His Nibs.com Update --
New MEGA limited edition
November 5th, 2006
I'm happy to say that Monteverde finally
caught up with the shipping of the MEGA Ink*Ball
pens this past week. We have them back-in-stock and
the last 50 or so customers who had been waiting for
theirs, had them ship out by Thursday (my thanks
again for your patience!).
Now that everyone has their Mega(s) in hand -- or
will by the beginning of next week -- it's time to
announce Monteverde's newest offering: the MEGA
Ink*Ball LE (limited edition). Read more, further on
in this update.
After Anne Eisenberg interviewed me about the MEGA
for her Novelties column in the New York Times, she
said that she enjoyed working with me and hoped we
could do it again in the future. I said something to
the effect of..."Well, since you mentioned it, why
don't you do an article on....". Read below to see
what my suggestion was (published in today's paper).
On the blog...The Elephant in the Mirror.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
in this issue
* Monteverde MEGA Ink*Ball back-in-stock
* Monteverde MEGA Ink*Ball LE
* Latest 'Novelties' column
* On the blog....The Elephant in the Mirror
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Monteverde MEGA Ink*Ball back-in-stock
It seemed to take forever, as I'd receive 10
pens one day, 12 a few days later, but last week I
finally received the rest of my large re-stocking
order of the MEGA Ink*Ball pens and was able to ship
out to the remaining -- and very patient --
customers who had spent weeks on the waiting list!
Monteverde had been unprepared for the onslaught of
orders that resulted from the New York Times article http://www.hisnibs.com/article.htm [1]
that appeared at the beginning of October.
I had given them a couple of weeks notice -- after
I'd been interviewed and before Anne Eisenberg had
told me that the article would run -- but it took
some time for them to increase their production
schedule to meet the demand. Thankfully, we now have
more in stock. We shouldn't (knocking on wood
as I type this) have the same problem with the new
MEGA LE (limited edition).
See more... - http://www.hisnibs.com/mega.htm [2]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Monteverde MEGA Ink*Ball LE
Fast on the heels of the success of the burgundy and
black versions of the MEGA, comes the new LE
(limited edition) version from Monteverde. I expect
to have these in stock near the end of the month,
and am taking pre-orders for them now. Monteverde
assures me that there won't be the same
re-stocking delays as happened after the New York
Times article appeared about the regular-production
models, as only 1999 of these are being produced
(the year that Monteverde was founded). I can only
hope that it's true!
You can puzzle out what's included with this set
from the photo provided here, or get the full
description, price and more photos by following the
link below to its page on the website.
More here.... - http://www.hisnibs.com/mega_le.htm [3]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Latest 'Novelties' column
So, what was it that I suggested to Anne that she
write about next?
As some of you know, I competed in the Olympics as
the National Disabled Table Tennis Champion in both
Seoul in 1988 and Barcelona in 1992. If you didn't,
and care to read more about it, you can do so here
http://hisnibs.blogspot.com/2004/08/just-dont-call-it-ping-pong.html [4]
Several years before the Games in South Korea I
began training very seriously, and I took the year
off of work immediately prior to the Games to train
full-time. Although I took advantage of as much
high-level competition as I could by traveling to
the Olympic Training Centers in Colorado Springs and
Marquette, Michigan, comparable training partners
were not permanently available at those locations,
nor at regional training facilities closer to home.
Although my coaches were fortunately within a half
hour's drive of where I lived -- as were several
top-flight practice partners -- none of them were
available for the hours needed for me to reach the
level to capture the gold in the National
Championships and make the Olympic team. My solution?
My solution was to purchase one of the new 'ping
pong' practice robots that had recently been
perfected. I won't reiterate the details of how they
operate here, as Anne's article does that well
enough. I'll just say that I named mine 'Dragutin'
-- after my favorite player at the time, Dragutin
Surbek of Yugoslavia -- and the Wall Street Journal
had a front page article back in 1986, which pitted
my machine against their reporter (a very
experienced tournament player).
Click here http://www.hisnibs.com/table_tennis.htm [5]
and then click on the link to the Wall Street
Journal if you'd like to read what happened.
When I introduced my coach Sam Hammond (who had
been West African champion from Ghana) to
Dragutin, Sam eventually quit -- quite exhausted --
saying, "It's inhuman!". I thought that summed it up
nicely.
Read the New York Times article here... - http://tinyurl.com/y7lpz8 [6]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On the blog....The Elephant in the Mirror
"For those who study the development of intelligence
in the animal kingdom, self-awareness is an
important measurement. An animal that is aware of
itself has a high level of cognitive ability.
Awareness can be tested by studying whether the
animal recognizes itself in a mirror. Many animals
fail this exercise miserably, paying scant attention
to the reflected image. Only humans, apes and, more
recently, dolphins, have been shown to recognize
that the image in the mirror is of themselves.
Now another animal has joined the club. In The
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
researchers report that an Asian elephant has passed
the mirror self-recognition test."
Read the full October 31st entry here... - http://hisnibs.blogspot.com [7]
Regards,
Norman Haase
His Nibs.com
www.hisnibs.com [8]
Blog: http://hisnibs.blogspot.com [9]