If you've been keeping up with my blog posts lately you'll know I've come to adding a few news posts from around the web on this subject. I've got a couple more today that are new and updated, so let me know what you think of em...

Task Force Takes on Alarming Audit

The $628 fountain pen and the $210 coffee maker just to name a few. UNK's head volleyball coach, Rick Squires, is also cited in the audit for taking his ... Read More...

Stage Door: Wolves at the Window, Circumcise Me, Forbidden Broadway

For instance, when a poet is asked what possessed him to write a poem on peace, he replies: "I bought a new fountain pen." When former lovers meet on a ship ... Read More...

Berlin Wall: voices of the revolution

There were just four types of sock or glove and one type of fountain pen; if you had something from West Germany people noticed immediately, ... Read More...
That's all the news for today guys, so until next time, thanks for stopping by.

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Selling Is Easy When You're First, Fast And Foremost
 by: Jim Meisenheimer

First - being before all others. Fast - moving or able to move quickly. Foremost - first in rank, order, or place. Wouldn’t you like to be first, fast, and considered foremost in your business. Obviously, the correct answer is yes. Here are nine tips, hints, and practical ideas to get you on your way. These sales tips work.

1. First - All potential customers have needs. All potential customers have problems. All potential customers are never 100% completely satisfied with their current supplier. A professional salesperson recognizes these simple facts and uses prepared questions to uncover the hidden needs, problems, and dissatisfactions that every potential customer has. Once these have been uncovered, always try to have your potential customer quantify them for you in dollars. Every quantifiable problem is begging for a solution. That’s where your products and services come in.

2. First - The way to achieve number one is based on your ability to ask rock-solid and open-ended questions. Develop and use a minimum of ten questions. Your questions should get your potential customers to talk about their business, responsibilities, challenges, priorities, current supplier, current product, criteria for making a decision, the decision making process, expectations, and how they measure success. Note, that the person asking the questions is usually in control of the sales call.

3. First - Make every customer presentation a personalized one. If you ask enough questions, you’ll learn about your potential customer. The more you learn, the better your opportunity will be to tailor your presentation. The goal is to get the customer thinking your presentation is awesome. Run-of-the-mill presentations are never awesome. When your product fits the customer’s specific needs it then becomes awesome.

4. Fast - Today more than ever, our biggest challenge is too much to do and not enough time to do it. Moaning and groaning aren’t solutions. Learn to prioritize everything. Start each selling day with a six-pack. No, not that kind. Have a written list of all the things you want to do each day. Prioritize your list by writing the numbers 1-6 next to the six most important things. If this is so easy why do so few people do it?

5. Fast - In sales we tend to over promise. We’re so anxious to get the business we make commitments based on perfect alignment and unreasonable assumptions. Every broken commitment, regardless how small, is a credibility deduction. Be slow to commit and quick to deliver and you’ll have a significant reputation.

6. Fast - Someone once said, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got.” Pledge from this day forward you will never utter these words again, “I’ve always done it this way.” They are limiting words during these rapidly changing times. Ask these two questions often: How can I do it better? How can I do it faster? You headed in the right direction if you’re always attempting to do things better and faster.

7. Foremost - There are V.I.P.’s and F.I.P.’s. You don’t want to be the latter. A F.I.P. is a formerly important person. To remain a V.I.P. in your customers mind, mix high touch with your high tech. Buy and use an old fashioned fountain pen. Send two handwritten notes everyday. (10 per week, 500 per year, 5,000 per decade, and 10,000 over twenty years). It’s a real touch of class during these busy times.

8. Foremost - You don’t have to be a lot better than your competition to win more sales. You need only be a little better. Having an edge doesn’t give you a lot, it gives you a slight advantage. Join the 1% club. Seek to do everything that affects your business 1% better.

Imagine the consequences if you were 1% better in these areas; your questions, your prospecting, your networking, your telephone, your time management, your communication skills, your negotiation skills, your closing skills etc. Big things happen when you focus on being a little better.

