First, I fell in love with Steno Pads, and later erasable pens. Note keeping apps meant that I didn’t have to lug my notebooks around anymore. Then along came Rocket Book – the trifecta.
I remember discovering erasable ballpoint pens in the 80s and being instantly hooked. I used Eraser mate by Papermate. (The maker of our beloved Flair felt markers) They came in blue and black and I used them to do the crossword and for Rite in the Rain field notebooks that I kept in my car for rainy day bird sightings. I stocked up on eraser mates when I could, as they weren’t in many stationery stores (remember those?)
My first boss out of college had given me a steno pad to keep on my desk for to do lists and telephone notes. Top Ten best suggestion anyone ever gave me. With a steno pad you can flip the pages easily, unlike a legal pad, and the wires are at the top so they don’t get in the way of your hand. Steno pads are handy simply for their size and portability. I started keeping one at home and in my bag. I keep several and use them daily. The line down the center of each page was designed for shorthand, but I like it for pros and cons of ideas.
When my stash of erasable pens was depleted and I checked to see if Amazon carried them, I discovered Frixion by Pentel an erasable gel pen in every color of the rainbow. Be still my beating heart. You know what happened next. With Frixion in my shopping cart, Amazon’s algorithm suggested Rocket Book . Each reusable Rocket Book comes with a Frixion pen. I was intrigued. When I clicked, I found the steno pad style- sold.
While I have been congratulating myself on figuring out zoom on multiple devices, a whole generation has been digitizing their hand written notes and forgot to tell me.
If you want to feel like a magician, scribble your notes and scan the QR code to see your notes appear in your app notebook. Then erase the page and use it over again. So cool.
When I tried it for the first time, I was amazed. Turns out reusable notebooks have been around for years – everyone knew about this technological advance but me. It’s a little like arriving in Oz and seeing everything in technicolor instead of black and white – What a wonderful world. I use Evernote and One note, but there is a whole list of compatible applications.
Thank You Frixion & Rocket Book for combining two of my favorites and taking them to a whole new level.
I haven’t tried Rocket Book out in soggy weather yet. I am pretty sure it will work, if not, here is the link to Rite in the Rain products, also
For more reusable paper fun, I was recently introduced to Swipies. That work with non permanent markers and rinse off. This list makers dream
