Thursday, September 27, 2007

I'm moving this blog, and other materials, under my domain john-norris.net. All the content will be available under that domain (not under radio.weblogs.com) in the next couple of weeks. I'll keep this blog and gallery intact under the "old-site" tab. Sorry for any broken links this will cause. Stay tuned for more Containers of Information! 9:43:31 AM

	Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Something Up My Sleeve! Confession time: When I'm on the move, I find my Hipster and Fobster a bit too far out of reach for the quick glance to keep me on track.  Plus, if there is something crucial that I absolutley have to remind myself of,  I'll write it on my.... hand. Yup.  Can't miss it there. So streatching Hipster technology perhaps a bit too far,  I've come up with what I call "The Mission Band".  It is not just a big blank thing to write on, or my case a freckled hairy arm, but a tastefully done accent to one's wrist and memory. Offered to you under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License...so feel free to make it your own: Mission Band pdf Mission Band Open Office Draw file 2:38:42 PM

	Friday, June 30, 2006

Hipster PDA- (reprint of 6/14/2005) I like to organize things. I also need a place to record and refer to things throughout the day. Back in the corporate world I used carry cut up pieces of blank paper clipped together in my back pocket. I kept my to-do's, ideas, etc on them. Imagine my surprise when I found some like minded folks. 43folders introduced the notion of a paper PDA (Hipster), and it seems to have taken off. (Google, Flickr.) Douglas Johnston has released a very nice set of Hipster templates. I've been busy working on some Hipster templates as well. My take is a bit different in that I do not really follow a formal methodology such as Getting Things Done. (7/13: More Hipster PDA goodies under my new Hipster PDA section.) My set: Categorization via the Meta-Line Organizer. Designed for cheap (gray scale) printing. Economical use of an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper. (Plus more room to write.) Blank. Grid. Checklist. I'll often keep my 'official' to-do list on this. Lined. Tear-away. Allows me to give notes to folks and not lose too much paper. Fold Up Cards. More formal cards. Yes, that is a picture of poison oak. Dictionary. Rulers. Metric and English. Sorry it is a bit rough when printed. Conversions. Metric and English. Star Chart. I do a bit of astronomy so it makes sense to me. World Map with Time Zones. Chess and Checkers. Playing Cards. Go. The 9x9 version. Battleship. For two players. Sundial Day Planner. I get fed up with one's life totally planned by the hour so here is my little retort. Morse Code and Semaphore. I can never remember this stuff when I could use it... so like similar stuff, into the Hipster it goes. Staff (Music) Do It Yourself Art. OK, this is along the lines of the conceptual work I do...but totally valid for anyone to use and compose their own art. Full Sheet. Because sometimes you just need a full sheet of paper. John Norris' Hipster pdf version. John Norris' Hipster Scribus version. (Scribus is a free desktop publishing app.) I'd get a kick out of what others can do with this, so I am releasing it under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license. (Do be careful with attributing some of the other folk's content I've included.) 9:43:42 AM

Project Management (reprint) Supplement Template A quick way to plan steps, time, cost, and dependencies. Time line units can represent any amount of time. I picked the $ sign, but please modify it as you need to. PM Hipster Template PDF PM Hipster Template .sla (Scribus) This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License. 9:41:06 AM

	Tuesday, April 4, 2006

The Fobster The Fobster PDF The Fobster Open Office Draw File When my Hipster PDA got left behind, I found myself picking up all sorts of scraps of paper to write on. Now I keep a small stack of planner templates on my keychain. It is small enough not to bother me, is with me just about where ever I go, and includes the stuff I need to stay organized. Templates: Two Covers with Frames. Add some art and you have a nice front and back cover. Blanks. Includes check-offs for see other side, notes, to-do. Title line. Grids. Includes check-offs for see other side, notes, to-do. Title line. Check Lists. Lines and boxes Finances. Note where the money is coming and going. Contacts. Just the few ones you need to know...or a place for new folks. Quick Fold Cards. Personal notes are always appreciated..so leave a few. One Day Planners. Plan each hour of your day, and keep it with you. Flying Spaghetti Monster Foldable Alter. 'nuf said. Meditation Screen. Take a deep breath and relax.... In addition I recommend: Don't put in identifiable information in case your keys get lost. Make a front a back cover out of the clear plastic of a 2 liter pop bottle. Cut along the curve so that it helps keep the papers together. If you find the paper comes out of the clip, add some more sheets. I've had as many as 30. A small chain works well to keep the clip on the keychain. If I have a lot of keys and keep taking them out of my pocket, the bulky keys leverage off the clip from the chain. Keep your key bulk small, or wear 'em on the outside. There are a ton of keychain pens out there. I often find I have a pen in my pocket, car, etc... so don't feel the need to buy one. However, I took a cheap plastic pen whose ink has run down a bit, taken out the back plug, sawed off short the case and ink tube (leaving a bit of air at the end), put the plug back in, and have a loop of string out the pen's cap. Works well so far, but no guarantees it won't explode in your pants! If you come up with other templates and ideas for the Fobster, feel free to use the Open Office Draw file to customize your own. It is released under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license 2.0 Let me know how it goes, and be sure to stop by the D*I*Y Planner site. 10:01:03 AM

	Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Hipster on Tour- Toot, Toot, Toot Just got to toot my own horn sometimes.  My Hipster, a paper disposable assistant, is part of the items available at D*Y*I* Planner.  Besides getting my stuff out to more people and having it associated with a lot of other cool stuff, D*Y*I* Planner and my planner was recently in the Boston Globe.  OK, I'm not really "featured" but that is my Hipster pictured in the article.  Now the world knows how much I spent on donuts a couple of week's ago! Thanks to Douglas Johnson the Hipstermiester. 6:31:23 AM

	Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Distance and Size Hipster Supplement Michell Charity has a card that when held at arm's length helps you determine the height and/or distance to an object.  Check out his Angle Cards... the rest of his site is cool.... lots of goodies. 6:12:45 AM

Hipster PDA Play-at-Home Edition For those of you making your own Hipsters, or changing my templates (which is cool) I recommend Knoppix. Knoppix can be booted from the CD so it does not touch your PC's OS nor configuration. It comes with a ton of software, including Scribus. Scribus is a desktop publishing app that I use, and supply the files for my templates. So go for it, and let me know how it turns out. 6:05:04 AM

	Friday, July 8, 2005

Know Your Rights Hipster Supplement Template Your friends at the ACLU have provided a nicely sized card with what to do if you are stopped by the police. It takes a bit of cutting and folding.  You could place it into your own format, but requires an OK from the ACLU to distribute it electronically..so I'll just let you grab it directly from them. 6:03:18 AM