Patrick Rhone’s Circa
December 3, 2007
Originally uploaded by patrickrhone.
I’ve been following Patrick’s blog for a while now. It was through his post that I found out about Cornell paper and also GTD with Base Camp. It seems Patrick is getting into analogue big time!
What I also like about this notebook is the tab. The white tab looks so much cleaner then my colorful tab which makes the white labels stand out too much. Here the white labels of the label maker blends in nicely.
Somewhat related:
Wiki Circa
October 15, 2007
Work has started on a Wiki Circa:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circa_Notebook
The thought of writing for Wiki seems daunting. I’ve seen the stories of how the disc bound rollabind was started and I think someone should contribute and expand upon the stub. There should be a general disc bound and the include Atoma, Myndology, Rollabind and others.
LC1 Circa J
September 28, 2007
Originally uploaded by Duc N. Ly.
I’m so happy to get the DMC-LC1 back from the Panasonic shop. They fixed it for free because there was a glitch with the Sony CCD. If you buy the camera with in the last two years, the problem might arise. The sensor breaks down. At first, I took it to the local shop and they gave me an estimate of $200. Then I did some research on the internet to find that other people were having the same problem as me. Look into the Panasonic website for the phone number if you have the same problem.
CircaRolla Manila Folder Recycle Project
August 29, 2007
Originally uploaded by Duc N. Ly.
I do like to use the thick Moleskine blank sketch notebooks. I’ve already filled up about half of one. I was thinking of getting another one but I decided to save some money and make my own! The thing about the Moleskine is that I can’t re-arrange the pages. Often the good sketches need to be gather into a sensible organized order. I’ve toy with the idea of cutting pages from the Moleskine and then punch them with the Circa/Rolla paper puncher to accommodate the discs. This project accomplished both objectives nicely. I’m always hesitant to draw on the more expensive Moleskine sketch books. With these home-made pages, I am more likely to draw on them.
There were a lot of discarded Manila folders in my office which I was starting to hoard until one day there wasn’t room in the drawers any more. So I decided to recycle them into a notebook! The legal size is cut down with the paper guillotine, and the corners rounded. I bought a corner rounder at a scrap booking store or they even have it at Target’s scrapbook section. To minimize the waste, I first clip the tab edge as these can get damaged in the file shuffle. I line up to the seven inch mark and chop the tab edge. Then I measure eight inches and chop the folder again. You can use what ever dimensions you want.
The corner rounder is from EK Success.
The paper puncher and discs are from Rollabind.com and Levenger.com
This is your tip of the week! Enjoy!
Featured in notebookism.com/2007/08/31 circarolla-mani
ducly.wordpress.com/2007/07/25/simple-mynd-hack
ducly.wordpress.com/2007/04/05/light-blue-hpda-cover
If you like this hack please digg it/design/CircaRolla_Manila_Folder_2
tags: Rolla, Circa, CircaRolla, notebook, paper, hack, moleskine, disc-bound,
My First Circa Fold Over
July 11, 2007
My First Circa Fold Over. Like a first set of Legos which strangely enough I have never own. I usually just play with my friend’s set. After all the looking at my comrade’s Fold Over, I collapsed and folded, head over heels for the Circa Fold Over. Even after trying out the Circa Jacket with a belt, I find myself using the cheaper version of the Rollanotebook fold over knock off more and more. The real estate on my office desk is precious. It’s amazing how compact a Junior folded over can become. So with the event of getting older, I thought that I would give myself a present. Plus there was a good deal on the ‘Sand’ color in the Levenger Summer Stock up Sale. I could not find this deal on the Levenger website. I mailed ordered mine. There were other goodies like a pen cup and paper clip holder for about $4. The Bookography line is also marked down. The sale lasts until August. Waiting at present for the CFO.
Update: My CFO arrived last Friday 7/20/07
This version is much improved because the pockets are now in the front cover instead of the back. It makes writing against a flat surface much more suitable. I don’t storage anything in the pockets. I also write on the Verso, the left side of the page and need a nice flat surface for that as well. The bomber version has the same design. Unfortunately, Levenger discontinue the Sand version.
Picture in facebook group ‘Lev’angelism’.
http://ducly.wordpress.com/2006/09/19/circa-rolla/
circa junior belt jacket
May 12, 2007
Rollabind notebook
May 1, 2007
Originally uploaded by claspingwalnut.
R.I.P. (Roll in Peace)
The rumours are true. I went to Staples last weekend to mourn a little.
Hi Duc,
Someone was just checking out your Squidoo lens “CircaRolla” and wrote you the following note…
“hi,
can you give me the product id for the rollabind notebook that you can buy at target or staples. i’ve contacted them and they can’t find it in their computer.
lisa
Lisa,
I think they don’t sell them any more at staples or target.
I was at Staples last Sunday and I didn’t see it.
There was a rumour that these stores stop selling them.
I have a number on the ISBN code: WHT9114A (junior); WHT9115A (Letter)
-DUC
p.s. let me know if you can order it.
Technocrati tags: Levenger, Circa, Rollabind, paper, notebooks
Tricia Writing’s Circa Page
April 24, 2007
Manhattan-Blue-and-Diamine-Prussian Blue ink
Originally uploaded by triciawriting.
In an on going seris about the circa Page…
CircaRollaToma
April 16, 2007
Here’s a picture of a mod/hack of two or three products together. 
This is a blurry close up of a Rollabind Notebook page (the Circa page also fits) in the Myndology Atoma notebook as designed by Myndology. The ’smurf’ (mushroom shape of the hole puncher) fits. There’s enough room at the top for a Post-it-Note plastic tab divider which I find so useful. I really like these tabs. They don’t thicken your note book. They are also removable. Depending on your preference, you can put the tab on top or bottom of the page (header or footer).
