The Pen Addict 105/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	105
Title:	The Kimono Is My Roll-Stopper
Release Date:	May 8th, 2014
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 105
Audio File:	Audio Episode 105
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 105
Length:	6161 min <br />1.017 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: Hello and welcome to episode 105 of The Pen Addict podcast on 5x5. My name is Myke Hurley and I am joined as I am always joined, I've forgotten my usual part, I'll get back to that in a moment, by Brad Dowdy. Wait Brad until you say hello. The Pen Addict podcast is a weekly show where we discuss pens, paper, and the analogue tools that we love so dearly. Hi Brad.

Brad Dowdy: Hey! See, ever since you stopped doing the intros, you've been thrown off just a little bit. I just gotta say that.

Myke Hurley: Do you know that little intro that I say? That comes totally from memory? I wonder when I memorised that.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I don't know. I mean, you've done it ever since the first episode, so it just became part of your vocabulary.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I think I probably have memorised the one for the news too.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Because I do that every day, so.

Brad Dowdy: Well, good. Thanks for remembering to say that phrase, because actually a lot of people who are new to the podcast, they enjoy that phrase a lot. They send it to us on Twitter and things like that. When they discover the podcast, oh, I can't believe there's a podcast about this, here's the tagline kind of thing. So it's pretty cool. Indeed. Pretty cool. So we've had a, between you and I, we've had a pretty big mail week, haven't we, since we last spoken a week ago.

Myke Hurley: Still haven't received my t-shirts.

Brad Dowdy: Really?

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Now that I thought for sure you would have gotten.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, still haven't gotten those.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that's taken a while. Now, you haven't gotten your prompt t-shirts either, right? No. Okay. I'd be interested to see which one comes first, even though the prompt one was a week or two behind. Yeah, then I'll be concerned. Yeah, then I would be concerned too. I'd be concerned too. So, but yeah, we have some new pins to talk about, and we're going to get to those, but we have a bunch of good follow-up I want to get to first, if that's all right, Myke. I'd love it. So I got this email kind of in reference to my worst pins post I did a couple weeks ago when I did the top five pins update. I did a follow-up post called, you know, the worst pins I've ever reviewed, and I got an email from a gentleman named Patrick. I want to read this because it cracked me up. He says, It was about a year and a half ago. I was wandering through the aisles of Office Max as I would from time to time to refill on pins for school. I came across the tool ballpoint. They looked nice, I thought. So as most do, based solely on the appearance, I bought two six-packs. The next day, as I sat oh-so-innocently in my biology class, I pulled out the packs, opened them, and began notating. The first pin wrote for about two bullet points worth of text and crapped out. Like an old horse, it needed to be sent to the glue factory. I licked, prodded, and scribbled to try to get the ink rolling. Nothing. So logically, I moved to the next pin of the 12 I had just purchased the night before. Same result. So here I was sitting, taking notes, the teacher still carrying on, and I was struggling to keep up. I would write for a bit. The pin would stop for no good reason. I would toss it on the floor and move to the next. This idiotic behavior evoked images of Saturday Night Live or Saved by the Bell. Disgruntled and depressed, I turned to Google where I simply typed best pins, and there it was, your top five pins list. I was dumbfounded. I was also dumbfounded by not only a blog about pins, but a podcast, too. I mean, who the hell cares that much about pins? But putting logic aside, I rushed over to JetPins and bought some Securos, graphic liners, and JetStreams. I also made the life-altering decision of listening to the podcast. Soon, my bank account was getting hit with charges from Field Notes Brands, Zeller Writing Company, Goulet Pens, and other stationary retailers. I can now say I'm a pit addict, owning my fair share of microtip gels, drawing pens, brush pens, and now a few fountain pens. Even though the tool ballpoint may be the worst pin I have ever used, the pure fury I felt drove me to your website and subsequently to my addiction. So for that, I would like to thank you, Mr. Dowdy. Keep up the good work on the blog and with Myke on the podcast. Best wishes and let the ink flow.

Pen Addiction

Brad Dowdy: Well, great email. That pretty much encapsulates a lot of our journeys to this pen addiction that we have, doesn't it, Myke?

Myke Hurley: It sure does, buddy.

Brad Dowdy: I mean, it really goes back to how I started the blog. I just was not happy with what I could go to the store and get. And I was like, there has to be something better out there. And people are constantly finding that. And we are glad, Myke and I are glad, to be able to help even just a little bit in people finding some better writing instruments than the junk that they run across from time to time. So I'm glad you found us, Patrick, and glad you're along for the ride.

Brad Dowdy: Kind of in the same vein, I did a post today on the blog. And I don't have a top five beginner fountain pens section on my top five list, but I think it's about time. I can fill that out pretty easily now. And I've always gone back and forth between the Lamy Safari and the Pilot Metropolitan. The Safari I've used for years and years. It's a great entry-level fountain pen. I recommend it a lot. And then the Pilot Metropolitan came out last year. And it was impressive, especially for the price and the quality of it. And both of those pens kind of have some flaws in the grip area that you have to be considerate of when you're purchasing them. But now that Pilot is starting to increase the nib availability in the Metropolitan line, they just came out with a fine nib here this year in the past month or two, and JetPens just started carrying them. And I got one in last week. I've come to the conclusion that it's better than the Lamy Safari for beginners. It's pretty much a 1A, 1B type of thing. There's no bad choice. You have to decide which sacrifice you want to make with the Safari. A lot of people don't like the molded grip to where your hands are forced into a specific riding position, especially for left-handers, right, Myke? That's not such a great thing. And then with the Metropolitan, it's got a very kind of sharp edge where the cap closes on the pin. It's right in the barrel. On the step down of the barrel, it can be a little bit rough and uncomfortable to hold. But for those two options, there's really not much better as far as beginner fountain pens for people. And using this fine nib one, I've just come to the conclusion that the nib is so much better in the Metropolitan than the Safari, that this has to be the one I'm going to recommend more often than not now. I'd usually recommend them both, and I still will. But I think the Pilot Metropolitan is the one to go with. Yeah, it's a little bit of change for me. I like how the Safari looks better. I think it's a better, more aesthetically pleasing, better design pen.

