What are your memo categories and interesting memos?

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taxgeek

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Anybody care to share what their memo categories are, and maybe some interesting memos they keep on their PDAs? It's always interesting to pick up some info based on what other people do. So let's hear it!
 
I took many of mine right out of David's list, but here are my favorites/most often used:

My husband's clothing sizes
Books to read
Movies to see
Restaurants to go to
Travel checklist
Incompletion trigger
Gifts to get people
Former employers and addresses (I guess I could do this in the address book too)
Budget/Bill pay schedule
 
Mine shift and change over time, but currently I have:

$ Priorities - budgeting stuff
*Important - A list of passwords, pins, etc.
2003 Goals
Checklists

CopyWriting - This one I'm currently moving to Bonsai because it got really big, and I wanted to be able to organize it a bit better

Herbs, Remedies - A list of various herbs and their uses, plus remedy recipes

Home & Crafts - A list of various crafts (like crochet patterns in progress), room color schemes, and other decorating ideas

Inspiration

Might Want To... - buy for house/office, do in yard, create, etc.

Misc.
Proj Details
Quotes & Fee
(I'm thinking about removing the above 3 soon)

Reference - This one runs the gamut from business to fun. Includes things like GTD Book Notes, Google PPC CTR requirements, Snippets of useful articles, and even game notes (sim city/sims/1602)

Additional lists live in Bonsai. These include: Cust followup timeline; Copy Planning; Research steps, triggers, and resources; My Garden plant list and details of care/growth/charactoristics/planting location; Recipes; Restaurant lists; An index of my lists; Misc. Facts of Interest; Swipe Files; Gift Ideas; Key people and relations. There are several others but you get the idea :)

I'm a bit proud of my "Key People and Relations" list. It has each of my kids, plus my husband and dog listed. Under each are sub-sections for lists of friends, teachers, health & growth data (I track when they're sick, doctor visits, allergies, milestones, etc), hobbies, and clothing sizes. Having this and making sure I keep it updated makes me feel as if I've paid a lot more attention to the family in the past couple of years.

Anyway, a bit long but there it is :)
Kathy
 
Ooooo...I'm jealous of your key relations list! Can you share some more detail on how exactly you set it up? I just use the Palm Memo (don't use Bonsai), but have had a heck of a time finding a good way to format this. I really feel like I'm out of the loop sometimes with friends and family, and have been looking to remedy that. What kind of stuff to you record, specifically? Every little thing, or just the big stuff? (and how do you determine what the "big stuff" is?)
 
Memo Categories

Interesting Thread.

I do part-time consulting, so I have several client categories, as well as project categories.

Client 1
Client 2, etc.
Project 1
Project 2, etc.
Family (one category for each person)
Reference
Office
Strategies
Values

I have used ShadowPlan as an outliner because it links to memos and todos. Haven't used it as much since I have the GTD Add-in for Outlook.

David Bourbon

Fifth Business
Historic Research and Restoration
 
Here are some items from my memopad:
1. CDs my wife has (so that when I go into the record store to buy her a CD, I don't buy her one she already has)
2. Directions on how to get to my school (I am a principal). When somebody needs directions, I can beam them if we are face to face and they have their Palm handy or e-mail them (just drag the memo over the e-mail icon in Outlook and fillin the the e-mail address)
3. My Unifying Principles (an influence of Dr. Charles Hobbs and his "Time Power" book). Basically, it's a list of the 10 or so things that define who I am/strive to be.
4. Outlines of several workshops I do. That way, I can beam the outline to someone or e-mail them a quick workshop outline.
5. A list of all of my teachers. (There are lots of times I need a "checkoff list" to be sure everybody has submitted particular paperwork, etc. I drag the memo to the Task icon in Outlook, fill in the subject lines and assign a category of @Waiting For.)
6. Documentation of "lasting value." (For those familiar with the Day-Timer or Franklin systems, this is my "right-hand page.") I take notes in the notes section of a task. If I feel that documentation is of "lasting value," before checkong off the task, I drag the task over the Notes icon in Outlook.) Every so often, do some cutting and pasting to get all of the entries from a particular month in a couple of note entries.

When archiving in Outlook, I set the Notes to never archive.

Frank
 
Hi AMS,

Here's how I have the Key People and Relations List now (In Bonsai as mentioned)

NAME (This is the parent tree)

> Clothing - In here I have a list of good cloths they have, and things I need to buy them (usually for school). I sometimes list things that need to be patched or mended too.

> Health - This is usually a chronological log of sicknesses, DR visits, etc. One of my sons has migraines, so I list those here and try to note any triggers that might have brought it on. For my daughter, I notated when she first reached puberty, and I try to note any irregularities, problems, things to keep an eye on, etc.

> Teachers (Grade) - This is a list of each teacher they had for a particular grade. I note the teacher's name, subject, class period and contact information.

> Local friends - A list of friends, their addresses, phone number and parent's names.

> Tucson friends - Similar to above. (We lived there until about a year ago and the kids keep in touch)

> Hobbies and gift ideas - A list of hobbies, interests, fav colors + gift ideas.

I think this year I'll add football and other schedules to this list. Last year I kept those in my Action lists. I also intend to add various things like SS# and insurance info.

That's about it for now, hope it helps a bit :)
Kathy
 
Please don't carry SSN#s with you!

Electronic Perceptions said:
I think this year I'll add football and other schedules to this list. Last year I kept those in my Action lists. I also intend to add various things like SS# and insurance info.
Click to expand...

