The Pen Addict 122/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	122
Title:	It Physically Hurts My Head
Release Date:	September 29th, 2014
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 122
Audio File:	Audio Episode 122
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 122
Length:	6767 min <br />1.117 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: Hello and welcome to episode 122 of The Pen Addict on RelayFM. This episode of The Pen Addict is brought to you by Harry's, an exceptional shave at a fraction of the price, and The Pen Chalet, where you can get great deals on high quality pens with a 100% satisfaction guarantee. The Pen Addict is a weekly show where we discuss pens, paper, and the analogue tools you love so dearly. My name is Myke Hurley and I am joined as always by The Pen Addict himself, Mr. Brad Dowdy.

Brad Dowdy: How's it going, Myke?

Myke Hurley: Very well, sir. How are you?

Brad Dowdy: I'm good. I'm really good, actually. I'm not sure why, but yeah, I'm really good.

Myke Hurley: You've had a busy week.

Brad Dowdy: I've had a heck of a busy week.

Nock Kickstarter

Myke Hurley: Wait, you've, like, this is, like, not, in my opinion, not as busy, wait, you haven't been this busy since Nock launched the Kickstarter.

Brad Dowdy: That sounds about right. I didn't put it that way, but yeah, for sure. So, but, and we'll talk about a bunch of this stuff, but, you know, I'm sitting around this weekend, and all I'm doing, like, Sunday morning is just hammering through, like, work stuff. And when I talk about, well, blog stuff, Nock stuff, you know, sponsorship stuff, blog posts, just on and on and on, just pounding it out on Sunday morning. I was like, this is fantastic. I was, like, totally in the zone. I was accomplishing everything. And that's what I, it just hit me when I was kind of done with all this stuff. I was just like, wow, that felt good. That's why I sent out a tweet this weekend that said, I'm happy.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I saw that, and I wondered what it meant.

Brad Dowdy: That was when I took a breath after doing all kinds of stuff, and I was like, that felt good.

Myke Hurley: So, you genuinely feel happy is what you're saying, right? Yes, yes.

Brad Dowdy: So, anyway, we'll get to some of that stuff later. But we got all kinds of stuff to talk about. This is my kind of show right here where we just talk about all kinds of things. And you want to drop something on me right out the gate?

Myke Hurley: Yeah, so, friends of the show and the great guys and gals over at Colt Pens, they got in contact with me a few days ago. And they said to me, we have a special edition pen that we want to send you that Brad won't have. And I was like, brilliant. Send it.

Myke Hurley: And we're talking about, I'm talking with them. They suggested it, and we just need to work it out. And I'll just talk to you, too, about giving away maybe one of these, too. Okay. It's a special edition Kaweco. So, it's a Kaweco Sport, but it's the color. It's the classic sport. But the color is what makes this one special. And I'm putting a link in the show notes, which you can find at relay.fm slash penaddict slash 122. And for the live listeners, it's in the chat room. It's a dark brown special edition with gold trim. And it's a very classic look. And I like it very much. And I just wanted to point out that this is something that you don't own and I do.

Brad Dowdy: That is super sexy. I'm a huge fan. I love this pen. It's just right. You know, it's very cool how it functions. You know, the small size of it then turned into a full-length pen. And I don't know. I'm just a huge, huge fan of the sport line, classic sport, AL sport, anything sport. And this dark brown is sweet, especially since you, I guess, can't get it anywhere. You've got to get from Colt pens, right?

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I believe so.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, because they do a bunch of special edition stuff. That is awesome. So yeah, I'm totally jealous.

Myke Hurley: I like it. It makes me feel like a gentleman when I write with it. It's just something about it. I feel like I should be wearing tweed or something.

Brad Dowdy: Wait, you don't wear tweed every day?

Myke Hurley: Not every day.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. Okay. Are your boxers tweed?

Myke Hurley: That would be extremely itchy.

Brad Dowdy: Okay.

Myke Hurley: Okay.

Brad Dowdy: Just checking.

Myke Hurley: So I just wanted to, you know, I wanted to call attention to it. I wanted to thank the people at Colt Pens. And it was mainly all of this was from them and from me was just as a point that I have something that you don't have.

Brad Dowdy: That's good. And I like that they're like coming to you with that and say, hey, take a look at this and you can taunt Brad with it.

Myke Hurley: But yeah, keep your ears out because we're working on sorting out one of these to give away as well.

Brad Dowdy: Okay, cool. Good. Can't wait. That'll be great.

Myke Hurley: So yeah, there you go. I have something you don't have.

Brad Dowdy: Well, you got something else that I do have though this week, right? Finally.

Field Notes

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I'm trying to think of what to compare this to, but the idea of like opening something and having like a blinding light in your face.

Brad Dowdy: It's like in Pulp Fiction, the briefcase.

Myke Hurley: That's what I'm, that's exactly what I'm thinking of. That was what it was like when I received my packs of the, what did I, unexposed. That's it. I was going to call them overexposed and maybe that was the point.

Myke Hurley: The field notes. These things are insane. There is one color. I haven't got them to hand now. There is one color that physically hurts my head to look at.

Myke Hurley: Wait, I'm going off mic for a moment.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. All right. Let's take a vote on which one it is. I'm going to go with the, the pink with the blue text.

Myke Hurley: Right. Okay. So I, I got only one duplicate. I got two of the yellow and purple ones, which I love by the way. That's one of my favorite, favorite colors. Hang on. So I'm opening them up here. I love the packaging. I love the little logos inside the paper. Yep. I love the, the pink and blue one as well. Okay.

Brad Dowdy: Okay.

Myke Hurley: Oh, there it is. Oh, the green and pink one.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. I lost. So when you went off mic, I said, I bet it's going to be the pink and blue one, but it's the green and pink one, huh?

Myke Hurley: Oh, it's the green and pink. Yeah. I look at it and it like hurts my eyes. But I love that they did this. I think these are so fun. And this paper, it's not to me like the drink local, but it's close. It feels really good, but it doesn't feel exactly the same.

Brad Dowdy: Agreed.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. The drink, the drink local had a more rubbery. I mean, like the, the, the cover. Yeah. But these are definitely like more like that. They're more plasticky than usual. And I really like that. I think that's a fantastic touch.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So I'm really, I'm really enjoying mine so far.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I was, I was at a games expo this weekend.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, cool. That's right.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. And I took a field notes book with me and I took this yellow and purple one. I bet this would be big with LA Lakers fans.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, for sure. There's, there's definitely some team type stuff in there. Yeah. Uh, the, both the, the yellow and purple and purple and yellow have been like real popular for that type of stuff. Lots of team colors and those type of things.

