365 Journal Entries

I've been busy writing for another site on journaling. Here's part . . .

Journaling Start

I’ve been journaling now for about 16 years.  It all stared when my son’s 6th grade teacher gave them a year’s assignment: Keep a journal.  My son was not at all happy when he came home that day. To cheer him up I agreed to also keep a journal with him that year with the agreement to write every day.  So we went down to the local stationary store looking for the smallest diary we could find. When the year was up neither of us could stop.

My journaling has evolved over the years.  It stared with a postage stamp sized lockable journal and mutated to a larger 5 x 7 and then an 8 x 10 and then back down to the 6 x 8, which I think is the absolute idea size for a analog journal. By "analog" I mean a hand written journal.

In 2010 Buster Benson started  750words.com and I started to write online with a 750 word goal of writing each and every day.  This introduced me to digital journaling. Buster’s site displays graphs and statistics about your entries over time. If you don’t mind putting  your words out there, its a great place to write.

Journal Content

Eventually I discovered that my writing was more project based. I found myself writing about ides, directions, plans, writing, and productivity subjects. The advantage of digital soon became apparent : it's ability to search across days, months, and years. 

Of course, the digital journal has little personality. There is no sloppy hand writing or misspelled words or, if you are blessed with calligraphic ability, no beautiful writing. There is no change in pen style or colors as you move through the days and months of the year. There are no marked pages or glued in memorabilia. No, a digital journal is a sanitized thing. Even the editors atomically correct my spelling. My great great grandchildren will never know how terrible my spelling was.

Continue reading at www.EasyJournaling.com . . .

A Little More About Digital Journaling

Sam over at Easy Journaling runs an interesting site on digital journaling. He's got it all over there, reviews on iPad & iPhone journal apps as well as other software that runs on your notebook or desktop computers. It's all there. He, like me, is convinced that digital journaling is the way of the future. As I explain in my post at his site, books are wonderful but eventually they fill the house and the avid journaler begins to stress about where to keep all their diaries.

I see more and more apps that allow the writer the ability to sync their winsome words across all their devices. Write a little on the road in the iPad or jot a line or two on the iPhone. Then come back to the hotel room and finish up on the notebook computer. What all of this assumes is that the writer is always connected to the net, or at least can find a hot spot during the adventure. That's not always possible. I suppose most will eventually get to a Starbucks (or some other public place), connect to a WIFI, and sync then.

In the mean time I've been on the hunt for a good sketching program for the iPad. If I could find a good journaling and sketching program that would be grand.  So far, NotesPlus is my favorite.

Anyway, whatever your style of journaling is, remember to back it up to the cloud.

Happy journaling.

...dave
Today has been canceled. Go back to bed. -Unknown

Start with a cup of green coffee beans. Place them in an iron 10 inch pan and stir with a wooden paddle.

What? Do I hear whining out there? Are all you sissies still going to Starbucks for your already-roasted beans? Come on people. It's not that hard. Look, I'll even show you how.

The Process

Put about a cup or so of beans into the pan on high heat and begin to push the beans around with a wooden spoon or paddle. It's important to keep the beans moving so that they get an even roast. The beans will give off a sort of "earthy" aroma when first heating up. Then they'll begin to pop. Keep the wooden spoon moving.

Next, they will begin to smoke. Make sure the overhead stove fan is running. I also run a fan by the kitchen window to draw out the billowing smoke. (Your smoke alarms may go off too so you might want to remove the batteries while doing this.)

If they become too hot and smoky, you can remove them from the heat while continually stirring. After the smoke dissipates, you can place them back on the burner. Repeat until dark enough to your liking. I like my beans as black as the iron skillet. Your tastes may vary.

Finally, the beans will begin to ooze oils and take on the consistency of quicksand. Once their color is as black as night, I remove them from the burner and dump them into a one quart saucepan while stirring. I place the pan in a sink of ice water. This cools the beans and prevents them from overcooking.

After cooling, I place them in colander and shift them. To hasten the process I stand next to a floor fan and toss the beans in the air (not too high) so that the chaff is blow away. This leaves pure bitter-free beans behind.

