Archive for June, 2007
June 29th
Shopping list. Errands list. To-Do list. Wish list.
More than 80% of people keep lists, according to a poll by Zogby International. Making a list is a basic of daily planning. Corporate planning and project management are two types of processes in which lists of goals, strategies and actions play an important part.
Like many people, I make a daily list of tasks–who to call and what needs to be done. Work and home are both on the same list, so it will include not only marketing work and reports, but also family errands and personal needs, like calling the doctor to schedule an appointment, and check up on my mother.
My date book is my main reference point for deadlines and what needs to get done that week. I custom make my own to-do lists using long scraps of Pollen paper or index cards held with a binder clip. That way, I can pick the color I feel like using and move them around easily.
List-making is now on the interest. It has expanded way beyond making a written list or post-it with a few reminders. Some web sites offer lists as part a major social networking component and visual memory book There’s Backpackit.com, Meosphere.com, 43things.com and Gubb.net to name a few.
Backpackit.com let’s you combine lists, notes, photos and schedule. Meosphere.com concentrates on what you’ve done and where you’ve been. In 43things.com you can list 43 things you would like to do in your life, and connect with people interested in the same things you are. Gubb.net is a way to intelligently manage all your different lists.
The convergence of paper, technology and the web has the potential to go well beyond making a simple list. But that is the snag, too–that we end up spending more time on this one thing than just taking a piece of paper and a pencil and writing down in a minute what we want to do.
June 28th
In the comments to an earlier post, one of our readers told me about a semi-apocryphal saint who is actually quite perfect for this blog: St. Expeditus, patron saint of procrastinators. Legend has it that Expeditus was a Roman commander in Armenia who was beheaded by the Emperor Diocletian because he converted to Christianity, but not much else about him is known, and Church authorities have disputed his existence. The story, according to this website, is that:
A Parisian convent received a package from Rome containing a statue and relics of a saint, but they were unsure to whom the Holy Remains belonged. The package in which it came was marked “spedito” or “special delivery,” which in Latin translates to Expeditus. Whether the relics belong to the poor Armenian martyr or the good sisters had just been duped by an ironic play on words will never really be known.
However, St. Expeditus has proven so popular over the years that they’ve been unable to get rid of him. Unsurprisingly, he’s particularly popular in New Orleans, where he is commonly invoked for speedy solutions.
June 27th
Sir Isaac Newton, the 17th century scientist who helped develop calculus and physics, was also interested in Biblical numbers. In manuscripts now being exhibited at the Jewish National and University Library in Jerusalem, Newton calculates the apolcalypse will arrive no sooner than 2060.
“He was obviously looking at these things in a very systematic way,” said Dr. Yemima Ben-Menaham, co-curator of the exhibit, “Newton’s Secret” and a professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. “He was putting great emphasis on dates and size and numbers.” “However,” she adds, “it wasn’t exactly mathematical work.”
“It may end later, but I see no reason for it ending sooner,” Newton wrote in his precise cramped style. “This I mention not to assert when the time of the end shall be, but to put a stop to the rash conjectures of fanciful men who are frequently predicting the time of the end, and by doing so bring the sacred prophecies into discredit as often as their predictions fail.”
The source of Newton’s calculation, as laid out in a manuscript from the early 1700s, was the book of the prophet Daniel. In Daniel 12:7, King James translation, Daniel says, “all these things shall be finished after a period of time, times and a half.” Newton interpreted “time” to be one year, “times” two years, and “half” to be half a year. Then he assumed Daniel was speaking in the prophetic mode in which each day in the prophetic year is really its own year; so a prophetic year is 360 calendar years (12 months of 30 days each). 3.5 such years is 1,260 years.
Newton differed from his peers in assuming that the 1,260 period commenced in the year 800, the establishment of the Holy Roman Empire by Charlemagne. “There isn’t an explicit answer in the text as to why he assumed that date,” Professor Ben-Menahem said.
June 25th
We’ve gotten several emails recently requesting that we add a separate address book insert to our refillable planners so that people don’t have to copy out their contact lists from year to year. The Trinote does indeed offer an address book insert, but as far as I know, it’s the only QV planner that does.*
I’ve never been a huge fan of PDAs or electronic planners, but when it comes to address books, I’m firmly on the side of technology. I keep contact information for clients and friends alike in one big Outlook database, and I’ve gradually gotten rid of all the old paper address books I used to have. The downside to this strategy is that I can’t carry addresses with me when I’m on the road unless I lug my laptop; on the other hand, I work from home and rarely need them anywhere else. If my computer ever died or caught a virus, of course, I’d risk losing everything, but I do try to make regular data backups. Fingers crossed.
Would anyone else like to see more detachable address book inserts? If so, write a comment to this post or send us an email and let us know what you think.
* An earlier version of this post mistakenly claimed that the Trinote’s address book insert had been discontinued… it has not; please accept my apologies!
