A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

planning

Adding an EDC to my life

People talk about their EDCs. You know – the everyday carry. 

I’ve often thought about an EDC myself, but I always wonder what to put in it. A lot of EDC things you see are a little more tactical in mind. While I do carry some things, they seem strewn about. I might have one thing here, and another thing in a different spot. 

In my quest to start trying to simplify life a bit to make life overall better in general, I’m thinking about an EDC “kit,” so to speak. My thought is to get a nice canvas messenger bag and then build accordingly. The idea would be to have this with me on most days, giving me the ability to adjust on the fly and also plan things out without getting too stressed out. 

See, my issue often is becoming overwhelmed. 

Be it personal or professional, things get piled on and I basically start to go into a freefall. That makes it hard to stay on task because I start to worry that the most current thing is the item that needs to be done right then and there. 

Some of the items I currently carry with me.

Basically, not setting boundaries. 

I try to keep organized through various calendars and such, but then – overwhelmed. I have a personal one, a work one … and I try to mix it. That’s all electronic. So I add things to this calendar or that one and then I start getting all panicked. 

The struggle is real. 

I’ve often hid or masked things when it comes to mini mental meltdowns. I often will stare into space and not know where I am going. I can’t keep focused and all of a sudden I’m way behind. My emotions and mind start to go all over the place and my temper can follow, though I usually keep that a little more guarded. 

When things like this happen, I also tend to not want to talk to anybody. It’s an evil cycle that never seems to have a true ending, rather I just find a way to crawl out of it. But once I do, I’m all over the place because of things that need to be done, both personal and professional. 

One thing it really interferes in is my ability to focus outside of work. I have a bunch of things I’d like to work on and get done. But I get so worn down at times from these feelings and such that I just become a potato at times. Thankfully, Harper makes sure I know I need to go out and walk. 

I realize this is all part of life. None of us likely have perfect, happy everyday feelings. We all struggle in certain areas, which makes us human. 

So back to the original topic – an EDC. How does that help?

Over the years, I’ve tried to plan things out a bit better. It doesn’t matter if it’s trying to utilize my Google calendars (which are good in a pinch), or the old-school pen-to-paper style. I truly do love pen to paper, but it’s also something you have to have a routine for. Just a regular old calendar book doesn’t usually work for me because I don’t use it enough. I need something a bit more substantial to try and help shape things a bit more. 

I’ve recently found a Clever Fox planner (on Amazon) and it has a lot to it. There are sections for goals, and planning, and all sorts of different things. It also has areas for reflection. I’m starting to think that would be important because it might get me to think more about what might trigger these mental blocks, as well as force me to prioritize things a bit more. 

The beginning will be hard as I’ll have to develop a routine. My hope would be that once that routine got going, I’d be more attentive to my life as a whole. 

I’d keep certain things I already use some (a smaller Hobonichi planner, which could be a spot for plans and ideas – I carry it often), and a small dateless planner I use for work notes and thoughts. They would each supplement the bigger one, which would encompass my whole life – so I could open it to the week and see priorities/goals and everything else outlined in front of me. 

I also hope it might help me start blogging more. 

Ok, I’m still blabbing. EDC. 

What would I carry in said EDC bag? What would I feel is something I’d want with me most of the time? 

  • EDC bag to hold everything
  • Main planner so I can access it, see an overview and be able to plan accordingly. 
  • Mini planner – which I will carry with me even when the bag isn’t with me
  • My iPad/keyboard (I want to start writing more on the fly when I can on personal time)
  • Small notebook
  • Pens/pencils/highlighters etc
  • Leatherman (or something like it) tool
  • Flashlight
  • Rulers (I tend to always have one or two small ones with me)
  • Water bottle
  • Headphones/earbuds
  • Possibly a phone charger

That’s my main thought process at this point. For those of you who have an EDC – what do you always have with you? What items do you think would be good in mine? The beauty of the one planner is it’s undated, so I can pick any month to start it. My birthday month (September) might be as good of a time as any to do it. 

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook!

Finding the perfect blog planner… or the search for it

A year or so ago, I set out to try and organize with my blog a bit more.

That started with a blog planner.

I searched and searched and searched for a decent planner. I had no issues paying for one — if I thought it would be worth it. I settled in on one I found at the website Confessions of a Homeschooler. This place had many planners, but the blogging one was really nice — and free. The only thing I had to do was print it out and get it bound.

Pretty simple.

Cover of my new blog planner.

Cover of my new blog planner.

