Big Celebratory Birthday Update Part 4

The final post of this series, you can find part one here, part two here, and part three here. Grab a cup of tea or coffee and settle in – this one is long but there’s a lot going on here that’s worth your time.

32. I have been tracking my memory recall issues (a chemotherapy side effect) using the Tally app, which I’m hesitant to recommend. On the one hand it does work as a quick tracking app for a handful of things, but on the other hand it has a scammy pricing model – a fair price for the first year (and free if you just track up to three things, like I do), but then the subscription jumps to about $5 a month. That may be justified for apps that have a lot of features and utility, but Tally is not one of those apps. Day One, a magnificent journaling app for those who prefer to digitally journal, does much more and costs much less.

33. If you haven’t heard of KT tape and you’re a runner or athlete of any kind (or just injury prone) I highly recommend it (and no, I’m not getting paid for this). It’s a roll of pre-cut elastic fabric tape strips that you use in various configurations and levels of tension to relieve the pain and take some of the load off of injured muscles, tendons or joints. It eases recovery and it’s worth having a roll of it in your house and travelling with a few strips when you go abroad. There are YouTube videos that show you how to apply the tape- just search for the area or injury you want to address and “KT tape” and you’ll find official videos and ones made by physical therapists that will guide you. I recommend going for the Pro or Pro Extreme – they cost a bit more but last longer as their adhesive is stronger so you can keep them on for a few days. The tape leaves no residue and is easy to apply by yourself, although there are areas where another pair of hands does help. If you don’t want to buy the tape online, you can find it at your friendly local running store or in certain sporting goods stores.

34. If you are planning on travelling abroad with older relatives or people with a mobility disability, here are some tips that may help:

Ask for special assistance when you book the flights (there’s an option there). It helps with the long distances and long lines in the airport. Arrive early and wait patiently for the assistance – it’s worth it.
Book hotels and not Airbnbs. You want a place, preferably a well established chain, that you can rely on in terms of catering for your accessibility needs. I can’t tell you how many times we arrived at an Airbnb only to discover that the promised elevator has been broken for weeks, or the place has stairs to the elevator, stairs in the apartment and a bath instead of the promised shower. You want a hotel and not a boutique one because they’ll have an elevator bank, accessible rooms, and someone you can talk to if you run into issues. Chains are good because if there’s an issue with your room there’s a possibility of being catered in another hotel in the network. Contact the hotel ahead of time in writing and reconfirm your needs – elevator, shower with no lip or step, mini-fridge for medication, etc.
Use taxis (or rideshares) and buses, not the metro/underground/subway. There’s less walking involved, there’s less stairs involved, and it’s worth the additional time and money.
Check the parks you plan to visit – some have motorized tours for disabled patrons.
Talk to the staff at museums and exhibitions, preferably ahead of time. There may be an accessible route in that Dior special exhibition that isn’t advertised (there is), or they may tell you that it’s better to arrive at a certain entrance.
Theatres oftentimes have special accommodation and pricing for disabled people and their companions. If it’s not on their official site, email or call them and they will likely be able to help.
Don’t pack your days full, but rather plan or returning to the hotel for an afternoon nap before the evening’s activities.
Plan ahead as much as possible. You are less flexible in your needs so this is not the time to be spontaneous.
I can’t stress this enough: spend time, effort and money when selecting travel insurance. Don’t go for the cheapest option because it’s likely to leave you hanging when you need it. Pay a premium for insurance that pays back upfront and doesn’t have you chasing after it if possible. Take the time to read the small print and talk to them if possible.

