Screen 8 (above): I use the AvantGo service to download news and other information to my Pocket PC. I read it off line during commutes or in my free time.
Organize home projects with Excel
I rely on my Pocket PC to manage tasks and projects at our home in Savage, and at our cabin by the lake. At work I utilize Agenda Fusion and Outlook's Task manager to keep track of the things I have to do, but outside the office, I use Pocket Excel to organize my tasks. I could use the Tasks function to track my personal projects, but I find that Excel gives me a better "snapshot" of home-related projects, with each project's timeframe and resource requirements. For example, I use a three-column spreadsheet for my home projects (Screen 9). The first column lists the project: "shingle shed," "pump septic tank," etc. The second column lists the month and year I plan to do it. The third column lists the materials I need for the project. When it's completed, I either delete the line from the spreadsheet, or change the month/year column for the next time I need to do it. I have a separate spreadsheet for "home" and "lake" projects.
Screen 9 (above): I organize projects and tasks for my home and my cabin in an Excel spreadsheet.
I used to keep PIN and credit card numbers, insurance information, and other important personal information in eWallet from Ilium Software ($19.95; www.iliumsoft.com). But Pocket Excel is a very good alternative and it doesn't cost the Pocket PC user a cent. Best of all, you can password protect Excel documents to keep the information secure, in case you misplace your device.
Traveling for business and pleasure
I travel quite a lot for business and personal reasons, and recently started using Pocket Streets 2002 ($24.95; information at www.microsoft.com/pocketstreets/; purchase at www.handango.com). Once you purchase the application, it's easy to download free maps of most major U.S. and world cities from the Web page listed above. You can also export maps from the following desktop PC map programs from Microsoft: MapPoint, Streets & Trips and AutoRoute 2003. (Note that Streets & Trips 2004 also comes with the latest version of Pocket Streets.). These maps not only include street and business addresses, but points of interest, including restaurants, malls, airports, etc. (Screen 10).
Screen 10 (above): I use Pocket Streets when I travel to find unfamiliar addresses. I used it in this screenshot to find a restaurant in Portland, Oregon.
Before I leave on a business trip, I go to Microsoft's site and download the city map I need, and locate just about all of my destinations by simply entering the addresses into Pocket Streets. I haven't splurged on a GPS system yet, but the sexy capabilities of those products are very attractive. Fortunately, Pocket Streets is a capable and inexpensive alternative.
An easy and free alternative to Pocket Streets isMapQuest (www.mapquest.com). Another easy method I've used to put maps on my Pocket PC is going to the MapQuest site on my desktop, creating the map and/or directions I'll need there, and using their PDA download capability via AvantGo to load the map in as one of my AvantGo menu items. Once you have the map displayed on your PC browser at the MapQuest site, click on the "Download to PDA" button. You will be asked to name the map and click on "Save Map." A new AvantGo window will appear, setting up your new map as a custom channel. Click "Save Channel," and the next time you sync your device, the map name will be one of your AvantGo channel selections. Recently, my father asked me to fill in at a monthly poker game, held at one of his friends' home. He e-mailed me the address, and I used the Mapquest/AvantGo download to get me there.
I find the combination of my fold-up keyboard and the Pocket PC far superior to a laptop for use on airplanes. Not only are they extremely lightweight and easy to transport, but the instant-on capability is invaluable, especially on shorter flights where the limitations on "electronic devices" mean a relatively short time in the air where you can be using them. It's great to be able to take full advantage of the available time for working, not booting up and shutting down. I also find the Pocket PC a lot easier to use in the close quarters of the coach seating area!
Enjoying more time away from the office
Some might say that the mobility a Pocket PC provides keeps people "chained" to their jobs, but for me, I believe it's just the opposite—my Pocket PC lets me stay organized and increases my efficiency so that I can enjoy MORE time away from the office. Instead of having to stay an extra hour, I can complete my day's work just in time to step off the bus and enjoy my evening at home.
* * *
Toshiba e740 technical problems
I recently took advantage of the free ROM image update that can be downloaded from Toshiba's technical support page (www.toshiba.com). Prior to this update, I had experienced significant difficulties with ActiveSync, and frequently suffered unexplained complete data loss on my e740, which was frustrating and time-consuming enough that I nearly gave up on the unit. However, in the weeks since the upgrade, ActiveSync has worked flawlessly with my device, and I've experienced none of the data loss episodes. I encourage all e740 owners to consult Toshiba's support page to see if an update might be appropriate.
