Usually my cautionary tales (lost ink, spilled ink) are tales of woe, and a lesson for you to learn from my careless mistake. This time, I’m hoping to head off some heartache BEFORE I experience a catastrophe. Progress!
I started using a Hobonichi planner January 1st, 2016, and immediately bonded with the thing. It’s become the place where I record my appointments (always in pencil), jot down the good things from my day, and copy down quotes that capture an important thought or feeling. You’ll note that I also record our dinner, as prompted by the tiny fork and knife icons in the left hand margin. Every page is filled with the details from my day. By the end of 2016, I realized that this diminutive book held the story of my life, so of course I ordered another for 2017, and now a third for 2018. This is a habit that’s stuck.
There have been days where I’ve accidentally left my Hobonichi at work, and even though I know it’s there, I feel edgy until I walk in the next day and see it on my desk. I often flip back to read about a day, to see what some of the highlights were, what I was thinking, what I was inspired by, what I ate. To lose the precious volume that I’ve filled day by day by day would make me incredibly sad.
I carry a Tile on my work and car keys so they can be tracked down if I misplace them, but until recently, it hadn’t dawned on me to safeguard my Hobonichi the same way. The Tile website describes the device this way—”Our little Bluetooth tracker, paired with our intuitive app, makes it easy to find everything that matters.” Once paired with your keys or purse or, in my case, Hobonichi, you can activate the app to ring your lost item, track its last known location, and connect with the larger Tile community to find what you’ve misplaced. While not a perfect solution, having a Tile tied to your critical belongings makes it more likely that you’ll be able to find them when they’re misplaced, especially if it’s just in your own home or office. No more time consuming hunts through rooms and desks and piles of paper. Activate the app for your lost item and Tile plays a sound while also helping you hone in on its exact location. (For more details on how Tile works, check out this link.)
I recently purchased a Tile mixed 4-pack (two Tile Mates and two Tile Slims) and after connecting one of the Mates to to my keys and another to my dad’s cane, I had the two Slims left over. That’s when it occurred to me to slip a Tile Slim inside the pocket of my Hobonichi cover.
I may never need it, but boy do I feel better knowing it’s there. And my other Tile Slim will get tucked into my pen case when I head to Toronto for Scriptus. (At the DC Pen Show one year I recall a frantic search by someone who had misplaced a full case of pens somewhere in the hotel. I do not want that to ever be me.) Having a Tile in your pen case might help in the unthinkable situation where your pens are stolen, as happened to Dan Smith, especially in a metropolitan area where there’s bound to be a larger number of Tile users.
Hey, look at me…taking steps before a disaster happens! It’s like I’m an adult or something!
That feat only took 58 years.
I purchased all of the Tiles mentioned here with my own funds and have no affiliation with tileapp.com. I was not compensated in any way for this post. I just wanted to share my idea. Hope this helps, or at least makes you think about protecting your important belongings.
Edited to add: As Ana Reinert noted in the comments, your Tile can also be used to find your cellphone as long as it’s nearby. Double-press the “Tile” button and your phone will play a tune so that you can figure out where you set it down. I don’t use this feature too often, but it’s good to know that it’s an option. Here’s a link to a more detailed explanation of this phone-finding feature.
From the Pen Cup 