tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70882663833942823532023-11-16T09:23:50.859-06:00PostalatryThese are the adventures of a DIY stationery geek.sxoidmalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622946839908244709noreply@blogger.comBlogger199125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088266383394282353.post-26803919958891585292015-12-09T15:47:00.000-06:002015-12-09T15:47:42.117-06:00Together for the End of the Year<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC62WGiaV74YeHQ2AhIHWJ-j3pnQDcLCSwqitz1Cl5TxpPrTQxq2qlOdu138qFtatbIx5CEs3WHYfeSslKkUnC6vMOfqiEbKOsQ69lcNpCXcfXksLKuBycD7Un-87il1AoX45YYkBIFGTG/s1600/mailbox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC62WGiaV74YeHQ2AhIHWJ-j3pnQDcLCSwqitz1Cl5TxpPrTQxq2qlOdu138qFtatbIx5CEs3WHYfeSslKkUnC6vMOfqiEbKOsQ69lcNpCXcfXksLKuBycD7Un-87il1AoX45YYkBIFGTG/s1600/mailbox.jpg" /></a></div>
It's that time of year again. Throughout the world, nations and cultures and religions observe their respective end-of-year celebrations. The motivations for these run the gamut from expressing gratitude for the friends in families in our lives, to congratulations for having survived another year and best wishes for the future.<br />
<br />
Few others than those with their head deeply in the sand can sleep peacefully at night, with no concerns on their heart at all. Public consciousness is inundated with news stories about the rise of this tyrannical ruler and the devastation of that unnatural weather disaster, with the vagaries of this government or the cruelty of that population. It is not unusual or faulty to want to block out the world for the sake of one's sanity.<br />
<br />
But if you have the energy, this is the time of year to reach out one more time. While political parties demand fealty and religious groups beg increasing funds for spurious causes, this is the time to reach out as a human to another human. It entails no greater cost than 20 minutes of writing and the price of a first-class postage stamp, with no further obligation beyond touching a heart.<br />
<br />
This is a pastiche list of people who could use a holiday card or postcard, to feel less alone. I'm building it haphazardly, as I happen to see articles on this topic, and will expand it without a schedule.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.redbookmag.com/life/news/a41299/orphan-burn-victim-christmas-cards-safyre/" target="_blank"><b>Safyre</b> is a 5-year-old girl</a> who lost her parents to arson and suffered significant physical damage. She would like holiday cards.<br />
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<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotland/comments/3usxnb/lets_spread_some_festive_cheer_send_a_christmas/" target="_blank"><b>Aron Anderson</b> is the only student</a> of the only school on a remote Scottish island. There is a drive to provide him holiday cards. (Background on <a href="http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/12/uks-loneliest-schoolboy-set-to-receive-hundreds-of-christmas-cards-from-reddit-users/" target="_blank">Ars Technica</a>.)<br />
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If you know of any other needful recipients, comment here or email me.sxoidmalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622946839908244709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088266383394282353.post-81840182285672033052015-08-11T15:46:00.000-05:002015-08-11T15:46:00.103-05:00Good Neighbor Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwOkjjyuTyN6V7x4ZXuresMKMZZV9sdCikRcg6jwKzZhQOaoN72NKvVwBUVcoHScquGh-4lTDOnTCvLpTuKGvI-gYnLE8l8sNvmHAd_6APFMIgKakSHKumb7XS-jv_pAhouk-T3CpdmJUG/s1600/Good+Neighbor+Day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwOkjjyuTyN6V7x4ZXuresMKMZZV9sdCikRcg6jwKzZhQOaoN72NKvVwBUVcoHScquGh-4lTDOnTCvLpTuKGvI-gYnLE8l8sNvmHAd_6APFMIgKakSHKumb7XS-jv_pAhouk-T3CpdmJUG/s320/Good+Neighbor+Day.jpg" width="228" /></a></div>
I can't send this postcard out to anyone. I only have the one and its message is too precious to me.<br />
<br />
While traveling in Singapore I found several great promotional postcards for local events and services. I don't recall where I found this one, maybe a museum or other cultural center, but I saw the value in it immediately. The message is simply that of tolerance and community.<br />
<br />
These values are unpopular today. In my own nation, the U.S., people buy guns and wait for a legal excuse to use them on other people. Individuality and isolationism are upheld as the greatest values. I'm not calling for the breakdown of the individual, and I don't believe in groupthink, but there is tremendous value in feeling close ties to your local community.<br />
<br />
For one, you might not be so perpetually frightened as to need to stock up on firearms and ammo. Right now in my neighborhood, it's the norm to stare at the ground or stare into the distance when passing another person—anything to avoid making eye contact. My neighbors, even the people I live in the same building with, are profoundly averse to acknowledging me. How would that serve them in an emergency? Doesn't that make their house or apartment little more than a bunker where they hide from the rest of the world?<br />
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Being part of a community does entail some work. You don't just fall into it and expect it to work out: you have to think about people other than yourself and work to build those relationships, like any friendship. It's different, because you choose your friendships, and here you're working to build connections with people you merely live near, but there's still value in that. This is the list of commitments listed on the back of this postcard. <b>I will...</b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Smile and have a chat whenever we meet.</li>
<li>Be considerate, keep the noise level low in our home.</li>
<li>Keep our vicinity clean and tidy.</li>
<li>Do marketing with them or buy groceries for them.</li>
<li>Encourage my kids to play and have fun with theirs.</li>
<li>Enjoy my latest DVD movie together at either of our homes.</li>
<li>Be equipped and ready to help prevent crimes and promote safety in our neighborhood.</li>
<li>Be trained and prepared to help my neighbors in times of emergencies.</li>
<li>Invite them to have a meal together or have a pot-luck party during public holidays.</li>
<li>Appreciate them for their friendship with little gifts on Good Neighbor Day.</li>
</ul>
<div>
It's not easy to practice all of these, of course. I have tried to strike up conversations with one neighbor in my building, who would rather slink away unseen. There's a group of people kitty-corner behind us, who like loud outdoor parties until 3 a.m. during the work week, and I don't feel very friendly toward them. But these things take work, and I have to believe they're worth the effort.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Anyway, this is one of my favorite postcards. I look at it and think about how life should be.</div>
sxoidmalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622946839908244709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088266383394282353.post-21612020659006140022015-08-09T14:00:00.000-05:002015-08-09T14:01:05.483-05:00Thanks for Being My Local Business<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKHye3nB09XOkjby0u8dFhyphenhyphenUEV3M4Mke7r2a0YRo1vBg6VMhmOAiA1SqhOgCUocSYUISt-is1KklTz8aUzRWHUZoV_LIGwBYIKXdSEo2I4XsmRA24o55HdXZcK8srMdccAUSNH2wT0zAhF/s1600/tomorrow+calls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKHye3nB09XOkjby0u8dFhyphenhyphenUEV3M4Mke7r2a0YRo1vBg6VMhmOAiA1SqhOgCUocSYUISt-is1KklTz8aUzRWHUZoV_LIGwBYIKXdSEo2I4XsmRA24o55HdXZcK8srMdccAUSNH2wT0zAhF/s320/tomorrow+calls.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">This isn't the one I sent, but I do love making postcards.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This is an idea that's been building in me for a while: write a postcard to thank your local businesses.<br />
<br />
A few years ago, I went to a kind of interactive arts performance/display at the Walker Art Museum. My friend Jenni, owner of <a href="http://www.lunalux.com/" target="_blank">Lunalux</a>, custom letterpress print shop and stationery store, was running a project where people creatively designed postcards. Jenni had brought all sorts of fun materials—washi tape, old maps, cardstock, &c.—for participants to glue and reassemble in interesting displays. (I made one and thought I had a picture of it, but can't find it right now.)<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>But the twist was that Jenni had the idea to send these postcards to local businesses. The <a href="http://www.the350project.net/home.html" target="_blank">issue of supporting local business</a> is an extremely important one currently, as (inter)national chain stores funnel money out of communities. Buy locally, and 2/3 of your money stays within the community. Obviously that's harder to adhere to when an online outlet offers merchandise you can't find around you, and I run into that often, but <i>when you can</i>, try to support your local stores.<br />
<br />
And Jenni's idea was to mail these handmade postcards to local businesses, as a special "thank you" to these places. Because they offer a personalized experience: you're shopping for vinyl or commissioned outfits or original artwork from local artists or an <i>avant</i> craft bistro, and you're likely talking with the owner of the store. They want to know what you think, they're interested in every person who comes in their door. Not so with Target or Walmart, as much as their marketing claims otherwise.<br />
<br />
So we made postcards, and we addressed them to local businesses... and we looked up their addresses in a freakin' hardcopy Yellow Pages, I shit you not. When's the last time you've done that? Organizations still print those things out and distribute them (one of my old temp jobs was updating sponsored content from the old Yellow Pages to the new edition), and as common as this was in my childhood, it was novel to actually flip through those flimsy pages and fight against their category system to find the place I wanted (a local ice cream salon), and peer with these dimming eyes at the tiny print to write out my address on my card.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-TNJIVQmQDxWZPDo77hJ4hFJzBno2DKUX7xH7DtNd-Rr2BqrLlAsxI8MHva7-arpV5h4ERaUk9kpsoQNbLRi8PvucTzUn9dcFTS3LHYZo855NXMDojZpvploiBn1rurDr4cebi8bE95fq/s1600/receipts.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-TNJIVQmQDxWZPDo77hJ4hFJzBno2DKUX7xH7DtNd-Rr2BqrLlAsxI8MHva7-arpV5h4ERaUk9kpsoQNbLRi8PvucTzUn9dcFTS3LHYZo855NXMDojZpvploiBn1rurDr4cebi8bE95fq/s200/receipts.JPG" width="199" /></a></div>
I have no idea whether they liked it. I didn't see it posted up in their store, next time I went. But that's not the point: the point was for me to feel good about putting effort in expressing gratitude for a local business, and <i>someone</i> received that card, was mildly surprised and went "awww." Someone had to.<br />
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Recently, an efficient shortcut occurred to me. When you go out to a local business, whether you pay in cash or credit, you'll get a printout receipt for the transaction. Most people crumple it up or leave it in the vinyl folder it came in to the table, but save a copy. At least tear off the top of it, the part that has the business' address (and the server name, if you like). Bring that home, find a cute postcard, write out a little note of thanks (mention the server if they were good), and let them know you're glad they're in your neighborhood. Let them know what they add to your life by being there. I don't think that's asking a lot, five minutes and 45¢ (give or take) to say something nice to a hard-working local businessperson.<br />
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Write it out in the slow, dull moments of your day. Think about what mood you were in when you sought them out and how they satisfied your need. If they were new to you and you were merely curious, think about that experience of discovery. If you've been going there for years and have come to rely on them as a local institution, think about that, too. This is an opportunity to be very present with your environment, as well as to reach out and brighten someone's day. Everyone likes to receive personal mail, opposed to all the wasteful crap we get, and anyone would like to hear something nice about their work.sxoidmalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622946839908244709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088266383394282353.post-50674273577075478892015-02-26T13:05:00.000-06:002015-02-26T13:05:05.452-06:00Time's Up! Google as Nanny StateBecause <a href="https://support.google.com/blogger/answer/6170671?p=policy_update&rd=1">Google has chosen to <i>suck </i>rather than <i>rock</i></a>, I'm migrating all my blogs away from Blogger.<br />
