Found Laying Around the Shop

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Pen 15 Club: A Big Pen 15 Club Day

Crossed a personal Rubicon last night, as I became, officially, the sort of person who speaks angrily at a City Council meeting. Entering that new phase of my life may have been the worst part of my day, but the most upsetting part of my day was surely missing National Ballpoint Pen Day! Luckily, sterner minds than mine were thoroughly on the case:

To mark National Ballpoint Pen Day , U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal made an appearance at BIC headquarters in Shelton Monday morning to meet and greet employees and thank BIC for its efforts in sponsoring educational programs as well as creating the writing utensil people have come to know and love.
[...]
"The ballpoint pen, what it means, is so important," said Blumenthal.

Bummer to have missed it, of course, but my day was not however entirely free of marking the occasion, nor did I fail to enact a rich celebration of ballpoints: viz., I actually finally killed my Zebra F-301's first load-out of ink! Perhaps predictably, I did so while taking jaw-clench-inducing notes on somebody or other's pusillanimous ditherings, forcing me to swop pens on the very fly.

Luckily, I had a pen to swop to.

Anyway, the Zebra F-301 is a good lil' pen! I always like a refillable option, the ink is decent, if not quite Bic Crystal (thinner line, maybe a little less blobby?), it's maybe a little too heavy, but there's just something enjoyable about a stainless steel tool, the fact of it. If you are interesting in throwing away fewer things, maybe give one a try! Or do something else, but whatever you do, please: A Merry Ballpoint Pen Day to us all; Pens bless us, every one!

Tuesday, June 04, 2019

On getting out of jail: free and forever

Further to my desire unstinting to discover and display praxis enhancements (commonly known in certain degraded circles as "lifehacks"), it occurs to me to share that:

  1. No matter how egregious your driving offense, as long as you do not actually contact another person or their property, it is actually illegal -- as a matter of Natural Law -- for anyone to be upset with you, so long as you proffer a half-apologetic little "whoops!" wave as you drive away
  2. No matter how impossible a person you are, no matter what difficulties on your surroundings you create and impose, so long as you occasionally drop in a quick "I appreciate you", you're totally off the hook and it will be impossible for anyone to mark your behavior and conclude that you are, e.g., a complete asshole
Got any wonderful tips like these that YOU enjoy to employ?  Sound off in the comments!