I’ve been knee deep in a project that has possessed — yes, I’m saying possessed — my life for about ten years. This project started as a waking dream in the fall of 1998 and I don’t believe a day has passed without some thought given to it.

Recently, realizing this thing has been with me for years and in spite of feeling it a bit far fetched, I have committed to documenting it and the more I do the more it transforms. I am no longer thinking it far fetched. Actually, I’m thinking this thing is doable. As a result, I’ve found myself doing a lot of outside-the-box thinking which, for a very conservative woman, has had my brain turning inside out, upside down.  I don’t have the right tools for this kind of thinking and the one I do have was put on restriction many years ago because it is so — shall we say — 1.0, if that.

It’s not like I haven’t had to do this before. When I was younger it was easier to follow non-traditional forms of researching, documenting and gathering information. Back in the rock & chisel days, I had notebooks and my favorite notebooks were 3-ring day planners with pockets. As I worked on an idea, I would clip pictures from magazines and place them on paper with a glue stick, three-hole punch the paper and place it in my notebook. Any articles or research papers I either discovered or wrote were also included in a special section of my notebook. I also kept a lot of ruled paper in that notebook for any fleeting or wild ideas that cropped up during the planning stages.  Carpe diem was my modus operandi and any ideas, fleeting as they were, caused me to stop, open my notebook, write a quick note and then move on.

Since my notebook also served as a true day planner, I kept pens and writing pads, clips, highlighting markers, and a small Dictaphone in plastic pockets of my notebook. I also kept business cards neatly placed in vinyl or plastic 3-hole drilled pockets along with sheets for addresses, my calendar, a to-do list, and whatever else I thought I needed for my travels. It was perfect because it allowed me a place and space where I could not only carry my day planner, I could also keep my ideas and/or plans neatly tucked away and with me just in case something came up — or to mind — that could be added to my idea or plan.

This large day planner was a leather zip-up with handles and of course, this was pre- PDAs and smartphones. When I decided to go the way of technology, I discarded my portable brain and purchased a Palm V. The selling point of the Palm V for me was the ability to hand write notes. It was hard but I purposely put my portable brain deep in a cave here in the house to insure I would never touch it because I wanted to ween myself from it and use the Palm. I literally forced myself to learn to do more with the PDA and what I couldn’t do with the PDA probably didn’t need to be done, at least that was my thinking at the time.

What was unfortunate about my determination was I forced myself to do more with less effectively losing that wonderful ability I had to do creative visualization. I could not store photos on the Palm that benefited me in using images to spark ideas. In a nutshell, what that means is I will use an image that sparks a feeling. The image could be of green grass in a park and have nothing to do with the idea or project I’m working with. What it does is spark a feeling and that feeling could come from something I experienced way back when. Using that feeling, I am typically connected to an idea I might have had way back then that is useful for what I’m working on today.

The image or images could also be used as an escape. If I’m thinking too hard on something I will use the image as a get-away. It could take me back to a pleasant thought or feeling and from there I’m able to continue on. Finally, the images could be used as part of the idea, a close but no cigar kind of thing.

PDAs and smartphones have done nothing more than restrict me. They are small, yes. They can easily fit in a pocket or bag, yes, but they do not allow me the ability to create like I was once able to do. I need something more.

Microsoft’s recently leaked and supposedly very secret prototype, the Courier, has sparked my creative juices. This little gadget created an aha! moment for me. As I watched the video of how it worked what stimulated me was not the gadget itself but the demonstration. Grabbing photos and adding them to a page was a goody. Searching the web and grabbing bits and pieces from a page was another goody. The ability to add people to a project and sliding their names onto a map for driving instructions was another goody.

When I saw the demonstration I was speechless. Literally, speechless. This is how I work. Now, will this work for others making it a product for the masses? Possibly. I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks and works with images and handwritten scribble. If it imports MS Outlook, allows for data backup, can be easily repaired (the product has dual screens) and will allow for an external hard drive, I will be the first in line to purchase this little goody.

I would have absolutely loved the iPhone had it not been for AT&T’s network, dropped calls, dropped data, their excuses for why this was happening, and let’s not leave out Apple’s ability to mess up a wet dream by denying apps to use or perform background functions. Nice interface, nice OS, can’t view 3rd party videos in a butchered Safari, could not cut & paste for a while and you can’t tether it to a PC if you needed to connect in a pinch. Basically, it’s for kids who want to surf the web, play games, and watch videos on YouTube only. Unless you jailbreak the thing you basically have a nice but useless toy.

Because I am a cynic, jaded, and been in legal way too long, I’m not storing anything on the web to come back and haunt me years later. I also don’t want to be tied to something remote that could and does go down which, like Murphy’s law, happens when you most need it. Sorry Google and all of those Google enabled devices, not for me. Don’t let me get started with all of these folks putting their lives out there making it easy for criminals to do a drive-up on their life, their lives, their apartments, homes, cars, etc. No thank you.

Now, back to the Courier, I can keep my stuff to myself without broadcasting it to the world. I like that. It uses a stylus for writing, drawing, and whatever else I choose to do. It has several apps loaded and, according to some of the reviews I’ve read thus far, more apps can be loaded onto the dual-screen tablet. I might add, the smartphone apps market has reportedly swelled to $4.5 billion. Kaching!!

Gizmodo has a nice write up on Microsoft’s planned Courier and looking at some of the photos they have, it brought back memories of my old — and I still have it — day planner notebook. All I’ll need is for someone to design a snazzy case for it big enough to hold pens, clips and other necessities, I’ll be okay with that.

When will this product come to market? I don’t know. I’m certainly onboard for it and to prepare myself for the inevitable release, I’m pulling out that old notebook, dusting it off and I’m going to put it to use again in preparation for the release of the Courier. And Microsoft, puh-leeze don’t mess this up like Apple did the iPhone. Please!!

Video:  Microsoft’s Courier