Category: post

Author, blogger, and self-described note taking addict Tim Ferriss shares some of his best tips for becoming a note taking Ninja. I myself have been trying to be better about the notes I take and making sure I do so as often as is needed. Therefore, I find much of this very compelling. Here are some of my favorite take away bits:

”Put page numbers on the upper-right of each right-hand page but not on the left (e.g., 1, 2, 3, etc.)… Whenever you complete a page, put the page number in an index on the inside cover (front or back) and a few words to describe the content. If it’s on the left-hand page, just take the prior page and add “.5” to it. Thus, if you flip over page 10, for example, and write on the back, that second page is “15.5” in the index.
I love this idea. Some notes one takes may span half a page, some multiple pages. This is a numbering scheme that can accommodate them all without having to number every single page.
”Not all notepads are created equal… This doesn’t mean that one is better for all things, just that you should match the form factor and durability of a notepad to the content.”
Not to keep being a Levenger pimp but this is one of the reasons I am loving the Circa system. Some notes cry out for a cornell style page while those with sketches may require a grid style. Some may need a letter sized page, others a smaller one. With the Circa, I can mix and match the sizes, rule types (lined, grid, cornell, etc), colors that fit the topic and put them all into the same notebook.
There are many other good take away items in the rest of Tim’s post, well work the read.
_How to Take Notes Like an Alpha Geek _

I know it has been a while again since my last post. What can I say, I am busier than you <smile>. Once again, I give you the roadside attractions I have captured while driving around the intertubes in my big truck…
David Seah takes a turn with the Inka Pen, a highly portable pen that can attach to your keychain. He seems to like it a lot, despite the fact it gets him stopped by theTSA because it looks like it could be part of a bomb makers toolkit.
Looking to lead a “paperless” life? Well, that is impossible but you can reduce, digitize and organize it better. This is the best article/whitepaper I have seen thus far on how one person gets their paper on, and off. It’s 43 Folders so you know it’s legit.
Dustin Wax at Lifehack.org has some neat index card hackery. The main thing is how to make the ever-so-hard-to-find vertically oriented ones. Of course, that is another reason I just buy the Levenger brand.
Along the same lines, my friend Ryan is rocking it again. This time, he is mashing up Field Notes Brand notebooks with Levenger Pocket Briefcases. Anyone who has seen my well battered Field Notes cover will understand how much the speaks to me.
Lifehacker has a good rundown of how to use the nifty new To-Do features Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard) Mail.

Been a very busy day so far and is only getting more so. Therefore, just a quick post for now…
Had the great pleasure of hanging out for a few with Ryan Roossinck from Brassing Adds Character last night. What a treat it was. We spent hours geeking out over his massive collection of Pens, my hefty collection of notebooks and our mutual eclectic music tastes. I honestly think this kid (yes, I am enough his senior to use that term) is my brother from another mother because we have so much in common it is scary.
The highlight for me though was having the chance to play with a ton of different pens, nibs and ink types. Ryan is a real serious pen freak and has many custom nibs and rare models. He is a deep abyss of knowledge when it comes to pens and their histories so it was fascinating to just sit back and listen to each story behind the pens. His writing is even smaller than mine so he is also a fan of very fine nibs making each pen absolutly drool worthy to use. By the time it was all said and done, Imanaged to fill up a nice sized page of test doodles. Good times…
If I have not said it firmly enough before, Ryan’s blog is a fantastic read and there are more great things to come. If you have any fascination at all with analog capture tools, this is a must add to your daily web reads list.

As I have mentioned before, I have been really enjoying a new list management product called TaskPaper which has been in development for a little while now. It is officially released as of today and it is a decidedly simple but stunning effective little app. Not too hard on the wallet either.
What I love about it is that it is basically just an simple interface wrapped around a text file. The features are minimal but effective. It has everything you need and nothing it does not (which seems so rare these days). There are just tasks and projects. Items can have context tags. You can open those contexts and projects in tabs and/or narrow them down with a search. Being that it is basically just a text file, you can easily change the extension and then open it up with any text editor which makes it highly portable.
Larger projects require more levels of detail, so I have not entirely given up on OmniFocus (still in alpha but also very good). I have a couple of “Big P’s” with “Sub P’s” and “Baby P’s” that I still manage there. But for the basics, TaskPaper is just what I need right now.

This past weekend, I was in Chicago for the wedding of a good friend. It has been many years since I was last in Chicago and being there with Princess Bethany was even better. Now, we did not have much time in Chicago proper but there was a nice gap in between the wedding, which was near Irvine Park and the reception which was downtown. This gave us a good hour or so of time to wander around downtown for a quick sightseeing. During this little foray we decided to walk through the famous flagship location of Marshall Fields ( note: I refuse to call it by it’s current name so don’t bother correcting me). I was not quite prepared for the treat that laid before me upon entering the door and what a treat it was. There, in Chicago, in Marshall Fields, was a fully stocked and staffed Levenger “store-whithin-a-store”. How did I not know about this before?
I was just floored. Astounded. Dumbfounded… For me, this was Mecca.
The store was stocked with, from what I could tell, the full catalog of Levenger goodness. The staff was amazingly knowledgeable and helpful. They even had a table where they helped you build a free Circa notebook. You could choose which page types, ring colors and add ons you wanted in it. Obviously this is simply a gateway drug to get you hooked on the product (as I already am) but it sure was effective. I built one in the Junior size (half letter size) with a nice mix of gridded pages, cornell style pages, some daily agenda pages and a pocket in the back. The staff person who helped me even mentioned that, if I called him directly, he can ship me anything in the store. Thereby avoiding Levenger’s onerous shipping fees. So, basically, I now have a personal shopper at Levenger. How cool is that!?
So, if you are in the Chicago area, and have a fetish for fine paper pr0n as I do, make a stop by. It will be well worth the time and may even be as religious of an experience as I had.

