Sandy makes sure my library books are never overdue
My kids love getting books from the library. But I don't love having to remember when the books are due back. That's why I hired Sandy to remember for me.
Sandy is a virtual assistant. No, not a real person that works remotely outside of my office. I mean truly virtual. Sandy only exists in cyberspace.
You can find Sandy at www.iwantsandy.com. And I think you will find her rates quite reasonable. Especially since she's free.
How Sandy works
Here's how it works. After you register for a free account with Sandy, you get a unique email address that only works for you. Simply add that email address to your email address book and you're ready to go.
Going back to my library book example, now when I borrow books from the library, I send an email to Sandy asking her to remind me a couple days before my books are due back to the library. My email looks something like this:
Remind me 10/8/08 at 7:00 a.m. Return books to the library @todo
When Sandy receives this email she will automatically schedule a reminder back to me based on the date and time I mentioned in my email, in this case on October 8 at 7:00 a.m. The reminder she will send me will say "Return books to the library." I can choose to have this reminder sent via email, text message or even on Twitter.
Sandy can even manage your to-do list
The @todo at the end of my email to Sandy tells Sandy to turn this reminder into a to-do item on my to-do list. That way if I ignore the first reminder, I'll get another reminder the next day telling me that "Return books to the library" is an overdue task on my to-do list.
I hope Sandy never realizes how valuable she is to me. She might ask for a raise.
10 comments for this blog post so far...
September 29, 2008 at 3:52 pm
moosh in indy.
Forwarding Sandy to my husband. They’ll be a good match.
Plus she looks like a ScoobyDoo character.
September 29, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Patric Welch
@Moosh Jinkies! You’re right!
September 29, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Michelle Hartz
I LOVE Sandy!
I’ve been using Sandy at work and at home for months. I had the Sandy iGoogle widget on my home page until it stopped working, and now I just have my page as the widget until they get it fixed.
You can also call in tasks to Sandy using Jott. Although soon (if not already), they’ll turn that into a paid service. But, I’ve found a way to get around that. I have Twitter set up with Sandy, and I have Twitter set up with Jott. Jotting to Twitter is free. So I Jott a direct message to Sandy via Twitter.
Oh my dear Sandy, let’s run away to Massachusetts and get married!
September 29, 2008 at 10:00 pm
Stephen James
Does your library not email you three days before and on the day your books are due? The Indy-Marion County Library does.
I’m a fan of Remember the Milk when my ToDo list gets over five items. Does Sandy do contextual commands like “in 2 days” or “next Monday?”
September 29, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Patric Welch
@Stephen One of the libraries near me emails reminders the other doesn’t. Either way, I get an extra degree of comfort knowing I have my own reminder especially if I am heading out of town for a weekend.
And yes, Sandy can handle contextual commands as you mentioned. I use them frequently.
September 30, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Jon D. Speer
Do you think there is a way to integrate Sandy into library systems? It would be awesome if Sandy could remind me automatically based on when the librarian checks out my book.
October 01, 2008 at 12:26 am
Patric Welch
@Jon Some libraries already do this, although not with Sandy. I could see that being pretty cool though. Telling your librarian, “can you have Sandy remind me when this book is due?”
October 01, 2008 at 9:27 am
Erik Deckers
So how is this different from sending myself an email but delaying the send date until the desired time ( a feature of Outllok)? Or using my task list>?
October 01, 2008 at 9:35 am
Michelle Hartz
Sandy will keep sending you the message until you tell her it’s done.
Personally, I prefer to use the website, then I can check off the to-dos. And it’s very similar to Outlook’s task list, except that I can access Sandy from anywhere, including my home and work computer, or have her send my list to my cell phone at my request.
October 01, 2008 at 9:41 am
Patric Welch
@Erik Michelle beat me to the punch. The big difference between what you described and how I use Sandy is that Sandy can deliver more than just email reminders. With my busy schedule these days, I prefer to get reminders BOTH as email and SMS messages on my cell phone.
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