When You've Done Something Really Dumb...

Yes, I tend to do really dumb things...

When I get in a certain "mood," I have a very bad tendency to go looking for new "toys."  Sadly, my toys tend to be on the more expensive than Toys-R-Us type stuff...

I've been in a certain mood.

So, I now have some new toys on the way...

Montblanc Sir George Solti

Actually, one is already here.

I have been known to have a weak spot for Montblanc pens, particularly those that echo the style of the 1930s and 40s.  This is one of the "Donation Pen" limited edition series that Montblanc produces, dedicated to figures of cultural significance.  While I'm not a particular fan of Solti (he was an excellent conductor, mind you), I loved the design of the pen, and have wanted one for some time.   And, so, the chance eventually arose...

I haven't had a chance to fill or write with this, but it is a magnificent pen.  MB does not make shoddy products.

Now, for the ones that haven't arrived yet...

Vermeil Parker 75

 The Parker 75 holds an oddly sentimental significance to me.  The model was first released in 1964, only a few years before I was born.  It's the closest thing I have to a "birth year" pen.  And it is generally held to be the last of the truly "classic" fountain pens, all the while being a sort of transitional model over to the modern "cartridge/converter" pens of today.

The standard model 75 is a sterling silver pen with an engraved, crosshatch pattern known as ciselé.  They were expensive pens in their day, but designed to be perfect day-to-day working writers.  The early, American-made models are highly prized.  I have one that I use quite often, and it is sublime.

This particular pen is in vermeil, which is gold over sterling silver.  It's one of the rarer finishes for the 75 and, yeah, I've always wanted one.  (Look at this ad to get an idea why.)   And, if you wait long enough...

Well, I've waited literally years to run across one, so...



And the oddballs...

S.T. Dupont (Large) Orpheo

I've had a couple S.T. Dupont pens, a mid-size Orpheo and another model, the name of which escapes me.  They're great pens.  I actually took a liking to Dupont's after they released a "James Bond" commemorative model.  Those pen were pretty cool, though I never really wanted one.  (They were designed to only use small international ink cartridges, because they had the gimmick of having a detachable laser pointer built into the barrel.)  I took a liking to the design of the Orpheo, which was Dupont's flagship pen.  (I think they changed the name of the pen, from Orpheo to "Olympeo", though I may be completely wrong on that...)

S.T. Dupont pens are usually VERY expensive, but I found this particular one used, without a box, from one of the more reputable dealers.  (I add that last part, as there has recently been an influx of counterfeit Dupont pens, particularly on eBay.)

Visconti Divine Proportion Ballpoint

This one is the odd pen out, as it's (yes) a ballpoint.  However, this is sort of the pen case of "beggars can't be choosers..."

A few years back, the Italian pen company Visconti put out a limited-edition pen called the "Divina Proporzione", or "Divine Proportion" pen.  The pen was supposed to be made according to the "Golden Ratio" of 1.618.  (Remember, this was after The Da Vinci Code, with its dredging up of every obscure reference possible.)

Here's an article on the Divina Proporzione fountain pen.

Of course, given my love of anything even vaguely arcane, I took a shine to this pen.  But it was a limited edition, and the price was astronomical.  Luckily for me, Visconti decided they liked this pen, too, and began making variations.  The "non-limited edition" versions were simply called the "Divina" models, and I picked up a couple of these at reduced prices.  (One was a custom made version for one of the more prominent dealers in Italian pens, the other a special edition version which Visconti made for the 2009 G8 Summit.)  However...

Again, I played a waiting game, and eventually tripped across this ballpoint version of the pen, with the original box, for sale by the same dealer who was selling the Orpheo pen above.  While I'm not cracked on the ballpoint, it's sort of like the Montegrappa Gea pen I talked about in an earlier article.  This is as close as I'm going to (economically) get to this model pen...

So, I did something dumb.  I ordered a bunch of pens.  I really don't need them.  But I really wanted them.  For a long time, I've wanted them.

Not sure if that justifies the dumbness, but...  Not even sure if it cures the "mood" or not...

I have new toys.  Guess I should go play.......

Quick Update

I definitely have gone off the grid for a bit.

The New Job is taking up a goodly bit of my time, and my concentration, which hasn't been good for those random creative streaks.

Neither has the nasty throat infection which I picked up last week.  Three days of extreme (and worsening) pain and near inability to swallow finally convinced me to do the unthinkable:  Go to a doctor.   Or at least to a clinic.

