pens

Dept4 – Yesterday and Tomorrow

/ Pete Denison / 1 Comment

Over the past few weeks I have been looking back on posts I’ve written on since commencing dept4 in May 2013, and more specifically, thinking about what I plan to spend my time writing about moving forward.

Reflection

For the most part, I have written about coffee, my favourite technology, and miscellaneous pieces about various things on my mind at any given time. A couple of posts hint at a slight obsession with pens, and this is an area certainly in need of more attention. I had initially planned to write more on productivity, workflows and self-improvement – however the productivity and workflow topics remind me a little too much of my office job. Perhaps that makes me well qualified to write on such matters, however to be honest, they are topics I feel least like writing about in my spare time. Self improvement? Perhaps that lies somewhere in between.

Granted, many of my posts touching on technology do indeed have some crossover into the productivity and workflows realm, however most of these have a personal productivity bent, rather than a specific office based one.

Future Plans

IMG_1922As I mentioned above, an area that has only seen a couple of posts to date, though is an area of intense interest for me relates to pens and paper (well actually, think anything in a stationery cupboard). This has been further compounded by embarking recently onInCoWriMo, or International Correspondence Writing Month, to the tune of sending a letter a day for the entire month of February. I have written more about my InCoWriMo experience here.

In this age of Twitter and Instagram, what would possess me to hand-write a letter a day until number 28 is posted? Pen and paper, plain and simple. My decision to participate in InCoWriMo is a point reached along a journey that has come a little way, though has many more miles left to run. A journey to be punctuated (quite literally) by many combinations of fountain pens, inks, rollerballs and even ballpoints, on a varied terrain of notebooks, pads and whatever paper I can reasonably lay my hands on – this I am sure of.

I have always been interested in pens. I distinctly remember the few basic Parker Jotter and Sheaffer pens from high school. My foray into Artline 200 fineliners, and the decision as to whether the 0.4 or 0.2mm version better suited my writing style (neither by the way, we are talking teenage boy penmanship here!). Then, onto the decision of whether I preferred blue or black ink. Throughout my university days the experimentation continued, though at a slower pace, until I received my first fountain pen in 1997 as a wedding gift from my wife. Seemingly that was pretty much it, the be all and end all of pens for me – until about 18 months ago. Don’t get me wrong, there was still much experimentation going on in the sub $10 office supply store pen category, simply not much beyond that.

I’m not exactly sure what piqued my interest again, however I began doing a few internet searches one day and stumbled across some sites recommending Rhodia and Moleskine notebooks (I think through researching the GTD method of productivity, and discovering a few Moleskine pocket notebook “hacks” for analogue versions of this system). One thing led to another and I soon found Brad Dowdy’s The Pen Addict, both blog and podcast, and from there it was all over. A similar fate has befallen many who stumble across Brad and his now infamous “penabler” influence to many followers around the world.

Through listening to the podcast and a little self experimentation, I have since purchased a few pens and notebooks, and am currently researching my next mid priced fountain pen to add to my collection. My Montblanc Meisterstuck will always remain my most valuable pen, both sentimentally, and likely monetary, however I am planning on starting again from the bottom and building a more varied collection. My own “beyond the office supply store” stationery cupboard if you will.

So, what does this mean for this blog moving forward? I would say a continuation of what you have already seen on the coffee and technology fronts, and an increasing amount of pen and paper related articles as my journey continues down this road. Where will these all fit in my current post categories of Thoughts, Improvement, Coffee and Tools? That I am not sure, though some of the categories could become a little more specific, and I will be giving this some more thought as things progress.

Let’s get to it then

Although I have broken and continue to break the cardinal rule of blogging, by writing about a variety of topics rather than focusing on one, I plan to continue, simply because I do not see dept4 as solely a Coffee, Pen or Tech blog, nor do I have any immediate plans to make it such. I have a keen interest in, however am not an expert in any of these topics.