There is a slight over hang at the edge so I took a ruler and made my own hand torn deckle edge for an old world feel. Atoma is a Europen product which means that it was executed in metric measurements. I’m amazed that the spacing between the disc equal their American counter part. I image the Rollabind had to do a conversion and stay with the equal distance of the original Atoma. It was proabably calculated out to be an ideal optimal distance to support the papers and also to accomodate different size of papers. These types of notebook remind me of the works of Charles Eames, the famous architect and designer of the Eames chair. He and his wife, Ray, believed in modular designs, building made up of parts. The system of Circa Rolla and Atoma are essentially parts. What is unique about this product, aside from the fact that you can remove pages and rearrange them, is that the individual parts, papers and disc join together to hold each other. It’s a brilliant structural engineering invention and product design. I think that’s part of the appeal for me. This leads to all sorts of way one can customize, or ‘Pimp’ your notebook. This phenomena, known as Pimping began in the West Cost of California. The Automobile culture of California has been full of customization and innovation. This naturally lead to motorcycle, homes, bathroom and a few other things. People have always been customizing their stuff. I remember grade school Peechee folders or cloth cover three ring binders. To a larger extent, customers are now able to customize their notebooks even more. I suppose that’s where the word customize came from. It is the customers’ prerogative to adjust products that they have purchase to their own needs. There are many television shows about customization. ‘Pimp your ride’ and American Chopper to name a few. It’s with this kind of users that began to innovate and move the original product beyond it’s purpose, and intent.
tags: Myndology, Duffy & Partners, notebook, paper,
Technocrati tags: Levenger, Circa, Rollabind, paper, notebooks
Myndology Arrival
April 12, 2007
I’m so surprised. I was just expecting one notebook but a whole box? Wow. I am already thinking what I can use for each items. I’m learning Polish so the one ring flash cards are very helpful. I got my work cut out for me this weekend of fun!
I spoke with Jason yesterday and learn a little bit about Atoma. The product was first realized in 1948 and it hadn’t caught on in the States until recently. Myndology has been selling the Atoma disc only in the last two years. The back of the cover still bears the Mindbinders which Duffy and Partners later revised to Myndology. The quality of paper and line seems to be very good; on par with Levenger and better then the Rollabind Notebooks from Staples. What I’m amazed is that the ring/disc has a slightly smaller circumference compared to the smallest of the Circa disc 1/2″ and yet it manages to hold the same amount of paper. The ring/disc has a wider band than the Circa Rolla and seems to grip onto the paper more tightly. The mushroom head also seems to latch onto the paper. As with any design, there are give and takes. I would say that the Atoma would fall more towards the Ring spectrum of the design because of the wide band. Where as I see the Circa and Rolla more of a disc, with a narrower band width.
Wow what amazes me is that the Myndology/atoma mushroom shape can fit into the Circa Rolla disc and vice versa. The space between the disc/ring are equal distant but their starting point is not! So it’s like when you button your shirt without checking and see that it is mismatched. (Photo to follow.) This is fixable in the new punch that Myndology will product this summer, I hope that it will align with the Circa Rolla. Myndology letter size (8×10 inches approx.) has ten rings versus the other’s eleven discs. However, both of the junior size of the Circa Rolla and Myndology has eight rings!! So they do align but the Myndology page is slightlywider then the Circa Rolla. Which means that the Circa rolla pages can fit into a Myndology but not the other way around. That being said, I think there are potential for a truly personal notebook in these three or four systems where you can choose, mix and match because the disc/ring is a single unit, not bound by a predetermine length, that is a notebook can be made by the sum of it’s parts. As long as the mushroom shapes are inter- changeable between ring/disc systems, I don’t see why you can’t use a punch from Circa or Rolla right now (until Myndology makes one) and clear pretty color rings of the Myndology/atoma? For example, earlier I had a drawing to modify the Real Simple Orange cover, well now I can use the orange Myndology rings to bind them in matching color. I don’t know if consumers can purchase just the rings from Myndology, but I think this would be very useful because I wouldn’t want to disassemble my Myndology notebook for parts. I’ll go so far as to say that you can even assemble a notebook with alternating ring/disc, one of Atoma and Circa Rolla, as long as they are fairly similar in size. Really, that was one of my main and major concern about these disc/rings. I’ve heard that it’s not compatible many times and didn’t know why. Now I think that their incompatibility is slight and can be over come. It might take a little bit of moding but it should work together. (I will try out this experiment later.)
I spoke with Jason about the punch. Consumers are lamenting over the price of the Circa Rolla punch. And if Myndology is to produce a punch, we all hope that it would be affordable. But in true, there are many metal moving parts to produce on this kind of punch. So take that into consideration when you look at a price of the punch.
Speaking of price, the Myndology line called the Muse has very reasonable price for a designed product. Their index card are about $2-3, comparable to Mead at office supplies. Myndology’s availability in Universities, paper supply store and on-line, give them a competitive edge. The $8 letter size notebook is comparable to Rollabind’s.
The plastic cover is more pliable or malleable, frosted both sides, in brilliant orange, and probably available in several colors like blue and red. The one on the Circa is frosted on the outside cover and smooth on the inside and more rigid. Also available is several muted tones. This is either good or bad. It’s all a matter of preference. The pages are rounded with a larger radius on the Myndology at the left margin side. The orange cover matches perfectly with the paper. Where as the Circa has a smaller radius rounded corner on the cover but on all corners and also slightly larger to accommodate the tab dividers. Again personal preference. I’m just reporting on what I see and you can decide for yourselves.
These are just first impressions. I’ll do a more through look at this later.
notebookism.com/2007/04/myndology arrival
tags: Myndology, Duffy & Partners, notebook, paper,
