Archive for July, 2007
July 31st
Michael Leddy of Orange Crate Art developed these wise and helpful suggestions on how to get things done without getting frustrated or discouraged. I adopted his ideas and found I could manage and finish multiple marketing projects on time.
“One obvious but very useful suggestion: Don’t use a datebook only to keep track of appointments and meetings and due dates. Use it to list the things you need to do and when you’re going to do them. A running to-do list can make a great difference in keeping up with your responsibilities. (Much better than turning the page and suddenly seeing that there’s a paper due–something you wrote a week ago and forgot about.)
One way to make a genuinely useful to-do list is by breaking down the project into small, do-able parts. Not write research paper but go to library to find sources, organize by call number, read first five and take notes, finish other sources, organize stuff on computer, check bibliography format, and so on. Write research paper really isn’t a do-able task for anyone. But all of the above are very do-able, and they give you the satisfaction of crossing things off and making progress. (This general strategy is a major theme in David Allen’s book; the example is mine.)
One more thing–use your datebookas a backup for phone numbers. (Many datebooks have pages for addresses in the back.) When a cell-phone goes on the blink and you can’t get to your numbers, you’ll be glad to have a paper backup.”
July 30th
As we’ve mentioned a couple of times before, all Quo Vadis planners are made with Clairefontaine paper, a thick, high quality product that’s manufactured in France.
When I was a kid, I remember making paper with big vats of “pulp” (torn up scraps of old magazines mixed with a little bit of water) and screens; we dipped the screens into the pulp before letting them dry in the sun, and that was pretty much all there was to it. But I was curious to find out how the process works on a more industrial scale.
An illustrated explanation on the Clairefontaine website went a long way toward answering my questions. The pulp for non-recycled paper is, of course, made from shredded wood—with a little bit of cotton mixed in for extra softness—and according to the website, it’s sprayed onto its mold with the help of a special machine. Suction machines and presses help extract the water, and then the paper is dried through dozens of steam-heated cylinders.
“It’s like cooking,” Christine Nusse, president of Clairefontaine’s parent company, Exaclair, explained to me on the phone. The transformation of pine into pulp, she says, smells wonderful, though the company now often purchases pre-made pulp (from ecologically certified forests) rather than pine logs.
Christine and I also had a long conversation about Clairefontaine’s history, and about the technologies they’ve developed to make sure their papermaking is environmentally sound. I’ll blog about that in greater detail in an upcoming post.
July 27th
I found an interesting bit of productivity advice from Jerry Seinfeld on Lifehacker the other day… get a big calendar, Seinfeld says—one that has a whole year on a single page—and hang it on a prominent wall. Then get a big red magic marker.
For each day that you complete an allotted portion of whatever task you’ve set out to accomplish, put a big red X over that day on the calendar. “After a few days you’ll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt.”
After that, your only job: “Don’t break the chain.”
July 26th
Ann Roulac, an author, speaker, executive consultant and personal coach offers her plan for better productivity:
- Keep your annual goals visible daily. Review your intentions daily to become more decisive.
- Create monthly and weekly action plans. Identify action steps you will take to accomplish your goals, with a time frame.
- Write out a daily plan and task list. Create a task list the night before so you can begin the first thing and stay on track throughout the day.
- Prevent interruptions. To avoid distractions, set specific times when you don’t want to be disturbed.
- Learn to stay energized. Practice deep, controlled breathing as a natural tranquilizer and rejuvenator to get you back on track.
- Simplify and organize. Get rid of clutter. Eliminate chaos by letting go of activities and relationships that drain your energy and create ones that produce positive benefits.
Roulac is the author of “Power, Passion & Purpose: 7 Steps to Energizing Your Life.” Published by Green Island Publishing, it’s accompanied by a workbook that urges hard-charging workers to pause and reflect to re-energize.
July 24th
I’m always a week or three behind on my New Yorker reading, so I just got to last week’s story about the whaling industry. It’s an interesting piece, and it reminded me of a recent trip I took to the New Bedford Whaling Museum when I was in Westport at the beginning of the month.
The museum has some amazing exhibits about the history of the whaling industry—and they’ve also got an enormous (66-foot) blue whale skeleton hanging in the atrium—but what I enjoyed learning about most were the many ways in which the sailors kept themselves occupied during the journey. Whaling trips could last for years, and a ship might only see a couple dozen whales each year. So the sailors often had plenty of time on their hands for reading books or singing ballads or carving elaborate scrimshaw. According to Crain, many whalers also wrote, and “more than five thousand of their journals and logbooks survive in archives.” One captain’s wife who’d come along “amused herself by giving names to the whales her husband caught, including Jonah, Queen Victoria, and Buster.”
