As I type this entry, happily eating what must be said, a very tasty slice of Ham and Pineapple pizza, one thing springs to mind; I have greasy fingers. Usually, I’d be having kittens at this point, but not now. My fingertips dart over the keys, and I have one over-riding thought in my mind. This computer is no longer mine.

It’s happened; two days ago, I was contacted by Executive Relations at Apple UK. My 12″ PowerBook has had it’s warrant signed, by me, and by a Higher Up at Apple. My MacBook has finally been ordered. A Core Duo 2GHz and a Gb of RAM, and a light up keyboard. I’m as happy as anything. They’ve even decided to throw in a new case for me. Really, the speed boost should be the most exciting thing for me, but no. It’s a light-up keyboard. Something I could have had two years ago, in fact, were it available on the 12″ PowerBook range. Never was, and really, never will be. Jacqui has a review up at Ars on the 1.83 Core Duo, and it’s excellent; despite the utter bullshite Slashdot and the News thread generated, it’s well rounded and an actual review of the hardware by a real user, not a regurgitation of the press release.
Either way, I’ve now got to wait until I get a fucking tracking number, and then the agonising weeks until it goes from Pending, Packing, Shipping, Shipped, and then all aboard the Mystery Bus to the middle of the fucking airport, a plane ride to the Netherlands, then to the UK, and handing it over to TNT for lord only knows how long until some under-paid driver hands over my Precious.

I’m in for one fuck of a long wait.

Quite possibly, the prettiest cardboard box I’ve ever seen.

Well, it arrived. A few days ago, in fact- I’ve just been waiting for Melissa to post about the 9500. My initial battle with HM Customs ended with me losing, poorly. To the tune of about $145 in Duty and VAT. But it was quite worth it. I have to say, this is the my most beautiful object I’ve ever seen. There’s something just so utterly simple and yet evocative about it; it’s like a giant black cucumber. But without the sexual innuendo. Almost. The sheer size gives an impression of it weighing about half a pound, but the resin it’s cast from is amazingly light. The filler system is so utterly simple to use but has gears and wheels embedded in the body so that when the back of the filler goes up, the plunger goes down. That means screwing it back down, ready to use is the action that fills the vast ink chamber inside. And the resin it’s cast from; it’s not black. It’s blood red. Hold it up to a strong light, and the edge of filler mechanism, the ink chamber and the cap explode with deep Shiraz tones; you could just drink it in. There’s even a an individual serial number laser-etched into the top of the cap clip.

Downsides, the Fine nib is still too wide for the feed, or the feed is too fast. With the standard Mont Blanc ink, the delivery is just a little too fast. Solution, get a narrower, EF (Extra Fine) nib, get a OM (Oblique Medium) nib, (both free under the initial Mont Blanc Nib Exchange Program) or, find thicker, non MB ink, which would kill my warranty.

But above all, it’s forced me to slow down my life; ditching the 9500 means I now write everything when on the move, not type. And that makes me think about what I take down. That’s not something I’ve done of late when typing, it just goes from sound to letters on the screen. When writing, everything has to be processed before my hand can even begin to manipulate the pen on paper. And on a commute in the morning, that’s awesome. Less time on IRC on the train, less GPRS data getting burned, and taking in more of the stuff around me. There’s so much stuff out in the world to be seen, and this helps me take notice.

And finally, some real pictures.