Having the right planner for you

Over the last few years, I have been trying to find a planner that works for me and the way that I think and like doing things. It has taken quite a while for me to figure out just want I liked about planners and what I didn’t like. I know that I have written quite a few blogs about my planner or my journal and how I have liked the one that I was using.

Last year, I decided that instead of purchasing a planner because I couldn’t find one that I liked, I would use a dot journal book and lay out my own planner so that I could lay it out for what I wanted to use my planner for. Yes, that is a great ideal when you first think about doing it, until you realize how much time it takes to set up your planner. The planner I had set up would last me four months, and then I would have to set up another planner for another four months, which isn’t something I was enjoying doing. So, part way through the first four months I realized that I could change the planner up, and it would last me 6 months so that was better, except that I still had to sit and layout each page of the planner which does take time. I did end up setting the second planner for last year and got through part of that planner until I found an academic planner that I liked.

The academic planner did work through the end of the year, but then I realized that I really didn’t like a planner that went from July – June because for me a year is January – December, so I needed another planner, so the hunt was on again to find something that I liked.

Things that I didn’t want.

1. The appointment layout, as I don’t operate on a time schedule, I work on a get things done schedule.
2. Something that won’t stay open on my desk because I like seeing the calendar, so I see what I have to do.
   

What I did want.

1. Space where I could add notes each day easily.
2. Ability to add little notes after I had completed the tasks and added everything else for the day.

As you can see, I had some specific things that I both wanted and didn’t want, and it was becoming a challenge to find a planner that was going to make me happy. After looking at a lot of calendar and planner, I finally found one that seems to be working for me, and it is the Happy Planner – Classic Lined Vertical Layout. This planner gives me the space to add the items I want to complete each day and with it being a ring system I can add pages to it if I want.

My planner is very important to me because it is used for both work and personal tasks, so having it available on my desk all the time is important. I have been using this planner since the beginning of the year and so far, it seems to be working for me. I hope that I can continue to find this type of planner in the coming years because not having to set up my own planner is so much nicer and I have enjoyed it so far.

 

Knapsack Etiquette

Here is something that bothers me, and it's people that wear their knapsacks while around other people. The one thing that bothers me is how big the knapsacks are, and the person wearing it doesn’t seem to remember that they cannot see what their bag is hitting if it’s on their back. I understand that if you are walking a distance, having your knapsack on your back makes a lot of sense, but it’s wearing it in crowded areas that I don’t appreciate.

A knapsack that is on someone’s back can really be a bother for everyone else around them, especially in small areas. I wish people that have knapsacks on their backs would think of the other people around them and not just themselves. So many people take transit and think they are small and don’t realize or think about what is on their back and the extra space they are taking up. When taking transit, I know that transit people ask passengers to remove bags from their backs, but a lot of them don’t pay much attention to that message. These bags end up in other people’s faces, jammed into someone else’s back, or just blocking access.

This similar thing happens when people are on elevators. The knapsack is either hitting someone else or blocking the way for people trying to get on or off the elevator. I know in our building when the students all get out of school, and they get on the elevator it is crazy because no one removed their knapsacks, but they just keep pushing on. By simply taking their knapsack off their back and holding it in their hands would make more room in the elevator for everyone.

It would be nice if the people that wear their knapsacks on transit or on elevators understood the impact of that on others around them. Sure, it leaves your hands free to be on your mobile device, but it is impacting other people around you. I don’t know how many times I have had a knapsack almost hit me in the face while I was sitting on a bus or subway. Also, on the elevator here in our building knapsacks are always hitting someone else if kids from school get on the one, we are on.

So, remember that simple knapsack etiquette is taking our knapsack off your back before getting on transit or an elevator. If you don’t do this, you are communicating to everyone else that “My bag is important, and you aren’t.”

25 Years

 To look back on the last 25 years, I can say that things have changed a lot and some things happened for the right reasons. On this day 25 years ago, I was at a party for some friends that had been on a trip to India. It was close to where I lived, so it meant that I could walk over to the party. I went after hearing that the person that invited me didn’t think I would be attending, even after I said I would go.

So, as you can probably guess, I went to the party and had a pretty good time. What I hadn’t plan on happening is meeting someone at the party who was also a guest. I ended up dating this individual later that year thanks to the guy that invited me to the party, giving this other guy my phone number.

The guy that I started dating was wonderful and someone that made me feel special, and to this day he still makes me feel special. After a couple of years of dating, we decided to get married and have been happily married for almost 23 years now. So yes, an invitation to a party ended up changing my life in such a good way. I got to spend time with some people that I didn’t know, and I met the guy that would later on become my husband.

As I look back 25 years, I hadn’t planned on meeting someone at this party, but I am really glad that I did. I found my partner who I love and cherish.

Blaming others for your mistake

Recently I have been watching some comments on Facebook and they have really bothered me. I am part of a cross stitch community, and they provided a year long stitch-along for free for everyone. The pattern was hosted on their website, so it was free for everyone to stitch. Now on the website it clearly stated that “This design is only available for free until 1^st January 2024.” Now, when you download the pattern each month it says on the front of the pattern, “This design is only available as a free download until 1^st January 2024.”

The pattern is released on the 1^st of each month, and it has always been posted on the first of the month, so once December is released you have 31 days to download that part of the pattern. Yes, the website is hosted in Australia so that means that the pattern is available in North America on the last day of the previous month so we will have 31 days to download the pattern. So, everyone has the same amount of time to download the pattern.

During last year, there were several reminders on the Facebook group remaindering everyone that the pattern would be only available until January 1^st. So, January 1^st rolls around and the new stitch along for 2024 is posted and of course the 2023 pattern is removed just like all the reminders said would happen. I think you can see what is going to happen next, there are people within the group that didn’t download the pattern because they figured it would still be available in North America on the 31^st of December. We get the pattern a day ahead of the 1^st of each month, so why would it still be available.

What bothered me was as soon as the pattern was taken down, someone immediately was asking someone in the Facebook group to share the December pattern with them. This pattern does have a copyright on it, and it is against copyright laws to share a PDF copy of a pattern. Besides this happening, the designer of the pattern received lots of emails about why was the pattern taken down at midnight Sydney time, as it would have been removed in each individual person’s time zone. Removing a pattern based on your time zone is extremely expensive to do, and given it was a free pattern and tons of reminders were posted on the website as well as within the Facebook group.

I feel sorry for the designer because they give a lot of time to the community and the designing of these patterns, and they don’t deserve to be treated like they have been treated. This same designer has been accused of stealing motifs from other people. The motifs that have been used in all these designs are antique motifs and everyone can use them.  It hurts me to see that people don’t appreciate what they are getting for free. Being rude to a designer isn’t appropriate when they have given everyone tons of their time to the community for free.

Given everything they have had to go through the website now says, “This design is only available for free until 1^st January 2025 – this means it is no longer free from midnight Sydney Australian time on the 31^st December 2024, after that it will cost US$10 to download.” Now, when you download the pattern each month it says on the front of the pattern, “This design is only available as a free download until 1^st January 2025. That means all the free download links will be removed at midnight Sydney Australian time on the 31^st December.”

Blaming someone else when it is clearly your mistake is totally wrong. If you stumble along blindly, life is going to smack you at some point. There is no one to blame but yourself. So, if you are someone that is every thinking that you might want to stitch a pattern that is free, grab it immediately to ensure you have it. Please, before you blame someone else for a mistake, check to make sure who was in the wrong because in some cases it might be you.