35. I have gotten several questions about rucking, so here’s a good article describing what it is and the benefits and risks involved. I will add that you need a good pair of shoes with decent ankle support, you need moisture wicking socks to help avoid blisters (I just use my running socks), and you don’t need to buy a GoRuck bag. In fact I don’t recommend them – they’re heavy, overpriced and don’t provide the back support you want. Instead buy a good hiking day pack (I use the Osprey Manta 24) for about half the price and twice the support. My Osprey Manta comes with a hydration system (2.5 litres, which is a good chunk of the weight in my bag), wide padded straps, load lifters, a great hip belt and sternum strap, plus a mesh that is fantastic for the hot climates I ruck in. Also weigh your bag with useful things – water, food, first aid, extra layers, flashlights, sunscreen, etc. – and not with useless weight plates. Put the heaviest things on top, as close as possible to your shoulder blades and upper back. I use a waterproof Rumpl travel blanket at the bottom of my bag, and 80% of my weight is water. The rest is books, which I don’t mind using as weights as I’m rucking in a city park really close to home. If I was hiking in the great outdoors, I wouldn’t carry anything that wasn’t useful if I somehow got stuck on the way.

36. Do you have to generate QR codes and are tired of the spammy, ad filled sites that provide the service when you Google for it? As Cory Doctorow puts it:

“Just a QR Code” is a new site that generates QR codes, operating entirely in your browser, without transmitting any data to a server or trying to cram ads into your eyeballs. The fact that it runs entirely in-browser means you can save this webpage and work with an offline copy to generate QR codes forever – even if the site goes down:

https://justaqrcode.com/

37. My journal is at that delicious phase where it’s passed the 3/4 full mark but hasn’t reached the “only a handful of pages left” mark. I recommend making it a goal to reach that phase in every notebook you use – it’s the best.

38. These little fans are a lifesaver. I’ve used them on trips, on buses with fault ACs, when I’m outdoors waiting in the sweltering heat, etc. Again, not an affiliate link and this isn’t a paid anything – it’s purely a recommendation of a product that I’ve been using and enjoying for a few years.

39. Journaling Tip #4: Did you have weird, overblown reaction to something or someone recently? Take the time to journal about the experience. Write down what happened (facts only), what was your reaction/feeling (be honest), why it’s surprising under the circumstances and finally why do you think that you reacted the way that you did? Does it reveal something about how you view yourself, your insecurities or fears?

40. Lightening Book Review #7: What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, by Raymond Carver. This is a collection of 17 short stories set in rural American in the 70’s first published in 1981 and it hasn’t aged well. The protagonists drink a LOT, they are violent, sexist, despairing and desperate. It’s like watching a series of car crashes – you become numb to the experience after the third or fourth. Carver can write, and there are a few gems here, but it’s all so very miserable and depressing – like hosting an alcoholic for a week. Their stories may be intriguing, but they’re also all so very terrible and tragic that there’s only so much of it that you can take.

41. I opened a new Moleskine notebook – after not having opened a new one in over a year. This is the one will be used for some writing projects, and it’s one of my favourite limited editions, the Blue Note Hub Tones edition. I’ll maybe post a review of it later, but for now, this is a reminder to use the good china.

42. Journaling Tip #5: look at someone close to you, someone you admire for having a skill or approach to life that you don’t have, and write down what you can do over the next few days, week, month to be more like what you like them. That’s what got me to go to more plays, concerts, shows and exhibitions now instead of just waiting until I’m on holiday abroad.

43. Great advice from Adam Savage’s latest Tested livestream – Q-Tip: Quit Taking It Personally. More often than not other people’s behaviour and choices has nothing do with you and everything to do with them.

That’s it – 43 points for 43 years. Have a great week!

Big Celebratory Birthday Update Part 3

A smorgasbord of stuff for your delectation to celebrate my birthday. You can read part 1 here and part 2 here. Only one more part after this one…

23. Lightening Book Review #3: The Vinyl Detective – Noise Floor by Andrew Cartmel. This is the the 7th Vinyl Detective book and possibly the weakest so far. Set in the world of 1980s electronic music it’s not about finding a rare vinyl record this time, but rather finding an aging electronic musician. There’s the usual hipster/foodie/audiophile vibes but the plot is air thin, you will immediately know whodunnit in the whodunnit, and there’s a desperate attempt to give this Scooby-Do style adventure an “edginess” using aging threesomes and references to John Fowler’s The Magus. There is the usual boring insistence on describing every turn in every journey the protagonists take, and the characters are even more cartoony than usual. The only truly enjoyable scene is the village fête in the end, and even that is highly unbelievable. Feel free to skip this one, unless you’re looking for a cozy, featherlight read between other books and there’s nothing better lined up.

