I wear too many hats! I am a full-time graduate student, a youth pastor, a library assistant, a husband, and a father. Not too long ago I was an extremely unorganized person, forgetting and mismanaging important information. But now I’m the opposite because of the new love of my life—my iPAQ Pocket PC.

A few years ago I bought a Handspring Visor (a Palm OS device) and eventually migrated to the Pocket PC. Since then, I’ve had one HP Jornada and three iPAQ Pocket PCs. I’m currently using the iPAQ h2210 with an add-on iPAQ Micro Keyboard. I connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi when a wireless connection is available, and by Bluetooth through my cell phone the rest of the time. My Pocket PC is so integrated into my daily life now that I can not imagine functioning without it.

The vast majority of people, including those who currently use PDAs, are not aware of many of the Pocket PC’s capabilities. I decided I would keep track of everything I did with mine for one week (excluding the typical Calendar, Contacts, and Tasks stuff). Here are the results:

1. I looked up words in a dictionary.

Actually, I used more than one. I used Lextionary, (http://www.revolution.cx ) which I have loaded on a memory card. I also use Internet Explorer to access the mobile version of Merriam-Webster Online (http://www.m-w.com/palm.htm).

I access the Merriam-Webster Online dictionary from Pocket Internet Explorer.

2. I watched American Idol.

I frequently recorded TV programs on my home PC with Beyond TV (http://www.snapstream.com), loaded them on my Pocket PC memory card, and watched them later. This is definitely one of the uses that grabs the most attention.

I use Beyond TV to record American Idol and other shows, and watch them later on my Pocket PC.

3. I “remote recorded” a TV show.

I heard about a new show on the Discovery Channel that I wanted to see, so before I could forget I used my iPAQ to log on to SnapStream.Net Services (http://www.snapstream.net), which is available to Beyond TV users, and set it up to record the show for me. Snapstream.net synchronized with my home PC and the show recorded on my home PC as scheduled!

4. I remembered my cousin’s birthday—for a change!

Last year I forgot his birthday, so I added it to his Contacts entry. For quick, at-a-glance birthday and anniversary management I use vbirthday (http://www.vasilenok.com), because it automatically scans Contacts and Calendar databases for birthdays.

5. I played a game.

My favorite is Atomic Cannon (http://www.isotope244.com).

6. I read my e-mail.

A sign of a true nerd is having multiple active e-mail addresses. I used the evmo portal (http://www.evmo.com) because I have links there to my individual POP 3 accounts on Hotmail, Yahoo, and Mail2PDA.

7. I checked my local theater listings.

Before I had wireless Internet access, I downloaded Web content to my Pocket PC using the Avantgo service (http://www.avantgo.com). A must-have page on Avantgo is Hollywood.com. I used Hollywood.com and also Moviefone.com check local theater listings, but I viewed them via Pocket Internet Explorer.