Cackberry and The First Law of Computing

My Significant Other is a bit of a technology junkie. She can often be found, her little nose pressed to the shop window of Currie's, drooling over a display of Freeview boxes. Sometimes, to tempt her in from the street, I leave a little trail of mobile phone adverts torn from the Sunday supplements.

She has, for some time been coveting an iPhone 4. I could tell she wanted one from the little comments she made like: "I'd kill my own mother for an iPhone 4" and "Do you think if I sold one of your kidneys, it'd cover the tariff?".

She succumbed recently and bought one. However, she felt so guilty that she bought me a Blackberry. I don't really get the buzz out of gadgets that other people do, but I like the Blackberry. (It doesn't look anything like a Blackberry incidentally, but I think the more accurate name of "Mobile Phone That is Much the Same as Many Other Mobile Phones" was felt to be less appealling by some of the focus groups).

The Blackberry prides itself as being a business machine - a piece of wizardry designed to make your life more efficient. A little personal assistant in your pocket. So, seduced by promises of instant organisation, I recently made the mistake of trying to synch the Blackberry with my diary at work. This involves plugging the phone into the computer. That is where I went wrong. I forgot Alan B's First Law of Computing which is:

"Do Not Plug Any Other Item Into Your Computer."

If you break Alan B's First Law of Computing you are letting yourself in for a world of heartache. But I did . And the Blackberry ate all of the recurring appointments in my diary. It didn't destroy them mind you. It just ate them, so that the recurring appointments now appear only in my Blackberry and not the computer.

You can only imagine how this has simplified my life. Now, instead of having the really complex task of having to consult only one diary when I want to know my schedule, I now have the infintely easier task of having to cross-reference two diaries! Whenever someone phones for an appointment now, all I have to do is look at the computer and then run to fetch my diary from my coat pocket (usually handily located in another room - and sometimes my car - for easy access).

It really is that simple!