You know, whatever that thing is that you carry around with you everywhere?

I call it a Personal Mobile Device (PMD) as you could be packing a smartphone, a cell phone, a netbook or laptop.  Almost everyone has something they keep with them at all times to keep them connected.

I want to know, what DO you do with yours?  I’m serious.

I hear so many people ooze over their particular brand or the appearance of their thing; I’ve even had people get down right condescending  just because I do not use the same device.

[psst:  BIG tip - whatever that thing is you have there, it's a tool.  Nothing more.  Nothing less.]

So I want to know, what do you use your PMD for?

Here, I’ll start:

I’m a Palm girl.  Always have been.  Here’s a shot of my first PMD:

Treo 270

Yep.  That’s a Treo 270 folks.  Huge! When you flipped it up, it was like putting a whale up to your head.  This was in 2001 – when every other electronic device was getting smaller too.

I can’t tell you how many times I would hear “Hey!  Beam me up Scotty!” when I would use it as a phone in public –  smile and give a nod/wave in the direction… never heard that one before… you’re so clever… butthead… ;)

Anyway, those episodes turned out to be a good thing.  It was one more reason for me to treat my Treo as the device I had planned it for all along (and all I really wanted from it) – access to e-mail on my person.

This was when I was still a solo and personally worked for several attorneys.  My processes were set up so I would get notified of any incoming jobs via e-mail.  From the size of the file and the fax number sent (back then it was all fax), I could better plan when I needed to be behind my keyboard.

Back then I also had only one kid – but I was about to have another right after moving from a renovated Levitt Cape to a 1924 Colonial that literally needed a bones up renovation.  I tell you this because I HAD TO be as efficient with my time as I could and being connected to my e-mails through my PMD kept me fully in the know.

Now, I’m still a Palm girl.  Have a Pre – but am looking forward to testing the Pixi.  But this isn’t about me.  It’s about all of YOU reading this.  I know you have one and I don’t care what type of thing it is – what do you DO with it?

E-mail; calls; surf the web; listen to music – all of the above and more?

Great!

Only take calls?

Perfect.

Can you leave me a comment with what you do with your PMD?

If you can also provide carrier and model for context, muchly appreciated!

If you’ve got a few extra moments, and can also answer:

* Do you have any device specific apps you couldn’t live without?
* Is your information routed through any third party servers – such as RIM, your carrier’s network or Google?
* Do you have an unlimited data plan that includes texts?

All the better.

TIA!

I’ve been running into issues with a few words lately.  First, to clarify, according to dictionary.com, the term “assistant” is defined as:

–noun

According to dictionary.com, the term “secretary” is defined as:

–noun

Did you notice the second word in each one of those definitions was “person”.  A “person” – not a gadget, not a cartoon character on your website, not an e-mail reminder service and certainly not a huge foreign conglomerate funded through venture capital.

Just to be certain that I’m not going crazy, I checked and here’s the definition of a “person”:

–noun

Let’s face it, your cell phone may be smart, but it’s not like having a “secretary” in your pocket!

Don’t mean to be touchy on the subject, but I’m tired of trying to help people figure out you can’t replace the live thinking brain in the customary business process of having an “assistant” or “secretary”.  If you remove the live, thinking “assistant/secretary”, chances are the software, tool or service you are using will be much less effective and much more time/labor intensive than you’ve been lead to believe.

Technology purveyors are not helping the issue.  They throw the terms “assistant” and “secretary” around on a whim.  They add them before or after their applications and processes as though any tech could take the place of a live, thinking brain.  In fact, it was an ad which said something along the lines of “now your secretary is in your pocket…” which got the juices going for this article!  A secretary is a human being.  There’s no way s/he’s squeezing into any pocket! LOL

Worse still are the ad campaigns calling out to you that if you use a real live assistant, you are “old school” or don’t have a clue about technology.  Not so!  They want to make you think you need to use THEIR tech… yeah only THEIR tech solves all your woes… <grin>

So, exactly when did having or being a secretary be a negative?  When did the noble profession of assisting become a badge of shame; some sort of weakness or incompetence on the part of the person using the assistant and some sort of sub-human, subservient position to hold as the assistant?