Myke Hurley: I just realized that the colors are reversed, aren't they? Mm-hmm. Yeah. I've just realized. Well, not, not all of them.

Brad Dowdy: Not all of them. Right. Okay. Okay. But a couple of them are. Yes.

Myke Hurley: I have a couple more packs to come. So I hope to finish the set of six.

Brad Dowdy: What are you missing?

Myke Hurley: Um, I'm not.

Brad Dowdy: I didn't hear you say orange. I'm not. I didn't hear you say orange. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: I don't think I have an orange one. I did. Yeah. I didn't know what the colors. I couldn't remember what the colors were. I have yellow, purple, blue, green, and pink. Yeah. You're missing orange. Oh man. I bet the orange one's great, isn't it?

Brad Dowdy: It looks pretty good. It's got the blue text. Um, so it looks pretty nice.

XOXO Fest Giveaway

Myke Hurley: I hope I get two of those then to balance it out.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So just on the, the unexposed, I mean, I think it's, uh, you know, you and I are pretty much on the same page on this one. I just, I read a review this week, um, from the finer point. Um, is that? Yeah. Jenny, um, she wrote a really good review. She does really excellent reviews. I think she's been a pin blog of the week, week in the past. And, you know, she did, she does great pictures, great photography, but she made one, one little comment in her post, um, that I thought was accurate. Um, she said, this edition changed the usual ritual. Like we all have this, you know, all of us that, you know, are into these types of things, you know, and listening to podcasts about pens and reading blogs and are in enjoy field notes. All of us in this community, we have a ritual, you know, you know, we, we start getting anxious about two, two and a half months after the last edition. And we start speculating what the next edition is and they send out a teaser email. And there's this whole little dance we do back and forth. What's it going to be, you know? Um, and then we always get to see it before it arrives in our hands. And this time it was a little bit different. And I thought they did a good job of really, you know, they really nailed that. Um, just the whole getting everyone to talk about it thing. And, uh, I thought that was a good job by them, a good lesson to learn. So.

Myke Hurley: And, you know, I've been thinking about this too. You know, you were mentioning about the, are they more collectible on, or like, or trolling the collectors. I think this makes them more traditionally collectible. It's like a gotta catch them all type scenario. Because it's like, what it reminds me of is like trading cars or something. Sure. You buy a pack and you don't know what's inside and you open them and like, oh, I hope I got the last one. You know, I like that. I think that's fun. And I like the addition. I don't want them all to be this way. Right. But I like that they did this. I actually, the more I thought about it, the more I appreciate the idea. I do wish I couldn't have found out or wouldn't have found out before I received mine. But, you know, that, that's the problem with, uh, with my sort of shipping scenario. I guess it's, it's, it's not their fault. They can't really do anything about it. I could have, I mean, I could have avoided it because, you know, really I saw them because temptation got the better of me and I went to the field arts group. Sure. Um, but then Stephen would have ruined it anyway because he posted unboxed on Instagram, which a lot of people got upset about. Right. So I don't know why he did that, but he did. Uh, he found them out and took a picture of them. Um, oh, by the way, my benefactor who, for my third party has delivered, uh, my XOXO edition to the third party and the third party is mailing it to me. I seriously still have no idea who it is. I just haven't asked. I should ask, but it's just, I like the mystery. I don't know who's providing me with these XOXO editions.

Lamy 2000

Brad Dowdy: So let me, let me give you some breaking news.

Myke Hurley: Yep.

Brad Dowdy: Um, that the podcast listeners will get first. Everyone should read my blog tomorrow morning for a special XOXO Fest field notes three pack giveaway.

Myke Hurley: Oh, you got your hands on a pack.

Brad Dowdy: I did. I did. I did from a wonderful person I met at XOXO and she was not going to use hers and she knew I was a fan. And, uh, I said, well, I'm not going to, you know, I said, well, don't you keep them and use them? And she says, no, I'd rather you have them. I said, well, if I have them, I probably won't use them. So I would rather give them away. And she's like, I'm good with that. So tomorrow XOXO Fest field notes giveaway on the blog.

Myke Hurley: Okay. So when you're listening to this tomorrow means the 30th of September, 2014. Yes. Thank you. I have seen though tweets that if you want them, stay subscribed to the field notes mailing list. Ah, cool. I've seen tweets from the field notes account saying as much. So if you're interested, you want to sign up for their mailing list, which you can find on their website.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. Yep. So around the same time as this whole XOXO unexposed things, I got a new pin in, I can't remember. I think I might've mentioned it on last episode, um, or maybe the episode before, but when we did the fodder stack fall festival, we did a, um, we did like a pin swap as part of the thing. Yeah. And I, I hate to say it, but you and I are, uh, no longer pin twins. I traded my, uh, Franklin Christoph.

Myke Hurley: Oh.

Brad Dowdy: So I'll have to get, I'll have to get me another one. Um, I know where to find them, but I had been thinking recently that I've been enjoying like wider nib pins. Um, you know, whether, and not just like stub nib pins, I really like stub nib pins, but just a regular bold nib, just a standard, uh, broad nib, excuse me. Um, I thought I would start to like using these because it's really all about the ink and be able to see the ink flow and the different properties of the ink and having just a big wide marker style nib. So I got a, another Lamy 2000 with a broad nib and it's really, really cool. And, uh, it's actually, it, it got me into, uh, to doing something that I have not done in years. Despite, um, many people trying to, to get me to do it. I wrote a letter because I wanted to use this nib, this broad nib with some great green ink that I have, the Ackerman, uh, I'm not even going to try to pronounce it though. Yeah. The bright green Ackerman, I think it's number eight. And I wrote a letter on Tomoe River paper and it was just a great experience. So might have a little, uh, little transitioning going on here with me and the extra, extra, extra fine nibs and which I still use and still love, but I'm kind of enjoying the bit of a wider nib here recently. So it's been pretty cool. And I know you've always, you've always kind of been in that middle range, right? You're kind of a medium guy from the get go.

Myke Hurley: Uh, no, I was broad to start with. Okay. Um, but then kind of shaved it off a bit to medium and now I kind of go between fine and medium. And it's only because broads can be the best thing ever or the worst thing ever. Yeah. Um, and it's really, really hard to judge that where medium, you're going to either get fine, medium or bold. Like you, you, you're going to broad. So are you going to get that in a medium? You're going to get those like lines of tolerance depending on the manufacturer. So it fits well for me, but broad, I mean, I had some that were just unusable, especially with me being left-handed. They were just like spit out ink and it was just, you know, I just couldn't use them. So I've kind of, you know, uh, and now if, if I do want a bigger nib, I will go for a stub because they're more fun than broad. Yeah. What was the model that you said you've got now, by the way, that you got in the trade?