Roy was big for his breed, kind of dopey but very lovable. If Roy were a human, he would have been a laborer, like a handyman. Stocky, friendly and his pants just barely covering his bum. He would spend more time sitting around and shooting the breeze with you than doing the job at hand but there would be no way you could get mad at him because he would be so lovable. You would just chalk it up to Roy being Roy.

Roy liked to lick soft things, like stuffed animals, rugs and furniture. Once he started he would do this for hours. Licking compulsively as if unable to stop. Roy could not, given this fact, figure out why the cats did not want to play with him. When Roy slept, he would snore loudly and, every once in a while, he would whimper and twitch, obviously having a good dream, probably about licking the cats.

In the last few months Roy had a tough time. He was unable to walk, he lost control over his functions, his hearing was going and he seemed very frustrated and confused. We had to let Roy go to sleep today. I hope he is somewhere peaceful and licking cats.

More field notes from my internet safaris…
Lifehack.org had a great post about the ninja notetaking skills of Thomas Edison. This guy was a badass when it came to the art of paper and pen and his copious notes span five million pages. Both inspiring and daunting for sure but this article outlines some great take away advice.
I know these sorts of lists are becoming ubiquitous Digg-bait, but here is 24 things you can do with an index card – exactly 17 of which are really useful.
Here’s a great video of a casual talk that Merlin Mann gave at IDEO. He is looped up on cold meds so he is extra talkative. It is kind of funny actually.
Looking to outsource your life a la Tim Ferriss? Well, here are a couple of posts by someone who has. First covered is how to prepare for doing so. Then, another post covering actually doing it, the success and the pitfalls.
New site alert!!! Brassing Adds Character is a new blog devoted to paper pr0n and analog love. The first few posts cover Dixon Tri-Conderoga pencils and some Levenger hacking. Awesome!

This is the third of several entries for the readers of my ious locations around the interwebs. A definition of people, relationships, holdings, and terms that I refer to often:
We currently have three houses. We do an adequate but admiral job of keeping up with them all. We tend to refer to our houses by the street name or house number. As a matter of fact, I have found that people who live in Saint Paul generally all refer to their houses this way.
* The 230 House – This was the house I lived in before we got married and we moved into Princess Bethany’s house. It was the first home I ever owned. Great location. Walking distance to the schools. Grocery store and some other useful shops just a walk away as well. I put a ton of work and money into it before meeting Bethany so it is very well updated. It is currently on the market so if you know anyone who lives in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul metro area and is looking for a great place, send them my way.
* The 627 House – This is the current house we live in. It was Princess Bethany’s and now we all live there. It is an 1886 Victorian with three floors. It is a beautiful and eclectic house and I have really fallen in love with it quickly. Because it is 140+ years old, it needs a lot of love and labor but it is quite comfortable and livable. We are currently working on refurbishing the back bedroom into a nursery for Trixie.
* The Summit House – This is the house the Bethany inherited when her Mom passed away last year. Summit Avenue is considered by many the most outstanding example of original Victorian bouled architecture in the United States. While this house was built in 1917, it is still a stately and elegant home. It has many perks including a in-groud pool and a hot tub. We eventually plan to move and live there full time but that will most likely not happen for at least a couple of years as there is much we would like to do and enjoy in our current home.

This is the second of several entries for the readers of my ious locations around the interwebs. A definition of people, relationships, holdings, and terms that I refer to often:
Tiger and Polo – Our two cats. Like most cats, they have very distinctive personalities.
Tiger is very protective. When you make a plate of food, he likes to come up and sniff it. Not because he wants to eat it, but because he wants to make sure it is OK before you eat it. Bethany tells me that when she first took Polo and Tiger in from their previous owner, Tiger would back Polo into a corner to keep him away from Bethany. He would not let Bethany near Polo until he approved. Tiger is very sweet and likes to cuddle with us before bed each night.
Polo is very much a one person cat and Bethany is his person. He mostly hides from everyone else. He will only tolerate me in any real way if Bethany is around. He will usually jump into bed shortly after we have fallen asleep and will tap Bethany’s face with his paw in the morning when the alarm goes off to make sure she hears it. He also has a tendency to leave hit cat toys in the other animals food bowls. We are not quite sure if this is out of protection or spite but we lean towards the latter.

Please pardon the 1337 speak while I communicate a special message to our Linux using friends…
Word up haxorz! Looking for some contact/calandar/tasks applications for your little *nix boxen? Well then, look no further than Pimlico, a suite of lightweight PIM applications designed primarily for mobile boxes (like the Nokia N800, natch) but with some desktop versions as well. Not a lot in the way of features but a whole lot in the way of small and portable. Basic, simple and free, as in beer.