9. Foremost - The principle tool for salespeople is words. You use words to make appointments, to build rapport, to ask questions, to make presentations, to handle objections, and to ask for the order. Words are the real key to success. To avoid getting mugged by your own mouth, choose your words carefully. You will take your skills to the next level if you prepare and practice your words.

First - being before all others. Fast - moving or able to move quickly. Foremost - first in rank, order, or place.

If this isn’t your style, you could always be last, slow, and lagging.

Free - eCourse The Art Of Closing The Sale.

Use this link to get started right now:

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Free White Paper - How To Make Sure Your Next

National Sales Meeting Is Better Than Your Last One

Use this link to get your copy Link

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http://www.meisenheimer.com/articles/quiz1.html

About The Author

Jim Meisenheimer is the creator of No-Brainer Sales Training. His sales techniques and selling skills focus on practical ideas that get immediate results. You can discover all his secrets by contacting him at (800) 266-1268, e-mail: jim@meisenheimer.com or by visiting his website: http://www.meisenheimer.com.

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The Lost Art of Hand Writing
 by: Ieuan Dolby

For a couple of years now I have used a computer for everything from writing articles, to communicate, to playing games and to printing addresses onto envelopes. My laptop is never far away, it is usually by my side or on my knees, and the furthest it ever gets from my side is when I am on the toilet or in the swimming pool. Recently though I had to write a personal letter to my mother, just to say hello sort of thing and I thought that a printed letter would not be quite the right thing for the occasion.

Upon making the decision to write I assumed that it would be a relatively simple task to accomplish but all was not as easy as I first thought! Finding paper and pen proved quite a hurdle to climb over. The only paper I could find in the house was reams of unlined printer paper and some flowery toilet paper, my old and once-trusted fountain pen had more ink on the outside than in and the pen with a naked lady body just seemed so wrong to use!

I toddled off to the stationary shop to get the necessary and two hours later I repaired to the task in hand. I had my pens, I had my paper and I had a lovely cup of hot coffee to sip whilst jotting down my thoughts and life for my mother to read in due course!

Five minutes later I gave up! My hand was sore; it ached all the way up to the elbow and felt like I had just started to use it after six weeks in a cast!

My five minute foray into using a pen gave to me a lot to think about, apart from a sore hand that is. It brought fond memories flooding back of when I used to sit on planes, trains and buses with a notepad perched on my knees! I used to jot down notes about interesting things happening on my journeys; I used to let my thoughts wander whilst in motion and to later use these inane thought to make an article. I remembered how I used to build up ideas for future essays or articles by spending hours scribbling and dawdling, pondering and playing till hours, nay days later a finished product would surface out of the mess.

I remembered how I used to be a very relaxed person! I was often found curled up in front of the television or in a hammock in the garden, snuggled up under the covers or lying on the grass! I recalled how I used to turn my thoughts slowly and artfully into a product that I was happy with. And then two years ago that stopped like a bullet in the brain! My hobby turned, with a simple purchase of a laptop computer, into an automatic rush to develop and to produce without proper regard or actual knowledge that the finished product made any sense what-so-ever. Articles were started and finished quickly, without any searches for alternative discussion, pause or reflection and published without fanfare or enjoyment that I had once known. But I was so busy becoming a machine, just like the one that I had bought, that I did not realize and had no warning of what was going on. It was only this recent handwriting exercise that brought all that I had lost back to me like the flood from a damn broken!

Writing by hand has unfortunately become a lost art form that may never resurface! The computer and the keyboard, phones and mobile PDF devices have taken over from basic handwriting for anything longer than one sentence. For many the simple ability to correct mistakes, to alter and to expand documents with ease, the fact that most written notes have to be entered into a machine anyway and the fact that it is fashionable puts handwriting into the annals of history without second thought or hindrance! But what computers do is to take away the enjoyment, the fun and the relaxation that is synonymous with a pen and paper. Computers are machines that are so useful yet have taken the fun out of writing in one fell swoop.