Brad Dowdy: I got a Lamy 2000. Oh, a Lamy 2000. So my second one.

Myke Hurley: Right.

Brad Dowdy: So my original one has an extra, extra fine nib and now I have a broad nib.

Myke Hurley: Cool.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So I'll get you a link. I think I took a picture of it somewhere. I'll have to see. I'll find you a link for that. Um, I thought it was in my Instagram, but it's not. So I will look and see where I have an image of this and I can put it in the show notes.

Myke Hurley: Excellent.

Myke Hurley: What else do we have? Uh, why don't we take a break and then we have some, we have a plot twist.

Myke Hurley: Oh yeah. That I want to talk about. So let's take a moment to thank our friends at Pen Chalet for sponsoring this week's episode of the Pen Addict Podcast. The Pen Chalet sell authentic, amazing roller balls, fountain pens, ballpoints, mechanical pencils, and so much more. They have all of your favorite brands like Monteverde, Pelican, Lamy, Pilot, Namiki, Sailor, and Kaweco, and are of course an authorized dealer of all of them. And they sell you all of these pens with very fast service, reliable service, great customer service. They do fantastic shipping. They have free shipping on orders of over $50 in the continental United States. And they also sell with very reasonable shipping rates internationally too. You know that Pen Chalet always do something special for you guys. And I'm going to tell you about what that this week's special offer is at the moment. But they do run special discounts for everyone. And you can be a part of twice a month, including closeout specials every two weeks. They have a great mailing list that you should sign up to. And you're going to be the first to know about all of those. Pen Chalet are adding new styles of pens every single month. They're always adding new stuff. And as well as all those pen brands and pens that I mentioned earlier, they also sell limited edition stuff and all the accessories that you're going to need, like carrying cases, pen holders, refills, converters, and so much more. Pen Chalet has low prices on high quality pens and offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. So you want to go and head over to penchalet.com and you want to use the code penaddict when you check out. It's going to get you 10% off your order, whatever you're buying. And don't forget, you want to click that button, which is the podcast link at the top of the website. You enter the password penaddict there and you're going to get a bunch of additional savings. And you're also going to get access to this week's special offer. So we have two pens. We have a little range, but it's broken into two today. So this is the Aurora Ipsilon. So we have the Aurora Ipsilon resin, which has a gold-plated stainless steel nib and retails for $150. You're going to get 25% off. And don't forget your penaddict coupon code for an additional 10%. That's going to bring you down to $101.25. And then we have the Aurora Ipsilon Deluxe, which has a 14-carat gold nib and retails for $250.

Myke Hurley: And penchalet are giving 30% off this and then another 10% on top when you use the penaddict code at checkout. And you're going to get this for $157.50. I really love the way these look. I haven't used one myself. I don't know if you have, Brad. I have not. But this is one of those pens that looks super professional. So it would be good for you if you like the look of it. I think they look really good, especially the resin ones. I like the colors of them. But I think this would also be a really good gift.

Myke Hurley: This, to me, looks like a great gift for someone.

Brad Dowdy: I really like the yellow and the red barrel resin ones. Yeah. Even with the gold furniture. I like the bright colors with the gold furniture. Aurora is one of those brands I haven't gotten into yet. Not for any reason other than just time and money. But I've always enjoyed their designs. They get good reviews for quality performance, good nibs, things like that. So they're definitely good quality pens. And I am anxious to check them out for sure.

Myke Hurley: So with these sort of discounts, you'd be crazy not to. So don't forget to get access to these. You want to go to penshalet.com. Go to the top of the page. And it has a little button that says podcast. Click that. Type the code in, penaddict there. You'll see all of the deals. When you choose what you want, don't forget a checkout to use the code penaddict again. That's going to get you 10% off on top of the other fantastic discounts that they're giving.

Myke Hurley: Penshalet is so awesome. We love having them as part of the show because of these fantastic deals that they give you. So if you enjoy penshalet's stuff and you enjoy this show, go and check them out and buy. If you're not interested in these fantastic deals on the Ypsilon, well, buy anything from penshalet. Make them your next purchase and use the code penaddict. It's going to get you 10% off anyway. Thank you so much to penshalet for their continued support of RelayFM and the penaddict podcast.

Brad Dowdy: Can I add a little something real quick? Please. I want to give a special thanks to Ron at penshalet. A lot of you who are penshalet customers may not get to deal with the people behind the website directly, but Myke and I do, working on things like these ad spots. Ron is a genuinely great guy, helpful guy. He really believes in what he's doing at penshalet, and he's been super supportive of us, and he is a really good guy and really easy to work with. So I just want to throw that plug in for Ron because he's a good guy, and good guys should be told that.

Myke Hurley: He is. He very frequently deals with my last minute requests.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, he puts up with our crap. That's what I meant to say.

Scribble Contact

Myke Hurley: Like, with absolutely no... Like, he's just like, okay, Myke, here you go, you know, this is the deal. You know, like Sunday night, so I'm like, whoop, penaddict tomorrow.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so we appreciate you, Ron. Thank you.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, thank you.

Myke Hurley: Plot twist. Plot twist. You go.

Myke Hurley: So, official show mascot, Kununi Renishin, tweeted before the show, Scribble has contacted her, and she's in the chat room, so I guess we can try and find out a little bit more. I would love to know how they contacted you, if you wouldn't mind letting us know. And have offered for her to be a beta tester for the Scribble pen.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I think when they had their second cancellation, they had an email list up, or right before, even while that was running, to have beta testers. So, I think people could actually go sign up.

Myke Hurley: Right. So, it seems like maybe it's from the email list. And what they're doing is, they are asking for $15 for shipping of the pen.

Myke Hurley: And from what I understand from her tweets, it's like, they're just asking, pay us $15, and we'll ship you one. So, I think she's going to do it, providing she can pay them by PayPal or something, because she doesn't want to give these guys her card information. Which, you think? I cannot say how smart that is. So, that's definitely the right way to do it. But they won't give up. I thought we'd seen the last of them. Genuinely thought we'd seen the last of them.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, they...

Myke Hurley: Apparently, she applied.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: She applied on the 3rd and got the email today.

