I go back and forth on this so often it’s not even funny.

The two gel pens I like the most in general is:

• Signo DX 0.38mm
• Zebra Sarasa 0.4mm

I like writing with the DX more, but I find the Zebra to be more comfortable to write with, plus being capless makes it much quicker to get started.

At the moment my favorite is the Zebra, but that probably will change at least twice before the summer is over.

Note: went back a forth a bunch of times if these belong on my more tech and everything else focused personal site or here, and decided to put it here because desks and stationery seems very related

I’ve been looking for a laptop stand for using my laptops open for years, but never got one because they never went high enough for me.

Then I found this thing.

It seems like it shouldn’t work, and be stable or be able to keep your laptop up. But it totally works. I had to tighten the screws to make it work properly but other than that it is perfect.

I have mine at the highest angle, and it for the most part lines up with the top of the screen in the office. And I have the laptop at a comfortable viewing angle, plus it makes less space on the desk.

The only thing I miss from it is a way to deal with dongles that are chunky, and don’t have a long enough cable to reach all the way down.

Note: went back a forth a bunch of times if these belong on my more tech and everything else focused personal site or here, and decided to put it here because desks and stationery seems very related

I remember during the iPad 2 days I used to have this compass thingy for my iPad. That just led me prop it up at two different heights, one comfortable for typing on it like it was a keyboard and one for looking at it like a regular display. The great thing about it is that unlike most cases that do this, you can prop it up in both landscape and portrait.

A while back I kind of wanted the same for my much bigger iPad. Plus I lost or got rid of the old compass years ago. So I looked at found out that Twelve South have a new one for bigger iPads.

It is really awesome, and I all day in the office, because there is always I thing I want to have visible on the side.

Note: went back a forth a bunch of times if these belong on my more tech and everything else focused personal site or here, and decided to put it here because desks and stationery seems very related

I’ve never been that into these stands that show off your iPhone like that. Mostly because I didn’t really see the point. But then the always on display came, and it all changes.

First I got the one from Studio Neat at home. And then I kind of wanted the same at work, so I ordered one from Twelve South.

I like it a lot, and think it works way better as an desk stand than the Material Dock. Mainly because you can adjust the angle. Very useful if you have a pomodoro timer or something running on your phone.

Always miss it when I work from another desk.

I don’t think I have used much pencils over the last year or so.

For the most part I’m just using fountain pens most of the time, and where I used to use pencils gel pens have taken over.

I’ll probably get back to them sooner at later. But at the moment I’m enjoying the hell out of gel pens and fountain pens.

I thought it was time to do a list of the pens I currently use the most:

• Pilot Custom 823 (F)
• Pilot Vanishing Point (EF)
• TWSBI Vac 700R (EF)

The interesting thing about this list is that all of these pens are very recent additions. Both the 823 and the 700R, kind of just immediately became something I just always picked up. Not sure why, but I really like the process of untwisting the top on vacuum fillers. And the VP with EF just became the perfect pick up a check off a few items kind of pen.

So I decided to not get the first version of this pen years ago, when it first came out, the VAC 700. Because it didn’t seem like a great pen. And then I first forgot about there coming out a better version of it.

Eventually I saw it and added it to my short list, and finally ordered one in the Iris finish with an EF nib not too long ago.

The first thing in noticed about it is that it requires some fussing to get a good fill from using the vacuum system. So I just unscrewed the nib and filled it with a syringe like it do with most of my pens.

Also the grip section is a little bit slippery and I feel the threads from the cap a bit too much for my taste when writing with it. But that is kind of the only thing I have to complain about.

My favourite thing about using vaccum fillers is that I have to unscrew the top for ink to flow to the nib unit. Great for when you’re flying or if you just think it is fun to do it.

This pen became one of the pens I use all the time over night. Together with my Pilot Custom 823 and Vanishing Point it is my most used regular writing pen at the moment.

I got another pink, and maybe another one as well.

When I say I want more pink stuff in general: this is what I want. Not that pastel crap or that rose gold bullshit. I proper wild neon pink.

Not much to say about this ink really. If you want a neon pink ink this is a really good one. Other than that it is what you expect from Iroshizuku: wet and smooth just how I like it.

The nerdy pen bits

I use Leuchtturm1917 A5 dot grid notebooks for it at the moment. Sometimes the Bullet Journal versions sometimes the regular. It all depends on what is in stock and if I find a color that is cooler than the dull crap they have for the Bullet Journal versions.

Most of the time I use fountain pens. Usually a finer nibbed one for writing and broad stub to underline headings.

How I use it

I usually re-collect things when the number of pages from first to last go beyond 20-30 pages, mostly because I find it easier to deal with. Plus that I often need to replace at least some of the goals every 3-5 days anyways.

On the first two pages I write down my current “yearly” theme, and then I write down some goals I have on some areas of my life. Usually weight and fitness goals are there. Plus some things I focus on improving.

Then I put a marker there. Then I turn the page and make a daily page. I make one every day. And move over whatever was left on the day before.

I just write down the day of the week and the date. And start adding stuff. I usually start by adding auto generated check lists from things that kind of keep my life together.

Usually first work stuff, then my personal daily stuff. I often start with the most important stuff. And then things I have to carry over from the day before. And then I put a marker on the start of the daily page and one marker at the first page with free space to write things.

The first marker is always on the “status / goal page” the second is always at the first page with tasks I haven’t checked off and the last one is always at the first page with available space.

As I complete things and run out of tasks I start refilling it. Usually start with Daily tasks, move over to weekly and monthly if there are anything there I need to do. And after that over to projects that are in focus. First the ones outlined in the Hobonichi and then later anything not hidden in my task manager.

Formatting

I don’t use the official Bullet Journal formatting, I’ve tried a few times but after many years of using Dash/Plus as my task management on paper formatting system I’ve never been able to change it.

The way I do things is that I use one pen and color for writing and another pen and color for underlining things.

I usually only have two levels of headings. One is the day, and then one for the “collection”, when things go deeper than that I typically will do it as sub-tasks and sub-sub-tasks etc. Anything that has tasks under it will be underlined. To make it easy to spot.

In addition to this I also often will write a + between different areas. Like when I move from “Work” related tasks to “Daily” tasks etc.

Page layout

My page layout is usually that I align the top level heading (the day and date) to the left written larger than the rest.

The collection I typically center.

I also try to use as much of the page as possible. So, if a collection only takes up half the width or a third of the width of the page, I often will add another section next to it. Other times I write the tasks two or three per line. It all depends on what works and how mindful I am of not wasting page while doing it.