PDA Blues

PDA Blues!

Starting the day after Labor Day, we started recarpeting the branch library at Raytown. I will have to write about the recarpet job sometime. People who have never seen a library being rearranged for carpeting are really missing out!

Anyhow, during the chaos associated with the job, the screen on my PDA was broken. I have no idea how it happened. This is not my first PDA to go to the great gadget afterlife. My first PDA (A Palm III purchased in 1998) lasted about a year before the screen became so scratched that it could no longer recognize text.

I moved up to a Palm IIIxe the next year. It was pretty good. Then, one day, I had to go to the warehouse at work and get bookends for one of our branches. Our warehouse had pallets of discarded books stacked two high in all the aisles. I climbed up on the pallets and started to get the bookends. At one point, I leaned over and the Palm IIIxe fell out of my pocket. It bounced once on the floor. Then, on the second time down, it landed square on the screen and broke. I got down from the boxes, went straight to my car, and bought a new Palm. I had become so dependent on them, I had to go to OfficeMax and get a replacement at once!

I had success and failure with a couple of other Palm devices. Then, a guy at work got a Dell Axim. I played around with it for a while, and purchased a Dell Axim V. Of course, I broke the screen somehow (I don’t even remember how). I got an Axim III a few years ago, and upgraded to an Axim IIIi a little less than a year ago.

As much as one person can love a gadget, I loved my Axim IIIi. I uses to surf the ‘net with it, using the increasingly present wifi hotspots around Kansas City. I kept a whole collection of photos on my Axim. I really liked having audio and e-books on the Axim so I could read or listen when the mood struck.

I am very disappointed with Dell right now. I purchased a 24-hour replacement agreement when I bought it my Axim. Given my history, it is typically money well spent. Now, almost a week later, I still do not have my replacement device. I am so lost without my digital buddy. I’m sure I’ll get by.