Diary, My Collection, Nostalgia, Other People's Notebooks

Sandoz Pharmaceutical Diary, 1970s

3 Comments

Here’s a notebook which evokes bittersweet memories for me…

When I was a kid, it seemed like this sort of diary was a common promotional giveaway. Is it just me, or do companies never do this any more? Now it’s all logo pens and flashlights and foam squeeze balls, although logo-embossed notebooks are making a comeback with Moleskine’s custom projects for Apple, Google and various other companies.

This 1977-78 diary was given out by the Sandoz Pharmaceutical company, which still exists today. My childhood best friend’s father, a doctor, had no use for it and gave it to her.

As with many other notebooks of that period, it became a repository of awesome stickers. I loved Charlie’s Angels even though my mother never actually allowed me to watch the TV show. The “X marks the spot” peeking through from the next page refers to a window marked on a photograph of the Sandoz headquarters. (We were probably cooking up some plan to spy on them.)

Most diaries of this sort have pages at the beginning with measurement conversions, time zones, holidays, etc., but the cool thing about this one was that it also had all these weird bits of medical information, like having your own mini Physician’s Desk Reference!

Not that they were so interesting that a 10-year old kid wouldn’t scribble on them…

And stick more awesome Charlie’s Angels stickers on them!

The writing and drawing in this notebook is not my own– at first I thought some of it was, but I realized none of it was my handwriting. I don’t think I ever made a single mark in this notebook myself.

And this is where we get to the bittersweet part. When I first found this in my collection, I thought, wow, my childhood best friend Sally must have given this to me. But then it came back to me– Sally didn’t give it to me. I coveted this notebook terribly and wanted one like it, but my father, alas, wasn’t a doctor. I don’t remember how exactly it happened, but I think I stole the notebook from her and never gave it back. She knew it was missing and I think she suspected the truth, but though I felt terribly guilty about it, I never confessed. And I probably hid the notebook away and never touched it for fear that she’d find out.

Sally and I were inseparable best friends from kindergarten until a year or two after this must have happened, when she dropped me in favor of a new best friend and we grew apart. Given the timing, I don’t think the notebook itself was the cause of the rift, but I guess it served me right to be dumped like that– I was sad about it for years afterwards.

I never again let my notebook obsession turn me into a thief. You have to draw the line somewhere.

Other People's Notebooks

Penguin Notebook Spotting!

5 Comments

The other day, I noticed someone using one of these Penguin journals, which I’d previously posted about:

I was all excited, as I’ve never seen them for sale anywhere and all the online sources for buying them are based in the UK and it would cost a fortune to get one. While searching, I also stumbled across this version, which I hadn’t seen before:

I totally want it, but not for $35 including shipping!

The spotting occurred in the middle of a meeting with lots of other people, so I couldn’t ask the owner where she bought the notebook. But otherwise I would have, even though I might have felt a bit self-conscious about it. If she was a true notebook fan, I’m sure she would have understood my interest and appreciation. But what if someone just gave it to her as a gift and she couldn’t care less about what she uses to take notes in a meeting? Maybe she’d think I was weird!

Do you ever ask people about the notebooks they are using?

Diary, Filofax, Journal, Moleskine, My Collection, Organization, Personal, record-keeping, Sketchbook

What’s the Next Notebook?

2 Comments

I’m coming into the home stretch with my current notebook, an unlined Moleskine. My choices for the next one are:

  • a squared Moleskine
  • an unlined softcover Moleskine
  • an unlined Moleskine Volant
  • a Filofax

Each of these would have its advantages and disadvantages. I rather like the squared paper for list-making and doodling, though it can be a little distracting for some kinds of drawing. And I was very fond of my previous softcover Moleskine, though it was a bit less durable than the hardcover ones. There’s a trade-off between the pleasant tactile quality of the soft cover and its sense of being less permanent. I am not sure I want to keep journal entries in a softcover, so would I go back to using two notebooks simultaneously, a softcover for daily jottings and a hardcover for my journal? The Volant would also present the same problem, of being inappropriate for journal entries, but if I’m going to carry two notebooks, maybe it makes sense for one of them to be thinner and lighter.

