My new iPad

Apple have sent me an email to say that my new iPad has been despatched, and it now appears to have left Hong Kong, so it should be in my hands on Monday or Tuesday.

I have already sold this iPad to a colleague, and another colleague queued for many hours at the Apple store to buy his. Meanwhile back in the real world I am about to watch the Malaysian Grand Prix, and then get ready for another big week at the office.

Another David Oscarson pen

I had begun to think that my collection of David Oscarson pens would not see any growth for a while whilst I concentrate of building my Faber-Castell collection. So I was really surprised when my eBay automatic alerts notified me this morning that there was a pen going for about 25% less than then usual discount price. I didn't act on it straight away but mulled over it for most of the day. I do believe that the seller made a typo in entering the item, as the price in the text was the normal price, but the official buy it price was much less.

So after about 6 hours of will I or won't I, I did.

Kickstarter

I stumbled upon Kickstater.com a couple of months ago when looking for an iPad accessory. It is site that helps people raise money to undertake their pet projects. These projects cover an amazing range of topics, from making a documentary, to funding a local event, to writing books and to making things.

Kickstarter subscribers can subscribe to projects, and by doing so agree to fund the project in some way. Depending on the funding level the subscriber may get a thank you postcard, or a copy of the final product, or the final product plus an exclusive gift from the maker.

So last night I found two projects worth joining in. The first was for a stylus pen for the iPad. I know do all my writing using a stylus. If you go to the local electronics store they will charge $10 - 15+. You can get the same item via eBay from Hong Kong for $1 with free postage! however these stylus are short and thin and are completely lacking in style. They are so easy to loose to, which is why I ordered twenty from Honkers.

None of the major pen manufacturers have realized that there could be a good market out there for a stylus with style. So they is room for innovation, which is occurring on Kickstarter. So I have committed to buy two.

Then last night I also found another Kickstater project by two young kids developing a full working kit model of a trebuchet. It looked great so I joined that project too! It's called
trebuchette - the snap-together, desktop trebuchet.

So take a look at Kickstarter.com. It's quite and entertaining site even if you don't "invest".

More on Pen collecting

Have I said that I like a good pen?I love the feeling of a well balanced pen, a pen with a bit more width, length and weight than the usual pen. So I have my collection of a dozen or so pens that I use on a regular basis. I also have a few pens that I have purchased just because of their beauty. There are some absolutey gorgeous pens being produced nowadays.

New production techniquesv mean that an absolutely stunning pen can be produced for not a lot of money, but it also means that there are some fantastic artists producing top-notch pens worth collecting.

Here is a link to juts one example by one of the first pen manufacturers:
Faber Castell - 2011 Pen of the Year  - 2011

A Day of Change

NSW State elections were held today and the result was very similar to what the polls predicted - the 16 years old Labor government was thrown out of office and will be lucky if they retain 20 seats out of the 91 seats in the lower house, the Legislative Assembly. The upper house, the Legislative Council, will take several weeks to decide my friend stood for the upper house and of course I gave him my first preference.

So today to celebrate the day of the long knives I watched The Godfather Pt 1. It is a wonderful film - very long, but always rewarding to watch. Al Pucino does a wonderful job as the younger son of the Godfather. I don't hold it in quite the same esteem as some Americans appear to do, such as Tom Hanks in "You've Got Mail", or Josh in the series "The West Wing", but it is a five star film nevertheless.

Now speaking of Italians, one of my old bosses stood as a candidate for a lower house seat. He stood as a Liberal candidate and needed a 15% swing to win. He got over 20%! So now he is a proper politician. Regardless of his new status, he looked better with his moustache.


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The Fountainhead

This film and book by Ayn Rand is one of my favorite movies. I first saw it on TV many years ago just after I had left home and moved to the big smoke. At that time I felt so constrained by the conservatism of my parents. Being the youngest of four means having your life dictated to you by everyone around you and my upbringing didn't instill any sense of self-worth or self-confidence.

This movie helped me have that self-belie that I was crying out for.

The Fountainhead is the story of a young architect Howard Roarkn(played by Gary Cooper) who doesn't design buildings according to the traditional values of the time. Those values dictate that every building imitate classical Greek and Roman architecture. So he is thrown out of university and only gets a small number of commissions for houses. However he cannot earn enough to survive and goes to work in a quarry, where he is seen by a journalist played by Patricia Neal. A complicated love story evolves around Roark's struggle for his intellectual and professional freedom.

Fountainpen Hospital sale

Fountainpn hospital is this wonderful little pen shop in Manhatten. I have bought a number of pens from them over the years. This week they held a big sale and I bought some very nice pens from them. No David Oscarsons this time as my bank account is still in recovery from the recent Los Angeles Pen Show. Fountainpen Hospital has one of the better websites. here is the link:
Fountainpen Hospital