Taking note of vocabulary

I am looking for methods to take notes of vocabulary efficiently. The standard paper and pen combination is still valid. I have heard about interpreters keeping lists in Excel. An efficient method to take down notes of vocabulary must fulfill two requisites: it must be fast and, it must be in such format that it enhances actual usage and review of the listed vocabulary. I don't want to end up taking down vocabulary notes and not read them over again. Of course, will is not a matter of technology, but a matter of will. However, it may be that the format and procedure used to take down vocabulary notes may impact the will to later go through the notes at a later time.

I have not found anything ideal but I am currently testing the following setting. While listening to podcast or reading text on the screen, I query words I am curious about in the Eijiro on the web and save the result page using Instapaper. Eijiro comes usually with a variety of vocabulary combinations and some sentences. Instapaper keeps a list of Eijiro query results pages to review at a later time. At least, it is not time consuming even if the Instapaper list of links is not the prettiest sight in town. I am looking for alternative electronic methods to compare with.