Brad Dowdy: So, I'll be interested to see if anyone else is going down this track.

Brad Dowdy: If... I don't know. They continue to boggle my mind, I guess. If I need someone's help to test my product, I'm not going to make them pay, even for shipping. You know, they're doing me... Someone's doing me a favor. They're going to give me feedback on a product. Um... And much less, $15 seems high. I mean, believe... I mean, if they're sending a pin, it's not like they're making any money on it. But to think that their stance is, well, we need to cover shipping on our beta products that we're going to get information from people out of, just... It's one of those... It just continues. It's a long line of things that don't make any sense with this project. I don't know where these scribble people get their business acumen from, but they don't have any... I don't know what's going on with them. They haven't done a thing right this entire time, and they continue to go along that path. So, it'll be interesting to see people getting these.

Myke Hurley: I can't think of the word, respect's not the word, but I'm starting to get some sort of feeling towards them, because they won't stop. And that's really interesting to me, that they continue. And I'm very intrigued by them now, because it seems like they are unstoppable at this point.

Myke Hurley: False steam ahead. So, we may as well all just give in to our scribble overlords. Yeah. But I just... I'm so interested. I'm becoming increasingly more interested, because I would have expected that, considering that they have been forcibly removed twice from crowdfunding platforms, that they should probably just give up. But they won't give up.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I guess you've got to appreciate that.

Myke Hurley: It's just... I don't... My mind boggles, Brad. Yes. Yes. I'm very... Yeah. I don't really know how to deal with it.

Brad Dowdy: We want to see this through the end now. I mean, they're just... I mean, they're going way beyond doubling down. So... Yeah. They're going for it. So, let's see.

Myke Hurley: Well, I mean, maybe they're in the hole a bit now. So, they're like, well, we may as well just see if people will still go for it. I mean, we don't really know a lot about what they're up to or what they're doing, but maybe they're in the hole a bit. And now they're trying to do all they can to get out of it. I don't feel sympathy for them. Maybe so. I mean, I'm not at all sympathetic about it. But, you know, hey, hey-ho.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: So, we got an email this week that may be one of the most awesome emails we got ever. I don't know. I don't know if we're going to go ever on that or not. But we have a gentleman who listens to the podcast. And I did not tell him that I was going to read this email. And maybe I should. But his name's Bruce. And he's a relatively new listener to the show. He started emailing me a few months ago. And not every episode does he give me feedback. But he does, you know, somewhat frequently. I'll talk to him once every couple weeks or something like that. So, I want to read this email verbatim, Myke. Bruce is, when he signs his emails, there's lots of initials after his name. You know, like PhD and things of that nature. So, keep that in mind. And I'm going to read you this email verbatim because it's so good.

Myke Hurley: I'm scared of this now.

Brad Dowdy: It's so good.

Myke Hurley: Because you still keep that in mind. I feel like I'm in trouble.

Brad Dowdy: No, no, no, no. Not at all. Okay. Okay, good. No, it's just an amazing email. All right. Just finished listening to PC. I guess he means PA 120. And I am moved to a couple of hopefully constructive comments. Concerning Myke's window concerns. Number one, fountain pen ink is a liquid. Number two, the pen reservoir is cylindrical. Number three, the window is usually a band around the pen. Herein assumed, one may easily estimate the fullness of the pen by untapping the pen, turning it so the pen is horizontal, and placing the pen between the eye and a moderate photon source. Note that the perceived level is not linear, but the calculation of the perceived to actual level is a matter of simple, single, integral, since the fullness problem reduces from a 3D to a 1D mathematically.

Myke Hurley: Okay.

Brad Dowdy: Got it? Yeah, I'm totally following along. All right. All right. This is the second comment concerning flying with fountain pens. Number one, fountain pen ink is a Newtonian fluid, therefore incompressible. So long as a pen reservoir is full and the pen has good structural integrity, you should experience no problems. You should probably not use the pen except when the plane is flying at a constant altitude so its writing will introduce gas into the reservoir. I would also not recommend carrying a refill syringe for cartridges since TSA tends to go non-linear when they discover such. Incidentally, several European pen companies make very nice traveling ink pots so that you can travel and refill your pen without worrying about the fragility of a glass bottle.

Myke Hurley: Okay.

Brad Dowdy: Signed, Bruce.

Myke Hurley: Bruce. I have one comment I would like to make about your fantastic explanation. I can see what you're attempting to do here. Sir, you are one of the long line of detractors of my statement of never flying with a fountain pen. Hey, I'm with you. I understand what you're saying. Now, there's one key point that you said.

Myke Hurley: So I will read this back. So long as the pen reservoir is full and the pen has good structural integrity, you should experience no problems. Therein, sir, is the problem with your argument. Many pens that I own, I don't know if they're full. Even if I try and refill them, some ink may have gotten in. It can be very difficult if you cannot see through a window or the pen is not a demonstrator. It can be very difficult. And also, good structural integrity. That's not something I necessarily am aware of. I feel, Bruce, I feel like you would know if one of your pens did not have good structural integrity. I feel like you're a man who, like Dr. Drang, friend of the internet, you would just understand such a thing by looking at it. Yes. So I understand what you're saying. I very, very much appreciate the time and effort going into an email like this. I think it's absolutely fantastic. However, it has not changed my mind because you have basically told me that if the pen isn't full, there is a chance I could have a problem.

Brad Dowdy: Do I need to reread the first part so you can know how your pen is full? Yes. Do I need to reread that?

Myke Hurley: Yeah, reread that bit because that first bit, I didn't get that at all.

Brad Dowdy: Well, this is, Bruce is awesome. All the emails from him are like this and they're great. We have good conversations back and forth. And this is totally a Dr. Drang thing. And if y'all don't know, some of you that listen to this don't know Dr. Drang, that's a compliment. Dr. Drang is an engineer and he can break stuff down like this. And so to say, Bruce, this is a very Dr. Drang type email is a compliment of the highest order. Yes. And please keep these emails coming and I will keep Myke in line with your comments, Bruce. And we will get this straightened out once and for all.

Myke Hurley: Are you going to reread to me?

Brad Dowdy: No. Okay. I copied it in the list just so you can learn how to check and see if your pen is full properly or not. Thank you. I need you to get on that. All right. I need you to get on something else like our next sponsor that I'm pretty excited about.

Brad's Week

Myke Hurley: Just when we come back from the second sponsor, we're going to talk about Brad's insane week. Yes. So much to unpack from this week. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: We haven't even gotten to what all went on in my world this week. So we're going to do that and give you the full breakdown.

