Notebooks

Juan Orozco Jan 23, 2020

Field Notes make some amazing notebooks. My favorite, to this day, is the Shelterwood from the Field Notes quarterly subscription. A pocket sized notebook wrapped in a super thin vineer of cherry wood - just beautiful.

Unfortunately, they're just too small for planning and daily use - at least for me. To try to understand why, I experiemented with the opposite side of the spectrum. I started using an extra large size Moleskine cahier to see what my experience was with more real estate.

I realized two things. 1) Turning pages back and forth, searching for things, is a waste of time. Page turning reduces task momentum. I sorta follow the bullet journal framework so I like to see as much of my day and week as possible. And 2, my daily notebook needs to be portable and "deskable" (basically, it needs to be easy to carry and can also comfortably share a desk with my keyboard and mouse and coffee).

I don't have any shortage of notebooks at home and I quickly found an unfinished Evernote Moleskine I've had for years. In fact, I started writing in it in 2012.

For the past month, this size has been great. Still wish it was slightly smaller but I think I'm going to try a soft cover next to see if that helps make it more portable.

Field Notes are still great notebooks. I find that I still carry them when I'm working in the yard or generally just out and about - it's really easy to use my Spacepen and take down a few notes. I can then "inbox" my small notebook into my main notebook. But I don't use it for journaling anymore.

The Arena

Juan Orozco Sep 16, 2019

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

• Theodore Roosevelt

I talk about this with friends and family quite a lot. Especially my kids. My daughter loves art and draws and doodles constantly. I asked her to publish her work once, but she was afraid to be judged harshly.

It is hard to do the work, to make mistakes, to make poor decisions and then be judged by those who do not know your fight.

I tell my daughter not to take judgment personally, these people aren’t in the arena with her. I don’t put unrealistic expectations on her or push her to do anything that doesn't fall within her passions, but at the same time, I try to challenge her and everyone’s ability to value their decisions. Bad or good, poor or beneficial - it doesn't matter because they are decisions we made in the arena. And they are ours alone.

I've come to realize that this is an ability - one we're never perfect at and one we need to exercise constantly.

Anker USB-C Charger

Juan Orozco Aug 6, 2019

Bought an Anker USB-C charger because I finally got tired of forgetting my one and only USB-C charger at home.

Apple 80 watt charger now stays at home with my Anker powerline USB-C cable, which is actually capable of deliverying the full 80 watts (technically, 100 watts) from the charger, unlike the included Apple cable.

I always kept the 2 Amp iPad charger in my bag but with the new Anker, I don't need to. One charger to rule them all. The USB-A port on the Anker can do 15 watts, which ends up being about 3 amps at 5 volts. Not bad!

The Anker stays in my bag now. It can only do 45 watts to the laptop which is a little low but all that means is that I'll be charging a little slower. If I ever have to travel, I'll probably take the 80 watt with me. Maybe. I really like the size of the Anker charger.

Other than the lower power rating, the only other downside is that I can't swap out the plug with an extension. Not a deal breaker but some people use that a lot, I think.