Saga of the Techgnome--Part I

Once again, technology has reached out and slapped me across the face. Hard. I've had a long, torrid love affair with pdas and phones, you see. It began back in 2002...I'll never forget the day. I decided to go to Best Buy on my lunch break and purchase a palm pilot. I knew absolutely nothing about the things, other than how cute and stylish they were. Oh, and I was convinced that, upon purchase, I would instantly become more organized than ever before. I won't tell you how that last part turned out, but I will say that I was absolutely smitten with my new acquisition. I decided on the Sony Clie S360. It's 2002, remember, and I didn't even own a cell phone yet. Wouldn't you have been in love, too? Just look at how sleek and wonderful it was:

Soon, I was uploading third party applications and all sorts of games. But, I longed for color. I heard tell of the color Clie, but it was way out of my price range. Seriously, I think the going rate for the same model pda in color was around $350. I tried to distract myself from wanting to upgrade by buying even more accessories for my perfect little pda. If I recall correctly, I bought an audio adapter, two memory sticks, a foldaway keyboard, and a leather case. After about a year and a half, I somehow justified the decision to upgrade. This time, instead of getting another Palm Pilot, I decided to bite the bullet and buy a Pocket PC. I was hesitant, but had done my research and found a refurbished Toshiba E335 on eBay:

I remember the day I received it in the mail. It was so thin and shiny and the display so bright and colorful! I loved that it synced up with Outlook and that I could compose Word and Excel documents with it (I was in college at the time and often used it to take notes in class. Nerd!). Naturally, I began using it to play mp3s and games. It literally never left my side. I got married that year and my friend Joi jokingly (I think) asked if I was planning to take it with me as I walked down the isle. I laughed at this as I laid in bed the night before my wedding, playing solitaire...on my Pocket PC. As much as I loved my PPC, there was something magical about the Clie. The market was becoming flooded with pdas, so the prices were at an all time low. I decided to purchase a color Clie for my husband. After all, he could stand to be a little more organized, too! I found this one on eBay for about $170, I believe:

Predictably, my husband saw through my ruse and did not use the pda for anything other than playing games at night before bed. I, on the other hand, decided to begin using this one instead of my PPC. Big mistake. I liken this to switching from a PC to a Macintosh. Both have their merits, but you'll always end up missing the one you're most accustomed to. For me, that turned out to be the PPC. After a few months, I returned to using my PPC, until that fateful day in the parking lot outside of work. I dropped my PPC on the pavement while trying to talk on the phone and add an appointment to my calendar. Crunch. The screen shattered, rendering it useless. I think I almost cried. Within an hour, I ordered a new Pocket PC from Dell, as my then-employer offered a discount. I even paid $30 to have it shipped overnight. Behold:

I remember being a bit underwhelmed. The price was right, but the thing just didn't seem as bright and shiny as the pdas of yore. I used it and even marveled a bit at the WiFi capability, but was still not as captivated as I would have liked. Eventually, I stopped using it altogether. What was happening to me, I wondered? Had I become tired and bored with computers already? After only 3 years, I had gone through 4 pdas...was this it?