Myke Hurley: It's more interesting.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it's much more interesting. But this nib on the Metropolitan is so good. It's a legitimately good nib. And, you know, the Safari nibs, the German nibs, they're a little bit wider. Sometimes I don't think they're as smooth as these Metropolitan nibs have been. And I don't know. I think this is just the go-to pen. Now, for beginners, I think you try out a Metropolitan and then see if you like it and then go from there. It's got great qualities. I just mentioned that I hope they start doing some different colors instead of doing, like, the animal print powder. I think it's got great patterns on the barrels. So hopefully they'll start mixing in some colors and getting into more of a wider-ranging barrel design. But, I mean, it's a pretty new product. So hopefully in a couple of years we'll see some additions to the product line.

Myke Hurley: My girlfriend continues to use hers every day.

Brad Dowdy: It's really good.

Myke Hurley: She won't give it up. Like, she loves the Twisby, but she won't give up the Metropolitan. And I've used it, you know, since. And I do agree that I think I was a bit harsh on it when I first tried it out because I think my expectations were too high.

Myke Hurley: It's a very solid, very, very solid pen. It is. And I can see why. I can definitely see why, especially with the great reasons you've given, as to why you would give it the accolade that you've given it in all honesty.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And I think that nib is going, more people who have never used a fountain pen I think are going to enjoy that nib and the way it performs more so than the Safari nib. So we'll see. I mean, I don't think, like I said, I think it's a 1A, 1B type of thing. But, yeah, I think the Metropolitan's the way to go. And, you know, it's a pen. Since it's so inexpensive, it's about $15, that, you know, this is a pen that I would leave at the office and leave at my desk. So, you know, I have a fountain pen in case, you know, I forgot my pen case or something like that and wanted a fountain pen to write with. You know, I wouldn't mind having, you know, two or three of these, you know, just laying around in different areas because they're so good and so inexpensive you don't have to worry about losing them. Or if you don't use them for a while and the ink's dried up well and you just take them and clean them, you know, and things like that. So it's kind of a good pen just to have around to write with. And the medium nib is great. And that's probably what a lot of people should start with. I'm a huge fan of Pilot's fine nibs. They are just so good. They write wonderfully, wonderfully. So anyway, I just wanted to bring that up since I posted that out there this morning. And when I got this one in, I decided it gave me more wow when I was writing with it than the Safari has in a while. So I was like, yeah, this is the ticket right here. So good on you, Pilot Metropolitan. A few people sent me this link, which obviously I knew about it because I took a very, very minor part in the article. But on the EverydayCarrie.com blog, my friend Bernard, who has relaunched this blog here in the past six months or so, he did a huge, huge post on the best EverydayCarrie pins. It's about, I guess he's got about 10 pins in this list. And he asked for my input and he asked for Ed Jelly's input. He had already come up with a list pretty much. He wanted to know if there was anything he was missing or if there were any comments we had on these pins. But I just wanted to jump through this list real quick and talk about what Bernard had for his top EverydayCarrie pins. I don't think they're in any particular order. It's just a list of 10 really good pins. The first one's the Big Eye Design aluminum pin plus stylus. This was like two Kickstarter projects ago for Big Eye Design, I think. This is a pin I like and use a lot. It's got a lot of refill options. And I use the Hi-Tech C Cavalier in this barrel. It's really good. He's also got the Tactile Turn Mover and Shaker, which did you... I don't know. Did you back that Kickstarter project, Myke?

Myke Hurley: No.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. So those just arrived. Those just shipped last week. I got mine in Monday or Tuesday. And I'm really happy with it. So a bunch of people have been getting their pins in from this Kickstarter campaign. The grip is really great. It's a good all-around EDC-type pin. It's very durable. It's got a really strong clip. It's got a great knock. You can use a bunch of refills. This is the one I used, my 0.38mm Juice Blue Black Refill. It's excellent. Uniball Sino UM151, which is also known as the DX. This is one of the best all-around pins ever. It's good for EDC just because it's easily replaceable. It's probably the most inexpensive pin on here, but it's a durable enough barrel to where it can take a beating.

Myke Hurley: Gosh, this post looks good, doesn't it?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Bernard did a really good revamp of the blog when he relaunched it.

Myke Hurley: Incredible.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So I don't know the whole – I'll have to – we should get Bernard on here one day. I've known him for a long time, ever since he first started the Tumblr, the original Tumblr blog, which I guess this still is. Is it still on Tumblr? Maybe.

Brad Dowdy: From day one, him and I have talked. And then there was – I know he's a college student for a while, so I think he just got bogged down with not being able to keep up with it. But they did a relaunch here earlier this year, and they've really done an excellent job. So he's got the Fisher Bullitt Space Pen, which we can both agree that's a great EDC pen. The Zebra F701, which is always on top of most everyday carry pens. It's getting a little long in the tooth. They could use some upgrades to this pen. The barrel is great. The refill is one of those where people hack it and put in the refills that they like better than the refill that it comes with. The Sharpie permanent marker, he's got that because of the metal barrel, the stainless steel metal barrel that they optioned, which is a beautiful design. It's a really functional pen.

Myke Hurley: I have the metal Sharpie pen.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah, he didn't put that one in there, but it's the Sharpie. But yeah, I have that one too. It's really good, isn't it?

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I'm a big fan.

Brad Dowdy: Yep, huge fan of that pen. The Zebra Charbo X LT3. This is one of the pens that Bernard and I first, probably how we got introduced together when the Charbo came out. This is just an amazing, amazing pen. It's really, I don't know. This could be your kind of one and only pen if you like the fine tip gel ink pens. It's just a little expensive to maintain because the refills are pretty expensive and they run out quickly. He's got a pencil on here, the Rotring 800. I'm sure you've seen this week, Myke, how everyone's been pinging us about the Rotring 800+, which is the newest model with the stylus tip on the end. I'm not sure what I think about that.