Now comes the fun part:

• Grind up a cup of beans
• Place two scoops into a thermal French Press (Don't have one? Get one!)
• Add about two cups of 200 degree water
• Wait one minute
• Stir the coffee
• Let stand for about four minutes
• Serve

How good are my home-roasted beans?  One of my friends who never drinks coffee because of it's bitter taste tried a small sample.  He was blown away.  Now he drinks everyday. It's that good.  I gave another friend a small bag to try.  Got a text from him the next morning:

"Dave, this is awesome.  It's so smooth.  This coffee kicks butt!"

Hmmmm...could be a good name for my roast: "Dave's Kick Butt Brew"

Where do I get green coffee beans?

I buy two pounds of Yunnan China green coffee beans for about $3.50. You don't live in China? Hmmm, well you can buy beans online or you could also check locally. You might be surprised to find a supplier in your area, or at least someone willing to sell you green, unroasted beans. Why? Because green beans keep their freshness longer. After they have been roasted the bean pops and begins to ooze oils that will eventually get too old to drink. That's why roasters will provide the date of the roast on the outside of the bag itself. Roast a few weeks at a time for the best taste.

Warning: Do the above at your own risk. I can't be responsible.  If you are not up to the task, go ahead and buy the already-roasted beans.  I won't tell anybody.

...dave
Retirement is one great big coffee break. -Author Unknown

I love the Moles (That’s what the “in” crowd calls the Moleskines.) They are handy, durable, ubiquitous, if not expensive.

When I used up all the pages in my Moleskine Reporter Plain I decided to rebind it with my own paper. Besides I can't get them where I live here in China.

It took just about an hour and now my Mole has a second life. In a nutshell, I just folded A4 paper in half lengthwise, sliced it in two, punched some sewing holes, and stitched 10 signatures together and voila, I had a book block.

Next, I tore out the existing book block from my used up Mole, inserted and glued my new one and now I have another few months of use out of the same cover.

Now I know, to most people, this may seem like a lot of bother for a Mole but I assure you that it’s worth it.

I hope the picture helps demonstrate that it’s a simple process that anyone can do. So go ahead and try it with your choice of paper.  You’ll be glad you did and your Mole will thank you too because he gets another life before he's shelved.

...dave
If I had my life to live over again, I'd be a plumber. -Albert Einstein

Just thinking about the blog and all my readers here. As you can see I've merged the 365 Journal Entries with the Travel Blog for easy navigation between the two.

Some enjoy 365 Journal Entries.  I've often included random (often crazy) stories from working in corporate America. Others enjoy traveling from their armchair and frequent the Travel Blog. The tabs at the top allow you to switch between the two.  (Recently I added a third tab that shows only sketches from my Illustrated Journal, just for fun.)

The goal of all of this was to put all my readers on the "same page" . . . literally. Surprisingly this move not only made navigation between the blogs easier and smoother for me and the readers but it has actually increased readership across both blogs. Some that liked to read 365 didn't know about the Travel Blog and visa versa. Now they've been formally introduced to each other. My job is done here.

What is challenging for me is keeping both active. It seems that after my semi-retirement and move to China, I'm busier than ever. (Don't laugh, it could happen to you.) For example, just recently I posted a reply on a local web site about teaching photography. Some photography assignments came from that. I mean, that's a good thing right? Still, it's kept me really busy. Not to mention the daily three hours I spend at school learning Chinese and subsequent two hours of homework. (This language is killing me.)

So if you enjoy 365 but can't get enough sleeping pills click on over to the Travel Blog tab above for more insomnia curing solutions.

...dave
If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space. - Anonymous

The Sketchbook Project 2011 was a fun experience.

It's simple really.

You give them $25 and they give you a sketchbook and a subject. You sketch in the sketchbook, mail it in, and they take it on the road.

The road trip travels around America to 11 major cities along with another 30,000 sketchbooks.

Finally, it is scanned and placed online for all to see. Or if they want to they can personally visit the Brooklyn Library in New York for a close-up-and-personal view.

I participated this year and you can see my 2011 Sketchbook in person.  Just ask for call number 026.6-5 when you visit Brooklyn. Not going there anytime soon?  Well, you can see it here on line.

It's not too late to signup for the 2012 Sketchbook Project. Get your sketch journals on the road!

...dave  
I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train. -Oscar Wilde