Sigh.
I am awash in paper in the midst of what should be a digitally shared and rendered golden age.
A Digital Journey
Also - I have tried to invest time into digitally capturing as much of my information as possible, here is a list of electronic "things" I have experimented in, some of these have stuck and are now a key part of my organization style, and others have fallen by the wayside.
1. Evernote (long story short, a keeper, I love this app) on my phone, computer, tablets and via any browser
2. Wunderlist - task management/to do app - retired
3. Remember The Milk - task management/to do app - partially retired
4. Penultimate - Digital notetaking application (retired), used along with a...
5. ...Wacom Bamboo stylus - also retired
6. Apple iDevice 'Notes' application
7. Behance 'Action Method' task management/to-do app - on the fence, but not actually using right now
8. iThoughts HD - mind mapping application - retired
9. Microsoft Outlook - can't avoid using this for my calendar, it is pervasive enough but can't do everything I need it to.
10. A bunch of other apps that I can't remember now, that have long since been uninstalled.
My key requirements for any tool was typically linked to how pervasive it was, it needed to work on my phone, laptop, tablets, or from any browser - as I figured I would be more likely to use the tool if it is available to me independent of what particular device I had with me at the time.
Re-embracing The Analog
Many years ago, I also fell in love with the Levenger Circa System - and a group of co-workers and I embraced this geek-friendly, ultimately flexible and customizable notebook system - as my sister once called it, a "Trapper Keeper for adults." Even throughout my more digital forays in note taking and organization, my Circa was always close at hand. This was largely because in some meetings, typing is seen as distracting, or people perceive it as you are not listening/surfing the web/checking your email/or otherwise not engaged in the conversation at hand. Plus, at least in the beginning of iPads invading the corporate landscape, being the "guy with the iPad", geekily using it aggressively in a meeting or even *gasp* writing on one with a stylus - was not necessarily good for certain meetings - it just felt strangely inappropriate at times to be "that guy."
Without going into detail about each app and digital experience/investigation I have made, I have settled right now on re-embracing paper and pen for logging to-do's, actions and note taking, and use of Evernote and Microsoft Outlook for everything else (I archive images of my notes into Evernote for better cataloging and retrieval.) With this conclusion, I felt a tune-up for my analog supplies was in order, as my book-cloth, many years old Circa was looking a bit tattered, I had run out of Levenger paper refills (lovely paper - more on this later) and I felt a need to geek out a little on pens...oh yeah, pens! This post is supposed to be about pens!
Pens!
It should be no surprise that the EDC world is awash in pen geeks. If I can grossly generalize, the main themes seem to be around so-called "tactical" pens made of titanium that can simultaneously lay down a smooth line of ink on fine paper, while bashing in the skull of a zombie - or a pen like the Fisher Space Pen, or pens with a Fisher Space Pen refill shoved inside of it, discussions about the Fisher Space Pen, stories of using the Fisher Space Pen in extreme conditions, and proclamations about how amazing the Fisher Space Pen is. Guess what I did?Surprise! I bought a Fisher Space Pen (actually I serendipitously received one as a gift) and I also bought a refill to put inside of the venerable, and similarly EDC-pen hacker-community-loved metal bodied and appropriately knurled Zebra F701. Now, I historically have been a ballpoint pen bigot - never liked rollerballs, felt tips, gel pens, any of it - I loved the feel and performance of a smooth, blue inked, fine pointed ball point pen. I had settled on three favorites, a Rotring multipen that my father gave me years ago (big sentimental value), that I have re-cartridged a few times over the years, the Zebra F301 - a longtime favorite, and a Cross carbon-fiber-look twisty pen (seems closest to the current Affinity collection of Cross pens) that I received in celebration of a significant deal I designed with a vendor (so, also some sentimental professional value.) Plus I grew up not far from the Cross factory in Lincoln, RI and felt a geographic affinity (no pun intended) with the brand, even though they stopped making them there years ago, but they keep a company store and headquarters in the same original location.
The Fisher was a little under-whelming, I thought it had pretty high effort, and it put down a very dry line - the refill in the F701 was strangely a little better from a smoothness/less effort perspective, but still it didn't exactly knock my proverbial socks off. I think I was realizing something that I discovered at a very young age - I liked pens that flowed easily, and were a bit more "liquid" or "wet" in how they laid down ink on a page, and the resultant smoothness. I can distinctly remember being in grammar school and high school and when you would occasionally get a great Bic Biro or Papermate pen that put down a very wet line, and just flowed so well - you would always hold on to a pen like this and always be very depressed when it was inevitably lost, stolen, or ran out of ink. Around this time, I tried a gel pen at work, and it seemed like the technology had improved somewhat - it didn't at all remind me of my earlier attempts at using rollerball-type pens in the past, which always seemed to, while possessing a nice smooth feel on the paper, always skip and not flow ink very reliably. Also, I like a fine point (I write pretty small), and most of the earlier pens like this tended towards a more medium or broad sized line. I saw that some of these "disposable" pen makers were now making these pens with a super fine point - which appealed to me.
Fountain Pens?
