September 13th
I am beginning to get weary of the U.S. presidential campaign, which seems to have been going on for ten years now. I decided to try to find a “countdown clock” to see how much longer we have to go before the election.
Online countdown clocks make things easy.Â
There also companies that make countdown clocks to mark special events, such as a birth, wedding, graduation, retirement, vacation and more. The Beijing Olympics had its own countdown clock! 
We have 51 days to go to November 4th….
September 12th
I just broke down and made my first purchase at the newly opened Brooklyn IKEA… I don’t have anything against the company or its products in the abstract, but they totally demolished a beautiful old block in my neighborhood to make way for their big, bland, blue and yellow box store. Before: lovely cobblestone streets and 19th century warehouses. After: smooth roads and a massive parking lot. And of course, that blue and yellow box.
On the one hand, they did build a lovely little park on the waterfront behind the store, and there’s plenty to be said for the creation of new jobs and modern infrastructure. On the other hand, I don’t understand why they couldn’t have simply gutted and reused some of those old buildings—it would have been the coolest IKEA in the world.
In the meantime, I guess it’s time to sand and stain my little bedside table…
September 10th
People often ask us if we could make a weekly planner that includes a 2-page monthly calendar in front of each month’s set of pages.
We’d love to, of course, but the difficulty comes when you realize that many weeks straddle two different months (this year, the month of August ends on Sunday, for example, but September ends on Tuesday). There’s no easy answer to this problem: do you split the week in two to insert your monthly calendar? Do you put it in after the last full week of each month, regardless of whether or not that month continues into part of the following week?
If you like to flip back and forth between your months and weeks, one solution is the Visual, which has a 15 month at-a-glance calendar at the front of the book.
September 9th
We currently offer four planners beyond the standard 12 months plus a few additional weeks. They are:
Exaplan - a monthly planner - 21 months
Monthly 4 - a monthly planner - 18 months
Scholar - a weekly planner - 18 months
Student - a weekly planner - 17 months
Scholar is normally printed as a 12-month planner. However, 18-month versions are sold at Barnes & Noble, and the online retailer, The Daily Planner.
What length planner works best for you now - 12, 13, 18, 24 months?
September 8th
The Hand Drawn Map Association (HDMA) is an online archive of maps and diagrams that were created by hand and submitted from all over the world. Many of them are also accompanied by interesting stories or anecdotes (this map was made by tracing coffee stains on a seating chart; this map was drawn by a half-Canadian who was trying to educate his U.S. friends).
Not as useful as Google Maps, perhaps, but every bit as cool…
September 5th
The difference between a pleasurable writing experience and one that’s merely functional is all in the details: the paper thick and smooth, the fluid pen, the light just so. Of course, everyone has their own preferences. When the French arm of our company first created the Habana notebook, they used heavyweight Clairefontaine paper in an ivory color; later on, thanks to various manufacturing quirks, the U.S. version ended up with white pages.
We’d been planning to switch back to ivory paper in the fall, but one of our blog readers recently voiced her preference for white. Hence this post: which do you prefer, and how much does it matter to your writing pleasure? If you were given a choice of both colors, would you stick to one or the other, or would you alternate?
September 4th
The President refill can be used in a new portfolio Exaclair introduced this year.
“Exafolio” is a compact portfolio made from recycled materials that is light and water resistent. The portfolio has a snap closure, and holds files and papers. It also has two zippered pockets and 3 pen holders for loose notes and cards.
So, if you prefer to carry around your planner with a cover option that offers multiple uses, the Exafolio may be for you.
September 3rd
New York is a great place for people-watching; for birding, not so much. In Westport, though, we saw plenty of interesting species, including osprey, cormorants, egrets, and one lone great blue heron. I don’t have a very sophisticated camera, but I took it out nonetheless one morning when we went kayaking, and I managed to get a couple of shots of some egrets on a small island… More pictures after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
September 1st
The observance of Labor Day began over 100 years ago.
Conceived by America’s labor unions as a testament to their cause, the legislation creating the holiday was shepherded through Congress and signed by president Grover Cleveland in 1894. Since then, Labor Day has been celebrated on the first Monday in September. It has become the unofficial end of summer.
The first Labor Day parade was held on September 5, 1882 in New York City. Twenty thousand workers marched up Broadway carrying banners that read “LABOR CREATES ALL WEALTH,” and “EIGHT HOURS FOR WORK, EIGHT HOURS FOR REST, EIGHT HOURS FOR RECREATION!”
The roots of Labor Day stretch back to what was known as the eight hour day movement. In 1817, a Welsh mill owner, Robert Owen, formulated the goal of the eight-hour day and coined the slogan. 
The International Workingmen’s Association, many of whom were socialists or anarchists, favored a May 1 holiday. With the event of the Chicago Haymarket riots in May 1886, president Grover Cleveland believed that a May 1 holiday could become an opportunity to commemorate the riots. Fearing that it might strengthen the socialist movement, he eventually supported a September Labor Day.
Is an eight-hour workday the standard anymore?
August 31st
We have received several emails from coffeehouses looking for notebooks to sell. Although plenty of people tote their laptop into Starbucks and other coffee places, it’s nice to know some people still prefer pen and paper while enjoying an expresso and biscotti or cappucino.Â
The inquiries made me think of my own favorite place to loaf & watch life walk by, think, greet friends and savor good coffee–all at the same time:  Aldo’s  in Greenport, NY. Owned by Aldo Maiorana, is a baker, coffee roaster, business owner and chef. Aldo was born in Sicily and raised in France. 
After living in New Caledonia, Paris and South America, Aldo moved to East Marion, NY in 1978 with his American wife, Martine. His cafe and biscotteria–Aldo’s Too–is a Greenport landmark. Regulars and visitors co-mingle, as people stop by for an expresso and chat. In the winter people pack the place to come in from the cold for homemade hot chocolate.
You can spot Aldo immediately by his full head of curly white hair. He roasts his own coffee, so the air is always thick with the latest batch. But Aldo is known as much for his hazelnut and harlequin biscotti as he is his coffee. The biscotti is shipped all over the country and as far away as Dean & DeLuca in Toyko.
Once you get your coffee, you can sit at the yellow picnic table inside; or one of the small tables outside, and read the paper, discuss, swap hellos, and savor a moment of peace and contentment.
Do you have a favorite place to go?
