Do you have a specific time of the day to plan your stuff? Like say, when you wake up in the morning or after taking your breakfast? Most people do. There are so many apps (yes I'm a geek!) that teaches you relax your mind so that you can better plan ahead.

But why do I ask? Because I find mine odd. I can think or plan most when I'm in the bathroom, just sitting there staring at nothing. Or when I'm in the car, either as a passenger or as a driver.

Some people do their thinking when they are in a meeting room or a conference room or in their own offices. For me, it depends. Sometimes in a meeting I just wanna listen.

It is when my mind can truly wander that I can think of so many things. I find the scenery during travels as a time for me to think. I find the silence in the bathroom as a time for me to think. How about you, do you have a special time to think?

Pilot Petite

A few weeks back I stumbled upon these tiny pens that were so cheap about P100 each. So naturally the hoarder in me just had to get them. I've been so curious with these pens I saw online that I was so happy to actually see them at SM Department Store. I decided to get the blue, orange and apple green. At the time I thought the inks that went with them were just black or blue as it usually comes with. I was surprised that it came with inks the same color as the pens. These are Pilot Petite.

Each cartridge inside has a secure cap. You have to take it out before you can psh the ink cartridge into the pen.

Here's how the ink flows. My paper was just ordinary paper. So you can see some blots. 

If you like small pens, you might like the Pilot Petite.

Apps for Reading

In my previous post I've talked about some devices that you can use if you like ebooks. Some sellers on Instagram and Facebook sells unlimited access to their collection for about P300. Some sell ebooks at P1, P5 or even P10 each. Just type in ebooks and a lot of accounts would pop up.

Here are some of the devices that I know. 

Here is Kindle. This is just one of the products that they have. They have those cheaper ones that are black and white. This is Kindle Fire. I've read great review about it. Runs on Android I think. If you wanna buy their books, they offer free ebooks. But perhaps those you like would cost you something. You can download ebooks in Amazon. Or maybe you can put ebooks through your computer and just transfer them to your devices. You can buy them through Amazon or you can get in touch with GMET Trading on Facebook. They are Philippine-based sellers. They can buy the item for you in the US and you just pay them in peso plus shipping fee. 

Kindle

This one is from Kobo. Again, they have so many other products that you can choose from, depends on what you like. National Book Store carries Kobo. The cheapest one I saw is about P3,000 to P4,000 I think. Again you can download the ebook on your computer and just transfer them to your devices.

Kobo

Now perhaps you don't wanna buy those devices and just wanna use their appls, there is also some apps available through Google Play Store or Apple App Store that you can download. Here's a few of them. 

The Kindle app is good. You can change the lighting in your background, change the font if you want. You can also download the books across all your devices if you have other devices that has Kindle App in it. But I just noted that it crashes most of the time.

Kindle App

The Kobo app is a good one as well. It tells you how many percent of the book have you read. Plus if you have friends who also uses Kobo, you can see what they're reading. You can change the background light, the font, the font size. But I find that it takes time for the app to move. Like it slows down sometimes. Doesn't react automatically with your gestures.

Kobo App

This is the latest and the only one that I had the courage to subscribed to, Scribd. They offer ebooks, audiobooks, music notes, journals and other items. They have Archie comic books, and can show you what other people are subscribed to. The downside is, they didn't carry all the authors. Like they don't have Og Mandino or EE Cummings. But they have a wide range of other selections that you might like. You can store your library offline or let it stay on icloud.

Scribd App

Last on my list is the iBook. I have to be honest. I find other devices to be confusing. I'm a control freak and I find that when I use other devices other than Apple products, I get this headache. I think I have more than 400 ebooks in my collection that I haven't finished reading. Some I downloaded on the internet. When you finish downloading pdf file on the net, it would give u choices on where to open the book, I always choose iBook. There are other apps that would let you annotate or put mark up, but I find iBook simple enough to provide me with what I need. Believe me I've tried other apps, though I find them good, my headache tells me to go back to the simplest :)

iBook App

So there you go, I hope it helped. If you think I missed some of the best devices and apps out there, do let me know in the comments section below. Would love to hear your side.

Disclaimer:

*Photos are from Amazon. Some are my own screenshot from my iphone.

*I was not paid for this post. 

iBooks and Other Stuff

Confused ... that's how I sometimes feel. I'm the kind of person that wouldn't be complete if I didn't bring this or that. That's why my bag feels so heavy. Every week I have to do the 5s (sort, sweep, systematize, standardize and self-discipline. Well well, I remembered something from my classes :)) Aside from the fact that I change bags almost every week depending on my mood. Okay wait I'm far from my point today.

Again, I'm the kind of person who would wanna bring the whole house with me, if possible, wherever I go. And I know some of you feel the same way. That includes books. I've said countless times that I love to read books. I used to have one in my bag all the time. It wasn't until the Fifty Shades of Grey series that I started using ebooks diligently. I used iBooks before only with my medical books. I didn't wanna have to bring those big books around. The iBook made it so convenient. A lot of devices are available actually that offers the same thing. There's the Samsung tablets that are in the market. There's also the Kobo which National Bookstore carries. There's also Kindle. Depending on what you really want, there's a lot of available devices in the market. I'll put that in another post.

But once in a while, a nice book is what you need. Especially for times when you're head is spinning from looking at the devices. That you would want to just enjoy the day with the smell of the books and the sound of the pages flipping. You'd know if that person really loves books or papers if they get into the detail of smelling the books.

The downside of books if the weight. Some books are heavy especially for hard bound books. The advantage is in the learning curve. I've read that using physical books (if I might say so) are better in retaining memory, which means you study better with actual books.

I'm thinking of putting up a lending business for books (wink). We just have so many that we don't know how to dispose them. What do you recommend?