Holiday Reflections

Here we come into the final stretch leading up to Christmas, and it's a different experience while out of school. There has been a lot to keep me busy, and while I'm not necessarily happy with the waiting that I'm currently living through, with any luck, the fog of my future will dissipate somewhat soon. There's so much to search through career-wise and so much to feel through in my personal life.

In kiting, there have been ups and downs. Despite the awe-inspiring waves and weather that Chicago experienced as a result of Hurricane Sandy, the kiting has calmed down considerably in the area, naturally due to the current season. It also doesn't help that my Best Bularoo's (10m + 13m) are currently unable to stay inflated for any longer than 45 minutes. I've done some research into phantom leaks in this kite line, and it would appear that it is a pretty standard problem after a few years. The problem is that I have no idea how to fix it. This has put quite a damper on my kiting in the last month or so at least. With any luck I'll be able to do some snow kiting soon enough to make up for it at least, but that is of course dependent on the cooperation of the weather.

I've been doing a bit of writing with the Noodler's Ahab fountain pen and personally find it to be the best writing of the Noodler's line. It isn't necessarily pretty, even though I still find myself fascinated by demonstrators, but it's functionality is so insane compared to many others within the fountain pen world. The amount of ink that it holds is insanely huge and the nib can be adjusted to flex such a large amount that calligraphic strokes don't even cause railroading. I haven't come into the possession of any new inks of late, but I am looking forward to potentially purchasing an ink from the Pilot Iroshizuki line in the near future. It'll be my first "high-class" ink.

In terms of reading, I've recently purchased on Amazon, "Hobbitus ille," which is a Latin rendering of the entirety of "The Hobbit". It is an interesting take on Latin from the perspective of the modern classicist. We, generally at least, tend to get caught up in the writing styles of authors, for whom their style was what set them apart. The Hobbit, however, was originally written in English and by a great author. To impose Caesar's writing style (for example) on Tolkien's writing wouldn't feel right. For this reason, the translation has been written to target an intermediate level Latin reading audience. The language is not convoluted in a way that might be difficult and the words that had to be created for the sake of the moder language of the text, are clearly marked. This is intended to be an easy and fun read, which is something that can often slow down the reading of more traditional texts. I for one, am greatly looking forward to reading more than the first chapter, especially with the movie out now.

I know that great change is coming into my life currently, and it is something that I welcome.

A Bit of Everything This Week

This past week was not terribly interesting, but was a lot of fun regardless. After a few months of playing with a MusclePower, I finally (upon receipt of my paycheck) purchased a used Yonex ArcSaber 900, which is without a doubt the best racket I've ever used. And the difference between the two is night and day. I can finally lay a bird down on the line on command. It's a nice feeling for once.

Working at the homeless shelter has been demanding of late, with most of my shifts being the overnight shift, and having no desire to sleep during the day. Another day, another dollar, I guess. There was a lady who urinated and defecated all over the bathroom stall the other day. This, of course was following the night before where a lady without anything on from the waist down walked to her mat while peeing. Of course there are repercussions, but at what point do these depressing acts become acceptable? In my mind they seem to have become the status quo and cease to surprise me. Maybe I'm just jaded.

On Wednesday, the winds in Waukegan WENT OFF! A steady 25mph wind with 35mph gusts was blowing SW and the jumps were insane. Every single jump was at least 30ft high if not higher. I got trashed enough times jumping over the five hours I spent on the water and by the time it was over, I was shivering horribly and decided to call it a day. I was completely overpowered on my Best Bularoo 7m, and with the winds as strong as they were, the quite was TOO quick in the air. I'm not going to say that there is such a thing as too much power on the water, but my kite was definitely too small and squirrely to have any stability while I was up in the air. Tomorrow, Saturday,  is looking to be quite windy, so I'm hoping to do some landkiting, but we'll see how that goes with rain in the forecast.