<br />
Starting in March, Google will delete (new and preexisting) adult-content blogs that do not voluntarily hide themselves from public view. They get you in with all these wonderful free services and promises to be good to their users, and once you rely on them, they start changing the rules. The latest rule is censorship.<br />
<br />
Even if you don't have an adult-content blog, you must acknowledge Google's perimeter of free speech just got smaller.<br />
<br />
<b>Readers:</b> I'd love a good home for <i>Postalatry</i>. Let me know what free blogging services you use and enjoy.sxoidmalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622946839908244709noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088266383394282353.post-17225247255199404312015-01-05T17:04:00.000-06:002015-01-05T17:04:26.800-06:00Postcards Into the Void<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtXLdJ6boJtTHFPN4YrbGSEHG13jRCZd2R4dGIUuujVQewCWlfj05PPR9D68iODEtQIv6u59Ye55hte5S8A6pHoYafUVv_iGET1MK9wFaHuLquMwe7lGcYv69gpu3SDBHjg_X7Ok8Dfqx-/s1600/postcard03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtXLdJ6boJtTHFPN4YrbGSEHG13jRCZd2R4dGIUuujVQewCWlfj05PPR9D68iODEtQIv6u59Ye55hte5S8A6pHoYafUVv_iGET1MK9wFaHuLquMwe7lGcYv69gpu3SDBHjg_X7Ok8Dfqx-/s1600/postcard03.jpg" height="204" width="320" /></a></div>
I'm reviewing my travel journal and, after a few nations' worth of notes, I've started to notice something. I notice it more and more, the further back in time I go.<br />
<br />
Any time I land in a nation, or when I'm about to leave one, I purchase a dozen postcards and take an hour in a coffee shop to write them all out and address them to friends. I was about to say "my friends in the States" but I have at various times had penpals in other nations. At the very least, a few people who collected postcards and traded them with me.<br />
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This gets to the core of what I realized: I'm not in touch with most of these people anymore. I look at the names of people I wrote in late 2010, when my wife and I toured SE Asia. I'm still friends with a few of those, but some of those relationships have petered out and veered to the wayside. In early 2009, when our families went on a cruise, I wrote postcards in France to people I struggle to recall. They were significant enough for me to note in my travel journal, but now they've crumbled to dust and have no property in my life.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>That makes me wonder what's happened in the last several years, that these people could have meant enough to me to shell out a couple bucks on postage for, but now months or a full year can go by and I don't even think of them. What causes that? Time runs much swifter for an older person than for a child, something most people realize after the first third of their life, but do relationships blossom and wilt so swiftly too?<br />
<br />
That makes me wonder whether I should have wasted those postcards on them. Did it mean anything to them, that I thought of them and wrote a little summary of my trip? Did they enjoy the stamps, if not the picture on the card? In some cases, I wonder if the fact that I was traveling abroad was a contributing factor to the atrophy of that friendship. Maybe those experiences changed me from the person they enjoyed to a paranoid, self-righteous apologist; maybe they were simply envious I was six miles from the equator while they were buried in snow. And maybe it's good that those "friendships" went away.<br />
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It's one thing to write a letter, fill out a card or send a postcard to someone you don't expect to hear from. You're doing it for yourself because you love to send postcards, or you know the person will enjoy getting something nice in the mail, like giving someone a small gift without expecting anything back. It's something else to go on a trip, write postcards to your friends back home, then return home and discover no one's waiting for you. Your priorities were mistaken, your judgment was faulty: these were not worthwhile people for you have worked to stay in touch with. They were acquaintances of supreme convenience, and when you became inconvenient, so too did you become not-friend.<br />
<br />
Still. I don't think I committed any moral wrong by sending a postcard in good faith. It was still a good intention and if the unfolding of events showed me that it was a waste of time, so what? I've wasted my time on higher and lesser causes alike. Time-wasting is a fact of life. I did spend that time happily writing out a postcard, enjoying browsing various stamps. As with most things, I have to focus on what I got out of the experience, intrinsically, rather than looking for validation from others.sxoidmalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622946839908244709noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088266383394282353.post-61002481045459594062014-12-01T23:11:00.000-06:002014-12-01T23:11:29.808-06:00The Writing Engine<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo0nP9Z-VAoIzYS028AqIvvNed3pIOBhHrHSzlm8yTENlGE9C49uM3zpeNeP5iZbEdA_Ygdg68u42CvjHKwzmUOeZVpeijmXy2ILsWrKKoRfxR-yBq1WcmCcik7EJDxOfXVZwzkObUmuu_/s1600/NaNoWriMo2014.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo0nP9Z-VAoIzYS028AqIvvNed3pIOBhHrHSzlm8yTENlGE9C49uM3zpeNeP5iZbEdA_Ygdg68u42CvjHKwzmUOeZVpeijmXy2ILsWrKKoRfxR-yBq1WcmCcik7EJDxOfXVZwzkObUmuu_/s1600/NaNoWriMo2014.png" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
NaNoWriMo is done, and I've emerged (barely) victorious. Thanks to a math error on my part, I wrote more than I thought, so the stress I placed on myself in the final 48 hours was unnecessary. But when is stress ever necessary, in the Big Picture?<br />
<br />
Even though the novel-writing spree is concluded, writing doesn't have to end on December 1. In fact, the novel I was working on isn't completed (the word total is reached, but I'm halfway through the tale): I'm very excited about the story and look forward to tackling it in the coming weeks. I've been enjoying my days at the local coffee shop, parked at the bar where no one else sits, over-ear headphones blocking out frivolous conversations, slowly sipping at specialty espresso beverages while scrawling cross-reference notes in three notebooks, to organize that day's two-hour writing jag.<br />
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Maybe no one else has problems writing creatively. Maybe no one else has problems with motivation and self-starting. Maybe I'm the only person who suffers a dry spell, believes himself to be absolutely talentless, or just can't muster the strength to take a shower and prepare a meal, much less stumble and stagger through a shitty first draft.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>But if I'm not, I'd like to share four ideas with anyone else who indulges in creative writing.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlJeYYH7plwcGSLcdGuoC0jAFts0leKpeN1QzR6VGMRBEzVWgYvZPUndmT4Eii0Oqoi1L5kdKSHSXjDiwHbjJpJJzKpgDchncLCYZebRltnhxrZhO093q2LSyD8iTaOj3BepSPnswHmdq6/s1600/noisli.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlJeYYH7plwcGSLcdGuoC0jAFts0leKpeN1QzR6VGMRBEzVWgYvZPUndmT4Eii0Oqoi1L5kdKSHSXjDiwHbjJpJJzKpgDchncLCYZebRltnhxrZhO093q2LSyD8iTaOj3BepSPnswHmdq6/s1600/noisli.jpg" height="320" width="238" /></a></div>
ONE: <a href="http://www.noisli.com/" target="_blank">Noisli</a>. This thing is freakin' awesome. It's a noise-blocker with a menu of noises for you to combine and intensify. I love Forest/Stream/Leaves and Campfire/Night Woods/Wind. The drawbacks to this program are that the sounds are loops, meaning you can't access them without being online and there's a two-second gap when the loop's done.<br />
<br />
But the background cycles through soft or bold colors while you're working, which gently assists with getting out of a rut. I don't feel the colors dictate one mood or another, if I don't want to write in that mood, but I do like the changes. However, I don't like the light blue that prevents me from seeing the white writing or icons on the screen.<br />
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Did I say writing? Yes, Noisli also offers a very basic text program, so when you've set your sounds you switch to the word processor and type as fast as you can. That's fantastic! It keeps a running word count and letter count, too, and you can cut-n-paste your text to whatever document you wish to save it in, or you can download the corpus in an RTF. Unfortunately, your machine's processing may make the typing lag or even miss letters, which can hamper your enthusiasm when you're really hitting your stride. Because of this, I try to write in batches of 2−3,000 words, then save it in Scrivener and call it a day.<br />
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TWO: <a href="http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php" target="_blank">Scrivener</a>. All good writers must know about this. You've tried Celtx and moved on to Scrivener. What's it good for? Organization, for one. You can use Scrivener however you like and it will help you keep track of plot, characters, settings, images, everything. (If you care about rules, Scrivener offers a couple excellent tutorials, one long and one short, to walk you through its robust capabilities.) I don't have any drawbacks to mention about Scrivener: it's only gotten glitchy on me once, in two years of using it, and it cleared up on its own within half an hour.<br />
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THREE: Outlines and Notebooks. Some people hate taking notes or meta-writing, but I absolutely need an outline for a large project. I can knock out short stories in a sitting and call it good, but when I'm attempting a novel? There is no way I can keep my mind focused on extended story writing without a clear goal for each round/chapter/batch/&c. With an outline, and in Scrivener, I can chart out one segment of writing and move the story from point A to point B as swiftly or as meanderingly as I wish. I can write out what's expected to happen in this section, what's allowable and what's forbidden, and within those parameters I unleash my creativity and reach my destination however I see fit.<br />
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Find yourself a good notebook, too. If you don't care what you write on, whether you love Moleskines as much as I do or prefer a salvaged spiral-bound school notebook, that's fine, but the point is to keep all your notes in one tome. As for me, my novel came out of an idea for a Dungeons & Dragons campaign, so I have one notebook with my original D&D research (Scandinavian naming conventions, medieval village infrastructure, original calendar) and another with notes exclusive to the story (exceptions to the D&D campaign, plot points to address, summary of chapters thus far).<br />
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Keep your notebook on hand for when you're writing out a chapter and something unexpected happens that spawns new questions or story ideas. I like a to-do list of scenes/events that need to be written about in future chapters: keeping this on hand is a great default when my mind is grey and blank and I have no inspiration to write about anything. At the very least, I can pick up the characters I know and set up a necessary scene and traipse and trudge my way through a shitty first draft. Sometimes that's all it is, a reference point for later progress, and sometimes it stimulates the creative juices and I can continue running on my own power for longer than I planned.<br />
