Penguin Girl

I’m In Search Of the perfect carry along book to be my Common Book. I’ve realized I miss having something to randomly scribble in throughout the day.

Requirements:
- affordable. $22 is a bit steep. $10 may be doable if it’s perfect.
- fountain pen friendly
- narrow rule. I *think* this means 5mm but it seems that most “college” ruled are about 6mm
- preferably a light rule too. I hate those super dark lines.
- I don’t really want a red margin line
- I’ll take grid if it’s light and small. Dots are ok too.
- I’d love non-white paper
- I’m torn on the sheet count. In the past I fill these quickly, but at the same time I don’t want to schlep tons of papers around. Right now I’ll say more than 60 sheets.
- sewn or at least not easy to tear out.
- numbered pages would make me really happy. Otherwise I think I’ll buy an auto-numbering stamp.
- I’d love a place to put the date in a format I like. I found this today and it makes me smile. But I also like to put the day of the week and have it “out of the way”.
- hard back, flat (or nearly) open.
- around the size of a standard composition book. I don’t want US Letter (or A4) sized. 5×8 is on the smaller side though.
- preferably a simple cover because my plan is to make a cover for it that will help it stay closed, protected, and provide at least one pen loop. (also my request is for a “standard” size so I can keep “refilling” it)
- I would like it semi easy to get my hands on. I hate paying shipping.

I’m currently contemplating a National Brand Chemistry notebook but wish it had more pages for the cost.

Suggestions?
I have a feeling I won’t get all of my requests fulfilled but I’m curious suggestions. I have a list of some brands and books I’m going to look at today on my way to campus but I’m curious what suggestions my wonderfully eclectic readers have. Thank you!

This new class schedule (t/r 6:15-9:25p, arriving home after 10:45p) will take some getting used to, so once again today’s post won’t be what I wanted it to be.

In writing things down by hand as I used to, I find I recall them more and am taking joy at recording them and ensuring that when detail is necessary it is there and accurate. I’ll write more on this soon. I promise, bli neder [w/o a vow].

I am torn, however, by some of the social sharing and allow-me-to-be-mobile advantages (since my schedule is so wonky and I’m pretty shy) that things such as this site or (for example) delicious or good reads bring.

In any case, I know that I have social web overload. There are advantages that many of these technologies bring, but I need to reëvaluate how or if they fit into my life.

I have a feeling I’ll be reducing the posting frequency here to focus on more polished posts. On what, I’m not yet sure. Until I figure it out, I’ll probably continue as is because a penny in motion stays in motion a penny at rest sleeps for many many hours.

One of the unique features of my wacky brain is that I can remember bizarre random factoids from my life (such as the colour of a sweatshirt I wore in sixth grade for “group” yearbook photos) but I cannot remember what I wore to work yesterday. I started drawing my work wardrobe about four years ago when E complained that I always wore drab colours. He’s right, however I always have and always will wear boring things. These days he’s worn off on me enough that I try to sometimes spice things up with something different as variety for everyone.

I can’t draw very well but enjoy the fun in trying. I recently took a fashion illustration book out from the library and am trying to improve. We’ll see how it goes.

Today I continue to record what I wore for a few reasons. One is that I often visit certain places once a week and could see myself as always wearing a certain shirt on that day just because that’s when I grabbed it and put it into the rotation. I also have too much clothing and this is a good way to track (without doing that weird reverse the hangers thing) what I have and haven’t worn.

Part of my inspiration for this was that my mum used to draw the weather on her calendar. It’s a wonderful childhood memory and I’m sad she stopped doing it after my dad died and she moved. I record the weather on a chart too (thanks teabird for the help) but mine aren’t the same. My wardrobe drawings definitely do not have the same fuzzy feeling but it is quite useful to see what I’ve worn and what colours or styles I tend to gravitate to.

For example, it took considerable effort not to pull out my green striped shirt this week and give other items in my closet a go to see if any of them should be retired (most likely, splattering cooking oil all over one shirt helped hasten that decision). This is also useful to remind me that I don’t need any new clothing.

I generally just record the tops. I buy my bottoms in multiples of the same colour and style and I figure at least for an office setting they are similar to boys clothing, for the most part, no one notices. :)

This list currently lives in my personal-sized filofax (more on that saga next week). It most likely doesn’t need to, but that’s where I started the chart and I find that in taking a short break in my day to at least pencil sketch my outfit (it’s later outlined in ink and coloured with pencil) helps to rejuvenate my brain and provide inspiration.

Does anyone else do anything at all like this?

(regular posting will occur after 09 May. feel free to click through rambling description on flickr, this post will be, bli neder, expanded next week.)

I have half a mind to suspend posting until after May 9th, but knowing that I must post here will help give me some frame work to stay on track. I hope.

Continuing along the lines of last week’s post, though definitely not as well planned or edited, today I’ll attempt to write about what I do to break down a complex project.