Myke Hurley: So this week's episode of the Pen Addict Podcast is also brought to you by Harry's. Harry's was founded because shaving can be expensive and frustrating. The process of shaving your face can be annoying, painful and irritating at times. And the process of buying shaving products can be even more so. This is why Harry's exists. Because one of their founders, a guy named Andy, was fed up of the poor experience of purchasing shaving products. Harry's creates products with a super cool brand and design that speak to you as customers. They have a simplified ordering process, a snazzy website, and they get you blades and shaving materials without the need of having to be made to feel like a criminal by going into a drugstore and having them unlock them from the cabinets. Now, I've been speaking on some other shows this week about my personal experience of using Harry's products. But Mr. Brad Dowdy has also received some of Harry's products himself. And Brad, I would love to know what you think about Harry's stuff, about the kits and the new products that they have too.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so one of the things we talked about before the show is, you know, that now that Harry's is sponsoring us, I'm actually one of the few hosts that's actually been a Harry's customer for since they launched. I guess it's probably been less than a year, I'm thinking. But at least in the past six months or so, I've been a Harry's customer well before they sponsored this episode of the show. So what I was looking for, I, you know, I have a wonderful beard, Myke. You did. But, you know, you do still have to shave. You know, you've got to shave the neck, shave the face, do all that stuff, make it, you know, make it good looking and sharp, sharp looking man. And I hate buying razor blades. You know, I've been like a Gillette Fusion guy forever just because that's kind of what you do. No thought into it, grab it at the grocery store, buy the way overpriced razor blade refills. And it's actually like painful paying for that because it's so ridiculously priced for a disposable item. What Harry's did is make quality easily as good as that, if not better, for such a good price. Their blades are excellent. They last a long time. They don't dull quickly. The handle I got, I, of course, went with the orange handle. It's a perfect fit for me. It's real classy looking. That's the Truman set.

Myke Hurley: Is it Truman, I think?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I think that's what it's called. I don't have it pulled up. But, yeah. So I got the orange handle and the blades and the shaving cream or the shaving lotion, I guess it's called. So that's what came with the original kit. And I never used anything but, you know, the, like the fusion gel, shaving gel before. So I've never used like the cream before. And it's really, really good. It's actually taken aback by how good the shaving experience was. So I know I'm just kind of rambling about Harry's, but I really love this product. I talk about with pens a lot, you know, you got to get a good value. You know, there's, you can way overspend for way inferior quality. Harry's is the exact opposite. It is such, I mean, you can go to Harry's right now and spend like $15 and have like, and be set up.

Myke Hurley: Yep. $15 gets you a razor, the foaming shave gel, which we're going to talk about in a minute, three razor blades. And their blades are about half the price of the brand, like the big brands, like Gillette and stuff like that.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So I would already gone through my first kit and then I just reordered blades and it was just so cheap and easy. Their packaging is awesome. It's really cool. Everything they do with the brand is very, very well done.

Brad Dowdy: It's a great value. I can't recommend them enough. I've recommended them to a bunch of friends. I've recommended them to my wife. I'll say, hey, you got to use this because it's, it's better and cheaper than, you know, keep buying this Gillette Fusion junk, you know, every month. And, you know, this just recently, I just, last week they got me the, they sent the, tell me the names of it again.

Myke Hurley: Foaming shave gel and the aftershave moisturizer.

Brad Dowdy: So I've been using the foaming shave gel instead of the lotion.

Brad Dowdy: And it's been really good. It foams, like you hardly have to use any of it to get a thick foam to shave with. It does really good. I'm a real huge fan of the aftershave lotion. I've never used any, I've never used anything like that before. I use it every time I shave now and I just get this little smile on my face. I'm like, ooh, I'm fancy.

Myke Hurley: This is what I keep saying on the shows, right? I think, I think in general, men don't consider moisturizer. Yeah. But it is so important because when you shave, you are opening your skin up to just damage. Yeah. And it's so important to use stuff like the aftershave moisturizer that Harry's have put together and they use all natural ingredients and stuff like that. And it's really good. Really, really good stuff.

Brad Dowdy: So, one of my concerns is I'm not a big, I'm not a cologne, you know, cologne guy. You know, I don't need that huge cloud of Drakkar Noir, you know, floating around me. You know, when I walk down the street, everyone knows I'm coming. And so, it's a real subtle, real great scent on the aftershave. It feels great. I'm going to keep reordering that. And that's kind of a no-brainer. So, that's going to be part of my shaving process now. But if you can't tell, I'm a huge fan. So, I'm excited that they are sponsoring it. I can't recommend it enough.

Brad Dowdy: What you get for what you pay is such a good deal. It's a really, really great value. And, like I said, I've been using it for about products for about six months now. And I'm not going back. It's great.

Myke Hurley: You, too, can experience a clean, close, and comfortable shave of Harry's. At the moment, Harry's is only available in the United States. I believe you can get shipping to Canada, too. And I have a great deal for those of you that are. Go to harrys.com right now. And you'll get $5 off if you type in the coupon code PENADDICT with your first purchase. That's H-A-R-R-Y-S dot com. And enter coupon code PENADDICT at checkout to get that $5 off and to start shaving better today. Thank you so much to Harry's for their support of the Pen Addict and Relay FM.

Brad Dowdy: So, before we get into, I guess, our main topic. We don't really have a main topic today. We're just chatting today. I wanted to do our pen blog of the week, which is the desk of Adam. So, Adam's pretty new on the scene. And I don't know how I first found out about him. Maybe on Twitter. He might have actually sent me something. Sent me a link. But his blog is really, really well done. Really great photography. He does some great product reviews. One of his latest up right now.

Brad Dowdy: Well, one of those, one that I've read the most recent is his September pen and ink combinations, which are really great. And you should definitely check it out and tell Adam that the Pen Addict Podcast says hi.

Brad Dowdy: All right, Myke.

Myke Hurley: Yes.

Brad Dowdy: So, I had a busy week last week. Yeah, just a bit. My brain kind of exploded all over the internet on my blog, I guess. All at once. You know, Wendy, I'm not a big let's just rip the Band-Aid off and get over it kind of guy. But, you know, this week I had a lot going on. So, in the span of two days, on Friday, I announced a new sponsorship package for the Pen Addict blog. It's something I've been thinking about for a while. And then on Saturday, I up and killed the Inklinks.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Which was met with... Okay.

Myke Hurley: There's a lot to talk about here.