24. Lightening Book Review #4:The Vinyl Detective – Underscore, by Andrew Cartmel. This is why I still read this series – a cozy and highly imaginative adventure with a likeable cast, in a charming and vivid setting. The crime is stylized, the new characters are vivacious and it reminds me of my favourite book in the series, Victory Disc (book #3). Take a trip back to London in the 60s, with a dash of family drama, a hint of Italian passion thrown in, and of course a sprinkling of good music.

25. Lightening Book Review #5:The Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osman. While we’re on the topic of cozy mysteries, this one was a treat. Unexpected plot full of twists and turns, a memorable and original cast of characters, a unique setting, humour and heartache, and a it dared to touch on actual issues with substance (aging, sickness and death, religious oppression, capitalism and corruption, and the limitations of the law and its enforcers). A very enjoyable read and not just because Elizabeth is now one of my favourite fictional characters.

26. My Apple Watch Ultra 2 has been acting up lately – it’s almost 2 years old and it’s been losing battery power and struggling to keep track of my laps in the pool. So far a full charge and a restart before every swim have helped, but it’s annoying. A watch at this price level should be able to last for 3 years at least, and yet we’ve somehow been trained to expect to upgrade our watches every year or two at the most, if only because they lose their ability to keep a charge after the first year or so. Originally my watch lasted almost 3 days between charges (and I’m a very active person). Now I have to charge it once a day. I’ve been contemplating moving to a Garmin for my workouts and switching back to an analog watch, but I use some of the Apple Watch capabilities to keep track of my health post treatments, so we’ll see.

27. I have ordered the Moleskine Limited Edition Peanuts notebooks (the yellow lined large hardcover and two sets of the extra large cahier notebooks). There’s something about this collection that I find irresistible, and so they will be part of my birthday gifts this year.

28. There’s something tragic about an unfilled and unfulfilled notebook and I have too many of those lying around. I’m considering what to do with them, especially with those that I’ve started using and have abandoned after a few pages. Let me know in the comments if you have any ideas.

29. Tomorrow I start reading Ulysses having just finished The Obstacle is the Way, the last book that I planned to read in May.

30. Lightening Book Review #6: The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday. I read the 10th anniversary edition of this book, which has a new introduction and a few additions to it. This is a very digestible intro to stoicism, competently written and researched by a man with a marketing background, but it had the same affect on me that Seth Godin’s books have: it glanced on my brain and left no mark. It was hard to concentrate on this book not because it was challenging but because it was not: it was like eating easily digestible, flavourless popcorn with sprinklings of anecdotal salt at the beginning of each tiny chapter. You are left hungry and unsatisfied at the end, not sure what exactly you consumed.
Philosophy should make you sit up and pay attention, think, stretch your mind and sweat a bit. It was divorced from its gravitas, substance and challenge in this book, and that’s a pity.

31. There’s no greater joy than crumpling yesterday’s to do list and tossing it out.

One Week 100 People 2025: Day Five

Last official day of the challenge, though I plan on doing a few more sketches tomorrow. These were all done at the gym, from 102-112, including a failed sketch.

My favourite on this page is 111. What’s yours?

One Week 100 People 2025: Day Four

I have a super busy day so I took my sketchbook (Moleskine pocket watercolour) to the gym and did sketches 79-90 there, and then I completed 91-101 sitting on a bench on my way home.

So 100 people completed – the fastest ever I’ve done this challenge, and all of them sketched from life. I plan to complete this page tomorrow and then go back to my Field Notes sketchbook to try another style of sketching people on the move.

As usual, pick which one you like best. I am having trouble choosing.

One Week 100 People 2025: Day Three

It was dark and cold once I finished, and my fingers had trouble grasping the pen because of my neuropathy. My original plan was to finish all 100 today, but I only got to 78. Tomorrow I have very little time to sketch, but I am getting faster and better and capturing quick moving targets.

