Here’s an idea our family is trying this summer. Hopefully it will help us with scheduling and hopefully we will continue after the summer. We are setting up Google Calendars and sharing them so that you view all in one combined view. There are many other options for online calendars, like CalendarHub or 30 Boxes. But we all have GMail accounts, so the choice was easy. It’s not like this is a new idea. But we think the time has come to have one place we can check online for the family plans, trips, sports camps, times Dad will be staying out of town for work and Norman, OK events we want to attend.

The setup was simple (as are most things Google) so we will see how it goes. I also think it gives my 6th grade son a little training in a life skill. No matter what career he has, I can’t imagine that it won’t involve keeping a calendar on a computer, a hand device or perhaps a holographic display. And, of course, it is my favorite price – free.

The ironic thing is that earlier this week I was promoting Erik Mazzone’s Law Practice Matters blog and when I visited his blog I noticed that his latest post was this one saying that you must only have one calendar. Well, I’m not saying he is wrong. Maybe this is just the exception to the rule. There will certainly be some duplicate entry required with a few family matters that have to go on the office calendar because they impact it. But I like the idea of keeping business things on the "work" calendar and when I get contacted with some personal invitation I can have the family calendar available in seconds. It beats the present system, which is bothering my spouse with an inquiry.