Designers and developers seem to have an unhealthy obsession with notebooks and writing utensils. I too share in this obsession. I have at least four notebooks I actively write in, with at least —- no joke —- seven sitting on a shelf, waiting to be used. I also buy too many pens that don’t get used because they feel weird or they don’t write smoothly enough.
As much as I love buying notebooks, I’ve found that using a notebook hasn’t come very natural for me. Staring at a white (or yellow) page with nothing on it causes anxiety not unlike what you feel when you start a design in Photoshop. It’s just blankness staring back at you.
How do you organize your notebook?
Despite my deep desire and understanding of the benefits of using a notebook, one of my key problems is figuring out a good way to organize all of my notes. There’s no order, no structure, and no sense to be made of a new notebook. It’s untapped power.
I did a quick search to see how others organize their notebooks. I found a fewarticles but have yet to find the system I think will work for me. I’m kind of at a loss on how to partition it so I can keep different project-related notes together.
Notebooks aren’t made for lefties
Besides the organization issue, I find that being a left-handed person inhibites my ability to use a notebook to its fullest. I know what you’re thinking, Whatever David, just use it upside down and quit your whining. True, I could use it upside down, but then the sewn-in bookmark strap won’t work as intended and it’s just plain awkward to use it that way. Drawing or writing with the spine inhibiting your hand or pushing your palm is just plain annoying.
My notes aren’t pretty enough
I think every designer/developer type wishes their notes were like those conference notes you see every year around SXSW and other conferences. Check this page from Joshua Blankenship:
If you work in the web industry, you probably wish that your wireframes came out as neatly as the ones you see plastered all over Dribbble. I know I do.
But they don’t. At their worst my notes are indistinguishable, at their median they usually wind up looking like this:
And at their best they look like this:
Not terribly beautiful are they?
What works for me
I like to work on plain ‘ole copy paper. It’s not very organized and it’s cumbersome, and I often lose sheets or the sheets get spilled on. But, while being a terrible way of doing notes, it’s the way I feel the most free to create and brainstorm. Often when I’m looking at a notebook I’m afraid I’ll “mess it up” and that it won’t “look cool”. This defeats the purpose. I’ve even made my own notebooks by stapling crappy paper together (come to think of it, that actually worked pretty well for me).
What I’m trying
So I definitely haven’t figured it all out yet, but what I’m trying to do is just get over myself and start using the dang thing and hoping it all comes together and I find the right system for me. If that happens, I will write my findings. For now, I guess I’m still on the road to finding the perfect solution for me.
After a fourteen-hour drive, we made it to our future home city. We’re extremely sleep-deprived. We haven’t had hardly a wink of shuteye in over 24 hours. Now, what’s ironic is when I try to lay down in my nice, cool hotel bed, I can’t. My body is being cruel.
Earlier this morning, I tweeted that Albuquerque is a beautiful city and I truly mean that. This place is amazing. The weather has been gorgeous. The people have been really nice. A lot of people look like fitness gurus (which encourages me to get back into shape). Every restaurant chain imaginable seems to have a presence in this city. Not to mention, there is a majestic mountain view from any point in the city.
This seems like the perfect place to start a church. Well-played, Albuquerque.
The wife and I, after careful consideration and preparation of our hearts by the Holy Spirit, have decided to join our friends in ministry and life Rick and Erin Morrow on their journey to start a church. As of August 1st, I will no longer be employed as Creative Director at Lebanon Family Church.
Believe me when I say we are as astonished as you. We would have never dreamed our lives would take this direction, but believe me when I say, I’m more sure of this than anything else in my entire life.
Are you crazy?
Maybe. I know we’re crazy about Jesus and spreading his hope and love to a sick generation. Maybe your actually wondering: Are you stupid?. The answer to this is no. We are very sure this is what God has called us to do and we’re in the process of getting the master plan figured out in regards to jobs, income, moving, and things of that nature.
What about LFC?
Lebanon Family Church will continue to thrive and grow as it has in the past few years. The departure of a few staff members isn’t going to rock the direction the church is in. We are not prideful, thinking that we’re irreplaceable or anything like that. We see this as an opportunity for some people to step into a new level of serving their local church, and to me that is awesome.
What About Avapor?
Avapor is alive and well. We are scheduled to play at least two more festivals this summer, one being at the popular Unity Christian Music Festival in Muskegon, Michigan on August 11-13. The other is in Centralia, Missouri at the slightly smaller Redemption Fest. We will continue to make music and we’re all praying about the direction the band will take. We are planning to release at least a new single before the year ends and we’re excited to share that with you.
Pray for us / support us
Most of all, we would appreciate your prayers and blessings as we head into this exciting new stage of life. You can pray for many things: that more-capable replacements for LFC are revealed, that God would keep his hand of blessing on this whole thing, that we would keep our emotions in check, that we would find jobs (if necessary), and that our houses would sell swiftly. We’re also believing for supernatural provision.
Thanks to everyone who has shown their support and love on this new adventure. We have been blessed to be a part of something so great at LFC, and are absolutely pumped to be a part of something great in the years ahead. We’ll keep you posted on what’s happening for us. We love you.
Avapor played a small show in Camdenton, MO the other night. Here’s the first song we played. I was still a little sick from a sinus infection, but we made it through okay and 4 kids gave their lives to Jesus. All-in-all, it was a great night.
I suppose I should let everyone know that today is my birthday. I have officially made it to the big 21. Many things still left to do in this life and I’m excited to reach this landmark.
My wife had a surprise party in honor of my special day. There were many familiar faces there and the Mexican food she had catered was excellent. The thing that really made it complete was the cake in the form of a sombrero. I really love that she did this for me. I was totally surprised. I love you, sweetheart.
I feel bad that I don’t really have any wise thoughts to put on here. Oh well.
So, with all the birthday money that was generously given to me, I broke down and bought an iPod Nano (black version) to feed my ever-growing appetite for Apple products. The installation went well except for it freezing the first time I plugged it in. It was my fault that it happened though, I failed to read and follow the instructions. It seems to be working well and I hope that I can avoid the scratching horror stories that I’ve been hearing so much about online. You really don’t comprehend how small it is until you unwrap one for the first time.
![[dustin.cole]](http://30.media.tumblr.com/avatar_68dc0b5f1f93_16.png){kind=avatar}