I am using the watercolour “blobs” mostly as general guides for the size of each sketch. I create them first and then sketch over them later.

These were done on a Moleskine pocket watercolour sketchbook using Schmincke and Daniel Smith watercolours, a water brush and a Staedtler 0.3 pigment liner pen. They each took only a few seconds to sketch.

As usual – pick your favourite. Mine is 56.

One Week 100 People 2025: Day Two

I went out for 45 minutes after work and sketched all of these as fast as I could. I only stopped when it got too dark outside. Yesterday’s sketches were done with a Staedtler 0.5 pigment liner on a Field Notes sketchbook. Today’s sketches were done on a pocket Moleskine watercolour sketchbook using a 0.3 Staedtler pigment liner, a water brush and watercolour.

First batch when it was still light outside

People moved by in the street so I had seconds to capture each figure (the more detailed ones stopped for a minute or two). As this is what normally happens when you urban sketch, I found this exercise to be very useful.

Which one is your favourite?

Weekly Update: Ink and Prickly Pears

I haven’t done a watercolour sketch in a while, so I broke out the trusty Moleskine Watercolour sketchbook, my Staedtler Pigment Liners (0.3 and 0.5) and my Schmincke and Daniel Smith watercolours and made this quick sketch:

It was fun and it took me less time than I thought, so I should do it more often.

This was a big ink week, as I wrote many of my Inkvent fountain pens dry: Wishing Tree, Snow Globe, Winterberry, Salted Caramel, Pine Needle, Nutmeg, and Wilted Rose. I also dumped Sleigh Ride as I found the ink colour depressing. This leaves me with 9 Inkvent inks still inked in my pens, with most of them half or quarter full. I doubt that I’ll be able to write them all dry by the end of the month, but hopefully I’ll get as close to that as possible. In any case I’ll reassess in the beginning of February if I want to keep using my Diamine Inkvent inks or if I’ll just dump out and clean up whatever I still have inked at the time and start fresh.

I finished reading “The New York Trilogy” and it’s a very Paul Auster book. Next week I’ll start on “The Last Kashmiri Rose” by Barbara Cleverly and finish “The Comfort Crisis” by Michael Easter.

Have a great week full of pens, books and good news.

How I Use My Notebooks: Gym Journal

Here’s an idea that I haven’t seen discussed before: take a pen and a pocket notebook with you to the gym and journal in between sets.

This is my gym journal:

Moleskine Pocket lined hardcover Mickey Mouse limited edition and Zebra G-405 pen

It’s a battered Moleskine pocket hardcover lined notebook, a limited edition Mickey Mouse one from years ago. There was a series gash in the spine, so I fixed it with some gaffer tape. I use a Zebra G-450 gel ink pen, and it lays down a bold, 0.7 black line.

I don’t use this notebook during every gym session, but when I’m trying out new things, when I’ve got a lot on my mind, or when I’m trying to solve a specific problem I take it with me. I don’t write details about my workout (rep numbers, weights, etc) as I have an app for that.

So what do I write in this notebook?

How things felt during the workout, particularly when I’m trying something new or if I’m recovering from an injury.
Notes on other gym goers bad behavior. I don’t want to confront them, but I do get frustrated when people don’t return weights, don’t use a towel or wipe down the equipment, and hoard equipment during the gym rush hour. Writing it down allows me to let off steam and focus on more productive things (like my workout, or returning equipment that I know is no longer in use back to its place, or on anything else).
Ideas or projects that I’m brainstorming at the moment. I oftentimes use a workout to think about something I’m considering or something I’m stuck on. I jot a few notes in between sets to not forget the ideas I came up with during that time.
Things I want to journal about later, in my “regular” journal. These are usually things that I forgot to journal about and want to get back to later in the day, when I have time to sit down and better process them.

The main point of this journal is to get me as much as possible off my phone. It’s tempting to check the news for the umpteenth time, or doom scroll various feeds, or play mindless games while you wait between sets. My goal is to bring these habits down to a minimum, and this journal is a useful tool in the search for less screen time.

Sample entry from last year. I write with gym gloves on, hence the atrocious handwriting.

