Some months ago, I failed at getting an Amazon delivered order here in Chelem. Actually, the failure was on FedEx’s part. Despite having very clear directions and my phone number, they could not be arsed to get the package to me nor would they agree to let me pick it up, saying their depot isn’t set up for that. I ended up sending the package back to Amazon and Amazon left some generous credits on my account to try again.
One of the items in the order was a Moleskine notebook that I now find myself needing again, having nearly exhausted the notebook I bought locally to make do. With Amazon’s credits, buying the notebook online made tons of sense as it would be fully half what I would have paid had the local bookstore brought it in for me. So I ordered the notebook on Tuesday and paid a ludicrous (as in I can’t believe how cheap it was) $150 for overnight delivery to my house in Mérida since I was planning to be there on Wednesday.
Then, we had an earthquake. Amazon’s depot is northwest of Mexico City, so probably not really impacted by the earthquake in terms of damages, but certainly in terms of telecommunications and roadway access.
Thursday, Amazon emailed to let me know my package had shipped and I was being credited the $150 since I would not get the package until Monday.
So imagine my shock when I got a phone call later Thursday (which I just realised was yesterday — it’s been a couple of long and full days!) from DHL here in Mérida saying they hadn’t been able to deliver my package! I was a bit shocked, needless to say! Shocked that it was here so fast and shocked that they’d called.
I told the man that I would not be at my house until next Wednesday and asked if I could pick up the package since that would be easier for everyone. He said yes and hung up before I could ask him where.
This morning, I checked my tracking number and my package status had changed from failed delivery attempted to “ready to be picked up by client.” Still no address. I thought that they might have left me a little paper at the house, but I wanted to know now where it is because they might be open on Saturday and it might be more convenient to go there first thing tomorrow and rather than going first to the house.
I went to the contact page on the DHL website and was going to call when I saw a chat option. I much prefer chatting to speaking to someone, so I tried that. I put in the package tracking number and asked where I could pick it up. I had to wait about five minutes for someone to respond with an address in a place I can’t even pronounce: Xcumpich.
I put “Xcumpich DHL” into Google Maps and it promptly spitted out a location… between Chedraui and Bodega Aurrera that is open between nine and one tomorrow. Talk about convenient! It’s barely a detour to swing by there on the way to the house tomorrow so I don’t care that I’ll have to go back later in the day to get my groceries.
It’s been quite a journey to get that notebook, but considering that they are 30CAD plus tax in Canada and about 60CAD here in store and that I’m getting it for 10CAD, all the hard work has been worth it! And before anyone asks, yes, it is a special type of notebook. 🙂
I’m glad I planned to go to the house tomorrow — my landlady no longer has keys for it, only for the main person gate from the street, and she just texted me to say that she left me some presents in the parking area, “a small table, a few chairs, and a lamp.” Very curious to see what they are! Considering how nice everything else she’s left me has been, I’m optimistic!
It’s been a couple of really busy days, so I went to La barca tonight for a few beers and a burger (the worst of the three I’ve had and still really good with super thick bacon — yum!). It was the first time I’ve ever had to request ketchup and let me say I did a double take when I uttered the word catsup out loud — it’s “cat soup”!!! That struck me as rather funny.
Sunset down my street this evening (not as pink as in reality):
One of my frustrations with Amazon when were full time RVing is that they don’t tell you how they will send a package. If US Mail I needed to use the post office in Parker, AZ. If FedEx or UPS I needed to use the park address in Earp, CA. I simply stopped ordering from them at all until we came off the road. I wonder how many orders they’ve missed from how many people because of that?
I don’t recall having any issues getting Amazon packages in the US — it was more often than not UPS. I’ve had way more problems ordering on eBay.
The Moleskine journal books are well worth tracking down – at least I am very fond of mine. A few years ago, I found one on an especially good clearance price at Staples at mid year. I finished out the year with the full-sized notebook, and vowed to never again succumb to a smaller-than-paper sheet sized journal/planner. Of course then that size seemed to disappear from the market. Fast forward – this year I found an 18-month model in the same large size, and am happily scribbling in it daily.
I’ve found the need to add four vertical lines down the left side to cordon off my different “keep track of that” information, but the right side is a vast playground for me.
One addition has made a world of difference as well. I found some plastic tabs that one can write on, if desired, and then apply to any surface, and then remove and replace at will. I use one to keep my place, and another to designate where the monthly calendars are at the beginning of the book.
I can’t find the exact tabs I have, but here is something similar at Amazon.
Virtual hugs,
Judie
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004I7HHSO/ref=asc_df_B004I7HHSO5183544/?tag=hyprod-20&creative=394997&creativeASIN=B004I7HHSO&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167159791667&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7741892095580616419&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9030249&hvtargid=pla-305304329254
I got my journal today and it is a bit too wide for my purposes, but the next smallest size was too narrow. I also find the paper a bit thin. So we’ll see if I like it. I wanted it for the dotted pattern, which is favoured for “bullet journaling,” the only planner system I’ve found that works for me and which I’ve used consistently and long-term. http://bulletjournal.com
I use that brand of tabs! Mine are smaller, though, about an inch. Really like them! I use them to indicate the start of my month.
I just watched a video about Bullet Journaling. I like it! I’m set with my current Moleskine until the end of 2018, but may set up a Bullet Journal as the end of that year comes along.
Thanks for the pointer! ;->
I really love the bullet journal system, but I don’t follow all the steps to set it up (eg. I don’t need the “future log” because I use a digital calendar for that). It is just so customisable and all the systems to find my info later are in the method so I don’t mind just writing on whatever blank page I’m at and then following up 12 pages later because I know I’ll be able to find the info again. The system also allows me to be creative and gives me a 15 minutes of arts and crafts a day that I really enjoy. Some people have super simple BJs, others are works of art, and mine is in the middle. I first heard about the system before I left for Europe and read about it during my travels, then started it when I got back and have kept up with it every day, a record for me! 🙂
Interesting. I have been making lists for years and years and years but have created my own system that looks nothing like this but works for me. Always good to be organized.