Myke Hurley: Well, you know.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it is what it is. It's great looking. And we'll see. Maybe one of these days I'll get one. It looks pretty cool. He's got the Victorinox Manager, which is basically one of the small Victorinox pocket knives. But it's got a ball pen section that you can pop out. And it's just a key chain. It's like a key chain knife with a little ballpoint pen refill. And he's got the Kaweco AL Sport fountain pen, which is wonderful for EDC. This barrel can take a beating and not lose a step. And it's just a really good nib, really good performer. So that was his list. I pretty much agreed with everything he had on there. I threw out a couple more for him. But he didn't have time to or he kind of already had the list completed before he got to me. And I only had like a day to get back to him. But the two more that I would have put on there in place of maybe, I don't know, the knife and the Sharpie permanent marker would be the Max Madco bolt action pen, which I've talked about before, which I still need to order one for myself. And the Kaweco Liliput ballpoint pen, which I'm going to have a review of soon because it is a small, portable, aluminum barrel, very durable, retractable, everyday carry type of pen. And it takes the standard D1 refill. So it's not really a ballpoint. I get that refill and replace it immediately with one of the Charbo X Gel Ink 0.4 millimeter refills or the Uniball Jetstream 0.5 millimeter ballpoint refills, which those haven't been out that long. I actually just saw them, you know, like a month ago at JetPens. So now they make the little small refills to go into the standard D1 size pens. So those are two that I would put up on the list for something that I would want to see as far as if I was putting together an everyday carry pen post. And maybe I should do just that, shouldn't I, Myke? I think so. I think besides beginner fountain pens, you know, I'm just, hey, I'm just getting into fountain pens. What should I use? I think then probably the next most common question is, hey, I need a pen that I can carry every day that's, you know, small, durable, and has these features. So I need to put something down for everyday carry too. So those are a couple of my choices. And Bernard's article is great. If you haven't seen it, check it out. And if you don't subscribe to his blog, it's basically pocket dump porn at its finest. I mean, it's got everything on there. It's mostly user submitted kind of like pocket dumps, what everyone's carrying. And I can just stare. I could scroll through this site. You can lose hours going through the site looking at all the pictures. And I can't remember if I did one back in the old version of the site. I think I did. I'll have to go look and see if I ever did a submission, but I'll try to do a new submission here pretty soon. So check it out.

Writing Instruments

Brad Dowdy: All right, Myke, we need to get to the big topic here. You and I both have some amazing new writing instruments.

Myke Hurley: Mm-hmm.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm. But we got some bills to pay. So let's do it.

Pen Chalet

Myke Hurley: I want to thank our friends over at Pen Chalet for coming back and sponsoring another episode of the Pen Addict podcast. That's PenChalet.com. P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T.com. Pen Chalet sell authentic, amazing rollerballs, fountain pens, ballpoints, mechanical pencils, and so much more. They have all of your favorite brands. All of the brands that we talk about on this show every single week. Like Monteverde, Pelican, Pilot, Namiki, Sailor, and Kaweco. And they are, of course, an authorized dealer of all of them. Pen Chalet not only have incredibly reliable customer service, it's also super fast, too. They run special discounts twice a month, including closeout specials every two weeks. So every time you go over to PenChalet.com, you're pretty much guaranteed to get a fantastic offer on one of your new favorite pieces of writing equipment. They're adding new styles of pens every single month. They're always adding new stuff as they get it in. They have some of the coolest stuff around over at Pen Chalet. And as well as all the brands that I mentioned earlier, Pen Chalet also sells limited edition pens. More on that in a moment. And all the pen accessories you will ever need. Like pen carrying cases, pen holders, refills, fountain pen converters, and so much more. You get free shipping on orders over $50 in the continental United States. And they also sell internationally with very reasonable shipping rates. And don't forget, of course, that all of the things that you see are in US dollars. So if you are overseas, you may be able to take advantage of a good exchange rate. That's always a good top tip from me as a UK pen buyer. Pen Chalet has low prices on high quality pens and offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee. But this is where it gets even better. If you go to PenChalet.com and you use the code PENADDICT10, that's P-E-N-A-D-D-I-C-T-1-0. It's going to get you 10% off your order. Or, and this is what you really should be doing, click the podcast link at the top of the website and enter the password PENADDICT or one word for even more savings as well as your 10% off. So there's one thing that was a couple of things that you don't want to point out. But one thing first. So Pen Chalet are currently doing a giveaway for listeners of the PENADDICT only. Only listeners of the PENADDICT can take advantage of this. After entering the PENADDICT, P-E-N-A-D-D-I-C-T is the password at the top, after you hit the radio or podcast button at the top of the page. They have a giveaway, which you will find at the bottom of the secret special page, for a Monteverde Invincia Stylus Fountain Pen. So anyone can enter. It's absolutely free to enter. And you could be in the chance of winning either a black or chrome Monteverde Invincia Stylus. That's really cool, huh?

Brad Dowdy: That's really cool. I love... I still need to get a Monteverde pen, and maybe this is my chance. I need to go order one because they do these black nibs that are so cool looking. I've actually... Jeremiah, one of our listeners, has let me borrow one before, and it's just a great looking nib on a cool looking pen. And these Invincia Stylus Fountain Pens are just really sharp looking.

Brad Dowdy: This is something that needs to move to the top of my shopping list. Branch out to some different brands. Try a few different things. I love these black nibs. And on the all black pen, it looks just killer, I think.

Myke Hurley: Well, you would have to buy one because it wouldn't be fair if you entered the competition. No, no, no.

Brad Dowdy: I'm definitely not entering. No worries there.

Myke Hurley: But I do know somewhere that can get you 10% off.

Brad Dowdy: Yes, I know. I will take that to my advantage.

Myke Hurley: But there's a couple more discounts that I do want to just bring people's attention to, Brad, that you can get when you're on that page. Not only can you get some money off of a Pilot Metropolitan, so they retail for $18.75, you can get $14.98 before your discount at Pen Chalet if you go to the Pen Addict page by hitting the radio or podcast button at the top, entering Pen Addict's password. They also have a couple of really cool things that I wanted to mention. So there's still the Pelican M205. You can still get that for $97. That's still there. But they also have 50% off a Pelican Mount Everest 640 Special Edition. It's usually $545. Selling it for $272.50 on Pen Chalet at the moment. This thing is like a monster. It looks beautiful.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, Pelican's Lemon Edition pens are kind of a big deal. People collect every single edition that they release. They're generally pretty expensive, as you can tell by the price. I don't know what quantities they make them in, but Pelican Special Edition pens are always pretty cool. And this one, it looks really cool. The gold is a little much for me, but the design... I've seen this pen before, and I always check out the design because it reminds me of... I'm a huge Joy Division fan, the band. And they did an album called Unknown Pleasures, and they have this iconic album cover on it with this space pulsar design on the cover. And that's what it reminds me of. That's why I want to buy this pen, because it reminds me of Joy Division's album cover. But it's really just kind of like ridges of the mountain. I guess that's supposed to be the sun maybe rising over the mountain. Yeah. That's kind of hard to tell, but it looks beautiful.

