Archive for December, 2008
Levenger Cubi Agenda Stand for Circa Notebooks
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Levenger Cubi Agenda Stand
My third and final post (read part 1 and part 2 here) in my review of products that I am hoping will help me to be more organized is on the Levenger Cubi Agenda Stand that is designed to hold the Levenger Junior Size Circa Notebook, which I am using to keep my daily planner in for 2009. As with all of the other Levenger products that I have purchased, I was impressed with the quality of materials and craftsmanship upon my initial inspection of this item.
The Cubi Agenda Stand comes in either Dark Cherry or Natural Cherry finishes, the one I am reviewing here is the Dark Cherry version. The stand has a small drawer that sits underneath it, which is covered on the front with a black leather inlay. The dimensions of the stand are as follows, for the interior of the drawer it measures 10 3/4″W x 8″D x 1″H and the unit as a whole measures 12 1/4″W x 9″D x 2 1/2″H. The top of the stand is hinged and tilts up so that you can keep your daily planner at a good viewing and writing angle. In the photo below, you can see the stand as it sits raised in one of 3 possible angles. Please note that the scratch you see in the photo was caused by me, and was not shipped from Levenger like that.
Levenger Cubi Agenda Stand Rear View
The drawer on the Cubi Agenda Stand is designed to hold some extra junior size circa pages or other accessories as you can see in the following picture. At most, you can hold two of the quarterly daily planner pages packets, or you can hold a junior size planner in there assuming it is not too thickly stuffed with pages. For my purposes I am just keeping some blank annotated layout pages, the packet for the next quarter of daily pages, my Lamy Studio (Studio review here) and some other smaller accessories like some Levenger Page Points.
Levenger Cubi Agenda Stand Drawer and Accessories
I have to say that this item is not absolutely essential in being able to keep my calendar in order for 2009, however it is such a nice looking stand, and the storage space provided by the drawer really make it something that I felt enhanced my surroundings. As I said in my About Me section, being in the financial services and insurance industry, there is a certain amount of boredom that I must overcome, and this stand is one of those extra “nice to have” items that makes the day a little less boring at my desk. If I could change one thing about the Cubi Agenda Stand, it would be to make the whole thing slightly larger so I could also hold some extra pages for my letter size circa notebook. It seems that the extra 1″ or so that it would have taken in depth and width would have been well worth it so I would have somewhere to store all of my extra Levenger accessories. Hopefully Steve Leveen or someone in charge of product development at Levenger is listening. 
Hope you all have a happy and safe New Year, and I look forward to having you back to visit in 2009. Feel free to subscribe via RSS so you dont miss any of my long winded reviews that help me to justify spending too much of my money on office supplies.
Levenger Junior Size Circa Bomber Jacket Notebook – 2009 Planner
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Levenger Junior Size Circa Bomber Jacket Notebook
My previous post detailed the Levenger Circa 2009 Daily Planner Refills that I am using to improve my organizational skills this year. Today I wanted to focus on the actual leather portfolio that I am keeping those calendar pages in, or as Levenger calls it, the Junior Size Circa Bomber Jacket Notebook.
The junior size notebooks from Levenger measure 6 1/2″W x 1/2″D x 8 3/4″H. The measurement depends on the size rings that you decide to use with it, but the dimensions used here assume the standard 1/2″ discs that all Levenger notebooks come standard with. Other than the actual size of the notebook, the junior size has the same features and accessories that can be found with the letter size version which I did a two part post on here and here. The only real difference is the inside front cover, where the pocket sizes are smaller than the ones found in the letter size notebook. The following picture shows the inside pocket with a standard credit card or gift card placed inside so you can get an idea of how big it is. Obviously you will find that the larger pocket on this notebook is just shy of being 8 3/4″ high, since that is the height of the notebook itself. Read More→
Levenger 2009 Junior Size Daily Planner and Calendar
Posted by: | CommentsA few weeks ago I had to start figuring out what I would do in terms of a calendar or planner for next year, so naturally I found that my first instinct was to head over to the Levenger site and poke around. After spending some time there and at a few other sites I decided that for 2009 I will be using a Levenger Circa Junior Size Daily Planner and Calendar. The layout is pretty simple, yet it offers plenty of space for all of my needs, even in the smaller junior size of 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″. The flexibility of the Circa system makes it quick and simple to take these calendar pages out as needed and put them into my larger letter size Levenger notebook if I know I am going to be traveling and only want to bring a few days worth of pages instead of the entire planner.
