The Pen Addict Podcast: Episode 435 - Fine Fine Medium Line

Happy Fountain Pen Day! Myke and I talk about the best holiday for pen people, and how I did my part with a little retail therapy. We also discuss the “Bestseller,” interesting Kaweco designs, and answer your #ASKTPA questions.

Show Notes & Download Links

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Posted on November 5, 2020 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Podcast.

What My 2020 Planner Has Been Through

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)

It's been a rough year for us all. No one's come through unscathed. My planner is no exception. Sometimes I go back and look through my old planners, and I couldn't help but wonder what it might be like, years from now, looking back at this book of my 2020 life.

It started off normal. I had a planner party in November last year, where a handful of friends brought their stationery over and we all decorated and prepped our planners for a productive year. Welp. That was the last time I had a gathering of friends, and all the plans we planned went awry.

I have lost count of how many times I had to plan my plans, change my plans, reroute everything and turn it all upside down. When things got scary in March, My work closed, the schools closed--I had to figure out how to watch my kids and supervise their learning while working from home. We thought it would be a rough few weeks, and then we'd get back to normal. I had a few trips rescheduled. I had to cancel hotels and flights. They were moved to later dates, so I rebooked it all. Then my work opened back up, and I had to change all my shifts so someone was always home with my kids, who were still doing school from home. And then all the rescheduled events started toppling like dominoes.

This pattern repeated several times. Everything I wrote was crossed out at least twice. Somewhere in the summer, I gave up. There are about seven weeks where I just stopped writing anything down.

Then my own school started! And I had to live by the planner. There was too much to organize, and too much to remember, and it all needed to be written down, or it would be forgotten--except things were still shifting and changing. Quarantines crept in and shook the schedule again. And on every page are my attempts to stay on track, to keep control. Mostly those didn't work out.

I'm running out of pages in the planner, now. My ribbon bookmark is shredded and it's a whole mood. A new planner sits on my desk with no idea what's coming for it. Do I really think 2021 is going to be any less chaotic? I don't know.

I thought, at first, that maybe I should do my planning in pencil this year. But I like my crossed-out plans, my scribbled-out appointments, my arrows that lead to nowhere, and even the pages where I stopped trying to control the situation. It's all the documentation of resilience and flexibility--the things we all needed just to make it this far in 2020. One thing I will change in my 2021 planner is that I'll leave more open space--room for change to happen.

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Posted on November 5, 2020 by Sarah Read and filed under Planner Reviews.

Pokka Jakket and Dokk Accessories Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

As 2020 is nearing the end, many of us are still spending most of our time in our homes instead of out and about. But just because you're staying home doesn't mean you can't carry a pen around at all times. There are so many great pocket pens to choose from, but today we'll focus on the Pokka Pen — an affordable and "disposable" pocket pen that's only 3.25 inches long when closed. When open and posted, the pen is 5.5 inches long, making it very comfortable to use. And, while it's advertised as a disposable pen, you can actually purchase additional refills (and multiple colors) for when it's time to replace the ink refill.

Pokka Pens have been around for a few years now, and I've enjoyed using them myself and giving them as gifts. They're so small and easy to throw in places where you might need a pen at some point (like a glove box in a car or a bag or purse), but also affordable enough that you can purchase a few without breaking the bank. While I prefer the Fisher Bullet, it doesn't make much sense to purchase multiples at a time. And this is exactly the problem that Terry O'Connor was trying to solve. He was tired of buying and losing his Fisher pens!

Pokka Pens are affordable because they're made using injection molded plastic materials and standard ballpoint refills. The refills are very similar to what you'll find in any Bic ballpoint pen, which isn't fantastic but is at least very dependable and long-lasting.

Lately, Pokka Pens have released some more durable caps and accessories for their mini ballpoint pens: the Jakket and Dokk.

The Jakket is an all-aluminum replacement cap that fits any Pokka Pen. The aluminum is machined and fairly robust without adding any weight. There are some machines grooves that run along the length of the cap to provide some visual interest and extra grip, but I notice every time I use it just how sharp the edges of the grooves are. I could probably fix this with some fine grain sandpaper to knock down the microscopic sharp edges, but it's not annoying enough to merit the tedious chore of sanding something so small. Maybe a future revision would include some kind of smoothing down of the edges of the grooves to make them more pleasant to hold and handle.

Outside of the material and shape differences, the Jakket operates exactly like any regular Pokka Pen cap. It fits the pen body and post mechanism perfectly thanks to the snap and o-ring system (dubbed Double Dokk). The Jakket is just a few millimeters longer than the normal cap, but it's not enough to make much of a difference when storing or using.

The Dokk is a small bit of aluminum that snaps onto the back of the Pokka Pen and adds a convenient lanyard point to any Pokka Pen. The Dokk shares the same machined look as the Jakket and looks right at home when combined. When using both the Jakket and Dokk together, the overall length of the closed pen is about half an inch longer than the standard plastic Pokka Pen. Again, not a substantial size difference.

The convenience of being able to attach the Pokka Pen to other things is fantastic. The Dokk includes a small split ring, but I've just been using a small carabiner that was laying around. The carabiner is much easier to use than a split ring, and adds a bit more versatility. If you want to attach it to a lanyard, the split ring is perfect.

When you're using both the Dokk and Jakket, it actually works best if the Dokk is attached to something else, like a lanyard, keyring, bag, or something else. That way, you can just pull the larger Jakket to remove the pen from whatever you've attached the Dokk to. In most cases, only the Jakket comes off the pen, and then you have to pull the plastic Pokka Pen out of the Dokk, post the cap, and then start writing. Some times, the pen comes out with the Jakket. I wish it always did this, but either way you need to post the Jakket to the back of the pen before using it. Given the design, I don't see an easy way to ensure that the pen always stays attached to the Jakket when removing it from the Dokk. Not a big deal, big something to consider if the big use case you have in mind doesn't line up with this behavior.

Overall, the Jakket and Dokk are a great addition to an already rugged and extremely portable pen. At $8.95 for the Jakket and $4.95 for the Dokk, they're a decent deal for what you get (solid machined aluminum!). It sounds expensive when compared to the regular Pokka Pen prices, but this comes down to materials. The aluminum will definitely add a lot of durability to the pen, and the mounting point that the Dokk provides adds a lot of versatility to you can use this sleek little pen. Pick up a combo of the Jakket and Dokk with your next Pokka Pen order! The Jakket and Dokk come in silver (pictured here) or anodized black as well.

(Pokka Pens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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