Myke Hurley: I kind of like the gold and the chrome matching with the gold and the chrome on the nib.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it's really well done. It's really well done. And I don't know... I mean, I'm not a huge Pelican Special Edition guy. It's not something I track. But I don't think these really go and sail that much. But I can't say for sure. But it's definitely cool, something to check out if you're a Pelican fan or a Pelican collector and you have not gotten the Everest Edition fountain pen yet. And it's the 640 size, which is kind of right in the middle of their product line. It's a very good size pen. That's probably the next size Pelican I would buy would be something from the 600 series. It's a little bigger than the 205 and the 200 and 400 series. So yeah, that's a really good deal. I think normally, like just even standard 600 and 605 Pelicans go for like 400 and something dollars. So this is pretty good. This is a really good deal.

Myke Hurley: So that's some of the fantastic offers you can find over at penchalet.com. Make sure you hit that button, the podcast button at the top. Enter penaddict as the password. You're going to get your 10% off if you go through that area. But also you're going to find a bunch of half off and just a bunch of really cool offers there. So thank you so much to Pen Chalet for sponsoring 5x5, but especially for sponsoring the Pen Addict.

Brad Dowdy: Yes, thank you so much, Pen Chalet. And the giveaway, it looks like it runs for 11 more days, 11 days and seven hours left on this giveaway. So make sure you get your entry in to win one of the Monteverdi Invincia pens. They're very beautiful.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, it's free. Why not do it? You're going to be there looking at these great offers anyway.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, exactly.

Pen Blog

Brad Dowdy: All right, so we got a pen blog of the week this week. And this is a new pen blog. It's called The Gentleman Stationer. And he just started the gentleman behind the blog. His name is Joe. I actually met him at the Atlanta Fountain Pen Show. And he reached out to me afterwards saying, hey, I've started this blog, obviously about pens and things like that. And he's done some really great articles so far. You know, he's doing some reviews. He's done several ink reviews so far, several pen reviews. He's got a couple of posts right up our alley, Myke. He's got an in praise of the original field notes, which we can certainly get behind. And he has a current post. His day job, he's a lawyer. So he just happened to put this post on here, which I'm not going to read through the whole post. And it's not necessarily related to pens, but it's related to Kickstarter and backers filing lawsuits against unfunded projects. And it's not for our favorite pen, The Visionaire. But I just remember people coming up with the – during the whole Visionaire thing that, you know, people were going to start, you know, trying to do some type of lawsuit and things like that. But anyway, it'll be interesting to track this lawsuit to see how it affects Kickstarter as a whole. I kind of have a feeling there it's not going to get very far. I think Kickstarter has positioned themselves to not be affected by this type of thing. But it's a good article to link to. And it definitely kind of hit home with everyone's experience with The Visionaire. But outside of that, Joe does a great job with all his pen and ink reviews so far. And he's got another post here he did recently called the Retro Edition Pens from High School and College, which we can both appreciate that. We both reminisce about some of the cool pens that we've used back in the day. So definitely check out The Gentleman Stationer. It's gentlemanstationer.com. And we'll have the link in the show notes, which you can find at 555.tv slash penaddict slash 105. Is that right? That's correct. Yes. Well done, buddy. I never plan on doing that. And I'll figure, well, that's kind of a good time. I know you always want us to say where the show notes are. And I figure, well, that's a good time. Then I always forget that I don't exactly know the format of the URL.

Myke Hurley: Yes, 505.tv slash penaddict slash 105.

Brad Dowdy: Awesome. So check out The Gentleman Stationer there if you haven't already added him to your daily reading. So good job, Joe. All right. So the rest of this show is going to be about a very specific topic or two topics, I guess we should say. Both Myke and I have added some new pens to our arsenal. And they both kind of have stories behind them. So do you want to go first? Do you want me to go first? What are you feeling?

Myke Hurley: Well, I'll go first, but I am no part of the story. Well, you are. You are. You know? Yes. So basically, when Brad was attending the Atlanta Pen Show, I asked him to pick me up a Franklin Kristoff of some description because I've been interested in their pens for a while. They seem to make some really interesting stuff. And everything that Brad has used from the Franklin Kristoff range, he has raved about. So I figured, yeah, why not? Apparently, they were there, right?

Brad Dowdy: Yes, they were there at the show.

Myke Hurley: So I figured, yeah, let's go for it. And I'll do that. Now, my intention was to send Brad the money. However, Brad, being the person that he is, has bought me a gift. So thank you very much for that. You're very welcome. I feel like I must out your generosity to the world.

Myke Hurley: It's very, very kind of you. I don't know why you do these things sometimes, but you do, and it makes me very, very happy. So thank you.

Myke Hurley: So, and part of this was I asked him to pick me up a Masuyama nib. I figured, why not knock two birds with one stone here, you know? So get a nice hand-worked custom nib from Mr. Masuyama and get a Franklin Kristoff because they do the Masuyama nibs stock.

Brad Dowdy: Yes, yes. So they stock them, and since they were at the show, they had their full stock there. You could pick up pretty much any nib you wanted there at the show from them. So, yeah, it was definitely a two birds with one stone type of thing. It was perfect. It was a great idea.

Myke Hurley: So I believe I said to you, just get me a Franklin Kristoff, right?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I think it was very general. You didn't have any specifics at all.

