7/25/2013

Lightening the load, Part 2...

So, my solution to the notebook/calendar issue is in no way revolutionary.  And of course, it was all due to an impulse buy...

The day I went into Staples to buy my 2014 calendar pages for the Day Runner, I was heading to the check-out when I felt the lure of the Martha Stewart office supplies.  Staples, and office supply stores in general are dangerous for me in the way the Container Store is.  Somehow the prospect of paper clips and post-it notes and just the right size container for anything are the promise of an organized, de-cluttered, chaos-free life.  I can just run into the store for something simple - a new ink cartridge, let's say, and easily spend an extra ten or fifteen minutes gazing at gel pens or D-ring binders, imagining the papers already corralled, sorted, and filed, and the top of my office bookcase clean and clear.  It's almost heady.  Add Martha Stewart and her robin's egg blue and neutral-colored office products to the mix and clearly the beautiful life is at hand.  Here's what grabbed me:


Yes, it's a notebook.  Isn't it beautiful???

But it's just another spiral notebook, I hear you cry.  Martha has eaten your brain, Joanna, it is clear.

Well, yes.  Sort of.  It's a discbound notebook, also known as roll-a-bind, or Circa, as per Levenger.  It's a binder and a spiral-bound book merged into one, complete with removable pages, but without the heavy weight of a metal loose-leaf binder.  The size is the same as my usual notebook, but to this I can add and remove pages, including calendar pages.  I bought dividers to go with it so I can have sections for calendar, notes, to-do lists, address pages, etc.



And if I want to add pages I've created or printed myself, no problem.  Someone has already thought of this.  Behold, a special hole punch!


Now there's only one problem with my shiny new notebook/calendar that already has its lovely 2014 calendar pages ready to go:  where do I put my pen?   But Levenger has thought of this too...


Guess what's next on the shopping list...

7/23/2013

Lightening the load, Part 1...

In addition to paying attention to the amount of paper I carry, my first task in reducing the weight of the bag I take to and from work was to identify the heaviest items and figure out how to reduce or eliminate them.

Along with library books, which are variable in weight, the two heaviest constants in my bag are my notebook and my calendar.  The notebook is key to my life.  It has lists of everything:  to-do lists, books to read, packing lists, lists of dances for dance programs, presents to buy, and on and on.  I used to have a new notebook for each (academic) year, but over time I've started using all of the pages, and simply rolling over to a new one whenever I need to.  My standard notebook has been Mead 5x7 spiral bound - easy to fit in bag or purse, enough pages to last for a year or more, with a handy, dandy spiral to hold my pen.


The heaviest item in my bag is my calendar, which is a Day Runner refillable binder holding 2-3 years of monthly calendar pages, address book, folders and pouches of loose items, note pages, and more.  I'm on my second binder, with who knows how many years of calendar pages behind me.


My version of this calendar is about 7"x9".  The binder rings and multiple years of calendar pages keep it weighty.  I actually still use the address book feature and can get to about June of one year before I must have the next year's pages.  I recently took out 2012 so I could put in 2014.

I know that I can't live without a notebook of some sort.  And while I keep somethings on Google Calendar, I need a paper version I can access all the time without relying on electronic devices I may or may not posses.  As my current notebook has only about 10 blank pages left the moment seemed rip to combine the two.  On a recent trip to Staples, I hit upon a solution...

7/17/2013


Hmmmm....  Last post, early April.  Almost as if someone had a large event, or even a series of events going on that spanned from April through the end of June.  Right.  Moving on...

One of the items on my never-ending to-do list is to reduce the load I carry to and from work.  Over a year ago - probably closer to two - I started getting huge pains in my shoulder.  These seemingly came out of nowhere, and especially when I was calling dances.  Stress-related, almost certainly.  But more than stress, it's become increasingly clear that the amount that I carry is partially, and even mostly to blame.

I'm left-handed, and so I always carry bags on my left shoulder.  My right feels weak by comparison.  I carry a lot to and from work, but I only feel that weight for small amounts of time on the walk between home and the train station, and then from the train station to my office, and not at all during the day.  But when I'm teaching at a weekend or at camp, I carry this big bag with at least one full binder, one notebook, dance shoes, (full) water bottle, and whatever else between buildings, to every meal, and all the time.  That's when my shoulder starts talking to me, and saying things like, "I hate you."
After thinking about this for a while, I decided that the solution to all of my problems was an I-Pad.  In theory, this would replace the library books, calender/date book, CDSS directory, dance database printouts, endless lists of everything, etc. I carry everyday and consider essential to my life.  At gigs, this would have all of my dance programs, instructions, etc., and with tools that are no doubt available somewhere, I could mark up PDFs electronically to prepare for teaching, and then erase those marks so I could repeat the procedure as often as needed.  The I-Pad would also replace my now really slow (really, really, really slow) laptop.  Perfect, no?

But then, there's reality.  Financial reality.  First there was house repair.  Then there was the wedding.  And the honeymoon.  And the wedding dance.  Oh, and the new car, complete with doubled insurance and monthly payments.  And a new roof in the offing.  And let's not forget the astronomical heating bills coming soon.  And the need to replenish savings after all of the above.  Read, no room for new technology.

But I'm still tired of my shoulder aching, so it's clearly time for a new solution.  My first goal is to reduce the daily load on my shoulder.  I have some ideas for that which I'm starting to implement.  Stay tuned...