Nota bene

Not a word from me today about Lieberman's loss to Lamont in the Connecticut primary - there's a bumper-crop surplus of bloggage about that, and I doubt very much that I have anything useful or even interesting to add.

Instead, let me tell you about these fabulous little notebooks I've just found.

As a writer (one who works on technical subjects, not the Great American Novel) I make a point to never be without a notebook and a pen (a Pilot G2, please.)

For years, I used cheap spiral-bound reporter's notebooks and went through them like Sherman through Atlanta.

They have a great form factor (essentially a half-width steno pad), are inexpensive, and each notebook holds a few working weeks worth of notes.

In 2004, I developed a Moleskine fetish.

In case you've been living on another planet for a while, Moleskines are pocket-sized bound notebooks with high-quality paper inside; that creamy, heavy paper combined with a gel pen or fountain pen makes handwriting an almost sensual pleasure.

They have a great form factor, are ridiculously expensive but worth it, and I rationalize all this by purchasing them in bulk and writing them off on my taxes every year. (They come in three flavors: plain paper, ruled paper, and "squared" -- graph paper, in other words. Guess which one sets my propellor-beanie a-spinnin'.)

Since the development of my notebook fetish, my man-purse has always had the current, working Moleskine notebook in it, filled with furious scribbles and doodles and grocery lists and occasionally actual project notes and diagrams.

Well, now. Yesterday I saw the new Moleskine Cahier. I think I just met my new favorite auxiliary/travel/project-specific notebook.

The Moleskine Cahier, nerd-ruled

The Cahier is a slim, pamphlet-sized, cardboard-bound notebook holding 64 pages (with the last 16 perforated for easy detachment.) These little guys have, in fact, almost the exact same form factor in every dimension as a United States Passport... and I have a passport wallet at home.

I bought a dozen.

Do yourself a favor, and indulge yourself a little: buy a really nice notebook and pen, and record those stray million-dollar ideas that float through your consciousness every now and again.

Moleskine Cahiers at the Moleskine US Store