The Pen Addict 216/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	216
Title:	FIVE?!?!
Release Date:	August 3rd, 2016
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	Ana Reinert
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 216
Audio File:	Audio Episode 216
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 216
Length:	7575 min <br />1.25 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 216. Today's show is brought to you by Squarespace, Harry's, and Pen Chalet. My name is Myke Hurley, and I'm joined by Mr. Brad Dowdy.

Brad Dowdy: Hello, Michael Hurley. How are you?

Myke Hurley: I'm good. How are you, sir?

Brad Dowdy: Good, good. And I'm not the only one you were joined by today, is that correct? Wait, what? Huh? Is there someone listening in?

Myke Hurley: Hello, hello! Hey, Anna's here, everyone!

Brad Dowdy: Yay! Our favourite guest. Sorry, all of you other guests. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. We're gonna start a fight right out the gate. How's it going, Anna?

Ana Reinert: Good, good. I feel like I should interject my own theme music here.

Brad Dowdy: I know, right? So you're like a, you're professional podcasters now, too. It's amazing.

Ana Reinert: Ugh, I wouldn't say, well, I guess almost, almost kind of a little professional.

Brad Dowdy: Half pro. That's what Jeff and I like to call it. We're half pros.

Ana Reinert: Semi, semi-pro.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. Yeah, so, um, we wanted to have Anna on this week to talk about the DC Pen Show, because Anna and I are getting ready to meet up on Thursday, work for Van Ness Pens all weekend. So, uh, Myke, are you gonna be there?

Ana Reinert: No crying! There's no crying in Pen Shows! Well, okay, a little bit of crying.

Brad Dowdy: Myke and I did get a sneak preview, um, when we logged onto the call with Anna this morning, so we're gonna leave that, uh, we're gonna leave that, um, for everyone who comes to visit us at the Pen Show, right, Anna?

Ana Reinert: Yep. Yep. You, let's just say you won't miss me.

Brad Dowdy: You will not miss Anna, uh, this week. So, if you're looking for me, just look for Anna, and it'll all be good.

Brad Dowdy: So, but before we get to that, we actually have a ton of topics to cover. But the first thing I want to cover is we have not had you on, Anna, since you started your wonderful podcast called Art Supply Posse. So, I wanted to talk about that for a minute. That's good by you?

Ana Reinert: Yeah, absolutely. I couldn't, when you, uh, mentioned that in the notes, I was like, I couldn't believe that I hadn't been on since the show started. I was really surprised.

Brad Dowdy: I know. Yeah, so it was, I guess it was probably before Atlanta we had you on last. Yeah. It just seems to go by so fast. And then since Atlanta, like you were talking about, you and I talked about, you know, you were really getting the bug to kind of, kind of do your own thing. And then shortly thereafter, it like really ramped up. And, uh, so tell everyone about, uh, Art Supply Posse and how it got started.

Ana Reinert: Well, um, Art Supply Posse really got started, um, because at some point Heather, um, put out a tweet, um, that said, okay, there's a podcast about pens and there's a podcast about pencils. How come there isn't a podcast about Art Supplies? And, um, that basically led to she and I being like, well, there isn't, so we should make one. And that's sort of how that came about. Um, it took a little bit of prodding and I think, um, Myke, you can totally understand. Um, Heather really kind of had to talk me into it a little bit. Um, and so she, she convinced me to do it. And then I just kind of jumped in with both feet. And here we are. Um, we just recorded our ninth episode yesterday. Wow.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm.

Ana Reinert: So, yeah. You know, at first we were like, okay, we'll do it every two weeks. And then once we started doing it, we're like, nope, every week, here we go. Let's just do this. So we skipped one week, um, right around the 4th of July cause there was some traveling and stuff. So, but yeah, we're just moving along and, um, things have been picking up really well and we really appreciate you guys have mentioned us and Erasable has and ArtSnacks has been a big supporter for us. And it's just, it's kind of been

Brad Dowdy: a whirlwind. Yeah. I, I, you know, I, I like wrecked my brain. Like I can't think of anyone better in our community to do an art supply pod podcast than you. And, um, and you and you're in Heather's, uh, chemistry works really well because y'all cover, you know, different things. Uh, but you kind of, uh, cover it all, you know, at the same time and you each have, uh, different things that you're like super into and I don't know, it's just working really, really well so far. So if you don't subscribe to art supply posse, you need to. So it's, uh, it's fantastic. And, uh, it's, um, it's just, it's wonderful. Every time it, uh, pops up on my feed, I really, really enjoy it. So are you, you've, have you, you kind of settled into that routine now? I know it's, it's, it's even nerve wracking for me even doing, you know, coming onto this podcast, but you know, I'm settled into it, you know, a long time ago. Like it doesn't freak me out anymore. Do you still get freaked out knowing that it's like, this is your deal? You're not guesting on, on another podcast. Like this is your thing. There are, there are days. Yeah. There are days

Ana Reinert: where it's like, Oh, okay, wait. Yeah. This, I gotta, I gotta get my, my act together and then pull this together today. And wow. Seven days rolls around really fast.

