Dr. Grip....Meet Mr. Dremel.

If you have a second... go back and read this post.  Trust me,  it will all make sense in the end.  Scan even if you like.  But the idea was that I REALLY like this version of the Pilot Dr. Grip.  Not everything,  but I saw the potential.

I liked it,  but did not like the ink.  So...I did what most pen lovers....errr... guys would do and I made it work for me.   Please forgive me,  but I sacrificed a Zebra Sarasa 0.4 in Black for this project.

Mr. Dremel...meet Mr. Pen.  The Pilot ink is on the right,  the Sarasa needed some serious whittling and about 1/2 inch hacked off the back. Shaved done,  tested...shaved some more...shaved some more.  I sort of was careful.  After all there is ink in there and I do have carpets....

I think i had to go back one more time after this picture  and then it dropped right in and started clicking like it was made for this pen.

So now a pen that's been sitting stale in my desk drawer will go into the rotation.  So here's the lesson... Pen you don't really like + power tools + favorite other pen = Nice solid usable pen.

Oh,  and I threw the first pitch out at Fenway for the Red Sox the other week.  That's cool also.
Enjoy your weekend.
Seth

Haven't used these but they seem like a good deal!

https://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.40564

0.3mm Black Gel Ink Pens (12-Pen Pack)



Anytime I can buy a 12 pack of pens I tend to get a little giddy.
No they are not a sponsor or have I ever considered buying anything from them before,  but they showed up in my feed.  Let me know if you order them and if you have a review to share.  Yes... this is my first post in a long time.  The summer was for my bike and my family. Colder weather means blogging.  

Journal 21...a planner review!

The good folks over at The Quo Vais Blog sent this planner out late last year and I bet they thought that I forgot about it. No way. However...here's a preface to this post. I am not a daily planner guy in the traditional "write it all down" sense...because of my work, I have to be tied to an electronic calendar. There aren't enough Getting Things Done seminars in the world that could figure out a way for me to accuratly keep two separate calendars matched if one is written with a pen. I simply don't have that functionality. That being said, what I do have is a need to track lots of items. Like: miles and expenses and calls and how many times a day Janet goes to the bathroom. (that would be funny and hurtful, except that I work from home.) Ehh...still funny.

But here I was, saddled with a journal that impressed me from the start. 1. It has some heft to it. It just feels substantial. 2. The paper is magical.

I will let the experts go over the details:

16 months monthly, September 2009 to December 2010
12 months daily, January to December
8 AM to 9 PM schedule
Soft green tinted vellum paper
72g, acid-free and pH neutral paper
Annual planning calendars for 2010 and 2011
Current and following month calendars
Elegant round corners — tear-off corner opens to day in progress
Sewn binding, lays flat when open
Full line per half-hour
Blank space for daily notes
Bound in address book
Refillable

You know what, there isn't one of those things that I disagree with. (and I have a little man crush on a few of those up there.)


So I don't tend to fill it up. I add things daily, but I am not sure I am using this as it is intended. Sure it reminds me of things and tracks items but I see this as a planner for someone who REALLY uses a planner. Like...life starts to crumble if the planner gets lost. Those people are still out there.

The good news is...that it is vacumatic and I love it. (no that's not the good news.) The good news is that it works on this paper. It's true, a journal that you can use your sloppiest fountain pens on. So go nuts! You can make this picture larger and try to figure out what I do during the day, but it's mostly like Nicholas Cage in Windtalkers....some sort of Navajo-like clicky sounds that would be impossible for the enemy to decipher.  (Whew, that took a bit longer to explain that I needed.)

So, pop quiz...you are called to a meeting in D.C. and you have 5 minutes to pack for a day trip. (not tottly unrealistic for me) What do YOU take? Here are the 4 things that I would grab to handle the meeting. Maybe a power cord also, but if I am limited to 4 items I can handle it for a while.

Bottom line, great journal, you can buy it here and I am glad I get the chance to use it.

I didn't have a quote in the journal so I will leave you with this one:

A man who does not plan long ahead will find trouble at his door.
- Confucius

Planning...get it?

We have a winner (in my best carnival voice)

Jamie at Waterhalo is the winner.  I was going to get creative with cats or a monkey or something to determine the winner randomly,  but some people freak out about stuff like that,  so I picked the most boring option ever.