Brad Dowdy: Evil eyes. Evil eyes across the internets. So, yeah. I have... It's hard to know where to start, but let's start with sponsorships and what I was thinking. So, we've talked... You and I, you're privy to my brain a lot more than the general internet is. And we've been talking about for probably more than a year of me making the move towards a full-time online...

Myke Hurley: Yep.

Brad Dowdy: ...work, if you will. So, that means, you know, the things I do at the Pen Addict, the things I do with the podcast, the things I do with NotCo, and anything else I can add into there. Not that there's something to add right now, but, you know, just stuff. Doing these things online. Doing these things that I love. Talking about things that I love. Being involved in this completely. And eventually making it my job. Now, I'm of the age where... I remember this vividly. When I got out of college and was bouncing around from job to job to job for years, I remember all I wanted was to work for a company where I could work there for the rest of my life. And, you know, be paid decently and move up the ladder and have benefits and have job security. And I got that job. I've been at the same job for 14 years. You know, I had that hiatus for one year at JetPens. But I'm back with the same company. And I always thought that's what I wanted, right? That's what you do. You know, that's what my parents did. That's what, you know, my in-laws did. You know, they all worked for the same company and, you know, for 35 years and then they retired. Well, that's really not how things are these days. You have options now. And while my job is awesome, my regular day job, this really is what gets me going, this podcast. Talking about pens and paper and making pen cases and creating things on the internet. So, do I eventually want to do that for a living? And the answer is yes.

Brad Dowdy: Well, you can't just up and do it. That would not be very responsible, especially when you're married and have kids. So, I've kind of formulated a general plan in my head on some things I want to do with the blog. And I'm starting to roll that out now. And the first thing was offering sponsorships. So, number one, Jetpens has been an awesome sponsor for the blog. And they will continue to be the main sponsor for the blog. They, we have a great relationship. We've had this relationship since practically the beginning of the blog.

Brad Dowdy: And that relationship is going to continue. In addition to the always-on Jetpens sponsorship, if you will, I now have come up with a plan to offer up one weekly sponsorship for anyone.

Brad Dowdy: You know, it can be pen companies. It could be other products. It could be apps. I just have these things available now. So, I'm having, going into the one weekly sponsor, kind of like guys that I respect a lot, like Sean Blanc and John Gruber. And, you know, I've been able to talk to these guys about these things and how they do it. And has it worked out for them and things like that. So, I finally just decided to make the jump. You know, working with syndicate ads, they make it easy to schedule everything and have a calendar, a release calendar of what weeks you're booked. And I thought it was really important to just keep it at a single sponsor per week. I don't want to overwhelm the readership with a bunch of ads and a bunch of random stuff. I want it to be focused and I want it to be pertinent to the reader. And I want the readers to support these people who are sponsoring the blog. So, I think it's only fair to give them that exclusivity. You know, give them those blog posts for the week for what they're paying for. So, that was kind of my idea around the sponsorships.

Brad Dowdy: Launching them was nerve-wracking. It went exceptionally well. Better than I imagined.

Myke Hurley: Proving the point that I made to you many times in offline conversations. That I'll make again in a moment.

Brad Dowdy: But it went exceedingly well. I was busting it over the weekend talking to everyone who has, you know, committed to a week of sponsorship. And, you know, it's good because I can have these conversations directly with these sponsors, right? We can talk about, you know, what would be a good ad for me as a, you know, representing the blog, representing their product, right? And something that's good for the readers. So, it's great to be able to work with all these people who want to sponsor the blog to, you know, really get it right. And I think that's just an important overall feel I want to have with these sponsorships. I want them to be part of me, be part of the site, fit in seamlessly. And I want them to be quality. And I want them to be, you know, supported by the readers. So, I have to work hard to get that right. And that's why I was so happy this weekend. Because I was just, like, churning out emails to all these people who were, you know, wanting to sponsor the blog. And we're, you know, coming up with ad copy. And we're checking images. And I'm just hammering this stuff all weekend. And when I finally stopped, I was like, whew, that was good. I was like, okay, this is how it's going to be. And I'm good with that. And I like it. So, yeah. So, that's me rambling about sponsorships. And it's gone well.

Syndicate Sponsorships

Myke Hurley: How does Syndicate play into this? Can they sell as well as you? So, you sell directly or people can go through Syndicate?

Brad Dowdy: Right. So, Syndicate has groups of advertisers already. And if they see something's a good fit for their product or service, they can actually just book directly through them. What will generally happen is someone will come to me directly. And I will just handle it one-on-one. But I use Syndicate's platform to manage the bookings just as far as availability. So, it's actually better for me that someone comes directly to me. And I just handle the booking directly. But Syndicate allows that, you know, availability calendar and some things like that. And then plus they have a group of advertisers that will also, you know, can choose your blog to purchase ads on.

Myke Hurley: Which is beneficial.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. They just kind of make the whole setup easy.

Myke Hurley: You are significantly undercharging. Like, you're aware of that, right? Like, you know you're doing that? Or did you not know you were doing that? I mean, because I've told you so many times, but I know you refuse to believe me.

Brad Dowdy: So, imposter syndrome is a real thing. Yeah. It's hard to get around your brain or get out of your own head how you feel other people are going to react to things. And it's scary when you have to put a number on that.

Brad Dowdy: So, when you launch something like this, your first goal is, I want this to be successful. So, how do I make it successful? Well, here's a number I want to charge that I think is a fair number. And it comes time to push that button. You're like, whew, I don't know what's going to happen if I go with this number.

Brad Dowdy: So, let's make it a more maybe comfortable number. And kind of go with that and see how we do and see how the sponsorships are. And, you know, get some bookings and, you know, get some experience writing the ad copies. And working with all these now customers of mine, if you will. And I understand what you're saying. I think it was the right decision for me, number one, to help me through the imposter syndrome stage. And I still have a little bit of that. And, you know, two, to give me some experience in how this works. Right? So, the last thing I wanted to do is open up bookings and have, like, one ad for the rest of the year. Well, that's, you know, from the outside. Like, if I'm talking to you, well, your answer would be, well, you're just being stupid. You should make it this price and go with it. And that probably would have been fine. But I always use the phrase, what's going to let me sleep at night, a lot. And the price I went with, which was, I mean, everyone can see it on the blog. That's, you know, I keep all that open and transparent to everyone. It's $200 per week. I would have liked to charge more up front. But I wanted to do this right and get some sponsors in I can work with and get experience in doing this. And I will eventually be able to charge more for that very easily.

