About Me

Hi there! I'm Robert Lynch, aka "flexiblefine" in various places, and I'm a Windows web developer and corporate webmaster living in Houston, Texas. I came into web work from programming, not from visual design, so I make a point of discriminating between web development and web design. (Maybe someday I'll learn the skills to call myself a web designer. Maybe.)

Why "flexiblefine"?

Before carbon paper and ballpoints encouraged heavy pressure, fountain pens were available with flexible nibs -- nibs that produced different line widths as pressure varied. Here is a too-large example (image, over 1300 pixels wide) of pointed-pen script. I'm not a calligrapher, but my favorite type of nib is a flexible fine point. I can get some shading in my lines without wielding a virtual paintbrush.

Pens

I've been fascinated with writing instruments since I was a kid. I even remember the cheap gimme ballpoint that was my first pen in school, around third grade. Now that I've grown up, I collect fountain pens. I have old pens, new pens, cheap pens, expensive pens -- and I try to use them all. I don't dare call myself an expert on fountain pens, because there are a lot of people who know a lot more than I do... but I do know more than the average ink-stick user you see on the street.

David Allen's Getting Things Done

Like many people, I begin my GTD story with the Franklin Planner. I tried it more than once, but its strong basis in calendars and schedules never really worked with my jobs. I eventually went looking for a system that was more project-focused, and I found GTD. It's been working for me since December 2004, which is a lot longer than I've ever used any other system.

Procrastination

Implementing GTD sisn't solve all my productivity ptoblems -- I ended up with nice, neat lists of things that weren't getting done. So I went looking for procrastination-fighting resources. I eventually ended up creating my own, the "The Now Habit" Yahoo Group. I've learned much about why I procrastinate, and I hope my experience can help others.

Paper Planning

Given the stuff above, is it any surprise that I use a paper planner? I have to capture, collect, and organize information, and I want to use my fountain pens. I moved to a D*I*Y Planner setup in the summer of 2005. While I haven't designed any new templates of my own, I do like to keep track of ways to use paper to help us all be more productive. Besides, it's nice to get away from the computer every so often.