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2016 Individual Challenges
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Christa's 2016 Reading Stuff Thread
I'm a big fan of the 50s and 60s. Gets a thumbs up from me.@MrsJoseph: That could be a new signature line for me.
Thanks, y'all! :) And yeah, I love that quote as well.
:-D
More layouts! These are two-page spreads.Monthly calendar spread: http://1drv.ms/1mHtC49 - these come in four alternating colors, chose orange for the sample.
Moment by Moment (or Happy Hour) page layouts: http://1drv.ms/1mHtQs3 - there are four layouts that repeat in journal for a total of 80 pages.
I have modified all backgrounds, so the samples from yesterday have changed a small bit, but I'm not uploading them again. These new samples show the adjusted backgrounds.
The first calendar spread looks fine, and the Moments pages are really great. So do I understand it right, that you're going to print it as a physical book?
Christa wrote: "More layouts! These are two-page spreads.Monthly calendar spread: http://1drv.ms/1mHtC49 - these come in four alternating colors, chose orange for the sample.
Moment by Moment (or Happy Hour) pa..."
Those are really nice! You're sort of making me want to create my own (work) calendar. I've never been into journaling but I LOVE organizers, notebooks and calendars.
The issue I have is I want both Month View and Day view at all times. And I want the month view to be one (or two) pages per month so i can see the whole month's notes but I need lots of space for the days notes. I'm currently using this one from Franklin Covey (and its the best one I've used thus far! I may get this one again next year if they offer it).
http://franklinplanner.fcorgp.com/sto...
Orlok wrote: "The first calendar spread looks fine, and the Moments pages are really great. So do I understand it right, that you're going to print it as a physical book?"Thanks! :)
Yes, I'll be having it printed at blurb.com in 6x9 trade harcover format. It will probably end up being about 200 pages. I have a couple of other things I'm experimenting with for additional pages but I may just expand what I have now instead of adding anything else. I also still have to design the cover art.
Depending on which printing process / paper I choose, the cost will be between US$25 and $45, which isn't bad for something I hope to use for a year, and is actually cheaper than some of the fancier ready-made journals out there.
Right now I'm waiting on some paper samples from them, then I'll probably make a smaller book of just layout samples as a test print before having the full journal printed. That will only cost about $10 (incl. shipping) for 24 pages. It sucks because I'm impatient - I want my journal in my hands! But I also want to make sure the colors and such will be as expected so a test print is the responsible thing to do. :D
Christa wrote: "Orlok wrote: "The first calendar spread looks fine, and the Moments pages are really great. So do I understand it right, that you're going to print it as a physical book?"Thanks! :)
Yes, I'll be..."
That is so very cool!
MrsJoseph wrote: "The issue I have is I want both Month View and Day view at all times. And I want the month view to be one (or two) pages per month so i can see the whole month's notes but I need lots of space for the days notes."That was the hardest part for me - deciding what I wanted as far as calendar pages. It is such an individual thing. In my case, I don't need Day View, per se, so a week grid was as granular as I needed to go.
I like that planner you linked to. I've always been a Franklin Covey fan and that's one of the nicest daily formats I've seen lately. It actually reminds me of an old Day Runner daily layout that was (sadly) retired. (That's why I hate pre-dated dailies - it's built-in obsolescence if they retire or change one you loved.)
Yeah, I'm a planner nerd too. :D
Christa wrote: "MrsJoseph wrote: "The issue I have is I want both Month View and Day view at all times. And I want the month view to be one (or two) pages per month so i can see the whole month's notes but I need ..."Gosh, I love you.
MrsJoseph wrote: "Gosh, I love you."Awww. I love you too. We bond over the most obscure things sometimes... It's awesome. :D
It is awesome.
I uploaded a 24-page demo version of my journal and ordered a test print. Will probably be ages before it gets here, but that's fine. As impatient as I am to have the final version in my hands, I'd rather it be correctly rendered. And my monitor is soooo not calibrated so I need to ensure the resulting colors are "close enough" to satisfy me.Anyway, so that's that on that for now. :)
Have almost finished reading Devil Said Bang. Will probably game today then finish the book tonight.
So, I just got a surprise. The test print I did for my journal at Blurb was printed by Lightning Source, which is like right outside of Nashville. They shipped it yesterday morning and it got here today. :DIt looks awesome! There are some adjustments I need to make, but those have to with the sizes of various page elements. The colors and everything look perfect!
I am very happy, to say the least. :)
Color is the ugliest one to do so that is awesome.
Oh, how well I know that. I deliberately chose a palette that could withstand some color shifts without ruining it, but I'm still intensely relieved that they came out just as I hoped. I'm in the process of uploading some photos.
