I try to carry a pen and paper with me all the time. I get ideas for this blog and quickly forget them. Sometimes, the same idea comes back to me but sometimes I think it gets lost for good. Besides, there are times when I want to remember someone's email address or a phone number, information that doesn't have much to remember it by. A pen isn't the easiest thing to carry in a pants pocket. It can slip out when I sit down.
Most motels have a small pad and a ballpoint pen in the room. Sometimes, we walk off with their pen but basically, I like Bic pens and I try to keep one that works well handy.
When I was a kid, the introduction of ballpoint pens was a big deal. Until them, pens had liquid ink. "Fountain" pens were able to suck up ink from a bottle and then "cartridge" pens could be loaded with a plastic cartridge of liquid ink about the size and shape of an AA battery. If you look with a little effort, you can probably still find all those types of pens, including actual quills that can be dipped in an inkwell. You can still find "space pens" that write in zero gravity and in very cold or hot temperatures.
What is interesting to me is the helplessness that quickly descends on a person who needs to sign a charge receipt or record a phone number or a date and time but has nothing to write with. I have never actually used my hand to write something on but plenty of people turn to their palm or arm. I can usually find a scrap of paper but a pen?
The fancy version has 8 parts while the simpler version, two if you count the cap. I read while studying quality control that engineers identify 200 characteristics of a ballpoint. It is a mark of modern civilization and something we take very much for granted at the same time.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