“There she blows,” of course, was the sailors’ rallying cry whenever a whale spout was spotted. And “there she breaches” was apparently what was said if whale skin was first seen instead.
July 23rd
…and Typeradio is speech on type.” So goes the slogan of Typeradio.org, an internet radio station.
Leah and I are in the midst of a project to identify the different fonts in each of the Quo Vadis planners and find out why that particular font was chosen for that book. As we get information from the designers we’ll post it on this blog. 
One of the sister companies of Quo Vadis, a German company called Brause, is identified with a very famous calligrapher who invented several well-known typefaces. Karlgeorg Hoefer developed his own font from a piece of writing done with the broad nib Brause 505, his own invention. With this nib he could produce broad, thick strokes as well as extremely thin lines.
According to a web site devoted to him, “The expressive forms of his first type face are reminiscent of brush strokes and they impressed Karl Klingspor, the owner of the Klingspor Type Foundry (Schriftgiesserei Klingspor) in Offenbach. He produced this type face with the name “Salto” in 1952. The type face is recognized today as the embodiment of type face design from the 1950s.
I love the typefaces in mosaic found throughout the New York subway system. They combine beauty and functionality to tell us “where we are going.”
Want to connect with other enthusiasts? The Society of Typographic Aficionados sponsors an annual conference. TypeCon2007: Letter Space will be held in Seattle from August 1-5.
July 20th
Do not begin by thrusting the end of the wax into the flame and conveying it in a flaming spatter to your envelope. Take plenty of time and hold the wax above the flame of the candle, but not near enough to burn; a burnt wax makes a streaky seal and is hard to manage. When the wax has gradually softened, apply it with a circular movement upon the place to be sealed, rub it around and down until you have a circle of proper size and thickness and apply the seal. The result should be a clear-cut impression.
– From a wax seal boxed set from the early 1900’s, via Pendemonium.com
Karen found some leftover J. Herbin sealing wax and a little sailboat stamp in the stockroom the other day, so I’ve been trying out my hand at using them. It’s been years since I sat down and wrote an actual letter, but I figured I could practice stamping the seal on some plain old notebook paper to see how well it worked.
I began with the classic “King’s Wax” (originally manufactured for King Louis XIV of France), and I daresay that my first attempts didn’t work out too well. I didn’t have any candles, so I held the wax above a lighted match and did my best to follow the instructions above. But it was hard to heat the wax without spilling little drops onto the paper, and the match would often burn out before the wax was thoroughly warm.
I then went out, bought a candle, and tried again. This time, I could heat the wax just fine, but the stick would get stuck on the page whenever I tried to “apply it with a circular movement.” Back to Google. Turns out, other websites recommend heating the wax in such a way that it drips straight onto the page (rather than, as I’d been doing, heating it first and them smearing it).
Unfortunately, the candle I’d bought was too thick to be able to do that, and that’s when I decided to cheat. J. Herbin also makes a wax that has its very own wick—all you have to do is light the wick, wait for the wax to heat up, and let it drip onto the page—voila, success! I’ve posted the picture above; it’s hardly the best looking seal (nor, for that matter, the greatest photograph), but that doesn’t make me any less proud of it.
Guess I’m going to have to start writing real letters again…
July 18th
Our friend April Silver emailed us this photo from a recent trip to Germany. She spotted these Quo Vadis planners at Osiander Buchhandlung in Reutlingen. The planners and Clairefontaine notebooks are all on the floor because they were in the middle of reorganizing that part of the store.
July 16th
This past weekend was a holiday in France: Bastille Day (more officially known as the FĂŞte nationale), which commemorates the storming of the Bastille—and the beginning of the French Revolution—on July 14, 1789. The Declaration of the Rights of Man (which proclaimed, among other things, that “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights”) was adopted a month later by the National Constituent Assembly, though the tumultuous reign of King Louis XVI didn’t end until 1793.
Many American cities commemorate Bastille Day, as well; here in New York, we celebrate with a street fair and picnic on the Upper East Side. Milwaukee’s four day festival includes a 43-foot replica of the Eiffel Tower, while Philadelphia reenacts not only the storming of the Bastille but also the execution of Marie Antoinette (who throws 2,000 Butterscotch Krimpets to the crowd before she goes, calling out, “Let them eat TastyKake!”).
July 13th
An interesting idea via Lifehacker yesterday: for a little extra motivation, try creating a “Done! wall” that’s decorated with your completed to-do lists. “Why throw away the relics of your achievements when you can create an inspiring monument to getting stuff done?” they ask. A “Done! bulletin board” might be a little easier on the eyes, but it’s an interesting idea…