I still put out the same number of articles, essays, pieces, etc. as I did before. Nobody has suggested since my laptop initiation that the quality of my works have diminished and certainly I now spend more time on other tasks or chores than I did pre-laptop times, but the pleasure has been removed.

I am now pondering a return to happier times. To write more by hand so that I may re-experience the leisure that was so much part of it all. But first I must strengthen up my right hand as five minutes is just not long enough!

About The Author

Ieuan Dolby - Author and Webmaster of Seamania. As a Chief Engineer in the Merchant Navy he has sailed the world for fifteen years. Now living in Taiwan he writes about cultures across the globe and life as he sees it.

seadolby.com

ieuandolby@seadolby.com

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A Comparison Of Pens: Choosing A Ballpoint, Rollerball Or Fountain Pen

Anybody who's spent any length of time actually hand-writing something has a favorite type of pen, and they all have discriminating preference. One person may only want to write with a retractable medium-point ballpoint pen with blue ink, whereas another can't go without her extra fine-point rollerball black ink pen with a cap.

There are three major kinds of pens: rollerball, ballpoint, and fountain. All three pens have advantages and disadvantages unique to their design, so the perfect pen for you really depends on what you want out of your pen. Here are the pros and cons for each type of pen, to help you in your decision of which to buy.

Ballpoint pens: The utilitarian

Ballpoint pens are everywhere. In 2005, Bic sold its hundred billionth ballpoint pen, to give you an idea of how many there are circling the globe. The ink ballpoint pens use also lasts a long time, doesn't bleed through paper, and dries quickly enough that it resists smudging. You also don't have to worry as much about a ballpoint pen leaking ink over your shirts or pants, unless you run it through the washing machine.

Though ballpoint pens are typically very simple and practical, it is possible to find some that are a little more sophisticated than average. Some major brands, like Graf von Faber Castell, create ballpoint and rollerball pens in the same lines as their fountain pens, so you can get elegance and utility in the same pen.

The cons of ballpoint pens are that there's a limit to the places they can write. They can't write on wet or oily surfaces, and neither can they write upside down or up against a wall. Ballpoints also have fewer ink colors available, as opposed to fountain pens and rollerballs, because of the consistency of the ink. They also require more pressure to write cleanly, so if you're going to be writing a lot, be prepared for hand strain.

Fountain pens: The classic

Smooth, elegant, timeless: all these are words to describe the simple, stylish fountain pen. While ballpoint pens are more widespread today, fountain pens have been around for centuries. The ink flow is smooth and even and requires almost no pressure in order to produce clean, legible writing. People who
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have arthritis or other hand problems may find fountain pens easier to use than ballpoint. Plus, a single fountain pen can use a variety of colors, and all you have to do is change out the ink.

Fountain pens also imply sophistication. They're very useful for professional art, penmanship and calligraphy, and their use associates them with class, status and elegance. Good quality fountain pens are built to last; if used correctly, they can outlive their owners several times over. Many major pen brands create pens that are virtually works of art themselves. For example, Graf von Faber Castell offers Classic Pernambuco, a line of pens that are made from the same wood used to craft violins.

For all their advantages, fountain pens are typically not suited for convenience and daily use. Many people may not want to deal with the hassle of changing out ink. Fountain pens require a little more care than ballpoint pens or rollerballs, and if something goes wrong with them, you usually have to spend some time figuring it out as opposed to tossing it and getting a new one.

Rollerball pens: The compromise

Rollerball pens combine the everyday practicality of a ballpoint with the smooth, even ink flow of a fountain pen. Like fountain pens, they have a greater variety of colors and require little pressure to write cleanly. Like ballpoint pens, they're convenient for everyday use.

Plus, rollerball pens come with either liquid ink or gel ink. The brighter colors of gel ink show up on darker paper, so if you've got an art or scrapbooking project, a rollerball pen may be the way to go.

The disadvantages of a rollerball are mostly ink-related. The ink is dispensed through the tip more quickly, meaning that it won't last as long as a ballpoint pen. Though the ink is easier to read, it also seeps through paper, making your writing illegible should you write on both sides of the sheet. Also, gel inks don't flow as readily as liquid inks, which means you could get a lot of blobs or skipping while you're writing with them.

