Here’s this week’s list of things to check out:

1. Lamy Safari Fountain Pens: I wrote last week about the Fisher Space Pen, which, outside of really nice disposable pens, was among my first “serious” pens and ignited my interest in more bespoke offerings. The Safari was not my first fountain pen, and truth be told, as a lefty, it isn’t always the pen I can use; lefties push their pens across the page, which can lead to even messier results than I’m used to.¹ Described as a “fountain pen for dummies” by the Strategist, it’s an approachable tool for anyone interested in trying out a fountain pen.
2. Drawboard PDF: I tried out the free version of Drawboard on either an iPad or Microsoft Surface Pro when I needed something that PDF Pen Pro didn’t run on, and the first version was interesting, if a little unusual, with its tool dial interface. I tried it again recently and was impressed with its design and performance on both Mac and Windows, so I signed up for a trial. The markup tools are easy to use and attractive, and the ability to rearrange and insert pages is spot-on for what I need. The only downside is that you can’t edit text in a PDF, which is a feature I don’t often need, but need once in a while. Happily, you can do just that with Affinity Publisher when you need to; there’s still a great bargain to be had if you’re looking for it.
3. UpNote: There are people in the world who lead quiet and contented lives using paper and pen for to-do lists and reference material, and a similar contingent who will use Apple Notes or Reminders or whatever comes with their device and spend little to no time wondering about alternatives to these solutions. I consider it a blessing and a curse that I am not one of them. As a technophile, I’m always looking around and trying out different applications that catch my eye. On the to-do list side, I’ve gone from OmniFocus to Asana to Things, back to OmniFocus, and tried Todoist a couple of times, which is where I’m staying for now (I could, and probably will, write a fair bit about Todoist in the way that I used to about OmniFocus). In the PKM space, I’ve similarly farted around with a multitude of options: Yojimbo, EverNote, Alternote, iA Writer, Bear, DEVONThink, Apple Notes, Dendron, and most recently, OneNote (not my first rodeo there). UpNote is an interesting mix of EverNote/Yojimbo-style digital shoe boxing, but with modern features like Markdown support and Wikilinking. It runs on everything and looks great. And it’s cheap! I really like it and would consider using it if it supported handwriting a la Apple Notes and OneNote. (Yes, for some reason, despite my eschewing handwriting in second grade, as this post attests, I still do prefer handwriting for a number of things, and at least like to be able to have the option to handwrite instead of type whenever the spirit moves me).

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¹ I went to Catholic school, and teaching penmanship was still a thing in the 1980s; we used yellow ruled paper and Palmer Method workbooks to practice printing and eventually, by second grade, cursive. I remember, after painfully and carefully trying to complete a writing assignment, looking over at a classmate, and watched her effortlessly, and with a sense of satisfaction, complete her assignment, producing clear and legible cursive on her paper. I realized that was never going to be me, and effectively gave up on anything more than just getting the assignments done at the age of 8.