Pilot Hi-TEC-C 03

There are about 10,000 proper reviews of this pen out there, so I will not go into a ton of details, but in general, this pen just flat out rocks. Last night I watched The Inside Man again, I love how that movie all comes together with a little surprise, and timing. This pen sort of does that with a little less Clive Owen. A nice combo package of good ink, nice point and comfortable grip.

I am pretty sure with this pen and a good Parker 51 fountain pen I could use just two pens for a very long time. Ok, that was a flat out lie. Sorry. I need my pens. Jetpens does a great job of keeping these in stock and at a nice price.

At first I thought a 03 might be a little to fine for me for daily writing, but it's really not. It's a perfect point size and can get away with a fine line without digging into the paper. If I still used a day planner, I am sure this would be my go to. Now it's just one I grab anytime I need a good fine tip. Good Pen!

Guest Pen Cup #2

I am lucky enough that my in laws have an incredible snowy getaway where many weekends and most holidays are spent. The kids have a great little studio area and this pen cup has been a favorite for all. I appreciate the workmanship and craft that went into these pencils. Actual tree branches, trimmed, drilled and filled with crayon then sharpened to a semi serious point. Cool.

The pen cup has large and small pencils along with a stray pencil that looks like it is from Scategories. I am not sure if this was bought as a set with the barrel cup or not, but it works very well together.

Top view. Crayons or not, these rock and if anyone is interested, I will try to find out where these are from and post later. I also had a major ebay score the other day that I am excited to shoot as well. Have a great weekend.

Rotring Fountain Pen Reflecting

The last post of 2008 is of my beloved Rotring Fountain Pen. This one is always inked with black ink and never too far out of reach. There's a great combination of weight, a smooth fine nib and ruggedness that keeps me using this pen daily.

This year went by fast. Like NASCAR fast, like marbles rolling in a Teflon pan fast, like two cups of coffee and a bran muffin fast. As I write this, I have 24.5 hours to reflect on 2008. that's it... then it is gone.

Jim Bishop wrote that " Nothing is as far as a minute ago. "

That's why we use pens to document, it's why we remember... and take a moment to never forget a certain look that someone makes, or a laugh or a glimpse of what we have to appreciate.

While a pen and paper are certainly basic things, my current stack of electronics are not so simple. To answer the questions early...yes there are four devices (some redundant.) No,
I don't carry a fanny pack. Yes, being behind me when I go through airport security is a nightmare. The irony is I would fight you for my 100 year old pens as much as my 32 GB itouch.

So the plan for 2009 is to: simplify, to breathe, to slow down, and to document. (FYI---All that goes out the window as soon as my Blackberry Storm arrives.)

Have a very safe New Year and thanks for reading and for all the support I have received so far.

Cheers-

Seth

Uni-ball Jet Stream RT 1.0

I hooked up with Uni-ball and Sharpie and they were gracious enough to send a few pens out for reviews and I have to say this pen definitely surprised me with how well it writes from the start.. The grip runs the whole way through the body and the pen feels a little thicker than usual which is very welcome to me.

Nice fat Bold 1.0 point. I probably would not have grabbed this off of the shelf if I had not had the chance to write with it first. I tended to stay away from the 1.0, but this pen changed my mind a on that. It works pretty well on my 3x5 cards and writes smoothly on a small cheap sketchbook I use.

I am staying with the flying theme today (Jet Stream, get it?) Click for a better view. It's very true.


In other news, last night was a marathon fountain pen restoring session. Wow, that makes me sound very boring. I wish I could match some of the older ink colors I find cemented inside of these 50+ year old pens for my own. Last night was an older Parker with an insane aqua-blue that I need to go find a match for.

A Christmas Pen and another Triad

This is why I love vintage fountain pens, a gift from my brother. Yeah, it's sort of dirty and I haven't done anything other that put a little polish on the nib for the pictures, oh...the sac sounds like a baby rattle when you shake it, but I know there is still life in this thing.

Mark my words, once this pen is restored, I will track down the Keener family and return this pen back to it original owner keep this for my own and forget all about the inscription.

It's a "Penman" pen, I have no idea how to date this one, It has a nice feel to it and looks like it should be an easy restore. (There's even a little "Jewel" on the cap.) I will clean it up and post pictures another day. Good Pen.

I am also about to bust into another couple gifts. I am pretty sure these were NOT $2.39 each. I can't wait to get into that Private Reserve Copper burst. I have the perfect Copper Esterbrook for that. If I can get around to shooting it this week, you should see a special edition "What did she bring me" and "Guest pen cup #2": all in one post. More to follow.

Thanks again for all the great comments and emails. Good stuff.

J. Herbin major score

For some reason, my local art store was selling these inks for $2.39 each. Don't bother tracking these down, I bought all they had. I am not sure why they were on sale but I will take it. They are not usually colors I would buy, but for that price, it's worth it to see if I can fall in love with a new color. Good Ink.

Sorry for the light post today, still gathering my wits from Christmas celebration, but I will be back on Monday with a major addition to the pen collection. More to follow.

Sanford Uni-ball Gel Impact and go C's

I remember buying this pen thinking I never will use a 1.0 point gel pen, (a smarter man might have refused to buy it,) but I picked it anyway and I do use it. This is a pen that has gone through many iterations by Uni-ball, checkers, windows, you name it. This faux carbon fiber look is not too bad on this model. There are very few Uni-balls that I don't like to write with and if I need a fat blue gel, this is the one I reach for.

Go Celtics, as I write it's 85-70 and they are about to get their 19th straight win. Go C's. The good news is this is record setting, the bad news is..it's almost impossible to get reasonable tickets. It's winter in New England and I cound not find my basketball, so this is the best I could do.

Neatorama recently had a link today to a ton of Military truisms that rocked. This one was my favorite. No post tomorrow, but back on Friday! Have a safe Holiday everyone.