Not only did the designer come up with a nice monthly look at things — she also had a weekly blogging planner. The best part about this was more space to write things (which, it turns out, I didn’t really need!). The downside of this is having to manually put the dates in each month etc. But, on the opposite side of that, this is something one could print out yearly and have it ready from year to year.

Meanwhile, her normal blogging planner has the dates and so many extras (2015 version is on her website).

For those of you who are bloggers and really plan things out, I don’t see how you could go wring with this planner. This is the ultimate to planning out your blog week by week or month by month.

However …

When it comes to me, I need something I can write down ideas and when I might want to post something. Though the rest, in theory, should have helped me, I am not that organized. There’s reasons being that, though, as I’m a true personal/lifestyle blogger in that I write a bit of everything that’s on my mind and don’t do a lot of things many other bloggers will do.

The planner I used last year had extra pages all over the place for:

  • Giveaways/reviews
  • Advertising
  • Extra information (each month, which included statistics for social media, inspirations, post ideas and notes, tweets, Pinterest, and other notes).

It’s colorful, useful and has everything one might need to blog, especially mommy bloggers, or those who do so many different things.

For me, though, it became hard. I wanted to use everything because it was there and it made sense. But it’s the size of your normal printer paper and such, so not the most portable. I can see having this on a computer desk, spread open to each day and jotting notes, ideas, statistics and such — if I could do all that.

In the end, it was almost too overwhelming because I didn’t utilize all the features and didn’t carry it with me as much because it wasn’t so portable.

(For the record, I had it printed at OfficeMax and had them bind it. It was easy and relatively cheap — maybe in the $30 range as I went all color and upgraded the paper a little).

The inside of the new planner.

The inside of the new planner.

For those of you totally in-depth with your blog and looking for something like this — go check it out. It’s a free download. The style and design is amazing. And, one day, when I settle in somewhere else and maybe have myself set up with the blog a little differently, I will definitely revisit this.

But I knew for 2015, I needed to change gears. I needed something smaller, more portable and with fewer bells and whistles.

Enter Blurb.

For those who don’t know, Blurb is a print-on-demand company where anybody can get books published for an affordable price. Since 2006, I’ve been using Blurb each year to create and print a photo book, which is gifted to some friends and family for Christmas. I’ve highly enjoyed doing it and it always gives me something to look back at.

I noticed earlier in the year that they now had the ability to do planners, too.

The beauty of doing this is being able to customize it, to a point. I added photos of mine and a couple extra notes pages, though the calendar pages and such were kind of there. I couldn’t add a few months into 2016, or have December 2014, either, which is too bad. I received the book a few days ago, and it’s closer to the “perfect” blog planner, for me anyway.

The pros:

  • Smaller and more portable
  • Personal photos inserted (one at beginning of month, and a small one at the bottom of each right-side calendar page)
  • Cover and back can be customized
  • Enough room to write things for each day

The cons:

  • Not spiral bound
  • Unable to add months to beginning or end
  • No full ability for customized pages (at least that I saw)

As I continue looking at planners, I think eventually I am going to have to try and design my own each year to attempt and give me the full personal touch that I want. I somewhat want the best of both worlds between the one I have been using for 2014 and the one I have for 2015. We’ll see how this year goes and maybe I will tackle the project and come up with something in between.

The undertaking of creating my own planner would be a pretty big project, but if I get midway through this year and realize I need more than what I’ve done, it will be something I start working on early enough so I can have it finished and ready for 2016.

If you are a blogger — what do you use and how do you make it?

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Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Notes from my Noodle: January 6 edition

Hello blog readers and welcome to the first edition of Notes from my Noodle in 2012. I hope you all had a wonderful New Year’s and holiday season as this world gets back into full gear.

Alas, another weekend is upon us. There is good weather in the forecast in my part of the Northeast, so I’m looking to go out and geocache/letterbox/photograph for a while Saturday. Why not take advantage of it?

My January 4 choice for my 366 Project.

With this year being a leap year, I’ve opted to do the Project 3656 again. I was successful in 2010 with it, so I thought with the extra day, it would be cool to do it again.

Now I just have to make sure to get a photo each day!

I’ve been good with it so far. And I plan on heading out today to find a photo. As I peer outside right now, there are blue skies, the sun is shining and the temps are in the upper 40s.

Score!

There has to be something out there to snap photos of, I would think.