I’m not certain, but I believe it coincided about the same time that the majority of the population started typing with more than four fingers.  No, I’m not kidding.  Once peeps could type, I guess they figured they had no need for an assistant and tech purveyors rolled with it.

Again, not trying to point out the obvious here, but having the skill to type relatively fast does not mean you can or should be spending the majority of your time behind a keyboard performing administrative/secretarial functions.

So let me take a moment here and set the record straight. I am a legal and virtual assistant. No – I’m not a paralegal (although my experience dictates I could call myself that).  I prefer assistant – I’m a damn good legal secretary in web space; a virtual assistant; a digital office manager.

I say it loud and proud:  I assist people. Mostly attorneys (call me crazy!). I’m so dang good at it, in fact, I assist from webspace and NEVER MISS A BEAT… really, really (just ask my clients…) ;)

By the way, how many “successful” people do you know who do NOT have a live, thinking and without a doubt human assistant?  Presidents, celebrities, doctors, lawyers … about the only peeps who don’t have assistants are the ones who could use them the most – mom’s!

Funny thing is, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that technically, using my service was putting an assistant … a live, capable and pleasant “person” looking forward to completing your assignments at the end of any telephone – and if your telephone fits in your pocket…

The tech I have in place allows any client to access their workflow by using a toll free telephone number or securely through the internet. What am I referring to?  The tech I use to service 175+ attorneys on and through the net.  I call it “digital workflow technology” or “the System” but it’s creator (Sten Tel, Inc.) calls it an ASP (and it holds 2 patents).

The System is what I use in conjunction with my growing team of Digital Assistants – all just thrilled to be able to provide the top notch quality  services they did “in house” – only to the clients of LegalTypist, virtually.

So, if you’re an attorney who is not ashamed to have and use an assistant;  prefer one who is really smart and dedicated; and you prefer secure, yet accessible and easy to use technology – consider LegalTypist for your assisting needs.

If you’re not an attorney or you don’t wish to use a web based assistant, but still want the tech – consider calling me personally.  It’s a brand new option: one low monthly fee and you get access to state of the art technology that is as easy to use as dialing a toll free telephone number for you and as easy as logging in for your assistant (virtual or not).

A week or so ago I was tweeting with some peeps about how I developed a chart of chores when I first started LegalTypist.

Back then, I was the mother of two children under age 5, in the middle of an on going whole house renovation, with a fledgling business.  Let’s just say, I needed to get everything organized, including my cleaning.

I promised to share.

Here it is:

and you can download the pdf here.

A tips re: cleaning efficiently:

1. I use only three products:   (a) Fantastic; (b) Windex; and (c) bleach.  Fantastic on counters, cabinets and anything plastic/fiberglass (won’t hurt these surfaces).  I use Windex on items that need to be shiny – mirrors, stove top, windows; and I use bleach for sparkly sinks and toilet bowls.
2. I keep separate bottles of these items upstairs, under the bathroom sink – as well as a roll of paper towels and a hand scrubby brush (much easier to clean the tub).
3. Make your bed when you first get up (or you won’t bother) and make sure your kitchen sink is empty before you go to bed. It’s a psychological thing for me – getting into a made bed just makes it that much more inviting and not waking up with dishes and feeling like I’m behind before I even get started.
4. Nuke your kitchen sponge every night before you go to bed.  Rinse it first, then pop in microwave for a minute or two (will be hot!).  This is not scientific, but it does make me feel better about using a sponge which apparently has the most active germs of any surface in your home (recently confirmed by MythBusters).
5. Do little things all the time – such as a general pick up of the living room as you walk through or quick swipe of the bathroom right after you use it – each takes less than 5 minutes of concentrated effort.  Two or three of these five minute efforts each day has a massive overall effect on the cleanliness of your home.