As for the Filofax– whoa, am I really considering going back to a Filofax after all these years? In some ways, it would make sense for me to have the flexibility of moving pages around to keep notes on particular subjects together. But although I’ve always kept all my used Filofax pages, these don’t have the nice archival quality of a row of bound notebooks. But I have a very nice Filofax, the Guildford Pocket Extra Slim, brand new in its box. I had to buy it because it was the perfect size I’d always wanted, which they never made back when I was actively using Filofaxes. So I’m kind of itching to give it a try, and I have plenty of unused insert pages to fill it with.

Yes, these are the weighty questions I’ll be pondering over the next week or two as my remaining blank pages are filled…

My Collection, Nostalgia, Personal

Modified Note Pad

1 Comment

Here’s another amusing item from my childhood collection:

This started out as a simple plain notepad, the kind with glued-together pages and a cardboard backing. They came as a pack of 3 that were meant to be separated, but I liked the chunky thickness so I left them all together. I decorated the first page with some snazzy rainbow designs and decided to keep it as a cover, folding it back when I wanted to access further pages.

I was obviously being very productive at that time, with a whole page of crossed-off to-dos!
Most interesting is the slight modification this notebook required– I found the shape a bit too tall, so I sliced a small amount off the bottom edge, which was left a bit ragged. I guess in this particular instance I thought 3 x 4.75″ was a more pleasing shape than 3 x 5.

I didn’t write much more in this notepad– I think it was just one of the ones I liked to hold sometimes, and was afraid to spoil by actually using it.

Links, Moleskine, productivity

Praise for the Mini Moleskine Volant

3 Comments

From Goodplum:

If you find yourself out and about and needing to make a quick note – maybe you should try turning the pages of a notebook instead of typing something into your phone. The Moleskine Volant mini is 2.5″ by 4″ and has 56 pages – the last 16 which are perforatted for easy removal. It’s a perfect pocket-companion for any of the Fisher bullet space pens.

Personally, there are many advantages to having paper available at a moment’s notice. Whether it’s jotting a quick note-to-self, leaving a note to someone, or making an impromtu list — paper just works however you need it to. With so many digital companions available (I use my iPhone for almost everything mobile), using paper regularly is a much needed break from the out-of-touch internet world.

I can’t bring myself to buy the mini-sized Volants, but there are definitely times when I don’t feel like carrying a bag and wish I had something more pocketable than a small hardcover Moleskine.

Fun & Weird

Joke Blank Books

2 Comments

Ever wanted a blank book that didn’t look like one at first glance? There’s an amusing sub-genre of books where the joke is that they’re blank inside. Here’s a few examples I found on Amazon and elsewhere:

The Computers Blank Book: The World’s First and Only Computer Book That Will Never Be Obsolete

The Book of Bill Clinton’s Virtues

The Lawyers’ Book Of Ethics

Brace Yourself, Bridget!: The Official Irish Sex Manual

Collected Wisdom of Sarah Palin

Everything Good About George W. Bush


The list could be endless– how about “Paris Hilton’s Frugality Tips?” Or “Hot Nightclubs in Antarctica?”

They make good gag gifts, but since you can write in them, they have practical value too!

Art, Diary, My Collection, Nostalgia, Notebook Reviews, Personal, Travel Notebooks

Memorandum Book Made by Northern Central Co., Milwaukee

19 Comments

Another notebook that was probably manufactured in the late 1970s to early 1980s: a slim lined memorandum book by the Northern Central Co. of Milwaukee. The cover has a textured fake-leather look, but it’s just glossy card stock, stamped in gold foil. Dig that cool logo on the front!

I didn’t use very many pages in this notebook. Below, I was trying to learn some unusual or commonly mis-used vocabulary words– I was always asking my Dad to teach me about things like that. I still had a few years to go before the SATs, so it was just for geeky fun.

