Category: Uncategorized

  • Modern Man’s Pen

    Modern Man’s Pen

    Let me start by saying that having a great pen neither makes the writing great nor legible. That said, that wonderful writing instruments seem to be more of a collectible item than essential seems a shame.

    The great pen has unfortunately taken a beating over time, both on the technology front as well as the fashion front. Granted, with computers, smartphones, and tablets to capture whatever it is we need to note, it would seem that the necessity for pens has certainly diminished. Today, we are just as likely to sign for a purchase with our finger than an actual ink-carrying instrument.

    Men’s fashion has not exactly been any kinder. With most work environments going even more casual, even on their non-casual Monday through Thursday, work-at-home/remotely, and just the general decline of men wearing jackets—a moment of silence for yet another sad tragedy—in general, men are simply less inclined to even think to carry a pen.

    Admittedly, carrying a pen in a shirt pocket, assuming the shirt has one, tends to tread on the less-cool side of geekery, and I’ll confess it has always felt a bit odd to carry one in a trouser pocket. I can only assume (humor me here) that other men have felt this same way and so abandoned carrying one entirely.

    But that needn’t be the case.

    Zebra Pen, collapsed
    Zebra Pen, collapsed

    Prior to a trip several years ago to Italy, I picked up a 2-pack of telescopic, or collapsible if you prefer, pens and a small, pocket-sized spiral-bound notebook. My requirements at that time were minimal…it needed to function and it needed to be compact. Ironically, I actually wore a jacket most of the time on that trip anyway, but I did want the ability to shove said notebook and pen into a jeans pocket.

    The pens, made by Zebra Pen, turned into a wonderful find that has been with me ever since. In fact, one is still clipped to an equally small but nicer notebook that I carry in the door compartment of my car, and the other lives in, of all places, my wallet.

    The pen I carry in my wallet has been especially useful over the years. In fact, I probably pull it out at least once a month on some random occasion when it once again proves its weight in gold. I may have replaced the ink refill once on one of the two pens, though I don’t recall for sure.

    Zebra Pen at home, snuggly in wallet
    Zebra Pen at home, snuggly in wallet

    What I truly began to appreciate in this pen was that it served the purely functional requirements that I had, especially the compactness part, which was certainly not typical of most pens, but that it also had the makings of a great pen…weight. When it comes to finding a great pen, it is all about the hand or feel of the pen as much as its functioning.

    This pen, while compact, did not succumb to being a mere image of a pen, some micro toothpick that may just as well come out of some child’s playset. Even more importantly, it has some weight to it that makes it respectable, as if you are wielding a substantial writing instrument rather than a light-as-air plastic stick of ink that needs to be chained down less it blows away with the slightest breeze. They truly struck a nice balance between light and portable and the heftier weight of a fine, brass-weighted pen.

    Current Telescopic pen from  Zebra Pen
    Current Telescopic pen from Zebra Pen

    I don’t know if they existed at the time when I purchased these pens, but at least now there does appear to be a category of “micro” and “wallet pens.” Apparently, Zebra Pen still sells these today as “Telescopic pens,” and it appears little has changed. Amazingly, you can still pick these up for under $10 a pen.

    Perhaps there is still hope. The fact that these pens are still being produced and are available, years after I purchased mine, and there appears to be an entire category of pens designed for being carried in a wallet is reassuring.

    Men especially should take note. There aren’t a lot of things in the way of accessories that we can appreciate and set ourselves apart from one another. A man’s pen has long been one of those accessories and hopefully will continue to be so, even if only for dramatic gesturing in this digital world. The fact that it can expand and contract at a moment’s notice, well…

  • Nice M-Surprise in the Mail

    Nice M-Surprise in the Mail

    So the other day an unexpected package showed up in the mail. Actually, my lovely wife Jill is a strong financial supporter of Amazon…so unexpected packages are arriving all the time. Let me rephrase…an unexpected package with my name on it showed up in the mail.

    Lo and behold, the package contained the letter below from BMW and a black, all-cotton, XL t-shirt. The letter, fortunately to my surprise, was just that and not an invoice in disguise. I for one am all for receiving gifts in the mail…it’s far less awkward than receiving gifts in person that you really don’t know what to do with.

    The letter states:

    On behalf of BMW of North America, we would like to thank you for your participation in the BMW Happier New Year Sweepstakes. As a token of our appreciation, we’ve enclosed an exclusive M t-shirt.

    Thank you again for being a BMW fan!

    I don’t actually remember entering any sweepstakes, though I probably did, and so obviously did not expect much to come out of it. I have no idea whether this was some tertiary prize, or as implied, truly a token perhaps sent out to all entrants.

    I like to think it was the latter, especially after doing some searching and coming up with some mentions about the sweepstakes and prizes that included things like backpacks, bags and suitcases, wallets, and watches (admittedly I much would have preferred one of the $259 watches) but no mention of any T-shirts.

    From a business point of view, this is actually brilliant and I commend BMW. While contests and sweepstakes these days are so often about gaining Likes or Tweets—and they may have gotten those too—this further promotes their brand in the offline world at minimal expense to them and in some way I think, creates a more personal connection with their fan base.

    In a way, this T-shirt is even more special than one of the official prizes.

    Just think about it…as part of a sweepstakes, the official prizes are given away out of obligation, but this, marvelous token of appreciation, is given out of love.

    BMW, I love you too and I do love the shirt, but I’d really have loved one of the watches. I’m only human.

  • Obligatory Welcome–Hello World

    Obligatory Welcome–Hello World

    While, mostly in the “olden days” on websites, and perhaps more recently on blogs, the visitor was greeted with a “Welcome” message or initial post, I rather prefer to take a cue from the programming world and begin with a “Hello world” post.

    For those unfamiliar with the “hello world” reference, essentially it represents a number of things in the computer programming world—a world I was going to enter, but diverted from…guess you could say my programming encountered a GOSUB without a corresponding RETURN.

    On one hand, the “hello word” is one of the very first lines of code, regardless of programming language, that a beginner learns. I imagine it was one part “See how easy this is” mixed with one part “Ohh, ahh.”

    On the other hand, perhaps a bittersweet homage from programmers, it also may serve as a simple “proof test” of a particular bit of code being worked on before investing hours into further code only to find out it was built on bad code to begin with.

    Perhaps for me then and why I turn to that intro here now, rather than the obligatory “welcome,” is that it represents something more exciting; something that may not entirely been figured out yet, but is developing; something that offers a proverbial virtual hat tip to the past. Of course, this may also be a purely romantic notion on the part of yours truly and what follows from here on may not be all that exciting.

    Fortunately, I’m okay with that. Hopefully, some of you will stick around and we can see what develops, and until then…

    Cheers