Please don't carry your or family members' SSN#s with you! They should be memorized and the cards kept in a safety deposit box or home safe. Identity theft increases exponentially each year, and all the thief needs is an individual's SSN# and one other piece of identifying informaiton to open bank accounts, charge accounts, etc. And if a crime is committed and linked to your SSN#, it can be VERY hard to clear that from your record. It can take years to clear up fradulant financial and criminal activity linked to your/your kids' SSN's.

Carrying SSN#s with you or keeping SSN Cards unlocked at home is a HUGE risk if wallett/purse/planner is stolen or if car/home is broken into.

Please take a look at http://www.privacyrights.org/ for more information. [/url]
 
Good advice from mknoke.

For what it's worth...

I encode my sensitive numbers using a simple rule (no, I'm not going to tell you my rule!). This way I can carry them with me, but if someone else gets them, they can't use them directly. And they'd have to KNOW that I use a rule system, which makes it even more secure.

For example, if my rule were:

Add one to each digit with no carry.

then a SSN like 123-45-6790 would be written down as 234-56-7801. And a safe combination of 21-44-66 would show as 32-55-77. It is pretty easy to decode one of my numbers. This encryption will not stop a determined mastermind sort of criminal, but will thwart most common thieves. It is easier for them to steal another number than to try to reverse engineer your formula.

BTW, the rule above is not the one I use, just an example. A more secure rule would hide the format of the number. So, for example, if my rule were the same "add one" like above but included the rule "repeat the first two digits at the end, and skip the punctuation," them the SSN 123-45-6790 would encode as 23456780123 and it is even harder for someone to reverse engineer, but still pretty easy for me to decode in my head.

You can use the same system to encode alpha passwords - again not strong enough to thwart a spy, but good enough for everyday use. Can you guess this password?

kc(sk-dgm

:)
 
sensitive info on palm etc.

there are many good programs designed for this purpose (the good ones use encryption ) One that seems to be popular is Cloak from chapura www.chapura.com or Splash Id from Splash software (sorry I don't know the url -but they're on palm gear)
 
Splash Id from Splash software (sorry I don't know the url -but they're on palm gear)
Click to expand...

www.splashdata.com I've been demoing both cloak and splash id. Very similar, but Splash ID looks to be more customizable and slightly prettier.[/url][/quote]
 
to keep ssns in memos, check out memoplus by highhands software, it has a way to truly encrypt individual memos without having to set the security settings for the entire palm -- works like a charm to hold ccard numbers, ssns, and other sensitive data without haveing to keep a database program like splash id -- i found it eaier to create category called "locked" or "personal" and each memo will have a title like pers ref or ccard -- but memoplus won't allow you in without the pin.

btw FWITW, the palm security setting is easily hacked -- if you synch to outlook all those memos go to your computer and you can hack them quite easily which is why i went to memoplus for sensitive memo/docs.
 
Where do you guys store these lists (paper, computer, etc)?

Do you think it's important to have all the lists in one place?

Rangi
 
Re: What are your memo categories and interesting memos?

What are your memo categories and interesting memos?

08/08/04 18:53

taxgeek said:
Anybody care to share what their memo categories are, and maybe some interesting memos they keep on their PDAs?
Click to expand...

What are my memo categories and interesting memos?
  • Probably over 90% of my memos are : "unfiled".
    I have the "Today" category that must be processed to empty every evening. When processed, they go "unfiles" or are deleted.
    I have "This week" for any that should be reviewed/assessed end of week.

    Morning, when I prepare my "schoolbag" I may create light "notebook(s)" of memos that might be needed during the day: this is a temporary category before they return unfiled. The memo list in such a notebook should never exceed one Palm screen.

    Same, I may create blank "notebook(s)" to collect notes on a same activity : say for interviewes I might have to do, a writing in progress. I could say memopad is then used as a one level outliner.

The process is done when :
  • - Each new/updated memo is timestamped (most often I put the week number of my next use : greatly not to forget open loops at WR)
    - Each memo has keywords for further retrieval (they act as multiple categories)
    - Each memos to put in action has an action code (action type or context)
    Then the memo go "unfiled".
    After each sync (daily) the "today" new or edited memos are appended to my continuous log (a txt file). If away only with Palm for a long time, this log is "iSiloted" on the SDcard.

The tools I use:
  • - PsMemo which as an embedded lookup, and can list memos in last read or last edited order (and other nice features)
    - MemoLeaf which lets you group in a category memos coreesponding to a search criteria
    -TextPlus not to write again and again full keywords
    -Find (or better) to get "on the fly" lists on any criteria

I've often detailed this since 2000 in "CyberPoche" posts on french Palm list and on GTD_Palm list.[/list]
 
One of my life situations is that I belong to a church which is growing rapidly and I am frequently called upon to make financial presentations, so I'm in the unpleasant situation where lots of people know me but I don't know them by name. That's embarrasing to me, especially since I have trouble remembering names and many of these people I see only weekly.

One of my original categories was @Church, so under that category I've added "Names-Memory". Whenever I get the name of someone I don't already know I add a "Note" for that person along with something to trigger who they are or the context in which I generally see them (for example, "Jane Doe - with walker" or "Jim Smith - new choir mbr,etc"). I review this list during the week and also on Sunday am, and I'm pleased with the help this is providing.

I can see how this could be useful to anyone in a situation where learning names is important but they don't have a penchant for doing so.
 
my newest category is 'next time i talk with...'

and here is where i can keep a running tab per person of the things i want to speak with them about.

useful for standing meetings.

took it from the 'next time i'm in 'city x'...' idea that i got awhile ago from this site...
 
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