Yesterday afternoon I drove to the offices of Syracuse Public Media site waer.org to pick up tickets to today’s Syracuse-Duke men’s basketball game.
I was offered the tickets after another blogger saw my story that mentioned Valentine’ Day plans that included taking my dear wife Karen to see the game on the movie screen at The Palace Theatre.
Joe B. Lee is the man behind the interesting Man Up blog, which you should check out, by the way. Obviously, since he volunteered to hand over those coveted tickets to today’s sold out game — yes, 35,000 people will be warming up the Carrier Dome — he also lives in Central New York. And there’s more. Lee is also the general manager of WAER, the public radio station housed on the Syracuse University campus that runs the web site for which I write my weekly Wednesday community blog column.
You could call Joe my boss. I do.
My friend, too, because we’ve known each other for a quarter-century, working in the Syracuse media, but for today’s story, my boss handed me an envelope that had a pen clipped to it.
I stuck the envelope with the pen and the tickets into my glove compartment and drove to the movie theater to see “The Kingsmen,” the new secret agent movie, which I will review on Monday for another freelance blog over at syracusenewtimes.com, with my weekly companion piece here, too.
Back at home, the tickets and the pen made their way onto the kitchen counter, all to be inspected by Karen. She told me I now owned a Special Mark Pen.
What a gift it is. I can now take notes on a reporter’s pad in any dark place. All I have to do is remove the cap from the ink end of my Special Mark Pen and place it on the other end to engage the flashlight feature, located on the writing tip.
A music critic’s dream, I thought, back to the days of gripping a pen light in my teeth and ahead to the ease of my future, at shows, at games, at movies if I so choose to take notes someday.
Then I thought of “The Kingsmen,” which tipped its hat to James Bond and all those 007 gadgets that made sleuthing life possible.
Thank you, Joe B. Lee, for my Special Mark Pen, my James Bond moment, my little bit of 007 heaven.
Do you ever have to write in the dark? What’s your favorite gadget? What 007 convenience would you want in your everyday life?
Well, how flippin’ cool is THAT? Do you have a fedora with a card that says PRESS in the band? You know, you could also probably look at someone’s tonsils with that pen. Or get Ellie B to chase the light? 🙂
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How in the world did you come up with that tonsils idea, Rachel? Wow! Am I supposed to use it to remove them if they look swollen? And I put my foot down against teasing my poor dog with a light. ;-o
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LOL! I don’t think Karen would allow you to actually remove her tonsils… just diagnose them. 😉 And I can clearly see you are not “cat people”. Cats would love the opportunity to chase a light, and wouldn’t view it as teasing at all. 🙂
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Buenas, from La Isla del Encanto, Mr. B. What a cool pen you got there! Such a simple but fantastic solution to your writing in the dark days. Does it come with a magnifying glass? I can’t see a thing these days! Hope you enjoyed the game with Mrs. B.
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I, too, 50-plus close-in vision blues, Mrs. B. My progressive reading glasses are stylish, and take away the need for that wieldy magnifying glass. Although the Sherlock Holmes look may be OK on me, but not so much on you, Mrs. B. Now go out eating, drinking and dancing down there in your island paradise, will you? 🙂
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That looks beyond awesome. What fun 🙂 Special powers, Mark. You can join Kerbey and I (we are the Wonder Twins) as we fight (word) crimes everywhere.
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(Blog) Justice League. You must come up with my name, Liz, seeing how I do not quite fit in with the Wonder Twins.
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Wow, I think the pen is an outstanding gift. I usually write in the dark and hope I can read it later! You deserve good gifts and wonderful, long lasting relationships. You put the time and effort into building these… Mark, hope you had a fantastic Valentine’s Day, my friend!
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I did have a really great one, Robin, thank you.
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What a great pen.
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And it writes like a dream, too, Benson. 🙂
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Pssssh. Lucky! That’s really cool!
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Cue my new soundtrack music, hipster secret agend man. Thanks, Chris. 🙂
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I’ve never written in the dark, but I’m lovin’ the new blue pen. Does it have blue ink? I’m a fan of writing with blue ink. Hope your Valentine’s Day was a good one, Mark.
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Black ink, Red. 😉 I hope your Valentine’s Day brought you sweetness, my friend.
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What genius to combine two things that often need a few good whacks in order to work properly! Just be careful not to activate the hidden nerve gas feature…
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The razor blade needs to stay out of the way until needed, too, Bill. 🙂
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Well played, Joe B. Lee. That’s a wonderful gift – a pen with a light in it. Oh, yes, and the coveted tickets to the sold-out game, too. Very sweet. Happy Valentine’s Day to you and Karen. 😉
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🙂 Joe B. gifted me perfectly, Judy. And the people in the section where his tickets are were so friendly, too!
