REVIEW: Sandy (IWantSandy.com)

I’ve been an obsessive planner-user for as long as I can remember. I think it started in grade school as a way to remember all the homework I had, because I had a nasty habit of showing up to school having forgotten to do half of the day’s homework. (Gads, aren’t you glad you don’t have homework anymore?) Every year I got a new planner, until I wised up and bought a nice outer cover with replaceable sheets inside. That way I wouldn’t have to throw the whole thing away, I could simply recycle last year’s to-dos and fill ‘er up with this year’s blank calendar.

Even with this new system, I realized that it was still a lot of paper to go through every year. So I began seeking out electronic solutions that would be easier on the environment. As it turns out, I’m one of those annoying people that has a really hard time reading things on the screen for extended periods of time, preferring a print-out over an RGB screen. This is especially ironic since, as a blogger and web designer, I spend most of my working hours staring at a screen. And I don’t like to print things out just for legibility’s sake, because that’s a total waste.

But try as I might, I just couldn’t nail down the perfect planner replacement. Both gadgets and applications were failing me; I gave Ted’s old Palm a try back when we were first married, and I hated – HATED – it. So I switched to writing everything in my iCal, Apple’s great calendar program, but the problem with that was that I couldn’t use it or check it when away from my computer. The closest I’ve come to finding a good solution is my Blackberry. It goes everywhere with me, I can check it anytime, and I can set reminders. The problem, though, is that I don’t really like it. The applications suck, my model’s keypad is hard for me to use, and worst of all, my phone service stinks to high heavens. I’m dreaming of getting an iPhone this year for so many reasons, which will hopefully solve some of these problems, but there’s still one basic issue that any little gadget won’t fix: I forget to set reminders. Can’t someone just do that for me?

Enter Sandy. I first heard about Sandy on Lifehacker, which gave the app a great review. I haven’t figured it all out yet, but apparently you can email stuff to your Sandy account and it will organize it all for you, including sending you reminders automatically. I think that Sandy has more features than I would use, because I still track the majority of my projects on an old-fashioned white board in my office, but I’m intrigued by this web-based solution. Some people are saying that it’s like having a personal assistant, but I think that’s creepy. I prefer to think of Sandy as my personal Johnny 5, which gives me ample opportunity throughout the day to say with enthusiasm, “Johnny 5 is still alive!”

You can use Sandy to keep track of to-dos tagged by frequency (daily, weekly, etc.), contacts, and appointments. It also lets you keep lists and notes, which could be dangerously time-consuming for a list junkie like me. I still have to see how well Sandy works with my Blackberry; that could be a help or a hurdle, depending on how it goes. And, ultimately, I will still have to remember to send Sandy emails about all the stuff it has to remember, which I may forget to do. No matter how good an application is, there’s always the capacity for user error.

Still, I like the idea of Sandy. It’s web-based, so you can use it from anywhere, and it’s also email-based, so you can use it from your computer or your smart phone. And it solves the paper waste problem entirely; no print-outs required. I’ll let you guys know how my run with Sandy works out in a week or two. You know, if I can remember.