A free spirit and why I do what I do

Many people email in and ask why do I travel so much, do I have a job, where do I get my inspiration from to do what I do etc etc. I probably get at least one or two questions on these lines a day and I wanted to fill you in with some thoughts. 10 years ago I was the most un-organized kid on the block, I forgot dates, always remembered names whilst at the same time my top priority was footbal and boxing. My father, his father, my great grand father were all Irish boxers and I to carried on with the tradition, these were my priorities and then I sort of got the travel bug probably at the same time I git the whole PDA bug. I had a Psion Series 3 and for a while it came with me on my travels. I would use the Psion as a travel journal, it was a clamshell and I would write notes along the way. The first place I visited was Germany, not sure why, but I then went on to Cyprus, Israel, Egypt, Malta and Iceland, yes a different combination, I loved the whole travel thing.

The Psion came with and then in 1996 I was probably only 17 or 18 at the time I was lucky to be given the opportunity to go to New York. It was the first time I had been, I had a Psion Series 3 and I wanted the Psion Sienna and heard that I could get low cost electrics in and around the Times Square area. When I got to New York I was amazed at not just the speed and pace of the city but the people. I love New York people, because I am over there so often, many of friends and indeed my best friend live in the city. From then, even though sports was up there, travel was my big priority and love and I wanted my PDA's to be certainly amongst all of that. I got my Psion Sienna and yes I got it from a dodgy electrical store in Times Square, it was not until a year or two later that I moved onto Palm OS devices and I even though I purchased my first Palm in Dublin, Ireland, I will always associate Palm devices with New York. In the August of 1999 with my Palm 3x in hand both myself and a friend of mine, Andrew Wolstenholme, decided one evening that we wanted to experiment setting up a webpage. What would we write about? Well we enjoyed sports, New York, but the one enthusiastic passion and we were totally wrapped up on was these small little handheld computers called Palm Pilot's and yes that is how and why we set up PA. It was a hot summer evening and we were sat on the roof top of the apt in White Street, downtown New York City. We spent three to four hours putting what was the worst page on the internet together about how I used, and Andrew Wolstenholme used our Palm device that day. Lines liked "I switched on my Palm device, wrote a quick memo blah blah" and this continued daily and that my friend is how Palm Addict's was born, 7 years ago. Yes 7 years was a long time ago.

Anyway and needless to say travel and my Palm / PDA hobby became priorities. Yes my job is important and I am very lucky because I am my own boss, have a comfortable lifestyle, get to travel when and how often I want and do the things that I want to do. But there is not a day when I do not realize how lucky I am. From that unorganized street kid from 10 years ago to a organized or somewhat organized person thanks to my love of using a Palm device I can honestly say that in my life I have never been happier. I am one of those people where I think, you know what? Life is too short to worry. Yes Palm Addict is a hobby alongside all the other websites and PR projects that I work on as part of my job but it's not everything..enjoying my life is my priority. You meet some wonderful people working on PA through writers, readers, advertisers etc and they become friends who you have a laugh with on a daily basis etc. The likes of Peter Arts, Jennifer C, Jan Galbraith, Lindsey, Peter Heaton, etc etc, webmasters from other sites who you speak to on a regular basis, Peter R, Bob and Alex, the boys from one of my favorite sites MobileRead etc, I could go on and on. People on the web are a nice bunch, you get the odd remark, such as watch your spelling, etc. One thing I say to myself is that I am a 20 something with dyslexia that has become successful and happy, I am certainly not going to change anyway I put together Palm Addict let alone change my spelling or anything else, people who take the time to pull me up on any issue about PA, well at the end of the day I am very happy with the site and it looks like the readers are too taking into account site traffic.

The one thing I learnt some time ago was not to take life so seriously and yes it's very easy for me to say that because everyone goes through their own traumas, grief, happiness and life but for me, I have suffered my fair share of those emotions, but I never let things get to me, I am as many people will have met me will know I am a person with a positive outlook, my Treo device helps me there, it allows me to organize my life and I know what is a priority and what is not. So goodness knows what the point of this editorial was, oh yes, it was to answer the emails I get asking why I do what I do and that's because I don't let things get to me, I'm a positive person and the Palm devices have had a positive impact on my life, I call myself a free spirit because that's what I am.

Anyway, I hope that you are all well and thanks for being with Palm Addict these last 7 years. I have something real special lined up as we get nearer to our birthday. I sort of gave hints at the PA meet ups to a couple of people 2 weeks ago, so stay tuned just fine tuning.