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No one deserves wonderful gifts more than you do MBM. 🙂 Happy Valentines Day to you and YDW Karen. I hope you have a fabulous day! And that the Pen makes wonderful musical memories!
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Happy Valentine’s Day right back to you and your hobbled hubby, MDB Colleen. 🙂
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Mark, it’s a good thing I won’t be around to borrow your pen. I have sometimes “forgotten” to return cool pens when I borrow them. But yes, at one time, when I worked for Hospice, I had a pen that had a light in it, and I frequently did my charting in my car rather than face the hostility in the office. Actually, most of us were charting in our cars, but I was the only one with a pen with built in flash light–the others either put on the inside light in the car, or used flashlights. I had already resigned before the person causing the hostility was replaced as director, but my MS was getting worse at the time any way. Not sure what happened to that pen. I really loved it, but still have a large collection of acquired pens from different places.
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Note to self. Do not lend new pen to Angie. You have a good collection anyway!
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Don’t lose that note. Isn’t it great to have a pen like that though? Just wish I could find the place I put mine where I wouldn’t lose it. It seems to be a really good place, LOL.
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I have a little light on my key ring, but not nearly as cool as a light on your pen. A good pen can make a world of difference. I hope it writes smoothly.
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It’s coming to the game with me today, Kerbey. We will see. Literally and figratively.
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And if you get mugged, you can stab the mugger with it as well.
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Multi-purpose pen puts man in penitentiary reads the headline.
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Love that pen Mark and you have a pretty cool boss there – enjoy the game! ❤ I've written in the dark, and even though I couldn't see what I wrote as I wrote, it has always been legible in the light of day. 😀
Diana xo
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That is the sign of good penmanship, Diana! Me, not so much. 😮
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Cool pen! ALSO cool your boss is your friend too – it’s nice when that happens 🙂
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It is a very good thing when that happens, Christy, so right about that. 🙂
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Hah a v cool pen!
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Thanks, Justine! BTW, I wrote my fiction story and picked a picture for your Eclectic Corner and will publish it tomorrow morning. I am very excited. I loved your prompt. It’s only my second crack at fiction, after the Blog Hop story of Nano Poblano, so I’m nervous about it, too. 😮
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oh wow well i feel very chuffed and humbled then that you are joining me, that is wonderful, will I sleep now tonight, that is the question? grinz hehe x
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Haha you crack me up, Justine. I am the honored one that you would have me over at your blog. ❤
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Enjoy the game! I know that Lucifer, my frequent house guest, will be rooting on his beloved Blue Devils…
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Yes, that dang Lucifer. Big battle at the House on the Hill with Seamus the Leprechaun when Duke and Notre Dame tangle, I know. 🙂
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Happy Valentines Day!
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You, too, Mer!
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Pen envy……funny but true, cause I want one!! Lol Happy Valentines day!
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Glad you like it, Anne. Happy Valentine’s Day, my old friend. 🙂
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Now that is a fantastic gift! I love your pen. Happy Valentine’s Day to you and Karen. ❤
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I hear Pen Envy starting to emerge in Blog Writer’s world. 🙂 Thanks, Colleen. Happy Valentine’s Day to you and Ron, too!
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Absolutely Mark! Pen envy is the worst right now! Truthfully, I must tell you that I do all my writing on the keyboard now, except for my calendar. My thoughts come faster than I can write and I am afraid to forget them! LOL. 😀
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I have to write on a pad when I am at a concert, play, etc., because I do not want the screen light to distract the ticket-buying public, Colleen. Thus, the pen, and Pen Envy. 🙂
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Damn! Now I really want your pen! LOL! 🙂
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I’m so glad this happened for you, mark. How generous and lovely and what a wonderful writer,a pen idea!
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Yes, this was somebody’s Million Dollar Idea, Beth. 🙂 Every writer should have one of these babies.
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I once had a boss who was just crazy about pens, but not in a good way. If he were to sign something, it had to be with a fancy pen, none of those cheap Bic dealies for him. He would actually spend up to $50 on pens that would sometimes run out of ink quickly. I am imagining him seeing this pen though. Now this is a pen!! Nice!
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This pen moves to top of my list, Marissa. I am a cheap Bic guy because of the wicked conditions in which I use pens. This one, when somebody in the crowd says, “Can I borrow your pen?” my answer will be, “No.”
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Oh, good idea. That, sir, is one terrific pen!!
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Nice, keep it safe, around here pens and pencils disappear.
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Yes, how they grow legs and run away to hide is a great mystery, Dora. I think they become friends with all the solo socks. ❤ Happy Valentine' Day to you and your hubby, my friend.
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Happy Valentine’s Day to you and your wife!
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Thank you, Cate. To you and your’s, too. ❤
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