It was recently pointed out to me that
my blog has had its 3rd Anniversary, so I thought I had better do a little anniversary piece. Three Years. That’s a fair while. Inspired by the now defunct Pencil Revolution I started this blog back on 30 January 2006, and I remain surprised at it’s longevity and popularity (294 posts and about 330,000 hits, 720,000 page views). I’ll hope to write a little something celebrating my 5th Anniversary and 500th posting in a few years. Seeing this is an anniversary piece, I guess a little something personal is in order.
For quite a while now I’ve been thinking about this blog - things like why do I do it, what do I get out of it? I was recently sorting through some old stuff in storage and found something that got me thinking.
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They say that everyone has their 15 minutes of fame. Maybe I had mine back when I was a little fellow in the 60’s. Here I am from back then in full colour double page glory in our most popular “women’s” magazine. Ostensibly the article is about my older brothers thriving after-school business of making educational toys, but he only started making them because I wanted some new jigsaw puzzles, so really it’s all about me! Me, me, me, me, me! I was chief toy tester and reviewer, maybe that’s why I like writing this blog - I was born to be a product reviewer?
I haven’t looked at this magazine for decades, but I enjoyed taking a little journey back in time.
Final manufacturing steps - giving my mother some advice on correct colour selection.
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Here I am hard at work in the quality control and product testing department.
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Of course I don’t really remember much from those times, but I do remember some of the toys my brother made for me, particularly this jigsaw.
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Some other people were also in my magazine, trying to cash in on my 15 minutes. There was this nice lady called Julie…
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And this American actor fellow called Ronald was making a name for himself in politics.
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Of course the Royal hats are always an important topic…and the ‘far out, groovy chicks’ are still…
16 comments:
Congrats on your 3yrs.. I've been an avid lurker/occasional poster for the better part of those years and you never disappoint. It's thanks to sites like yours that made me the pencil collecting nut that I am today :)
Dave, congratulations on your third year anniversary! Thanks for this glimpse into your past. What a cool customer you were...and remain.
Barrel Of A Pencil
Congratulations! I read all your posts with great interest, so I wish you many many reviews in the next years.
Ovidiu
Congratulations Dave. I hope that we will have you around writing for a least another three years and much more.....
Way to go Dave! Keep up the great work!!!
Also, my congratulations on three years of blogging. A good achievement. I've just found your blog. I enjoy a good mechanical design myself. When we lived in Europe in the late 90's I found the "Stabilo Jet". To me, it's the best, most pure design ever. (For a cheap pencil) I didn't see it on your site. It's similar to the Lamy 2000, which you liked, but I think the design is even more balanced, and it's extremely comfortable to use.
PS: the currently available one http://www.stabilo.com/penfinder/product.php?id=644&language=fr&back=2&navilanguage=fr sucks compared to the original. I can't find a picture online of the original, but I have one leftover here, and it's awesome.
Hi Dave,
Congratulations on the blog third anniversary, i wish you all the best and i hope you will continue for as long as possible, to me, "DMP" is mandatory reading.
Best regards, from a Portuguese pencil collector,
Ricardo.
Hello All - well thanks for the nice comments on the anniversary. Much appreciated.
Jim N - I am not familiar with the Stabilo Jet. The current one doesn't remind me much of the Lamy 2000, but as you say its different to the original. I have actually had a couple of contacts ask about an old Stabilo they had that was sort of like a Lamy 2000, so I guess the Jet was it.
Congrats!!! I concur with Javier. If it wasn't for you David, i would still have a mediocre collection. Not it is epic and out of control. and I'm loving every minute. woohoo!!
they should make toy pencils for babies!
3 years and now your number 1 in the pencil review industries, job well done
Wynne---great idea
And Dave, were those pictures of yourself?
Yes, thats me when I was 3.
Hehehe... there's sort of a coincedence going on...your blog started the day my brother was born...but I never heard of it back then.
Well I hope he's a "graphite guy".
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