Memory

[Warning! The technically challenged (you know who you are) may have difficulties in relating to the following dialog:]

I have a great memory. I really do. Nah, not just great…it’s fantastic!

It’s one that I carry in my pocket. It’s my trusty PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) — palmOne Tungsten E2 to be exact. I’ve had 4 or 5 various Palm Pilot models throughout the years. The first couple of models ran on a couple of AA batteries and lasted about a week on the batteries.

In December 2000, I got a Vx model that had a re-chargeable battery. It worked great! Used it during my ecclesiastical secretarial duties to help remind me of where I needed to be, appointments that needed to be made, and Stake contact list. Worked great. Still does…but then they came out with colored screens.

I succumbed to going brighter, newer, and 65,536 colors in December 2003 and got a Tungsten E model. It worked fantastic until last December 2006. The screen started going wacky whenever I tried writing or inputting something. I had put a screen protector on it to keep the screen from being scratched up. Had one on the Vx for years and it worked fine. This one worked fine until I changed to a different brand of screen protector. Suddenly, it wouldn’t recognize any commands. I thought that I had broken it, because it wouldn’t even power off. I was in desperate measures…with no memory…so I purchased a Tungsten E2 for a replacement.

I put a screen protector on the new one and it worked just fine until a month ago. Suddenly, it wouldn’t recognize the handwriting either. It started going wack-o too. I would put it in my pocket for about five minutes and then it would work again for awhile and then start acting up again. Great, I was ready to buy another replacement. Then I got the bright idea to take off the protector strip. Voilà! [Sister Megs has taught me to use French words to embellish my speech.] It worked as though it was fresh out of the box. Near as I can tell, writing on the screen protector built up a static electrical charge that short circuited the screen and messed up the handwriting recognition software and the rest of the PDA.

I charged up the old Tungsten E, ripped off the screen protector, and tried it out. Worked like a charm. Now, cs has her own great memory at her fingertips also…and we can now beam our Bejeweled! scores back and forth to each other.

PS: Anyone want to buy a packet of PDA screen protectors?