+1 for scratchpad. I use a cheap spiral notebook. It gives me a place (other than the proverbial "back of the envelope" that I used to use) to write quick cal

+1 for scratchpad. I use a cheap spiral notebook. It gives me a place (other than the proverbial "back of the envelope" that I used to use) to write quick calculations, half-assed uml diagrams to think through the organizational structure, etc. I keep it as a journal, date and number each page, log the time of entries. I even put a table of contents on them! Almost never refer to them; hell, they're nearly incomprehensible a couple of months after the fact.