One more for the stationary fetishists

July 26, 2009 12:27 PM

One more for the stationery fetishists: Office Supply Geek
posted by tylerfulltilt (26 comments total)

Thanks so much for your post! I really enjoy the new Sharpie as well. I bought it the day it came out. Here is another source of pen reviews. My personal collection includes the Le Pen pens. The .28mm needlepoint Japanese and Korean pens are beautiful! We just don't do ballpens :)
posted by johannahdeschanel at 12:45 PM on July 26, 2009 [1 favorite]

Oh good, they come n Pepsi blue
posted by Cranberry at 12:46 PM on July 26, 2009 [2 favorites]

Lastly, another small design flaw with [the Uniball Jetstream Alpha Gel Grip] is that it is a roller…no, not a roller ball, but a roller. The thick grip of the pen protrudes further from the body than the clip itself does, and that combined with the pen being bottom heavy doesnt allow the clip to come in direct contact with your table or desk when you place it down, and the pen will roll away from you.

I'll admit, there are certain times in my life - when I'm in a stationers buying a new pen for instance - when having information like this would be very valuable.
posted by Flashman at 12:46 PM on July 26, 2009

I'm noticing lately how few office supplies I use. I have a pen and a notebook and use whiteboard markers but that's about it. Since the offices that I've worked in have gone 99% paper-free, there isn't much need for staplers, clips, folders, file hangers, etc.
posted by octothorpe at 12:51 PM on July 26, 2009

Since the offices that I've worked in have gone 99% paper-free, there isn't much need for staplers, clips, folders, file hangers, etc.

I would very much like to come live on your planet. In my office, people print out emails and FILE THEM IN PAPER FILES!!11

It makes my head explode.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 1:17 PM on July 26, 2009

After spending time in one office building since Feb 2008 I moved last week to another building with the same company. I used one box. Just one. All the important stuff is on the network. The stuff in the box were little personal sundries, my calendars, some office shoes (I walk to work) and the like.
posted by seawallrunner at 1:20 PM on July 26, 2009

The (reads tiny words on pen) "Bic Velocity Gel 0.5mm" is a nice inexpensive substitute to the Uniball Jetstream Alpha Gel Grip, which I used to use. It's also a roller-ball.

The Bic is also a clicker, with a similar rubber grip piece but without a lid to lose or break, and out of the box, they each have a tiny globe of rubber-cement on the tip to keep them airtight.

This one's from Japan but since it's Bic, I assume they're everywhere.

There is a 0.3mm version, apparently, but I've never found it. Holy Grail.
posted by rokusan at 1:30 PM on July 26, 2009

Since the offices that I've worked in have gone 99% paper-free...

Yeah, I have not seen this yet. I see words about it, but all the PDFs in the world don't help if half of the people print them out anyway.

Also, signatures. Try teaching anyone who is not your direct underling to sign documents digitally.
posted by rokusan at 1:31 PM on July 26, 2009

"Stationery" is misspelled in the title (but not the body), by the way. But maybe it's a joke about desk-bound workers.
posted by rokusan at 1:32 PM on July 26, 2009

I had a co-worker at a previous job who's office consisted of: a desk, a computer and a chair. He didn't have a single thing on the walls, on his desk or in his desk. Not a calendar, post-it, notepad, pen, pencil, nothing. He'd walk into the office in the morning without out a bag and with nothing in his hands and leave in the afternoon the same way. If he ever got laid-off, he could just stand up and walk out, no box needed.
posted by octothorpe at 1:39 PM on July 26, 2009 [2 favorites]

Computers are great, but for what I do, I need to have both screens going to run the various applications I need to do what I do, a notepad at the ready to jot down what I did and how I did it, a printout of what I need to be doing highlighted and annotated, and a big frggin' map, also highlighted and annotated. I could flip between a number of various applications, but for referring to at-a-glance information in a way that doesn't interrupt what you're doing, a printout is hard to beat.

We need to take notes... lots and lots and lots of notes, at meetings and on conference calls. These are intense and complicated tech sessions, not typical meetings. Also, our color printer has higher resolution than our screens, and prints on gigantic sheets of paper... this is needed, as we need to map stuff in our system, and so the map is vast and varied, and you need to have good annotations on the parts of the map where your particular stuff lives.

So, a decent notepad to jot down notes at meetings and while on the phone, another by the keyboard to keep track of what you're doing, a decent full-size notebook to write down a journal of important notes I'll need to refer to again down the line, and a bunch of pens and pencils to write notes with, high-lighters and markers to munge maps, folders and paperclips to organize the maps I've munged.