I decided to branch out a bit, and found the amazing Jetpens.com website - which seemed to me to be pen geek heaven. I read reviews, ordered shedloads of cheap pens (various Pentels, Pilots, Uni-balls etc.), tried them all out, liked quite a few fine and extra-fine rollerballs, felt-tipped and gel pens, looked at pen reviews on Youtube and in the midst of this, I was in a meeting one day, and a relatively new colleague had what appeared to be a really nice old-school fountain pen - it was an older Dunhill, color blue and I asked him if I could try it out. He nicely handed it over and I wrote a couple of "quick brown foxes" with it and suddenly the planets aligned, the angels sung, the sun came out from behind the clouds, rainbows and unicorns came shooting out of the nib... not really, but it seemed to be a great pen - it was lighter than I expected, the effort required to get a nice inky wet line on the page was super low, and fondling the thing (ahem) was like, "ooo-look at that nice metalwork, well formed clip, detailed inscription work - this thing is just plain pretty, and damn well engineered!" it started to tickle that same nerve that gets tickled by any other quality piece of gear. I had never really used a fountain pen in earnest before, and I really liked it. The next day, I was in another meeting, and as I tend to do now, I looked at the pens people were using before we got started...let's go around the room ... throwaway "corporate" disposable rollerball, Pilot G2, cheap ballpoint pen, some semi-nice vendor-name-emblazoned pen, Montblanc Meisterstuck roller (nice, but kinda typical corporate "brag" piece), a newer Montblanc Starwalker ballpoint (ooo, thats pretty), and then I saw another colleague with (and I squinted a little to figure it out) a nice looking fountain pen made by Visconti ... hey! Another pen geek!
Needless to say, he and I chatted, and he had been into fountain pens for quite some time, and was happy to chat about the topic. He also dropped a catalog from a pen shop in NYC under my office door the next day that I leafed through...page after page of big buck, bejeweled, old-school elegant, and new-school carbon-fibered/titanium-ed techie pens...I was drooling. So I did what I do...started to research the whole fountain pen thing, and like any hobby - I discovered a very passionate and interesting group of individuals online who were only more than happy to share reviews, videos, and discussions about fountain pens - these guys had the religion in a big way. Most notably, the videos from S.B.R.E. Brown, and the Goulet Pen Company were super informative. Stephen's videos (SBRE Brown) in particular are really addictive, there is something about his style of presenting fountain pen reviews that I just really enjoy.
The Lamy Safari
After that kind of research I landed where it seems like a lot of Fountain Pen noobs like me land - the Lamy Safari. I ordered mine in charcoal with the charcoal Spyderco-looking wire clip (my favorite kind of clip!) along with a Fine nib. The Fine nib is reviewed as being a bit more fat than a normal fine, but I thought it would be a good place to start, especially since replacement nibs are easily obtained and swapped in and out. I also ordered a converter for this pen, which would allow me to fill the pen with different types and colors of ink - which seemed like a pretty cool feature to me. I really liked the Lamy, great weight (nice and light - 17g/.6oz), looks pretty good, and the writing performance was fantastic! Even thought is has a pretty low weight, it seems rather durable - the cap snaps on very securely, the clip holds onto a pocket or loop really well, and the plastic that the barrel is made of has a unique feel where it is clearly light in weight, but it feels substantial - it is hard to envision how it could crack or otherwise be damaged. Even the cap, which is obviously pretty thin and hollow is hard to deform under pressure from ones hand. The key feature about fountain pens is that writing just requires so much less effort than with, say, a ballpoint pen. I find my hands are much more relaxed, and I can write much longer without any kind of fatigue. The little ink window is super handy too - allows you to see the current ink level in the pen, so you know if you are going to run out of ink or not. I don't bring any ink with me to work at this point, so knowing in advance that I need to ink up the pen is very useful.
I found, like many others, that the Fine nib was not as fine as I expected. However, it was super smooth, nice and wet and was a great writing experience, although I would describe the nib as maybe a little stiff. Especially on cheaper paper (see photocopied Powerpoint reference above) I found that the ink was pretty bleed-y, which only added to the thickness of the line beyond what I was looking for. However, on good paper from Levenger, Rhodia, or Moleskine - it was fantastic. I ordered up a Extra Fine nib to try that out as well and it is a really nice, fine line - even on cheaper paper. However, it is at the expense of the overall feel of the writing, however - as I found the Fine to be much more wet and smooth, while the Extra Fine could be described as a little scratchy, not as wet (but certainly not what I would call dry either.) I am sticking with the Extra Fine for now to see if it "breaks in" and gets a little smoother. Not sure how common this is, or not, but the nibs are super easy to swap in and out, which seems like a cool feature and a great way to tune the pen to ones preferences.
Based on my limited but growing experience in fountain pens - it seems like there is quite a bit of variation from manufacturer to manufacturer in terms of what constitutes a "fine" vs. "extra fine" or medium etc. This makes it difficult to make a purchase of what could potentially be a pretty expensive item, and here in Rhode Island, there are no real pen shops anymore, which would allow for trying out some of these pens before buying, however I understand there are a couple of decent stores in the Boston area that I will try and check out. Bromfield Pen in Boston, and Paradise Pen in Burlington seem to be pretty good.
I have been using this pen every day since I received it in the middle of June, so almost a month and a half. I have refilled it 3 or 4 times during that time, and haven't yet switched the ink from what I used originally, the J. Herbin Eclat de Saphir blue. I prefer blue inks, and this one is pretty nice, albeit a little light - it seems like more of a blue/black would be to my preference, and I have experimented with a Noodler's blue/black which has the creative name of 'Bad Belted Kingfisher'. I have this in a couple of other pens I have since acquired - but more on that in another post.
In summary, this is a great starter pen - the price is great ($30 - $35), it writes really well, has options for changing/customizing to ones tastes and it seems to be pretty consistently reviewed as a solid workhorse of a pen.
Close up of the killer clip:
Shot of the EF nib:
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