I liked used a Pilot Dr. Grip for awhile, liked the feel and ink color, but it would sometimes decide not to write. I eventually got so annoyed I said, "Fine, I'll get a pen that can write anywhere!" and bought a couple of Fisher Bullet Space pens, and while the ink isn't quite as black, it writes when the other pen would refuse to, so I use those now.

For notebooks, I need something that opens flat and stays flat, so I need a binder. I found these Blue Sky notebooks at Walgreens and really like the look and feel of them: https://www.bluesky.com/blue-sky-trade-black-5-75-x-8-5-note...