Dear Diary: Gotcha!

Well, I think at last I've found it.  After weeks (many, many weeks) of searching online and in the local shops, I've finally found what I believe is going to be my daily diary for 2013.  Here's a photo:

It's an "It's about time" page-per-day diary from Brownline.  Haven't used this particular product before, but when I was still working we used a lot of Brownline office supplies, and I was always pretty satisfied with their quality. It's approximately the same size as the At-a-Glance Standard Diary, which is what I figured I'd go with -- until I found the Brownline.  For some reason, I find this one a little more esthetically pleasing than the Standard Diary -- might just be that slightly Deco-looking logo on the front.

Also, the Brownline was a little less expensive (I ordered mine from Amazon), making it even more attractive!  Here's a shot comparing it to what I've been using for the last couple of years, an undated Exacompta Forum Journal in the 5"x7" size. 

I absolutely love the cover shade of the Exacompta (it's a Quo Vadis Club Cover), the size of the journal, and the paper quality (yummy!).  But I found that I was frequently using more than one page per day, so I really wanted something just a tad larger.  And, at 8-and-a-half-inches by almost 6-inches, the Brownline fills that requirement perfectly. 

It also has a lot of other features I really like.  For instance, each month's section begins with a two-page monthly calendar spread, with nice big squares (over an inch tall) to write in. 

Each two-day spread includes mini calendars (for last month, current month, and coming months).  And major holidays are printed at the top of the pages, small and out of the way.

I didn't take a photo of this, but most months have a "memorandum" page following the last day's page, for notes or to-do lists.  There's a four-page planner for 2014 at the back of the diary (again, no photo -- sorry).  And the inside back cover includes calendars for 1800 to 2050!

So, with all that going for it, I'm hoping this is going to be fun and efficient to use.  The only possibly negative feature I've found is that the paper is a little thin.  But it seems to take a variety of ink very well, without a lot of show-through.  And since I generally use gel ink or ballpoint, I don't think that's going to be a problem.  And face it, after the Exacompta, any other paper is going to feel like a falling-off.

Well, I think that's it for now.  I keep saying this (and I keep meaning it, but don't seem to be able to follow through), but I really do want to get this blog going.  Which means I really need to try to post a little more frequently than twice a year!

Oh, and before I sign off, I want to say something about my search.  As I said, it's taken me a long, long time to find the (fingers crossed) perfect diary.  I'm not sure why it should be so difficult to find a simple one-page-per-day diary in the US.  I found plenty online, for sale in Europe and the UK.  I guess Americans just don't buy diaries anymore.  And here I'm not talking about planners or organizers or agendas or appointment books or journals (although I use those, too!).  What I wanted was just a simple daily diary with one page for each day of the year. With the dates pre-printed, but without hours and minutes pre-printed (I'm not going to use it to keep track of appointments).  And at a reasonable price -- say, less than a hundred bucks.  Make that much less than a hundred bucks!

I did find tons of gorgeous journals available at our local Barnes & Noble. But none of them had the requisite 365-page format, so I would have ended up using two (or more likely, one and a half) for the year.  Not optimal.  

Now I just need to figure out what I'm going to do about November and December.  The Exacompta will get me through October, but I'll need something to use for those last two months of 2012 until I can start using the new diary on January 1st.  So I guess I'm heading out on yet another search!

Dear Diary: Where Are You?

This is something I'd like to expand on later. But for now, I just have to ask: Why is it so *&^%-ing hard to find a reasonably-priced, one-page-per-day diary?

Not a planner. Not a calendar. Not an appointment book or engagement book or agenda or organizer. Just a simple journal or notebook with good paper, and at least 365 empty pages, for under a hundred bucks?

Is that really too much to wish for?

Blog Fail?

Can't believe how I've neglected this blog. Haven't posted anything for six months! Just got it started and then abandoned the poor thing. And it's not that I've conquered my addiction to office supplies, diaries, planners, etc. -- far from it. No, it's just that the last few months have been really hectic around here, and I've had all I can handle just keeping up with my book blog.

But I didn't want the new year to get too far along without posting something here -- nothing earth-shaking, just a post to get me re-started. Maybe that will be the nudge I need.