June 21st
Today is the summer solstice—in the Northern Hemisphere, at least—the day on which the Earth’s axis tilts the most toward the Sun and which, as a result, is the longest of the year. The word solstice comes from the Latin: sol, or sun, and sistit, or stands, because, according to the Columbia Encyclopedia, “for several days before and after each solstice the sun appears to stand still in the sky, i.e., its noontime elevation does not seem to change from day to day.”
Today also seems like a good time to announce the impending arrival of a new Quo Vadis calendar that’s designed to help you plan your own longest days. The Horizon 7, which will include appointment space from 7 am to 9 pm, seven days a week, will be manufactured in 2008 for a 2009 calendar release (though it may be ready sooner than that).
June 18th
A number of people have written in to Quo Vadis recently looking for 2007 planners. Act soon and you might just be in luck: The Daily Planner still has a number of ‘07 planners in stock, though you’ll have to call to find out which ones are still available (their toll-free number is 1-800-635-4321).
Alternatively, you might consider using the QV academic series, which starts August 1 and goes through August 2008 and comes in a variety of different daily and weekly formats.
June 18th
Clairefontaine is the name of a famous French paper company. It is also the name of the paper we use in Quo Vadis agendas.
Many people believe it’s the name of a real person and the company is named after her. Like cooking had “Betty Crocker,” paper has “Claire Fontaine.”
Part of the assumption “Claire Fontaine” may be a real person comes from the name, and also the company logo, which features a woman with a water jar.
The exact inspiration for the origin of the woman at the well or wellspring is unknown, although a member of the founding family belives it has Biblical roots–either Rachel at the well, or the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. Or, the model may have been an unknown local woman from that region of France, the Vosges.
Actually, the source for the Clairefontaine company name is the site where the paper mill is located–the town of Etival-Clairefontaine.
June 14th
Toronto journalist Stephanie Dickison is a fan of Notor and Quarter planners. She reviewed them in her blog, The Knack, on June 4. Stephanie describes The Knack as a place to “seek out new products, people, places and anything else that excites the senses.”
“My sweet little Notor #21 is small enough to keep in my bag to access while I’m out at meetings or need to make an appointment while I’m at a restaurant…I can write as big as I like or scrawl a note quickly if I need to and not worry about going over into the next day’s events.”
“I got it in bright teal so I can see it easily in my big back of notebooks (a writer’s life!) and love its thick bumpy cover..”
June 13th
I studied medieval literature in college, and one thing I always enjoyed learning about were the many colorful saints that people talked about, wrote about, and prayed to. Some of these aren’t so well-known nowadays—you don’t hear much about St. Apollonia, popularly regarded as the patron saint of dentistry and toothaches because her teeth were pulled out during an uprising against the Christians in the 3rd Century, or St. Vedast, who is invoked on behalf of children who walk with difficulty as well as for diseases of the eyes.
Other saints, however, are still celebrated, especially in countries that are predominantly Catholic. One of them is St. Anthony, patron saint of Padua, whose feast day it is today. St. Anthony was born in Lisbon at the end of the 12th century, and he was ordained as a Franciscan monk at the age of 25. After that, he traveled throughout Italy performing miracles and preaching. He’s invoked for a number of things, not least of all on behalf of people who are looking for something they’ve lost.
When I was living in Vienna, I remember a television commercial wherein a hapless young man prayed to a statue of St. Anthony and asked him for help locating a better job—”One where I earn a little more money, and where they won’t downsize me right away!” “Give yourself a chance,” Anthony intones, and sends him to an online job search site called Wifi (thanks to YouTube, German speakers can now watch the commercial online).
June 12th
A lot of people ask us “What does ‘Quo Vadis’ mean?” They have some recollection of a book by Henryk Sienkiewicz and a movie of same name starring Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, and Peter Ustinov as the Emperor Nero. The film was released in 1951 and the planning diary format was invented in 1952. Perhaps there is some unconscious connection - who knows?
“Quo Vadis?” derives from an early Christian legend in which the Apostle Peter, leaving Rome because of the fierce persecution of Christians, had a vision of Christ walking down the road towards him. Peter asked, “Quo vadis, Domine?” meaning, “Where are you going, Lord?” and was told, “I am going to Rome to be crucified in your place.” After that Peter retraced his steps and returned to Rome.
While visiting Rome, the author Henryk Sienkiewicz became acquainted with this legend. A painter friend of his showed him the inscription, “Quo Vadis?” chiseled on the pediment of a roadside chapel.
F. G. Beltrami, a doctor, was about 35 years old when he invented the Agenda Planning Diary using a notebook and a ruler. His invention became so popular with friends and family that he gave up his medical practice and started a company to market his invention. He named the company “Quo Vadis” - Latin for “Where are you going?” His original design - still going strong almost 60 years later - enables people to plan and see their week at a single glance.
