OK, this is minutia, but I was getting irritated trying to sharpen some of the novelty pencils that my kids get as party favors or whatnot. The tips kept breaking. I don't know what those things are made of, but it isn't wood. What ever happened to good, old-fashioned wood pencils that sharpen easily?

The next time I was at Staples, I came across the Dixon Ticonderoga pencil, billing itself as the World's Best Pencil. Hyperbole, I thought. Well, I bought some, and it really is a good pencil, much better than those junky ones made in China.