Shinola Medium Hard Linen Journal

I have known about the Shinola for a few years but I didn't know that they made journals...I knew them for watches and leather goods and then they added bikes and other things to take my money and I kinda lost touch with them a few years ago.  Their story is a good one, they wanted to bring jobs to Detroit with American goods and I admire that idea... I happened to stop into my local art store I found this little A5 screaming to me to purchase it. 

I use a journal for my work/life to do's (not a "Dear Diary"kind of thing) and an A5 usually lasts me about 6 months until I get bored with it or find another one that I like. For me, filling a journal is rare and I am pretty sure if I stacked all of my journals in my house into a single pile, they would be taller than the average human. Someday I will test that out. Not today, I have laundry to fold...

My demands for a journal are simple: I prefer lined paper, a hard cover, as close to non-bleedy as possible just in case I do grab an EF fountain pen- and an A5 is usually right in my sweet spot to keep it portable for travel. As much as I love technology, I force myself to use a journal to keep my pen desires active. From a check box standpoint, this one hits all the major points. Picadilly is one of the other brands that I buy, mainly because Barnes and Nobles sells them cheap.  Although after a few trips, the Picadilly's tend to start showing wear. This one has been to Japan once and 3 trips across the country and looks almost brand new. 

I wasn't lying about the lined part. That's mandatory for me. I tried dots and plain paper and none of them keep my writing organized enough. By organized, I mean that can't achieve the  higher OCD levels that I have of writing in a straight line. No surprises here...Cream paper and divider, there is a nice nice pocket on the back and a page saver (which I almost always cut off.)  

The Sarasa (.4) works incredibly awesome here (no surprises) and so does the Pilot loaded up with some Noodlers Black. I think the journal was around $22 bucks or so. For an A5 is a little on the high end, but worth it. They make these in tons of fun colors (I chose black as a fun color.)    The Shinola page tells me the paper weight is 60 LB. with 192 pages that are acid free and archival quality. The Smyth sewn binding allows it to lie flat.  They make leather covers for these, but they are $195 and I need a new squash racquet, so that's not going to happen anytime soon. Anyway,  Nice journal, 8.5 out of 10 for me.

P.S. I am once again moving stuff around on the website,  Ignore all the dead links as I get sorted. Thanks- S-

Pen of the Day

Some days,  I try to stick with a pen or two rather than reaching into the pen cup for a new option every 5 minutes.  When I reach in the pen cup I can get EASILY distracted by a fountain pen that needs cleaning or spend 4 minutes sad with the pen choice that I made.  So grabbing a pen and sticking with it helps keep me focused a bit (P.C.P... Pen Choice Problems.) So,  this morning I reached in, grabbed an old Pilot Precise V5 Extra fine and was amazed that around noon eastern, I was still pretty happy with my choice.

When I popped over to Jetpens and Amazon and saw that they still sell these.  Pretty much with the same label.  By the way, Jetpens tells me that this is made from 89.2% recycled material and refills are available (so, why do I own so many of these?)

There's some ink creep on that needlepoint. (said no cool guy ever.) I probably have a dozen or so of these kicking around but I usually reach for the smaller points (.38 or .44) but for some reason,  I can still get away with this in my notebooks and am happy with the dark ink and for me it dries fast enough.   

Look,  I get it,  I know around 12:30 I will once again reach over into this mess (below) and forget about the V5 in a heartbeat.  But,  I still like this pen.

I should go through this

Here's where my hand goes by instinct whenever I need to write something.  I only stab myself with the dip pen 3 or 4 times a day.

The irony here is thick. (or it's not) Anyway,  I might do this again tomorrow. I miss you crazy people and thanks for all the readers that still ping me. You guys rock. 

S-