Jamie,  shoot me an email and we can sort out the details,  congrats.

And how could I not give the bonus prize to A Quiet mind for bringing Buddha into the mix.  I don't need that kind of bad karma on me,  so I will dig into the vault and pass something along to you as well.  Thanks for all the comments!

Seth

It's a tool...silly and a giveaway.

Going through some of the fountain pen blogs and reading some of the comments that people write about their pens kinda drives me nuts. Maybe it's a personal thing, but pens to me were never meant to be put in a box and never inked or drooled on. I suppose if all I had to do was burn money--- I would buy pens and forget I had them... but I don't see why people do it. If it's art, then call it art and not a pen. I'll write with my pens.

This Cross likes to write as well. Fat, long and full of inky goodness and the weight of this monster reminds me that it is in my pocket or jacket and I appreciate that. The gold nib and chrome body isn't my favorite combo but Cross can get away with it somehow. While I admit I do have a few pens that I don't take out of the house....I still ink them up and write with them. It's more me knowing that I could always lose a pen and there are a few that I do not want to lose.

I might have used this quote before. It's one of my favorites. Doing some research about Mr. Maslow I learned that he married a woman named Bertha. That's no big deal except for the fact that she was his first cousin. Did you know it's legal in all 50 states to marry your SECOND cousin? Hmmm. It might be me, but I always felt that the last place to look for a hot date/future wife is at your family reunion. Of course there's a website http://www.cousincouples.com/?page=states in case you are curious.

Here's the giveaway. The usual rules: Leave a comment on this post and I will come up with a silly yet completely random way to determine which number wins the 24 pack of Sharpies. As always, there could be a bonus prize if you make me laugh so hard I spit my morning ceral on my keyboard.  You have till Monday at noon to leave a comment.

Good luck and thanks for reading.

The Perfect Pair - Rhodia and a 616

So this addiction usually runs in waves. Meaning...if I like a pen and paper combo, I will stick with until it runs the course and I move on to the next journal or pen or even ink if needed. Depending on the day, this could almost be hourly. Oddly enough, these two little gems came together quite nicely and the have remained friends for a long time now. #1 is the Rhodia 5 x5 and #2 is (oddly enough) a very low end Parker knock off (616.) These two came together like Starsky and Hutch and have been my "go to" for almost everything lately.

As always..click for larger pictures. Sometimes pen and paper combos surprise me. I normally would not throw these two together- but with a little good ink added in.. I am a happy man. These pens seem to last a very short time. Believe it or not I almost consider them disposable at less that $1.00 each. They have been "testy" to say the least...but this one at least for now... is working very well.

"Did you ever get the feeling that the world was a tuxedo and you were a PAIR of brown shoes" George Gobel. Pair...get it? I am getting into a rhythm with this combo and they are working for me right now. Sure tomorrow... I might make the switch, but it's a about staying fresh and excited about what you do. If that means changing inks or pens often. So be it.

Tomorrow is giveaway day so I will see you then!

Seth

The Pilot Plumix (fence sitter)

Pacifiers do make good pen holders. It's true.

Wow, I don't think that I have ever been more on the fence over a pen than with this one. The nib just throws me off a bit and believe me, I have written with every kind of nib (almost) known to mankind. I am pretty sure this was a Target purchase that has been sitting in my pen cup filled but unused for a while. I thought that I didn't have a use for it till I picked up an envelope (nice paper) to test this and it actually flowed pretty nicely and in all CAPS turned out okay for me.

The thins are just a little to thick to do any seriously nice work, but I could use this for Christmas cards or to write that letter to my neighbor asking them if they wouldn't mind peeling that Scott Brown sticker off of their car. (seriously, we get it.) It just sort of feels like a cheaper version of this pen http://goodpens.blogspot.com/2009/03/pilot-fountain-pen-tee-hee.html  and I would much rather use that one.  (Because I friggin love it.)















So let's not dwell on time or timing.  I know I need to blog more.  Thanks for the support/emails and kind works on Twitter and Facebook.  I am going to go pen shopping right now so I have some fresh new stuff to bring to the game.  Oh, and I have a journal or two and some new inks,  so stay tuned.  Oh, and why not,  let's do a giveaway this week.


Seth