2026, Fantasy, Mysteries, Technology, TV

Keeping Track

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I didn’t have a big to-do list yesterday.  Normally when this occurs, I fill in with other little tasks around the house or I plant myself in my studio but for some reason sitting on the sofa and watching tv.  Three episodes of Perry Mason and then a handful of Columbo.

I’ve seen them all repeatedly.  I know who the murderer is in every Perry Mason and, of course, you know who the murderer is on Columbo from the get-go.  Since I don’t have to spend any mental energy on figuring out the mystery, I can while away the time looking at small details and wondering at how the world has changed.

Yesterday what stood out the most was that no matter where Perry or Columbo happen to be, somebody can always get ahold of them.  Perry is interviewing a suspect; the phone rings and it’s for him.  Columbo is at his dog’s obedience academy; the phone rings and it’s for him.  It happened all the time.

Now Perry had Della to call him however the calls weren’t always from her and quite a bit of the time she was with him.  Was there a whiteboard with all of Perry’s stops left in his outer office?  For many years, there was Gertie who took calls.  Maybe she was letting folks know where Perry was?

But Columbo?  He was always portrayed as such a loose cannon – if there was some administrative assistant somewhere back at headquarters, it was a highly kept secret.  Did he really leave the phone number of the dog obedience academy with someone somewhere?

It made me think about the scene in Woody Allen’s Play It Again Sam in which Diane Keaton and Tony Roberts are leaving Woody’s apartment:

Dick:
I’ll be at 362-9296 for a while; then I’ll be at 648-0024 for about fifteen minutes; then I’ll be at 752-0420; and then I’ll be home, at 621-4598. Yeah, right George, bye-bye.

Linda:
There’s a phone booth on the corner. You want me to run downstairs and get the number? You’ll be passing it.

Obviously these days detectives and lawyers are never without their cell phones, so the whiteboards with everyone’s every move and destination are not longer necessary.  Of course, now that I think about it – they probably hadn’t been invented yet?

Do you have a whiteboard?  Whiteboard equivalent?  What do you use it for?

18 thoughts on “Keeping Track”

  2. I have a 10” x 12” metal piece on my desk. I use magnets to attach key details and reminders. I have a list of my meds and when I take them in a strip down one side. So far I don’t need it, but just in case. I have a list of my appointments on it. Otherwise it’s a variety of things. I also have a program which lists tasks for each day and ones I can add. Each day it comes up with the basic list and ones I have added for this day.
    Clyde

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    1. Jennywren
      My metal “thing” is called a refrigerator! I use magnets to hold a calendar, lists of appts & concerts, emergency numbers, and nutrition info for my plant based diet. I do use a white board for garden check or watering assignments (I am head of volunteers for our 3 garden areas). Word press not accepting my password so will see if this posts

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  3. i remember the day i got my blackberry phone and flew to atlanta for a meeting where someone said oh you got a crackberry… it will take over your life. i thought it over and returned the blackberry for a flip phone. it didnt work. the apple got me shortly thereafter. it does take over your life. but in a good way. like a wife.
    i still like a franklin planner to keep track of stuff but the phone is best tool ever. i saw apple signed with google to help sirri deal with all her stuff. im glad she was a good intro to the modern era but has been falling short lately. thats my ohone not my wife.
    wife turns 65 today.
    we laughed when she reffered to liza minelli as young…its all relative isnt it
    i remember office whiteboards. they determined direction to be proclaimed and charted progress. might be time to plug it back in. stuff today doesnt get checked off the list with the same feel of accomplishment

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    1. I’m now at the point where my most up-to-date calendar is my phone. But for my little day-to-day to do list, I still like to write it down on a pad of paper. This way I get to use all of my various colored pens and pencils and then I get to highlight the finished items with all of my various rainbow markers at the end of the day. Very satisfying.

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  5. Columbo watchers, for a change of pace I highly recommend, Watch It For Days.
    The lady has the first 3 seasons completed. She looks at each episode for the details. Actor’s names, locations, car models, props, music, writers…
    All done with a wry, Midwestern ( she lives in Iowa) humor.

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  6. I have a pocket calendar, and then an engagement planner (week at a glance) that I use at home as a diary. I was keeping it on the table where we eat (the one inherited from PJ and Hans), but have just realized that I consult the calendar way too often. Interferes with eating, etc., so have moved it to a nearby surface.

    I started entering appts. into my iPad to see if I could learn to use that, but haven’t kept it up. Steep learning curve…

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  8. OT: I know it will be cold on Saturday, but there’s a fun opera movie from the Met in HD playing.

    Due to popular demand, THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY.
    Recorded live earlier this season, will be presented in select cinemas. In this exhilarating new adaptation of Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, two Jewish cousins invent an anti-fascist superhero and launch their own comic-book series, hoping to recruit America into the fight against Nazism.

    https://www.metopera.org/season/in-cinemas/2025-26-season/the-amazing-adventures-of-kavalier–clay/

    Usually there’s another showing on Wednesday evening, but check your local theater.

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  9. I often recommended that parents of kids with ADHD get white boards they could write down things that the kids had to do. For example, if you tell a kid with ADHD to clean their room, they often don’t know the steps involved what to do first, etc, and “clean your room” is a meaningless concept. A white board with the steps helps a lot.

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  10. I still use an old-fashioned notebook-style calendar most of the time. I’ve tried to use the phone calendar, but I just don’t stick with it. I receive wall and booklet calendars from non-profits in the fall each year. One of these is just the perfect size to slip into a large purse or tote, and that’s my calendar for this year. I hope they send me another one that size next year. It’s perfect. I used to use Hallmark “datebooks.” They were small and easily portable too.

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  11. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    When I was working I had a huge whiteboard that tracked groups, members, therapists, and where the groups were in the curriculum we taught. It kept us organized. But now in retirement, I do not have a whiteboard. I do keep post it notes with a list, though. That seems to be enough.

    I notice in mysteries and thrillers now, the action usually can only move along by getting rid of the cellphone, leaving the protagonist vulnerable, via various mechanisms:

    1. Out of power
    2. Forgot it
    3. Lost it
    4. The bad guy takes possession of the phone
    5. Got frustrated with the phone and destroys it.

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  12. I remember that era before cell phones – puzzling out how someone might reach you when you’re going to be out and about.

    I find it interesting, too, how you can tell right away in a movie or book what era it takes place in, by whether or not there are cell phones…

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