Victoria's Secret : Men :: Levengers : Poddy. (Lust for office supplies.)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I got the Levenger’s summer sale catalog a few days ago. It’s already sweaty, dog-eared, and one page is sticky. (It’s jelly. I was eating a PB&J and I got some jelly on the . . . oh, never mind.)

Pant. Pant. Drool.

Levengers is a terrible temptation. The sale catalog, even more so.

Even worse, there’s an item I wanted to get as a gift for someone. And there’s another item that I have search for high and low locally, and can’t find anywhere, so I’m going to break down and order it.

And, then, well, ya know, as long as I’ve got an order going . . .

Noooooooo!

I do not need to spend $100 on a fountain pen. I know that it’s marked down from $250, but I have two good, high-quality fountain pens in perfect working order, one at work and one at home and that is all a person should need.

I do not need to spend $40 on assorted designer inks. It would take me approximately 37 years to go through all that ink, and most of the time I’m going to want black ink anyway, and I only have two damn fountain pens, dammit.

[sub]But Poddy . . . if you got a third good pen, then you could splurge on ink and have two sensible black-ink pens, and one crazy funky-color ink pen, and . . . [/sub]

SILENCE, little voice! Stop with the rationalization and the hey hey! A hundred dollar pen is still an hundred dollar pen! It matters not if it is on sale!

[sub]But did I mention the really beautiful shoulder bag? It’s $70 marked down from $170 and it has a pocket for your sunglasses and your cell phone, just like you wanted . . . And that cute little letter opener is $10 . . . Sure, you could just rip the letters open with your fingers like a peasant, but why? . . . Ooo, and did you notice the cute new colors on the circa notebooks? You could finally get your thesis notes organized . . . [/sub]

ARRRGGGHHH! The torture!

2

sigh

You too, eh? :stuck_out_tongue:

I really want that pen on page 27 (the red one), and I’ve been mulling over the Rotring on page 45 for YEARS. I’m thinking of ordering those magnets at the bottom of 48 just because stuff is ALWAYS falling off the refrigerator. Ooooh! That lamp on page 5 - that’d look look really nice on my desk, and this room is dark anyhow…

Podakyne, you really should think of picking up the Waterman on 7 - for 40 bucks it’s a steal, and you’d have be able to play with the inks. If you really want to play with ink, though, snag that Murano on 65 - I’ve found scented and metallic inks that you just can’t use in fountain pens because the clog…

I’ll stop now. :smiley:

3

i (very secretly) lust for the book boxes… in dark cherry. i have 5 of them now. 6 if you count the corner piece that doesn’t hold books. i want the whole room lined with them.

the page hand… what can one say about the page hand. just the best invention on earth. and for some weird reason they don’t sell them any more.

i have a black velvet book pillow as well. perfect for hardback.

i wish the store was closer. i’d love to work there.

4

I want to fill my house with book boxes. Walls and walls of book boxes. And I KNOW that I could probably build them myself (right? right?), but I want THOSE book boxes.

My high school students couldn’t believe it was possible to buy a $1000 pen.

5

Please tell me how to get on the mailing list for this catalog…I’m just dying to know if the page hand is at all similar to my PagePal - the best invention in the world. And I love Waterman pens, though I can’t afford them…

6

www.levenger.com

7

the page hand is a small thin metal piece. it kinda looks like a hand 'cause it has 4 finger like cut outs.

you thread the page hand around the top of the book. the first finger holds the begining of the book open. the second and third fingers are on each side of the page you are on and the last finger holds the back part of the book.

when you turn the page you slide the page out from under finger 3 and slide it under finger 2. as you move through the book you readjust fingers 1 and 4.

the page hand makes a huge noise when you drop it, and it holds the book open flat. it is great for when you are reading and eating.

8

Just look at the Annotation Station on page 62. How can I possibly do serious research without this? (And how could I possibly even start serious research until it gets here?)

And the vellum stationary on page 10! That is so cool! I could write on it with the Murano on page 65 and the inks on page 61, and everyone who got a letter from me would know how cool I am! (So what if I rarely write letters?)

And let’s not even get started on the whole pocket briefcase obsession.

My brother-in-law lives just down the road from the store. He takes me there when I go visit him. They have a discount room for returned and discounted merchandise. My husband says I can’t go there again until they have the unveiling of the Punkyova Wing. (But my brother-in-law still gets me cool stuff from there for my birthday.)

9

chique, I’m slobbering over the Van Goghs, too. Gorgeous. But I couldn’t possibly decide between the red, green, or blue. If I could find them in a store, take one for a test drive, and pick exactly the one I want (what with the inidividual swirliness and all), then I would be sorely tempted.

