Once upon a time, I bought a rather modest pen from a guy named Bob Leeds. The year was 2001, the store, Write With Style in San Mateo.

Last year, my husband and I took our much-delayed honeymoon, and I saw the moon at dawn as we came into port.


Last week, I started my dream job, and I thought I needed to get a Milestone pen to celebrate that. I'd picked it on something of a whim; I'd liked the look of the pen, but it hadn't occurred to me that it was The Pen.

I'd been wanting to get a job at Apple for about 20 years, and I'd even met my husband as a result of a previous job interview just over 9 years ago. At one point a few years ago, an offer was starting to be prepared.

Saturday, ethernautrix and I headed down to Bittner to pick up The Pen. Bob Leeds is now at Bittner, and he unboxed The Pen to show it to me, then I paid for the balance due, then took the box home.



The size of the box is impressive, about 12" x 12" x 18" -- quite a big box for a little old pen.

On our trip, we saw many buildings old and new, including a newly-built one we were quite impressed by. Here's photos of the inside and outside:




The inside of the pen's shipping box was lined with contour foam, and I pulled the inner crate out of the box.



On our trip, we went to see the citadel, and I got to touch the very old stones that made up the walls. It was incredibly windy on the waterfront that day.



It was also quite warm, so a couple went swimming in the ocean.



In the museum, we saw some amazing artwork, including this amazing door.



My new job, it's in the Safari group, and the icon for the Safari application is a compass.



Compasses, of course, are aids to navigation, but they're not the only aids to navigation. There's also the traditional lighthouse.



Though that one's really small.

The next layer of pen unboxing, after the blue cover that I couldn't get a good picture of, was the cardboard surrounding the dome.



We saw many buildings with cool architectural details; some of them were plain old apartment buildings. I'd have loved to have an apartment in a place like this. I'm particularly enamored with the several layers of wave trim.



We also visited the grounds of the presidential palace.



The closest we got to the old Lighthouse of Alexandria, though, was the walls of the citadel. The old Pharos stones make up the citadel itself. So I've touched the Lighthouse, albeit in a different incarnation.

However, I can have a memory, as it were, of the Lighthouse. It doesn't guide sailors by night, but I hope it can guide my writing just as well.



More pictures later. Until then, you can see my other pictures of Alexandria here.

No wonder you called it The Pen!

So...

Inquiring minds want to know - how's it write?

I'll know soon.

I'm still in the "Oooh, look at it on its stand" phase.

Give me a week or so.

It's an incredible thing when so many strands come together, trust me, I know.

It's difficult to know where to start the congratulations, so just accept them for all of it.

Show us more, I shiver with anticipation!

Congratulations on the pen and job! 16 years ago I interviewed with a company when I was just out of college and now I get to work for them. I don't have a milestone pen decided on yet


Kurt

Congratulations on everything. Wonderful job, I'd love to work for Apple. Gorgeous...GORGEOUS pen to say the least.

Looks like a beautiful place to visit. Lighthouse of Alexandria is in my top 3 favorite Pelikan city pens. Look forward to hearing about how it writes.

Same for you.

I met my husband on a previous interview for Apple, back when they had to fly me up for the interview.

I was on a bay area geek mailing list, and I asked if anyone wanted to go out for dinner the night before my interview since they were flying me up the day before. Rick said sure, he'd be happy to pick me up at the airport.

When I accepted, he asked, "How do you know I'm not an axe murderer?"

I thought, "Good point." My ex-bf was now living in San Francisco, so I thought I'd e-mail him and see if he were willing to come along. "Oh Rick," he said, "he's our networking guy."

The strands didn't stop there.

Turns out we're both science fiction fans, to the point of attending and working for conventions, so there's a lot we have in common. For example, we were both admitted into the same EECS program in the same year; he went, but the finances didn't work out for me, so I attended college locally.

We started dating about a month after we met, and two months after that, I'd found a job in the bay area. I figured any place with that much synchronicity going on was where I wanted to be. Nine years later, I'm still here.

Congratulations, and what a gorgeous pen and stand!

That pen and stand are truly awesome. I mean that in the actual sense of the word not the current vernacular meaning. What a beautiful piece of functional art it is. Congratulations!! It is truly a milestone piece. You'll be hard pressed to surpass this milestone.

Nice photos, Deirdre! And story to match!

Which reminds me that I have to transfer my photos and send them to you.

It was fun to witness the transaction and to get the stories associated with this Milestone for you. It was pretty funny, too, how big that box was! (Huge, people! I thought there were ten pens in there.)

I hope you trick out the glass to light up, cos that is very cool.



And I hope I don't get kicked off the board for going to Bittner and walking away with only a bottle of Diamine Monaco Red ink (also cartridges, cos that's how I roll) and a bottle of Aurora Black ink, cos you know what? Aurora Black ink really is really, really black! (I've had to change my favorite ink answer in the profile.)

Lastly, Viva la serendipity!

That pen is just darling!! And the display...thingo...is amazing! The photos you have are just beautiful. I shall have to turn some of them into wallpapers for my computer!!

Please post more photos of the pen soon, and tell us how it writes!

I always said that the pen box is very important to me and in this case it is BEAUTIFUL.
Congratulation and I am dieing to know how it writes.

Deirdre, thank you for this post - I enjoyed reading it and looking at all the great photos. Great story and nice presentation! Congratulations!
Pep

idigit.

Best quote ever.

I asked about the presentation of the other limiteds in the (7 wonders of the ancient world) series, and Bob said he'd never seen anything like this. When someone has dealt with high-end pens and rare limited editions for 9 years, that's saying something.

They had a Colossus of Rhodes at Bittner, and the Temple of Artemis and the Pyramids are both limiteds that have been in the series so far. I'm feeling like I shouldn't have a commemorative pen to a place I haven't been, especially a wonder. Last year, we visited the sites of four of the wonders (pyramid, lighthouse area, remains of the temple at Olympia where the statue of Zeus had been, and the area where the Temple of Artemis had been).

I don't know if I'll get the other limiteds in the series, but if I do, it'll be only after I've visited the site. Given that, it'll be a while before Hanging Gardens tourism will be available.

During our trip, we sailed right by Halicarnassus, home of the other wonder, the Mausoleum of Maussollos.

So, what's the nib like? How does it write?

Congratulations, Deirdre! I love the way you interspersed the pictures of the pen (and its impressive packaging) and the lovely scenery. I'm glad ethernautrix got to go with you; it sounds like that experience just had to be shared.

Lisa

Beautiful places and beautiful pen!

Way kewl!

Loved the story and the photos and its great when things align so well.



Let me close with my congratulations also.

It's stunning!

Here's a nib picture, alongside an Etruria:

Deirdre, what a great pen, stand and experience! I am awed with the photos and stories. It sounds like you and Ethernautrix had a great time. Best wishes on your new work experience also.

May the words you write with your new pen bring honor, friendship, peace and love to those who receive them. /Craig

For a great story about Alexandria, I just remembered this one.

We went to the catacombs, where we saw a kitty that was hungry. One of the people in our group wanted to get some milk for the kitty, but the grocery store across the street wouldn't take US dollars (as they had no way to change them), and no one had Egyptian pounds handy. One of the women who worked there went across, bought the milk with her own money, and refused payment.

Last night, we saw the movie The Band's Visit, which features the Alexandria Police Orchestra. It was quite the hoot. Very well played; mostly in English (with subtitles anyway) and some bits of Hebrew and Arabic.

Wow, great post!