Showing posts with label Moleskine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Moleskine. Show all posts

Sunday, December 26, 2010

What I Got for Christmas!

Quite a haul for me this year. Definitely a Cincinnati Reds themed Christmas. What did I get? Starting with non-Reds stuff:

A very nice long sleeved casual shirt
An electric carving knife (no more wrestling the turkey with a dull knife for me!)
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (can't get an e-version for my Kindle)
The latest FourFourTwo and World Soccer magazines
The Zen of Zombie by Scott Kenemore (to satisfy my need for more Zombie fiction)
Several Moleskine Notebooks
The 2010 APBA Baseball Game Card Set
Sour Patch Kids
Lifesaver Gummies

And now for my Cincinnati Reds themed gifts:

The Wire-to-Wire Reds by John Erardi and Joel Luckhaupt (story of the 1990 Reds)
The Comeback Kids by Mark Schmetzer and Joe Jacobs (story of the 2010 Reds-autographed too!)
A game-used Orlando Cabrera bat
A trip to the Reds Hall of Fame/Team Store to pick out an authentic Reds jersey of my choice! (Thanks to my wife! What should I get? A Joey Votto or a classic Johnny Bench?)

And pictured here...a framed replica scorecard from the game Jay Bruce hit the bottom of the ninth home-run to clinch the 2010 National League Central Division title. Includes a picture of Jay reaching home plate. Thank you to my brother and sister in-law!

Off to the Happiest Place on Earth tomorrow with the family! Disney World through New Years!
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Moleskine Infatuation!

Brand New!
Is there anything better than a Moleskine notebook! I have some kind of weird inanimate object love for these things.

I have been using these for over 5 years, first for keeping a journal as I was trying to lose weight (What I ate on any given day, exercise etc.) and later just to track random stuff. I write down things like Columbus Crew soccer matches and Cincinnati Reds baseball games I attend, my son's high school soccer matches and results, and random stuff that seems worth documenting.

 There is something cathartic about writing and journaling. Maybe it is the sense of accomplishment I get on any given day writing things down. Maybe it's the thought that someone a long time from now someone will discover these notebooks in a random drawer when they find my desk at a garage sale. There really isn't anything provocative in my journals, unless you find the 2010 Columbus Crew home match results and attendance of real interest.
Moleskines in Use

I have started moving beyond just journaling (I use the 3 1/2"x 5 1/2" hardbound version for that purpose) and now keep the hardbound 5" x 8 1/4" version to write down ideas for my blogs and short stories. The small one is always with me, I keep it in my work backpack. The larger one stays at home, or in my bag if I'm traveling. (If you want to see one of my short stories, click on the "writing" label in the cloud on the right side of this blog. I am also writing a story using a blog as it's "medium" called the Johnny Dog Journal.)

The highlight of my relationship with all things Moleskine had to be the day I received my Amazon Kindle. I love my Kindle (maybe a subject for a future blog), but it is my Moleskine Kindle cover with the slot to hold the Moleskine reporter notebook that really makes it the most useful electronic device I own.
Kindle with the Moleskine Cover!

When you open a new Moleskine, the first thing you do is fill in the "In case of loss, please return to:" section. But then, just below, you get to put a value on the notebook. Your Moleskine has a section that reads, "As a reward: $__________". What is this jewel of a notebook worth to you? I wrote $10.00 in my current Moleskines. If I actually lost one, and got an email or a phone call from a good Samaritan who found it, I would ask, "Did you read it?" They probably would say no. But if they said yes, then I'd want to buy that person a cup of coffee and ask, "Did you find it interesting?"

In the back pocket of every Moleskine is a printed history of the Moleskine notebook (in 8 different languages). The claim is that Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso and Ernest Hemingway used these notebooks. It also documents that the British author Bruce Chatwin was the person who coined the name "Moleskine". It follows by saying Chatwin's book "The Songlines tells the story of these little notebooks. It is this history that, for me, gives Moleskine's a unique quality that can't be duplicated.