Choose your pen wisely

With all the digital technology of today, it may seem that pens are merely a relic of the past. Why write it out when you have a computer to do the work for you?

But pens have an advantage that computers do not, beyond their sleek sophistication. They give you connection: both physical and personal connection to the words that you're writing, as well as a connection to all the writers in the past that scribed their works by hand.

Where everybody's "words" look the same on computers, with pens each letter is uniquely yours, committed to paper in your handwriting. Choose the pen that works for you, and enjoy a new level of connection with everything you write.

By: Frank Mazza

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Frank Mazza is president of Kimberley & Co., an authorized Graf von Faber Castell dealer. Find a pen as unique as you are by visiting them online at www.KimberleyCo.com to browse their line of Graf von Faber Castell products.

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"As You Know, Bob." — When Exposition Masquerades as Dialogue

by: TK Kenyon

Author of RABID, coming in 2007 from Kunati Books

If your dialogue sounds too stilted, you may have exposition passing itself off as dialogue. Dialogue's one and only purpose is to elucidate the tension between characters. It is not, ever, to convey information. A bad example of what I mean:

Exposition masquerading as dialogue: "As you know, Bob, we've been stuck on this desert island for twenty years, eating only the coconuts that grow on the one tree and fish which we catch with our hands. We have several vitamin deficiencies, and you've been picking your nose this whole time. Stop it, or I'm going to kill you!"

Or:

Dramatized exposition, and one line of dialogue: Ted pounded the coconut open with a rock. It wasn't quite ripe yet, but he was so tired of fish, and his fingernails stung in the salt water where they cracked and peeled.

Bob sat on the beach a few yards away. He was picking his nose again. Again.

"Stop it!" Ted screamed and picked up the rock he had used to smash the green coconut into meaty fragments.

October's essay at http://www.tkkenyon.com: Interior Monologue: Just Think No!

About The Author

(c) 2006 by TK Kenyon

TK Kenyon is a graduate of the world-famous Iowa Writers’ Workshop with an M.F.A. in fiction (Truman Capote Fellow,) holds a Ph.D. in molecular virology, and did postdoctoral research at the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease at the University of Pennsylvania, studying Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other maladies. TK Kenyon has published numerous short fiction and non-fiction pieces in prestigious journals. The current issue of American Short Fiction (Summer, 2006) includes “The Law of Large Numbers.” More about TK Kenyon and RABID, the blockbuster and controversial novel forthcoming in 2007 from Kunati Books, are at the official website: http://www.tkkenyon.com.

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Who is the inventor of the pen?

History

The earliest historical record of a reservoir pen dates back to the 10th century. In 953, Ma'ād al-Mu'izz, the caliph of Egypt, demanded a pen which would not stain his hands or clothes, and was provided with a pen which held ink in a reservoir and delivered it to the nib via gravity and capillary action. Al-Mu’izz commissioned the construction of the pen instructing:

“‘We wish to construct a pen which can be used for writing without having recourse to an ink-holder and whose ink will be contained inside it. A person can fill it with ink and write whatever he likes. The writer can put it in his sleeve or anywhere he wishes and it will not stain nor will any drop of ink leak out of it. The ink will flow only when there is an intention to write. We are unaware of anyone previously ever constructing (a pen such as this) and an indication of ‘penetrating wisdom’ to whoever contemplates it and realises its exact significance and purpose’. I exclaimed, ‘Is this possible?’ He replied, ‘It is possible if God so wills’. [1]

M. Klein and Henry W. Wynne received US patent #68445 in 1867 for an ink chamber and delivery system in the handle of the fountain pen.

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Technorati Tags: vintage fountain pen

Critic of Polish president buys pen that refused to sign EU treaty - Yahoo! Canada News

Module body

Tue Nov 3, 7:02 AM

By The Associated Press

ADVERTISEMENT

WARSAW, Poland - A critic of President Lech Kaczynski has bought a fountain pen that malfunctioned when the Polish leader signed the European Union reform treaty.