So here's my latest haul from JetPens (it's becoming my favorite place to hang out):


Starting over on the far right, we have:

• 1 Uni-ball Jetstream Color Ink Series Ballpoint, 0.5mm, Blue Black Ink
• 1 Uni-ball Jetstream Ballpoint--Basic Series, 0.5mm, Blue Ink
• 1 Zebra Techno Line Limited Edition Ballpoint, Light Green Body, 0.4mm, Black Ink
  and:
  
• 3 Zebra Sarasa Push Clip Gel Ink Pens, all 0.4mm: Viridian Green; Cobalt Blue; and Blue Black
• 3 Uni Signo 207 Retractable Gel Ink Pens, all 0.38mm: Blue Body/Blue Ink; Light Blue Body/Light Blue Ink; and Black Body/Black Ink
  and finally:
  
• 1 Rotring Tikky Graphic Drawing Pen, 0.3mm, Black Pigment Ink

And here's a little writing sample/test (click on photo to get a little better view). Sorry the photo isn't as clear as it might be -- it was hard to get a good shot today because of the weather. Also sorry about that dotted "e" in Jetstream!


I went a little overboard on the ballpoints, I'm afraid. I don't really use ballpoints that much, but once in a while they do come in handy; and these looked so tempting. I ordered the Limited Edition Zebra Techno pen because it's tiny and I was looking for something small to carry in my handbag. It's not terribly easy to handle, but it writes an extra-fine line that I like a lot; and since I won't be doing a great deal of writing with it, I think it'll work. Of the three, I believe the Basic Series Jetstream is my favorite -- writes really smoothly, even on cheap paper, and seems not to blot or smear as much as the other two.

I've only recently discovered the Zebra Sarasa Push Clips. So far, I do like the feel of the pens and the variety of colors. Not sure they're going to replace my favorite Signo RT's, though. Lately, I've been using one of the 207s with light blue ink for just about all my everyday writing. I love that the pen is slightly chunky (good for arthritic fingers) and yet very lightweight (ditto), and the ink color is almost a turquoise (which is, of course, the loveliest shade of ink).

Not sure exactly why I thought I had to have the Tikky Graphic Drawing Pen. I'm not an artist and don't do a lot of drawing, so I'll probably end up using it as a marker pen more than an artist's tool. But it's definitely a great little drawing pen -- feels very solid and lays down a nice smooth, even, very black line. Doesn't seem to have that "sticky" feeling on the page that a lot of drawing pens have. Not much feathering that I can see, and only a slight amount of bleed-through on the back of the page; but I used a Levenger's Circa notebook for the test, and the paper is pretty thick. I was expecting the 0.3mm pen to provide a slightly finer line, but that's the only quibble I have with it. Maybe I need to order another one in a different size, hmmmm?

New Stuff: My First Lamy

Looks like I haven't been doing a very good job of keeping this blog up to date, doesn't it? But you know how it is -- life just keeps getting in the way of the things I really want to do. Like blogging. And trying out new supply cabinet STUFF.

But I'm so excited about my newest acquisition, I just had to say a little something. It's a Lamy Safari fountain pen in "Aquamarine." Well, it's not exactly an acquisition yet -- I haven't actually got my hands on it. Just ordered it yesterday, from JetPens; so it'll be a few days before I get to handle it. Until then, I'll just have to be content with gazing at the photo from the JetPens website:


I've never been a really committed fountain pen person -- I like to write with a very fine nib or point, and I usually find that fountain pens with fine nibs are likely to be scratchy on most paper. But I do like the idea of writing with an ink pen (I've got a small collection of fountain pens), and I've been coveting a Lamy for quite a while now. And when I saw that gorgeous color, I just couldn't resist. They call it aqua, but to me it looks more like turquoise (not that there's anything wrong with that!) -- so I'm anxious to see just what it looks like in the real world.

Also ordered some ink cartridges for it -- in turquoise, of course. And a converter, just in case I want to try it with bottled ink.

Who knows? This might be the beginning of a beautiful friendship (fingers crossed).

Feeding the Addiction: Recent Sightings

Well, it's been a little over a month since I started this blog, and I'm still under construction here. I really need to get myself in gear.

And speaking of gear....

I'm always on the look-out for interesting examples of notebooks, fountain pens, organizers, etc - especially in movies and TV shows. And lately, I've had a lot of sightings. Probably helps that I watch a lot of older movies and "classic" TV shows - those made back before Blackberries and other electronic gadgets became so popular. Last night the hubby and I watched one of the Inspector Alleyn mysteries on DVD - A Man Lay Dead from 1993 - and there were several very enjoyable (dare I say exciting?) "supply cabinet" moments:

• Inspector Alleyn's fountain pen. He's signing off on police files with it, in his first scene. Couldn't tell exactly what model or make it was, but it was hefty and black. Most likely a Parker pen. The series is set just after World War Two, so it would have been pre-1950s vintage. The Brits are, after all, pretty fastidious about prop details in their shows.
  