Myke Hurley: Well, yeah, because, right. So, I mean, this is very, okay, if you're not interested in this conversation, we're only going to go further and further down this rabbit hole. So, this is what we're going to talk about for as long as the rest of this podcast isn't your podcast player. So, I mean, if it is boring to you, then it's probably all you're going to get. The only other thing is the end of the ink links, which we're going to talk about. So, maybe you want to skip a little bit.

Brad Dowdy: So, this is the analog intersection into the pen addict podcast.

Myke Hurley: Well, and a bit businessy as well.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, and a bit businessy. And let me just say, I'm open and honest and transparent about everything. So, number one, you can ask me anything, which you know. But if any readers have any questions, they know they can ask me anything and I will give it to them straight. So, go ahead.

Myke Hurley: It's the ridiculousness of the price that I find the craziest. And I've had friends of ours and just people contact me to tell me that you need to raise your price. You have 700,000 page views a month. Now, that is like, that number, it's kind of unbelievable. I've seen it and you have a screenshot, which I know why you provided that screenshot. Because it doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense. Like, I love what we do and I love what you do. But those numbers do not make sense. However, you get them. Right? Right. Because those numbers, that's like what in the other world that me and Brad are in, which I know that some of you listeners are as well, the Apple world. Those numbers are achieved by some of the biggest independent blogs. Like, they would kill, some of them would kill for them. Right? Right? Like, so, to charge that amount of money is kind of preposterous. But I also do understand why. Because you are in a different world. Right. To that Apple blog world. Who, if they start to see you, which is very smart that you went via syndicate, they will buy. Because, and if you haven't had some of these, like the regular type of companies, you will do. After a certain period of time. But those numbers are, they are astronomical.

Myke Hurley: Because as well, it's not just your page view numbers that are impressive. It's the amount of, the user numbers you have are very impressive as well. Right. You know, like, and also then as well, the amount of page views per user is very interesting. Your statistics are very, very interesting. So, you know you should be charging a lot more. Like, a lot more, right? Like, you're aware of that.

Brad Dowdy: I was thinking a little more. I'm not aware of a lot more.

Myke Hurley: I mean, have you looked around on syndicate?

Advertising Budgets

Brad Dowdy: I have. And so, let me make one comment about the pricing. So, and this is me extrapolating things that could be incorrect. But, the way I see, let's take an Apple blogger who is getting ads from, you know, different apps, different app companies. You know, different software, different hard goods. And this whole range of companies that they're used to working with is used to spending on advertising. They have an advertising budget. In our realm, in the Pen stationary realm, advertising's kind of new.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, that is your problem. That is your problem. I agree with that.

Brad Dowdy: So, like, only in the past year have companies started to, like, budget, like, really for advertising. And I haven't talked to any of these companies about this, about, you know, their advertising budgets or anything like that. But that's just, you know, my intake from seeing this world. But it's starting to change. So, they don't have, their companies that I want to sponsor, the blog, aren't used to purchasing advertising at all. You know, they don't have that background. Most of these companies are, a lot of them are brand new or doing things, you know, that just haven't been done before. Like, they're just not used to buying advertising. And so, that played into my pricing, too. Right? And it's definitely going to change, you know, probably in January.

Brad Dowdy: But it was a hard choice. And it was trying to balance it out. And it was also trying to get through the imposter syndrome and being able to sleep at night, too. Right? But, yeah, I'm on board with what you're saying. But, and I tried to consider lots of things when I chose that, chose the starting price. And, I mean, I think you can tell by the booking so far, it was probably underpriced.

Myke Hurley: In three days, you had only four spots available for the rest of the year and that's weekly. Yeah. But that's insane here. Because that was why I said to you on Sunday, right? I was like, okay, can you see this now? Do you see? Yeah. Because, basically, I mean, all of this is to say, like, as well, if you are a person or a company who's listening to this, you will not get a deal as good as this in the future. Brad is charging $200 for a week right now. You should be picking up one of those empty weeks. You would be insane not to. I thought about just buying one for myself and just, I don't know what I'd do with it. Well, actually, I have a whole company. But I think that company gets relatively pretty good placement on your site anyway. But it's just, I mean, I'm happy. I'm happy for you. So happy. Because it's proving a point that you can do this if you wanted to.

Myke Hurley: And I wonder now, like, what's next? Because you've also laid out publicly on the line now your plan, i.e. to not be a company man forever. So, I mean, you have Nock. You have this. You have this show. These things bring you income. How much further do you need to go? Much. Much. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: And I can. I'm confident in that. That I need to go further and I can go further. Right. So that part I'm confident about.

Myke Hurley: So you see the possibility from it all?

Brad Dowdy: I see the possibility. Definitely. Definitely. So, you know, and it's hard a lot of days just because you're always wondering about when. And I know you go through this, Myke.

Myke Hurley: I've been doing it every day for maybe the last two and a half years.

Brad Dowdy: Right. And it's tough. It's hard. Yes.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: So, you know, it's a. But, you know, you got to start somewhere and you're on that path. I look up to you and respect you for all those decisions that you're making around that. And I've learned a lot from you. And like our friendship and conversations offline have helped me in lots of things in this aspect of things. And I'm excited that they're down the line. There is a future in doing this. Good. And I think it's possible.

Myke Hurley: It definitely is. I look at you as one of those overachiever types, you know, you should definitely only be doing the things that you want to do simply just because it seems to me, at least in a time that I've known you, that everything you do turns to gold. And I think that that is not a luck thing. I think it's purely for your hard work determination and your shrewd businessman. So I see great things for you in the future, Donnie. I appreciate that. But I want to talk about one other thing that you did. Sure. So you just killed everything. So you just went into your website and you were like, right, sponsors now so I can just kill things. I mean, you know, the money's rolling in. So less work.

Myke Hurley: Okay. So tell me what did you do?

Brad Dowdy: Why did you kill the Inklinks, Michael?

Myke Hurley: I know. I'm so sorry.

Brad Dowdy: So. All right. This is a. So the sponsorships have been on my radar for a while. I mean, months and months and months and months and months. Inklinks. I don't have an exact date, but probably only within the last couple months has it been a little bit bothersome for me.

Brad Dowdy: And it's a huge conundrum for me. Number one. I want to promote the community in the best way I can. I think I have a responsibility to do that. I enjoy doing that.

Brad Dowdy: You know, we've had so many people reach out to us, Myke, and since we've been doing this podcast, how many blogs have been started? That they said, hey, we love what you guys do. And hey, I started this blog. Here's what I do.

