One choice: think fast!
If you felt like you were going to need one suit in the upcoming future for multiple funerals, and wanted it tailored to the max, with perfect measurements, one would go for (knowing it would likely be the only suit one had that was perfect…other occasions, just navy blazer and charcoal trousers are fine [for me]):
Well, watching again that scene in Color of Money where Helen Shaver calls out Eddie…his suit…
I think it’s a black suit, but in flannel. Next scene, that’s a charcoal or dark navy.
Hard to tell.
TK6, I’d totally eat somebody out if they knew what.
Dark navy in the diner.
Would someone care to explain to me how I gained ten pounds in five days?
On the 12 July, after sweating at work, I weighed in at 226.
Today the 17 July, even more sweating than usual, exactly ten pounds more.
But good thing the Diurex Max arrived at my door today (a caffeine free "water pill…yes, I ordered from That Place because not one damn store or pharmacy I’ve stopped at seems to carry it…although I did get “lucky” to find the caffeine-pill version of Diurex yesterday.
Took some of that just now. Some Ex-Lax for good measure (Abe “Fish” Vigoda’s got nothing on me!).
Yeah, yeah, probably not supposed to do that, but all I do is drink water with sugar-free elelctrolyte powder, coffee, and I’m back on strict no-alcohol diet.
It’s astonishing, to me.
Five days! And of the days I was…shall we say…“alert” enough to count calories, including from beverages, it was at or under what my basal metabolic rate suggests is my resting caloric needs at 6’3" (and a half).
Yes, I’m serious as hell! I keep a little log of how many units of alcohol I consume, kCalories, cigarettes smoked, all that.
It’s not only important that I know the reason why, because of my extreme vanity, but I want to go see this tailor to get measured for a suit, and it would be nice to go in at my correct weight.
I have a thyroid disorder and every few years I’ll gain 10-15 pounds in a week or so with no change to diet and exercise. Then spend the next year getting the weight off.
Ooh, a thyroid condition runs through my family so I get checked every so often. I put on half a stone a couple of months ago very quickly and thought it was because I was depressed, though I’m not sure I ate that much junk. Maybe I should get checked again.
Ohhh!!! The plot thickens!
No, I don’t make light of either of your conditions: frankly, it sounds like a royal PITA.
But that is strange, even for a no-longer-that-young, that small cogs in a complicated system can have such a dramatic effect.
I do have one burning question that is completely unrelated to anything, but I’ve never found an answer.
Lore has it (meaning, I read about it somewhere, probably from a dubious source) that Lenny and or Squiggy (from Laverne and Shirley) painted their toilet (bowl, I assume) black.
Probably asked this on here once, but I will not rest until this “mystery” is solved!
And no, the answer is not ancient aliens.
This is true, I remember from the series they were laughing because they never had to clean their toilet again.
I would give it a few minutes, he had mushed bananas and termites for brekky.
All right, so what is the mechanical problem with every single cheap “click to release ballpoint” ballpoint pen.
That causes the ballpoint to not retract.
I’ll not sully the name of the Pilot G2 with gel ink by bringing them into this, but like dollar (and a quarter) store type pens one might buy to have some around in diverse colors, or maybe a regular ballpoint pen one uses at The Company.
Why? How? There are some mechanical geniuses on here, but there is no reason I can see for this problem.
ALSO: Why is it that similarly available cheap flint+fuel lighters with a translucent reservoir of what I presume is very poor quality but OK butane fail to live up to their tempting promise?
In that latter scenario…I don’t think it could be air “leaking” into the fuel chamber whilst striking flame…but it’s similarly, to me, an interesting question of why these things fail in a predictable and, to me, irreversible, fashion.
Glass is very recyclable, yes. However, in areas that utilize single-stream recycling (no sorting at the household source), glass is considered a contaminant. It makes the sorted collection more of a burden to downstream metal/plastic/paper recyclers.
The click mechanism is binding. Either crud is blocking it, so take it apart, clean it and reassemble (spring near the tip and gears near the button might both need fixed). Or the button is broken from dropping it or age and one of the gears broken in which case replace the pen.
If this is happening often for you, consider using a no retractable pen. The downside will be losing the cap.
Or you could buy a less cheap pen that has a more robust click mechanism.
I normally get several refills use out of these sorts of pens and they last me years.
Edit: they fail because the components are not designed to last. The pens need to be cheap enough to throw away after a cartridge is empty or to lose. A more expensive pen designed to last for years or lifetimes often require maintenance. Not to mention these sorts of pens typically cost much more than $1-5 per pen.
No Springs !
My favorite basic ball points to consider.
The Pentel Alloy pens. I’ve been using the same one of these for maybe 5 years now. It is fairly cheap. They accept one of the most common gel ink cartridges. It has decent weight to it.