* * *
Paul Meehl lives in Minneapolis and is a Senior Operations Manager for RBC Dain Correspondent Services, a division of RBC Dain Rauscher, Inc. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Selling a Home and Buying a New One with the Help of my Pocket PC
by John Ottini
In mid 2002 my wife and I decided to move to a townhouse closer to our place of employment. We saw no need to carry two mortgages, so the plan was to sell our current house first and move into an apartment while we searched for a new home. It had been 11 years since we'd built our first home and we didn't know what to expect, so we wanted to be as organized as possible. Being relatively new to the Pocket PC environment, I did not know whether my shiny new Dell Axim X5 was up to the task, but I was more than willing to put it to the test.
Searching for an apartment
While waiting for our house to sell, we wasted no time beginning our search for an apartment. I picked up a copy of a local apartment guide, located some good prospects, and entered them into Pocket Contacts. I created a new contact category, "Apartments," and assigned it to each of the prospects. This allowed me to display a list of the prospective apartments (Screen 1). I used Pocket Streets 2002 (www.microsoft.com/pocketstreets/) to display the location of each prospect on a city-wide street map (Screen 2). To accomplish this, I first had to open a map of the Orlando area in Pocket Streets, and then tap and hold one of the apartment names in my Contact list. The next step was to tap Find on Map from the pop-up menu and like magic a pushpin was automatically created at the selected address location on the map.
Screens 1 and 2 (above): I created a list of apartments in Pocket Contacts (top) and displayed their corresponding map locations using Pocket Streets 2002 (bottom).
I also created a checklist of potential apartments using ListPro by Ilium Soft (www.iliumsoft.com) so that we could enter our thoughts and impressions as we visited each apartment. We used this same method later when searching for a townhouse. Finding an apartment with the help of our Pocket PC turned out to be a well-organized and relatively easy process.
Telling everyone "We've moved!"
Once we'd selected an apartment and sold our house it was time to notify everyone of our change of address. Fortunately I had saved most of my important personal data in eWallet, a secure electronic wallet application from Ilium Software (www.iliumsoft.com). I had the information I needed to begin contacting credit card companies, government agencies, and utility companies. I also looked through the Pocket PC's Contacts application for the phone numbers and addresses of friends and associates. Once again I used ListPro to create a quick checklist of the people I needed to notify (Screen 3).
Screen 3 (above): I used ListPro to create a checklist of the people, companies, organizations, etc., that needed to be notified of our change of address.
A home we liked at a price we could afford
After
several months of searching for the right home, in the right neighborhood, we finally found a townhouse development with a design we both liked and a price we could afford. When construction finally began on our unit, I decided to keep a pictorial history of the process by taking photographs on a weekly basis using my digital camera and transferring them to my Pocket PC. When friends and family asked how the townhouse was coming along, I'd pull out my Pocket PC and show them (Screen 4).
Screen 4 (above): I kept a pictorial history of the construction of our townhouse on my Pocket PC.
As our townhouse approached completion, I employed ListPro again to create a list of items that still needed to be completed. As they were finished, I'd enter a completion date. I also used ListPro to keep a "punch list" of items that we found unsatisfactory and wanted to bring to the builder's attention during the final walk through.
Waiting to close!
As I complete this article, we are getting very close to a closing date and I am extremely pleased (and excited about) how nice the townhouse has turned out and how helpful my Pocket PC has been throughout this entire process. Even my wife, who has always considered my Pocket PC a pleasant distraction, had to admit that this little gizmo really came in handy.
* * *
John Ottini is employed with the City of Orlando, Public Works Dept. as a GIS Technician. He has over 20 years experience in the cartographic field working in various capacities for large and small private mapping firms (most notably eight years with Rand McNally). He is a history buff who enjoys reading, bicycling, skiing, traveling, and, of course, handheld computers. John was born in Italy and raised and educated in Canada. He has resided in Florida since 1982. John can be reached at [email protected].
Pocket PC a "Fit" Companion for Aerobics Instructor
by Mike Hagen
Special thanks to Feminine Fitness of Vancouver, WA for allowing us to photograph one of their classes. They are a women-only fitness club specializing in aerobics classes, individual instruction, and resistance training.
The challenges thrown at my staff and me here at Grinder Gear, Inc., are generally of the extreme variety. Rock climbing, mountaineering, and flying are the name of the game. That's why I was taken by surprise when one of our staff members, Heather Mills, challenged me to help her use her Pocket PC. Heather is a professional part-time aerobics instructor and she has been looking for a way to improve her efficiency as an instructor by using her Pocket PC.
While researching different applications for Heather, I discovered that working as an aerobics instructor in the new millennium is more than just tights and disco music. The fitness-crazed 1990s just about burned everyone out with the newest, trendiest workouts. For example, Spinning, Stomp, Bootcamp, Tai-Bo, Tai-Chi, Step, and Kick Boxing all left club goers with so many training options that no one knew where to start or which plan to graduate to. The fitness instructor's role is to guide students through the exercise options with a simple, no-nonsense approach. Instructors need to be well organized and have the information they need at their fingertips. The Pocket PC was a perfect platform for Heather to do just that.
