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Here is a Pen Addict review of a Sharpie pen, not the exact one I have, but one of the Sharpie 2.0 designs.
UPDATE: Pen Addict addresses actual Sharpie retractable
I Don’t Understand People: Exercise Edition
24 minutes ago
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21 comments:
I'm a freelance scribbler, so my income continues to directly relate to my ability to put ass to chair. On the plus side, I can't get laid off, and the wife is in a reasonably recession-proof profession (speech pathology). All in all, we're probably going to weather the current malaise, but we've cut down expenditures just like everyone else.
I finally got the half dozen Rhodia #16 pads I ordered. They're nice, and the Waterman nib sure likes them. I don't like the generous margin, and in retrospect, I wish I had ordered the 5x5 variant, but such is life. (Of course, just after I placed the order, I found out that my local Borders carries Rhodia pads in just that size, and in lined and 5x5 variants.)
Thank LBJ the gubmint is doing a record amount of business. If it weren't for the money, I'd be upset about this state of affairs. I already feel dirty enough, a small-gubmint libertarian-leaning pubbie like myself.
I work for a small Civil Engineering/Land Surveying firm (between 40 and 50 people) and they've let 8 people go in the last month and a half. We all just heard last Friday that everyone else is getting a 15% salary cut starting in February. As crappy as that is, I still have a job and health insurance for my family. For now. As far as selling my typer, no way. I paid next to nothing for it, and I can't imagine getting much more in return. I have a few guitars I'd sell first, anyway. Time to hunker down and hope the storm passes sooner rather than later.
The large healthcare organization I work for has always been one of those old-school institutions where once you're in, barring any major screw-ups, you can virtually rely on having a career for life.
Heck, they even went ahead and gave us our annual 3% raise this year. And the next day announced 5-10% pay cuts for all the contractors. Which make up almost 25% of our workforce. And then last week, literally 5 minutes before end of shift, they told 15 helpdesk contractors that they were out of a job. Our department is so far unaffected, but needless to say, in those five minute we went from pretty secure in our jobs to scared [bleep]less. Thankfully, I'm not a contractor, but that thought only mildly mitigates the unease.
In five minutes, we went from notions of a gold watch to frantically reviewing our resumes for relevant skills.
I worked at a "large software corporation" until last Thursday. A Manager 3 levels up called me into a meeting and told me I was "redundant". 19 years of great reviews and solid work came to a screeching halt in an instant.
I was lucky enough to get 60 days to search for another position inside the company, but with 5,000 people also looking, it's going to be slim pickings.
I...don't have a job.
I'm very sad for the economy. Yet somehow, my dad's so important that he won't be laid off soon. So important actually, that I'm not allowed to talk about it.
BTW, your handwriting is super cool. I need to do a quick writing post, sheesh.
Nooo - not the writing gadget budget! ;)
This mess we are in is affecting everybody. I work in IT for a big company, and we just laid off several hundred people last week. My group has been told we are safe, but you never know walking in the door these days.
I'm at an entertainment related labour union and there's belt tightening going on. I run a department that's not likely to be eliminated but it's not impossible that I might be the grinch ordered to cut one of my folks loose - I guess that's one of the pitfalls of being middle management... Hopefully, unless the union goes belly up, I'll be safe. The entertainment conglomerates in Los Angeles are swinging the hatchet like starving blind people in a chicken coop... There's rumours that Warner Bros. is even selling off furniture from their archival set warehouses. I don't think there's an easy recovery from this as there's twenty or so years of spending spree the country's been on and the books need to be balanced for a sane economy to ensue.
BTW - I thought by "handwriting" day they meant cursive... as in squiggly and such.
Luckily I work in the public utilities division. There might be lay-offs, but I'll I ways find work. As for selling any typewriters? I don't think I could do it. Even my SM-7 which sits lonely in its case under the computer desk, longing to be touched remains an integral part of my collection.