Myke Hurley: I genuinely think we are responsible for a lot of blogs. So.

Brad Dowdy: So. That exposure and that. You know, light I can shine on other people. I will do it all the time. I love doing that. And it's hard to not do that in a specific manner in which I've done for probably six years now in my Inklinks post on Saturday. But what I've found is that I think it's become a little bit less relevant, even though the people who really, really use that post are really, really going to miss it. But I think in the grand scheme, it's starting to get lost in the shuffle. It's starting to be a lot of similar links. It's starting to not be as much brand new discovery. Lots of other blogs are doing similar type posts, which is great. We need to keep sharing those links and, you know, bringing in other readers and showing people, you know, where they can go find other cool stuff from other cool writers. I just want to do it in a different way now. I think this post and this type of post for me has gotten stale. It's not unique.

Brad Dowdy: It's. But at the same time, I want to. Do something to promote the community. So.

Brad Dowdy: Like I said, when I when I started the Inklinks post, this is probably a bigger deal than adding sponsorships to the site for most people. And I think it was. The feedback I've gotten on both things, the sponsorships and the links have been hugely, hugely positive.

Inklinks Feedback

Brad Dowdy: The comments I got on the Inklinks are all hugely positive on the first sentence. And then the second sentence is, oh, I'm going to miss it. But I understand, you know.

Myke Hurley: It surprised me, you know, because you're taking something away and you're not really. You're not you're not replacing it with anything.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, that's what you think.

Myke Hurley: No, but that's what everyone sees.

Brad Dowdy: Sure.

Myke Hurley: So, like, you know, you say I'm taking this. I mean, typically you say I'm taking this away, but don't worry, you're going to get this. And you didn't do that. You're just kind of like, I'm going to continue doing what I've always done. I'll make sure to talk to talk about people when I feel necessary. But you haven't said like, but now on Saturdays, you're going to get a picture of me in a cat costume.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. You know, because I did when I made that post, I didn't have a plan. But I knew it had to stop.

Myke Hurley: Right.

Brad Dowdy: But now I have a plan and it starts on Saturday.

Myke Hurley: Are you willing to share what the plan is?

Brad Dowdy: No.

Myke Hurley: Oh. I'm interested.

Brad Dowdy: I will tell you, I want to focus on, I want to keep sharing the stories and the work and the websites of other bloggers in the community. But I want to do it in a more direct fashion. How about that?

Myke Hurley: Okay. I mean, I can make assumptions about what that is. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's not rocket science.

Myke Hurley: But it's different. It's just a different thing. Yeah. I mean, I appreciate that because I never took to Inklinks personally. Right. I've never said that to you before, but it was always, it always has been just a post that I mark as red. Right. Because I get nothing out of it personally. Sure. Because I'm not interested in looking at just a link, like a list of links to things. And I'm sure that the people that love it, like adore it. Yeah. And you probably, and then it's probably just people like me that are like, meh, whatever.

Brad Dowdy: Well, I started to get into the meh, whatever phase. And that's when I knew it had to end. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: You see, when you're, if you get like that, then that's that. Yeah. That's the thing of any sort of creative project. Right. If you get like that, then your readers, listeners, viewers will get like that too.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So this one, I just had to cut the cord on. It was time to cut the cord and do something different. I'll do something more direct, you know, to continue to share, you know, other, other people in the community and other people, not in the pen community, but that are, you know, interesting, interesting people and talk about them, you know, in a more specific manner. So that's starting up this weekend. And, you know, I love doing ink links for so many years because I wanted to discover stuff. Right. That's how it started. And, you know, I just used to get, you know, energized by finding something cool or new or unique. And, you know, all that stuff, there's still lots of cool and new and unique out there, but, you know, I feel a little bit differently about the ink links post in general. So we'll see. Maybe the new thing I'm going to do isn't great, but I'm pretty happy with it. It's going to be a little bit more meaningful, I think, if you will. And that's important to me.

Myke Hurley: A couple of very important updates from the chat room. Everyone's blaming me.

Brad Dowdy: For?

Myke Hurley: For the inklings going away. Oh. That's my fault. And there's been, they've taken a vote and it's been passed in full favor of seeing you in a cat costume on Saturday. So there's also that to do with.

Brad Dowdy: I should read the chat room more. Can I ban people? You can't. I'm just kidding. No, that's funny. You know what? If I had a costume, cat costume, I would absolutely do it. You know, I would do it.

Myke Hurley: But the thing is, though, I know your address and I have access to Amazon. So don't push that button too much.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, I'll do it.

Myke Hurley: I'm proud of you. Not for the cat costume, but just for everything. I'm happy. I'm happy that you're making some changes and I'm excited. I'm excited to see where it's going to go. And I'm pleased that you haven't killed the podcast again.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, God, no. No, I'm, I feel like I haven't even hit my stride yet.

Myke Hurley: But I must warn you that next week is 123. Just, just let you know, whenever you want to start that stride to you, just go right for it.

Brad Dowdy: Well, I just feel like there's a lot more to do. Hey, this is, this is all good stuff. So, I mean, you know, everything's, everything's cruising along and there's going to be changes. There's going to be bumps in the road. Some of it won't be easy and some of it, you know, I'm going to make some mistakes and put my foot in my mouth, I'm sure, in some places. But you know what? You know, we're just going to keep going.

Myke Hurley: That's the way to do it, man. If you want to find the links to everything that we've spoken about today, you want to head over to relay.fm slash penaddict slash 122. You want to keep an eye on penaddict.com, which is where Brad writes. You want to keep an eye on there on the 30th because Brad mentioned he's going to be doing something XO related there. With the field notes. And also, he, we want to keep an eye this weekend as well. See what, see what Mr. Dowdy's up to. And we are on Twitter. I'm iMike, I-M-Y-K-E. And Brad is at Dowdyism, D-O-W-D-Y-I-S-M. On the relay.fm slash penaddict page, you're also going to find all of the information you need about contacting us by email. If that's what you'd like to do, you can just hit the little contact button. We've spoken quite a bit about sponsoring. If you want to sponsor the penaddict podcast, all the information is there as well. Relay.fm slash sponsor. Thank you so much to our sponsors for this week. Our friends over at the Pen Chalet and Harry's. And, you know, we talk about how great Ron is. Ron has emailed us during the show. I haven't opened my email. I got a little notification a moment ago. And he's had a really good idea. So that's going to help with further spots in the future. Awesome. Thanks so much for listening to this week's episode of The Pen Addict. Until next time, bye-bye. Bye. Bye. !