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FOUR: Alcohol for ideas; coffee for follow-through. This is slightly less important than learning, painfully, to give yourself permission to write the <a href="http://engl210-picetti.wikispaces.umb.edu/file/view/Lamott_Bird+by+Bird.pdf" target="_blank">shitty first draft</a>, which itself is one of the most arduous yet necessary lessons every writer needs to truly digest and assimilate.sxoidmalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622946839908244709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088266383394282353.post-53618684764228479102014-11-02T12:08:00.002-06:002014-11-10T19:03:43.465-06:00Where to Write During NaNoWriMo<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiehYBH_9Yg8zRjb2cn4AqD4jwigCIiaPR9ZM1PQBLxJHCT3LYL2zNyGOq8vvme3tMNy7H0p85lniC0ZZ4VCLNi4usVyJqS2B4qZ8LKrfCEo7N_vxtVjlYJkTRKtxjiDSkM4mIDEDMpIgfM/s1600/writing-novel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiehYBH_9Yg8zRjb2cn4AqD4jwigCIiaPR9ZM1PQBLxJHCT3LYL2zNyGOq8vvme3tMNy7H0p85lniC0ZZ4VCLNi4usVyJqS2B4qZ8LKrfCEo7N_vxtVjlYJkTRKtxjiDSkM4mIDEDMpIgfM/s1600/writing-novel.jpg" height="142" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><i>Image:</i> <a href="http://www.thinkwritebook.com/25-how-to-write-a-non-fiction-book-to-sell-way-more-books-than-your-competition" target="_blank">Think, Write a Book</a></td></tr>
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I haven't posted anything here in forever (<i>literally forever</i>), so I'm going to do a slight redirect and use this space to comment on another writing-related topic: <a href="http://nanowrimo.org/dashboard" target="_blank">NaNoWriMo</a>. That's right I'm undertaking yet another novel this year. I've succeeded twice in prior years, though I've participated for several (some users insist that attempting at all is a success).<br />
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The first big thing that every writing advice book and website and list of authors' quotes will impress upon the would-be writer is that you just have to sit down and do it. Just write. Write freely, doesn't matter if it's bad: in fact, I believe it's Anne Lamott who advocated "the shitty first draft". Vulgarity aside, the core truth here refers to a fascinating psychological principle in which adults have a difficult time allowing themselves to make mistakes. Even with a first draft, even with a barely conceived storyline, many adults feel they have to get this right on the first try. This belief turns into a nearly insurmountable hurdle that can even cause the writer to abandon their project altogether.<br />
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I imagine I was always writing. Twaddle it was, too. But better far write twaddle or anything, anything, than nothing at all.</blockquote>
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The second big thing is setting up the writer's environment, and that's actually what I wanted to get into before I was derailed by the urgency of actually doing the process. See how precarious this is?</div>
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So you can create a writer's den right where you live, simply by closing the door, hanging a few choice portraits or postcards, and lighting a couple candles... so long as everyone else in your household respects your isolation. The first time I attempted NaNoWriMo, my wife was so excited and supportive she visited me with little snacks and drinks every 15 minutes, despite my single request to please, love of my life, let me be left alone for a couple hours.</div>
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Or you can leave the house/apartment and go write in a local library or coffee shop. I live just south of Uptown in Minneapolis and there are several arenas for writing I'm going to document here. Pick out your writer's outfit, pack up your laptop and notebooks, and head on out for a literary adventure.</div>
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The homey neighborhood coffeeshop <b>Dunn Bros.</b> on Hennepin at 34th St. is no good: it's quite busy and boisterous. It attracts people who play music loudly (on accident or not) as well as... very colorful characters. Depending on whom the barista is, the musical selection coming over the PA is either to your liking or abhorrent to your taste. I went there last night, hoping to get two hours of writing in (after checking their hours on their website), and was kicked out an hour early. They changed their hours about a month ago, an employee told me before going into the other room to complain about me loudly, as every night this week without fail he's had to explain that to someone. I omitted apologizing to him directly for the inconvenience, but hopefully my never returning there in the future will go some way toward suitable penance.</div>
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But there's <b>Canteen </b>(formerly Urban bean), another local coffeeshop (Minneapolis is foggy with them) with huge silent rooms and lots of electrical outlets. The music selection is usually ambient or singer/songwriter so it's rarely disruptive. The staff are amiable and though the patrons can run the gamut, usually there's no one more bothersome than an excitable white girl on her iPhone, and that, only for a few minutes. It's best late at night, as they close at 11 p.m. and the place is nearly empty.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX5fRfq8ujg2Ub5lfuS8CcIh4dzRQ6RUvdVhhngsqjlPZ318LxUFmbxH5G73ocvZ4F4TE4Qya7OIqbpyUUBnzoqR9PoxgyKEN1JS8UiVMvXoT7CUThZGDSTMoR1QXpfOaxgCrw-FLpCIGs/s1600/IMG_4404.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX5fRfq8ujg2Ub5lfuS8CcIh4dzRQ6RUvdVhhngsqjlPZ318LxUFmbxH5G73ocvZ4F4TE4Qya7OIqbpyUUBnzoqR9PoxgyKEN1JS8UiVMvXoT7CUThZGDSTMoR1QXpfOaxgCrw-FLpCIGs/s200/IMG_4404.JPG" width="200" /></a>Four blocks east of me is <b>Bull Run Coffee</b>, which recently more than doubled its size by appropriating the space of a yoga studio. Now their original square footage, which resembled a galley kitchen, appears to be an asterisk to the main floor. Still, they close at 9 p.m. and if you show up two hours prior, there is no competition for electrical outlets and their musical selection may be blocked out by over-the-ear headphones, such as I favor.</div>
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<b>Spyhouse </b>is also a location where I've gone writing, several times in the past. The demographic is pretty hipsterish, and this plus the convenient location mean that it's generally crowded. Few things are as discouraging as walking into a place to do some serious writing, and there's nowhere to sit: each four-person booth or table is occupied by one single person, someone staring blankly at a smartphone or just taking up space with a cold, empty cup and nothing else, just to be seen there. But I was able to finagle a seat in a comfortable lounger, next to an outlet. They offer their own Wi-Fi, too, which enables me to block out everyone with Noisli on my headphones, writing to my heart's content<b>.</b></div>
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Among my local coffee shops, Bull Run is the only one that recognizes and promotes NaNoWriMo: on the front door is a window cling greeting writers, and inside you can list your word count on a leaderboard. Playing along, I've written my name up there and am tracking my progress each time I go there. I've tried to talk to Canteen about the same thing but they couldn't grasp what I was suggesting: simply acknowledge that writers are doing this and welcome them to your venue as a conducive writing spot. No discounts, no parties, no infrastructure, just flag their attention and offer them a place to sit. Well, Bull Run gets it and Canteen doesn't, which is a loss because Canteen's open two hours later—I tried to write there last night (Nov. 8) but business was so slow they closed an hour early. Would it be worth their while to stay open for even four writers?<br />
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I did manage to check out a local library: the newly renovated <b>Walker Library</b> is a gorgeous building lined with huge glass panels, inside and out. Inside, I indicate, because it would've been nice to appropriate a private room for writing, as all the soft furniture and most of the desks were occupied. Instead, there was a group of several adults in one glass chamber, and no matter where I sat I could hear a woman in a brunette bob yapping excitedly to her colleagues. Not exactly soundproofed, that room, but I chose a table with four electrical outlets stemming in the center, and my <a href="http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=108&cp_id=10823&cs_id=1082302&p_id=8323&seq=1&format=2" target="_blank">Monoprice headphones</a> (high quality, low price) ably blocked out the world. I favor <a href="http://www.noisli.com/" target="_blank">Noisli</a> in times like these, blending a cocktail of Night, Forest and Campfire sounds to mute the world around me and enable my concentration. The library closed at 8 p.m., so I migrated to Dunn Bros. for 45 more minutes of writing, then wrapped up my genius inspiration at home for another hour.</div>
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And when I found Canteen was closing early, I instead walked a little further to<b> Pizza Luce</b>, the Uptown location. My greeter found a booth with an electrical outlet and I set up my laptop (they do provide Wi-Fi). Ordering a small pizza and a good beer is a little more expensive than buying a cocoa as entrance fee to sit down for an hour, but I was cozy as hell and they're open way later than 11 p.m., so I got a lot of writing done. Think about a small restaurant for a writing location, when you're looking around.<br />
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Likewise, I scoped out <b>Republic</b> in Calhoun Square, a taphouse and restaurant. Today (Nov. 9) was their two-year anniversary, so their entire beer menu featured MN-exclusive breweries, which was a nice treat. The interior is kind of evocative, with exposed brickwork and understated iron chandeliers, which could be a nurturing visual cue for writers looking for a little displacement or escapism while they create. They offer Wi-Fi but their signal's weak in certain parts of the bar: I could only find one set of outlets, so bring a laptop with a strong battery. Again, setting up camp in a restaurant means buying food or nursing a beer while you write for an hour or two, but coming in on a slow Sunday afternoon means you won't be fighting for seating or feel pressured to vacate your real estate.<br />
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The trick, I'm finding, is to get your playtime in early (30 minutes of engrossing creative work, anything from crochet to Minecraft) and trek out to a coffeeshop or library at least two hours before they close, remembering to bring your headphones. That seems to be the best key to success. Scope the place out so you can follow their weekly cycle: some places are spacious and empty on weekend nights, others fill up after lunch and seating is impossible. Or you can find a great location, only to lose it two weeks into writing when a local writers' group decides they like it too.<br />
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So get your creative playtime in, write from 15 minutes to a few hours. Afterward, you need another 30 minutes of walking around to let the creative particulate settle down in your head, spine and corpus. That seems to be the cycle most advice articles and books promote.<br />
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Coffeeshops and libraries are the most obvious choices, if you can't write in your own living quarters, but each has their own limitations. Some shops play crappy music at high volume; some libraries have limited areas for you to bring your own laptop and set up at. Cast about and discover your own resources. Maybe you can set up camp at a mall with free Wi-Fi. Perhaps there's a restaurant that doesn't mind you lingering for a couple hours if you nibble at an appetizer and they're not crowded. Find somewhere atmospheric and conducive to your comfort level, if all you want is to be left more or less alone while you brainstorm and hack out your first draft.</div>
sxoidmalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622946839908244709noreply@blogger.com0Minneapolis, MN 55408, USA44.9479791 -93.2935777999999844.9030221 -93.374258799999978 44.992936099999994 -93.212896799999982tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088266383394282353.post-45596983022424826582014-05-21T22:28:00.001-05:002014-05-21T22:28:44.627-05:00Postcards for Humanity<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Postcards, my friends of the pen. What are postcards? It's a small rectangle of cardboard with a short note and address on one side and a picture or even more note on the other side. They've taken many forms: you could write on a clean slice of cardstock and slip it into an envelope, and that was a postcard. In the late 1800s, in the U.S., it was not uncommon at all to bring your family to a portrait studio, have a photograph taken of your ensemble, and receive prints of your images in the form of postcards to distribute to family and friends.<br />