Janusz Palikot paid 18,100 zlotys ($6,300) for the pen in an Internet auction Monday night. Palikot said Tuesday the faulty pen was symbolic of Kaczynski's presidency.

Palikot, a member of Prime Minister Donald Tusk's Civic Platform party, has criticized the president's skepticism toward the EU. Kaczynski's brother is Poland's opposition leader.

Kaczynski delayed signing Poland's ratification of the document, known as the Lisbon Treaty, for 18 months.

When he approved it Oct. 10, his Stipula pen refused to write and an aide lent him a ball point pen to sign.

Proceeds of the auction will go to children with cerebral palsy.

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Mont Blanc Ball Point Pens

Mont Blanc pens originated in Germany around the turn of the 19th century. Back then in its early beginnings it was known as the Simplo Fuller pen company but it soon went on to change its name and become known as the Mont Blanc and then on to Mont Blanc International GMBH. While this company does design and manufacture a wide range of luxury goods and fashion accessories it is perhaps best known for its exquisitely crafted pens.

The Development Of the Ball Point Pen

For decades since its inception Mont Blanc manufactured fountain pens exclusively. However; it wasn't long after the development of the ball point pen that Mont Blanc began making it available in many of their styles. One little known fact about ball point pens is that when they were first invented and brought to market, the new technology was quite expensive. In fact when factored for inflation the cheapest plastic ball point pens available in their early year cost around $150.

The Mont Blanc Meisterstuck Pen

So with that bit of information in mind, at around $300 the Mont Blanc Meisterstuck could figuratively still be considered quite a bargain. This handcrafted pen is created from deep black precious resin and features three gold plated rungs and gold plated clip. Launched in 1924, this Mont Blanc ball point pen continues to this day to be one of their top selling pens.

The Mont Blanc Star Walker Pen

Another very popular Mont Blanc ball point pen is their Mont Blanc Star Walker that is also made from fine precious resin and features a number of elegant design touches such as highly polished chrome plated fillings. The price on this pen is higher then on the Meisterstuck but it does vary depending on which particular type of Star Walker you select.

The mont Blanc Etoile de Mont Blanc Pen

The Mont Blanc Etoile de Mont Blanc is a bit more expensive then the two previously listed pens. In fact this Mont Blanc ball point pen will set you back some $800. Even so, enough people determine that the pen is well worth it, because it remains to this day to be a popular selling Mont Blanc pen.

How Much Can You Spend On a Mont Blanc Ball Point Pen?

The fact is th
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at if you wanted to, you could easily find a Mont Blanc ball point pen listed in their online catalog as selling for some $100,000. It's their most expensive pen and comes completely encrusted with diamonds from top to bottom. Even so, that still isn't the most money that can be spent procuring a Mont Blanc pen. Thats because some of their antique pens that are in the hands of private collectors can and do cost substantially more than that.

By: Chriss Tyrrell

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Chris Tyrrell writes for Wheelers who carry a wide range of Mont Blanc Ballpoint Pen products and many other luxury items. Visit the website for more details.

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Where can I get a shorthand pen?

Hey Hayley,

Write to these people in the UK.

PENS: Edward Mackie wrote, mentioning the Esterbrook Flexible Extra Fine Pitman Shorthand Pen. "The nib alone, Esterbrook #9128, is listed at USD$22.84. The pen, plus the nib, are listed at USD$69.00. Contact Mr. Peter Twydle at: www.penmuseum.co.uk "High-Lo", Greenacre Park, Hornsea, East Yorkshire HU18 1UW England."

Two Generations of Fountain Pen Expertise
"My name is Peter Twydle and it is my pleasure to invite you into the pages of The Highlo Pen Museum web site. Whether you are interested in collecting vintage fountain pens, repairing them, have a favorite pen you would like restored or simply looking for a good pen to use, you have come to the right place."

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