I suspected strep throat.  Luckily, tests showed otherwise.  Just a very, very nasty infection.  Off to a good antibiotic regimen, goodly doses of painkillers, and a lot of zombie-like inactivity.  About 5 days worth of that, and...  Well, I feel better.  But the throat pain is still there, and tends to flair up occasionally.  I dread the thought of it coming back, as I missed a bit of work.  And I have a bit of work to do...

But I'm back on my feet (shakily), and back to work (in doses.)  And I've been thinking about the blog yet again.

So, sometime soon..............

Just waiting for input....

Neglectful

I've been neglecting the blog lately.

I mentioned I was starting up a new project, and that has brought about a good bit of travel.  I'm in and out of town.

It's so strange how you can find yourself staying in a new place, finding your way around, not knowing anything.  And, yet, there are those moments when it feels...just like any other place you've been.  Not so much a feeling of home, but a feeling of familiarity.

I suppose that's a good feeling.  Or at least one that serves a good purpose.

But, I have to run again.  More work to do.

Hopefully I can get back to writing things meaningful (or unmeaningful) later...

OS Extremism

I was just (re)reading Tim Edwards' article "Why I'm Uninstalling Windows 8", and not being particularly surprised by it.  Granted Edwards is reviewing a pre-release version of Win8, and I'm sure that there are those proverbial "rough edges," but...

A little background...

OK, I'm a Mac user.  If you've read any of my previous posts, you know that.  But I'm a fairly recent "switcher."  For 20 years, I was a  DOS/Windows user.  I still have a couple Windows systems running here, one with WinXP, the other Win7.  The Win7 system (a 17" Toshiba Satellite) still gets some day to day usage, while the XP system (an Acer Netbook) is only still maintained because I installed the Steem Engine (an Atari ST emulator) on it, and intend to one day get 'round to trying to try to fiddle with Atari software.

I feel I had good reason to switch.  I bought the above mentioned Toshiba brand new, and made good use of it on a project I was working on.  However, I'd always wanted to try a Mac, so I finally talked myself into getting an older used system.  That way, if I hated it, I wouldn't be out the proverbial "arm & leg."  Little did I know...

The system I bought was a then 6 year old, 1.5 Ghz, G4 "Aluminum" Powerbook.  Two GB RAM, and an 80 GB hard drive, running OS 10.4 Tiger.  (I went for the latter after a good bit of research on this thing Apple called "Classic," as I wanted to run older Mac software that I could pick up around the Net.)  What an eye-opener it was.

I know it's a blinding cliché, but the Mac...  Well, when a six year old computer runs circles around a brand new system...  What can I say?  I mean, I liked the Toshiba.  It was a nice system.  And I still have to admit that Win7 was a quantum jump over its Windows predecessors.  But...  I likened using Win7 to dancing with an elephant.  In fact, "elephantine" was the best word to describe it.  It took forever to boot.  A couple of us on the project had newToshiba's running Win7, and it became a standard joke about the unending update sessions that would tie up the system, usually involving reboots.  ("Please do not shut off your system. Windows is installing X of 50 updates...")  And, bluntly put, the interface was ugly.  It had all the appeal of the finest of Cold War East German design.  (One could almost hear a faux German voice intoning "Vherrrh-y Nhiiice!" every time you hit the START button...)

In contrast...  Well, you know the story.  The Mac just damn well worked.  Tiger was clean, fast, efficient.  Everything just made sense.  The transition from working with Windows to working with OS X was utterly painless, unlike switching from one version of Windows to another.

And, yeah, you DO know the story...  I will never willingly go back to using Windows.  In the words of writer and VP of IT, Steve Watkins on Low End Mac, "I have the radical belief that my computer should work for me." 

Now, with all that out of way, back to the Edwards article.  I'm not surprised that Win8 is a bit of a farrago.  Not surprising at all.  Microsoft is going down the same path that Apple is heading down with its OS 10.8 Mountain Lion operating system, only in a more shoddy fashion.  I don't like the "tablet-ization" of operating systems that's currently the rage.  But...  What can you do?

But what really appalls me about this article is not the commentary on/about the the OS.  It is what's in the comment section.  The vitriol of the commenters is...well, disgusting.  Now, I'm not saying that pro-Mac people can't go far, far over the edge in some of their "commentary," but the Windows fanatics...?  Come on!  This just stuns me, the level of almost violent rhetoric.

C'mon guys!  It's a computer operating system!  I use what I use, you use what you use.  I have my reasons for using what I do.  I assume you have your reasons for using what you use.  I may disagree with you, and obviously you would disagree with me.

Why don't we all let it go, and get back to using our computers?