Introducing the Moleskindle!

Looks like Amazon may be reaching out to notebook fans with this case for its Kindle e-book reader!

Introducing the Moleskindle!

"At least you've got a nice pen"

Sorry to flake on all the new readers this week. I have been absolutely swamped at work all month, and this week took the cake.  Trust me, folks, an all-nighter on Sunday night is no way to start your week! (And they're a heck of a lot harder at age 49 than in your college years, I can tell you.)

I've been able to spend maybe an hour a day with my family this week, so the blog took a hit. Anyway . . .

This is going to be another crazy weekend, starting with a drive to the airport to drop off my wife and 8-year old daughter for a visit with her grandparents, then back to the grind to work all weekend and probably one more all-nighter between now and Wednesday. On Friday, I'll get to join my wife and daughter and finally relax a little with them.

Amid all this tumult, I took a few minutes from my work to show my wife — who seems mildly amused by my new-found fetish — the notes I had taken today in Private Reserve Copper Burst, which I just got on Wednesday. A few minutes later, I was ranting and raving about some stupid court rule making my life more difficult. When I was done letting off steam, my wife smiled at me and said, "At least you've got a nice pen."

And a nice wife, don't you think?

So, here's the Copper Burst and the rest of this week's order from Jet Pens:




I'm dying to open the Iroshizuku, but I'm so pressed for time, and  want to savor it, so I'm saving it for later. Reviews of everything here (except the Lamy converter) lie ahead . . . as time allows.

"At least you've got a nice pen"

Ever wish you were the blogger at Pencil Talk?

You may after you see his haul of notebooks from trip to a single store. Where would you start when you got all of them home? Am I the only one booking travel to Toronto as a result of that post?

Ever wish you were the blogger at Pencil Talk?

Hey, Booker, where are all the product reviews? (A review of my first product review)

Since many of you probably found this blog through the The Pen Addict's link to my review of three fine-point gel pens, you may have taken a look around and wondered where all the other product reviews are.

Short answer: they're in my head. I decided after the first review that I may have been a little harsher on the products than I would have been if I had given them a longer test run. So, that's what I've been doing over the last few weeks: trying out products. Every product I plan to review has been getting more prolonged use than the pens in my first review. I'll be able to write reviews based on more experience with the products.

For those of you curious to know whats coming, I'm planning reviews on two fountain pens, five fountain pen inks, two highlighters (that's right, highlighters — unusual, but I'm hardly the first), and seven — count 'em, seven — notebooks. That ought to take me through the end of June.

Along the way, I'll continue to wax philosophical on technology's good and bad and the joys of returning to pen and paper.

Come back soon!

Hey, Booker, where are all the product reviews? (A review of my first product review)

Thanks, Heather!

Congratulations to Heather of A Penchant for Paper. She's my first "follower" through Google Friend Connect (see the sidebar).  Heather wins . . . my gratitude.

Here's hoping you won't stay alone in that sidebar for long, Heather!

Thanks, Heather!

I really picked the wrong time to get into pens

I'd been getting interested in notebooks and pens for a month or two, reading all kinds of blogs and forums. Then I ran across someone's blog post about their visit to a pen show in Philadelphia or somewhere, and thought to myself, "I live 90 minutes from L.A — surely, L.A. must host a pen show!" So I start hunting around on the internet, and it takes maybe 15 seconds before I'm looking at the web page for the 2010 Los Angeles International Pen Show. Yeah!

Except this was about 2 in the morning on the last day of the show. Announcing at the last minute that your wife and child are going to have to spend Sunday without you because you're driving 90 minutes to go look at some pens . . . well, that's not likely to go over very well, is it?

So, I didn't go. But it's on my calendar for next February already!

I really picked the wrong time to get into pens

The 8th Carnival of Pen, Pencil and Paper

Thanks to Inkophile for pointing me to the 8th Carnival of Pen, Pencil and Paper, hosted by Pocket Blonde. Lots of great links there, including to this article in praise of steel nibs, from which I learned a lot!

The 8th Carnival of Pen, Pencil and Paper