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Postcards were printed up for hotels, to distribute as mementos of your overseas vacation; postcards are the stock souvenir merchandise in every major metropolis, city, museum and gas station wherever you go. You can even make your own, if you want; find an interesting picture (or a lot, for a collage) and paste it to a stout piece of paper, writing all the usual stuff on the back. Make sure the destination address is lower than any other address on the card, if you're sharing your new address with friends, for example, and leave enough room at the bottom for the processing label.<br />
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Postcards have worked their way into popular culture, with so many references to "postcards from the edge" of intellect, sanity, or whatever forward-thinking guard. My brother-in-law told me an interesting story about writing a postcard in Italy, and the postal workers there tried to charge him additional postage because he wrote in tiny handscript and heavily laded the postcard with too much information. Imagine! "It was a very Italian argument," he noted with amusement.<br />
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Postcards, my brethren in ink. What does it take to write a postcard? Twenty minutes, one Forever stamp, and whatever you paid for a pen (which you can literally find lying in the street) and a postcard, ranging from free to $2, depending upon where you shop. You can scrawl out a postcard in marker; you can cram in way too much information with a fine-tip gel pen; you can inscribe your message in invisible ink for your recipient's delight. You could even paste a false layer over the back and write even more on the inside level. The format of a postcard is limited only by your imagination, which is tantamount to boundless.<br />
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Postcards are the order of the day, ye faithful who read this, ye faithful who write. There is a young man slowly going blind, on a race against time to see the most amazing things in the world before he can no longer see anything. If you have an interesting postcard, or can match the requests on his to-do list, <a href="http://thadenpierce.org/">send him a postcard</a>.<br />
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Postcards. Every paragraph of this post will start with <i>postcards</i> to impress this one message into your active mind. Write a postcard to your friends, just to say hello or something silly. Write a postcard to extended family, just to keep those connections supple and healthy. You can even write a postcard to your favorite local businesses and directly express your appreciation for their existence. I wrote one to a local ice cream parlor, just to let them know they have a fan of their fine work.<br />
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But if you have some time (oh, not every paragraph...), a stamp, some ink and a postcard, please check out the <a href="http://www.postcardhappiness.com/postcard-happiness-project/">Postcard Happiness Project</a> and send a postcard to a stranger in need. These are children facing surgery, adults coping with traumatic illness, even a recent widow who just needs to feel less alone. We all love receiving mail, that's why we do what we do: either to share the joy of "this is not junk mail/bills" with friends or in prayer for receiving such mail from those we love. But we who love the post office and love the humble postcard, let us share this with some distant and far-flung stranger who needs that touch of affection.<br />
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If you can do this, if you can share 49¢ and 20 minutes, bring a little warmth into someone's life. They are not victims, they are not defeated, but they have hit a low point as we all have. They face fear or loneliness, and we have the capacity to assure them all will be well, they are not alone. For less than half a dollar and one-third of an hour, you can comfort another human being in a world increasingly bereft of comfort. In the U.S., our federal government is corrupt to the core and our politicians are wholly subsidized entities of banks, oil and firearm lobbies. At the street level, please, let us show each other we are still human. Let us reach out and hold one another's hand and assure each other, in the face of disaster and the failure of the system, we will still be there for each other with what little we have left, to the last minute.<br />
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It's just a postcard. It costs so little and means so much. Please do the needful.sxoidmalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622946839908244709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088266383394282353.post-61133380543337230432014-05-10T23:07:00.001-05:002014-05-10T23:07:41.836-05:00Moving Day and Blank Vintage Postcards<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Once again I'm moving from apartment to apartment. It seems I can't stay anywhere longer than two years. But here are a few things that have come out of my semimigratory condition.<br />
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I now have a full list of everywhere I've lived since 1996, when I moved from St. Cloud State Unversity campus to Minneapolis. This is important because occasionally some stupid insurance form or credit card or whatever else needs an excruciatingly complete background of all the places I've lived. In the course of moving I tend to discover heaps of paper that have not been touched in years, and these may include junk mail or official mail that it turns out I don't need to save. On these, of course, are all my old addresses, so in the last three or four pages of my Moleskine address book I have recorded all of my past addresses in chronological order, for my own reference. This has proven to be handy on several occasions.<br />
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As well, among the long-neglected property I'm turning up are boxes and envelopes of antique documentation and photos. These are material my mother asked if I would scan and preserve digitally, as once upon a time I attempted to break into genealogy and that's who she thinks I am now (which is cool, because now I have a lot of military certificates from the Civil War). Also, I salvaged a box of old photos my wife's family was going to throw away, when we moved her parents out of their Wisconsin home and emptied the house for resale. In this lot I'm finding amazing old photographs of Russian and Polish immigrants, mounted on dense cardboard or particle board squares. I can't understand how her family would be so cavalier about these treasures!<br />
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This latter thing has turned into a small project, into which I've plunged all my energy as a time-killer and a distraction from packing. I'm terrible, but at the same time, observe: blank postcard backs. Through the miracle of Picasa I've digitally removed any writing and produced an empty postcard, upon which anyone who cares to may write over through their own graphics program, for purposes of novelty over social media. I'm not explaining myself very well, so here: when you upload an image of writing to Twitter, you can use <i>way more</i> than 140 characters:<br />
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Scanning in vintage postcards means I get to screw around with new tweets/status updates, &c. <a href="http://t.co/WQncqWk4eM">pic.twitter.com/WQncqWk4eM</a><br />
— Christian Wilkie (@CWWilkie) <a href="https://twitter.com/CWWilkie/statuses/465304596697460736">May 11, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
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Alton Brown turned to this format when fans criticized his typos, and he instead hand-wrote <a href="https://twitter.com/altonbrown/status/463134911361085440">notes on Post-Its®</a>.<br />
<br />
So if you'd like, here are five blank postcard backs from vintage postcards, from (as far as I can tell) three different nations. Fun, eh? I hope so.<br />
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<br />sxoidmalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622946839908244709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088266383394282353.post-37643380205267046692013-05-26T13:59:00.000-05:002014-07-13T17:19:21.970-05:00Those Riddlesome Moleskine Stickers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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If you're like me, you collect those little stickers that come with each Moleskine book. They're labeled "Quality Control" and they combine two aspects: color and design. I haven't kept track of which sticker comes with which type of book, but I have an awful lot of the little gridded ones, in green, orange and yellow. I have one or two of the other designs.<br />
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Stickers are fun. Who would throw them away? But the thing is, I don't know what they're for. I held onto them in a little ceramic teacup until I could decide on their function.<br />
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The first instinct was to simply lay them out on a piece of paper, organized by design, to have a large one-page collection of them, but I felt they should have a better purpose. My second idea was to use them to seal the backs of envelopes, and that would be sufficient but I still felt there was a reason for them I didn't perceive. In the back of my mind, something nagged that they should go on the books themselves.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>Today I listened to that urge. I sorted them by design and laid them all out to see what I had on hand. Then I pulled out all my old Moleskines and looked at what I was using them for: date books, sketch books, work journals, travel journals, &c. Between those two aspects, I tried to forge some intuitive connections.<br />
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The gridded stickers looked like calendars, and I had the most of them, so they went on all my datebooks (except the one I keep on me and am still working on). Anything that looked like abstract scribbles went on creative journals or sketchbooks. The style that resembled calligraphy (to me) went on my writing journal, and the angular 90° overlapping design marked my travel journal, as it reminded me of Middle Eastern geometric design. My address book already had a sticker like a vintage envelope because I usually needed to find and use that promptly. I should've taken a cue from that system. Or maybe I did.<br />
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Now I still have some stickers left over, and my Moleskine shelf has gone from the austere all-black to a labeling system that announces the book I'm looking for. That actually was a real issue for me: sometimes I wanted to update my travel blog and it took several tries to find my travel journal for notes. I suppose I could even write the years on my past date books, for easy reference (though I do not recommend rereading old journals and date books unless you know for a fact you had a very happy past without any regrets).<br />
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<i>Update: July 13, 2014</i><br />
This update is long overdue, perhaps. Moleskine notebook covers feel like they're covered in thin, oiled leather, don't they? It's just coated cardboard, and the coating adds to the tactile experience of using a Moleskine notebook. However, the coating is also resistant to having things stuck on it, and these stickers are no exception. When I pull out these notebooks after a period of time, one of the stuckers will easily flake off, and though it can be reused anywhere else, where would it go? I no longer have any idea. Use them to close the flaps of envelopes, I suppose, or collect them all on a scrapbook page, but they can't be used to mark the spine of a notebook, I don't think.sxoidmalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622946839908244709noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088266383394282353.post-64305159118737890062013-03-16T12:16:00.000-05:002013-03-16T12:16:58.694-05:00Submersed/Immerged In My StudiesI need to post something in here, and I've been wrestling with words a lot, so I think I'll double-back to that tack, if no one minds.<br />
