31.12.18

The 'Davinci Kit'

Image result for leonardo da vinci
Possibly a self-portait of  'The Man'

The Davinci kit is coming together.

My issue:  I have more than 1 journal I try to keep current:
- a daily journal/planner (Benjamin Franklin Virtues Journal)
- a work journal I inherited from a predecessor at work (she 'willed it to me' when she retired) for meetings at work, notes from work, etc.
- a newly purchased 'Commonplace Journal' (hard to explain, Google it) used for this blog
- a book used specifically for 'cursive entries' (for improving my handwriting)
- a little passport-sized journal that I use for 'jotting down stuff to remember' (also for this blog)
- a little black journal into which I rant stuff (that you don't want to know about (!))
- and a need to carry/store some regularly used fountain pens and miscellaneous commonly used tools

SO!  I had been trying to figure out how to keep all this stuff  'in the right place' or, keep the various items where they were most often used ... which became difficult as the various journals and items often became needed at home (when they were at work) or at work (when they were at home).

I've fixed this issue by creating a 'Davinci kit,' named for 'The Man.'

The Davinci bag and journal from Innovative Journaling were expected to arrive the day before Christmas -- they arrived on 26 December due to the USPS bouncing the package back and forth between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg for a day or more ... but they got here.

I've 'packed out' my kit in its first iteration ... it's contents may be reduced or increased based on need as I begin to tote it to and from work as of 2 January ... so here's what's come together (mainly thanks to Arthur Scharf) so far:


Front view of Davinci bag as currently loaded.


Rear view of Davinci bag as currently loaded.


Davinci bag, unloaded. (from left, work journal for meetings, bookmark for Davinci journal, Davinci journal for website notes, Benjamin Franklin Virtues journal, journal used for keeping up with 'cursive practice,' $15 pouch from Innovative Journaling used to keep personal correspondence cards, envelopes, pens and stamps, "the black journal" (you don't wanna know), the $10 (or 'primer') journal,Innovative Journaling's 'vintage accessories/pen pouch (center) and vintage tool roll-up (bottom ... and empty; now holds multi-head screwdriver, knife, other tools).


Not pictured (but there's room, trust me!):  Flask, 4 or 5 FPs (3 or 4 for use and 1 or 2 for giveaways/recruiting), ink pot, flashlight, knife, extra comb (!) ... and there's still room left over for an appropriate-sized thermos for which I am currently searching! 

Updates re: useful incorporation into my everyday carry (EDC) to follow.
JM(M)

15.12.18

It's Facebook's Fault





Yeah, yeah.  I know ... it's been since like *August* that I've put anything down here.  The only reason (read: "excuse") I can give you is:  "I haven't been in the mood."



But, I will admit, I have - like everyone else - been spoiled by The Book of Face ... because it's too easy to put stuff there (like this bit I posted about a goofy guy on my ride to work a few weeks back):


"SIGNS" 
(November 30th, 2018 - 0539)

This morning as I boarded the shuttle between Metro-stations (the train isn't running for part of the journey to work as they repair a bridge for the past week and over the next, so I get to ride a bus in the mornings, just like when I was 6):

Guy on Shuttle: "Hey. They put those signs up for a reason."

John on Shuttle: (I wasn't sure if he was talking to me) "I'm sorry?"

Guy on Shuttle: "They put those signs up there for a reason!"

John on Shuttle: "Which one? The 'No Talking to the Driver' sign?" There are actually 4 or 5 signs posted at the front of most of the shuttles ... it was a legitimate question.

Guy on Shuttle: (pointing) "No. 'No coffee.'"

John on Shuttle: (while looking) "I don't see a 'No Coffee' sign."

Looking again and feigning severe confusion, I noted that the sign actually read 'No smoking/eating/drinking' and, in pictures: something like 'No cigarettes, putting unidentifiable things in your mouth, or big tea-cups on saucers with hot stuff in them.'

Guy on Shuttle: "It's right there, see?" He likes to point apparently. He was still pointing at the sign very smartly.

John on Shuttle: "Oh!" I said, "No 'drinking!' Thanks! But I'm not 'drinking,' I'm 'holding!'"

I proudly showed him my holiday-design Starbucks cup with the little spill-stopper in place that every stylish commuter sports.

"But thank you for pointing that out," I said.

I may have feigned a smile a little too obviously. Maybe. Later in the morning, a friend suggested that I should have explained to the guy that you can't drink hot coffee, you have to sip it ... but hey, in my defense: it was too early to think of good stuff like that.

Guy on Shuttle: "You were *drinking!*" He was pointing again, but now both at the sign and me in turns. He really was a good pointer.

Shuttle Driver: "Please be quiet sir."

Guy on Shuttle: "He's drinking coffee!" This time he's pointing at me like he was 8 and we were on the bus to school.

Shuttle Driver: (The driver is now pointing to his own sign!) "No Talking to the Driver, please sir. We put those signs up for a reason."

Guy on Shuttle: (Muttering to himself after glancing at me, dropping his line of sight and turning to stare out his window) "You *were* drinking ... ". He whispered it in a grumbly sort of hiss as a sort of last stand in defiance of authority but support for "The sign" and what he so deeply believed to be truth, justice, and whatnot but, a stance only appreciated by him as he pulled his little wheeled suitcase intended for airports but too big for storage in an overhead compartment on the average plane that he uses for his daily carry-everything-he-considers-important-to-work-buggy closer to his chest, putting wheel marks on his shirt as he hugged it and getting something like grease from the wheels and axles on the front of his pants.

Yep ... that was my 0540'ish this morning - and w/out coffee yet!


JM(M)