(via My Closet in Sketches)
Travel Week: Passports
As I am preparing for my business trip to Asia next week, I have decided to spend this week sharing some business travel tips and mobile office ideas with you, my fine readers. Like this little doozy:
Did you know that new US passports contain RFID chips in them that can be easily read, snooped, or scanned by anyone with a device purchased at Radio Shack? Not just passports but several credit cards now have RFID chips embedded in them as well.
To protect your information, you can purchase an RFID blocking wallet or passport case or rig your own with tin foil and duct tape (though the jury is still out on just how effective this technique is). A more vigorous, though not wholly legal option is available for completely disabling the chip as well.
(via Engadget)
Clip it
Park you important papers, inspiration or photos in this giant tabletop rustic metal paper clip. $19
(Found in the At West End catalog. Snaps to Jennifer for showing it to me. And the No Evil Owls — totally non-desk related, but I want them just the same.)
Reclaimed Teacher’s Desk
This is a warm, woody desk, whose former job was to support a typewriter or a very tired teacher, has been revived as a workstation for a computer which suits its dropped center perfectly for an ergonomic place for a keyboard. The pull-out shelves on each side would be perfect for papers and a cup of coffee.
(via HGTV Canada, home of Lily from Birch + Bird, photo by Janis Nicolay)
Harvest Red/Blue Pencil
The last of my pencil bounty from Pencil Things is the Harvest Thick Red and Blue Combination 725 (Made in USA). This is the perfect editing pencil. The blue is dark, almost navy blue, and the red is a clean, bright red. The thick lead was soft and easy to use.
Though it was included in the Indelible pencil sample pack, this seems to be more of an editing/checking pencil. It did smudge a bit with effort and did smear or run a bit when wet. It did not erase well at all.
If you are looking for a red/blue pencil that does not smudge as much, then go with the Austrian Breviller Urban Copying Pencil Nr. 925. I love the color and the ease of writing with the Harvest Thick and I love that it is a “Made in USA” product but, for regular use, it smears a bit too much for this overwriting lefty.
This pencil can be purchased individually for $0.59 each.
Austrian Red/Blue Pencils
There were even more copying pencils in the sample set from Pencil Things than those I’ve shared previously this week. These are also from Austria called Breviller Urban Copying Pencil Nr. 925. There was a red, a blue and a red/blue combo (my favorite!).
I found no difference between the red/blue combo and the individual colored pencils. I loved the true red color but the blue clearly leaned more to the cyan/non-repro shade which is fine if that’s what you are needing. Neither color wet particularly well, nor did they erase with a standard white eraser. But on the up side, they do not smudge hardly at all which is great if you are looking for something permanent in pencil form. I like the red/blue combo option best as it gives me a couple colors to use to highlight notes from meetings without risk of bleed-through or other messes.
These were included in a whole set of indelible/copying pencils from Pencil Things. $12.50 for the set.
Jolly Copying Pencils
I not only purchased the graphite Jolly copying pencil mentioned in the earlier review this week, I bought the whole set of indelible/copying pencils from Pencil Things.com. The Jolly copying pencils came in green and graphite with gloss painted bodies with gold foil lettering. The pencils are round which is a bummer as I tend to prefer the hexagonal or triangular shape but since these are those rare birds that is copying pencils, I have to take what I can get.
It turns out that both the blue body and black body were graphite based — the blue being the harder, lighter graphite (like an HB or H) and the black being a softer, darker graphite (like a 2B or 4B). When wet, the blue pencil all but disappeared in comparison to the softer black graphite.
While I’m fascinated with the green lead copying pencil, I don’t quite how I would use it. Any suggestions?