1) I set frequent deadlines. I may blow past them with nothing done but the fact that the deadline existed in my head is enough to trigger some thought. Sometimes it actually is enough incentive for me to complete something. My opinion is that some progress is better than no progress and one does not need to block large chunks of time to make progress on a project. It’s possible to do decent work in five minute snippets as opposed to five hour chunks. Thought on a project counts towards work on a project.

2) During a review session of my life (these should theoretically happen weekly but I’ve gotten lax with my scheduling recently) I just write down whatever comes into my head to create my “next-actions” or “baby steps”. This is considered a draft and is rewritten later. Sometimes the list making degrades into doing and if that happens I let it. If order matters I’ll try to order them. If order doesn’t matter and I’m completely overwhelmed I actually write them on bits of scrap paper and pull one out of a hat to determine how to start.

3) When writing down the tasks related to a project, I try to identify things that I can do in five minutes or less. It helps if I get distracted or if I find myself with only a few minutes.

4) I reward myself. It’s all about self-bribery. It doesn’t have to mean something that costs money, it can be 5 minutes of knitting (or a row) or reading a few blogs, or another chapter of reading.

In knitting news I finished both my socks and the shawl. I haven’t taken the socks off since I put them on to take the photos this evening, the heels aren’t perfect because I can’t count but that’s ok. The shawl is currently blocking.

* I was pretty clueless of popular culture throughout my childhood. I owe my few pop-culture references to some great high school teachers who happened to introduce me to life outside classical music. One teacher (honours trig), Mr M, would play us songs on the day before winter break that included our names. The first day of class he started singing “Penny Lane” and I had NO idea what he was talking about and was very happy to finally hear it. Kinda funny now.. but I should disclose I’m still quite clueless on movies.. mostly because I prefer the book. I DID see Star Wars when it was re-released (and now own a DVD set) but that’s about it. In a conversation just assume I won’t grok the movie reference.

I’ve written on this topic before, and don’t really mention much about it anymore. Information overload on this topic is common and it’s (in my opinion) often overdone on the “interwebs” and doesn’t help anything.

What am I planning on writing about? I’ll pose a question first and provide the following disclaimer that this post isn’t as maturely developed as I wish. (as always)

Beyond cult followings, successful book and further marketing/branding opportunities, what are the main similarities between FlyLady and GTD?

I plan to focus on one today, leaving the others for another day.

1) Set time goals
2) Break tasks/projects down based on routines or context
3) revisit the big picture often.

and

4) WRITE IT DOWN.

Two more quick things:
1) My name isn’t really Penny, it’s Procrastination Annie.
2) “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” ~ Parkinson’s Law

In the past, I worked dashing desperately to a finish line just as time ran out. This sort of pressure is still one I seem to prefer, but I have found if I work like that then I do not think about the big picture or pace myself so that I am not overwhelmed by the vast amount to accomplish.

By setting time-based goals (”I will accomplish thing X by time Y”) I give myself mini-deadlines so I can work under the pressure I seem to prefer. In breaking down tasks by routine or location I do not need to take time to figure out what to do when I could be working on it instead. I also do not waste time by attempting to complete something when and where conditions aren’t optimal. I’m frequently and most importantly routinely revisiting the big picture so that I can revise tasks to see how they most appropriately fit into my goals.

How do I track time if I rarely wear a watch? I’m spoiled by living in NYC. There are ample places for me to check if I’m not in front of a computer (which I try not to be, an odd habit for a computer scientist). I find the time on the metrocard balance machine, muni (parking) meters, and receipts from purchases if the store didn’t have a clock. Additionally I often track the estimated time by employ that wonder of wonders phenomenon: time shifting by way of my wonderful iPod. Most of the podcasts I listen to are of similar length for each episode of a certain show. For example, I listen to a BBC production called “Documentaries”. On average it’s 20 minutes. I let them queue up and listen to them when I’m straightening a zone or taking a (deserved) knitting break. When the time is up, the time is up. Alternatively I use a kitchen timer.

It’s remarkable how much you can get done when you are focused on ONE task and have a short deadline (it’s amazing how dinner comes together from nothing in the 20 minutes before E walks in the door). My desk had a scary pile of doom (papers, drafts, books, the socks-i-am-still-not-speaking-to) and I set myself five minutes with New Classical Tracks and I sorted and purged it all.

It’s also amazing how much gets done when two evils are turned off: the television (E has it blaring right now as he does his school work, how he does that and still gets A’s I don’t know) and email. I am not a phone person so that isn’t even on my radar screen. I would mention IM and Ravelry and things, but I haven’t logged into IM in probably a year and I try to limit my time on Ravelry [though I must say that the new experimental pattern search really really rocks my world].

I hope as the academic phase to my Project winds down that I am able to write up what I did (and didn’t do) and how that worked (or not) to get it all done.

Some administrative stuff:
The project is due on the 9th of May, 2008. I have a few weeks off before returning to campus for a summer course. I’m not yet sure how that break or the new course schedule (t/r 6:15-9:25pm) will affect my writing here.

There will be no posts on 19, 20, and 26 April due to pesach. I’m not yet sure about the 21st or 27th. My hope is to post on those evenings.