Articles and optimism

Posted March 21, 2012 by
in Editorial | 1 comment »

One of the main characters of Norman Rush’s Mating, Nelson Denoon, keeps a stack of old Economists at home, certain that he’ll one day get to them. I thought of that when I shared an Economist article about personal metrics, because it’s from an issue dated early March and I only just got around to reading it.

For me, saving magazines is more of a problem with The New Yorker than it is with The Economist (which I can justify tossing if it’s not current and the news I want to catch up on has seen too many subsequent developments). I used to think the iPad would fix this — no need to waste space on paper copies if I’ve got everything electronic form! Trouble is, I’m less likely to return to old issues if I can’t see them cluttering up the table, and I’m less likely to remember which pieces I meant to read if I can’t fold the covers straight to them.

How long do you save old magazines?

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Personal metrics

Posted March 19, 2012 by
in Planning Tips | 1 comment »

Here’s some more fun with data: The Economist reported recently on a trend known as “self-tracking,” or using data about your everyday activities to improve your health and quality of life.

Robin Barooah, a software designer, said he had lost 20kg by monitoring his after-lunch mood using flashcards, which heightened his awareness of how different foods made him feel. Sara Riggare, an engineer from Sweden, described how she used an iPhone app to determine the best drug combination to control her Parkinson’s Disease, and a Nintendo Wii game to monitor and improve her balance.

Unsurprisingly, start-ups and larger companies have begun to support self-trackers with gadgets and apps that facilitate the collection and analysis of personal data.

It’s a promising approach, though I’m reminded of a thought I had, years ago, while working at Forbes.com. I was on a tour of the MIT Media Lab and listening to one of the grad students talk about how mobile phones could help you track what you ate and let you know, for example, if you needed to eat more veggies or lay off the red wine. And, you know, nutrition is great, but will nobody stand up for our capacity for self-deception? There are things I’d like to understand about myself, and things that are important to know. But gosh, I’m not sure I could take that level of clarity in every last aspect of my life!

Do you use any self-tracking tools?

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St Patrick’s Day giveaway!

Posted March 16, 2012 by
in Announcements | 10 comments »

St. Patrick’s Day is tomorrow, and in the spirit of the holiday, we’re giving away ten academic planners with our new, green “Texas” covers. They’re made from an eco-friendly, PVC-free vinyl that feels a lot like suede, and contest entrants can choose from among the following formats:

  1. Scholar
  2. Textagenda
  3. Academic Minister
  4. Student
  5. Principal

Academic planners start in July 2013, though impatient winners, beware: we won’t be able to ship your prizes till early-mid April, because the material is coming from France and needs to be prepared.

Enter before Thursday, March 22 at midnight EST by completing the form below.
Continue reading »

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Au revoir, Encyclopedia Britannica

Posted March 14, 2012 by
in Cabinet of Curiosities, Editorial | 6 comments »

We never had a set of Encyclopedia Britannicas in our house growing up, but I certainly used the books in school, and I continue to think of them fondly. By the time I was in college, Encyclopedia Britannica had been put online, and in those pre-Wikipedia days, I accessed it through our university’s ethernet connection. In grad school, my research needs took me beyond encyclopedias, and I haven’t used or thought of Britannica in at least the last eight years.

Today, of course, comes the news that Encyclopedia Britannica is ceasing production of its print edition. It’s kind of a funny milestone, thought I’m still surprised and impressed that the print volumes lasted as long as they did.

Did you ever own, or do you still own, a set of Encyclopedia Britannica?

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Planners at work (and electronic overload)

Posted March 12, 2012 by
in Editorial | 6 comments »

While reading through the comments to one of my recent posts, I was interested to see that several of you keep separate planners for work and personal use.

I used to use an Outlook calendar for work-related calls and my Space 17 for face-to-face meetings and personal appointments. Then I had to switch to Gcal for one of my freelance clients, or, I should say, I had to start using Gcal to manage calls and meetings with that client. Another client I work with uses one of those online project-management systems. Now I need my Space 17 to coordinate across my work calendars and make sure the appointments on one don’t clash with those on the others.

That works all right, but lately, I’ve been wondering if I should consolidate and use just one electronic calendar, plus a paper one. I don’t like the interface of Gcal as well as I do that of Outlook, but the fact that it’s cloud-based makes things easier, and I’m not such an old bird yet that I can’t learn to make it work. Of course, that makes me wonder if I should consolidate my email systems, too, and abandon Outlook altogether. Too many choices!