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By which I mean, I'm nearing one full year as a hired employee of a local health and medical marketing agency, for which I fulfill the capacity of QA specialist, proofreader and copy editor. <i>I could not be more pleased:</i> on top of friendly and interesting staff, more than a spacious creative office, and beyond the stunning view of St. Anthony Falls and the Stone Arch Bridge—I am a valued member of a dynamic and cohesive team, and my function is to clear up the language we speak. <i>I could not be more pleased.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Essential reading for this work are John McWhorter's <i>The Power of Babel</i> and <i>Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue</i>, by which the nascent editor will learn to take some power away from grammarians and lend it to linguists. No longer do you defend the idiosyncrasies of the American English dialect as "that's just how it is" (per those horrible Victorians, who just pulled stuff out of their butts and declared it Scripture); you can step up and say "this is where it came from and why we still use it". Isn't that exciting?<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br />
Well, I think so.<br />
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Anyway, this is something that came up in the course of my labors at work. The brochure we were developing was comparing several models of a surgery room implement that needed to be sterilized on the spot between uses. Some of these could be run under hot water or swabbed with an alcoholic pad, and others could be placed under water or a sterilizing agent, partially or wholly, for various lengths of time. The problem emerged with how to describe this gesture:<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>SUBMERGE SUBMERSE</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>IMMERGE IMMERSE</b></div>
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I had some choices to consider and some research to do. You, as the reader, can decide which of the above four terms means to plunge an implement beneath the surface of a fluid (not necessarily water). Look at the four words, decide which one wasn't legitimately generated but is a backformation of another word, and then decide which word you would use for this process.</div>
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Got it?</div>
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I'm going to run through the definitions as I found them. And what I'd like to point out is that while <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/" target="_blank">Merriam-Webster</a> is the editorial standard for the U.S., there are several very good online dictionaries and <a href="http://www.memidex.com/" target="_blank">Memidex</a> runs through them all for you. You can enter a word and it will cross-reference the most respected online dictionaries for a well-informed overview of popular and technical usage. Very useful.</div>
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</div>
<ol>
<li>submerge—to put under water; to cover or overflow with water. (M-W)</li>
<li>submerse—<i>same as submerge;</i> to plunge, sink, dive, or cause (same) below the surface of water. (Collins)</li>
<li>immerge—to plunge into or immerse oneself into something. (M-W)</li>
<li>immerse—to plunge into something that surrounds or covers (M-W); to cover completely in a liquid; submerge. (American Heritage)</li>
</ol>
<div>
You see what a mess this is? Now we turn to <a href="http://www.etymonline.com/" target="_blank">Etymology Online</a>, to really drill down.</div>
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<div>
The Latin <i>submersus</i> is the past participle of <i>submergere</i><i>,</i> where <i>mergere</i> quite obviously means "to merge with something"<i>.</i> Likewise, the Latin <i>immersus</i> is the past participle of <i>immergere</i>. So why didn't <i>submerge</i> mean to merge with a concept or a non-water fluid? One thing comes clear in this overview: the <i>sub-</i> prefix ("under") makes the word specifically about water, for no apparent reason, while the <i>im-</i> prefix (assimilation of <i>in-</i>, "into, in, on, or upon") opens it up to any fluid or even an abstract concept, as when one immerses oneself into one's studies, as I have done.</div>
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Speaking of, it seems the word <i>immersion</i> was trademarked in 1965 by the <a href="http://www.berlitz.com/" target="_blank">Berlitz</a> company, as it pertains to studying a foreign language. How about that?</div>
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<br /></div>
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And my "backformation" reference was a red herring. All four of those words are conventionally formed, though some may be labeled "rare/obscure" in contemporary usage.</div>
sxoidmalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622946839908244709noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088266383394282353.post-70946322649839019422012-09-08T20:45:00.000-05:002012-09-08T20:45:37.138-05:00Vintage Postcards for Creative Correspondence<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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One thing I've noticed lately on Tumblr is that a lot of youth are getting interested in "old-fashioned" correspondence. One user I follow regularly posts ads from girls aged 16-24 looking for pen pals. They're so anxious to reach out and connect, exploring postcards and hand-written letters as the vehicle.<br />
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I think this is marvelous and would do anything to encourage this. Obviously it's inappropriate for so many reasons for me to offer to write with them, but what can I do to foster this? If anything, I need to embody this practice by actually writing to the people I'm supposed to be writing to. I have excuses, but I would rather sit down and make time to cultivate these postal relationships.<br />
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But at least there is room to let people know where to go for resources. If you have someone to write to (or several someones, hopefully), you can pick up good pens at an art store, and maybe Barnes & Noble or Paper Source will have interesting letter sets. This is only a step up from the most rudimentary and basic form: using whatever pen/pencil you have lying around the house and filling up a couple pages of notebook paper. You can get as fancy or as minimalist as you like.<br />
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For people who are looking for something more interesting than a dozen souvenir postcards had from any gas station or gift shop, think about this: antique stores. If you're not too precious about marring a token of history, think about it as fulfilling an old postcard's Zen purpose. Seriously, many antique shops will have a selection of vintage cards somehow unused for the past several decades! Most of the time you'll find them neat and orderly, grouped by theme or geography, but today at <a href="http://huntandgatherantiques.com/" target="_blank">Hunt & Gather</a> (in my new neighborhood) I found, in the corner of the sprawling basement space, a disheveled bin of vintage postcards, marked down from what you can usually expect to pay for these things. It was a dream! If I didn't already have a small mountain of postcard books and vintage cards salvaged from cleaning out my wife's former childhood home, I would've just stuck two fists in and hauled my catch up, sight unseen, to the cash register.<br />
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So think about that. Find a nice pen, hit up the post office for interesting stamps, and haunt your local antique stores for amazing postcards. Every one loves receiving personal mail, and there are so many little ways to heighten the experience.sxoidmalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622946839908244709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088266383394282353.post-60662447481705695112012-07-06T20:44:00.002-05:002012-07-07T10:59:39.522-05:00Creating Words and WorldsMany people may not know this about me, but I love to play with word roots, like Greek and Latin pre/suffices. To borrow the vulgar argot: "It's just the funnest thing." I'd always been curious about this as a game, you know, creating new words (or discovering obscure ones, as with <i><a href="http://www.wordnik.com/words/circumversion" target="_blank">circumversion</a></i>—thought I made it up, but it totally existed) out of these components. It's a useful exercise, not just for learning and memorizing these roots but as a creative tool: a new word can evoke images, suggest a culture or a new world.<br />
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I've been making my own lists of word components, but here are a couple resources for Greek and Latin medical beginnings and endings:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_medical_roots,_suffixes_and_prefixes" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC194697/" target="_blank">Nat'l Library of Medicine</a></li>
<li><a href="http://biology.about.com/od/prefixesandsuffixes/Biology_Prefixes_and_Suffixes.htm" target="_blank">About.com</a></li>
<li>English words categorized by <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:English_words_by_prefix" target="_blank">prefix</a> and <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:English_words_by_suffix" target="_blank">suffix</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
And now, a selection of made-up words that I may do something with later.</div>
<dl>
<dt><b>tocometer</b></dt>
<dd>a tool to analyze and measure one's children (<i>Ex.:</i> Either my <i>tocometrics</i> are way off, or you're eating too much sugar, young man.)</dd><br />
<dt><b>necrophore</b></dt>
<dd>one who transports corpses/carcasses (<i>Ex.:</i> Consarn it anyway! Whar's that blasted <i>necrofer</i> at? This here body needs ta git throwed into Potter's Field 'fore it 'splodes in this heat!)</dd><br />
<dt><b>demolatry</b></dt>
<dd>adoration of the common people (<i>Ex.:</i> No one with that much money can claim to be a <i>demolatrix,</i> I assure you.)<br />
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<a name='more'></a></dd>
<dt><b>demomancer</b></dt>
<dd>artimage among common folk (<i>Ex.:</i> The street parade abruptly escalated from mere celebration to an impressive <i>demomantic</i> display of raw power.)</dd><br />
<dt><b style="background-color: white;">gazophylacium</b></dt>
<dd>a treasury (<i>Ex.:</i> Fetch his lordship from the growlery... or lock him in there! There's been a disaster in the <i>gazophylacium!</i>)</dd><br /><b style="background-color: white;">amphigenic</b><br />
<dd>capable of producing on all sides (<i>Ex.:</i> What she lacks in talent and vision, she more than makes up with in <i>amphigenicity.</i>)</dd><br />
<dt><b>scoptognosis</b></dt>
<dd>intelligence gained from merely looking around (<i>Ex.:</i> Turn off the news and try being a little more <i>scoptognostic</i> for five minutes.)</dd><br />
<dt><b>glucography</b></dt>
<dd>the art of sculpting a subject in sugar (<i>Ex.:</i> While ample written material testify to this popular trend, no actual artifacts of Victorian <i>glucography</i> have managed to survive.)</dd><br />
<dt><b>epeoversal</b></dt>
<dd>a capacity for turning words around (<i>Ex.:</i> Punch me in the face if I ever date another <i>epeovert.</i>)</dd><br />
<dt><b>chremalysis</b></dt>
<dd>why we can't have nice things (<i>Ex.:</i> We own a pair of curious and <i>chremalytic</i> cats.)</dd><br />
<dt><b>trichorrhage</b></dt>
<dd>hair bursting forth (<i>Ex.:</i> You did not have this much hair yesterday. I think you're <i>trichorrhaging.</i>)</dd><br />
<dt><b>oesophore</b> (Amer. <i>esophore</i>)</dt>
<dd>that which carries those which carry (<i>Ex.:</i> A mailman's horse.)</dd><br />
<dt><b>siderocordic</b></dt>
<dd>iron-hearted (<i>Ex.:</i> Come here and kiss me, you unlikable, <i>siderocordic</i> coprophage.)</dd><br />
<dt><b>zymolatric</b></dt>
<dd>overly fond of fermentation (<i>Ex.:</i> After boiling 12 gallons of wort, the <i>zymolaters</i> each took a pot home to work their discrete magic upon it.)</dd><br />
<dt><b>ephebopenia</b></dt>
<dd>a paucity or dearth of teenagers (<i>Ex.:</i> Quick, my love, let us enjoy the <i>ephebopenic</i> streets until the Justin Bieber show lets out.)</dd><br />
<dt><b>pantacusis</b></dt>
