The Shadow-gloom and Weight of the Sacred

A while back I wrote about using Evernote as opposed to Zotero. This has been the most popular post on my blog, accumulating two hits every other month. Or something like that. Most of the last five months, I've been using the iPad for blogging and other computer stuff. For the most part, it's been a really enjoyable experience. The iPad is great for retrieving information, but if you create information, it's pretty limited. I like to blog and write short stories, screenplays and occasionally attempt a novel. The iPad isn't great for this type of computing.

I originally bought the iPad because my Macbook wasn't working any longer and the iPad is half the price of a new Macbook (of course, once you purchase the Apple care policy, protective case and keyboard, it's only slightly cheaper). I started messing around with my Macbook a couple of weeks ago, removed the DVD rom and now it runs well enough (as long as I leave it on the table, which isn't bad but, I mean, it is a laptop).

In my previous post about Zotero and Evernote, I wrote about how I collect research using Zotero and how I was really accustomed to using it and all that jazz. I was actually pretty upset at the time that I wouldn't be able to use Zotero on the iPad, but since that time I've really grown attached to Evernote and, even though my Macbook is up and (kind of) running, I have no intention of ever returning to Zotero. For my purposes, Evernote is just better. The big advantage to Zotero is the way is collects bibliographic information, which you can then export to a word processor. But, even if I were in school, writing papers and what not, I probably wouldn't take advantage of that feature simply because I'm used to collecting, writing and formatting the bibliographic information of my sources.

I'm not in school though. I just read and collect information for fun and the occasional blog. Here are a couple of things I like about Evernote:

1. Evernote works across a variety of platforms (Macbook, iPad, etc.) but you don't have to download their program to your computer, you may access your account through the Evernote website. The options are good.
   
   
2. I'm a bit of a theology nerd, so I like to write notes in my Bible--sometimes, these notes are actually quotations from theologians and biblical scholars. I hate plagiarists, so I like to write the sources to my notes, along with the actual notes, in my Bible. There isn't much space in the margins of a Bible, so it's a tight fit. I can use Olive Tree's iPad App and all the notes I type are saved in Evernote. I like this because I don't have set up a new account. You can set up an account with Olive Tree and save notes there, but I already have an Evernote account. I hate having so many usernames and passwords as it is; I'm trying to keep it to a minimum.
   
   
3. I like the accessories, such as this notepad, which I do not own. However, sometime in the future when I have $69 to spend on a notepad, I'm going to get it. I actually do a lot of note taking. I have folders of notes I've scribbled here and there. Thoughts, story ideas. I suppose I could go ahead and scan all those notes into Evernote--when I one day own a scanner--because that's the concept with the notepad: you write notes in this easy-to-carry notepad and then scan your notes directly to Evernote.
4. The Evernote Clipper for Firefox for ease of adding web content to your Evernote account.
   

Anyway, there are several other neat accessories, but I figure four is enough to list.