Some time ago, we discussed using the “Create Quick Event” feature. Depending on your workflow, though, it may be faster for you to use a bit of the same technology to enter events by double-clicking on a day instead. This can be especially handy if you use Month View most of the time.
Here's how it works. Double-click on a date to start a new event…
…and then type in both the event title and the time it's going to occur.
Hit Return, and voilà! Calendar will translate what you typed and put the event at the time you indicated.
Be aware, though, that if you have an event that happens at an odd time (9 p.m., say), you'll need to type in “a.m.” or “p.m.” to clarify what you mean. Calendar assumes “meeting at 9” means the morning, not the evening.
Calendar can do some other fancy footwork with event titles, too. If you type in “breakfast” for an event and press Return, for example, it'll put the event at 9 a.m. automatically. Same goes for “lunch” (which gets put at noon) and “dinner” (8 p.m.), and even stuff like “morning.”
Boy, Calendar is smart! Smarter than I am, even. After all, I had breakfast today at 11 a.m., not 9 a.m. If only my Mac could actually make food for me at a reasonable hour. I look forward to the future for that.