I ran across Rands last month via Daring Fireball. It was amusing to rediscover him (via Johan) today via an explanation of the nerd environment (from last year) and yesterday’s thorough explanation of the nerd, in general. What got me the first time, however, was his excellent post on gel pens.

Anyone who has seen my (pink) desk in my (girl) Nerd Cave can attest, I have a serious problem with the acquisition of gel pens. (And journals/notebooks, but that’s an addiction for another post.) I have many, many pens, most sparkly, most colored, very few in the “legal blue/black” range of color. Most Japanese. My very, very favorite pen is the Uni-ball Signo UM-151, .38 mm width (blue-black is my favorite color; purple a close second.) These litter my desk in various colors and states of emptiness. I buy them at Japanese stationary stores, usually Kinokuniya Books in San Jose, San Francisco or Portland. When I’m in San Jose, San Francisco or Portland, that is. Since those are 5.5, 4.5 and 6 hours away respectively, my pen refills come infrequently.

In the pen article, towards the end, Rands comments:

After asking friends about their favorite pens, I was sent off to a local Japanese paper store where there was an entire wall of gel pens sporting strange names and being sold in individual plastic wrappers. Visions of a secondary competition starting bouncing around my head.

If he was not at the Kinokuniya on Saratoga Avenue, I will eat my nearest nerd toy, talisman or amulet, as Rand lives in my city of birth, Los Gatos. He has different width requirements in terms of his gel pen (I like mine as thin as possible, as I tend to write small), but I hope he finds as much happiness in the Japanese gel pen as I do. JetPens is my friend, or will be as soon as I’m able to place an order. These trips to Kino just don’t come often enough for my taste (if they did, I’d be getting Ribon for $5-6 instead of $15 via subscription service!)

(Did I mention that I keep between 3-6 gel pens in my purse at any given time, and usually 1-2 more clipped to various journals I carry with me? Yeah. Pen. Nerd.)