Category RSS Archive for the ‘Editorial’ Category

Background noise

Posted May 21, 2012 by
in Editorial | 2 comments »

Now that it’s open-window season, I’ve been thinking about noise and distractions. I don’t live in a particularly loud neighborhood, but as I write this post, I hear my neighbor’s fountain gurgle, birds chirping, and a steady, loud-ish buzz that sounds like some sort of belt sander and recurs throughout the day.

All this is punctuated by the occasional rawl of fighting cats and, less frequently but more alarmingly, fighting humans, slamming car doors or yelling into cell phones or shouting as they walk down the street. In New York, we pride ourselves on being able to tune out noise, but I think that’s largely a delusion, because I’ve lived here since I was 18 and every fall I have the same experience: shut the windows, turn off the fans, and marvel at the sudden hush. Or maybe it’s just transitions that are awkward — give me another few weeks, and I’ll no longer be distracted by the strange grunts and screeches of the squirrels, or even notice when an airplane passes overhead.

What noises do you hear throughout the day?

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Take a walk

Posted May 18, 2012 by
in Editorial, Planning Tips | Add your comment »

Time-management experts often tell us to take short breaks throughout the day. It’s advice I find easy to agree with but hard to put into practice, at least regularly, because I don’t remember, or I just wasted time checking email and don’t see how I can justify it, or I’m not really sure what I should be working on now, anyway.

Yesterday around 4:00 pm I realized I had a serious case of work doldrums — it was a sunny day, and I hadn’t gotten much accomplished, and though I knew I was in no danger of, say, blowing a deadline because of it, I couldn’t bring myself to give up… and yet I couldn’t focus. Usually what I do in such times is take care of some small, domestic errand like folding laundry or doing the dishes, which is generally enough to kick me back into action at work. Instead, I took a short walk.

Lo and behold! It was glorious, and I felt great on my return, and though I was initially tempted to grab a book and relax on the sofa, I sat down on my desk and enjoyed a compact, productive next hour.

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Ghost Story

Posted May 15, 2012 by
in Beautiful Creations, Cabinet of Curiosities, Editorial | 3 comments »

I visited St. Augustine lighthouse over the weekend and I was inspired by an encounter with a ghost!

I thought it might be fun to work with a group of people from Quo Vadis Blog and see if we could develop our own ghost story – either a page or two of writing each, a sketch, a collage–whatever writing or artwork we want to create to tell our part of the story.  We would pass the notebook along and create as we go.  The last person would write the ending.

Please send me an email (karen@exaclair.com) if you might be interested in participating.  The goal is to have fun, work on a collaborative project together, and publish our Ghost Story on Quo Vadis Blog when it is done.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

 

 

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Where to buy our products

Posted May 9, 2012 by
in Editorial, Pens, Paper & People | 1 comment »

Speaking of retailers… one of the questions that comes up again and again is where to buy our products and what to do if you’re not lucky enough to live near one of the independent local stores that stock them.

On our website, we try to make the connection as seamless as possible not just by listing online retailers but by noting the places that carry specific products and even specific planner/cover combinations. But there is still a jump between our site and theirs, and we aren’t able to list prices because prices are set by each outlet. There are multiple reference numbers because each combination has a different number even if it’s the same planner insert, or a refill only.

And then there’s the problem of shipping, which Karen has already tackled at length.

All this to say, I guess, that we hear your frustration, and we know it isn’t easy. If you’re having trouble tracking something down, you can always contact us for help. Over time, many fans of our products find particular outlets whose service and selection they appreciate, so if you’d like to solicit advice from your fellow consumers, you can always check the Fountain Pen Network.

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Shutterbug nation

Posted April 26, 2012 by
in Editorial | Add your comment »

An infographic in this month’s issue of National Geographic caught my attention shortly after I came back from the Smokies about the growth of digital photography.

It’s not available online, unfortunately, but it was a fascinating reminder of what hobbyists and vacationers have known for some time: people are taking a lot of pictures these days! In 2006, Americans took 53 billion digital photographs (that’s 177 per person). In 2011, the number had grown to 80 billion (or 255 per person), and by 2015 it is projected to be 105 billion.

I’ve certainly enjoyed taking my fair share of pictures, yet I try not to take too many, because I often feel like people are too busy photographing things to actually, you know, experience them. This is especially true at parties; I remember, a few years ago, being at the closing night of a legendary New York bar, and thinking I must be the only one who wasn’t documenting the event for posterity.

That said, in Tennessee, I only hesitated for a moment before I joined a row of people who were trying to take a picture of a mama bear and her cub down a hill to the side of the road. (I would love to have more bear pictures.) In the end, it was too dark to get a good shot from so far away, but it was still thrilling to have spotted them.

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Blog overload

Posted April 23, 2012 by
in Editorial, Planning Tips | 5 comments »

A couple years ago, I tried and failed to bat back the tangled mess my RSS reader had become. (Categories helped me prioritize, and I cut some subscriptions, like BoingBoing, that I knew I could never keep up with… but I’ve still got more than a thousand unread posts.)

Social media mavens say that people are relying more on their friends (through Twitter, Facebook, etc.) and less on personal subscriptions to keep up with Internet content. That isn’t quite true in my case — I’m on Facebook, but I’m not very active, and I gravitate first to sites like the New York Times and Slate, which I’ve had bookmarked for years — though I often find great blogs and articles through Quo Vadis’s own social media presence. Still, I’d be curious to learn more about other people’s habits. What’s your preferred mode of navigation and/or discovery? Has it changed over the past few years?

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Hockey Time

Posted April 11, 2012 by
in Announcements, Editorial | Add your comment »

Hockey playoffs begin today!

May the best team hoist the Stanley Cup!

Leah and I are both big fans of the New Jersey Devils, so we’re hoping it will be our team! Ilya Kovalchuk said that no one can beat them when they are playing their best.  Leah and I both hope so!

Any bets on the teams in the Stanley Cup Finals?  I will bet New Jersey vs the Blackhawks.

 

 

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Smoke in the mountains

Posted April 10, 2012 by
in Editorial, Where to Go? | Add your comment »

It’s amazing how restorative even short trips can be… we left for the Smoky Mountains on Friday and spent the next two nights in Townsend, TN; during the day, we went for long hikes and scenic drives.

In many ways, though, the most memorable part of our stay was waking up to the mist-covered mountains that our bed-and-breakfast’s windows faced. It’s from these mists, apparently, that the Smokies got their name, and they are no less amazing to behold when you know you can expect them.

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Easter and the art of short trips

Posted April 6, 2012 by
in Editorial, Where to Go? | Add your comment »

When I lived in Europe, it was a truth universally acknowledged — at least among people my age — that Easter was the perfect opportunity to hop on a train and take some sort of mini-vacation. Of course, it helped that Good Friday’s a holiday, and Monday, too, which left one with a nice amount of time; I went to Prague one year, Italy the next.

I haven’t traveled on Easter since I came back to the States, but earlier in the week, when we looked at our calendars and weighed our options, my husband and I realized we had room in our schedules, so we’re heading for the hills: the Smoky Mountains.

Are you going anywhere this weekend?

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Is ruling size a deal-breaker?

Posted April 5, 2012 by
in Editorial, Pens, Paper & People | 10 comments »

Our discussion about the small Habana’s ruling size reminds me of a broader conversation we had here a few years ago about whether people preferred narrow or wide notebook lines…

Narrow lines seemed to, er, rule the day among our commenters, but what I’d be curious to find out is how deep your preferences run. Have you rejected a notebook you liked otherwise because the ruling was too fat or skinny? Is it one of the factors you check before deciding to try a new brand?

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