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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
Bob & Liz <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sun, 22 Apr 2001 08:31:32 -0500
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Hello All,
Years ago B.C. (before computers). I used a system which was very
inexpensive and worked great for keeping track of bee yard hive information.
The system was not my idea but a idea I stole from my doctor. After a visit
to my doctor for my yearly physical and my doctor told me I was in better
health than he was he proceded to record the visit on a tape recorder. I
asked him about the reocrding and he said he then gave the cassete to his
bookkeeper and she recorded to records. He still uses the system today only
now his bookkeeper  puts the information on computer. He still doesn't use a
handheld computer!
So at a garage sale I found a 10 in. long by 2 in. wide cassete recorder.  I
have still got the recorder and still works but has quite a bit of propolis
on it. For tapes I found a lady which sells cassette tapes at flea markets.
She gave me boxes of old cassete tapes which were not popular cassetes. She
was tired of taking these cassetes to flea markets and bringing home without
a sale.
She said she wished she had  a person to give the unpopular tapes to as she
had thrown many boxes in the trash of tapes of unknown and unpopular
artists.  I recorded my bee information over the material on the old
unpopular tapes. On each cassete tape I would place  a piece of tape with
the date and yards.  On the road to each yard I would push in the tape and
listen to the comments I had made the last trip out. On a long drive I might
listen to the whole years comments about the yard.  The reading of a hand
held means standing and reading or entering. Precious bee yard time to a
busy beekeeper. Reading the hand held computer while driving can be
hazardous to your health. I almost had a wreck trying to read and drive. I
have seen several UPS drivers trying to work a handheld and drive the truck.
 Reading your printout from your main computer is still downtime.
Transferring the information to your main computer is a nice feature of a
hand held but do you really want to transfer all but the most important
information?   I no longer use the above system for everyday beekeeping but
would if I was doing bee research.
Sincerely,
Bob Harrison
Odessa, Missouri
PS I and other employees used a hand held for about 7 years. We recorded the
time we started, each break we took and much other useless
information.(along with useful information)   Took about a hour a day to
enter all the information for the company.  The handheld made our job harder
because the same amount of work was expected by the company and simply
wasn't possible.  All downdown time entering information.  Hard to type on
the handheld.  Like typing on a calculater.  One big complaint I had was the
screen was green and the letters black and the hand held was hard to read at
times.  Choose a handheld if possible with a white background with dark
letters. . The handhelds were also always breaking down in those days. These
handhelds cost the company around $2500 a piece back then. The batteries had
to be charged on a special charger. They were top of the line. Sorry for the
long post.

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