Your Moleskine and Your PDA?

[sand...@gmail.com]

Hello,

Is there anyone out there who uses a Moleskine and a PDA?

Thanks,
S

[Evan Edwards]

On Tuesday 27 September 2005 05:21 pm, sand...@gmail.com wrote:
> Is there anyone out there who uses a Moleskine and a PDA?

I do, but my PDA is basically used as a eBook reader; my Moleskine plus my
Palm is the equivalent of having a Moleskine and a paperback book or three.
I'd like to have a combo cell/book reader/mp3 player, although I haven't
purchased an mp3 player yet as I see little use for it in my day to day
activities.

Data collection and note taking is all analog for me as it helps me think
things through. My writing tends to be on my laptop; a keyboard has always
been a preferred interface for writers since the invention of the modern
typewriter... I use paper because it is better, not because it is romantic.

Honestly, I have little use for a PDA other than reading eBooks -- what do
you use yours for? I have both a Palm and a iPaq (with Linux). I've thought
about installing WiFi on the iPaq so I can do Google and Wikipedia lookups
without pulling out my laptop, but right now I just jot keywords into my
Moleskine and research them later. I think sitting at a desk leads to more
in depth research, plus I have a sneaking suspicion that doing them all in
one block is more efficient than doing them as they come up and creating
another tangent.

--
Evan "JabberWokky" Edwards
http://www.cheshirehall.org/

[sand...@gmail.com]

I find that I for quickie notes, lists, etc. I just don't pull out my
PDA to jot things down. But I love my PDA for contacts, tons of data
storage and the calendar. I need a better method to quickly jot down
notes to myself as I think of them, small shopping lists, project ideas
for work, etc. stuff like that.

S....

[Evan Edwards]

What kind of data do you keep on the PDA? As I say, I only use it for
eBooks.

For a calendar, I have pasted a month per sheet into the back of my
Moleskine, going backwards (i.e., December, November, October, etc). For
quick jotting of contacts (and important numbers like license plates and
insurance account numbers), I left about five or six pages blank at the very
end.

In the front I have a weekly calendar that folds over and fits in the
Moleskine. It has seven days, 8am to 6pm (on which I list evening activities
and sometimes dinner). It also has room for action items, room for notes and
a long strip down the side which I use for project lists. One back I use for
shopping lists. I print out a new one and do a weekly review (semi-GTDish)
each week and transfer over unfinished items and review the items on my
monthly calendar pasted into my Moleskine. During the day I manually draw
Marcus-Bains lines and slash across the past as the day slips away. That
also gives me a clue as to how often I'm reviewing tasks.

When I'm out the only contact information I ever use is phone number,
which I have on my phone. If I need an email address or physical address, I
am in front of my laptop sending email (or mailing something from the desk
next to the laptop). What contact information do you use on the road (not
counting collection)?

I'm not trying to 'convert' you at all (reading back, it could be
interpreted as that), just explaining why I work the way I do and wondering
what you do differently or why you chose to do it the way you do.

[sand...@gmail.com]

I have the Palm Tungsten E. These are the apps I use most.

MemoPad Plus - Here's where I keep lots of data. My memos are devided
into categories and much of the info comes from stuff that I have
copied and pasted from other docs or from the web. Categories
are:Beverages (cocktails, wines to try), Decor (home decor projects,
window and wall measurements, paint color names and makers) Food
(receipes), my daughter (various info), Knitting (patterns, projects,),
Personal (meds, beauty products, whatever), Technology (notes on new
products, software, deals), Work (workplace info)

PhotoAlbum - family pics, wishlist pics, knitting yarns & projects pics

Bookbag - books to buy and books I own

Contacts, - phone, address, etc.

Palm reader - read books

World Clock - work with folks across the world

Currency converter - for travel

Games - just a few

Database app - various databases of info

Adobe Reader - read PDF files here

[bigsumo]

I just recently picked up a pocket sized grid Moleskine but found it a
bit small for sketching and have since purchased a large sketchbook.
I'd like to implement a calendar into the journal but haven't found a
way I like yet. Evan's ideas sound great and I think I might give them
a shot. As for now, I bought a small weekly calendar for keeping track
of appointments. The Moleskine, calendar, pens, pencils and my current
reading book all go into my man-bag (which is another story in itself).
I still have my iPaq on my desk, just in case.

[tlfil...@gmail.com]

i use some of these, but i find that for work it is helpful to have
notes archived by date. i use Daynotez
(http://www.natara.com/DayNotez/index.cfm) and find that it works very
well.

i have yet to figure out a system to integrate my moleskine into my
work organization. right now its just for personal stuff.

[manojlalu]

This is funny - I just bought a moleskine for 2006, and I have a Palm
Tungsten T5. I was just thinking about how to integrate the two,
decided to google, and came across this discussion. Damn the internet
is good.

I think I'll use my moleskine to jot lists down like some of you have
been saying, and then use my PDA for long term calender planning. I'm
a medical person so I'll be using all my medical apps on my PDA no
matter what.

[Ear...@gmail.com]

[Ear...@gmail.com]

I use a Palm Tungsten E for all of my calendar, contacts and planning,
and I also use two moleskines. The pocket lined edition is my daily
walking journal, and the full-sized lined edition is my daily quit time
journal.

The Palm is a great tool, and I sync it all with my iBook. It's also a
great tool for its Docs to Go feature that lets me work on Word
documents on the fly. I can't get away from the way a good pen - I like
the Pilot P-500 fine point (I get them by the box and give a lot of
them away) - feels on good paper, like the moleskine has. It also slows
me down a little to write things out, and that usually helps me think a
little more about the implications and applications of the things I
write down, too.

I used to use generic sketchbooks that I bought at Border's, but there
is something about the moleskine feel that let me walk away from the
generics, even though they are less than half the price. To me, if
something feels good, I am a lot more likely to use it effictively.

E

[bill7tx]

I use the notebooks (moleskine, cahier, or volant, depending on topic
or project) to capture ideas, notes, interviews, and anything else
where writing something down or sketching something is faster and more
convenient than pecking away at the PDA. However, I use the PDA (mine
is a PalmOne Zire 72) to keep track of appointments and to-do lists,
and in various specific ways for field work. For example, doing task
analyses, I use the Zire's camera and voice recorder to augment notes.
I use Inspire on the PDA to develop outlines from stuff I jot down in
the notebook, and later upload the diagrams to my desktop or email them
to colleagues. I carry a folding keyboard with me so that I can
transcribe notes from the moleskine notebook(s) into Word documents (I
couldn't live without Doc-To-Go!). I also do email from the PDA,
sometimes transcribing from the notebook. The PDA also allows me to
deliver PowerPoint presentations without having to lug the laptop
around.

Full- or pocket-size moleskines are for conference/meeting notes not
related to a specific or launched project and for interviews. I keep a
cahier in my pocket for my daily, routine notes. Each project I am
involved in has its own volant -- project management notes, progress
report drafts, ideas related to the project.

So both the PDA and the notebook are useful, each for its own purpose.