Although there will be common themes running through those areas of interest, I do enjoy the freedom of writing on pretty much anything if the mood strikes me. Who knows, perhaps these topics may become more defined and specialised, spinning off into their own blogs in the future. Whilst I am loathe to rule out anything completely, I have no plans to undertake this in the near future.

As I write this, post number 84, I am pretty happy with most of what I have published over the past 10 months or so, and believe things have come a long way from my initial plans for the site. If being a “jack of all trades and master of none” limits my readership, (which has grown beyond what I could have ever imagined anyway, for which I am eternally grateful), then you may as well start calling me Jack.

Pens Down – InCoWriMo Reflections

/ Pete Denison / 5 Comments

photo

No doubt many are saying “well that’s InCoWriMo done for another year”. Not I, given it is the first year I have participated. For those unfamiliar with this February activity, from the organisers:

InCoWriMo challenges you to hand-write and mail/deliver one letter, card, note or postcard every day during the month of February.

Although my decision to commit to the InCoWriMo (International Correspondence Writing Month) challenge was decidedly last-minute, I’m very pleased I did. There is a lot to be said for the written word, even more so for the hand written word. The extra thought, planning and overall contemplation relating to words committed to the page by hand, seem to make them somehow different than those tapped out in an email, tweet or blog post. There is no select all and delete if the first couple of sentences are wrong (yes, I did restart more than one letter), nor is there backspace for the misspelt or improperly formed letters or words. Having set myself the challenge of no strike-out out corrections, I managed to keep this to only two for the entire month, far better than I expected.

Beyond the enjoyment of writing to those who were on my list, of course the main attraction was putting pen to paper numerous times (well 56 to be precise – see an explanation of this below) over the course of the month. Who knows, perhaps with more notice I may have stocked up on a few new pens, rather than merely new inks.[1]

I can’t help but think in my ideal world, a letter held in the hand of the recipient would somehow mean more than a hastily sent email (likely with typo’s), sitting in a cluttered inbox along with spam, bills and random newsletters, likely to be missed or accidentally deleted. The act of turning the envelope over to check the identity of the sender, tearing it open (perhaps with an exquisite silver letter opener), unfolding the Rhodia[2] paper and smiling at the ink colour and contents on the page. Hopefully an appreciation of the time taken by the sender to think about, and physically craft what is now in the hands of the reader.

The recipients themselves? Hopefully each enjoyed the surprise in their mailbox, and also the words inside those envelopes. Words of thanks, appreciation, love, encouragement, support and idle chatter. Letters went out to friends, family, pen company CEO’s (courtesy of the contact details on the InCoWriMo homepage), a couple of my favourite pen podcasters, fellow bloggers, and Eric Schneider of InCoWriMo, who will receive letter number 28. My initial joke to family members advising they may receive more than one letter because I would run out of friends did indeed eventuate, however lets just say I wanted to write them another one (yes, let’s go with that).

Apart from that spoken of above, by far the most rewarding aspect was my commitment to also write a letter a day to my lovely wife, bringing my tally for the month to 56 letters in all (pleased it wasn’t a leap year). A feat I am very proud to have completed. Obviously I will not go into any details here, though writing to someone you are very close to on a daily basis is quite an enriching experience, and one I highly recommend if you have ever considered anything similar. Daily for a month a little much? My suggestion would be to sit down and write just one letter, and be amazed at what comes to mind – just try it.

So, in summary, the whole InCoWriMo experience was an extremely positive and rewarding experience for me. Will I be doing it again? Absolutely. Will I be embarking on it’s “sister event” NaNoWriMo come November? That, I am not sure of. Do I have a fifty thousand word novel in me? Don’t we all think we do? The question is whether anything worthwhile will come out over the course of the month. Perhaps I should simply put together thirty 1700 word letters with a somewhat cohesive plot!

Contemplating InCoWriMo next year? Do it. You certainly won’t be sorry you did.