I originally thought that it would be embarrassing to use a notebook in the gym, but I decided that “so what, who cares” is the attitude to take in this case. People do much more embarrassing things at the gym and nobody comments on it. I use an inconspicuous notebook that isn’t at all precious, and a hardy, inexpensive, inconspicuous gel ink pen to go with it. Both have survived falls and encounters with misplaced weights, so they are gym hardened, Don’t bring large, colourful notebooks with you, and don’t bring pens that look expensive or draw attention to themselves. You’re going for the “boring, not worth paying attention to” look here.

Would you consider taking a pen and notebook with you to the gym? If you already do, how do you use your gym notebook?

Paris 2024 Olympics Moleskine Notebooks

Just as I wrote a post about Moleskine no longer making store exclusive limited edition notebooks, my brother went to Paris (during the Olympics) and found not one but two store exclusive limited edition notebooks. Moleskine have officially cooperated with the Paris 2024 Olympic games and they have outdone themselves.

The first notebook is a large lined hardcover notebook that could be purchased standalone, or as part of a set that included three Olympics themed charms (in the colour of the medals) and a pen. The box was sold out, as were the charms (and yet it was still on display in the store window, because reasons). The notebook was still available and it is glorious, a perfect example of Moleskine’s design prowess.

This is the notebook still in the wrapper:

The front facing part of the wrapper has a discreet Paris 2024 logo sticker on the right side. The back part of the wrapper is anything but discreet. There are games logos, games sponsors, multiple designations of the officialness of the notebook, as well as pictures of the notebook cover and the lined interior with its bookmarks (more on them later). It’s busy back here:

Removing the wrapper reveals the notebook itself. The Olympic logo is given its pride of place, and the rest of the cover is given over to a celebration of the Paris 2024 font. The only colours here come from the foiled gold of the flame and the Olympic rings. It’s a classic and sleek design:

I expected the back cover to just be more of the Paris 2024 font in black on white. Instead there’s a set of letters that are gold foiled, and I really like the effect. It’s chic, classy and very well thought out. The Moleskine logo is there, but it doesn’t call attention to itself, and the black rubber band almost disappears from view:

Inside the front endpapers have the usual in case of loss section, the Paris 2024 logo prominently displayed, the Moleskine logo, small and discreet, and a letter in French:

Here’s the letter, from Tony Estanguet, the head of the organizing comittee for Paris 2024 and an Olympic champion. Note that it, unlike the “In Case of Loss” part uses the Paris 2024 font. It’s written in French and is a celebration of the Paris 2024 games and their uniqueness (first opening ceremony not in the stadium, first games with gender parity, first games with Breaking, 100 years since the previous Paris games, first event open to participation by the general public – Marathon for All). It ends with a celebration of the notebook in your hand, which is a nice touch.

The back endpapers have logos of the various Olympic events. As usual, these are well placed and the back pocket and the endpaper prints match perfectly. It’s the little details that matter in these notebooks, and Moleskine always nails them.

Inside the back pocket are some Olympic themed treats: four sticker sheets, and a folded map of the event locations.

The stickers feature the Phryges, the Olympic mascots for the 2024 games, participating in various sports:

Then there’s a stylized map of the various events locations in Paris, France and Tahiti:

Finally, inside the notebook are not one, not two, but three ribbon bookmarks in the colour of the Olympic medals:

All in all this is an extremely well thought out design, one that takes pride in the games and cares about every little detail. It’s a worthwhile memento of the event, and it just shows what Moleskine can do in terms of localized special editions when they put their minds to it.

The second notebook is a soft cover cahier created for those who want a cheaper, more colourful and lightweight alternative commemorative notebook from the event. Here it is wrapped:

Here’s the back cover. Again, lots of info here (the price was half that of the hardcover).