The fortunate thing about pencils, pens (not the gold or teak kind), notebooks, and typewriter ribbons is that these are affordable commodities. Like a basic cup of coffee, which costs as much as a Bic pen.
I work in public sector, and have both bounced back from a layoff a few years back, and have been watching layoffs of others. If it means picking up more 2nd-jobs, then I'll do it.
But the writing must never cease. Writing's not about the tools, which are means to an end; it's what we do with the materials.
I work at a payroll company where five of us do the work of twenty, so I am not that worried about layoffs. On the other hand, we did just get a letter from our CEO saying that there would be no salary increases this year (other than the 25% increase that he just gave himself).
I'm at a state university, so as long as the Total Collapse doesn't happen I should at least be employed, if not as lucratively as I could wish.
I've got friends working for the (likely) [large software company] and am still holding my breath for them. Should be pretty stable here (knock wood) as long as the population keeps aging and hospitals are standing. We're not subsiding on beans and cat food or anything like that.
This is still the year of home-made or thrifted gifts, and swapping kids' birthday parties for a lunch out with a friend and a DVD at home with popcorn afterwards.
The writing-instrument budget is purely under-the-table and built on spare change found between sofa cushions.
That's the nice thing about the writing habit...the tools are usually affordable. There's always enough change in the sofa cushion or the van's ashtray to buy a bottle of Quink or a few composition books.
Which Rhodia notebook did you acquire? The so-alled "webnotebook" or the stapled softcover? Or is it the thick "epure" notebook? I've heard that the paper in some of the notebooks isn't of as good a quality as the paper found in Rhodia pads. Most Rhodia products that I have tried, though, are excellent. The graph-paper pads in large and small sizes are my favorites.
I'm a self employeed contractor who is always on the verge of going out of business, that is just the nature of being self employeed. If the phone doesn't ring, no worky.
Thankfully the bills are all paid and I have work lined up for the next couple of weeks. I did find out just today that a friend of mine was laid off last thursday.
Thankfully I cut back on my overhead a few years ago, so typewriter budget is good. I just bought a couple of new ones, and am bidding on another that I hope I get. If I sell any it will be just to make room for others.
Wow, really interesting to hear that the recession (or whatever they are calling it now) is affecting so many people. I guess if it can hit [large software corporation], all bets are off. I am pretty spooked about the prospects in general of my own profession (technical writing).
Is handwriting day just cursive? Time to hit the wikipedia I guess. I can't write in cursive. Or, I can, but it looks like a 9 year old's handwriting, because my cursive abilities are arrested at the exact time I adopted and abandoned this arcane practice.
I got one of those stapled notebook thingies. I am not sure I grok the web notebook thing. So far, I haven't encountered any bum paper in Rhodia pads...
Stay employed, people!
Greetings from another (still employed) technical writer. Though my little software company just laid off two of its five tech writers. Same amount of work to get done, fewer people to do it!
Also at a state university here. No pay raises in the last two years and no new hiring for just as long. I'm lucky I teach writing, because other departments have thinned themselves to empty shells.
If the gauntlet falls, it will be this summer. Will students be able to get loans? If not, things could get mighty ugly in the ivory towers. Fingers crossed.
I work doing software support in a medical related field, so I'll probably be OK. There's a little bit of a slump, particularly since people out of work and without insurance are likely to delay non-urgent care, but mostly I'm not too worried about me. We're not spending extra or hiring, but we'll hopefully continue on through.
I just saw the notebook format Rhodias at Borders today and was very sorely tempted...but I really prefer the composition book size, and the Brazilian ones are highly decent paper. I still have some of the mini size Rhodia graph pads that are my pocket notebook of choice.
I do tech support for a small ISP. As long as folks continue to surf the web, I may be okay. I'm moving towards the big city, but will stick it out here for awhile longer. I was out of work 13 months during the tech bust, so am not looking forward to something like that at all.
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