Originally posted by c.a.m Gee, you have several nice writing instruments! Thanks for the description. I have a Fisher space pen refill as a standby spare for the Jotter, but I prefer the darker Parker gel.
Too bad about the gold White Dot. A year or so after getting my Parker 75 ($17 at the time, I recall, from Consumers Distributing -- big money for a poor student), I lost it while walking from downtown Fredericton back to UNB, in the winter. I retraced my steps and wouldn't you know it -- there it was in a small drift on the sidewalk.
My own career kept me in R&D labs and field trials for many years, so a pencil was my instrument of choice. Even as a manager, I kept a pencil at the ready. Pilot discontinued the Vanishing Point some time ago (at least in the North American market). Now, they regularly fetch over $100 on eBay, go figure; I think I paid maybe $10-12 for mine.
(Please don't get me going on notebooks. My wife snickers at my stash)
Consumers Distributing. Haven't heard that name in awhile and I was disappointed when the company disappeared. A lot of good products for a good price.
Ahh...notebooks.
I share your addiction. In my working years I was mostly in management and I kept things organized, effective and flowing through three different forms of notebooks.
I had my large Quo Vadis appointment books, lots of space for listing appointments and minor notes.
I used a Mead Cambridge Writing Pad...stiff cardboard back, premium paper 8 1/2 X 11 ...as my always there...work 'To Do List'... book. The 'to do tasks' were dated, reviewed regularly and stroked out upon completion.
My final notebook was a Mead three subject book which I used as my meeting note book(s). I would 'shrink' the typed... meeting agenda sheet and minutes.... glue it on the appropriate page...etc...along with monitoring notes next to the minutes list of tasks to be done by those concerned, time frames for those responsible for task completion and a check off when tasks were complete.
It was a simple, effective system that worked for me. I kept the all notebooks during my working life, in case I needed to check the history of a project in the future.
They all fit in my briefcase. I used this system before electronics took over record keeping and actually continued to use this notebook system right up to the time I retired, a bit over a decade ago. By that time I think some regarded my notebook way of doing things positively antediluvian.
Before I started this notebook system I had initially just used a small appointment book and trusted my memory to monitor what needed to be done.
Well that didn't work very well so I quickly analyzed what I needed to do, how best to keep track of responsibilities, requirements, etc...and this notebook system is what I developed. It worked for me and I readily admit, everyone needs to determine a system that works best for them.
I had tried electronic record keeping before I retired, but something crashed and I lost many of my records for a 3 month period and after that decided to return to my archaic notebooks. I still used computers, Palm Pilots, Blackberries etc...but my primary system remained the notebook system.
Now that I'm enmeshed in a retired life of ease, with little responsibility
I just use the smallest of Quo Vadis appointment books to record my very few appointments and I still use a Cambridge Writing Par to list my very few To Do requirements, which are invariably dictated by my wife.