I need some journal help please

Any suggestions for a solid work notebook?  Preferably lined and project based with enough strength to handle an occasional fountain pen.  Larger is better. Hard Bound is even better (it will get thrown in a bag and travel a lot)  Thanks,  what's everyone using?

 

World Leader Stealing pens!

Wouldn't you? Heck yeah.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/video/item/czech-president-steals-pen/

Updated with a better link.  Sorry about the ads.

Pay no attention here.  I am only closing the box.  Look a squirrel!

Also I love when a pen blog can start a good World War 1 debate.  I have about 10 emails in my inbox about this I need to share.  In case you missed it,  check the comments on my last post.  Good stuff.

24 karat Club Mechanical Pencil

For being a fairly young dude (ish.)  I have a sincere love for older pens and pencils. Don't bother asking why,  it might be that they simply just aren't disposable. There's a REASON why they didn't end up in a trash heap. Someone at some point held onto the pen or pencil and decided it was worth keeping.

Here's one.

The mechanical pencil says...

Tenth Annual Banquet of the Jewelers' 24 karat Club of Pittsburgh
William Penn Hotel- April 5th, 1921

Yeah... so Googling didn't really help.  I found a current 24 Karat club of Southern California,  but the only reference for Pittsburgh was in an Obituary.  So this club decided to give out mechanical pencils for something during their 10th Annual Banquet.  Oh yeah... Sterling silver mechanical pencils.

Next Tuesday night when you are having dinner or watching Housewives or whatever you do...think about it...in 1921 a bunch of Jewelry loving fools were gathering in a small room staring at their pinky rings and tossing a sweet pencil into their pockets.  1921.  Before the end of the FIRST World War.

I haven't put lead in this,  I cleaned it up a little,  but I don't really feel the need to write with this one.  Maybe one day.  But probably not. All the bits still work on this and it has a great feel to it.

OK,  who's the wiseguy that decided to go all tom-foolery and put actual carrots on the pencil. Oh and yes there are 24 carrots. Wiseguy.

Good Pens. (and non-pens)

Grammy

This weekend there was a gathering of friends and family in a little town outside of Pittsburgh to celebrate the life of Jean McWilliams Fisher Eberly.  I was at home in Boston changing diapers, chasing toddlers and slamming Red Bulls at an alarming rate- so that my wife could attend. In Pittsburgh they had hymns, tears and wonderful memories.  In Boston I had to wait until nap-time and take a moment to relax, breathe and remember Grammy on my own.

Jean McWilliams Fisher Eberly to me...was simply "Grammy" from day 1...even though she was my wife's grandmother.  We shared two things...1. a love for her granddaughter and 2. collections.. specifically pens.  A great deal of the pens posted on this site were collected individually by Grammy and passed down to me to care for.

I have thanked Grammy many, many times for her gifts and those notes were always written with a pen that she gave me.  Usually a special Parker 51 that was saved for such events...

Grammy collected and when it came to pens...she had them all.  There was the awesome:  Like this gorgeous Swan that has incredible flex in near perfect shape....

 

and the still awesome...like this little red beauty below that I have yet to research and catalog...but I am pretty sure this might be a one of a kind ;)  It's not in mint shape... but it was a gift from Grammy.

That's the thing...we all have flaws and are far from perfect...but being a part of something.. a collection, or a grouping...or a family is what brings you together (literally.)

 Buddha said "Neither fire nor wind, birth nor death can erase our good deeds."  It seems the older you get the more you reflect...maybe it's because you finally have something to reflect on,  or you finally have the actual time to reflect,  but I hope when  I am sensible enough to look back... I can say that I did good things for the people I cared for..  that's how I think of Grammy..she did good things.

SG

Marathon Fountain Pen Cleaning Session

It was time. I was due to spend some effort taking care of cleaning what I had messed up. Putting ink in fountain pens means someday that you have to clean out that ink. It was good... cathartic even...like chopping wood or mowing your yard. I went into rinse mode and didn't come out till everything was clean and shiny. (Oh.. The Head and the Heard on shuffle also REALLY helped.)

Every now and then you have to spend some time to maintain...I race bikes and I kinda hate to clean my bike chains... I would actually rather buy a new chain, but I know I have to do it. Before you do it.. it sucks and procrastination stands on your shoulder yelling that there are 507 other things that you would prefer to be doing.. when you start it you feel better and when you are done... you feel refreshed. Time well spent... It's getting to "doing" that is the hardest part.

Mont Blanc, Waterman, Hero, Swans, they all were included here. They are all now dry, clean and ready for a fresh start. Renewed. Now looking at it, I know I won't pull one of these out in 2 months and have a crusty nib that I have to spend even more time scraping...


















Some of you know I started a new job and am now in an real honest to goodness office. Which means that I am no longer in a nice warm cozy quiet home office. Which means I go from a choice of a couple thousand pens down to whatever I can put in my bag...So today I went for a search for office pens... Here's what I came up with. These should last a while. I sort of had these filed away for a few months forgotten about. I am looking forward to that Waterman loaded with a Sarasa .4.

Enjoy the Superbowl (or better yet, go clean your pens.)

Seth

New Twitter Account

Feel free to click on the Twitter icon on the right and update your account.  I will be switching the sethgoodling Twitter account over to work stuff and re-organizing.    http://twitter.com/#!/goodpensblog   will be for all the fun pen and paper stuff.  Thanks and sorry.  

(Unless you care to see where I had lunch and Technology stuff) 

Seth

Haven't put this down all day.

Kinda impressed:  more to follow.