Wednesday 30 December 2015

Daily Log Book in Field Notes size for free download

The Field Notes size notebook is portable and convenient and it's easy to carry 2 or 3 together, either in a cover or loose. The format is awkward for diaries, though, because a booklet that will cover the whole year is too thick. My week on two pages layout needs two booklets to cover the year.

I had shied away from making a week per page Field Notes size layout, because the space for each day would be too small to serve as a functional appointments diary. But I was thinking about this the wrong way entirely. As soon as I had created the layout - pictured below - I realised how I would use it.


Rather than a full appointments diary, this is a log book. There's plenty of space in each day to track information as your progress towards a goal or monitor some variable metric or other - say, weight, step count, run distance and time, cycling or whatever. Or you could make a tally mark whenever you do a particular thing to reinforce a habit - each time you give someone a compliment, for instance, or each time you decide not to make an impulse purchase.

I'm carrying mine to track my running and cycling next year. You can download and print your own Daily Log Book for 2016.

    Download A4 version

    Download Letter version

You can get more guidance on booklet making in this video. Remember that for this size you are cutting to 90mm wide rather than 110mm and you are cutting top and bottom to leave a booklet 140mm tall:


Maybe you prefer not to print your own. For a limited time I will print and bind a book for you at a cost of £5, including postage to anywhere in the world. It will have a printed card cover that looks like this:


If you want to take advantage of this offer, email me and we can make arrangements.

Friday 18 December 2015

My end of year music party

Something different today. Music has always been a constant passion for me. For no better reason than it's the end of the year, I'm sharing some of my current favourite music. I hope you'll find something you like.

OK. Let's start with a couple of US bands. First, MoeTar. This is a breathtaking song (try to sing along and you'll see what I mean). As well as the vocal, the musicianship is superb and the song nicely describes the modern approach to popular commercial music.

 
The second of the two is District 97, whose new album is on repeat on my PC most days. Over the course of three studio albums they've developed an ever more sophisticated musical range without ever diluting their rock instincts.


Next, something very, very English: a cover version of one of Pink Floyd's most revered epic works, Echoes, by Crippled Black Phoenix, featuring archive clips of Pink Floyd members talking in the studio. I can't quite explain how happy this makes me.


And while on the subject of Pink Floyd, they released an album this year which was - well - underwhelming. Dave Kerzner, on the other hand, released an album which was pure Pink Floyd in spirit. See if you can detect the influence here.


OK, enough prog for now. I'm a big fan of the Earls of Mars and their new EP contains this little gem.


Like Earls of Mars, A Formal Horse are from England's South coast, released an EP this year and are very exciting indeed.


Staying in England, I have no idea at all why Sweet Billy Pilgrim are not absolutely massive. Their new album is a masterpiece. As evidence I offer this.


For my birthday, my wife bought me two CDs. The first was the new album by Nordic Giants.


And the second CD was by Hasse Froberg & Musical Companion, full of inventive and diverse musicanship and catchy as anything.


We've strayed back to prog, I know, but that's where I spend my time. Prog legend Steve Hackett had a new album out this year, including this cracking song with a truly dreadful video. I apologise in advance, but it's a great song.


Back to the US and Izz released the third of a trilogy of albums which opened with this belter.


I can't put it off any longer. This year's Steven Wilson moment is upon us. Just when you think the man can't possibly produce anything better, along comes something like this to scale new heights. If you click on no other video today, please go with this one. Watch, listen, possibly cry. I did. More than once.


I'm going to end with another Steven Wilson moment, but it's a little different. Gavin Harrison drummed in Steven Wilson's former band, Porcupine Tree, and released an album this year of Porcupine Tree cover versions - jazz band arrangements, in fact. This is my favourite one.




Tuesday 15 December 2015

New Giramondo sizes from Gillio

Last year, Gillio released the Giramondo notebook cover. I reviewed it here. I was impressed. Today, Gillio are releasing three new sizes to fill out the range.


In the picture above, the regular Girmondo (now called the 'Large') is second from the left. That's a similar size to the full size Midori, holding standard 210mm x 100mm booklets.

To its right, meet the two new smaller Giramondos. The Small (S) takes Field Notes and similarly-sized booklets, while the Extra Small (XS) holds passport-sized booklets.

The biggest cover in the shot is the Extra Large (XL). This is designed to hold a Moleskine Large Cahier booklet, which measures 210mm x 130mm. 

All three new covers feature the same luxury leather and  internal detailing:

Extra Small, internal view

Small, internal view

Extra Large, internal view
Prices for the new sizes are as follows:  

   XS = €130 (ex VAT = 107.44)
   S = €155 (ex VAT = 128.10)
   XL = €195 (ex VAT = 161.16)

Gillio have given me three new covers - one in each of the new sizes - which I will be giving away shortly. Look out for a post in the coming days to see how you can win one of these beauties.

Saturday 12 December 2015

Print your own free 2016 diary or calendar

You might be thinking about getting properly organised for next year. A key to this is having a good diary or calendar in which you can plan and track your activities and commitments.


You can spend a lot of money, or you can print your own at home for free. I have a range of different layouts that you can download from this site and print on the paper of your choice. I have sets in most popular organiser sizes and styles. If you already own a Filofax, Traveller's Notebook or similar system, you can incorporate my layouts in your existing system straight away. Of you can build a system around your new diary pages.


To see what's available, follow the links at the top of the page to 'Free diary pages' and 'Midori TN inserts'.

LinkWithin2

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...