The front cover features a very colourful illustration of Phryges doing various game related things alongside iconic Paris monuments and symbols. There’s a lot of playfulness here, and it’s a delight to look at all the little details here:

The cover has a pleasant texture to it. The back cover has a Phryge in the back waving hello above the Moleskine logo in white:

Moleskine clearly love the Paris 2024 font because it is once again the star in both front and back endpapers, this time with only the numerals in use:

There’s a pocket in the back:

The paper is blank, and it’s stitched using blue thread – very fetching. It lies flat with little effort:

Here’s a writing sample on the paper (both notebooks feature the same standard Moleskine paper – 70/gsm ivory coloured acid-free paper:

Close up on the writing. Fountain pens show the same strange mottled pattern that they do in this kind of paper, and wider, juicier fountain pens will spread:

There is see through and bleeding with the fountain pens and the rollerballs. This paper works best with gel ink pens, ballpoint pens, fineliners and pencils:

All in all these notebooks are well worth their price in my opinion. They are well designed, provide a lovely memento of the Paris 2024 games, and they are unique to the Paris Moleskine stores. I only wish that Moleskine would create more of these for their stores. They were clearly a success in Paris, for good reasons.

What do you think about these notebooks? Would you purchase one or both of them?

Moleskine Embossed Pocket Notebooks

My brother went to Hamburg to see the Taylor Swift Eras concert, and while he was in the city he went to the Mokeskine store and bought me these two embossed Moleskine pocket softcover blank notebooks:

They were already embossed, even though it was clear that the embossing had been done manually in store and not in a factory. How can you tell? Look at the Hamburg coat of arms notebook (the left one in the picture). Can you see how it was embossed and then the notebook moved and it was embossed again, causing a double outline? Also the left part of the embossing is fainter than the right one.

I don’t mind it – it gives the notebook character and a human touch. It makes it less precious on the one hand and more unique on the other, as it’s literally a one of a kind notebook now. But it’s this embossing that got me thinking about the Moleskine store experience again.

I used to love going to Molesking stores. There wasn’t one locally so everywhere I would travel to I’d check if there was a Mokeskine store in the area and make a point to visit it. This was for two reasons:

Moleskine stores used to have store exclusive limited editions of their notebooks. It usually meant that one of the their limited edition collections had a specific notebook design that was only available for purchase in a Moleskine store.
Moleskine store used to have large rubber stamps specific to that store that you could freely use to personalize your notebook.

Both things are no longer true, but the second of these – the stamps that Moleskine no longer puts in their stores – is what I want to focus on.

The stamps were a great idea: there was a standard Moleskine logo stamp, but there was also a local stamp (similar in concept to the design embossed on the notebooks above). Those were the best, as you could mark your notebook with a memory of the place you visited. What was even better was that you didn’t have to purchase anything or even use the stamp on a Moleskine notebook. I had a Moleskine pocket reporter that I travelled with and stamped, but I also stamped Field Notes notebooks.

Lots of people came into the store for the stamps, even those who were clearly not regular Moleskine users. And while you’re in the store, you browse the notebooks, you check out the pens and the bags, and you usually leave with a few of them. If you’re a Moleskine collector you of course pick up one of the store exclusive designs.

Lord of the Rings Gates of Moria notebook that was my journal from July 6th 2019 to November 16th 2019

So what happens today when you go into a Moleskine store?

Well there are no store exclusives anymore, and instead of the free stamps you can purchase add-on personalizations to your Moleskine. Note the word purchase – these add-ons aren’t for free. You can add patches and hot foil printing (of the kind done on the Hamburg notebooks), or add charms to your notebook’s elastic closure. You can only do it on a Moleskine product, and even then not all personalizations are available for all notebooks (you can’t foil print on certain covers, for example). Also to make a notebook like the little Hamburg ones you are talking about almost doubling the price of the notebook. Yikes.

I don’t understand why Moleskine don’t:

have at least one or two limited editions only available in store. It seems like they have enough stores to justify this.
keep the free stamps in store as well as offer personalization services for those who want them.

The stamp overhead in particular seems to be negligible, particularly in comparison to the foot traffic it drove into their stores and the delight it gave to their fans. In an age where we are constantly being pushed to make impersonal purchases online, a touch of something kind, creative and whimsical like the Moleskine stamps is much needed and appreciated.

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