Myke Hurley: No. So this week, this past week, the pen arrived, and I opened it up. I'd never seen this pen in my life. I was first struck by its size. It's a very big pen, and it's the Franklin Kristoff Model 19 Anderson Pen Special Edition. Now, again, I didn't, basically, I didn't even know what this pen was until I looked at the show notes today. I didn't know the name of it, and I feel like there's a story there just by reading the name of it that I don't yet know. So I figure what I would do, because there is obviously more of a story. I know there's more of a story as well, because you kind of hinted that there was one. Yeah. So you can tell that in a moment, but maybe I should talk about the pen a little bit first on what I think of it?

Brad Dowdy: Yep. I'd like to hear it, because you have not shared any information with me so far, other than you have received the pen, and that's pretty much it. So, yeah, I want to hear it.

Myke Hurley: At first, I thought it was very beautiful. It's like a very, very dark blue with two sort of marble-like light blue stripes, one that runs around the cap and one that runs around the pen itself.

Myke Hurley: Well, it's acrylic, isn't it? The whole pen is acrylic, which I'm a big fan of because they're very light. Yes. And this one, the acrylic smell doesn't knock my eyes out like the Edison pen I have, which is both good and bad, because sometimes the smell of acrylic is a great thing to have, sometimes not so much. But, you know, it's not too much of an issue. Plus, if I did test this, if you sniff inside the cap really hard, you will get it. So if I need it, it's still there. I was a little bit intimidated by it at first because of the size. It's bigger than any pen that I own, like in just mass. And when I saw it, I was like, oh, that's the executive pen, you know? You know we've been talking about the executive pen.

Brad Dowdy: Right, the show pen.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, but I figured that's not what I'm going to use it for. I'm going to use it. Like, also the nib is very large. Lots of things. It's definitely oversized for what I usually use. But not uncomfortable to hold, not heavy in any way, you know? It feels like a pen in weight, half its size. And I also have a Masuyama nib in it. It's a 1.1 stub nib, which you had to inform me I needed to change the nib.

Brad Dowdy: It's actually a medium. It comes with a stock 1.1 millimeter steel nib. And then the Masuyama nib is actually a medium stub nib.

Myke Hurley: It's a medium nib stub. So, at first I tried it out and I wasn't 100% sure that I got the nib correct because it was very slight. Like, the stub is very slight.

Myke Hurley: And over the – I've been using it exclusively this week. And I put my favorite ink in there, of course. I put the Hiroshizuku Fuyugaki in there, the orange that I love so much. And as I've used it over the week, I have noticed the stubbness of it. Because bear in mind, my only previous stub nib was a 1.5. So, you know, realizing – This is more subtle. It's much more subtle. And once I – I was able to clue that in. I've been able to clue that in over the week and can see the stubbiness of it. Because it's not as harsh as the TWSBI that I have. And I really, really like the fact that it's a stubb nib rather than just a standard medium nib. Because it adds just a layer of dimension there that I like a lot. This pen is incredibly smooth to write with. Now, of course, this is because the nib is special. But that's something that I've found. I think that the key thing that I've taken away from this is it is incredibly smooth. And it works fantastically. And even in field notes, like the bleed is very minimal, which is excellent. And I have been using it all week. And I really, really love it. Like, I genuinely really love it. It's a really interesting pen to look at. It's not the best-looking pen that I own. But I really like it because I think it's one of the most unique.

Myke Hurley: Everything about it is big. Like, the clip stands out really far from the cap, you know. I like it. It's all very, like, big. And I like the fact that they kind of, like, etch the Frank and Kristoff logo in the top of the cap.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, and the threading is not standard threading. It's the block threading because it's a larger pen. It just kind of locks in.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, and that all looks quite strange. But good, you know, strange in a, not in a weird way. But, like, it's all very different to anything else that I own. Which kind of makes it special in its own way. Because I probably wouldn't have picked this pen for myself. You know? So I like a lot that I own it because it's very different to what I usually have. But I genuinely love it. Like, it is definitely, definitely in rotation for me now.

Brad Dowdy: Well, good. Well, good. Because there was a lot of stress and consternation going into shopping for this pen. You want to hear this story? Yes.

Myke Hurley: I feel like I can kind of guess some of it from seeing the name and then also the way that the nib came to me.

Franklin Kristoff

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So I had an idea. So I was excited about the task to buy you a Franklin Kristoff pen. That was nothing. I was excited. I was like, yes, I'm going to buy Myke a pen. And I knew which pen I was going to get you. And it wasn't the Model 19. It was the Model 2. And not the Model 2. Well, the Model 40 pocket is the small one that I have. I knew I wasn't getting you the small portable one.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I didn't want that in a way because it was too, you know.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. So that pen is not for everybody. But they make essentially a larger, full-size design like that called the Model 2. Well, they sold out of them pretty much before I walked in the door on Saturday. So they only had a couple colors left. They had – there was a green one that I saw that was in the running for the pen that I wanted to get for you. And, you know, I looked at it and it came back several times. And then I kept coming back to this pen that was on the Anderson pens table, which is this Model 19 that I ended up getting you. And I couldn't get over how good-looking this pen was compared to the Model 2 – the other option, the Model 2 and the green barrel one, which was a nice pen. And you'd probably like it very much. I mean, you'd totally like it. But I kept coming back to this one because of the – I couldn't – this pen looked unlike any other pen that Franklin Kristoff carried at all. I mean, they carried the Model 19, but this blue – these blue rings really made it stand out. And I kept coming back to it. And part of that, you know, is maybe some of – it's hard to shop for someone else and get your personal biases out of the way, right? So I think I came – I kept running into that. Like, I personally loved this pen and how it looked. My consternation was, one, the size. And number two, not until after I bought it and got it home and I think I had shipped it to you, I went, oh, crap. Does Myke post his pens? Because this pen is so big. I mean, it's not gargantuan by any means. It's a large pen. But posted, it's huge.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, you could – it basically is getting along to baseball bat territory at that point.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so you don't really want to write with this pen posted. And not until after I bought it, got it home, and shipped it to you did I have that, oh, crap moment where does Myke post his fountain pens? I don't know that I've ever asked you or if it's even come up in conversation. So what's the answer?

Myke Hurley: I don't. Okay. I never, ever, ever post any pen.

Brad Dowdy: Okay.

Myke Hurley: Even like – when I have used a Fisher Space pen, I don't even post that.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. Okay, good. So this pen definitely works better unposted, I've found. And you know why I say that? Because you and I are pen twins. I bought the exact same one for me too. With the exact same pen.

