A big +1 for legal pads. They lay flat, the margins are useful for notes after the fact, and you can find them in dot grid or lined with good quality paper for

A big +1 for legal pads. They lay flat, the margins are useful for notes after the fact, and you can find them in dot grid or lined with good quality paper for quite cheap. I absolutely understand the "I don't want to ruin it" anxiety the author speaks of but I've not yet had that problem with my notebooks. Instead, I have it with my laptops haha.