This is a “one page per day” style planner, but technically there are two pages I guess. The first three pages of the calendar contain a one page view of 2008, 2009, and 2010 in a monthly format. On the left side of each daily page you have a nicely laid out 7AM to 7PM (in 1/2 hour increments) scheduler, with a notes section below it that has 7 lines for you to work with. On the right side of each daily page, there is a full page “Things To Do” checklist with 24 blank spaces for your entries. Below this you will find another notes section with 7 blank lines, identical to the previous page. If you continue reading this post on the next page, there are some pictures of the calendar pages. Read More→
December 26th Deals and Sales
Posted by: | CommentsJust some quick deals I found this morning. I will be back to posting reviews in the next day or two, I am contemplating a review of some Pilot pens that I just got or some other Levenger products that I have, not sure which will be first but I hope to see you back soon.
The Daily Planner and Lincoln Stationers have a big sale on some of their pens (20-60% off) and organizers (20-50% off) along with what looks to be up to about 40% off some other things like bags and stationary.
Paradise Pens has 25% off any Pelikan or S.T. Dupont pen over $100.
Goldspot is still offering free shipping on purchases over $99.
JetPens is still offering free shipping on orders over $25.
OfficeSupplyGeek News from the Web
Posted by: | CommentsThe Pen Guy has a great site where you can see his previous projects where he recycled old disposable pens. He is currently looking to collect 1,000,000 more pens to work on projects to re-use and recycle the vast waste generated by disposable pens. Great site, you should take a look, and help him out if you can.
Handmade Fusion has a fancied up and gift-boxed Pilot G2 for sale.
InventorSpot has a list called “10 Quirky Pencils, Pens, And Funky Sharpeners To Entertain You” and some of them are quite entertaining like The Living Dead Doll Pencil sharpener where you jab your pencil in her already bloody eye socket and the shavings vomit out her mouth…if that isn’t in the holiday spirit, then I don’t know what is.
Fountain Pen Restoration has a nice Christmas Pen displayed that hopefully makes up for the previous gory link.
The-gadgeteer has a reader looking for some help selecting a nice multi-pen, so if any of you have suggestions, head on over and help them out.
December 24th Deals and Sales
Posted by: | CommentsLevenger has their winter sale going on which includes up to 60% off some items, 15% off custom cards, free ink sampler with purchase of selected pens, and a “stock up sale” where if you order 2 or more of some items you get a lower price on each of them. The stock up sale looks like a good deal if you need more circa paper or discs, the discounts there are pretty good.
Cross has a sale with up to 75% off selected items, it looks like there are some pretty good deals there.
Lamy Studio EF Nib in Blue
Posted by: | CommentsThe Lamy Studio Fountain Pen with an Extra Fine nib was my first fountain pen purchase, and I conducted a good deal of research before actually buying the pen. Once of the most useful places I found for information regarding fountain pens in general was The Fountain Pen Network where you can find a ton of knowledgeable people discussing fountain pens, inks, and stationary.
Lamy Studio Extra Fine Nib in Blue
After doing my research, I finally settled on the Lamy Studio in Blue with the Extra Fine nib. I shopped around a bit online and was able to find a good price at Goldspot Luxury Gifts who has a huge selection of pens and very competitive prices. It is also worth noting that Goldspot was very quick with their shipping of the pen, which is great for someone like me who can be incredibly impatient. So far I have been completely satisfied with this pen, so I thought I would write up a review to share some of what I find to be the most enjoyable and positive qualities of this pen.
Lamy Studio Extra Fine Nib Writing Sample
I’ve included some of the basics about this pen in a writing sample that you can see in the photo below:
The pen itself has a solid feel, and the blue coating on the surface makes for a very comfortable and smooth feeling in the hand. Read More→
Doane Paper Review
Posted by: | CommentsThe first time I saw any of the doane paper products was when I started reading the great pen reviews over at the pen addict site where it was being used as a the standard paper for all of the writing samples. The unique design of the graph paper + standard ruled lines jumped out as being a pretty good idea to me, and I was able to think of a few instances in past jobs where it would have really come in handy. They offer two options for their paper, one is an 8.25″ x 11.75″ writing pad with 50 sheets of 20lb stock writing paper, and the other is the 3.5″ x 5.5″ 48 page notebook composed of 80lb text stock. Both notebooks have the same grid + ruled line layout with a grid size of .125” (.3175 cm) x .125” (.3175 cm). Each of the options come in packs of 3, and the cost is $9.95 for a pack of writing pads, and $9.50 for a pack of notebooks, plus any shipping and handling charges.
The doane paper writing pad and notebook
I have been trying both the writing pad and the notebook with various types of pens and ink, and I was happy to see how well the paper handles. I have used the uni-ball UBR-300 .5mm gel refill, the uni-ball signo bit .18mm pens, and a Lamy Studio with an extra fine nib and Noodler’s Tiananmen and Noodler’s Borealis Black inks. So far each of these has performed very nicely on the doane paper pads with no feathering, or bleed-through, and they seem to dry quickly also. Read More→
December 17th Deals and Sales
Posted by: | CommentsOne new deal since the ones I posted yesterday, same disclaimer applies.
