Thursday, November 6, 2008

Gadget Junkie Confesses

Part 1 - The Stuff
It's me. I admit it. I'm a gadget junkie. It started out as a kid. I wanted a calculator (can you guess my age?) They were expensive and were the Bar Mitzvah gift of choice. It grew as I collected walkman after walkman, cd players, tape recorders and cameras. Then came the computer era to usher in a new unfathomable pletorha of cool gadgets. It's not just the stuff that plugs in either. It's also the software and the online tools.
It can be an organizers nightmare.... or a dream.

I have dealt with this need to try new stuff by making a single rule. I can only keep the thing that is newest and the one that came before it. (keep the last generation in case something stops working suddenly) Anything older must go. It's about the only way I can stay sane and not become the collector of all things gadget.

Do I wish I still had my 512K macintosh from college to use as the coolest doorstop ever? Nah.
Once you begin living with a rule, it becomes the norm and a rationalization you can live by forever.

I recently found my college broadcast journalism tape recorder and microphone. I wish I could say they are collectors items, but alas, they are just new techno junkery.

PART II - The Passwords
Every time I want to try out new online gadgets I have to sign in with a user name and password. And sometimes they don't let me use the same one that I usually use.
And like a true Right Brainer - I don't want to take the time to open up my spreadsheet of passwords every time I make one.
So instead I write the PW on a post-it along with my user name and website.
I stick the PW on my every-day-spiral where I write everything I'm doing, thinking, messages, etc.
When the pile gets to be about 10 high - I go to my spreadsheet(s) and enter them all in, and alphabetize the list (by website)

How do you organize your passwords? And is it working?

2 comments:

Megan Spears said...

I am the spreadsheet girl, but I have a few layers (or steps) before it hits the spreadsheet.

Thankfully, most websites will email you the log on name and password. I usually save the email in my personal email folder. If I go back to retrieve the password (meaning that the website has value to me and I will visit it again), then I will post it in my spreadsheet.

When I clean out my email folder, I usually will filter through those sites I signed up for and know I won't be going back, then DELETE.

Anonymous said...

Great post you got here. I'd like to read more about that theme. The only thing that blog needs is a few photos of some gadgets.
David Trider
Block phone