Friday, January 25, 2008

I've got some good ideas...and some bad ideas

"Bad mnemonics are no help."

We've got a recipe box that has a little of everything in it. Every time we look up a number in the phonebook, an index card goes in the box. The missing person's ID's for the kids are in there. Cards with guitar chords for songs. Set lists. A list of my favorite cosmetics. A running wishlist for everyone. Recipes for blueberry muffins, goulash, no bakes. Even the tag card for my favorite jeans. Anything that can be cut or folded to 3x5 can go in the box. Every time I use it I think, wow, I'm so glad I have this box. What a stupid and simple idea!

My computer crashed last summer and I just left my old outlook files in archive and started over. I left behind a pretty complicated inbox with folders for everyone. My new system is just 3 folders: Bills, My Peeps, and Internet Stuff. Everything else turns out to be spam. It is so much easier this way.

I have a notebook so I can write down stuff. It works out pretty well with the kids and their jokes they make because we take the time and write it out verbatim. And it works okay for mashup ideas. I see "Before He Cheats/The Way We Were", it's pretty clear what it is. It does not work out so well for blogging ideas. A two-word phrase doesn't quite sum it up. In fact, I don't remember where it was going at all...

Here are some wha-inspiring quotes from my book of notes:

"Conversation of Energy"
"conscientious objector--not about war"
"lenticular"
"squander/squalor"
"gussets"
"print trotting zebra"

3 comments:

sgreerpitt said...

I love the box! My thing for most stuff is a lab notebook (I treat myself to really nice one's from Levenger in a fancy cover), and everything gets written down in it.
For blogging, I get most of my ideas while on-line (except for the one's I get in the car, and we both know what happens to those), so I've got Google tool bar and use Google bookmarks and have a folder called "Blog research." Course not everything that goes in there ends up in a blog entry -- not enough time.
I'd love to hear some of your kid's jokes. I still remember the one my brother made up at age 4 -- "Why is a CooCoo Clock like a screwdriver? Because you can hit your head and go swimming." I never knew what it meant then and I still haven't got a clue.

Qaro said...

Thanks! I hear good things about moleskine, but I don't get it.

Here's a joke we did together: http://qaro.blogspot.com/2007/08/stand-and-deliver.html

sgreerpitt said...

Good one -- a giraffe, a kangaroo and and elephant...