Recently, Cathy (the comic) has been running a series wherein Cathy buys a new PDA, and is trying to transfer all her stuff into it. With it, of course, her life will be organized and perfect-- if only she can get it entered and set up. Meanwhile, everything is going to hell around her, really piling up, until she can get it done.

I can identify with this. For my birthday, I got a PDA. I finally got all my "stuff" into it this weekend (although I am still working on the wine database). It is ridiculous how much I love this thing. It has the phone numbers, the addresses (all of which can be catogorized in a variety of ways), the calendar, the to-do lists, the reminders. It also will download the news, magazines (mini versions of the Economist and Salon), wine newsletters, humor and trivia. And with the reader, I have books. In fact, I've downloaded a small library of classics-- none of which I have had time to start reading. Used the italian and english dictionaries, though, and I did start to read a book of interviews. (Premium content free from microsoft.) I can do word files and access files and the like, as well. Love it, love it, love it.

Of course I'd love it more with a keyboard. I can keep minutes on it-- much easier and more legible-- and write in small smoky cafes. Although I could write in a notebook in small smoky cafes now. I just don't. Still, the keyboard is a must, and I have no idea how much time I've wasted looking for one. Fin di mese, they all say, although that's no guarantee that they'll have the right model when the shipments come in. Still, I'll perservere. Imagine the productivity I will gain! And walking is good for you, even if it is only from store to store.

Yesterday, I went to an exhibit of Henri Toulouse Lautrec. Very interesting, although the guide spoke only Italian. I made out about 80%, maybe less. It would have been easier with out the old italian ladies gossiping during the tour. Rude, but they are so nothing too unusual there. Plus, they don't wash their hair too often, and with my height and heels I'm right at hair level. Euch. And then there's the too much garlic, too little toothpaste problem. So maybe if I'd been able to pay more attention, I would have understood more. Still, interesting. And I did understand enough, unlike Dee, Peggy and Shirley. After she finished, the guide said that we were free to look around at the rest of the exhibit if we didn't have any more questions. We didn't, she left. And ten minutes later, DPandS were wondering when she was coming back to finish the tour. Had a talk about it with Sirhan, who was upset that it wasn't in english, and wasn't it an english-speaking club after all. Didn't point out that SHE was the one that organized it.

It was, however, a day for new things. Things that I have been wanting to do-- for years, in some cases, that I never quite got around to. Now, I don't like going to bars and restaurants by myself, especially if I've never been before. So finally, yesterday, went with D and S to Resentin, which I'd been into at night to buy smokes, but never sat down inside (outside yes) and never in the day. And what a shame I'd waited so long. It's comfy and cozy in a paris cafe sort of way. The food wasn't impressive, but I had fondue for one (next time, I'm ordering salad with it), and they have a great selection of wines by the glass. I would go in there alone-- no problem. Great place to while away the afternoon. Then to the mall on the tram. Cold long trip, and I discovered that, you know, I don't really miss malls. The Iper is a good grocery store, but you wouldn't want to do your weekly shop there-- you'd have to drag everything across the parking lot, up and over the highway on the pedestrian overpass, then up the street to the tram stop. And the tram in question doesn't stop near my house. Good for stuff you need that can't be found anywhere else, though. After that, D went to the movies with her husband, and S and I went to Arcadia, an enoteca I'd been wanting to go into since it opened 1.5 years ago. Mixed success. It was quiet, but too quiet-- perhaps it's better earlier on. Nice snacky things to order, but we had to look on a purloined menu-- not offered, maybe because it was after 7. Resentin had a better by the glass selection. The place was nice, all blond wood and cool and modern. But I prefer Resentin's hominess and shabby couches. Plus the art on the wall-- did I mention the art? Very parisian-- impressionist and modern and so on. But Arcadia has it's place, I think, too. Good to know what it's like, although I doubt I'll hang out there.