Downsides are: I did have to make a repair at some point, the bushing around the threads loosened, and I super glued it. The grip is also a bit narrow compared to some, but normal relative to cheaper pens. My biggest complaint is that the paint has scratched up so much.
The award winning Uni-ball One P is a nice pen if you like simple design, like color options, and want a nice fat pen. It’s short so easily fits in a pocket, but can feel a little short of you like a longer pen. The fine tips are a great welcome if you need smaller details like writing Chinese characters. The ink flow is one of the best I have enjoyed.
The main downside to me is they are a bit light. I’ve only used them for 3 or 6 months so can’t tell how long they will hold up.
OK.
That is somewhat unfortunate, but if it is in effect unavoidable (recycling here is indeed mixed, or what is apparently called single-stream, with the possible exception of several central depots), I think yeeting them in the trash and trying to make better decisions as a consumer will be acceptable.
Yes, the click is binding…however, I find that this type of pen will only function as retractable a few times before failure.
Similar to the case with the faulty lighters.
I know the solution is to use better pens, which I do when it’s convenient. Same with lighters: I just don’t buy those, and stick with Zippos with butane torch inserts.
In fact, I prefer using pencils for most tasks.
But the interest in these products is that they are disposable and one can have dozens of them cached in various strategic spots, while reserving one’s better instruments for at one’s desk and so forth.
I just compared the click mechanism on one of the Pilot G2 to something branded “Clip Click Inc.” The latter cannot even be disassembled without cutting away the plastic housing.
Perhaps there is a set of clicking, ballpoint, non-gel pens in various colors that can be had in multiple colors and bought in boxes of large quantities for cheap. I suspect major brand names will provide better quality.
However, I still find it questionable that any person or robot could have designed products (cheap pens and cheap lighters) with such distinctive manners of failing reliably.
It would be a satisfying, difficult art to build such an item on purpose.
I can’t speak of whether some brands are bad because while I do sometimes have the clicker bind locked open on disposable pens, it feels infrequent to me. For a long time, I’ve kept pens alive seemingly forever. I have a stash of empty pens and use refills.
Why cheap manufacturers make worse equipment seemingly on purpose: imagine the worst student you graduated highschool with. That person is probably the caliber of person running the factory. Through a lack of talent and concern, they produce the pens they do.
People that take more pride in their work are going to want to earn more than what the salary to design and produce a 10¢ pen with a 0.5¢ margin.
For an upgrade, consider the Lamy 2000. I’ve never used the rollerball version, but the fountain pen version is a top 10 daily driver. I like the Lamy Studio as well, but not sure if it comes in a rollerball version.
If you go the fountain pen version, you could also consider a waterproof version of ink, though many fewer color options.
That’s kind of interesting. I’ve found a fine point “permanent marker” is giving me some bleed through on the Rite-in-the-Rain supposedly waterproof notebooks, when fully soaked. Still legible, but unsightly — suppose that can’t be helped!
Somehow, I can’t feature eighty bucks for a ballpoint pen, though! I did fail miserably to pick up this French chick once who was writing with a fountain pen in some café…she naturally had a boyfriend who came to meet her. But I got to observe her writing with it and learn a little bit about portable rigs.
That’s all I know about fountain pens! The highest I’ll go even for pencils are basic Staedtler Mars and Koh-i-noor lead holders
How?
Baby oil helps…
As another fun pen option, consider the Zebra Fude Brush Pen.
It’s also waterproof and allows some change in line thickness, but if going from a ballpoint, I’d recommend the finest tip you can get.
“Portable rig” makes me think she was using a dip pen. Is that what you meant?
The best way to consider getting some of the more expensive things in life is for birthday presents. I really don’t have a lot of things that I want. So I normally request people get me mundane things that just cost a bunch over my life like guitar strings or ridiculously expensive items that I wouldn’t buy for myself like a $30 bottle of soy sauce.
Hell if I know! It was portable in that she carried it with her from who-knows-where and a bunch of inks with her little pen and was practicing writing with it at a table.
I prefer the bottle of soy sauce or the pen that resembles in every way an immaculately tailored suit created to my exact specifications!
And either a shoulder holster or an outside-the-waistband leather holster than can hold and conceal a double-stack 1911-style handgun chambered in 9mm.
Or some more fairly expensive leather-bound books.
OK, the brush pen looks pretty cool, but I’d use it as intended exactly never. The only things I write are voluminous scribbles, notes, logs of medications taken, music on staff paper, and stuff on white boards at home.
Eh, one of these days I might go me a “space pen” or whatever they’re called, or one of the Rite-in-the-Rain pens.
If it’s good enough for Mitchell, then I agree!
/* ETA: rotring 600 ballpoint pen looks good for specifically writing on waterproof paper. Can change the cartridge for any desired color easily. */