Hello All! I'm Paul Kuczynski, I'm 57 and I live in Apopka, FL. The canine with me is my dog Toby. He's blind, a good companion, and he loves me! And I love him.

I'm an IT Project Manager (when I'm not laid off), but am currently doing some contract work for a bank and also selling real estate.

I've been using fountain pens daily since 1999 when I came across an old Esterbrook that I managed to hold on to since my high school days. Through the marvel of Ebay, I've been able to acquire a few more pens (more Esterbrooks) and definitely have a fascination with these writing instruments.

I was born in Worcester, MA but grew up in the New Haven, Connecticut area. I graduated from North Haven High School in North Haven, CT in 1965. After high school I worked for a short time in Macy's men's clothing department then went into the U.S. Air Force in early 1966. While I was in the Air Force I was stationed at a small Air Force Station in Watertown, NY where I met my wife Donna. We just celebrated our 36th Anniversary this month.

I've always enjoyed using fountain pens, and I've always loved using Esterbrooks. In my collection I have several Parker 51s, a Parker 21, several new Sheaffers, and now a Waterman. But I always seem to go for the Esties when I need to use a pen.

In my high school year book, there is an entry from a classmate who actually made a comment about how great the pen was that she used to sign my yearbook. I handed the grey Esterbrook J to her to use in the signing. It's the very same pen that I have now ˆ 38 years later!

About four years ago a wrote a short story about a pen that would write what it wanted to when the writer used it to compose notes and sign Christmas cards. It was a feeble attempt at putting down on paper (or laptop computer) how I feel about fountain pens. The writing was surely not professional, but it was an attempt to write none-the-less. I enjoyed the exercise, and perhaps with some professional input, it could become a novel (NOT!).

Any day of the week you'll find me with inky fingers. I'm always getting "into the stuff" and have made several attempts at mixing my own ink colors, mostly from blues and reds. I favor dark violet/amethyst colors, or sapphire, or dark blue inks. Black just seems like black text to me no emotion. On one occasion I was mixing some blue and red. As I held the new mixture up to the light, the bottle slipped from my fingers onto a newly laid Italian tile kitchen floor! My wife and I sprung into action to sop up the purple mess (she had several well chosen expletives to describe the back end of a donkey as a description of my lineage and pedigree) and believe it or not, we managed to get the floor clean including the grout. After using kitchen towels and several rolls of paper towels, white vinegar seemed to get ink out of tile quite well. I try not to relate that little episode to others in her presence these days, as just the mention of it brings it all back to her, as if it just happened five minutes ago.

Currently my favorite writer is an Esterbrook Icicle (blue) with a 9550 nib in it. -