The Essentials

I don't go anywhere without my Kindle DX, the larger Kindle with the 9" screen. I subscribe to two daily newspapers (the Financial Times and International Herald Tribune) and one monthly magazine (Asimov's Science Fiction). In addition, I have lots of books I can read on demand, heaven if you're a reader. And I can scan a book into a pdf file and download it to my Kindle, so I can also read books that aren't available as an ebook on Amazon.com if I don't mind spending a half hour at my little scanner.

That's to the right in the above pic. To the left are my supplies for taking notes on several books I'm reading right now. In the front is an Orange Field Notes memo book (general notes), followed by an Apica notebook in the middle (for notes on The Core Balance Diet), and a Rhodia orange journal at the back (for notes on The Anastazi Method). The Kindle is set up to take notes, but they are all lumped together in one folder, and I don't like skimming through 20 pages to find something. So I deal with it the old-fashioned way: I take notes. Right now I'm using a Muji gel pen 0.38mm black ink, a Pilot Hi-Tec-C .05mm in the Bengara color, and a Sakura Pigmo .05mm with purple ink. And if I don't feel like reading or writing, I can use the Kindle to surf the internet--high-tech, low-tech, no-tech all in one pink pebbled leather case!

Sunday Catnapping

My girl Seranne has discovered that this blue thing, known to us humans as a heating pad, is really great to sleep on when that strange orange light is lit. Must be powered by Rhodia.

Notebook Tote Bag

Leah Hoffman at Quo Vadis Blog posted about a Notebook tote bag she found at Fish's Eddy, one of the truly unique New York City shopping experiences. As I was headed in that direction I stopped by and bought one, as well as a coffee mug with the same notebook design. The graph paper items are 50@ off, as are the very interesting beginner's writing paper series (which has an additional broken line between straight lines to learn the height of letters when writing).

Really lovely greens on this tyvek bag, different shades of olive. The sides of the bag show the Fish's Eddy logo and the beginner's writing paper style and graph paper style; all in all, quite nice. There are some really interesting heavy ceramic boards you can buy in graph, beginner's, or straight line styles that have holes punched on the side as if to fit into a three-ring binder. After trying to puzzle this out (carving board? pastry board?) the sales clerk explained they were for serving cheese. As they were also $24.95, I thought I'd pass. The tote is $3, the notepaper mug is substantially more, but I decided to splurge.

Zebra Sharbo at JetPens

I couldn't even imagine spending $150 on any pen let alone a multi, but if I did it would be this Zebra Sharbo X TS10 in Bronze Ocher (bottom pen). Then again, three pens plus a pencil, so that's really "only" $37.50 per writing instrument, just a touch higher than the Lamy Al-Star I'm thinking of purhasing. Well anyway, that is a beautiful looking multi and a fantastic color. JetPens really has the coolest stuff to make a pen-and-paper-addict lose her wits.

Art Brown Fall Pen Fair, October 28-30

The Art Brown International Pen Shop's Fall Pen Fair will be held Wednesday October 28 through Friday, October 30, 2009 from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm. The new Tibaldi Hercules, Omas Lamborghini, and Montegrappa Barbiere Di Seviglia will be premiered at the show. Art Brown is located at 2 W. 45th Street, just off 5th Avenue. I definitely want to check out the new Lamy Al-Star fountain pen in purple and premiering at this Fair.

And I will have to check out this Omas limited edition fountain pen--I don't think I would dare breathe near it let alone hold it, but I would love to see it. I imagine this was thought up in those heady days before our mortgage-backed-and-credit-default-swapped-economy went down the drain and hedgies and top traders were earning their $50 million to $100 million (and those were just the good ones, not the greats of Wall Street and Greenwich, CT).

Update on some Coming Soon items: called Art Brown and was told the De Atramentis inks were shipped this week from Germany, but haven't arrived at the shop yet. I'll get a call when the wines, fruits, flowers, and sweets are delivered.

Sakura Gelly Roll Gel Ink Pens

Walking through Paper Access on W. 18th Street, I notied the very large section of Sakura pens, including the Pigma and these Gelly Rolls. Naturally I had to check these gel inks out, and so I bought a few to try: hunter green metallic, burgundy metallic, black metallic, and a whimsical rose-gold color. The pens are about $2.25 plus tax each, and I do like the aesthetic--the rounded cap and sparkly plastic appeals to me quite a lot. They are certainly a lot longer than regular gel ink pens, something I also like as they have more ink to play with.


The writing is quite nice. The pen has a roller ball point that glides smoothly over the paper. The Metallic colors are, interestingly, more muted while the Gold gel ink pen is very strong and shiny, and leaves a definite shadow on the opposite side of the page. The Metallic black looks almost dark grey in some light, not a very deep black. Same with the hunter green and burgundy: the name implies a much stronger pigment than what actually shows up on the paper. I think the greatest appeal is the wide selection of colors and styles. I will have to look for green, burgundy and black in the Gold style to see how those look next to their Metallic counterparts.

Quattro Notepad by Global Art Materials

I finally got to A.I. Friedman on W. 18th Street a few days ago, and am still in sensory overload from all the fantastic stuff they have in stock. One particular journal I'm planning on going back to get is part of a Disney set, not something I'm usually interested in but this one featured a great picture of Minnie Mouse.

One notepad I liked the minute I saw it was the Quattro by Global Art Materials. These notepads come in a number of shapes and sizes, and in grid, lined, and blank acid-free paper that feels similar to Clairfontaine (very heavy, no bleed through or feathering, very light shadow so double-sided writing is fine). In addition, the sheets are perforated for easy removal, and the lines themselves are tiny dots rather than a thick line (see pic below). The Quattro I finally purchased is a 3.4" x 5.5" notepad with a heavy paper-stock cover that folds back like a reporter's notebook. It's priced at $2.99 plus tax, and available at a number of stores (Blick, Sam Flax, etc.).

The Quattro comes in many different sizes, and there were several I would have purchased but for one small problem: they were avocado green, a color I absolutely do not like. This little notepad was the only one that came in pale mint, and while I would like it in a larger size I had to make a trade off for getting a color I liked. Global Art Materials also makes a leather cover for this size notepad, again similar to a Rhodia cover, for $19.99. The leather cover is a nice idea, but the Quattro itself is good looking and sturdy, making it a cute addition to my collection.