I took introduction to chemistry and physics in the 9th grade (along with Latin and typing)
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The teacher was a cast iron !@$% about properly documenting every step of every experiment we did.
Incomplete lab notes meant you failed and got to come in on the next weekend and "do it again, right this time!" With her giving you looks that would petrify wood.
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She kicked over half the class out by the end of the first quarter.
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I'd been playing with radio since I was 8, got my first SW when I was 12 (Radio Australia was my first station and QSL card, still have it framed on the wall!) but the idea of actually keeping track of what worked and what didn't never occurred to me. (most didn't, I didn't have much of a clue, I read Popular Electronics, Radio Electronics and Electronics Illustrated, but most of what I read was way over my head.)
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I owe most of whatever success I achieved later in life due to Miss Marsh's strict rules on "document everything." [and save it for that rainy day.]
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Of course being dyslexic my handwriting left something to be desired, my wife teases me the NSA uses my chicken scratches to weed out cryptographers. Typing fit right into Miss Marsh's concept of a well ordered lab notes. She actually let me use her Selectric with the proper sub and super scripts for chemistry and physics.
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Such fanatical attention to detail served me well in college....and life.?
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I have several photocopy boxes filled with personal lab notes.
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Funny story here. I worked at the U of Ky from October 1979 through October 2003 when they nuked the department. The UK archivist would send these terrifying emails "Be sure to preserve any records covered by the state's open records act." We started shutting things down in June, I contacted the archivist, "Sir I have 25 photocopy boxes filled with every production note, work order, layout design, wiring diagrams, etc since I started."
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I received a snotty letter [not email]? "As an engineer you can't have anything of interest."
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OK I burned up the office shredders, the chief engineer called physical plant and they sent over the people who shred the UK hospital and student records.
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They had a "tree branch shredder" You could throw a filled photocopy box in and 1/10" squares came out as confetti. It was a beauty to behold, as an engineer I was impressed by the sheer power and cutting ability.
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A day later I received a call from the archivist "Er....we've reconsidered and we believe your records fall under the law."
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"Sir I didn't save much but I did save the nice letter you sent me directing me to shred everything. unless you can glue a gazillion tiny pieces together, they are gone." I explained about using the official document shredding company.
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The gurgling sound was music to my ears. [I was somewhat unhappy over our department being eliminated.]
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And of course all hell broke loose with the legal office getting involved. I have this nice letter from the head lawyer I'll save until I die because it is my get out of jail card. It states I followed the orders of the official UK Archivist and all responsibility for any breach of the law is his.
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But really, keep notes, what worked, what didn't, what problems you had.? There will be internal contradictions because you will make mistakes and mother nature conspires to make identical experiments come out differently. But. those notes can save you from having to repeat tests. My notes have saved my butt more times then I can remember.
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For instance, my wife's never to be cursed enough Ford Escort ZX2 is designed to have the oil filter changed from below, but, if you remove the coolant overflow and wiper fluid tanks, and stand "right here" [it is marked with a magic marker] and use your left hand and the short oil filter tool (it is in the trunk) you can remove the filter 'without too much trouble.'
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My This Damn ZX2 Maintenance Manual covers all sorts of tricks not in the real service manual.
Like how to change dash light bulbs without removing the entire dash. I realized I probably wouldn't be able to do that again because there was no way I could do it without knelling and knelling is out with artificial knees, so I replaced the incandescent with home made LEDs (that my wife loves).
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or changing the kitchen faucet where we used to live. It is a nightmare, unless you know to remove all the shelves, lay on your right side, use your left hand and get the brightest light you can find and practice being Harry Houdini level of contortionism. [well it ought to be a word]
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I have detailed notes on all the problem children of my life.
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Now if I can just find that tiny water leak on the left hand side of the 'ditch' that runs beside the trunk seal before I get laid up again. At least I've documented what hasn't worked.
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Notes are your friends. About once a decade I have to align my Kenwood R-2000. The manual is wrong, flat wrong, couldn't be more wrong but wrong in a tricky way, [the 2nd IF is odd, tune for the lower peak!] so my notes save me.
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Or setting up my Siglent DSO. Maybe I'm dense but the manual is a PITA written in High Martian and translated by idiots, when I finally figure out how to set the DSO up to do a measurement, I write out each step. Then check them. Saves me a lot of time in the long run.
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And make an accurate diagram of your radio wiring, power, audio, RF, ground. And document changes!
I've been to friend's ham shacks where they have no idea how they've wired it, it has gone through so many changes it might as well have been wired by Martians. And nope. Terry doesn't crawl around under their desk trying to trace wires. They can learn a valuable (if painful) lesson by unwiring then rewiring everything.
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[I also took 2 semesters of Library Science, it helps one organize one's notes.]
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