Review – Exceed Notebook (7⅜x9½ {7½x9¾})

Once again I was foolishly tempted by the stationery shelf at my local Wal-Mart. But the quality of such notebooks can be all over the place, and in general tends to be trending upwards. I believe this is the case with this “Exceed” brand notebook I picked up several months ago (notebook reviews take so long, these books might not even be available anymore). This ruled, soft-cover notebook looks and feels almost as if it was manufactured in the Moleskine factory, for a relatively inexpensive price.

The entire notebook is bound in a black faux-leather that is slightly less shiny than a soft-cover Moleskine. This material is slightly warped by the black elastic band that wraps around it from the back cover to keep everything closed. On the back, very tiny and near the bottom, is stamped the EXCEED logo, and the area of the back inner pocket leaves visible indentions in the black material.

Inside there is a thicker page with space for a name, 96 sheets of (“college” ruled {36 lines per-page}) paper, and an expandable pocket in the Moleskine style that takes up the entire inner back-cover.

The paper itself is off-white and of “decent” quality. With standard ballpoints and pencils there are no significant problems. There is enough show-through that one can tell there is writing on the previous page, but using both sides of a sheet wouldn’t be too much of a challenge. With more liquid ink pens (rollerballs, Sharpies, porous points, and fountain pens) there is a considerable amount of show-through with even some bleed-through, though, with standard implements (no calligraphic or broad tips), I didn’t get any bleed onto the next page. The mostly-smooth paper is still pulpy enough that it quickly absorbs ink, preventing bleed on the next page and drying quickly, but exacerbating feathering (to an almost unbearable level with a fountain pen).

For the time that I’ve used it (with a regular ballpoint) I’ve encountered no problems. The cover looks nice (despite the elastic indents), the binding has held up, and the light-grey lines are un-intrusive and thin enough for my writing style. I’m not a particularly harsh user of notebooks, but I suspect this one could take much more punishment that I’ve dished out (however the nice plain-ness of the cover might suffer, it dents easily, especially when exposed to spiral binding, and even though it does pop back, I don’t know where the cutoff is). If you’re looking for something similar to a Moleskine soft-cover but at a reduced price, I would certainly consider tracking one of these down.

Suit EDC – Every-Day Carry 2016-17 Part 2

While my regular EDC works well for standard “civilian” clothes (though not quite standard, as I’m rarely in anything “less” than a button down shirt and slacks) I do wears suits as often as I possibly can (especially now in the winter), and it doesn’t work nearly as well for them. I can’t wear anything on the belt (for the most part) without having it look ridiculous, and my pants pockets would bulge since I carry mostly in the front. So I have to shift where I carry things and adjust a few usage scenarios (I probably won’t be using a full-sized multi-tool when in a suit). Fortunately, suits have a ton of pockets for me to spread my gear out in while looking nice and “fashionable”. Here’s the stuff I carry.

Man I wish I had a better photo of me… But you can see how little the pockets bulge in this one.

  • Inside Jacket Pocket 1
    • Pocket Notebook (Field Notes Expedition) (It always impresses people when you pull a notebook out of your jacket pocket)
    • Pocket Planner (Brownline)
    • Pen (Zebra F-301) (Sleek, dependable, and it fits a lot of styles)
    • Flashlight (Coast A5) (Goes better with most suits and that “classy” look than a “tactical” looking light)

  • Inside Jacket Pocket 2
    • Maxpedition Micro Pocket Organizer (This bulges a bit, but that’s because of the phone, which is the only thing I need, but otherwise fits surprisingly well in a common inside jacket pocket)
      • Work Phone
      • Lighter** (I run into people who want to light something more often in a suit, as strange as it is. This one is a Bic, but I sometimes have a Zippo elsewhere)
      • Multi-tool (Leatherman Style CS)** (or) (Gerber Dime Travel) (It depends on which I think I will use more that day: scissors or pliers. And if I’m going though a checkpoint)
      • Pocket Comb (always need one when I’m wearing a hat)
      • 2 Lens Wipes (Nikon)
      • Knuckle Bandage
      • Fingertip Bandage
      • 4 Alcohol Swabs
      • 1 Alcohol Towel-ette
      • Electrolyte Tablets
      • Mini Med Bag
        • 3 Diphenhydramine
        • 2 Acetaminophen
      • 2 Ricola Original Cough Drops (don’t want to have a problem when meeting people, especially in the cold)
      • GUM Soft Picks in Case (usually don’t have to use these, but they can be “life-saving”)

  • Outside Jacket Lower Pocket (Sometimes)* (When you need a USB stick you need a USB stick, and it doesn’t bulge much at all, so it’s there when I remember to put it there)
    • EDC Altoids Small Tin** (hopefully most of this is self-explanatory)
      • Flash Drive (Patriot Tab)
      • Knife (Opinel #2)**
      • Cord
      • Cotton Ball
      • Ziplock Bag
        • Matches**
        • Striker
        • Kleenex
      • Nail
      • 4 Straight Pins
      • Paperclip
      • Electrical Tape
      • 2 Migraine Medications
      • Butterfly Bandage
      • Cash (≈$10)

