Things I Use

Stationary

Pencils

I almost exclusively used 0.5mm pencils until about 2021, when I picked up a Pentel P209 0.9mm. I enjoy the color, balance, and styling; they write on darn near everything. Recently bought a Rotring 600 0.5mm and have been enjoying it for more detail-oriented note taking. I have a jar of razor sharp Mitsubishi 9850 HBs on my desk and find myself preferring them over many of the Blackwings I’ve tried.

Fountain Pens

I always come back to the same three pens: My Lamy Safari (Charcoal, fine) (been experimenting with oranges, reds, and blacks in this one), the TWSBI Diamond 580 Clear, Extra-Fine (used with a deeeeep blue ink), and my latest acquisition (and one of the best Christmas gifts I’ve ever received), a stunning Pilot Custom 823 Amber, Broad (with Pilot Iroshizuku Yama-guri ink) for when I need to write something emphatic.

Notebooks

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention a notebook I’ve loved over the years–the Miquelrius Soft Bound Leather Notebook, Grid. Made in Spain, they’ve got plenty of pages that accommodate a wide assortment of writing tools with minimal ghosting or feathering. The binding sometimes comes loose, but I’ve found that repair-wise, a dab of superglue does the trick.¹ I’ve been using a Hobonichi Techo, A6 off and on for three years running. I love the simplicity, the build quality, the black and gold covers, and the silky smooth grid paper. I use them like little logbooks, recording daily conversations, memories, random tidbits, quotes, project progress, and anything else that comes up. Fun to thumb through when you need to remember where you were on a certain day. This year I started using a Nolty 1211 Efficiency Notebook like an old-school Marquette or Standard Diary–just a simple thumbnail sketch of my day to jog the old memory if the need ever arises. I really like the Nolty’s form factor, but find myself wondering if it’s overkill to use this and a Hobonichi for general journaling. The Rite in the Rain 3 1/2”x5” Weatherproof Soft Cover Pocket Notebook is built to take a beating in your pocket. Great if you love using pencils or ballpoint pens. The covers develop a nice patina the longer you use them.

Every Day Carry

Watch

Hands down, the original Garmin Instinct is one of the best objects I’ve ever purchased, period. I’ve worn it nearly every day (in every condition imaginable) for the past six years. I’m on my third set of silicon bands (Amazon offers cheap replacements), but the watch just keeps going.

Knives

The Kershaw Ken Onion Leek, 3” (olive drab) ranks high among the best knives I’ve ever owned. It’s almost perfect. So light you forget it’s even there. Love the simple lock mechanism and the way it tapers to a sharp point.² I grab my Gerber Suspension-NXT whenever I need a multitool, though it mostly lives in my fishing bag. I carry a Swiss Army Classic SD on my keyring for emergency nail-clipping or sliver-pulling scenarios.

Wallet

Used the Alpaka Zip Pouch for a few months and it held up nicely. Frequently, however, I found myself wishing the main opening was a centimeter or two larger for pulling various ID and bank cards out on the fly. Decided to switch over to the Rite in the Rain Monsoon Field Wallet N° P971-M and let me tell you, I should have switched sooner. For only $16 and the ability to pair with a small pocket notebook, this thing is amazing.

Flashlight

Have loved my Royvvan Aurora A1 for the 4+ years I’ve owned it. Used multiple times a week.

Phone:

I’ve put off getting a new iPhone for as long as I possibly can. My iPhone 12 is fine, even though the camera’s auto-focus is borked.³

Miscellaneous

Apple Airtags for my keys, which sit on a Trayvax leather lanyard.

Tech Stuff

Computers

I daily an M1 Macbook Air (2020). It is hands down the best laptop—nay, computer—I’ve ever owned. Traded in my 2019 Macbook Pro (intel chip, touchbar, potentially the worst keyboard ever) for this model. The M1 chip was like a quantum leap in terms of speed, battery life, and overall enjoyment. I’ve found our family’s iPad Mini (2021) to be extremely useful in the archives.⁴ Long interested in having a dedicated desktop computer, I purchased a Lenovo ThinkCenter M715q Tiny in 2019 for using Windows at home. It has been an excellent PC. Love the small form factor. It punches way above its weight.

Peripherals

I’ve always enjoyed stock Lenovo keyboards, though I recently splurged on the incredible Logitech MX Keys S wireless keyboard and the Logitech MX Master 2S mouse. As someone who types (a lot) I can’t believe I didn’t upgrade sooner.

Apps & Software

I use Obsidian every day for general note taking, drafting, organizing, and habit tracking. Great for so many reasons. When I want a more dedicated program for writing markdown I used to use IA Writer Classic. I bought it in 2014, but never felt the urge to cough up $50 to upgrade. I’ve increasingly been loving Typora; for only $15 it has completely replaced iA Writer in my plain-text repertoire. I still find Plain Text Editor: to be the sleekest, most minimal plaintext editor for Mac I’ve found. I’m a huge fan of “brain dump mode.” For to-do lists and as a general capture device for random notes to file later I use Things. It’s expensive, but I enjoy DEVONthink as a searchable repository for archival material, imported PDFs, archived web pages, family stuff, etc. Pretty much anything I come across, I throw in there. Whenever I need to do anything with vector graphics, I use Inkscape.

Photography

Camera

I inherited a Canon EOS 70D DSLR camera from my mom, and I’ve been using it off and on for almost a decade now. I’m no professional; the extent of my photographic knowledge basically begins and ends with the “Rule of Thirds,” something I learned in my 6th grade photography class.⁵

Lenses

I own two lenses—my 24mm is great for all-purpose, general photography; my 55-250mm lens is great for portraits, nature photography, close-ups, etc.⁶

Music

Streaming

I didn’t immediately gel with Apple Music until my wife got us a family plan several years ago. Long-time iTunes user from the days of my youth; always loved my iPods growing up. Even though they’re cut from the same cloth, Apple Music never gave me the same creepy corporatized algorithmic-AI-fest vibe as Spotify did.

Listening

I’d been wanting a dedicated Mp3 player for a long time, but didn’t want to pay a premium for something I would only realistically use when I wanted to press the nostalgia button. I wasn’t prepared for how much of a unit the Phinistec Mp3 Player would be. I mean that in the most literal sense. I accidentally ran mine over with our car when it somehow fell out of my driver-side door. It was totally fine. The battery never dies; it’s comparable to my Kindle. The UI could be a better, but for what it is, this little guy does the job. As for headphones, I’m probably the furthest thing from an audiophile. If I have to go wireless, I prefer second generation Airpods. They fit my ears better than the newer ones. I use Bose SoundSport In-Ear headphones (wired) almost every day. They’ve been beat up, chucked around, sat on, chewed on (I have a toddler), and I never tire of using them. On flights or when I want to sink deep into a song, I go old school with a pair of Bose QuietComfort 2s from the mid-2000s. They never get old, either.

Miscellaneous

• Spartus Alarm Clock Model 1140: I’ve used the same vintage alarm clock since I was a kid. It’s a wood-grained 1980s SPARTUS with bright red numbers. I love it.
• IBM Selectric III Self-Correcting Typewriter: Got this thing for $50 and have been loving it ever since. The internals are so complicated I’m scared of anything breaking! Not to mention the typewriter repair market isn’t what it used to be…

Last updated: March 2025