PREPAREDNESS NOTEBOOKS

[DIM TIM]

I find myself taking notes quite a bit these days, because when you have a thousand things on your mind during the day then you're bound to forget a few things when the day is done. I HATE THAT.

So I've started to carry a small 5 1/2" x 3 1/2" spiral notebook with me as part of my EDC. As I get a thought during the day, find some useful info or a website, or whatever else that might require me to remember something for future reference, I'll write it down in that notebook.
I also find that while I'm surfing the web, I'll sometimes come across some great info, see some interesting tidbit, or other things like that, and so I'll write that sort of stuff down in a regular school sized notebook (8 1/2" x 11").
Often I'll also transfer notes from one of the smaller ones into the larger, and as soon as one is full, I'll save it aside, and start a new one. The larger school size ones get put into a three ring binder, and then they are added to my other BINDERS-O-KNOWLEDGE in my preparedness library.

Recently I had a temporary loss of all the sites in my favorites window on my PC (still never did figure that one out), and so to keep from repeating that problem again, as soon as I recovered the window, then I set about with a fresh notebook, and wrote down the web site for all the survival and preparedness links I had in my favorites.
It took me a whole 30 days of sitting and writing a few hours each night after work to cover it all, and now as I find new sites that I think are worth adding, they get put into the notebook as well. And yes, I really have that many places in my favorites.

Someday when I'm gone, I hope that these binders and notebooks will help my son and his children, and so I'll keep on filling them with notes of survival and preparedness related ideas. Maybe not, but at least I would like to think so.
Anyway, I add a bit here and there, and keep on filling them, and placing the full ones in the binders, and then starting a new one, and.............

So what about some of you? Do any of you do something like this? If not, WHY? And if you have something that you've seen or done that I didn't cover in the starting of this thread on keeping notes, then please feel free to share it here with the rest of us.

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

Good idea. I have filed several "papers" away over the years for the family in case I'm not around when the balloon goes up. They are stored in some of my buckets and totes. They know they are there if they need it.

[Gonzo]

I used to. Little "tidbits" or tips, ideas, sometimes a date/place for future ref, maybe something
new or odd thatI spotted while out and about... I used a lot of my own "shorthand", so some of
it was actually sort of cryptic - except to me.:cool:

By careful! I had one fall into the wrong hands once...
The FBI/Homeland Security took great interest - enough to come for a visit. ;)

Remember - in the eyes of the trembling left/liberal/progressive/"hive-dwellers", any sort of
"self-reliance", individualism, personal responsibility, or [gasp] "survival" is only for
"extreme-right-NUT-JOBS", and they will panic accordingly.:eek:

OPSEC
627

G

[RobertJ]

Sounds a bit tin foily but I keep one in all my bags one in my Plate carrier and each of my vehicles. For the vehicles I mostly not somewhere I would like to check out, restaurants, or even a song/artist I like on the radio. I also note tag numbers of suspicious vehicles, or ones parked close of weirdly in case of parking lot hit and run. The one in my PC is the write in the rain pen and pad varient as well as the one in my BOB and assault pack. Many many uses there.

[DIM TIM]

Yep, just like Robert, I make all sorts of notes on all sorts of subjects in some of mine.Going down the road and hear a familiar song from a familiar artist I've not heard for a while...BIP, it gets wrote down. See something suspicious...BIP. Someone tels me something interesting or important to me...BIP.

And just like Gonzo, some of my notes are a bit cryptic to all but myself. Although I don't keep anything that I'd worry about with any of the alphabet soup angencies, I can see that their far reaching paranoia is a danger to just about anyone (and it is deep rooted fear that these people thrive on), and so I don't keep anything that would not be able to be read by say my family, yours, or someone's from the far left side of the field.

I'm sure that a good portion of the general population has wrote down a few notes in their time that were a real danger to people, but the ones I worry the most about are the ones on inner-office memos at the above mentioned alphabet soup agencies, the corperate CEO of just about any BIG BUSINESS, the money changers at the BIG BANKS, etc, etc, etc,.
It's the same old question that has been going around for thousands of years all over the world.............Security watches everyone, BUT WHO WATCHES SECURITY ?

Anyway, notes are pretty important things, and I feel that they should be used by survival and preparedness minded people just as much as any college student would use theirs to help them remember important things said or noted in their classes in preparing for coming tests.

[Mannlicher]

computers are all well and good, but paper never goes out of style. :)

[Gonzo]

... Although I don't keep anything that I'd worry about with any of the alphabet soup angencies,...

In principle, I agree. I didn't keep anything "dangerous" either. That didn't stop them. No real way of knowing how long or how closely they watched or who they may have talked to before coming to talk with me. Or after.

Paranoia doesn't generally knock on your door, hold up your notebook and ask if they can ask you a few questions. No matter how harmless your entries, if they don't understand them, they'll be scared. The last thing you want is scared agents. Makes them dangerous.

But that was over 10 years ago. Now we have much better tracking, HD cell phone cams and drones to keep them safe...

Just sayin'...

G

[DIM TIM]

I've thought about your words there Gonzo, and I just came to realize something, and I hope you all will make a "NOTE" of this........if it wasn't for the (insert appropriate adjective) in this world, the rest of us might have a decent chance of having a pretty good life.

OK, back to the subject of taking notes, they can give an advantage to you when you use them as observation points.
I had to make notes of an area once in a decision making process. I looked over the area as a whole, noting such things as layout of the area, resources in the area, general ideas for use, issues of great and lesser concern, etc, etc,.
It all was brought together, and the points were looked at one by one, and as a whole. The whole point, counter-point argument was made, and in the end the final decision was cast.
With these notes, the final decision was made using the information that was gathered. It was a good decision, although maybe not the best, but it was still a good decision based upon the available data that was collected.
If these notes had not been made, then the outcome would have been entirely different, and good or bad, there I would have been looking at a completely different set of situations that as far as I can tell, might have been worse than what I had to consider WITH the notes that I did take.
Perhaps not, but I'll never know for sure, because I chose the direction that I chose. Still, I made my decision based upon the information of the notes I did take, and went with what I felt was the best choice with what I had to work with, and it still worked out to be not such a bad thing.

Other notes have done some pretty good things in helping me to decide if certain ideas or problems could be taken on with minimal fuss, and I trust them to a point. Beyond that< I have to rely on past experience and best guess when making a judgement on whatever I'm considering.

Notes help a lot, and they are a good resource to draw upon for guidence. Not everyone will take them, but those that do will use them, and any edge that you can get to help you is a good thing to have.

[kappydell]

I have kept 3-ring binders all my adult life filled with 'interesting' stuff, stuff 'to research' and of course, my personal library.
I am always adding to it, and going to it to research for answers to questions on the forum, or to my 'gee-whiz I'll have to try this' notebook for new projects to keep life interesting and the brain learning new and useful things. Paper does not cost a lot, and requires no power souirce to access it. If nothing happens it is part of an interesting hobby; in a PAW having a survival library may come in very handy indeed. (And, of course, as my late husband used to joke...."if the world ends, I know what your role will be...you will be teaching low-tech skills classes" and I'd reply "No, I'll be running a private lending library" but either way, we agreed that knowledge is power, and knowledge written down is better still.

[Daelith]

My husband has one of those little note books too. We call it his "CRS" book. :p I'm keeping one myself these days. Now if he would just quit misplacing his.
I've also been printing out things I want to keep close at hand. Just in case. I've stood firm on not going to the e-book readers too. I want the good old fashion paper books.