My name is Ridley Kessler and I am a native and life long resident of North Carolina. I was born in Hendersonville, N. C. just before the out break of WW II. Hendersonville is in the mountains about 25 miles from Asheville. We grow great apples and excellent corn liquor (if you know who to go to)!! I am a reference librarian at Davis Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I am the assistant head of the Reference Department (which means that I get to go to meetings that my boss doesn't want to mess with) and I am in charge of government documents. I have worked here since September of 1970. I have three degrees from this University which I always tell people aren't worth a bucket of warm spit!! (that is monetarily).
I have used fountain pens all of my life and remember very distinctly when we switched to them in grammer school!! My penmanship was horrible even then and fountain pens seemed to magnify that trait. I did not know until a year ago that people actually collected pens!! What a revelation that was!! I actually got into this because of my two conference roommates. We have library conferences several times a year and lots of librarians split the costs of these meetings by sharing rooms with colleagues. Many develop friendships that have lasted many years so that my two buddies and I have been doing this for almost 15 years. At anyrate one of these guys is from Harvard and he came to a meeting about two years ago with a Montblanc ("the blob pen"). This very expensive pen so impressed my other roommate that he appeared at the next meeting with one of these babes! So the two of them spent a lot of time ragging me about my Parker Vector Roller ball.
Since this is a fairly expensive investment I decided to do some research (a librarian's weakness). I ended up finding the "Pens 101: Home Page" which was a God send!! From there I eventually found IkonPen which has been a really great help to me in my purchases. I am astounded about the friendliness of the pen people and their willingness to give beginners advice and suggestions. My biggest purchase was a Parker Duofold (Jasper Red). I love red pens!!!!! My first real pen was a Waterman Phileas--which still writes better than anything else I own. I have also bought a Lamy Safari, a Auroro Ipsolon (sp), Namiki Vanishing Point. My two newest ones are a Hero 329 and a Sheaffer Triumph both of which I love exceedingly! I do love the low end pens. I would like to own a Pelikan some day. I am in the process of buying a Parker 51 and am interested in other vinage pens but don't know very much about them at present. I have made some wonderful friends and hope to make many more. My next project is to gather some books on this and catch up with everyone.
My wife and I have 5 West Highland White Terriers which means that our household is in a constant state of turmoil. I also like to read and watch old movies! I have a 24 year old daughter who lives in North Carolina but in another city (this is good). I also like classical music but don't know much more about that than I do pens. I try to put aside some mad money each month for pens and cds but my wants often develop faster than that nest egg!!!! I want to own a Sheaffer Balance both old and new at some point.
Sorry to have taken up so much space but couldn't shut up once I got started.
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