Musings on the Human Condition

The great (and recently late) singer, songwriter and musician Tom Petty said, "Good love is hard to find" in his famous song "You Got Lucky" (yes, the video is a bit cheesy, so feel free to read on). As it turns out, good products seem equally hard to find. Superstores like Walmart and Target and Amazon, where most of us shop these days, only carry certain products. How do they determine what to carry? As much as I don't write much anymore (all my notes are typed), I'm a big fan of good writing instruments -- mostly, I use them for highlighting the key sections in books I'm reading. For instance, I bought these awesome color pencils at Target on a hunch. They write well, shapen well, the lead never breaks and is soft to write with, each color has a distinctive name, e.g. Dijon for the mustard colored pencil. And I love the packaging; makes it easy to pick out the pencil you want and put it back in when you're done. I've never been able...

The Context I am big on taking notes. A while ago I realized that trusting my memory was a losing proposition. It would only cause me to forget more. I have decent handwriting. And I love handwritten notes. It feels great. There's something primal about the experience of pen on paper. Pencil feels even better. Like hugging a sibling rather than a cousin. But there's a rub. Try looking for that note you took about the time someone told you about a really cool text editor. Still flipping through pages? Or maybe you're looking for the notebook from 2015? The Transition Enter 2018. About 2 years ago I stopped taking handwritten notes. It was a tough change for me. I have a stupendous collection of writing instruments staring me in the face everytime I go looking for the stapler on my stationary shelf. Will they ever be used? To sign a check, maybe? The Purpose The reason I stopped taking handwritten notes is that I realized they failed in their purpose. ...