jshell

After about eight to ten weeks of not smoking, work got incredibly stressful. One day was particularly bad. I decided then that the stress was more dangerous to my health than cigarettes and bought a pack of Lucky Strikes. I’ve been smoking again ever since.

I’m not bothered by it either. At least, not at the moment.

I bounced off of my low weight of 165 and have managed to hover between 170 and 175 for the past few months. That’s within my target range and I can’t really complain… I still have too much of a gut (in my mind) sticking out, but it’s easier to suck in. It’s far less grievous than before.

I’m trying to get back into the breakfast habit. I was great with breakfast during the summer, when the sun blasted in nice and early to rouse me awake. But once the daylight started getting shorter, I found myself feeling rushed in the morning, often avoiding breakfast.

I’ve heard that Breakfast is good for establishing good metabolism for the day. On the few days last week when I managed to be up early enough for / make time for a small breakfast (typically a bowl of oatmeal) my weight did seem to stay closer to the lower end of my range, even if my eating habits throughout the day hadn’t changed.

Anyways, I don’t like 175, but it’s much better than 195. And since I’ve managed to stay at or below the 175 pound line for a while now, I think I can mark this goal off.

I bought a fresh new Moleskine Pocket Reporter(plain) notebook today. It’s slated to replace the same notebook that’s been in my back left pocket for more than a year now!

At some point, I came across the Pig Pog PDA which is a nice Moleskine hack. I took a few good ideas from that page and ran with them, including it in my GTD system (such as it is). The “Pig Pog PDA”, at its most basic, is a very simple template (a side and bottom column) and use of one or more bookmarks via sticky tabs for rapid access to collection points, lists, and/or last-processed areas in the notebook.

I’ve used it as a decent little system. When I’m out and about, it collects information: checks I’ve written, doctors appointments, interesting furniture or other notes, etc. If I’ve collected anything, I usually enter it into the computer that day: checks go into Quicken, appointments go into iCal, actions and other notes may get put somewhere else.

I also use it to gather lists together for shopping (grocery lists, pet store, office supplies, etc). It’s been quite effective.

But most importantly: it seems that the pocket reporter Moleskine is much better suited to back pockets than regular pocket moleskine. I started carrying this notebook around in September 2005, and only now in November 2006 is when the spine seems to be going. It’s only about 2/3 or 3/4 full. I don’t use it too heavily. But the fact it lasted over a year in my pocket is impressive, as the traditional pocket moleskine I once carried in my back pocket lost its spinal footing after only five or six months.

I thought of getting a Cahier notebook for carrying in my back pocket, which is much thinner and more flexible (cardboard cover instead of the harder moleskine cover). I’ve seen some clever and simple tricks for using Cahier’s as weekly planners.

However, one of the big advantages of the Pocket Reporter notebook is that it’s easy to write in while standing, walking, sitting on a train, etc. The traditional setup of the regular Moleskine and Cahiers, even the pocket ones, are often great for writing more prosaically. But for on-the-go note taking and list making, the reporter style is perfect. Even at work, I prefer the long-form flip-over style of a simple A4 Steno Pad over a regular notebook: it’s easier to have in meetings, it’s easier to have on your desk (takes up half the space of a full notebook), and its easier to focus on for lists.