Post Whining Notes

OK, so a good night's sleep helps erase the annoyances of the previous evening...

In my defense, I will say that work, a 3 hour drive home through heavy traffic, finding that the vintage "grail" pen I'd order had arrived, but was severely damaged, etc., was a bit nerve wrangling.  So I have a bit of leeway in getting peeved with the menuing functions in OpenBox.

Luckily, I had PhatSlacko to calm me down.  For all its quirks, I'm still continually amazed by Phat.  It's become my favorite of the Puppies, just edging out Precise and FatDog.

Though, thinking about the Puppies does bring up a question:  What happened with Saluki?  I know that Carolina is now the replacement for Saluki, but why?  I suppose I need to do some forum research...

Oh, and off the subject of computers, and onto pens.  About my "grail" disaster...

While browsing some sales listings, I ran across a pen I've been looking for for ages, a Pelikan 550.  It's a standard 400 size model, but with a "tortoise-shell" (actually just brown-green striped) barrel, and a gold-filled cap and filler knob.  Using the excuse that I was celebrating being back to work, I ordered it.

The pen arrived at the house on Tuesday, but I didn't get it till getting back home yesterday evening.  I happily checked the pen over, then filled it up with Parker black ink, looking forward to a little relaxing scribbling.  That is, till I touched part of the barrel, and found my fingers covered in ink. 

Long story short, there is a hairline crack in the barrel.  You don't notice it till you touch it, or rub something against the barrel.  Then, capillary attraction causes ink to flood out of the reservoir...

The only correct way to deal with this is to replace the barrel.  However, this is slightly complicated by the fact that you have to find a "500-series" barrel to keep the repair correct.  The barrels on these older pens (this is c. late 1950s) are engraved with their model number...  So, the pen is going back.

What makes me so mad is that, even if you can't really see the crack on examination, you'll notice it the minute the pen is filled and you try to write with it.  And the seller had obviously filled & tested the pen.  (There were traces of fresh ink in the pen, where it had been flushed...)

Oh joy...