My Home Office and Getting Things Done

Prior to starting with JetPens, I only worked from home one day a week (if that), and I never really took the time to set up a dedicated workspace. Now that I will be working from home full time, I needed that dedicated space for me to get my work done in the most comfortable and efficient manner possible.

My wife has the real design eye in the family, so she picked out the desk, and moved the lamp from another part of the house to fancy it up a bit. I then went to work junking it up with my laptop, monitor, pens, and all of the other gadgets and gear that make me feel right at home while working away.

From a pen and paper perspective, my two main tools are the Maruman Mnemosyne Imagination A4 graph notebook, and the Pilot Hi-Tec-C Grip 0.3mm black gel ink pen. Two things I like the most about the Maruman are the ability to use it equally as well in portrait or landscape mode (I use landscape), and the silky smooth paper. When the normally slow starting Hi-Tec-C imediately glides across the page as soon as I start writing, I know the paper is good.

I keep a handful of other pens at the ready in my pen cup, such as the Uni-Ball Signo DX 0.38, Pentel Energel Euro Needle 0.35, and a few original Sharpie Pens. I have also cleaned out and added a fresh cartridge to my Charcoal Lamy Safari EF in a threat to use it more, but I haven't gone there yet. Tucked away in my desk drawer are a few (ok four) other pen cases just in case I am feeling frisky about needing something else.

I also use a few new apps on my laptop to help me manage my day, including a free account on Highrise (I am a big Rework fan), and a RespohNote --> Simplenote --> Dropbox setup to help keep all of my notes synced with all of my devices.

Right now, this is a good combination of both analog and digital tools to help me get things done during my workday. Are there any tools - either analog or digital - that help you manage your tasks on a daily basis that I should try out? If so, drop me a note in the comments.

(Hit the Flickr page the see notes on the photo)

JetPens, The Pen Addict, and You

Day one at my new job was great - I am going to be a busy boy! One of the items we discussed at some length is the integration of a new blogging platform into the JetPens site. It is going to take some time to get it fully fleshed out, so I will be posting here frequently until it goes live. I will be sure to let everyone know when that time is as soon as I know.

In the meantime, I am going to try to keep things active here with some giveaways, the regular Saturday Ink Links, and more. Thanks to everyone for all of your kind comments, tweets, and email about the change. I am very excited!

It's The End Of The Blog As You Know It...And I Feel Fine

When I started The Pen Addict three and a half years ago, I never imagined it would be going as strong as ever after all this time. I have had a ton of fun reviewing as many pens and related products I could get my hands on. On top of that, the relationships I have made with so many readers, retailers, and vendors has been priceless. It is because of one of those relationships that I am able to write this post in the most positive manner possible.

As of Monday, May 2nd, I will be a full time employee of JetPens.com as a Marketing Associate, and I couldn't possibly be more excited. It is a rare occurance when you get to work for a company and with a product that you have a real passion for. I am certainly going to relish this opportunity.

There are so many people I want to thank for helping The Pen Addict become such a great resource for pen and paper fans all over the world, but I know once I start naming names I am sure to leave someone out. So, I just want to say thank you to all of the readers, commenters, bloggers, and anyone who ever visted the site even just once. I was blown away by your continued support, and I am eternally grateful.

So, what's next, and where does that leave The Pen Addict? There are a lot of details to hash out, but for right now, I am going to take a few days off from blogging here, and once I officially start with JetPens on Monday I hope to have more details. The Pen Addict will continue to be updated with news, happeings, and possibly some giveaways, at least until we get the in-house blogging solution fully set up at JetPens. After that, I will keep the blog and the domain up and running for the forseeable future.

Again, thank you so much for your support over the past three and a half years. I think the best is yet to come, so be sure to stay tuned!