Jan van den Berg

j11g.com

Category: Gadgets

  • The perfect notebook

    I keep a daily journal. And journaling daily make pocket planners usable as journal notebooks.

    I tend to be particular about certain things. So when searching for a new notebook — one that I will carry around for a year — I decided the following things are important.

    The cover looks nice. But is this the perfect notebook?

    Must haves

    • A5 format. Everything else is too big or too small.
    • Hardcover. No flappy stuff.
    • Lined paper Not too wide or too thick, but I do need to see where I’m writing. No dots or blank paper.
    • Rounded corners. I pull the notebook out of my bag a lot. I don’t like dented corners.
    • Elastic band. When I throw the notebook in my bag, it shouldn’t open and wrinkle the paper.
    • Bound bookmark. So I can start where I stopped last time.
    • Pen loop. So I don’t have to look for a pen. And this makes sure I always use the same pen.
    • Bound. No rings.
    • Soft paper. There is probably a technical term for this that I don’t know, but I know good paper when I see or feel it. So no hard print paper (paper that is made for printers and not for writing).
    A5 format ✔️ Hardcover ✔️ Rounded corners ✔️ Bookmark ✔️ Bound ✔️ Elastic band ❌

    Nice to haves

    These things are pluses:

    • Printed dates. So I don’t have to write them down every time.
    • Max. 100 pages. One week or multiple days per two pages is fine (7D/2P they seem to call that). One page per day would of course give more room: but this makes the journal at least 365/2 pages which is too big.
    • The above only works if there is also room for notes. I tend to take a few notes specific to a day (usually short) and the really important stuff I write down in one place (i.e. the blank left page, or in the notes section). Things I want to return to often.

    Not important

    • Cover color/look/style. I don’t think I actually care too much about this.

    No

    • Tear-off corners. Just don’t.

    Did I find it?

    Not really. It is surprisingly difficult selecting a notebook that checks all the boxes. And, trust me, I spend way too much time looking for one — online and in bookshops. Moleskine has one and Baron Fig also, that come close (though both have no pen loop) . But there are many more — like this one (too big) — that come close. And I think this one probably checks most boxes.

    But I had already settled on one: the new year was starting! It doesn’t check all the boxes (I ordered a pen loop from eBay). And I do think I will miss the elastic band. And to be honest (it’s day 2 of the year) I am not too thrilled about the paper as of yet. It’s a bit too hard, the pen doesn’t glide. But we’ll see and maybe I’ll switch pens.

    • One week per two pages. ✔️ Pen loop ❌
    • Lined pages✔️Room for notes. ✔️

    Now, about the perfect pen….

  • Favorite 2017 purchases

    Favorite 2017 purchases

    Here’s a chronological list of some of the physical things/tools/gadgets I bought in 2017. Physical as in, I’m leaving out experiences, books and cryptocoins. Here we go.

    The Sony MDR-ZX110 headphones are decent aka good enough for my use, but more importantly also cheap enough so I don’t have to worry when I break them, which will eventually happen sooner or later. Which is mostly sooner in my experience with headphones. However these seem to be pretty durable so far, so I even got a second pair, for my wife.

    Sure, I took my time but 2017 was the year I finally got a PS4 (Slim 500GB). I also got Horizon Zero Dawn. This game alone is worth it. It’s one of the best games I’ve played. And with that one of the best Dutch export products ever. Go play it.

    Monster.

    The Stihl HS45 (60cm) hedge shears are pretty much the best hedge shears you can get. It’s the brand the pros use. I’m not a pro, but I like good tools. And because we moved, I needed to up my game from my Bosch electrical hedge shears. I love working with this machine.

    For our podcast we tried different setups and eventually settled on a pair of Neewer NW800 microphones. It is a pretty generic and widely available microphone which seems to get branded differently depending on …. who knows. (I am not sure about this but I found multiple microphones on Amazon who look are exactly like this one however they have a different name.) I wouldn’t really advise these microphones for recording singing or anything that requires a large range differences, but for podcasting they’re fine (I find post-production to be more important for podcast sound quality).

    The Makita DF457D 18v 1.5Ah drill. I already owned a Makita drill, but that was a hand-me-down and it was starting to show (mainly the batteries), so it was time for a new one. So I choose a Makita, you can’t really go wrong.

    I previously blogged about my new G-Shock GSTS100G-1B watch here. Still great!