I'm a pen-nerd by necessity as much as by choice... if you need to use a tool everyday, might as well make sure they're good tools.
posted by Slap*Happy at 2:05 PM on July 26, 2009

octothorpe - fascinating. did you ever visit your coworker's home?

Slap*Happy I keep notebooks too. Assiduously. Can't go to any meeting or take a call without opening a new page, and uncapping one of the Uniball Vision Fines from my carrying case.
posted by seawallrunner at 2:14 PM on July 26, 2009 [2 favorites]

Yeah, I have not seen this yet. I see words about it, but all the PDFs in the world don't help if half of the people print them out anyway.

I find that I can't read for sustained periods of time on a computer. One of these days, when e-ink devices can quickly and easily deal with PDFs, I'm going to buy one and be infinitely happier. Until that day, count me among the tree murderers.
posted by djgh at 2:38 PM on July 26, 2009 [1 favorite]

Thank GOD you spelled it right. Stationary fetishists creep me right the hell out.
posted by Malor at 2:39 PM on July 26, 2009

I love gadgets as much as anyone, but nothing is more practical than a pen and paper in a meeting. Its handwriting recognition is excellent, its battery never runs out, it's very light, it doesn't produce any noise, it's not disruptive in a darkened room if the presenter is using PowerPoint, and if Coworker McClubsforhands knocks over his caffeinated beverage of choice, well, I might be out ten bucks instead of a thousand—and my notes usually survive, too.
posted by sonic meat machine at 3:45 PM on July 26, 2009

We've gone about 50% paper free. The 50% that's on paper is memos sent to divisions that don't care about it, which we all dump directly into the recycle bin handily placed next to the mailboxes. The 50% that isn't on paper is single page PowerPoint presentations attached to emails with a picture of a kitten announcing someone's birth or death.
posted by DU at 4:13 PM on July 26, 2009

Mixable fountain-pen colours! (she says, frantically trying to find a local supplier...)
posted by ninazer0 at 4:37 PM on July 26, 2009

I had a co-worker at a previous job who's office consisted of: a desk, a computer and a chair. He didn't have a single thing on the walls, on his desk or in his desk. He'd walk into the office in the morning without out a bag and with nothing in his hands and leave in the afternoon the same way.

Did they ever find the bodies?
posted by rokusan at 5:21 PM on July 26, 2009 [3 favorites]

This is my favorite pen. I wish I could find it someplace else. It's just such an elegant design and a good weight. I like it much better than the space pen.
posted by I Foody at 5:23 PM on July 26, 2009

I use a pencil for all my writing - a Papermate Pacer 500 - and index cards for all my notes. One card per task. I take a handful of cards to a meeting if I anticipate some work being handed out. When a task is done I tear the card in two (very satisfying) and throw it away.
posted by Ritchie at 6:09 PM on July 26, 2009

Pentel P205 for life, it doubles as a poking tool if interviews get out of hand.
posted by asterisk at 7:28 PM on July 26, 2009

Mechanical pencil.

Zebra M-402.
posted by porpoise at 9:55 PM on July 26, 2009

I really want to obsess over pens and notebooks and fine leather portfolios and everything else, but my immensely digital lifestyle makes it very impractical. I do still carry a graph-paper Moleskine and a Fisher Space Pen for taking notes in meetings, but I never actually refer to my notes, the act of scribbling a couple of lines ensures that I won't forget the stuff I was attempting to record. This frustrates me to no end. I might as well just scribble on cocktail napkins and then throw them away.
posted by signalnine at 10:54 PM on July 26, 2009 [1 favorite]

For the stationary fetishists
posted by Pronoiac at 2:14 AM on July 27, 2009

The act of scribbling a couple of lines ensures that I won't forget the stuff I was attempting to record.

I do that, to the same effect, but I consider it a bug. To study for exams in school, I would just write up a 'cheat sheet' of things to remember, like formulas and mnemonics and such, as if I was cramming the whole test's material onto one piece of paper. Then I'd write it again, and by that time it was memorized anyway.

I might as well just scribble on cocktail napkins and then throw them away.

I also do this. Not recommended, though, because the next hungover morning, a soggy napkin with three drink rings and a lipstick smudge over the words "IMPRTNT: thrfdc the hjde 3x!!!!!" doesn't help me as much.
posted by rokusan at 8:50 AM on July 27, 2009

Uniball Vision, Fine and/or Micro, depending on the use. I love that pen so much I found a bulk order on ebay and got something like 200 of them for around $45 dollars.
posted by FatherDagon at 9:53 AM on July 27, 2009