  • Belt
    • CRKT SPEW (Sometimes Around Neck)** (my one exception to the belt rule. It’s a bit harder to get in and out of its sheath, but it’s easy to access and super slim)

  • Pants Pockets (I went over most of these items in my previous post about my regular EDC, you can check that out if you want more info about my personal usage case)
    • Wallet (Austin Leather Tri-Fold Wallet) (I’m not sure the company even exists any more)

And that’s the suit carry. Not quite as much stuff, and a bit more limited in use than the standard EDC, but it all fits very slimly into the pockets and keeps me looking nice. Hopefully I won’t be doing too much down and dirty work in a suit anyway. I’ve also excluded a few of the regular trappings that may go along with a suit like: shoes, ties, tie bars, cufflinks, hats, etc. because those things change more frequently (by the day usually) than the gear I carry does. This has been a very good working system for me for about a year, but I’m always looking for a way to slim it down, and that gets harder ever time.

Next I’ll be returning to more of a “regular” “EDC’ set, my bag, which has probably seen the most change since my last update. Hopefully you’ll join me there.

(Amazon Links provided may not be the cheapest one’s around. If no Amazon link is available another one will be provided so long as I think the item is of enough importance)

* Items that are carried on a conditional basis or can be one of a few like items

** Items that will need to be specially treated when going into restricted areas (read: airports) (i.e. liquids and pointy things)

Review – Slant Collections Mini Journals Preppy Stripe

I’m not exactly the type of person to be found in Tuesday Morning (the store) but I did find myself in there one day, and there was quite a bit of interesting stuff. And being someone who has been drawn to the stationery aisle since I was little I found myself in the stationery section, where I found a set of Slant Collections mini journals, this particular set in the discontinued “preppy stripe” (it was Tuesday Morning, after all). Let’s take a look.

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The books themselves are 3¼ x 5¼ inches, just smaller than a Moleskine pocket book. The cover feels like plastic-coated cardboard and in this version has a very simple design that comes in 3 colors. It is a single piece bent around and stitch-bound onto the 70 inside pages. These pages are lined with a thin 7mm ruling that is the same color as the main cover color, printed on a very white background.

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The paper itself is quite thick and a medium roughness. It is very bleed-and feathering-resistant despite this. Fountain and other liquid ink pens are handled well, and with most other writing utensils both sides of the paper can be used, though at this size I wouldn’t recommend that. The cover and binding are very well done and hold up (the stitching looks very slightly unsightly at times) and the corners are nicely rounded to prevent the corner bending that some books get. On the table the book lies adequately flat and while the cover does bend out of shape it bends back just as easily.

In the end I have been surprised by these little notebooks. They are hardy, easy to carry, great writing things. It has taken me some time to review them as they weren’t good enough to replace any of the books in my normal rotation (but that’s more because I prize consistency, a book would have to be head and shoulders above to get met to move something out of my rotation). I enjoyed using them very much (even the pink one) and if all of the Slant collection journals are as good as these were I’d consider more in the future.

Review – Rhodia Pads

I’ve been using Rhodia products for years now, and the way that I was introduced to them was their famous pad-style books. I got one as a gift and used it almost every day in school (only almost because I wasn’t taking notes with it but writing down ideas). And I’ve had a few around ever since. Let’s take a look at what made them so widely used and praised.

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The pads themselves are simple, and have very few differences between the sizes. They are an orange rectangle, with one or two heavy-duty staples in the top and 3 creases on the cover to allow it to be folded over the spine easily and cleanly. Both the front and back have the Rhodia tree logo, with the back one being smaller and above some of the book’s specifications (in metric and imperial) and usually a price tag/bar code. Inside there are perforations on the top of each page, and with the thickness of the paper and the quality of the perforations, tearing out pages is easy, but they do not tend to fall out with hard use.

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The size of the paper in each book varies, and it comes in line or graph versions (dot in the premium editions, and unfortunately no blank). The ink used is a light blue-ish purple that doesn’t interfere with ink or pencil, the line paper is a bit darker. The paper is vellum and very ink resistant, meaning long dry times but little feathering, bleed through, and page crinkling. Show through can still be a problem, but most ballpoints and fountain pens write very well on the paper with almost no side effects. Paints and markers such as Sharpies are where the paper starts to not hold up as well, but the minimal crinkling, and the lack of bleed-through is still a very good performance. The coating on the paper also allows for very smooth writing, but one might have to press down hard with less wet pens.

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I might have already given away my opinion of the books in the first paragraph, but they are lovely. The writing experience is super smooth and pleasant; the worry that one might have with other papers when writing with liquid ink pens in non-existent. The binding is hardy and the cover wears very well with minimal things to be problematic. I’m generally not a fan of covers that fold over the top of the book, but I make an exception here. They make great traveling journals, school notebooks, coffee shop list makers, etc. And they can survive both fountain pens and being tossed around in a backpack. If the styling was a bit more my speed I would carry one around all the time. Still they are very versatile, and for the smaller ones, fairly inexpensive.