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Sometimes, it is the
little changes in life that can throw you for a loop. For example, take
the address book.
With new 911 addressing
mostly completed in
Gilmer
County,
and with all the moves, divorces, marriages, etc., since I bought my
current address book in 2002, there are now more outdated addresses in
my book than valid ones. Thus, the time has come to begin a new address
book.
It would
seem to be a simple thing to copy the information from an old address
book to a new one, but it is not an easy task.
I have a
habit of writing numbers on post-it notes, then just sticking the note
to the right page of the book. If I give that number an actual entry in
the new book, I may search next time for a post-it note that is no
longer there.
I also have notes in the
margins, and often-used phone numbers written on the inside covers. Do
those numbers now get their own entry? If so, will I remember where I
put them?
In my crazy
method for organizing, not everyone is listed alphabetically. All
doctors are listed under the hospital they are associated with, cousins
are often listed with their parents, and parts stores are listed under
“T” for tractor or “C” for car parts. All veterinarians are listed under
“V.”
What if I
know that the address I have is no longer valid, but don’t have the new
address? The only solution I have considered is to wait until all the
Christmas cards come. That way, I can double check the addresses I have
with the return addresses on the card envelopes.
Of course, I
will also have to wait and see if any of my Christmas cards are returned
in the mail, showing that yes, the address is outdated. That means that
it will take me from now until Christmas to get the new address up to
date.
I have already scratched
out the names in the old book that I have already transferred to the new
book, so the old one won’t really work any more, which means that I have
to carry them both with me until the process is complete. This tiny
development, as a result, makes me almost dysfunctional--at a time of
year when phone calls and greeting cards are a dominant feature of the
season.
Sometimes, I wish I was
a little more technologically advanced. If I had a cell phone, all the
numbers would be in one place--easily deleted, changed or adjusted. The
same would apply if I had a palm pilot.
Of course,
it would then take me from now until Christmas to read the directions
and figure out the new electric gadgets.
I suppose I’ll just stick to the handwritten process for now. No sense
in taking on too much at one time. |