I'm looking forward to doing some repairs on the Vespa soon with my buddy Jeff. I have to change the oil, rollers, belt, oil filter and tire. I don't have a ton of mechanical experience, but I'm hoping that together we have enough to make it work. Just rolled over 7400 miles, so the big tune-up needs to come very soon, plus I want to have it done before the weather gets too cold to really enjoy it.

I'm still combating the bite from that "wanderlust bug", and it seems that a road trip will be happening within the next few weeks. New York is, as of now, the intended destination. I'm very much looking forward to getting to know my road-mates, whoever they happen to be!

Fall is here, so the kiting should hopefully be intense as the wind comes with the weather changes. Also as the weather changes, I'm looking forward to testing some new inks and fountain pens as I'm forced more and more inside.

May the wind always blow in your favor.

On Being Too Focused...

As you may notice now, the pennedhouse domain is done. It is gone for good. This was of course for one good reason. My interests are far too many and varied to just be restricted to writing utensils alone. While fun, my life is so much more than just that. I suppose I just want to be able to write about some of the other things that I do, and the mere name of the old blog seemed inhibitive to the writing process.

So, I present to you, "Unconventional Ramosities"!

Here I'm hoping to cover the hobbies that occupy my time and the people that I meet as a result.

Potential Topics: Kiteboarding, fountain pens, pipe tobacco, cycling, and languages. We'll just have to see where it goes from here.

Handmade Moleskine iPhone Case

Nobody would expect a notebook to be so deceitful.

Moleskines are quite possibly the greatest little  notebooks on the planet. While there may be issues with certain fountain pen inks and overall paper quality, its hard to bash these compact, highly functional and dare I say... cute little notebooks? As far as durability, the Moleskine is fantastic, especially in the hardcover iteration. Though the colors are limited in the hardcover series, there seems to be little that is classier for the price. At this point I will restrain myself from waxing on about my love of stationery products and get to the point. I've found a way to get even more out of a Moleskine notebook, taking it way beyond being just a notebook.

I've turned a Moleskine notebook into my new cell phone case! I now don't appear to staring mindlessly at my phone, but rather, poring over handwritten notes in my notebook.

When I was searching for cases for the iPhone 4, I realized that there weren't any that could really do what I wanted for how exorbitant the prices were. So many cases are clunky and difficult when it comes to using the iPhone. I suppose this case is no exception, but it is the deception this case is capable of, which makes it so great. I feel it is important to mention that Moleskine does make a case for the iPhone, but it is really only practical as a notebook for lefties, and its honestly pretty clunky too.

What looks like a Moleskine notebook is opened up and found to be a "book vault" similar to those that we made as children to hide our belongings. Not only does the Moleskine attract less attention from thieves, but it protects the phone very well too! Paper is naturally not waterproof, but the Moleskine hard cover is surprisingly tough over the month of testing I've subjected it to.

You too can escape the judgment of others whilst staring at your phone screen by appearing to be reading from a classy and sophisticated little notebook. Its actually quite easy. I didn't photograph my steps, but it isn't brain surgery.

The "guts" of the my creation!

Using some card stock, I traced and then cut out an outline of my phone, giving myself some wiggle room on the sides. Err on the side of small here however, because you can always make it bigger, but never smaller. Take a Moleskine notebook, new or used, and trace out the outline on the page and then, using an Exacto knife, cut one or two pages at a time. Trying to cut any more than that can get sloppy. The pages are a bit brittle at this point, so wood glue is the perfect way to seal the pages together. Apply a very small amount of wood glue to the inside of the notebook and place the notebook under some weights, careful that the wood glue doesn't seal the book closed. Once the glue is dry, place your phone inside and you have the ultimate iPhone case and perhaps the greatest Moleskine notebook ever.

Notes and Disclaimers: I've decided not to carve out a headphone jack hole. Yes, you do have to take the phone out to talk on it and to use the camera.  I have not had any issues with the phone falling out, but be cautious, because there is nothing actually holding the phone in the case. I left a few pages at the beginning uncut so as to allow for the greater illusion of a notebook.  Have fun and enjoy the ultimate notebook!

Eternally inked,

The Classicist