  
• Troy's sketchbook. A gift from Alleyn to his lady friend, the artist Agatha Troy. It's a lovely one, with a marbleized cover in pink and gold tones, with what appeared to be a leather-wrapped spine and corners. And, of course, her sketches in said book helped solve the case.
  
  
• The two mysterious Germans and their notebooks. They're observed comparing notes while sitting at an outdoor cafe (or pub, I suppose). One had a small soft-covered book that was almost certainly a pocket-size Alwych notebook. The other had a larger, thinner black-covered book, approximately A5 size. Looked a little like a Moleskine, but without the rounded corners. Have there been Moleskines with square edges? And were Moleskines the notebook of choice for the Cold War era espionage community, too?
  
  
• Inspector Alleyn's leather notebook. Most noticeable during the questioning of the guests at the country house where the murders were taking place. Tan leather, again looked to be approximately A5 size. No clasp. Couldn't tell about ring size or placement. Possibly an early Filofax?
  
  
• Leather address book. Sighted briefly in a couple of scenes when Troy was searching the apartment of one of the suspects. Flat, square or rectangular, black covered, white interior pages. Couldn't tell much more about it, but I like to think it was a Letts.

Other recent sightings:

The Vicar of Dibley. Not sure which episode this was. At a meeting of the Parish Council, Geraldine has to consult her Filofax at length. Looks to be a personal size Filo, black, mid-1990s vintage.

Seinfeld. "The Pilot" (2), Season 4, Episode 24. Studio exec Russell Dalrymple (played by Bob Balaban), at the taping of Jerry's TV show, is seen toting what appears to be an A5-size Filofax. Beautifully overstuffed.

The Ninth Gate. In his attractively weather-beaten book bag (which I'm told is a reproduction of a 1930s-vintage French ammo bag), Johnny Depp carries around a very nice leather organizer (below). This one also looks to be approximately A5 size. Tan or brown leather, and no clasp that I could see. Wonderful movie, and not just because of the book bag and the notebook.

So What's This All About?

Ever since I can remember, I've been fascinated with office supplies. Not just pens and pencils and paperclips. I love paper and notebooks of all kinds. Diaries, journals, and calendars. Account books and ledgers. Rulers, erasers, staplers. Notepads, sketchpads, scrapbooks, file folders, scissors, letter openers, pencil sharpeners and glue. If it can be written on, written with, or used to produce, enhance, or store writing, I'm a fan. I surf Flickr, looking for photos of Filofaxes, well-appointed desks, and eye-catching stationery. I peruse the Levenger's catalog like some gardeners study Burpee's annual. I can very happily spend the afternoon just wandering the aisles of our local Staples store, or lose track of time in the office supply section of Wal-Mart or Target.

Fortunately, I'm married to a man who shares my fetish to some extent. Years ago, during a move from Austin TX to Baltimore MD, the moving company managed to lose several of our large packing crates. Very sad - gone were some of our favorite clothing, my collection of 45 rpm records (including much original Elvis and Jerry Lee), and most of my jewelry. But the thing we mourned the most was that box of cherished office supplies that never made it to its new destination! All our writing equipment, Scotch tape, and Liquid Paper - LOST. Probably delivered to someone who wouldn't appreciate it nearly as much as we had. Or worse - piled in a storehouse somewhere along the way, never to be unwrapped again. Sad, scary thought.

OK, you can see I'm obsessed with "supplies." I guess it all started with that first list of school supplies back in the First Grade, and just grew from there. I remember being so excited at the end of every summer vacation when my mother would take The List (and me) out shopping for a new stash of pencils, tablets or notebooks, construction paper and crayons. I was thrilled and just couldn't wait to use the new STUFF. Now that I think about it, that may have been one of the reasons I always loved going to school! School supplies made me literate!

So I've decided to start a blog devoted to my obsession (I already have a book blog, devoted to my other obsession). I haven't quite figured out exactly what shape it's going to take, or what sort of posts I'll come up with. That will all emerge over time. So stay tuned - more to come.

Hello, World!

This blog is under construction.