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by yeetsfromhellL2 1508 days ago
The author misses Rite in the Rain, which makes my favorite notebooks, they're printed with heavy, acid-free, waterproof paper. Pairs great with a Fisher pen cartridge (waterproof, pressurized ink made for writing in almost any condition).

As for dating, I like to do something a little different; it's still ISO8601 but with a slight twist. Each page top has the date in basic form (eg, 20220430) and each note on that page has a timestamp to describe that note and a title for the first line (eg: "T1234 Groceries"), followed by the note body below, a little like a git commit message. This allows me to link between notes by enclosing the date and time stamp in pointy brackets. To save some ink when linking, I use the date at the top of the page for context. If my page top is dated 20220430, and I want to link to a note from the 23rd at T0631, I write it like <23T0631>. Since the year and month are the same as the context I'm in, I don't bother writing those. I don't use page numbers at all.

Some other notebook habits I have: I like to use the first page for my contact info if anyone finds my notebook (and maybe offer a reward). The next page is for goals I'd like to work toward during the anticipated lifespan of that book. I also like to create a weekly index. When I've filled the notebook, I create an index of index pages on the very last page. If I wait to index the entire thing when the book is filled, I usually don't. Also, I use the last few pages to create monthly calendars. I fill in dates on them with letters (A, B, C...) for an event, which I reference on the back side of the page, either with a short description or a link to the timestamp I wrote down event information on. Finally, after filling a book, I write the range of timestamps that book covers in the spine so I can quickly find notes in the future.

2 comments

I also like Rite In The Rain notebooks with Fisher Space Pens.

My only complaint about RITR is that the feel of the paper seems a bit odd.

You are way too disciplined, which I can never be. More power to you.
If you just do the date at each page header and timestamp each note to enable linking, your notes will get much easier to deal with. I actually started doing this because I'm fairly undisciplined and generally pretty disorganized.