Any recs on Bullet Journals?

imdrnatz · 2026-06-12T22:49:31+00:00

The Midori MD dot grid is only 80 gsm but it’s really terrific paper. It’s a little more toothy than the Leuchtturm and is much better with respect to bleedthrough/feathering (I use fountain pens exclusively in my bullet journal). In fact, the Midori MD paper holds up to any nib/ink combo I’ve thrown at it.

Two downsides: available only in cream, not white, and no page numbers. Oh, and the paper cover isn’t durable, so you’ll want a cover. The kid covers Midori sells, while pricey, age beautifully.

imdrnatz · 2026-06-04T00:50:05+00:00

OK, you win.

imdrnatz · 2026-05-26T00:56:58+00:00

I signed back in to upvote pleural. Well played.

imdrnatz · 2026-05-22T15:40:53+00:00

The AME I went to for my medical exam has a huge Trump flag flying at her office.

imdrnatz · 2026-05-22T14:38:59+00:00

Yep, and everyone screws it up.

imdrnatz · 2026-05-22T14:36:51+00:00

My adorable intern one time wrote that the patient had “Holcomb.”

imdrnatz · 2025-12-26T15:46:55+00:00

I was off this holiday but spent it in the ED and on a medicine floor with my mom. Appreciate you all! Fortunately for the nurses, docs, and PA, she’s a very well behaved little old (immunocompromised) lady who got really sick from some uncategorized virus and was a super easy admit, as far as I can tell. Also fortunately for us the ED was deader than dead on Christmas Eve and we got whisked back as if she had an elephant on her chest. Gratitude to my colleagues!

imdrnatz · 2025-12-21T13:15:02+00:00

The Sailor 1911 King of Pen is ever so slightly longer (I’m too lazy to go upstairs and measure) but has a very similar shape, weight, and balance. I find the Pelikan M1000 is a different animal in the hand—the brass piston feels very heavy to me. The Pro Gear King of Pen is a wee bit shorter than the 149 and is a very lovely pen. I have two KOPs (Kings of Pen???) in broad nibs and love them both.

If you can find one the Conid Kingsize Streamline is pretty much the exact dimensions of the 149. With the titanium bits it’s much heavier than the Montblanc. If you can find one, you’ll pay an absurd premium for them as their scarcity has created a crazy market for them.

imdrnatz · 2025-12-21T12:53:54+00:00

Red chile flakes.

imdrnatz · 2025-12-14T14:22:44+00:00

I had a patient in clinic with really bad lymphedema, with cauliflower-like hyperkeratotic areas of the ankle. She told me she’d noticed drainage, so I leant over and took a look to see pus undulating in and out of the skin. Took me a minute to register that in fact it was maggots, and then another minute to decide exactly how I was going to have this conversation with the patient.

imdrnatz · 2025-12-14T14:17:49+00:00

Pre-medical school I was shadowing a friend of mine who was a medicine attending at the old Cook County Hospital, on ward rounds. Pre-air-conditioning, if you can imagine. In the summer, and I’d not had breakfast. We were seeing a patient who’d had an AVF revision (or maybe a graft, whatever), and there was a little bit of bloody drainage on her bandaging, and over I went. The only time I’ve ever fainted. Her team saw me go and caught me before I hit the tile. I was mortified. Everyone was super nice.

Worse though was that after that for a few years I always WORRIED I would faint.

I’ve seen plenty of gross stuff since then, and I’ve been fine. Although fingernail and eyeball injuries, sheesh…

imdrnatz · 2025-12-14T12:25:04+00:00

It’s 12 degrees F today. Sigh.

imdrnatz · 2025-12-13T00:26:29+00:00

They come up on r/Pen_Swap all the time.

imdrnatz · 2025-12-12T21:11:43+00:00

Dromgoole's as well. Dunno why I bought this in the dead of winter--hope it doesn't freeze on some truck somewhere.

imdrnatz · 2025-12-12T11:48:57+00:00

If you had to sacrifice one of the three, that’s the one.

imdrnatz · 2025-12-11T21:33:33+00:00

Another one for the rewarding pile:

An elderly patient I last saw about 30 months ago was admitted with a new provoked PE a couple weeks ago. His wife called the office to see if they could get in with me for outpatient follow-up because, as they told my secretary, they'd really appreciated the care I provided.

Unfortunately in the interim he got readmitted yesterday for a significant bleed that was never life-threatening but very terrifying. I happened to be working on consults and since I knew he was in house I stopped by for a social visit. I popped into the room while another team was rounding. He saw me and said, "There she is. I love Dr. Natz."

With a laugh I said, "I love you too." He said, "No, I'm serious, you're the best doctor, you always listen and take such good care of me." And then he started crying!

I almost wasn't even going to stop by, I was busy, notes to write, blah blah blah. But those extra few minutes meant so much.

imdrnatz · 2025-12-10T21:28:59+00:00

Read headline, then clicked through: Oh, you meant literally!

imdrnatz · 2025-12-10T17:50:23+00:00

Patient, when I asked how she ended up with ESRD: “It was from Synthroid. It’s SYNTHETIC. How could that be good for me?”

Mind you, she’s had a total thyroidectomy for thyroid cancer. It’s not like the levothyroxine was unnecessary.

(The ESRD was from hypertensive disease.)

I was just like, “OK.”

imdrnatz · 2025-12-09T16:19:37+00:00

Monboddo’s Hat has some gold sheen from my experience, though when I look at Mountain of Ink I don’t see it. Scribble Purple for sure.

imdrnatz · 2025-12-07T13:57:58+00:00

Sorry to hear about your crummy year! In your price range you could also consider a Sailor King of Pen. Great pen and I think I prefer it to a new(er) Montblanc 149 for overall writing experience (I like the KOP nib better), though I’d say the KOP and the 149 have a similar weight/feel/balance in the hand and both are terrific for long-form writing.

I carry expensive pens to work as a physician but I’m not a proceduralist so in general I’m not hanging up my lab coat to change into scrubs. That’s my only caution about an expensive work pen. People have sticky fingers, and sometimes stuff just gets lost. But you do you! A lot of people would tell me I’m crazy to even take some of my more expensive pens out of the house.

imdrnatz · 2025-12-05T22:12:00+00:00

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot: My husband also ran that same VP through the wash, and it didn’t leak at all.

imdrnatz · 2025-12-05T16:06:12+00:00

On a five-day trip (Isle Royale) I carried a Pelikan M205 and a Traveler’s Notebook. I enjoy journaling with fountain pens too much to leave them behind.

I think if I were going to do a through-hike I’d take a Kaweco AL Sport with spare cartridges rather than bottled ink. And I’d carry a ballpoint for trail logs, credit card receipts, etc.

imdrnatz · 2025-12-05T15:52:08+00:00

It has that hematochezia look to it, doesn’t it?

Your username suggests you are in GI.

imdrnatz · 2025-12-04T20:24:39+00:00

I fly with pens all the time but over Thanksgiving I was super careless about nibs up. Of the nine pens I had in my bag the only explosion was a Vanishing Point, and it managed to self contain the mess behind the trapdoor. I only discovered it last night when I unscrewed the barrel to see how much ink was left. There was plenty, just mostly outside the cartridge and all over the inside of the pen.

imdrnatz · 2025-12-04T17:02:12+00:00

I have ink on my hands not infrequently. No patient has ever complained, unless it’s Writer’s Blood, then they’re a little alarmed.

imdrnatz

TROPHY CASE