Wow, I took some shitty photos. It's crazy hard to hold open a 24-page perfect-bound book because you literally can't crack the spine - it isn't wide enough. Anyway, if you want to see them, just look at the last four photos in my profile photo section, linked here: https://www.goodreads.com/photo/user/...The colors don't look much like the photos, though the orange is pretty close, and the yellow / green of the calendar page is also very close to what it looks like. The blue of the cover is waaaay off in the photo - it's nice and bright in real life.
So yeah, shitty photos but take my word for it - the book looks awesome! :D The final version will be hardcover. Their printing process seems to get consistent results across different surface finishes so it should look just as good. I just wasn't about to pay that much extra to get a hardbound test print.
I like! (What I can see, lol)
LOL Thanks! :) Not my best photo work, that's for sure.
^When reality matters you should take your photos with a camera that can shoot raw so you can readjust the white-balance when editing. With some work and effort one can do pretty well without shooting raw, but you've got to use the white-balance options on a good camera and be able to do a spot white-balance sample for the camera as well.Yet another process step in the "why does this thing not look like what I ordered" joy of shopping on the Internet.
Homeinmyshoes wrote: "^When reality matters you should take your photos with a camera that can shoot raw so you can readjust the white-balance when editing. With some work and effort one can do pretty well without shoot..."*woooooosssssssh*
Yeah, I know. My "other camera" is a Canon DSLR. I also have an Oly 4/3 system. I'm just lazy.
I suffer from that too. I've embraced it and learned how to compensate.
In this case, I figured since you guys already saw the layouts in pdf form, it was more about "I have this here book THAT I MADE in my hands! Wooo!" :D
It's totally about that. It's totally fun and awesome. It makes me want to dig out those lounge CDs I've got from the early 2000s.I might not be able to find them so it might end up being surf music instead.
Then you started talking about colors and accuracy. So I just wanted to say that we understand that what we see is not completely accurate color-wise. Almost every photo is like that and even if it's accurate on your monitor. It might look gold on my monitor and blue on MrsJ's.
It's a bit of a touchy subject with me because my wife knits and trying to help her pick colors off the Internet is difficult at best. I wish she just had two sources of fiber because there are too many sites and variables and then you toss in well we looked at it on the computer and then verified on her phone in an ill-lit room.
Lol. It's all fun. I love doing it, but it's a bit of a crapshoot.
You mean the Ultra Lounge CDs? I LOVE THOSE! I think Vegas Baby is probably my favorite... no, I can't pick a favorite. Too many good ones. All of them, really.Oh, yeah, I hate trying to guess color accuracy for internet shopping. I can't imagine buying yarn or other textiles that way. Especially since there can even be variances by batch for those depending on the materials.
I envy anyone who can knit. I used to crochet and I could barely manage one hook. Two needles? Hazard in my hands.
Yep. Had a couple of those and a Morton Gould Jungle Drums one. Couldn't find them so I ended up listening to Depeche Mode because I heard Johnny Cash's Personal Jesus on the radio which my wife said was terrible until I reminded her who else had done versions. Gravity Kills and Depeche Mode top my list for that add one.
Depeche Mode always brings back memories for me. I was listening to Music for the Masses a week or so ago. Violator was a great album but MftM was my intro to Depeche Mode.I think that was also the year (1987) an older friend of mine (I was middle school, he was in high school) introduced me to Violent Femmes. Their first album had been out for a while by then but I was stunned into silence.
They were on the Late Show the other night. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CsKp...
And then they did Blister in the Sun. They did it as an outro to the show, but then CBS put a full "bonus" version online.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2vtd...
Looking good Christa!My fave Depeche Mode track is Blasphemous Rumours - very dark lyrics and video, very moody feel.
Lol. I was mocked in high school for listening to Violent Femmes.
Homeinmyshoes wrote: "Lol. I was mocked in high school for listening to Violent Femmes."Did you tell them they could all just kiss off into the air? :D
What's most funny about that is that no one really had the right to mock anyone for their music tastes in the 80s. We (anyone in school in that time period) were all weird then. That was the strangest time period for both music and fashion... A person could love both Aerosmith and Paula Abdul at the same time. Or Dire Straits and New Kids on the Block. And the things we wore...
A lot of my favorite albums are still from then.XTC's English Settlement
Simple Minds' New Gold Dream
Low Life by new Order
The day after I order the final print of my journal, I get a 25% Blurb coupon, courtesy of Adobe. Your timing sucks, Adobe.Well, I've been wanting to do another book... Not a journal, per se. I need a study book thingie of sorts for something I'm about to dive into. Might make something for that, and the coupon code is good till June, so yeah. I'll try that.
Christa wrote: "The day after I order the final print of my journal, I get a 25% Blurb coupon, courtesy of Adobe. Your timing sucks, Adobe.Well, I've been wanting to do another book... Not a journal, per se. I n..."
PLEASE keep me up to date on the new study book. I've myriad study notebooks that are never.quite.right.
