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I often hear that people have problems with their BlackBerry smartphones, but find that these are often solved with a battery pull. Unfortunately, taking the battery out and then replacing it is fiddly! A free app that I use to keep my BlackBerry in good working order is called QuickPull, and it can be found in BlackBerry App World. It performs a battery pull without removing the battery, and it has the advantage of being able to schedule a battery pull – so I’ve set it for the middle of the night to get a freshly rebooted BlackBerry every morning. I suspect that all smartphones benefit from regular rebooting, and there’s probably apps for them as well.

Pink Floyd fans will immediately recognise the title of this post as a lyric from The Wall. Writing poetry can sometimes be thought of as rather a dark art, even by those who regularly write prose. Although I enjoy writing, it’s not an area I’ve moved into – even though I’ve wanted to. I love reading poetry, appreciating the well-chosen turn of phrase that paints a picture that sends the mind into the wonderful world of the imagination. Come to think of it, isn’t that what all art seeks to do? The creators of music, paintings, sculptures (and the like) all seek to evoke responses in the mind and of the imagination!

Twitter (with its limit of 140 characters) lends itself to a genre of poetry identified by the hashtag #micropoetry – and today I was inspired by someone I follow on Twitter (whose poetry I find fascinating) to have a go. They are written quickly and can be composed anywhere – my first attempt was in the shower this morning:

The warm embrace of the water/the tingle of the shower gel/ready to face the day.

The others were composed while I was out and about, and posted online from my BlackBerry. Here they are (slight changes have been made so they scan better), do let me know what you think. You can use or reproduce them in the terms of my Creative Commons licence. Thanks.

Music blaring/lights flashing/shoppers rushing/tills ringing/people shouting/Jesus hiding.

Reindeer in a straw-filled pen/Skaters in an open rink/Salvation brass in a ring/…it must be Christmas!

Flowerbed of rubbish/discarded cardboard coffee cup/cigarette end in compost/acutely-angled ale can/symptomatic

Frozen penguins/hog roast/gourmet liquorice/mulled wine/Gregg’s pasty/random verse

xfactor/strictly/celebrity/bigbrother/ephemeral

Like so many people, I woke up this morning to the news that Osama bin Laden had been killed. Interestingly, in this age of social media, I read about it on my BlackBerry while checking Facebook and Twitter. While everyone had been thinking he was hiding in a cave in Afghanistan, he was actually found living in luxury in Pakistan! This, of course, raises quite a lot of political questions. One thing that I found unsettling was the celebratory scenes in America, celebrating his death in the streets is not going to further the cause of peace. But my main reason for this post is to highlight an excellent and well-balanced press release by the Muslim Council of Britain entitled ‘Now Let the Healing Begin’.

Farooq Murad, the Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, made the following statement on the reported death of Osama bin Laden:

“Few will mourn the reported death of Osama bin Laden, least of all Muslims. Many Muslims will reflect on the ten years that have passed in which our faith and our community have been seen through the prism of terrorism and security. The Muslim Council of Britain has consistently stood firm against terrorism and violence, and will continue to do so. His extremism has been responsible for the deaths of many people, including many Muslims around the world. The actions of his movement which have no basis in the teachings of Islam have led to the pursuit of unjust wars and untold suffering.

Today our thoughts must be with the families of all those who suffered in the terrorist attacks around the world as well as of thousands of innocent lives lost in the wars against terrorism. It is unfortunate that his assassination has deprived them of the opportunity to see him brought to justice in the court of law.

Al-Qaeda’s ability to sow discord and mistrust between Muslims and others has caused untold damage. We must restore our belief in human dignity and peace by ensuring that we stand firm against all forms of hatred, injustices and violence.”

Using a computer to organize notes is easy today because of the plethora of notetaking software with the ability to tag and search the material. One such everyday application that I use is Evernote. I have the software installed on my computer, the app on my BlackBerry, and all the information is synchronized with the cloud.

But how do you apply the same concept to an analogue notebook? At first it seems impossible, but this is how I do it! I use hyperlinks. To help you understand this, if you click on the word hyperlinks it takes you to a page that explains what they are. What I do in my Moleskine notebooks is to number the right-hand pages (no need to number left-hand pages), and then place written hyperlinks at the bottom of the right-hand page with the topics on that two-page spread. For example, <journal> <ideas> and then underneath each I place two numbers – the first refers to the page number of the previous hyperlink of the same name, the second referring to the page number of the next hyperlink of the same name. In this way you can easily move forwards and backwards. I also place a very small index at the back.

When a two-page spread is complete, I scan it into Evernote and circle the page number to show it’s been done. The information is now available electronically, and I have the best of both worlds! Analogue and digital!

For me, one of the joys of life is writing in a Moleskine notebook with a favourite pen or pencil! Don’t get me wrong, I love technology and I wouldn’t be without my BlackBerry – but, in an increasingly digital world, there’s something special about a quality analogue notebook and the tactile experience of writing on its pages. Indeed, there’s a place for both. So I’m not easily separated from either my Moleskine or BlackBerry – and I’ve just managed to buy an 18 month Moleskine diary (starting in July 2010) at a reduced price! I’ve already started to use the ‘wasted’ pages for making notes on a book I’m reading at the moment.

So, what do I use my Moleskine for? As a journal, for recording thoughts and feelings, making notes in an art gallery, drawing sketches, jotting down quotes, holiday and photographic notes, remembering ideas, being creative … the list could go on! There are simple ways of retrieving the information you need, and they become increasingly special to you as the years go by. For a way of organizing your notebook click here!