<dd>a variant of clairaudience (<i>Ex.:</i> I mayn't confirm what you claim to have heard in Kuala Lumpur just now, but I think the rest of your <i>soi disant</i> <i>pantacusis</i> is nothing more than eavesdropping.)</dd><br />
<dt><b>methodypsia</b></dt>
<dd>a condition in which one gets thirstier with the more booze one imbibes (<i>Ex.:</i> self-explanatory)</dd><br />
<dt><b>pygodyte</b></dt>
<dd>something that enters or lives in your butt (<i>Ex.:</i> Much of R. Crumb's work was titanophilic, yet I own a few <i>pygoditic</i> specimina.)</dd>
</dl>sxoidmalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622946839908244709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088266383394282353.post-47576386763662694422012-07-05T23:51:00.002-05:002012-07-05T23:51:38.783-05:00Geographical Philatelists Are Vicious<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHIfZOvWAlT4nLYzqVS10T9p7PpnDi-5KtieoN9ax02Zia3bHXMivoVh_xvLjM-rasZIB833shklr2EQoVWrmKVNn6yQOP07ov1WXJlsn2cIPPCi95kbwt8tCzo4kOiKT_WpZOLAo74hAH/s1600/South+Moluccas02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHIfZOvWAlT4nLYzqVS10T9p7PpnDi-5KtieoN9ax02Zia3bHXMivoVh_xvLjM-rasZIB833shklr2EQoVWrmKVNn6yQOP07ov1WXJlsn2cIPPCi95kbwt8tCzo4kOiKT_WpZOLAo74hAH/s200/South+Moluccas02.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
My original post on some stamps I found, from the <a href="http://postalatry.blogspot.com/2009/08/republik-maluku-selatan.html" target="_blank">Republic of South Moluccas</a>, has received some negative press! (If one snotty know-it-all and one offensive L2 learner over the course of three years is "negative press.")<br />
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You can <a href="http://swevenvolant.blogspot.com/2012/07/poor-online-representation.html" target="_blank">read about the drama here</a>, on my other blog, <i>Sweven Volant.</i> Why'd I update this story there and not here? Well, I wrote the original post in 2009 so updating that entry would guarantee no one would ever see it. This way, I can share the love between that blog and this one (and I haven't had anything really startling to post in that other blog).<br />
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It's not necessary to read either of these posts to fully enjoy one's life experience. This is just a funny thing that happened. Not uproariously funny, but... funny enough.sxoidmalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622946839908244709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088266383394282353.post-89523395832452571452012-06-18T00:26:00.004-05:002012-06-18T00:26:43.594-05:00Bic Round Stic: a Brief Declaration<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAEf3DryEL0QOlfM0zCRjOPdSym-rdWEC0tRuJ4hG9igYov1hbUA0y0x7b66XZiDajOkUmZ58bTDKyDcSJjgrL_k-mfifPK5ZOGnOXRjy-F0W7EC1UT91p9Xsy-VUpChhsAB4dARdkRg9E/s1600/Bic+Round+Stic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAEf3DryEL0QOlfM0zCRjOPdSym-rdWEC0tRuJ4hG9igYov1hbUA0y0x7b66XZiDajOkUmZ58bTDKyDcSJjgrL_k-mfifPK5ZOGnOXRjy-F0W7EC1UT91p9Xsy-VUpChhsAB4dARdkRg9E/s400/Bic+Round+Stic.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I tell you, the most notable trait about the Bic Round Stic ballpoint pen is its singular ability to never retain its cap. I have five of these pens at my desk—they seem to migrate to me, as though (mistakenly) believing that I among all others in the office have a capacity to love them—and they write well enough but there is not a single pen cap between them. Therefore they may never be transported, unless you don't care what the pocket of your trousers looks like. They simply amass like an invasive species, washed up on my shore.sxoidmalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622946839908244709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088266383394282353.post-87901275877008338342012-06-12T18:22:00.000-05:002012-06-12T18:22:19.893-05:00The Best of the Worst PostcardsI've been keeping this news article open in my browser for about a week. It's high time I shared it with everyone else (so I can close and refresh my freakin' browser).<br />
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<a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/06/bad_postcard_of_the_week_paul.html">Bad Postcard of the Week</a> sounds maybe a little mean-spirited, if you have an underdoggish view of the postal system, but the writer isn't deriding postal transmissions. He's simply acknowledging that alongside the quaint, gorgeous, and touching postcards flying around the world for over a century, there are also some really bad examples too. There are postcards so ugly, they transgress the border of surrealism.<br />
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It is <i>not</i> the postcard's fault. Nobody's saying that.<br />
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What I like is that he accepts submissions, so his collection has got to look like the fabric from which nightmares are cut. Can you imagine? In <a href="http://www.postcrossing.com/" target="_blank">Postcrossing</a>, participants commonly ask for themed postcards: one girl collects black-and-white images, another retiree would like pictures of lighthouses, and some young guy is asking for anything porn-like that can legally be sent through the mail. Everyone has their preferences.<br />
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Now, imagine what would happen if you asked everyone for the most garish, confusing postcards anyone could get their hands on. Try to imagine what would show up in your mailbox each week. I'll give you a hint: <i>you can't possibly imagine.</i> The images that would enter your home have the advantage, in that they represent the end-product of someone else's lifetime of poor judgment and damaged aesthetics. You can't sit there for ten whole minutes and guess what otherworldly creations have been orchestrated and set to print.<br />
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But it's intriguing, isn't it? Even if you asked for something particular, like "a woman holding a candle" or "a young man in a hat," you would receive the entire world's creative interpretation of those themes. You could conceivably end up with over a hundred <i>different</i> images of a young man in a hat. Isn't that intriguing?sxoidmalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622946839908244709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088266383394282353.post-89045008908044768552012-06-09T13:19:00.000-05:002012-06-09T13:19:09.408-05:00Minesweeper Postcards<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://cdn2.ubergizmo.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/minesweeper-scratchcard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="151" src="http://cdn2.ubergizmo.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/minesweeper-scratchcard.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;">Image: <a href="http://www.ubergizmo.com/" target="_blank">Ubergizmo</a></td></tr>
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Retro-tech, ahoy!<br />
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No, even more retro than playing your first game of Minesweeper on your first (office) computer. The design of these <a href="http://www.ubergizmo.com/2012/06/minesweeper-postcard/" target="_blank">Minesweeper postcards</a> uses the very simple occlusion technology so favored by lottery tickets around the world.<br />
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Myself, I used to get all excited about the <a href="http://www.retrothing.com/2007/03/play_pacman_wit.html" target="_blank">scratch-off Pac-Man cards</a> that came with sticker and a token piece of bubble gum. You had to uncover dots and power pellets to get all around the board without uncovering a ghost.<br />
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So while everyone else dwells in fear of which video game will next be converted into a movie, I'm wondering which could possibly be reinterpreted as a scratch-off game. Hopefully on a postcard, of course.sxoidmalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622946839908244709noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088266383394282353.post-66660957852906885482012-05-26T15:06:00.000-05:002012-05-26T15:06:15.543-05:00Opinions as Strong as Glue StickI'm sure everyone's been paying attention, but I feel like I need to be clear about my preferences in glue stick.<br />
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Is it urgent? No. I just like to boost for good products and warn against poor ones.<br />
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Is that geeky? Likely, but life's too short to want to be like other people, to live others' lives in replacement of one's own. And life's too short to be embarrassed—for very long—about flying one's freak flag.<br />
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I use a lot of glue stick (a <i>lot</i>) so I have some opinions about it. I've used it to craft and seal envelopes, to cover Moleskine notebooks, to wrap presents, repair library books, flyer around town, &c. In the course of using a lot of glue stick, one may develop a curiosity about alternative brands and, consequently, to notice trends and tendencies of one product against another. This is fine and natural, and I believe it's important to share one's impressions with others.<br />
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I'm sure I've used other, generic glue sticks before, and if I were very diligent I would run out and pick some up. I know Office Depot has a house brand, and Target probably carries alternate brands. I'm only reviewing what I happen to have on hand.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0NaY4i_29nAjDqE_LH9VRV-70QxZXZIpdaEyP8GhEuTMWOXvNJG07gM2Cmqj94nAHlo3HshX00fvM5IsOHGrjEdrjRWwVyNhevuFFstTH9LWMy7DT92bEd6wdi0MyI6N0M7baFJvlvF77/s1600/travel+scrapbook.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0NaY4i_29nAjDqE_LH9VRV-70QxZXZIpdaEyP8GhEuTMWOXvNJG07gM2Cmqj94nAHlo3HshX00fvM5IsOHGrjEdrjRWwVyNhevuFFstTH9LWMy7DT92bEd6wdi0MyI6N0M7baFJvlvF77/s320/travel+scrapbook.JPG" width="229" /></a></div>
I knew I would be using up a lot of glue stick on my travels throughout Southeast Asia, for example. I bought an extra-large Moleskine folio to use as a kind of scrapbook, collecting business cards, maps, tourist brochures, photos, and all sorts of odds and ends I found along the way. I just wanted to paste them quickly into the book and save them for future perusal. I like the artifacts of other nations, the details of foreign contexts.<br />
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So I packed a couple <a href="http://www.elmers.com/about/glue-sticks" target="_blank">Elmer's</a> glue sticks and went through them fine enough, but the thing about glue sticks in my possession is that they don't seem to last very long. I burned through two in two months, approximately, and I needed to shop for more. Fortunately for someone like me, SE Asia is full of stationery shops everywhere you go. Seriously! It's like paper, pens, ink, glue, and notebooks are really important to them.<br />
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It was no problem at all to find a Thai store selling glue stick (<i>photo: center</i>), and I was really impressed with this. Its English name is "Sticko" but it's made in Korea and I can't find a website for it. What's problematic in researching this is that not all of the rest of the world respects U.S. trademark, so Sticko could be something else's name entirely. What I noticed about the tube itself was that it was precisely identical to the Elmer's tube in every way except size: the smooth-headed cap bore the same vertical grooves, and the base grip to elevate the glue was exactly like the U.S. brand. Maybe Elmer's even makes other off-brands of its own product exclusively for sale outside the U.S. Lots of companies do that.<br />
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Eventually that ran out, and even more eventually I returned to the States. It was several months before I discovered <a href="http://www.saunders-usa.com/uhu/" target="_blank">UHU</a>, however, and that was in the book-making section of <a href="https://www.loft.org/" target="_blank">The Loft</a>. I figured an organization like that would know a thing or two about application-specific adhesives so I gambled on a tube of it.<br />
