Wow I received this exact pencil two years ago for Christmas and I've used it nearly every day since it was gifted to me. In fact I just put it down to type this. I am not surprised at all that it has won a design award. I was the type of person to misplace pencils like socks out of the laundry, but I treat this pencil as a companion.

That's awesome, I didn't expect to hear from someone else who owned one.

definitely this. MIPS is a great start for anyone interested in taking the assembly route at any point.

as for simulators i enjoyed using MARS: http://courses.missouristate.edu/KenVollmar/MARS/