Model 2

Myke Hurley: So I'm looking at the Model 2 at the moment, and you made the right choice. I don't – the green one. Like the Model 2 is cool when you get the fire and ice or the smoke and ice. But just solid green, I much prefer this one because that just – it's just a green pen. Yep. Like this has got that extra, like that, ooh, which is what the blue line gives it because it's just – it's so – I've never seen a pen designed like this before.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so my plan was to get the smoke and ice Model 2. And when I talked to them, not only were they sold out of the few that they brought, they are so backordered on that pen that it's going to be months before they even start stocking them again, which I can commissarate with on certain things. Yeah. But so I was like, well, I have to start from scratch now. So I looked through every pen that they had on their table. They had every model of every pen that they had. And nothing stood out to me like this Anderson Pens. Now, Anderson Pens carries two Franklin Kristoff special models. They carry the Model 2 with a black barrel and a blue ring around the section. And it does not hold a candle to the looks of the 19. And I liked it so much, I bought one for myself. I couldn't – it's a pen that I kept coming back to time and time and time again, and nothing was beating it. There was no pen I could find that I liked better than this. So they come with the stock steel nibs. And, you know, Brian said, what nib do I want with it? He'll just walk over to the Franklin Kristoff table. You know, they're a customer of theirs. He said, you know, I'll just switch out whatever nib you want. And this is for stock nib, right? They don't sell it with the Masayama nib. So I said, well, just give me the stub stock nib because I wasn't sure what other nib you would like. But I just figured for a comparison, you could have both of those nibs to compare. And then I went – after I purchased this pen, then I went back over to Franklin Kristoff just to buy the nibs for this pen, right? So it comes with a stock steel 1.1 millimeter stub nib. And then I went back over to Franklin Kristoff to purchase the Masayama medium stub nib. So I bought an extra fine one for me. And then I bought a stub, the medium stub, for you. And I think that was about the end of the day of the show. So I packed these away. And, you know, I was done shopping. That was like my last big purchase with Anderson pens. I've gotten everything checked off the list. I've got your Franklin Kristoff. I've got your Masayama nib and put it in the car. And I went and had a drink at the bar with all the people who had come to the show.

Myke Hurley: I'm just going to stop you here. Yep. Because this is – I know that there's something coming here. So basically, Brad teases that he's bought these pens. And he sends me a message. And he's like, it's going to take me a little bit longer before I can ship this to you. I'm like, okay. He's like, there's nothing wrong. We had a conversation. There's nothing wrong. There's something I need to do first. So carry on with the rest of your story.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So that was the day after the next day. I was excited that, oh, I'm ready to ship out Myke's pens. Let me get it ready. Let me get it all packaged up. And I break out the pen. And I break out the nib. And, you know, this is 4.30 in the afternoon after a long, exhausting day. And I'm mentally beat. I just want to sit down and have a beer. So I come home the next day. And I'm ready to ship these out. And I start looking at the nib for mine. I'm going to replace the nib in mine. And I get out the nib. And I get out my pen. And I look at it. And I go, huh, that's the wrong size nib. So these pens, the Model 19, comes with a size 6 nib. So that's the larger size nib that you see in your pen right now. Comparatively, the Model 40 pocket and things like your Edison Perlet, that's called a number 5 nib. Okay? So I bought two number 5 nibs from Franklin Kristoff to fit in the Model 19, which only takes number 6 nibs. So I had two nibs at home that did not fit these Model 19s. So that's okay, except for the fact that I couldn't ship out your pen that day. So I was like, I actually, you know what? I realized this Sunday night when I got home at like 9 o'clock, I went straight to Franklin Kristoff's site and ordered the two number 6 nibs. And they were at my door by like Tuesday. So they came in like two days.

Myke Hurley: Okay.

Brad Dowdy: So that's how I got the right nib. I was like, well, I can't send them this pen without the Masayama nibs. So I ordered the second set of nibs. And they shipped out quickly. So, which is okay. The number 5 nibs I use, I've already put one in my Perlet. So, you know, they fit lots of other different things. So it wasn't a waste at all. It was just an exhaustion mistake where it didn't even cross my mind that it was a number 6 nib in this Model 19 instead of a number 5. But which any fountain pen person looking at this, it would be a completely normal thing. They would totally know which nib to buy. But it was just something that, you know, I was kind of spent mentally at the end of the day. And it didn't register with me when I did it. So, yeah. So I got home that night, ordered them up. And it's like, it's going to be a day or two before I ship out your pen. Just need to rectify something real quick. So.

Myke Hurley: Thank you for going through all of that.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It ended up making for a good story. It was fun. It was fun to do. And I hope you enjoy the pen sincerely. And, yeah, it's just one of those pens I just kept coming back to where you just sometimes you just kind of know. And then I just had to hope that you would like it. I knew that I liked it because I couldn't really find anything better looking than it. So that's the story behind how your Franklin Kristoff came to be. It's a good story.

Myke Hurley: So thank you, buddy. Genuinely, I enjoy it. And I've been using it a lot. So.

Brad Dowdy: You are very welcome. And I actually use mine a lot, too. I really like the size of it. It's big. It's a big pen. It's actually bigger than you think. Even, you know, when I was at the show, I was like, oh, this is a big pen. But until you get it home and kind of compare it to some of the other pens that you have, you realize how large it is. But I don't think it's overly large, especially unposted writing with it. It feels wonderful to write with. It's a great weight.

Brad Dowdy: So I've got something in the mail, too, this week. Or was it last week? I guess it was this week. It was Tuesday. My Nakaya came in.