As for the Laureat on page 7, already got one in blue (college graduation present from Mom) or I’d be all over that like sauce. :cool:

I’ve tried those glass dip pens in stores, but didn’t really like them. Maybe because I was using el cheapos or something. I did find a nice old dip pen in a desk while moving offices last week. It works far better than the ones I’ve bought. I love it. Score!

10

Podkayne - You knew this thread would suck me in didn’t you? :slight_smile:

I was in Calgary a few weeks ago and because I was in a restrained mood (broke) I only picked up four new pens. One was a new Sheaffer Javelin for my wife in a translucent red, I cannot say how much I like these pens, for $20.00 - $30.00 (Cdn) they deliver everything one would want in a pen. The others were new old stock Sheaffer calligraphy pens whose nibs have been reground to suit my own writing needs.

My other pens don’t seem to mind that I have a new favourite pen. I use them all regularly and make sure they get the attention they deserve.

I don’t normally get too excited over new pens but some of the limited editions pens I saw had me considering selling one of my children… just kidding.

Now… two pens is a good start but there’s nothing wrong with owning a few more. I would still advise that anyone wanting a nice pen should look for a nice vintage model, you’ll often pay less and get a much nicer pen which will retain it’s value if it’s cared for.

Have you looked here? When other guys are staying up late looking for porn I can often be found here.

11

Oh! BIG BEAUTIFUL PICTURES OF PENS! Thank you, Feynn, thank you!

I didn’t know you could trade kids for pens . . . I might have to have some, if that’s the case . . .

Went shopping this morning in a brick-and-mortar store (imagine) but their “pen guy” wasn’t in for consultation. So I just looked at all the pretty colors. sigh

12

‘Oh! BIG BEAUTIFUL PICTURES OF PENS! Thank you, Feynn, thank you!’

It kinda makes you want to smoke a cigarette doesn’t it?

13

Hey Pod…

If you think the Levenger’s catalogue kicks butt you should take a peek at the catalog I just got from the Fountain Pen Hospital.

Looking at it was better than porn, for me anyways.

The catalog is free, you can order it from their website.

14

!!!

They have a CATALOG?!?!?

sigh

I’m toast.

15

Yeah, I got the Levenger catalog last week. But there are only a couple of pens I want. I like the Argento fountain pens on page 39, and I like the blue and green “Seas” fountain pens on page 52. I’d also like to pick up the Point of View pen case on page 43. I don’t have a use for the other stuff inthe catalog. Ikea has similar furniture that is cheaper.

In a General Questions thread I said I’m looking for a quill pen. I’ve been trying to carve my own, but I’ve had no success yet. I’ll need to take one poster’s advice and try to get one at Flax or elsewhere so I have a model to work from.

16

Quill pens? Um. I’ve MADE them. But you need access to a bird. You just get a big feather and cut the tip - the part that sticks into the bird - at a 45 degree angle.

I have seen quill pens on the East Coast (cos that coast tends to specialize in Revolutionary-Era history) tourist traps. Damn few, though, and the ones I saw tended to have a steel nib. A real quill pen really doesn’t last that long - the substance (gelatin? What makes up the shaft of a feather?) wears quickly. Think of quill pens as 18th military-issue click-clicks. :wink:

17

chique: In the GQ thread there is a link to a site that shows how to make a quill pen. On that page, they actually shape the nib like a fountain pen. I tried making one like that last night, but the tip was too flexible with the groove cut in it. Didn’t work at all. But this was a re-cut, so I wasn’t getting the hollow part of the end but the part that was full of absorbant material. I have a few feathers left, so I’ll try again.

I’ve seen the ones with the steel nibs, but if I’m going to use a quill pen I want a traditional one. Flax is moving, so I won’t be able to see what they have for about three weeks. I haven’t looked into occult shops yet.

18

My mom used to work there. Got some great discounts, as well as some free stuff that was used in training classes and some ld displays. I swear that is the biggest warehouse that I’ve ever seen. The best thing about the place was the store. I got to test out all the ridiculously priced funky chairs. You know that ergonomic stool thing? Very comfortable, and I don’t like seats without backs. But remember, they’re not just office supplies; they’re tools for serious readers.

19

[JuanitaTech, issuing a stern look over her frames]
Poddy, I’m going to overlook the fact that you called Levenger’s wares office supplies. I’ll just chalk it up to your overwhelming joy. Let’s not repeat this egregious error again, ok?
[/JuanitaTech, issuing a stern look over her frames]

Anyhoo, I think I’m going to buy the Paper Pinchers just for the tin, the Epicurean Book reader (which I should have had by now, sheesh) and the Brixton Leather set (it’ll look so sweet on my desk).