    The Einhell TC-SM2131 miter saw, shouldn’t be in this list because it was the worst thing I bought this year. Sure it’s more of budget brand, but it already came broken out of the box (defect laser). And I had to wait 3 weeks for repair, and then it broke again after one morning of use. So I returned this and will probably never buy anything Einhell again…

    It’s a big hit. Even with the youngest one.

    When the Nintendo Switch came out I had just gotten a PS4, so I had my hands full. But that thing sure looked enticing. And when the trailer for Mario Odyssey came out in June, it became pretty clear I would get a Mario Odyssey bundle. I love it. It’s an amazing machine, and such a FUN game. I also blogged about this.

    Look at this beast.

    Of course I had to get another miter saw. Even though I probably won’t use it much, this time I went with a professional brand: Metabo KGS216M. Even at twice the price, I’d say it’s worth it. It’s a delight to work with this machine and the difference is striking. Everything is just a bit more solid/sturdy/precise. It’s the small things that make for a professional and overvall better experience.

    When the year drew to a close most game reviewers picked Zelda: Breath of the Wild as GOTY. Well, since I now owned a Switch I went out and got one. To be honest, I am still on the fence about this game. I just got it.

    So there you go! Anything particular you bought you’d like to share? Drop it in the comments.

  • The search for a new watch

    The search for a new watch

    Old watch

    Three years ago I got a Casio WV-200E-1AVEF. It’s a good watch. I wear it everyday. What I specifically like about it is that it tells the EXACT time. You know, the thing watches are supposed to do. It does so because it is a radio-controlled watch. This means that everyday, the watch will sync up with a radio tower and get the exact time. If that fails you can still set it manually and it will only fluctuate by a couple of seconds per month. No Rolex does this.

    The other thing I like is that you can tell time, date and day of the week all in one glance.

    And even with all that radio syncing, in 3 years I never have had to put in a new battery. Which is crazy! Digital quartz watches are amazing like that.

    So overall that makes for a pretty good watch experience. But. I never really liked the strap and bezel. All the text makes it look a bit cluttered. And I could do without the red, or more specifically, the placement of the red colors. Also I often accidentally push the plastic buttons which causes the watch to reset. This seems to be happening more and more lately. So I like my watch but I was always on the lookout for a new one. The problem is I am a bit specific about it, as you might be able to tell reading this far 😉 so this search took …. some time.

    Here are my requirements for a new watch:

    • Radio controlled aka tell the exact time, always.
    • Waterproof
    • Solar powered
    • Resin band
    • Clean look

    I don’t care about alarm features (I have kids). Also I don’t want a smartwatch, there are enough Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connected interruption devices in my life already.

    From these requirements, it was already clear the watch I was looking for had to be a Casio. Because not a lot of other companies make (good) radio-controlled watches. The few that do offer limited choices. And Casio is actually a pretty remarkable company because they make a whole bunch of different things. Just look at their homepage.

    It all seems so different and random. Wonderful. But more important: they have the most radio-controlled watches. So first I had my eye on one of these:

    The first is the WVA-M650B-1AER. It looks pretty nice and clean(ish). Also it’s a mix of analogue and digital, which gives it a different look. And it is a solar watch. Which is great. So I was pretty sure I wanted to get this one. However when I saw the watch it was a bit too small for me. I don’t like big chunky watches but this was just a tad too small. So I kept looking.

    I find the Pro Trek watches were too big or have features I won’t use (why would I want a barometer?). But I did like the look of the PRW-7000-1AER (pictured). A nice, clean look. But it was just a little bit too big (who says I am difficult?). But then I noticed the AWG-M100B-1AER which was really close to what I was looking for. The hourwork looks great, the analogue hands and placement of the three digital areas. Solar powered. What more do you want?

    I was close to getting this watch when Casio announced a new line of watches from G-Shock. The G-Steel series. And this is their introduction:

    A REFINED RANGE OF TIMEPIECES FOR THE ACTIVE GENTLEMAN SEEKING G-SHOCK’S LEGENDARY PERFORMANCE AND TECHNOLOGY STANDARDS WHOM ALSO ENJOYS THE LOOK AND FEEL OF A METAL TIMEPIECE.

    Say no more fam. You had me at ‘active gentleman’. Long story short, I got one, specifically the GSTS100G-1B and I am really happy with it. It has every feature I want and looks amazing!

    Gorgeous.