Brad Dowdy: And I am super, super excited about it. And I don't want to spend too, too long discussing it. But I know people were anxious to hear my initial thoughts about it. So I can at least explain what I actually bought. And then, you know, later on after I review it, maybe we'll talk about it more. But I ended up purchasing through nibs.com, which we've talked about before. I guess they might be the only U.S. authorized retailer of Nakaya. I'm not sure. I think that's right. So they have a lot of Nakayas in stock. And I really had a hard time picking the model. I knew the color was going to be probably this AO Tamanuri finish, which is a blue-green. It's a black lacquer with a blue-green color underneath it. So I was pretty sure on the color. The problem I had and what took me so long to decide on which model to order was I didn't know which barrel design I wanted. And they have all different kind of barrel designs. And then what I'm going to do, Myke, is I'm going to put together a post on how I bought my Nakaya, how I came to the final decision that I made. It's almost too long and too difficult to even talk about on the podcast. There was a lot of thought and research that went into picking out the model. But the model I went with was the portable cigar AO Tamanuri with a rhodium-plated nib and a medium cursive italic grind on the nib. And I am 100% satisfied with the pen that I purchased. The barrel is exactly what I wanted. And that was the hardest thing because I had never held the portable model in my hand to just see how it feels. I've tried a few different – I've tried the one called the Nakaya, which is similar in length to the portable. When I say portable, I don't want anyone to think it's a small pen. I don't know why they name it this way, I think, because there's probably a story behind it. But this is a full-size pen. It's not a mini pen or a small portable pocket-type pen.

Brad Dowdy: And I went with the clipless model, which is called the cigar, which means there's no clip on it at all, which is scary to do because it's such an expensive pen. You don't want it rolling off the desk or rolling off the floor. But I thought it would just interfere with the beauty of the pen. So I risked it and went clipless. And I'm happy with that decision by the way the pen looks. And the color I knew – the color I'd actually used and actually seen on the site before, and I was pretty sure it was going to be this color. There was one called Heccy Tamanuri, which is a brown with a green underlay. That was kind of in the running. But I think for my first Nakaya, I knew I wanted a black base with some pop of color. And the blue-green of the Aeo Tamanuri is really, really great. And then the nib, you're able to choose the color of the nib. They actually have the gold nib, which – the gold color nib, which is stocked. They're all 14-karat gold nibs. They have the gold nib. They have the plated nibs in rhodium or ruthenium or rose gold or two-tone nibs. So there's lots of nib choices you can make to go on there. And then you tell them if you want any additional modification. So I told them I wanted a fine nib, and I want it ground into a cursive italic point, which John Mottashaw is well-known for his very, very top-notch work on grinding pins. And he's the man behind nibs.com. I have to say that it's awesome. I mean, I'm totally happy. I would not change a thing that I purchased with my Nakaya, which is good because it's a very expensive pen. But there was some mental risk in doing this because I haven't necessarily used everything that I was buying. I was like, I hope this works out right. But I figured I did my research. And like I said, I'm going to do a whole write-up on this, the whole purchasing process. But it's definitely unlike any pen I've ever used. This is the most – I'm struggling to find the words to explain it, Myke. You really have to try it. And I know you actually tried this exact model that I have.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, so it turns out last week Hans was the guy's name who I couldn't remember, which I felt terrible for. And I'm really pleased that he contacted me so I could correct it. He has a cigar portable.

Brad Dowdy: Yep, so you were able to try the exact pen that I purchased, the exact barrel design, the length. So it's not a small pen. It's a normal-sized writing pen.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, he has the black-red Kuru Tamanuri.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah, that's a really good look. And that was definitely on the short list too.

Brad Dowdy: It's really hard to explain this pen in words. It's the most cohesive pen I've ever used. I don't even know if that's the right word. It's – when I'm writing with it, there's nothing happening except writing. There's no – there's nothing getting in the way of me writing with this pen when I'm using this pen. It feels like the entire pen is the nib, if you will. It's – I don't know how to put that in words. It's just like there's – it's one unit where, you know, different pens with, you know, metal sections or, you know, I don't know, different things on the end cap. You know, different screws like a piston filler. You know, it's got extra mechanisms. There's no extras. It's like perfect minimalism for a very not minimally designed pen. I'm going to have to figure out how to express this in words because it's really hard. And even written words and pictures aren't going to do it justice. You have – I've tried to take – I've taken some pictures and they're in my Instagram feed. It's impossible to get the color right, get the depth of the lacquer right, the finish of the pen. It's amazing.

Brad Dowdy: You know, the Rushi lacquer is really – it has a lot of depth to it. It – yeah, it looks like you can see through the pen, but you can't. It's – and I don't know. So, it's something I'm going to have to spend more time with to learn how to explain it properly. I don't think I'm doing a very good job. But I do know that I'm ecstatic with it. I've never used a pen like it. I've never used a pen that's just felt just like this totally complete writing unit that it is. It's awesome. I'm really happy with it. And, you know, hopefully I can discuss it in better terms than rambling on about it like I am now once I kind of write it all down and do a blog post about it.

Myke Hurley: Why did you go for the no clip rather than a clip?

Brad Dowdy: Because of the beauty of the finish of the pen. I didn't want anything to interrupt that.

Myke Hurley: Does it not roll away though?

Brad Dowdy: It does. But I keep the kimono that it comes in. You know, that little pouch that they come in. I guess Hans had his, right? Yeah, he did, yeah. So I carry that. It's really funny. Our Brasstown pen case for Notco, you know, it's got the extra space, you know, the extra pocket space. It's the six roll pen wrap pouch. So I have the pens in the roll section and then I take the kimono and put it in the pocket section. So it fits perfect. It's like the perfect case for that. Perfect case for your pen case. So I use the kimono as my roll stopper. So I put it on the edge of my pad and then just lay the pen on top of the kimono so it doesn't roll away. So yeah, I'm concerned about it rolling away. But for my first Nakaya, I wanted the kind of the raw experience just to see the quality. And I mean, it's like an art piece. But I'm not using it and treating it as such. I'm forcing myself to take this pen anywhere and everywhere and not worry about it. And I'm totally content doing that, which I know that that means I think I've actually finally turned the corner. And which is why I was ready to finally buy the Nakaya because you don't spend this kind of money on a pen and not use it. So that's what made me finally, you know, realize I was ready to buy it to, you know, not treat it with kid gloves. It's an instrument made to be used. And I'm going to use it anywhere and everywhere. I'll even I'll take it to burgers with you and Hans. We'll get some grease on it. But yeah, that's that's kind of that was the biggest thing when I knew I was ready to do that, take it anywhere and everywhere and use it. And I knew I was ready to order it. And I'm extremely, extremely happy with it. And well, I'll definitely do a lot more talking about it. And once I get some some time to sit down and put my thoughts into words, because it's really hard to explain without holding it in your hand and feeling how it writes, how it's different than any other pen I own. So totally it's totally been worth it. And I'm really happy with it so far.

