I have had a Palm PDA for most of the last 13 years, and for most of that time it has been a Palm Tungsten T3. While I was still working at Wayne RESA it was synced to their GroupWise e-mail and calendar system but also synced to the Palm Desktop software on my laptop for Contacts and Tasks and my Passwords Plus program. I did not use the Tasks list much, but I did keep all of my personal contacts, and some of my business contacts, on the Palm along with all of my encrypted passwords. Linda also had a Palm PDA for a while and had it synced to Outlook on her office computer. Her PDA quit working years ago and never got replaced. Once she was settled in at the bakery she did not have a need for a PDA.
When I retired I reverted back to using the Palm calendar, which I always liked. I even installed a new Lithium Ion battery, which was no easy job, to prolong the unit’s life. But three things have converged to finally spell the end of the Palm era for me: 1) the unrecoverable failure of the Passwords Plus app on the Tungsten T3; 2) the porting of our home Outlook Express information into Outlook 2007 after the loss of our twmi.rr.com e-mail address, and; 3) getting a new laptop computer due to the end of support for Windows XP.
Over the winter we were able to purchase an updated version of Passwords Plus (CS 2.0) that synced through the cloud. Versions were available that ran on our iPads, Linda’s Samsung laptop, and my then current Win XP Dell laptop. It is also available for Android (I think) but so far we have not installed it on our phones. The new PWP apps allowed us to successfully migrate all of our passwords from the old Palm version and make them available on four devices with back-up and synchronization via the DataViz cloud servers. Just this past week I installed PWP CS 2.0 on my new Win 8.1 machine and got it synced with the other four. When the passwords are available and secure, life is good.
When we moved from the previous house to the current house last year we lost our long-time home e-mail address. I took that as an opportunity to export our home address book and all of our personal e-mails from Outlook Express and import them into Outlook 2007 on my Win XP Dell laptop. Since that time I have continued to build out the address book with contact information, but I still have and use my Palm Contacts. Yesterday I learned that I could export my Palm contacts in a vCard (.vcf) format. Further research suggested that I could convert the file to a comma separated value (.csv) format and then import it into Outlook 2013 on my new laptop. It would be a lot more work than it sounds as the vcf –> csv conversion would require me to review each entry, but it would still be a lot less work than re-entering everything by hand.
I figured I would need the better part of a long day to accomplish this task, so before rushing into it I decided to do more research. Today I discovered that there are add-ins available for Outlook that will take my single .vcf Palm output file and import it into Outlook directly, as long as I am willing to pony up the $$. The idea of spending $20 -$25 for a program I will use once does not sit well with me, but the idea of sitting all day reviewing entries one at a time does not sit well with me either. If I want to clean up duplicates, I can do that semi-automatically for another $25. I’m thinking about it.
The calendar is another matter. The Palm calendar can be “archived” but not exported. My Palm calendar goes back at least a decade, and this history may just have to remain in the Palm Desktop on the old laptop. On the upside, once I start using the Outlook calendar I may be able to set it up so I can access the address book and calendar on my Android phone. That would be nice; I have long enjoyed having my contacts and calendar information “in my pocket,” or “on my belt,” depending on my clothing choices that day.
It was yet another beautiful day today; when Michigan weather is nice, it’s the best. Linda decided to do some weeding in the front planting beds and I decided to install the new rear-view mirror on the bus. You just can’t let a day like this go by without doing something outside. After a little break we decided to work in the back yard. We had several large pine trees that had large limbs broken over the winter. I used our pole saw to cut those loose and dragged them over near an old burn pile. I cut the small branches off, cut up the larger central limbs, and made a pile. We gathered up some of the dried grass clippings from Tuesday and stuffed them under the limbs and twigs. We added a few old, large logs to the pile that were laying around in the yard and soaked everything in diesel fuel. Forget gasoline and charcoal starter fluid; let the diesel fuel soak in (it does not evaporate like gasoline) and put a match to it. You will get a sustained fire.
After the fire had burned down to a smolder we moved some of the blocks from the rear retaining walls and laid them around the burn pile. We’ve decided to use some of them to build a fire pit and wanted to see how many it would take to make a circle of the appropriate size. We plan to build the pit 2 or 3 courses high on the low side.
Kimber, from GM Construction LLC (GM Decks), called to let me know that Gary had taken ill and would not make it out to the house late this afternoon to discuss our pole barn project. We will try again next week. Village Landscape Development also did not show up or call today. I will give Steve a call tomorrow and suggest that we set a firm start date for Monday June 16.
The afternoon mail brought a Jury Summons for Linda for a two week commitment for U. S. District Court in Flint, Michigan starting Monday, June 30. That interferes with some travel plans we have and will now likely have to adjust. She won’t be able to find out if she needs to report on the 30th until 5 PM on Friday the 27th.