  1. For those interested, J. Herbin Indien Orange, Montblanc Irish Green, and Montblanc Burgundy Red.  ↩
  2. Rhodia No 16 Dot Pad  ↩

Update – Nock Co. Kickstarter Project

/ Pete Denison / 1 Comment

This is an update to a post from earlier this month about Nock Co., and their Kickstarter project aimed at raising funding to manufacture high quality, hand made pen cases. At the time of writing, only 58 hours remain, with the project guaranteed to be funded on Wednesday, October 30, with things having gone pretty well to this point – currently at an amazing $70,000+ of the original funding goal of $5000.

As a backer set to receive one of each model manufactured, I will be waiting with much anticipation in January when the shipping date rolls around.

This would be a great time to get in before the initial funding period ends, both to give the boys at Nock Co. a bit of a kick along, and to guarantee yourself some pretty smooth merchandise once the manufacturing is complete.

For a look at what is on the way, head to the Kickstarter page, or to Nock Co. on the Web, Instagram, or Twitter.

Looking beyond the current fund raising, on a recent episode of the Pen Addict podcast, Brad Dowdy, aka The Pen Addict and co founder of Nock Co., remarked how keen he was to get through this initial phase and get the cases manufactured, as there are already a lot more great ideas for future Nock Co. products.

Cannot wait for those!

Nock Co. Kickstarter Project

/ Pete Denison / 1 Comment

Many pen-obsessed folk similar to myself have been waiting for the day to arrive when Nock Co. launch their Kickstarter campaign seeking funding to manufacture a series of high quality nylon pen cases. The project is now live – so get cracking!

Images: Nock Co. Kickstarter page

Images: Nock Co. Kickstarter page

In a post published on this blog back in June about my four favourite podcasts, you may recall The Pen Addict with Brad Dowdy and Myke Hurley was an inclusion in this list. For those who listen to the podcast, read the Pen Addict blog, or follow Brad on Twitter, the launch of this Kickstarter campaign will come as no surprise, however the email advising of the start to the campaign was a most welcome arrival in my inbox.

Brad has teamed up with Jeffrey Bruckwicki of Old Fourth Tailoring to design and manufacture pen cases (all hand-made in the USA), and in a nice touch, we see notebook case integration into some of the designs as well. The two appear to be a great fit (pardon the tailoring pun), and have created some fantastic designs (those pictured above are just two of many available) which you really should check out for yourself, as any attempt at describing the products to you in words will not do the cases justice. Depending on the model, the cases are either lined or unlined, and come in some cool launch colours (including a limited edition colour on a particular model that will only be available through this launch project).

You needn’t take my word for it that many are interested, with the $5000 funding goal being met within the first hour, and (at the time of writing) the project now supported to the tune of over $27,000, the numbers speak for themselves. All bar one ($25) of the 10 funding levels are still open, with 28 days left to run in the campaign. I understand the money raised will be used for additional manufacturing equipment which bodes well for the company in the longer term.

Enough from me – go check out Nock Co. on Kickstarter and be sure to watch the video outlining the project.

What’s that? Oh yes…sorry – my backing? That would be “All the Cases” at $75.00 (which is a steal for what you will receive). Told you I had been waiting for this day.

My Everyday Carry

/ Pete Denison / 5 Comments

Untitled

My initial post on this site introduced a passion for the various tools (both digital and analogue) I enjoy using to either plan, or get the job done. Whatever the particular “job” may be.

I have previously written about some of my “digital tools” in the form of the apps Day One and Byword, however an overview of the devices on which I use them, and some other “analogue” tools is best described in the style of post featured on sites such as the Everyday Carry; who also define this term as:

Everyday Carry, or EDC, generally refers to small items or gadgets worn, carried, or made available in pockets, holsters, or bags on a daily basis to manage common tasks or for use in unexpected situations or emergencies. In a broader sense, it is a lifestyle, discipline, or philosophy of preparedness.

Though the above sentiment is a valid one, you won’t find any knives, multi tools, torches or the like here. Thinking of a killer blog post idea (though you may argue that hasn’t happened yet!) and not having the tools on hand to record it is about as dangerous as my day gets. However, as someone who prefers to travel lightly on my daily commute, this is reflected in the tools I choose to work with. To and from work I use an Oroton black leather messenger bag in a similar style to this one.

