Saturday, December 9, 2006

A New Tool For My ADD?

I just saw a commercial for this on television. Caution: it actually shows you the annoying commercial. It actually reminded me of some discussion about Direct Marketing Ads over at Dr. Anonymous' blog, granted they were about selling pharmaceuticals. This is for some "must have" gadget that will make your life so much more manageable.

I always wonder about these ads. I mean, if the product is so great(!) why isn't it sold in stores, in catalogues, all over the free world? Well, I did find it on the internet but well...look what else you can find on the internet.

Hey, you found me right?

But back on point. They said in the commerical that "other" voice recorders (aka microcassette etc...) were *flash flash* more expensive! But this product was so much cheaper, smaller, handier and you get 2-for-the-price-of 1! Ah, there's the hook.

I have a microcassette recorder and I used to try and carry it around whenever I got a great "writing idea" when I used to write (and coincidentally be hypomanic.) But I more often than not forgot to to bring it with me wherever I went. That was the ADD rearing it's head.

This new doodad has a keychain attachment, however. But when you have ADD there's the issue of remembering where exactly you put your keys... Didn't someone come out with something where you could whistle if you lost your keys and that gadget would emit a sound so you could find them...?

Yes! Apparently no longer available through Amazon.com (people in the US aren't losing their keys anymore?) but here's a company in the UK that apparently still has a model to offer: Maplin Electronics.

But by this time, even if you don't have any cutesy personal key tags/trinkets to identify your set, your keychain is going to be getting pretty heavy. Will it still fit into your pocket? And I still have some questions that remain unanswered about that little "reminder thingie." I mean, what's it's capacity? I forget a lot of things in the span of one day. I mean A LOT. How many messages can I record for myself? What's sort of memory is on that thing? Can I get it upgraded? And who will remind me that I need to check my reminders? Does it have a flashing light or a beep? Ooh, a beep would be kind of annoying--probably to all parties involved with the amount of messages I'd need to record.

I guess if I want to scrap adding the extra 5lbs. to my frame, I can always go for the Hipster PDA. But really, I've never been that crafty and it just seems to be too much work. I've already had way too many bad experiences with Post-It notes tacked all over the place. They inevitably end up not being sticky enough and fall off their intended surfaces and then, my reminder is lost into an abyss forever. Paper doesn't seem to work all that well for me. And eternally, there's always the chance that I'd forget to bring my Hipster PDA (like my keys or my microcassette recorder--and just about everything else I use every day) with me wherever I went.

I don't think there's a product out there that can really help me. Certainly not one I'd pay for.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I deal with this sort of this by cultivating my habits. For example, I carry a backpack, and that pack contains almost all my "usual stuff", from spare doses of medication to my checkbook, to whatever books I'm reading. I've been using backpacks so long that taking it with me, and retrieving it when I leave anywhere, is automatic. If I ever need to, I can move everything into a valise or somesuch, and use the same habits.

Similarly, keys, wallet, and pocketknife go in my pants pockets, so I always know where they are. (Even if I'm not wearing the pants at the moment, I can at least find them!) (An aside: I use a folding "leather" keyholder instead of a keyring, because my keys kept cutting holes in my pockets.)

For similar reasons, I always lock my apartment door when I leave it, even briefly -- the habit is so ingrained that even if I don't remember locking the door, I can be pretty sure that I did, and it also makes double-sure that I have my keys.

A carefully chosen collection of such habits can take a lot of detail off your conscious mind!

Patient Anonymous said...

Hi david, thanks for stopping by. Yes, I've learned some "coping strategies" as well. "A place for every thing and every thing in it's place?"

I try to keep all of my "essentials" in an exact place when not in use (keys, wallet, cell phone, iPod etc...) and then I know where to find them for use the next day. I too have a trusty backpack for hauling around day to day needs. I'm not a "purse" kind of gal so yes, anything that doesn't go into a pocket gets dumped there.

But I do have one thing to say (in amazement.)

You can read?!

Wow...I haven't be able to pick up a book and successfully get through it in a very long time.

*sigh*