I liked the paper in this notebook– the fine double red line at the top contrasting with the blue ones below.

I tried to keep a diary, briefly, on a trip to visit family. And then, I guess, I was trying to figure out how to win at some kind of dice game.

I have no idea what this drawing was all about! Did I see this guy on a trip into New York City? Did I dream him up? He looks like a 1980s version of an organ grinder with a monkey, reinterpreted as a stoned Jimi Hendrix type with a boom box.

Another nice old “Made in U.S.A.” relic, Central product no. 2420. I wonder what else they used to make? It’s sad to think that all these companies are long gone…

Kikkerland, Moleskine, My Collection, new products, Notebook Reviews, Places to Buy Notebooks, Writersblok, Writing Notebooks

Kikkerland WritersBlok Notebooks Now Available

9 Comments

I’ve been wanting to check these out for a while, and it seems they are finally more widely available. I picked up a set of 3 small dotted notebooks at Paper Presentation on West 18th St. in NYC. They also had the large size, and ruled and plain paper versions in both sizes. I’ve read that they are also being sold at the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Store and Exit 9, a fun gift shop with locations in Manhattan and on Smith Street in Brooklyn.

My 3-pack cost $5.95 before tax– cheaper than Moleskine cahiers. But are they a good alternative to Moleskine? Let’s dive right in and find out!

First impressions: the 3-pack comes shrink-wrapped, and within that the 3 notebooks are wrapped in a single paper band. They have a plain paper cover with a stitched spine, very similar to the Cahiers. (Not smooth like the Moleskine Volants, one of which is shown here for comparison. The Volant is also slightly wider.) I like the colors they come in, a variety of muted shades– mine were a dark red, blue, and black. I saw other styles that came in lighter grey and green shades.

The front cover has an embossed rectangle– for some reason, I really liked this. It made me think of some old red-bordered labels I had as a kid, and I thought how nice something like that would look pasted into that rectangle… more on that later, though.

The back cover has the WritersBlok name on it, in the way most other notebook brands label themselves these days.

When you open up the notebook, you’re right into the paper– no cover page asking for your name and address. Inside the back cover, there is a pocket. There’s a little info sheet tucked in front of it, noting that some of the proceeds from these notebooks support literacy programs such as 826NYC, which cleverly disguises itself as the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Store. And it includes a nice message:

Writing is good exercise. It’s good for your mind in the same way that riding a bike is good for your legs. It’s a way to communicate, capture a thought, grow an idea. It helps you think, be more creative, and….it’s fun. And these are things we think are good and good for you…

The insert also helpfully points out that Kikkerland Design is located on “WETS” 127th Street in New York… hmm, wonder where that is?

I was also mystified by this little piece of paper in the back pocket. I thought, well, the pocket is kind of tightly glued down at the edges, maybe they’re afraid people won’t notice it’s there if they don’t stick this little thingie in it? The little thingie was tacked down lightly with a tiny bit of adhesive, but it was easy to remove.

How about the paper? I was so pleased with the first impression of the exterior of these notebooks that I almost forgot to try writing in one! Unfortunately, this started to burst the bubble a bit. The paper is pretty thin. It just doesn’t have as nice and smooth a feeling when you write in it, and the pens I tried showed through quite a bit, and the Uniball Vision Micro feathered somewhat.

I also noticed that the dot pattern on one of my notebooks was somewhat askew– if you look at the photos above, you may notice that the paper band was askew around the set, which was no big deal, but I started to notice even more asymmetry. One notebook’s spine stitching was a teensy bit crooked, and all of them seemed to curl up a bit at the lower right corner, I guess due to the way the pocket is attached.

And here’s the final bit of crookedness that really bothered me: you know that little slip of paper in the pocket? I finally noticed that the paper band mentioned an “optional use label” and realized that’s what it was! It took me forever to actually be able to pick the backing off this flimsy little sticker to place in in the embossed rectangle on the front cover… and when I did, I was really disappointed, especially after my nostalgia for my nice old labels! On these, the edges aren’t square, and frankly, it looks like I stuck a piece of masking tape on there.