Does anyone else suffer from electronic calendar overload syndrome (ECOS)?

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Reference pages and telephone codes

Posted March 8, 2012 by
in Cabinet of Curiosities, Product Reviews | 6 comments »

Laurie’s recent review of the Executive reminds me of a subject that came up in our recent survey, and that I’ve been meaning to blog about for a while… the international telephone codes that are listed in the reference sections of our planners.

As you might guess, they’re a holdover from the pre-Internet era, when that information wasn’t a Google search away and Skype had not been invented. Laurie says she still uses hers; I never have, but the data geek in me would still be somewhat sad to see them go. Uzbekistan is 10 hours ahead of us? Nepal and India 10 and a half?

As a bonus bit of trivia, I found myself wondering what “correspondent’s number” referred to in the Regional Area Code column. Nothing too mysterious, it turns out — simply that that country doesn’t have regional codes, so you should just go ahead and dial your correspondent’s number after dialing the country code.

Do you use the telephone access code chart?

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The 150-year-old complaint

Posted March 7, 2012 by
in Cabinet of Curiosities, Pens, Paper & People | Add your comment »

I was flipping through this month’s issue of Scientific American when I noticed the following complaint:

Has not the curse of steel pens swept over the land until decent handwriting is almost unknown? Do not ninety-nine persons in a hundred use steel pens, and has more than one out of the ninety-nine the effrontery to say he can write with them? Lord Palmerston was quite right — the handwriting of this generation is abominable; and as new improvements in steel pens go on, that of the next will be worse.

It appeared in a section that reprints excerpts from old issues, and bore the publication date of March 1862. Plus ça change, eh? One wonders what the writer would have thought about the effects of tablet styluses…

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Do you use bookplates?

Posted March 5, 2012 by
in Cabinet of Curiosities, Pens, Paper & People | 4 comments »

I am constantly amazed at the amount of stuff in my home, which seems to accumulate independently of my periodic efforts to cull and toss. The other day, I rediscovered these world map bookplates; if I remember right, I got them as a stocking stuffer a couple years ago.

Handsome as they are, I’ve never actually put them to use. Perhaps it’s a question of habit. In college, I wrote my name onto the inside covers of my books. Now that I’m more settled and my books are less likely to go missing, I don’t even do that. I love looking at old bookplates (here’s a great bookplate blog I discovered thanks to one of Karen’s posts), but somehow I’m just not ready to continue the tradition.

Do you use bookplates?

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Friday review roundup

Posted March 2, 2012 by
in Product Reviews | Add your comment »

Happy Friday! We’ve got some great reviews to share with you today… don’t worry, we won’t let the praise go to our heads.

  • Laurie reviews the Executive at Plannerisms and concludes that it’s “an excellent, powerful planner with an extremely efficient weekly format, annual overviews, and spectacular paper in a compact and portable size.”

  • We’re late to the party on this one, but Margarita listed 10 reasons why our planners are special on Mom it Forward back in December. Number 4: “The paper is silky smooth…uh…yeah…uh… I think I have already said that.”

  • If you missed Karen’s post about Clem’s review of Ambre de Birmanie ink earlier this week, be sure to check it out! (The review, that is, not our post.) “A beautiful gem-like amber,” notes Clem, with the beautiful calligraphy and quotes we’ve come to expect in her reviews.

Finally, for those who are curious, here’s a scan of the full vintage brochure I blogged about earlier this week… I’m sorry it’s not more exciting, but it’s the best I could do with a copy of a copy of a copy. Continue reading »

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Dr. Beltrami’s prescription for better time management

Posted March 1, 2012 by
in Planning Tips | 1 comment »

Another great thing I discovered in the old brochure Karen sent me is some time management advice from Quo Vadis founder Dr. FG Beltrami.

“Remember,” Dr. Beltrami writes, “My system works because it is simple. Just take one step at a time.”

With that in mind, he outlines these three steps:

1. Make a list

Go through the projects that you are working on. Make an inventory of all the things you have to do, appointments not to be forgotten, and notes on little scraps of paper.

2. Establish priorities

No matter how many things you have to do, and no matter how urgent they are, you just cannot do them all at the same time. Just take everything one step at a time.

3. The time factor

Plans are only as good as how you implement them. It is not just enough to make lists, or even prioritize them… you must give some thought as to when you will be doing the project, making the phone calls, etc. that are important to you.

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