My column this week focused on my new toy, a Palm Centro I snapped up last Saturday at the local AT&T store. Ohhhhh…I’m sooo in love with this gadget. Truly, madly, deeply in love with it. Really. I have it near my bed every night (that is, when it’s not charging). I understand the whole Crackberry addiction. It’s very disturbing, yet terribly exciting at the same time.

Those of you who have smartphones, you know what I’m talkin’ about.

I’ll admit, I feared that I would have buyer’s remorse, although I did mitigate that somewhat by buying the cheapest Palm on the market, a $50 ivory beauty (after $100 mail-in rebate that I hope to receive before my daughter graduates from college). I wondered if I would suffer from severe withdrawal symptoms upon surrendering my trusty-but-unwieldy day planner and all the receipts and random slips of paper crammed into its many pockets. Who would I be without the planner? If I didn’t lug around a massive purse/suitcase, would I still feel secure in my identity as a fashionista/professional writer/businessperson?

Sigh. As it turned out, I had nothing to fear. It was love at first touch.

I don’t miss the planner at all. At. All. Nuh-uh. Ciao, Franklin Covey. I’ve no clue why I clung to you for so long. You leave a legacy of sore shoulders and too much paper clutter.

I’ve got million to-do lists all nicely organized, everything from grocery lists to Target lists to my long-term goal list to a list of possible book titles. (No, many of those titles haven’t a shred of a story attached to them, but I liked the sound of the title, so there.) I have my calendar, a daily to-do list, great Web access, and yes, a Messenger service that I rarely use because my plan — while it includes unlimited Web browsing — charges by the text (both sent and received). It’s so small — about 4″x2″ — and while slightly heavier than my old Motorola flip phone at 4.2 oz, it more than makes up for its additional weight by eliminating the need for the brick of a day planner. I’ve actually switched to using my vintage Fendi satchel, a nice, compact purse that forces me to streamline my daily baggage and for which my back is sooooo very grateful.

Do I recommend a smartphone? Abso-bloomin’-lutely, folks. What the hell are you waiting for? I juggle several writing projects, a major life project I’ll be writing more about in the coming months, a growing business, and a small-but-busy household of two professionals. I’m still working on the whole Say-No idea (I hear it goes a long way towards alleviating much of the stress modern women often feel because of too many commitments), but for now the Centro gives me some feeling of control over my life. Some.