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Here's the salient difference between Elmer's and UHU: moisture. Using Elmer's will warp whatever you're gluing. If it's a piece of paper, it doesn't matter, but if you're applying a coat to the kraft cover of a Moleskine, say, it will bend like a bow. This is irritating for applying items to it and confounding to straighten out: I have to let a booklet dry under the weight of several large tomes or heavy appliances. Not so with UHU: no warping, and you can leave it to dry on your table top. Its glue doesn't retain as much moisture as Elmer's seems to, for some reason, so it's a very flexible and cooperative adhesive for paper projects, in my experience.sxoidmalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622946839908244709noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088266383394282353.post-35363281986914194832012-05-22T22:42:00.003-05:002012-05-22T22:42:43.308-05:00Spelling Beer Names Is TrickyI try to let local businesses off the hook. They're working hard, they're doing good work (patronizing local businesses keeps two thirds of the money you spend within the community, as opposed to funneling it off elsewhere), and they've got a lot on their mind.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnaMpJ-kfE_T5Yw2RUQTshiLSuFSWn5MXIc7mdzdKSRjUeV08cHauXRUo9aVwzPgc22GniNjdYa2x9mvais8Pg4jsLSlhQMh_ns9Kda5edyF8c7C0WX810wihNy9JfyRnVxVnd8RdsbF3t/s1600/IMG_0036.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnaMpJ-kfE_T5Yw2RUQTshiLSuFSWn5MXIc7mdzdKSRjUeV08cHauXRUo9aVwzPgc22GniNjdYa2x9mvais8Pg4jsLSlhQMh_ns9Kda5edyF8c7C0WX810wihNy9JfyRnVxVnd8RdsbF3t/s320/IMG_0036.JPG" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taken at the Herkimer, Mpls., MN</td></tr>
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I don't let major corporations off the hook. When they make errors, I take no little delight in highlighting these and parading them before a public audience, whether here on my sad little blog or on my favorite message board (which shall go unnamed). I feel that they should be better than a struggling mom-and-pop, in terms of professionalism. It would fill me with dread to think that a juggernaut of ineptitude and "that's good enough, I guess" could emerge to stake a national claim and go after the checkbooks of hard-working, decent citizens such as you and me.<br />
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Is that a double-standard? I don't think so.<br />
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At the same time, this was quite a slip-up. I like the <a href="http://theherkimer.com/" target="_blank">Herkimer</a> because they make great beer right there on the premises. I like them even more now that I myself am into homebrewing. I would love to sit in and watch while their guy goes about his business, checking the vats, mixing the grains (though I suspect much of it is automated). Yet someone wrote out that chalkboard sign by hand, someone had to have sounded out the letters while they wrote it, and someone had to have stepped back to admire their handiwork. Not to mention, other workers must have looked at this sign, as well as countless customers from all walks of life. Hipsters tend to settle in at our local bars like a plague of tasteless, undereducated locusts, but the Herkimer enjoys a broad spectrum of clientele, I think.<br />
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Someone should have noticed this by now, is what I'm saying.sxoidmalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622946839908244709noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088266383394282353.post-36879137474715578672012-05-20T18:43:00.002-05:002012-05-20T18:43:43.608-05:00Required: Moleskine as Work JournalConsidering how much I love Moleskine, I thought I should delineate exactly what I use all mine for. I have a collection of notebooks that's dominating an entire bookshelf, and each book has specific functions, whether it's the regular notebook that always appears in every selection, the Volant, the Cahier, or all the other varieties and variations they produce.<br />
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I maintain a work journal, which I urgently request everyone try. The best and foremost reason for this is that you can record your triumphs and personal victories—as well as the details of any trouble in the office—to support/defend yourself around review time. When these annual reviews come down, you know you've done a great job but the particulars of your invaluable support may have slipped your mind unless you've written them down in a work journal.<br />
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After that, it helps when you contract yourself to a place and need to record how much time you spend on a project. There are a few ways to do this, depending upon the requirements of your office:<br />
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Simply record the highlights of every conversation you have with everyone. Summarize the e-mail exchanges, record the results or indicate the results you're waiting for. Always, always track the names of everyone you've talked to. This isn't just to "cover your ass," this actually helps you do a better job when you need to follow up on the progress of a project.<br />
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And when you're unemployed, note all the interviews with all the businesses you're arranging. Get on LinkedIn, and before you go in for an interview, look up the person you're going to speak with and write down all the mutual contacts you share. It turned out my supervisor at one worksite was childhood friends with the creative director of the office I interviewed at. In this case, 30 seconds of research can pay off.<br />
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How to track projects:<br />
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<center><table border="1" cellpadding="5"><tbody>
<tr><td><b>Job Code</b></td><td><b>Description</b></td><td><b>Time on Project</b></td></tr>
<tr><td>48045</td><td>Spring Email Blast</td><td>8:30-10AM</td></tr>
<tr><td>50110</td><td>Website Proposal</td><td>10-11AM</td></tr>
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This method is useful because You know exactly which project you worked on, the description HR will use to track your time, and how much time you spent on it. Be sure to ask how the site tracks its time: I've worked in places that generously block it in 15-minute increments (you can track more time than you were physically in the office, some days) and other sites that need you to measure your work in 5-minute or 7.5-minute increments. And that's a freakin' pain, but you can bill your handwriting to the client as you record these details responsibly.<br />
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Obviously, you can expand that table infinitely. My current place uses two job codes: one for the client, one for the project, and then I record the clock time as well as tally up the quarter-hours in decimal for easy reckoning at the end of the day. For my math I total the hours I was in the office, subtract the total time I spent on projects, subtract lunch (also I record lunch), and that leaves me with the time between projects which could've been anything from straightening my desk and fighting with a printer to non-client staff meetings.<br />
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But every row is one row in my Moleskine. I write in small handwriting and can fit two days of work on one page, usually. Every second or third page is my work journal where I record strange behavior of my coworkers, conversations I've had with my supervisors, questions for clients and their results, etc. Now, when someone says "Where's the S______ brochure?" I can say "I handed it to L______ two hours ago." That's not always required information, but in those moments when it's needed you distinguish yourself as the Lifesaver for having it. And I can record that, put a little star next to that line, and when I go in for my monthly review I can summarize all the stars I've accumulated to justify why I'm actually an asset and not a liability.sxoidmalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622946839908244709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088266383394282353.post-45320470668576399182012-04-28T22:18:00.002-05:002012-04-28T22:49:47.542-05:00DIY Deco: Moleskine NotebooksNow, anyone who's read EVERYTHING I'VE EVER WRITTEN EVERYWHERE may have detected by this point that I'm favorably inclined toward Moleskine (MOLL-eh-SKEEN-eh: I correct myself whenever I say it). And I have found there are two Moleskine websites: <a href="http://www.moleskine.com/" target="_blank">Moleskine</a> (Europe) and <a href="http://www.moleskineus.com/" target="_blank">MoleskineUS</a>. Why are there two? I dunno, maybe it's just easier to have a European headquarters that takes care of all nations outside of the U.S.<br />
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The Euro Moleskine site has what they call an Artists Marketplace: users are invited to buy Moleskine notebooks, decorate them inside and/or out, and sell them here to a global market. <a href="http://artistmarketplace.moleskine.com/en/meet-the-artists/sxoidmal" target="_blank">I decided to try my hand</a> and take the plunge, but so far there have been no takers. None from other countries, anyway: my friend Kate met me and, over ice cream, perused my selection and decided which (of the three I'd produced) she wanted.</div>
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Let me tell you about these notebooks. I purchased the pack-o-three "large" unlined Moleskine Cahiers with kraft covers. Among my statio is a file of old maps, so the notebooks are covered in a 1965 National Geographic world map. Their covers feature the South Atlantic Ocean (<i>pictured</i>), the North American continent, and the Scandinavian nations and northern Europe.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM4gCK09AdVZqcu67z8I4mPEKb7dYe-Pa9JOD0usf2xZe65ZaUZ0bb1Kw1jR4bEhRXt9rGjQVlTVKxGQ8L4i4A0HD2GmR0LXSdIqH2dhOXcMpkAXmYZjLa0yFISw1n7KIPNtomU51xsbMe/s1600/S-Atlantic-Cahier-002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM4gCK09AdVZqcu67z8I4mPEKb7dYe-Pa9JOD0usf2xZe65ZaUZ0bb1Kw1jR4bEhRXt9rGjQVlTVKxGQ8L4i4A0HD2GmR0LXSdIqH2dhOXcMpkAXmYZjLa0yFISw1n7KIPNtomU51xsbMe/s200/S-Atlantic-Cahier-002.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2_R28gwPTPMX4A_oc80DeRDWxsT-KiCjaMpXwtodLRtuJqeCsNdZQ8I6vq9N2TPLAOALrLrzSACJFZUSVmX_kAxlRvZPSmA8tSipIdUDHPepyiO_QdLJtoX-Gj-SYUsm11edZbxVHDNRG/s1600/S-Atlantic-Cahier-001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2_R28gwPTPMX4A_oc80DeRDWxsT-KiCjaMpXwtodLRtuJqeCsNdZQ8I6vq9N2TPLAOALrLrzSACJFZUSVmX_kAxlRvZPSmA8tSipIdUDHPepyiO_QdLJtoX-Gj-SYUsm11edZbxVHDNRG/s200/S-Atlantic-Cahier-001.JPG" width="200" /></a>To cover up the flaps from the map, pasted in the inside covers, I salvaged some material I've collected. Inside the front cover I pasted pages from a Thai comic from three years ago (one page is stamped with the Buddhist calendar system), comics featuring romantic stories or ghost tales. The back cover is plastered with pages from the 1953 text <i>German Through Pictures.</i> I think I chose fairly interesting illustrations to feature in each respect.</div>
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On the front, as you can see, I hand-tore a little square of surplus Moleskine notebook paper and hand-stamped "Where my Mind Wanders." I would have liked to customize the cover per customer request, but there was no option to do so. In fact, the Moleskine site doesn't even let you remove merchandise from your collection unless you've sold it through their website. Kate bought one of my books but I can't delete it from my gallery in any way. I think this is not best-practice management, and I have contacted their Help Desk (for all the good it may do).</div>
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Today I went to work on some smaller pocket journals, lined pages. I covered them in some extra decorative paper I had, which anyone who's shopped at any interesting scrapbooking or crafts store has probably seem: it looks like Chinese character lessons. It's just what I had around the house, and I thought it would look nice on a cover.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoq3jM1DwKhoBxRB4ZfLMRNUYqd7v4NnHsdsytbgLWxZuiuWLdPban5mS0_U0UGfARpA_JzKqxNPUcpptgXV0iLhhO-1T-4vcUOsGan8Qjesxym_nUvb2Id9f1iKiy40ASYhYaZU0a787H/s1600/SAM_2223.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoq3jM1DwKhoBxRB4ZfLMRNUYqd7v4NnHsdsytbgLWxZuiuWLdPban5mS0_U0UGfARpA_JzKqxNPUcpptgXV0iLhhO-1T-4vcUOsGan8Qjesxym_nUvb2Id9f1iKiy40ASYhYaZU0a787H/s640/SAM_2223.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5G7Z0bBF7MOUAUJWaQ5-6ZnTlXRHMzDtoix9kOnl_87rhEaXtsPmebTUEHrAZpE-XTdcn5_5WGBDeqKxOJIeBMIvsJpZoA5_0pS2E7UnL9Qsvo0tt7JHbpBi_TBntD0EAGyKcl8l5tAlb/s1600/SAM_2229.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5G7Z0bBF7MOUAUJWaQ5-6ZnTlXRHMzDtoix9kOnl_87rhEaXtsPmebTUEHrAZpE-XTdcn5_5WGBDeqKxOJIeBMIvsJpZoA5_0pS2E7UnL9Qsvo0tt7JHbpBi_TBntD0EAGyKcl8l5tAlb/s200/SAM_2229.JPG" width="155" /></a></div>
