Review: Uni-Ball Signo DX 0.38 Green Black

Ever since I turned the corner on blue black ink, and fell in love with lavender black, I have wanted to try as many ink hybrids as possible.  The Uni-Ball Signo DX green black fit the bill, and since the DX is my current favorite pen, this pen would be a slam dunk, right?  Not so much.

First off, the pen took a while to get warmed up.  If you click on the photo and look closely (sorry for the poor quality), you can see that it took me about half the page to get the ink flowing steadily.  Normally, I would have smacked this pen around a bit right out of the gate to start it up, but I wanted to see how long it would take.  Unfortunately, it took a while.  Maybe that got me started on the wrong foot, but I ended up not loving this color either.  I tend to lean toward the brighter colors - especially with greens - and this one just struck me as something I'm not going to get much use out of.

The lyrics are from the song "Was There Anything I Could Do?" by the Australian band The Go-Betweens.  I missed them in their heyday in the 1980's, but discovered them a decade or so ago and really enjoy their entire catalog.  You can check out their wonderfully cheesy 80's video below:

Review: Pilot Presso Side Knock Mechanical Pencil

Another writing implement I picked up on a whim, the Pilot Presso Side Knock mechanical pencil has a lot of good going for it.  Aside from the lead advancement button placed handily on the pencil barrel, the eraser is what really sold me on this model.  JetPens explains the design better than I can:

The Presso Side Knock Mechanical is uniquely designed to optimize the amount of pencil lead and eraser that can be fit in one mechanical pencil body. The pencil was designed so that the lower half is just the right length to fit pencil leads, while the top half is entirely filled with an extendable eraser. It makes so much sense when you think about it, because in normal pencils the top half of the pencil body is wasted empty space.

The side button is located higher up on the pencil body so it doesn't interfere with your grip of the pencil. Presto! You can extend lead with a convenient click of a side button. Plus, the pencil comes in six beautiful see-through colors including green, blue, orange, pink, soft blue and yellow.

The sizable eraser really comes in handy.  At just $3.00, you are getting your money's worth just from the non-business end of the pencil.

Incoming: Rhodia Weekly Notebook

This is drool-worthy, at least for me anyway:

Rhodia customers have asked for several years for a weekly planner. In response, Quo Vadis has manufactured a Rhodia Weekly Notebook that will be introduced this year in two sizes, and two colors-black and orange. In keeping with Rhodia’s famous notepads, the notes pages will be done in grids.  In honor of our fountain pen users, the large edition (6 x 9?) is fountain pen friendly at 90 gr.

Grid + Planner = Win!

Quo Vadis Blog: When Customer Comments Make A Difference