And though I have the iPhone, which has an excellent camera, I am hoping to do the bulk of the 366 this year with my Canon 7D. I love the use of the iPhone — I really do — but for this project, I’d like to challenge myself artistically a but more with my DSLR. Plus, I got a really cook bokeh kit for my lenses for Christmas and I’m looking forward to trying that out for sure.

If any of you have some cool and fun ideas for photos I should look into taking for my 366 project, post them in the comments section. I want to keep a small notebook of ideas, in case I get in a pinch!

I know a few others doing the 366 this year. One of them is fellow Flickr/Twitter user and fellow geocacher Mike, who has been doing the 365 since 2010. That means, unless he somehow skipped a day this year and hasn’t said anything yet, he has been taking a photo a day for 736 straight days (or more)! (For readers of this blog, Mike was a guest poster in November).

That’s insane!

Keep it up Mike. By the end of this one, you’ll have reached nearly 1,000 days, which is no small feat!

 ***

I wish I had more to report on the job hunt. Applications are still being sent out. But, for the next batch, I’m taking a different approach.

Being that the first approach hasn’t worked too well, outside of the few interviews and such I’ve had, I’m going to change the tone of my cover letters. At this point, what’s it going to hurt? I think I am going to attempt to make them a little more edgy, a little more cocky. I imagine that it will, at worse, get somebody’s attention. Maybe it will get me a few more interviews. And maybe (gasp!) an offer.

Something has to change.

I want to try and re-work my resume a little, too. I don’t think it’s awful, but a tweak or two probably wouldn’t hurt.

My big thing is trying to make it so my block of not working doesn’t stand out so much. I have to work on that as well and hope something comes along soon.

This has, by far, been one of the most trying things, professionally, I’ve ever dealt with in my life. I’m just hoping the light at the end of the tunnel gets big soon!

***

This past Sunday, I went and played a round of disc golf. On January 1, in the Albany area in New York, it was in the high 40s. Me, my niece Nicole, Darren and his wife Jodi played 18 holes at Schenectady Central Park.

My niece sizes up a putt.

What a day.

I played a round of disc golf last Jan. 1 as well, but it was not nearly as warm as this!

But it was a perfect day to go out for a nice little walk and play a round. We only came across people a couple of times, but no major issues. We stopped for a couple of letterboxes and pretty much took our time.

Without a doubt, though, it was great just to be out walking around and moving.

I haven’t played in a while (I think my last round had been on Thanksgiving), so I didn’t throw as well as I would have liked. Still, it wasn’t bad. I had some decent shots and hopefully my game will improve as this year moves on. My niece has only been a few times, but I think she’s starting to get the hang of things and hopefully she can keep improving and liking the game as well. Starting at a younger age will only make her better as she continues to age and play. It’s also a great game to be able to just get out and play.

Now if we can get a course in our local area…

Speaking of disc golf, I continue to work on a certain disc golf project I have going on. I am hoping within the next two weeks to be able to announce something here about it. I’m extremely excited about it and hope it works out for the best!

Until then, keep clanging the metal and rattling those chains when you are out on the disc golf course!

***

I’m sneaking out of the area this weekend to do a little day trip. I’m not going far, but I’m meeting up with a friend to do a day of geocaching/letterboxing and catch up on some things.

Here’s something I’ve figured — it’s not as easy planning a trip to involve letterboxing as it is geocaching.

See, with geocaching, you have a map you can open up and see where everything is. That way, you can plan a route that is somewhat economical and such.

With letterboxing, you can bring up a google map — for each box. Then you have to figure what’s close etc., and try and keep them somewhat in a route to make it worthwhile.

Hopefully by the end of tomorrow, we’ll have piled up a bunch of finds for both. And I also hope to have had several cool photos taken before the end of the day.

Though the temperatures are supposed to be slightly cooler tomorrow (not too bad, though), it is still supposed to be sunny and nice out. So I look forward to a day of finding stamps, caches and photo opportunities.

***

I have finally gotten back into reading books on the Kindle again. I’m reading one of Jodi Picoult’s latest books, “Sing Me Home.” So far, so good. I’m a big fan of Picoult and always enjoy what she brings to the table with her books. Well-written and well-researched make things a good and smooth read.

I have a couple of other books lined up as well.

Anyone get a Kindle Fire over the holidays? I’m curious to see what people think. I have a 3rd or 4th Generation Kindle and I like it. But down the line, I might look to upgrade, though if I really want a tablet, the iPad seems like the way I might lean. I like my reader to be just that — a reader.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook by clicking the button on the right side of the page!