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Saturday, February 07, 2009

3 Years and 15 Minutes

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.
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.Here I am hard at work in the quality control and product testing department.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.Some other people were also in my magazine, trying to cash in on my 15 minutes. There was this nice lady called Julie… And this American actor fellow called Ronald was making a name for himself in politics.Of course the Royal hats are always an important topic…and the ‘far out, groovy chicks’ are still…
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16 comments:

  1. JavierSunday, 08 February, 2009

    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 :)

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  2. AnonymousSunday, 08 February, 2009

    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

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  3. AnonymousSunday, 08 February, 2009

    Congratulations! I read all your posts with great interest, so I wish you many many reviews in the next years.

    Ovidiu

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  4. AkisSunday, 08 February, 2009

    Congratulations Dave. I hope that we will have you around writing for a least another three years and much more.....

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  5. Glen MullalyMonday, 09 February, 2009

    Way to go Dave! Keep up the great work!!!

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  6. AnonymousFriday, 13 February, 2009

    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.

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  7. AnonymousFriday, 13 February, 2009

    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.

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  8. RicardoFriday, 13 February, 2009

    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.

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  9. Kiwi-dFriday, 13 February, 2009

    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.

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  10. GermMonday, 16 February, 2009

    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!!

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  11. PenmaniacsMonday, 06 July, 2009

    they should make toy pencils for babies!

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  12. PenmaniacsMonday, 06 July, 2009

    3 years and now your number 1 in the pencil review industries, job well done

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  13. miss.awesome.ladyThursday, 04 March, 2010

    Wynne---great idea

    And Dave, were those pictures of yourself?

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  14. Kiwi-dThursday, 04 March, 2010

    Yes, thats me when I was 3.

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  15. miss.awesome.ladyTuesday, 23 March, 2010

    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.

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  16. Kiwi-dTuesday, 23 March, 2010

    Well I hope he's a "graphite guy".

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