Mine doesn’t look much like the “official” version. I keep customising it to suit me. If you have a system that works for you, I wouldn’t change it!
I’m having a bit of trouble getting a picture in my mind of how the INDEX works, but I think I see. Do I have this right?
One enters the topic at the first entry time, noting the page number, and then later, as other entries are made for that topic, one then just adds the page number to the indexed topic entry???
In effect, this will appear just as a regular index in the back of a book, with multiple references to a given topic. Very clever! I’m embarrassed that I didn’t think of this – having been a bookworm all my life!
I’ve seen a few different ways of doing the index, but the “correct” way is what you describe. I don’t have my journal on hand to show you how I do it, but it’s like you say. I generally write in black, but for major pages, like my two weeks at a glance calendar, I’ll put the entry in a colour like orange indicating what two pages I can find it at. Then, in black, I list all the pages where I have “dailies” corresponding to that timeframe.
Now, here is where indexing gets really clever, with something called “threading.”
Let’s say that on page 15, I wrote down some ideas for my new house and then pursued my thoughts on pages 21, 46, and 57.
In my index, I would have an entry marked: “HOUSE THOUGHTS 15, 21, 46, 57”
If I go to page 15, right where I have the page number at the bottom, I have an arrow pointing to the right and the number 21. So instead of having to go back to my index to see where I picked up that thread, I can go straight to page 21. On page 21, I have an arrowing pointing left and the number 15 and also an arrow pointing right with the number 46.
I thought the index would be unmanageable because it’s not in any real sort of order, but a journal is only so big and so much of it is full of dailies, that it just takes a second to run my finger down the list and find the page about whatever.
I’ve seen other people treat their index as a table of contents, which, frankly, I don’t find that helpful.
Check out bohoberry.com and all her videos on Youtube for tons of inspiration. She puts way more creative work into hers than makes sense for me, but I got tons of inspiration for spreads from her.
WOW – I’m liking this more and more. A journal/planner is much like a traditional filing system, in that the “filing” is easy; it is the “retrieval” that poses the problems!
I bought a packet of Bic ball point pens that have a broad tip in eight different colors, and have been using those colors to separate out the daily notes on the blank side of the weekly page, using the same color for the same day of each week.
Excellent point about adding the “other” pages where a subject is mentioned; a double check on the index in case of a mis-written page number on one or the other.
I’m pretty sure I have looked at bohoberry.com – that name is familiar – but with this newfound information, I’m likely to get more out of the viewing this time around. Many thanks for that pointer, too! ;->
One tip I can add: I keep a 7-inch, almost flat, ruler tucked in the pages for easy underlining of salient points that I want to be able to look at quickly.
So far, I have not written on the removable tabs, but ideas are forming. Currently, I move just the one to the current page spread in use, but I can see where monthly indications could be very useful – or maybe page number intervals – if relying heavily on the index as a main source of retrieval.
That was my problem with traditional planners as well, that and the fact that you couldn’t just insert things wherever. The BJ is just so flexible. I use Papermate Flairs and Stabila pens in fine tips. I would have gone with just the Flairs, but I couldn’t find all the colours I wanted here and the Stabilos had what I was missing and a similar appearance. They’re not as nice to hold, but look good on paper. I also bought some super cheap markers at Walmart that wound up being great and which I use for headers. I use a lot of colour coding. 🙂
I couldn’t find a little ruler like that, so I bought a long one (30CM, I think), that can span two pages. I keep it and my scissors in a pot on my desk and I also have a little drawer unit to store my pens. I actually blog about the drawer unit at one point and showed a picture of it with a few things in it: http://www.raecrothers.ca/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_0453.jpg) It’s better for pens and markers to lie flat. This is a wonderful little unit that is perfect for my BJing! 🙂
And one more thing . . . ;->
Not recently (but I intend to restart), I kept a 3 x 3 sticky note (blank) on every few pages, or at the back/front of a notebook for a quick grab when I wanted to jot something down immediately, and then plan to transfer the info more neatly. This kept me from making indecipherable scribbles on my notebook pages.
I was reminded of this practice when I stripped out about a hundred of these notes from an abandoned project! It was a separate notebook about a friend for whom we were caring in his final years.
The amount of medical information was staggering, and this was back in “standing in a payphone booth” days trying to legibly take notes while holding an awkward telephone up to one’s ear with one’s shoulder all hunched up! My writing was not always the best during those times!
A few years later, I repeated this procedure when my mother was in the nursing home with Alzheimer’s – very handy to keep track of things when sometimes one’s mind is not completely focused on the task at hand.
An alternate use for these “free form notes” is if one wished to pass along a phone number or other such information from your journal to another person. Just snag one of the blank notes, write on it, and hand it over. No searching for a handy piece of paper, or a business card on which to pass along something of interest.
I am so enthused over this, that I am contemplating turning my current Moleskine journal into an “Our Medical Calendar and Notes” entity, and starting over with a bullet journal of my own!!! ;->
I do that too with Post-Its!
What I recommend is starting with a super cheap notebook until you find a system that works for you and then switching to a pretty notebook. I’m glad I heeded that advice.
Would you like me to share a few photos of my journal in another comment? I don’t want to do a post about it, but if you’re curious, I’ll post a few links.
Yes, of course I’d love to see a few photos. Feel free to take this off line with me if it is getting too unwieldy on here.
Methinks either of us could sit down at the other’s desk and feel right at home, reaching for things, and finding them in just the right place! ;->