they’re due and may be safely ignored when they first occur to you. Fact is, a new idea appears under a unique set of circumstances which never occur again, and an idea that’s ignored is as likely to vanish without a trace left in your memory.

Okay, I don’t know for sure this is a fact, but it seems reasonable to me. And I’m retaining far more information since I started taking note of my Big Ideas.

But who wants to lug around a notebook? I mean, a paper journal—leave your computer at home. I carry a rugged but ultra-thin and pliable pad, a Moleskin Cahier Pocket Ruled Journal :