Good, you can help me out. Sometimes it's hard to figure out what it is that does or doesn't work, or what's needed. Maybe between the two of us we can figure out what we do and don't need / want.Right now I'm organizing my bits in OneNote, and that's helping me figure out what types of things I'll be dealing with. For example, I need a reading list format that includes a space to record if I have the book, or if I can get it from one of my libraries, and what format it's in (ebook, hardcover, etc). Also, a place to specify if only particular chapters pertain to what I'm studying.
For reference, my area of study is Post-War America, 1945 - 1965ish. (Not firm on that as an ending year. Yet. Part of my preliminary study is determining the cutoff date.) So, primarily History and Sociology with some Politics, Economics and other things thrown in.
Anyway, what I'm hoping to create is a book that will be a complement more general note-taking. You know, take general notes on normal paper, then transfer a more organized, distilled version to the study notebook. The goal is for it to be a usable reference when all is said and done, sort of a road-map of my learning journey, as goofy as that sounds. Pages of mindmaps, timelines, quotes, bullet-point lists on specific topics, and other types of notes I might write down in it along the way.
Blurb has an 8x10 perfect-bound softcover format that I think would be perfect for something like this.
So start talking. Typing. Whatever. GIVE ME YOUR NEEDS!!! :D
Christa wrote: "Anyway, what I'm hoping to create is a book that will be a complement more general note-taking. You know, take general notes on normal paper, then transfer a more organized, distilled version to the study notebook. The goal is for it to be a usable reference when all is said and done, sort of a road-map of my learning journey, as goofy as that sounds. Pages of mindmaps, timelines, quotes, bullet-point lists on specific topics, and other types of notes I might write down in it along the way."THIS sounds awesome!
So, right now I am working on two areas of study: Physical fitness and Entrepreneurship.
Things I need
-subject dividers (or more than 1, lol)
-place for notes from readings (note type 1)
-place for notes from videos (note type2)
-place for personal notes/musings notes (note type 3)
-place for organized notes (notes type 4 which would combine type 1 & 2 and 3)
-ability to color code
-calendar?? For deadlines even if self imposed
-place for doodles (maybe multiple sheet protector type inserts?? for stages of creation)
-holder for pen/highlighter and flags
-place for printouts (??)
You need a Trapper Keeper! :D I have one, though it's not called that, as mine was marketed more towards grown-ups, but it's still just a Trapper Keeper under another name and with a zipper instead of Velcro. Mine's not available anymore but it's this one: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C...And mine is organized a lot like what you're describing. Those student notebooks and such just don't have... enough. Of anything. So I print blank calendars, put the syllabus and course materials / study guides in sheet protectors (with tabbed sections), stick in one of those 2-pocket folder inserts and finish off the section with either filler paper or a spiral notebook.
What I'm looking to create is some place to take all the stuff in the Trapper Keeper and distill it down to the good bits, as I go through each stage of study, along with my personal thoughts along the way. This offers the benefit of revisiting the material in a critical way, which is huge for learning, and eliminates the urge I always have to hold on the entire stack of notes, etc, forever and ever.
So, it sounds like we're in need of different things. But I'll still keep you posted as you might find some benefit from whatever I end up with. :)
Christa wrote: "eliminates the urge I always have to hold on the entire stack of notes, etc, forever and ever"^this is a problem for me. I'll start studying and things get out of control cause I want to keep all teh things! and I can't.
I do want what you are saying...and I want the trapper keeper abilities, too. Because I have the obscene desire to carry this stuff around with me. Right now I'm working two notebooks, one textbook, an accordion folder, flags and an ink pen that has additional flags and a highlighter. Cause that's not a lot at all. O_O
I need to think.
God. This is like high school all over again, isn't it? I'm betting you love school / office supplies as much as I do, don't you? Get excited over the big Staples catalog? Ohhh yeah.We love the stuff to organize with more than the actual organizing.
I'm right, aren't I? :D
I've sort of graduated to art supplies now. I used to be big into office/school supplies.
I didn't graduate - I added art supplies on top of everything else. :D But to be fair, there is some crossover!
Christa wrote: "We love the stuff to organize with more than the actual organizing."this.^
Christa wrote: "God. This is like high school all over again, isn't it? I'm betting you love school / office supplies as much as I do, don't you? Get excited over the big Staples catalog? Ohhh yeah.We love the stuff to organize with more than the actual organizing.
I'm right, aren't I? :D"
Yes. LOL
I have so many blank notebooks...so sad. But I love them all! And Franklin Covey is like kryptonite! Even though most of their stuff isn't functional enough.
Oooooh! That is niiiiiiiiice! Very, very nice!
Cool. Like the what I'll call turquoise a lot.
Thanks! I go back and forth between calling it turquoise and aqua.
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I have a sign in my library that says, Having abandoned my search for truth, I'm now looking for a Good Fantasy.
;-D