The downside to these notebooks is definitely the quality. The edges had some uneven cutting, the details mentioned above were crooked, and the paper feels thin. But I like the colors and design, and it’s great to have a dotted paper option. For a very inexpensive, made-in-China, we’re-donating-proceeds kind of item, I guess I shouldn’t complain but I must confess I was hoping for something that would excite me more. Oh well– I’m sure other opinions will differ. Has anyone else tried these yet? What are your thoughts?

Filofax, Journal, Links, Moleskine, Organization, Personal, productivity, record-keeping

What’s Your System?

6 Comments

Do you have a “system” for using a notebook? A lot of people talk about using notebooks for GTD– the method of organizing tasks promoted by David Allen’s best-selling productivity book Getting Things Done. I’ve had a few different methods of tracking tasks in notebooks and on a computer and PDA, but here’s my current system, which is somewhat similar to GTD, as I understand it:

The notebook I’m currently using is a pocket-sized Moleskine with plain unlined pages. The first page is an index where I reference pages relating to several key ongoing categories:

  • Books
  • Movies
  • Travel
  • Recipes
  • Ideas for this blog
  • Ideas for another blog
  • Ideas for blog #3

The pages in the notebook are filled with a variety of things– journal entries, lists, drawings, pasted-in clippings. I keep the ribbon marker at the next empty page available.

For the books, movies, and travel lists, I have a red line running around the border of the page, to make them easier to find and flag them as long-term lists that I’d want to move to a new notebook when this one is finished.

For a few key items, I use colored post-it flags to mark active lists. Two of the blog lists are marked with yellow and blue post-its. My active to-do list for general day-to-day tasks is marked with a red post-it. A shopping list is marked with an orange post-it. I sometimes use a green post-it for another key list, such as when I was keeping track of Christmas gifts I’d bought or wanted to buy.
When I fill up a to-do page, I start a new one. If there are lots of not-yet-done items on the page, I leave the post-it flag on it. If most of the items were crossed off as being completed, I’ll just re-write the not-yet-done items on a new page and remove the post-it from the old page.
For the blogging lists, I tend to have several pages with post-its on them indicating still active items. For the to-do and shopping lists, I limit myself to one page of active items, and always find that I complete most of the items before I fill up the page. I re-write the to-do list on a new page fairly frequently, about twice a week.

I keep my work tasks separate, on my computer at work, with new ones jotted on a printout of my Outlook task list. I keep a few other long-term lists on my computer, which is handy– I may experiment with pasting printouts of them into a notebook, but for certain things, I kind of enjoy maintaining them with just pen and paper, and having all those crossed-out completed tasks to go back to.

I like using a Moleskine-type notebook for all this because it has a nice permanence to it, and because the combination of the paper and a nice smooth pen makes writing things down so pleasurable. But using a looseleaf Filofax-type notebook would in some ways be more practical.

Do you have similar systems and habits for how you use notebooks?

My Collection, Nostalgia, Personal

A Chinese Diary, 1980

1 Comment

When I was about 8 years old, my grandmother took me to visit the office where she had formerly worked. One of her friends there took a liking to me, and for several years afterwards, we kept in touch through short cards and letters. A few years ago, the friend, whose name was Lucy, returned some of my letters to her, which were really fun to read. I don’t think I still have any of Lucy’s letters to me, but I do still have some stamps from Hong Kong that she gave me, and this diary:

Lucy was Chinese, and at the time, it seemed very cool and exotic to get a diary that was MADE IN CHINA! I mean, who else had something that was actually MADE IN CHINA!?!?! I felt special! (Actually, it was made in Hong Kong, which was still a British colony at the time.) I found this design of this diary slightly goofy with the red cover and paintings and religious quotes, but it was definitely a unique addition to my notebook collection.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have anything very interesting to say during the brief time that I actually used it:

Notebooks, journals, sketchbooks, diaries: in search of the perfect page…