Thursday, September 29, 2011

Surprise...Morning Glory Mach 3

Everyone loves surprises right?  Good surprises are better than bad surprises also.. right?  I guess it depends on the outcome. Certain things are good- like... a call from an old friend, finding a few minutes in your day you weren't expecting, a dry diaper (sorry...potty training in the Good Pens household...it's where my head is right now.)  But there's also bad surprises... The Red Sox Tanking, Braves Missing out, wisdom teeth needed yanked etc.It's like luck and here's one of my favorite stories about this:

There is a Chinese story of an old farmer who had a horse for tilling his fields. One day the horse escaped into the hills and, when all the farmer's neighbors sympathised with the old man over his bad luck, the farmer replied, 'Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?'
A week later the horse returned with a herd of wild horses from the hills and this time the neighbours congratulated the farmer on his good luck. His reply was, 'Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?'
Then, when the farmer's son was attempted to tame one of the wild horses, he fell off its back and broke his leg. Everyone thought this very bad luck. Not the farmer, whose only reaction was, 'Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?'
Some weeks later the army marched into the village and conscripted every able-bodied youth they found there. When they saw the farmer's son with his broken leg they let him off. Now was that good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?

There are variations of the story, but you get the idea.  Any-who...let's talk about pens. 
The other day I met a friend for dinner at an awesome little place called the H-Mart.  Think Asian Grocery Store slash Asian Wal-Mart. You get the idea...usually, I am there for the food, but I popped over to a little store that had just about every sort of Hello Kitty product ever made in it.  There is  a tiny sliver of a pen aisle and I couldn't resist. 

















I looked down...and here where these little munchkins in between the Pinky erasers and Hello Kitty scissors. Quick mental rundown of the situation: 3 pack, .38, multiple colors and only $5.99...Check Please!
Two minutes later I am telling a story and MUST pull one of these out to draw a graphic and I stop in my tracks...It really is a .38.  -it's not bleeding on the receipt like a stuck pig and I do like the blue color. What.The.Hell?  Surprise!  I have seen the pens that say "Extra Fine" or "Super Fine" and generally they crank out more ink than a tattoo parlor. 
These are made in Korea and Morning Glory is the manufacturer.You can buy them here:  Who Knew?  And Googling shows me The Office Supply Geek reviewed a similar pen here.  Surprise! 
A couple days later and I am still pretty amazed by these things. they have stayed on my desk and my old pens are staring at these guys like they are cutting into their territory. (Sarasa's can be so sassy.)  The ink stays crispy on most paper and I while I doubt that I will ever really use the red one- the blue is growing on me.  
Clicking makes the picture bigger and clearer.  This is recycled paper and I had very little faith the pen would hold up here.  I am very happy with this set...good price, nice lines, unexpected quality...and that is a good surprise.. or is it?

Update Jetpens also sells some pens from this manufacturer.  Surprise!

Monday, September 26, 2011

JZ Designs Key Pen

Lately,  even as much as I love my #dailyarsenal-- that I admit has some disposibles in it....I have interests in the not so traditional pens.  The ones that you have to seek out to own or to gift or to write with and this one fits those bills perfectly. The more permanent the better.  It's a fun trade off... carefully spending the extra money wisely on items that you want to keep and maintain and enjoy vs. buying crap that you could care less about.

This gem is one of keepers. Welcome the key Pen from JZ Design.  I have said it before,  but pens that designed to be kept and used and cherished already rank a lot higher to me than the traditional trash it and forget about it as soon as it starts skipping plastic pens.  This world can use things that are not at all disposable. I hate losing things and there are certain things that I make sure I want to keep as close as possible because I don't want them to go away.

I know I shot this pen backwards,  it should be reversed so that the JZ logo is facing the correct way,  Sorry...but old habits die hard.  By the way, I do appreciate the thought that went into this.  Did you know that the little dangly piece that goes into the lock is called a Bit?  Now you do. Nice touch.
More Bits



I also like a pen that you can "unbox." In this case...two refills and those are very much appreciated.  There's just a pile of stuff here that adds up to a quality pen built right and ready to go.  Too often a gift pen gets forgotten about about because a refill can sometimes be too hard to order a refill. Odd right?  Including them saves time and keeps this one used more.
Voila,  with a twist of the Bow (that the loopy part on the far left) out spins the writing portion of this pen. (You are so much smarter now for even reading this post.)  It's called research and it's all for you. 















Key..get it?  I try.  I admire a designer who takes the time and the energy to put together a solid product with a bit of thinking behind it. Fun to write with, fun to shoot and a Good Pen.

SG






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