What About SPOT?
Mark got a SPOT watch a few weeks ago, and I’ve been thinking about getting one ever since. At first I was very skeptical about the usefulness of SPOT, but after seeing with my own eyes the way that it syncs with the Outlook calendar, I’ve changed my opinion. Nearly every day, I end up wasting a few minutes wandering the hallways and booting my laptop or checking my PocketPCto find out what meeting room I am supposed to be visiting next. The PocketPC is actually quite easy, but it’s not always convenient or polite to whip it out and start poking buttons. On the other hand, you can glance at your watch in almost any situation, and a glance at the watch can even serve as a polite way to signal that a meeting should be wrapping up to make room for the next. And my PocketPC tends to have all sorts of old or cancelled meetings that show up, something that SPOT doesn’t do (AFAIK, it’s not storing a copy of your calendar, just upcoming appointments).
So far, however, I have resisted the impulse. The reasons:
- I consider my watchto bejewelry. Fossil stuff looks good, but I don’t want to give up my current watch, and I’d look strange wearing two watches.
- If the main problem with my current scheme is the bogus meetings on PocketPC, Ishould justfigure out what’s wrong with ActiveSync and get my PocketPC to get rid of the bogus meetings. This one is unfortunately unlikely, though.
- If I can’t even mentallykeep track of where I am supposed to be and when, then I’m probably not managing my time appropriately, or else I’m succumbing to intellectual laziness. Scheduling is not rocket science; I should have the mental horsepower and discipline to keep track of my calendar mentally.