Myke Hurley: So now starts to count until I buy one.

Brad Dowdy: You think you are? I kind of I kind of thought that wasn't really on your radar.

Myke Hurley: Everything that's on your radar eventually finds its way to mine.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Well, I got to say, this took me probably about a year to just go through the mental process to this pen.

Myke Hurley: They get accelerated incredibly when you start talking to me about them.

Brad Dowdy: Sorry about that.

Myke Hurley: I'm looking at these and they are really pretty. But the nibs.com ordering system is one of the weirdest things I've ever seen. Well, I had a problem with that, actually. Can I just tell people what it is? Sure. Yeah, go for it. So you can buy things online, but you can't add something to a shopping cart. You have to fill in an online order form where you write everything in manually and then you submit it and they send you an invoice back. Like that's so strange. So you would have to write like, so you write like item name, Nakaya, portable cigar, Amairo, fountain pen, quantity one, price. And you type the price in, which is so weird. One dollar.

Myke Hurley: Very peculiar to me to see that.

Brad Dowdy: Let me see if I can pull mine up and I'll read you what I had to write. But yeah, my problem was that I did exactly what you said. I filled out the online form and filled out everything that I had to. And they sent me the invoice. The invoice went to my spam folder. That was the problem I ran into. So like I waited, I ordered it on a Sunday night, figured I'd get the invoice Monday. And then I pay for it after I get the invoice.

Brad Dowdy: And then Monday night, I never got the invoice. So I emailed them again. They say, yeah, we sent it. But here it is again. And then I said, oh, if they sent it, let me check my spam folder. And sure enough, there it was. So yeah, I had a delay in getting it. But that was the problem I ran into. So yeah, I had to write down the style, the finish, the nib, the nib plating, the cursive metallic part, all of that part I'm writing in. And then there's like a note section. And then you have to gauge your writing preferences and your characteristics right. That's a hard thing. Do you want it to write dry? Do you want it to write medium? Do you want it to write wet? What's your writing pressure? All kinds of crazy things like that.

Myke Hurley: Why do you have to put that in?

Brad Dowdy: Because he tunes the nib accordingly.

Myke Hurley: That sounds terrifying.

Brad Dowdy: So for the tuning part, I just went, I know I don't like a really wet writing pen. So I went with medium flow. And I know I probably borderline write with heavy pressure. But I went with just a medium writing pressure. Just kind of standard.

Myke Hurley: All of those choices turn me off. Because then I feel like if something's not right, I'm going to blame myself.

Brad Dowdy: I can totally understand that.

Myke Hurley: And I don't like that thought of blaming myself. Well, I think that's why it took me so long to order it. I'm trying to find UK distributors of this. If anybody knows a good UK, a trustworthy UK distributor of a Nakaya, please let me know.

Brad Dowdy: So yeah, but you can order straight from Nakaya.org. Which, you know, maybe my next one, maybe I'll order from there just to try something different.

Brad Dowdy: Nibs.com. Aesthetic Bay, which is in Singapore. They're an authorized dealer.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, don't order from Nakaya.org. Oh, wait, hang on. You can change the language.

Brad Dowdy: You have to click the button, yeah.

Myke Hurley: Okay. I was also, oh, no, terrifying. I'll click the American button for English. Yes, I'll click the American button.

Brad Dowdy: That's what I want. Click the American button. American button. Just have a big M for America on there. Mm-hmm. But yeah, don't do translate on their page. Click the button that switches the whole site to the EN. And you can order straight from there. But it's still the same kind of thing from there, Myke. Like, you have to type in a bunch of how-do-you-feel-today stuff.

Myke Hurley: I'm not up for that. Plus, these are so expensive that I know the customs will kill me. So I might as well just try and get one from the UK if I can.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, maybe at the pin show in October. I don't know. No one carries me. No one has any Nakayas at the pin show that I go to. So who knows? But anyway, there'll be more to come about this. Because I just got it on Tuesday. So I've only had a couple days to spend with it. But it's the only pin I've used since I've got it. And I love it. So I'm very happy with my purchase. And there will be more in the future.

Nakaya Review

Brad Dowdy: So I think that's all I got today. We'll do more on the Nakaya after I write up the review, which will probably be several months down the line. I'm going to spend some more time with it before I review it. And it'll be a long, long involved process review. But that'll be good.

Myke Hurley: I have no doubt we'll be talking about it more on the show between that time.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. Yep, for sure.

Myke Hurley: If you want to find out about this website, which Bradley Dowdy. I don't know why I was going to call you that.

Brad Dowdy: I thought you could say Brad.Dowdy.

Myke Hurley: Brad.Dowdy keeps talking about. You want to go to penaddict.com. I've forgotten everything. What is your website?

Brad Dowdy: This is what happens when we record on Thursday. You have Tuesday Brain, but we record on Thursday and you botch it all up. It's penaddict.com, isn't it? Yes, and then you made me buy thepenaddict.com because you kept making mistakes so much. You kept calling it thepenaddict, so I had to go spend money because you can't remember the name of my website.

Myke Hurley: Well, I was going to say .net because you're like the only person I know that has a .com.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, although other people are weird.

Myke Hurley: Well, it's just because none of their names were unique enough, I guess.

Show Notes

Myke Hurley: You can do that. If you want to find the show notes for this week's episode, go to 5x5.tv slash penaddict slash 105. So you'll find all the links to everything we've spoken about. And there's also a big button at the top that says Contact. That's a great way you can send us an email. If you want to get in touch with us on Twitter, Brad is at Dowdyism, D-O-W-D-Y-I-S-M. And I am iMike, I-M-Y-K-E. Those Nakayas have broken my brain.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Hey, what's my app.net name?

Brad Dowdy: We were talking about this on the prompt. I know. I know. That's why I said it.

Myke Hurley: Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of the Pen Addict Podcast. Until next time, say goodbye, Brad.

Brad Dowdy: Goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.