I haven't done anything to cover the inside back flap, but the front cover integrated another past project. Several years ago I managed to score a roll of very long, very fine Japanese parchment papers, a couple dozen sheets, and each one unfurled to a pretty sizable scroll! But it's very thin and prone to dampness with glue stick, so after my first attempt I learned it required a double-layer application. I dug out an old linocut project of which I was pardonably proud: a two-tone print of Soja no Gorô Tokimune, a famous <i>kabuki</i> character. It's difficult to align because it was one of my first few linocut adventures and the two images don't sync perfectly, but with practice I figured out a workable technique and produced three reasonable prints.<br />
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Obviously, I'm not entirely pleased with the conflation of Chinese and Japanese imagery, but I wish to stress I really was scrounging for stuff I had lying around. Still trying to think of what I'll use for the back cover.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>CRAFT TIPS FOR THIS PROJECT:</b></span><br />
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<ol>
<li>Use UHU glue stick. It doesn't warp the pages as badly as Elmer's does, and it seems to adhere solidly. Of course, coat both the paper and the surface it's going to in separate applications of glue.</li>
<li>Always use the sharpest X-acto blade you have. A dull blade with grip the paper rather than slice it, a failure made exponentially more likely with glue-damp paper.</li>
<li>Do not glue the spine to the paper! If you flatten both covers to the decorative paper and then close it, the paper will bind the cover and pull it back so it no longer lies flush with the pages and they'll stick out. It looks bad (voice of experience). Instead, glue-up one cover and press it to the paper, then coat the other cover, close the book, and draw the paper over it.</li>
<li>Use the cap of the glue stick, a tablespoon, a baren, or any other small, flat surface to smooth out the lumps and bubbles on the decorative paper. Start in the center and spiral or radiate your way to the edges. It makes all the difference between "obviously homemade" and a really tight job.</li>
<li>Lay the book out flat on your decorative paper and draw a crude outline around the perimeter of the book. On the spine (after gluing): cut a wide-bottom V out of the paper. Carve around the corners, and leave ½-inch flaps on the top, bottom, and sides to fold down and glue into place.</li>
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</div>sxoidmalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622946839908244709noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088266383394282353.post-52364057149199412852012-04-28T10:15:00.000-05:002012-04-30T22:38:08.902-05:00Piratical Typography<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9fyC2F_k94REEM804x5ZuIjtaXQJQ9iUWfGUSVasrIga0ELJmAnPUc9OL4Cdguu99ir7AHm_2IRx9V7lR05HyUW33HOKAmSzLPtYFMLR4pkL1jIlwmIbnymH4iKJNVtonQQ-Y0YY0M8jF/s1600/realpirates.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9fyC2F_k94REEM804x5ZuIjtaXQJQ9iUWfGUSVasrIga0ELJmAnPUc9OL4Cdguu99ir7AHm_2IRx9V7lR05HyUW33HOKAmSzLPtYFMLR4pkL1jIlwmIbnymH4iKJNVtonQQ-Y0YY0M8jF/s640/realpirates.JPG" width="476" /></a></div>
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The <a href="http://www.smm.org/" target="_blank">Science Museum of Minnesota</a>, which is awesome, is hosting a historical exhibit of what pirates were really like, as seen in the above bus shelter display. But if you're like me, what you notice almost immediately is the glaring typo. How did "takover" make it past all the levels of design, editing, proofing and print? It's not even a goof in the fine print: it's large, bold, and in decorative typeface.<br />
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I work in a marketing agency, and people in such agencies seem to know what each other are up to. I asked around to find out who was in charge of this campaign and someone thought, maybe, that this work might've been in-house. Trying to confirm that, though.<br />
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Stuff like this drives me absolutely crazy, having been an unemployed copy editor for eight of the past twelve months.<br />
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<i>UPDATE:</i> At least they're in good company.<br />
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<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.warfareincorporated.com/xyzzy/viewforum.php?f=13&sid=25d8f45d91638c0c5f5f9295c830a059" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">M8: Hostile Takover</a> (video game forum)</li>
<li><a href="http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/2009/11/cadbury_chocolate_hostile_take.php" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Kraft Lauches Hostile Takover Bid of Cadbury Chocolate</a> (<i>LA Weekly</i> blog)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/h/hostile_takover_gifts.asp" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Hostile Takover gift image</a> (stock image forum)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/apr/02/kochs-cato-institute-hostile-takeover" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Kochs and the Cato Institute: a hostile takover?</a> (<i>The Guardian</i>)</li>
</ul>sxoidmalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622946839908244709noreply@blogger.com0508 Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55403, USA44.979264727735838 -93.27330350875854544.977860727735838 -93.275771008758539 44.980668727735839 -93.27083600875855tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088266383394282353.post-85415347914331710772012-04-21T10:59:00.000-05:002012-04-24T21:54:43.862-05:00Processing, Processing...<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c300/sxoidmal/IMG_3931.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c300/sxoidmal/IMG_3931.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;">Intel billboard, Phnom Penh, Cambodia</td></tr>
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Yeah, it should've been easier for me to find work overseas, red tape regardless.sxoidmalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622946839908244709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088266383394282353.post-73046056436937842462012-04-18T10:45:00.000-05:002012-04-18T10:45:07.935-05:00There's More Work at the Post Office<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Hmm. Out of all the organizations that could misspell "receive," I'd rather the United States Postal Service weren't one of them.</div>
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I was notified one of my change-of-address orders was about to expire. It was from an address where I was having my mail sent while I was overseas, to an address my wife and I stayed at temporarily until we could find a more permanent place to stay. Obviously I didn't need that forwarding anymore, but this typo on the confirmation screen caught my eye.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfkaLqEil9kLlbvYMriSwaI15t720Glo3wdC8bWXfZj70Tp-71c0nFsH1mcRTcDaNsS1yutf1_6BfbSZT6BAlJRHskUynbN41rojwsLQVmcNAaEjYI5a_96dwuM41Qla8H0o05J-IkrlgU/s1600/USPS-receive.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="1" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfkaLqEil9kLlbvYMriSwaI15t720Glo3wdC8bWXfZj70Tp-71c0nFsH1mcRTcDaNsS1yutf1_6BfbSZT6BAlJRHskUynbN41rojwsLQVmcNAaEjYI5a_96dwuM41Qla8H0o05J-IkrlgU/s320/USPS-receive.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />sxoidmalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622946839908244709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7088266383394282353.post-66183955287876581472012-04-12T17:35:00.000-05:002012-04-12T17:35:19.173-05:00Moleskine Loves Me, SpecificallyI bought a pad of Clairefontaine once at a <a href="http://www.pendemonium.com/" target="_blank">stationery store in southernmost Iowa</a>. The owner recommended it because of the quality of its paper, the consistently high quality from batch to batch. The same could not be said of Moleskine: from book to book, you didn't know whether you were getting a fine grade of paper or something a little off.<br />
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Empirically, I had noticed this but I was too in love with the design of the sleek black book with rounded corners and the elastic binder. It looked professional and serious, unlike their ostensible rival, Rhodia, which used Clairefontaine paper. I couldn't get into its hyperextended, No. 2-pencil-yellow/orange covers, and the spines never seemed to fold the way I needed them to. So, Moleskine it was for me.<br />
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I began to suspect that Moleskine had identified and targeted me. I found their Charles Schulz commemorative notebooks appealing, their Pac-Man notebooks amusing. When they produced the Star Wars and LEGO notebooks, I was starting to be aware of something significant gathering momentum, but it wasn't until they came out with their <a href="http://www.moleskineus.com/mbl33-moleskine-passions-beer-journal.html" target="_blank">Passions: beer notebook</a> that I suspected they were actually reading my desultory blog posts and intermittent fanaticism.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ7-6kMZIh_1h4-s0IzeDptoXWu659EKDE5F79u6b385XfDGgK_1ycCuTzJNfADn_gtR-u8nDaG4v3dypMdr_FyiqXaN16niZn1coo7IUyTHVV3XhrdeqYZCESMZMFW60ofBuXsBHPmwHE/s1600/Moleskine-postal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ7-6kMZIh_1h4-s0IzeDptoXWu659EKDE5F79u6b385XfDGgK_1ycCuTzJNfADn_gtR-u8nDaG4v3dypMdr_FyiqXaN16niZn1coo7IUyTHVV3XhrdeqYZCESMZMFW60ofBuXsBHPmwHE/s320/Moleskine-postal.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.moleskineus.com/mpn3933-moleskine-messages-pocket-postal-notebook.html" target="_blank">Moleskine messages Postal Pocket Notebook</a></td></tr>
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I thought they should make pencils and pens, and now they do. I thought a line of bags wouldn't be out of order, and they agreed with me. (Because I don't need reading glasses, I didn't foresee their generation of these.) But what is it now that makes me feel like I'm under the attentive gaze of a Big Beneficent Brother?<br />
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The <a href="http://www.moleskineus.com/mpn3933-moleskine-messages-pocket-postal-notebook.html" target="_blank">Moleskine Messages Postal Notebooks</a>. Do I not love all things stationery? In the main, I do. Have I not made my own folding pages/envelope sets? I have. Am I not impassioned about Moleskine products? To know me is to reconcile with my love of this series of handy, Euro-elegant notebooks.<br />
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And now I'm totally on board. If for no other reason than principle, I will not stray. For the most part I hold the concept of branding as misleading or at least tedious and beside-the-point, but in a few cases one manufacturer or service provider supplies a reliable product/service and they deserve recognition and, yes, loyalty. Moleskine does that for me. They are producing things I want, things I already have but with their unique spin and magical sheen, and while I'm not rushing out to buy <i>everything</i> they make, I will not pick up a notebook anywhere else.<br />
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As I said, I'm totally on board. Recently I bought a pack of large kraft Cahiers, decorated them with a 1965 <i>National Geographic</i> map, pages from a 1953 copy of <i>German Through Pictures,</i> and some Thai comics featuring troubled romance and ghost stories. I have <a href="http://artistmarketplace.moleskine.com/en/meet-the-artists/sxoidmal" target="_blank">put these up for sale on the international Moleskine site</a> (they seem to have two main websites: one for the U.S. and one for everywhere else). If people find them worthy and buy them off me, why, I'll just pick up more notebooks and make more of these. I think that would be a pleasant outcome, for me.sxoidmalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622946839908244709noreply@blogger.com0