Monthly Archives: March 2012

More fountain pen stuff

Like I said, I’ve been on a pen kick lately. I bought a Noodler’s standard flex, then a Lamy Safari. My most recent purchase is a Noodler’s Ahab flex pen, which just came in yesterday. Here’s the collection (along with a Wing Sung.):

The small orange pen (poltergeist pumpkin is the color) is the Noodler’s standard flex. The large orange (Arizona color) is the Ahab. The Lamy is blue and the maroon pen is the Wing Sung. Here’s another shot of just the Noodler’s pens:

Since I’m taking pictures with my iPhone, I can’t get those luscious close ups that you see on some pen blogs. I am enjoying the flex nib pens, although I’ve not yet figured out how to get the full flex from them. I love the size of the Ahab. It’s closer to the size of my old Schaeffer and much more comfortable than the smaller diameter pens.

Along with my pens, I ordered 14 samples of ink. (I ordered this time from Todd Nusbaum of isellpens.com). Most are Noodler’s with a couple of Herbin colors. I did a few of the orange colors yesterday in the new pen. This are not very detailed tests. Here’s the Ahab loaded with Noodler’s Antietam on Moleskine:

Of course, I want to try all of it NOW! I believe I write better with fountain pens and I have a lot more fun with different inks to play with. Ink samples are very inexpensive and so are the fountain pens in the picture. It definitely brighten up my day to get my new toys.

Changing focus a bit

I am thinking about doing some pen and ink posts. I have been on a fountain pen kick lately. Back in the old days, I used to use Moleskines for planning. I had a couple of different systems. I have been trying to use my iPhone for some of that. I’ve been using Life Balance, which I’ve used long enough to trust. I used the built in Calendar and Reminders for some things. I’ve installed and discarded several other programs. But it seems I’ve lost my task for keeping everything digital.

I write all over the place. I used to do morning pages and I still write fairly often in cheap spiral notebooks. I have a large Moleskines reporter that I will grab and write in during the day. I wanted something else, a small structured record of my day. I have been keeping track of what I eat. I want to track my finances better. I wanted a bit about the weather and a note of the days happenings.

I ordered a Habana, but had to wait for it to come in. I checked Target and found a bunch of marked down notebooks, including a couple of small Moleskines. I set up my system in one of those.

I use two facing pages per day. At the top left, I date the page. Next is the weather and temperature. If I check it early in the morning, I’ll sometimes write the day’s forecast. Below that is my food diary. On the bottom third is my financial log. I carry over my balance every day and note my inflows and outflows. I track my cash on hand. I have been so disorganized, no matter how hard I try. I have been able to know exactly how much I have by checking this record.

The right hand page is my log of the day. I will do a few notes as I go through the day. At night, before I go to bed, I carry the day over. I write my template for the next day. I carry over my balances. And I make any last notes for the day. It’s very satisfying. And that’s why I am playing with fountain pens.

Making it official

Just wanted the world to know that I am officially engaged! We’ve talked about marriage off and on the last couple of years. Since this was Leap Year, Lon asked me if I was going to ask him to marry me. So, of course, I did. And since he’s accepted, that makes it official. We do not have a date yet as we have a few issues still to be sorted out. We do have a happy life together and I believe it will be a good marriage too.