Insuring the success of her students
Heather works at Feminine Fitness, a women-only gym in Vancouver, WA. Their focus is to provide a safe, no-pressure environment for women seeking to better their physical health through exercise. Heather said, "As a fitness instructor, my role is to motivate and push my class to achieve personal fitness bests. I work hard to tailor my class workouts to the fitness level of the group and I'd like to use my Pocket PC to help me keep my curricula separate and organized." She feels strongly that the instructor plays a big role in the success of the student. In addition to her regular classes, Heather occasionally substitutes for other instructors and needs to be familiar with all the aerobic classes at Feminine Fitness, whether they be floor or step; beginner, intermediate or advanced.
Heather teaches a number of different aerobics classes and she sets up a specific lesson plan for each one. She typically separates each class into five segments and each segment has a purpose, such as warming up, working the cardiovascular system, or cooling down. Here is a description of the five sections of her "step aerobics" class.
Pre-cardio warm-up—Includes stretching, grapevine, step touch, and knee raises.
Cardio—Includes a combination of several different movements that equal 32 counts each. The combos build in intensity, speed, and complexity to create balance and an increase in sustained heart rate.
Cool down 1—Returns to simple moves such as walking around the bench, hustling up, corner knees, etc. All are designed to gradually bring the heart rate down.
Circuit training—Works on toning specific muscle groups. Involves the use of weights, abdominal work, squats, push ups, dyna bands, and more.
Cool down 2—Final cool down to properly stretch out all muscle groups.
For each of these segments of the aerobics workout, Heather plans specific moves and exercises. Music for aerobics is timed out to a beat grouping of 32. This means that every combination of moves needs to add up to 32 beats (or "counts") in order to keep time with the music. I created a simple database for Heather that included the name of each move, notes about the move, and the number of counts needed to perform the move. I could have used Pocket Excel for this, but Heather preferred using a database, so I used abcDB Database 3.0 (www.pocketsoft.ca), a great database program that is intuitive and easy to use (Screen 1). Heather uses this database as a reference when creating her lesson plans.
Screen 1 (above): Heather uses abcDB Database to store a list of aerobic moves along with the number of counts it takes to perform them.
It is important to always have alternate options available during a class, for those who wish to increase the intensity of their workout. For example, instead of doing a marching movement you can have them jog; instead of doing a turn-step you can have them do a shuffle. Many aerobic movements have variants that can be performed at high/low/moderate levels and a good instructor needs to know what those variants are and how to demonstrate them. Before each class, Heather uses the abcDB database to query different movements and create workout sequences. Since she has different variants available for many of the moves, she can announce this during the class and have people with differing fitness levels perform different moves.
Since the workout is timed to 32 beats and is also coordinated with music, Heather queries the abcDB database with time entries for each exercise This way, she ends up with exactly a one-hour workout and she also knows that she didn't miss any of the workout elements. She says, "For a typical 1-hour class, this is how I break it down: The warm-up lasts anywhere from 5-10 minutes. I can control the speed of the music and generally will start with a slow tempo. I increase the speed of the workout by selecting faster music as we enter the cardio portion of the session, which lasts anywhere from 30-40 minutes. The cool down takes roughly 5 minutes and toning can last anywhere from 10-15 minutes. The final cool down generally lasts about 5 minutes. I plan my lesson with the database software so that it fits within the time frame of the class. Planning my lesson ahead of time and following it helps keep me on track during the class."
Many of the women Heather instructs are also interested in weight management and overall fitness improvement. So, I set her Pocket PC up with Pocket Meal Tracker (www.ariware.com), a powerful diet and weight management program that makes it easy to maintain a daily journal of everything you eat (Screen 2). It lets her estimate for each participant how much energy they burn each day, the number of calories they consume, and how the two affect their weight. "When using this information with a structured eating plan, my students will always have a way to target their ideal weight." says Heather.
Screen 2 (above): Pocket Meal Tracker helps Heather help her students track the effects of their activity and calorie intake on their weight.
Keeping the instructor fit!
In addition to organizing her aerobics sessions with her Pocket P
C, we decided to have Heather keep track of her own fitness progress by using a program called BioBody from Biohazard Software (www.biohazardsoftware.com). Mike Boone at Biohazard Software has done an excellent job of developing a fitness package that actually works. You are able to track your upper body, lower body, and aerobic workouts while also tracking progress to your physical goals. In addition, they have an excellent customer service department.
Screens 3 and 4 (above): BioBody helps you track upper, lower, and aerobic workouts (top) and chart your progress (bottom).
Pocket PC magazine, January 2004 Page 19
