Pocket Stationery

Being that sort of bear, I must carry paper for notes, sketches, and suchlike. Years ago the Levenger catalog tempted me with the notion of 3×5-inch stationery, but the notion of paying 5 cents per piece of scratch paper just didn’t titilate my inner cheapskate.

Part of my chandelier o’ gear (props to Neal Stevenson) is an ancient Zire 71 PDA that’s about the right size to sit atop a 3×5-inch sheet of paper. Some experimentation showed that five cuts could produce six sheets of pocket stationery from a single letter-size page. I used QCAD to lay down a nice 200-mil grid with my contact info on the top, duplicated it six times, and added cut lines.

Part of the trick is figuring out how to get the cut lines at the right spot so the paper divides neatly into thirds and halves. Trial and error is your friend.

Print it on heavy card stock, whack the paper cutter along the lines, and it’s all good.

After a while, you’ll realize you can print it to a PostScript file, then just print that without firing up QCAD every time.

Better than scribbling on the back of a biz card, as there’s plenty of room, and my contact info is right on the front where it won’t get lost.

Actually, the real reason my Zire 71 case fits that paper is because Mary made it years ago for my HP-15C calculator. The stationery fit that case, so when the Zire came out, well, why change anything else?