Digital Carry

Both the iPhone and iPad undergo reasonably heavy use on a daily basis. The iPad is mainly used for early morning writing of blog posts or drafting reports for work, checking email, catching up on RSS feeds and reading magazines or ebooks. The iPad also fills the hour-long commute home, which is when I watch my favourite TV shows.

The iPhone usage is scattered throughout the day, heaviest on the commute to work, which invariably involves listening to podcasts and/or drafting or outlining posts for this site. Intermittently throughout the day it will also be used for Twitter and App.net, checking email, jotting down quick notes and getting tasks into Omnifocus. A few phone calls and text messages complete the picture.

Though two sets of ear phones may seem unnecessary, I use the TDK noise cancelling version for watching TV shows on the commute home, whereas the ear pods are for listening to podcasts or music in the mornings. The reason being I often continue listening during the 10 minute walk to work once off the bus, and walking around with the noise cancelling ones can be annoying due to the battery unit hanging part way down the audio lead.

Analogue Carry

  1. Oroton slim credit card holder
  2. Kaweco Sport Classic Ballpoint Pen
  3. Retro 51 Stealth Tornado Ballpoint Pen
  4. Montblanc Meisterstuck Fountain Pen
  5. Moleskine Cahier (Navy blue) Extra Large Notebook

The analogue tools – where to begin?

The slim credit card sleeve functions as my wallet and generally contains two credit cards, a couple of notes, my driver’s license and Medicare card. Anything more and it begins to feel not so “slim”. I don’t usually carry any coins if I can help it.

The pens and paper are generally used during my lunch break, to brain storm ideas for work projects or to generate or flesh out ideas for the next post on this site. My choice of the Moleskine cahier extra-large is dictated by needing a lightweight but reasonably sized notebook to carry to and from work (it is not required to fit in my pocket); pages that cope with all my pen types (fountain pen included); has a pocket for storage of note cards and other scraps of paper (a mobile “inbox” of sorts); and fits my iPad (perfectly) inside the back cover, so everything is easily held whilst walking around.

My current everyday pen is the Kaweco, after using the Retro 51 for approximately 12 months (both of which were purchased subsequent to becoming a listener of the Pen Addict podcast, a fact that would not surprise regular listeners of the show). The compact size and light weight of the Kaweco make it an ideal pen to carry. The Mont Blanc fountain pen is now 16 years old, and was a gift from my wife on our wedding day, therefore having value over and above anything else I own. I simply love writing with this pen (and I simply love my wife….even more than the pen).

What Next?

I plan on downsizing to an iPad mini later in the year (after the model upgrade), and am looking forward to the smaller size and weight which will further satisfy my relatively minimalist tendencies. Despite the fairly heavy reliance on the iPad for much of my writing workflow, I don’t believe I will lose any functionality with the smaller screen, given it still contains two-thirds the real estate of the regular iPad. An iPad mini will also fit into the back pocket of the cahier notebook, rather than merely sitting inside the back cover.

No upcoming pen changes on the horizon, though always a substantial number of options are presented via the podcast indicated above (which for that matter also applies to notebooks and other stationery items – Field Notes Night Sky edition currently on its way).

A little research is also planned in relation to altering the nib size on the Mont Blanc (towards a finer nib size), however I am yet to look into cost and how this may be done.

Conclusion

The above set up allows me to achieve everything I set out to on a day-to-day basis, with other physical items such as chargers etc remaining at my office desk for the times I need to top things up. As my iPad is a 16GB WiFi model, I set up the personal hotspot through my phone when out of the office, and email anything back to my desk I may be working on if it is required later in the day. Draft blog posts and updates in Byword sync via Dropbox and can be further edited on my phone whilst commuting home if required. There are a number of iOS apps I use to mesh things with my office work (a soul crushing Windows corporate network), however that is for another post.

I will be sure to provide an update to this post as things change in the future.

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