You may have to add other fields for your particular type of business. It's easy to add a new field as required at a later time. At the end of every month you'll upload this file to your PC and import the data into a Microsoft Access database that performs all of the billing calculations such as subtracting the END from the START time and multiplying by the RATE. Some Palm OS database programs will let you perform these calculations in the Palm handheld itself.

Shared travel expenses
Here's that shared expense trip I mentioned at the beginning of this article. Every time someone lays out some cash, enter the amount in his named field. In this case BOB bought you all lunch for $45.00, Albert spent nothing, and Jake left the tip. Leave ALBERT's field blank. Most database programs will total the amounts in each numeric field, so you'll know at any time whose turn it is to buy. At the end of the trip you'll know how much each of you spent, and you can settle the account quite easily. Make the DATE and TIME fields default to the current date and time when you create a new record. The TYPE field is a pull-down list that has such items as breakfast, car rental, dinner, entertainment, car, hotel, lunch, parking, snack, taxi, tips, and tolls. PMT can be a pull-down list with AmEx, Cash, MC, prepaid, and Visa.

Conclusion
Hopefully these sample databases have given you ideas of what you can do with a general-purpose database program. Consider keeping anything you would normally put in lists or on index cards on your Palm handheld instead. These things will be backed up on your PC, and you can convert them on your PC to other formats for printing or merging. The possibilities are endless.

Jake Jacobs is a retired electrical engineer and part-time flight instructor who has used a Palm handheld since 1997 and enjoys writing in his spare time.