Purchased an Esterbrook SJ Icicle pattern from u/Airpirate-1980. Arrived promptly and safely packaged. Item as described.

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One other thing that someone brought up in another post on this sub - the Carene experience is different, I believe, based on what ink you're using. Put another way, my personal N of 1 and reading other's experiences makes me think it has a narow range of inks with which it will perform optimally. If you should ever get one, my advice is to try a couple of different ink types before forming an opinion. I use Taranishi Guitar Smoky Navy and it's phenomenal. I tried using an Oster ink (Grey Seas?) and it was bad bad. Couldn't believe it was the same pen.

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I'm on the ambulatory/clinical side 99% of the time and venture to hospital only rarely for a consult, so my options are a little broader. That said, I never take my higher end pens to the hospital and I never take my Carene to the clinic as it's just too fancy in my mind to take to that environment. I loved the Carene the moment I laid eyes on it and think that it's one of my a favorite pens in my arsenal. I got the dark blue one with the silver watery-looking cap and just think it's about perfect in every way. Yes, I have a problem.

For hospital - the VP. One hand activation reduces risk of dropping and it NEVER hard starts. Clips in pocket nib up so reduces risk of ink stains. It's also metal and can be cleaned (tho' i'm really careful not to use it until my hands are clean). I have also used a Bronze Kaweco pocket pen that's built like a tank. It's a screw cap, so a little slower to get ready, but I'm okay with that (not everyone is). It will rattle around in a scrub or coat pocket if you don't buy optional clip.

Since we started using an AI scribe for notes, my pen use has gone done quite a bit (which makes me a little sad; but having my notes written before I leave the office is GOLD) so now I use them mostly at home and in meetings. I take a few of my nicer pens with me on meeting days, but still have yet to take the Carene. I'm working on getting over this hesitation, but it's a process.

Hope residency is going well. Mine was many years ago, but seems like yesterday.

Agree with others that the Carene may not be the ideal pen for the environment in which you are going to use it. I'm in medicine and wouldn't dream of taking that pen in to the hospital; but that's me. Another option is a Pilot VP. They're well-built, write consistently well, and have the advantage of being quickly accessible with one hand. Great for jotting quickly.

I have a Carene and when I recieved it, inked it up with Taranishi Smoky Navy and it wrote like a dream. When I wrote it to empty, I changed inks and used a Robert Oster Grey Seas and it was like writing with dust. It was really bad. Flushed it and went back to Smoky Navy and it was fine. This raises a point that i've been thinking a bit about and that is - if the pen/nib has a narrow range of inks it writes with, does that mean I should consider a nib adjustment?

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Nice collection. Love that Imperial and Targa!

Many thanks. May you, your children, and your children’s children live long and prosper. 🖖 😉

They ship? I grew up in Texas and am exiled to Virginia. I’d be grateful for the name of this miracle shop that ships tamales.

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Huh. Would have thought it would scratch the brass.

1. I don’t think loan repayment is super common but if I had to guess it would be more common in rural areas where they use that as a perk to attract talent.

2. Not sure I understand the rvu question but if you’re asking what the typical rvu target is you here are published data for various practice types- academic, private, adult, Peds, and specialties. These are survey data and for niche things like peds epilepsy there may not be good data sets so they will kind of use a gamish of data sets to get close to something approaching objective numbers as a starting point. The dollar per rvu metric is one way to calculate your deal but I advise to look at whole package and the people. I’m very careful when hiring folks who focus solely on the money bc they are frequently dissatisfied over time and tend to keep chasing $. I’m not criticizing. That’s their life. Live and let live. But recruiting and hiring take a ton of time and you want folks who are going to be happy bc they like the totality of the job not just the paycheck. Don’t settle for a lot less than your worth of course, but be careful chasing down every last sawbuck. That said, if she’s in the EEG reading pool, and the place is busy, she has opportunity to be at the higher end of productivity.

Your wife’s like a peds neurologist? Good on her! We need so many more of them.

Can you explain a little bit more how you used the sandpaper? Did you use it after polishing with brasso? Or did you use it to take off the brasso? Sorry if it’s obvious and I’m just being dense.

CF. I just purchased one of these a couple of weeks ago.

The design backstory is pretty cool. Harley Earle was an automotive designer who was tied to early Corvette design and for really liking and designing fins on cars of the late 1950s. Waterman tapped him to design a pen for them and that’s what he came up with.

I am a sucker for inlaid nib designs like these (love the Scheaffer imperial and targa designs as well as Waterman Carene) and when I saw this on eBay, I was a goner.

Congrats on your new arrival!

As someone who negotiates neurology hires from the hiring side, it’s helpful to understand what the candidate is looking for. This is usually a combination of salary and incentives, reasonable productivity targets, practice preferences, e.g. subspecialization or geographic preference, and a collegial environment, mentoring, leadership opportunities. Different candidates weigh the items differently and so in my opinion, the hiring conversation should strive to make the calculus clear to both sides.

For me, the conversation is a great way to learn about your goals and whether I can meet them. It’s a good chance for me to assess your ability to advocate for yourself and your ability to compromise when necessary. My goal is not to get the best deal for me and my organization but to find the best fit - and that’s a reciprocal obligation. If it doesn’t work for either side, you’ll be gone soon and it’s been a waste of time.

If comp is your largest concern, that’s fine. I get it. But even if I can meet your offer, I’m still going to make sure you understand what that comp entails and I’m still going to make sure you are the right fit for our group. And I’m going to press you to do the same analysis. When talking comp make sure you’re explicit about total cash comp first. What’s the base salary and what are bonus opportunities and the likelihood of reaching bonus. Next, look at the work they’re asking you to do for that comp. Usually in rvu amounts. As a newbie, it can be tough to translate rvu to effort so it’s ok to ask what that looks like - usually number of pts a day is something you can begin to get your head around. Next look at signing and retention bonuses. Lastly, ask about how often you can change salary. Many orgs have salary lines tied to productivity tiers that clinicians can move among, usually limited to one move per calendar year. You can talk about which salary line they think you should start at - usually based on what you’re going to be doing and likelihood of high or low rvu generation. I tell candidates where I think they may want to start and that they can move up or down from there once they have a better handle on where they want the work life balance to be. Again, it shouldn’t be about me winning. It’s getting to a place where I can help you get what you are looking for and for us to get someone we’re going to enjoy working with and who can fill a need we have.

If none of the places you’re looking at wants to have these discussions, then be careful. But don’t assume they don’t. Ask. I’ve been in neurology a long time and most of the folks I’ve come across are decent folks who like bringing the next gen into the fold.

Best of luck with your search. I hope you land in a great spot!

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That Visconti is quite handsome! I’m tempted but trying to stick to my budget. GLWS!

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Love mine. Paired perfectly with Taranishi Smoky Navy.

Nice pen and ink combination!

Gorgeous! glws!

Nice! I ordered Chinchilla and it was just delivered today! Can’t wait to get home and use it! Edit: typo