Paradise Pens has a free upgrade to 2nd day shipping on all orders over $100. Good deal if you are still trying to pick up some last minute holiday gifts. Deal is good this Wed. through Fri. only.
December 16th Deals and Sales
Posted by: | CommentsI have no affiliation with any of these sites, and if the offers change by the time I post this, I am not responsible, but at the time of writing this, they were all in effect. I will tell you that I have shopped at all of these sites (except for The Pen Addict since he is technically not a retailer, but he seems like an OK guy to me ) and had nothing but good experiences. Happy shopping.
TheDailyPlanner.com has 10% off internet orders over $50 using DP1008 as the discount code. Offer expires 12/25/08
TheDailyPlanner.com also has 25% off filofax organizers
Goldspot Luxury Gifts has free 3 day shipping on any order over $99. Code is FREE3DAY. No indication as to when it ends.
Colorado Pen Direct has free shipping on orders over $100 and has 20% off Parker and Waterman pens. No indication as to when it ends.
Levenger is offering 25% off with no minimum purchase through December 17th. Code is GIVE258.
JetPens.com has free shipping on orders over $25. No indications as to when it ends.
The Pen Addict is just GIVNG STUFF AWAY! And by “stuff” I mean one mechanical pencil, but it is an A.G. Spalding, and they make some fantastic pens, so I can only assume the pencil is of the same quality.
Uni-ball Power Tank Ballpoint Pen – Pt. 3
Posted by: | CommentsWe have reached the final post in this 3 part series…and the results might be a bit surprising. I managed to successfully freeze all of the pens in a test tube and get some more writing samples from each of them. I also did a quick test to see how each of these pens write on wet paper. One thing I realize that I did not do is compare another ballpoint pen to the Power Tank, I might have to try that at a later date. Now on to the results.
DISCLAMER:I am not a real scientist, so I am sure that any of you out there who actually are scientists could probably poke some holes in my experiment that would invalidate it. In this review, science is whatever I want it to be…but I think I got to fairly realistic results anyway.
The Wet Paper Test
I decided to do this test with standard notebook quality paper ripped from a 5 Star Notebook since I dont think that most folks would use their Levenger Circa or other notebook that they really care about out in the rain. You can see from the scan below that each of the pens held up relatively well. The Power Tank and G2 both had a little trouble getting started, however once they did, everything was fine. I think the Uniball Power Tank did get started quicker than the G2 based as you can see from the photo. The Pilot Varsity showed some feathering at first that appeared to stop after a few letters. I should note that I can’t isolate the trouble getting started or the bleed from the fact that these pens were just resuscitated from a state of cryogenic suspension.
Uni-ball Power Tank, Pilot G2, and Pilot Varsity on wet paper
Now for the freezer test results! Read More→
Uni-ball Power Tank Ballpoint Pen – Pt. 2
Posted by: | CommentsWell, I’ve got my experiment for part 2 set up, so I thought Id post a quick update with some pictures too.
As I had mentioned previously, I mostly use the Power Tank to track my gas mileage, so I am often writing on gas receipts leaning against my steering wheel or some other non flat surface that requires the pen to be on an angle. In addition to regular pens not working so well when writing on an angle, I also end up having trouble with regular pens during the winter as the pen sits in the car over night in the freezing cold. Before I got the Uniball Power Tank, I would end up having to scribble frantically or I would need to shake the pen really hard just to get some ink out of it. The Power Tank pen really seems to hold up well to the cold weather, and also to writing in a non upright position. The following picture shows exactly what it looks like when writing with it in different conditions.
Freezing Weather Writing Sample - Uniball Power Tank
As you can see, it wrote fine in both upside down, and right side up positions while at a temperature of 32 degrees Fahrenheit. The only noticeable difference that I see is that in the “normal conditions” photo, the pen wrote slightly darker. For now I can confidently say that this pen seems to be perfect for my needs, I have yet to pick it up and not have a smooth line of ink immediately flow to the desired writing surface, but who knows if that will change once I conduct my experiment…here is a picture to give you an idea of what to expect.
Pens and Test Tubes before being put in the freezer...writing samples soon to follow.
If you cant tell from the picture, from left to right you have the standard Pilot G2 that everyone loves, The Uniball Power Tank, and a Pilot Varsity disposable fountain pen. All of them submerged in water filled test tubes with caps on them. I’m going to give it some time and wait for the pensicles to completely harden and then I will be back with the last part of this review.