Brad Dowdy: It does. It does. I get me and Myke talk about that all the time. It's like, I, I feel like we record today and then I just kind of let it go for a few days. And then the next thing, you know, it's Tuesday and I haven't started the show notes for Wednesday show.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. So we're really excited about getting, you know, more interviews pulled together. And that's super for me, super nerve wracking just to make sure that, you know, getting those organized and making other, making other people sound good and making it interesting. And so we did our first interview with my friend, Maura Kluthi, which was super awesome. And she made it easy for me. So I'm hoping that I can make it easy for other people. So.

Brad Dowdy: Great. Great. So anything you want to tease coming up, anything you got planned, anything you can share with us?

Ana Reinert: Um, well, we're getting some interviews lined up and there's a couple of people who have, um, agreed to do interviews. I'm just not sure when they'll come up, but I'm hoping that I might, um, maybe get time with Joey Feldman soon. I'll yell at him. Um, he's agreed to do it and I know I'll be running into him in San Francisco. So if I can't get the interview in San Francisco, hopefully I can nail down a date with him then. Nice. Um, so, and there's a few other people that have agreed. Um, just, we haven't picked out times and, um, there's a lot of people right here in Kansas city because this is such a creative community. So I have a lot of people who've agreed to do it and we just have to set up times. There's so many artists here. Um, uh, there's an, uh, like an impressionist painter who does, um, uh, on Fridays, she hides paintings all over town. She'll like hide a painting. And then post on Facebook where she put it and then people can go and get it. She was just, it's like, she does free painting Friday. And so I would like to do an interview with her. It's just like a little, like four by four little impressionist painting of like a still life, but just, I mean like really cool, interesting projects like that. So I think there'll be some really cool things to talk about in the future.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. That's much better than Pokemon go. Yeah. Isn't that cool?

Myke Hurley: Anna, how have you found the production side of, uh, creating the podcast? I mean, cause previously, you know, uh, being on this show, maybe being on some other shows, you kind of show up as a guest and you record yourself and then you will kind of give the audio over to the person who puts the show together. But now I guess you're more responsible for doing

Ana Reinert: that. And I wondered how you found that process. Um, I definitely listen to podcasts differently now.

Myke Hurley: Um, I listen to it. Yeah. It kind of ruins them just a little bit.

Ana Reinert: Um, well, yeah, you definitely start to think about how the sausage is made. Yep. Um, but it's, you know, it's very interesting, um, just figuring out pacing and figuring out how to make things feel, um, like that they flow better. Um, just practice, you know, practicing a lot of that. And I was joking, um, with somebody that I tend to listen to podcasts, um, on overcast with them sped up just a little bit because I listened to so many. Um, I tend to listen to them a little bit faster than they are actually recorded. And so when I first started recording, I tried to talk really fast because that's how I heard them. And then I realized that's not actually how people speak. So, so I realized like, okay, go back, speak normally, let people speed them up as they

Myke Hurley: need to. Yeah. Cause if you're talking fast, people that speed them up, they're going to be,

Ana Reinert: they're going to be in a world of trouble. Well, not just that, but then I stumbled over my words and I had problems getting things out properly and the pauses were weird. And I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. Like if you try to talk too fast, you just trip over your own words and you

Myke Hurley: sound like an idiot. So how are you finding it to be different from the blog stuff?

Art Supplies

Ana Reinert: Well, the content is for me is very different, um, because it's more focused on art supplies versus, um, more office supplies and more, um, you know, pens and inks. Um, so it's, I've kind of been joking, like the blog has gotten a little more art centric over the last couple of weeks. Um, just because they, my paths have kind of interlaced a little bit. And, um, I said, I feel kind of bad for people who come to Well-Pointed Desk specifically looking for pen and ink reviews and they've gotten a lot of art supplies lately. And I was like, well, I'm going to a pen show. So I think it's going to like, it'll, you know, switch gears and they'll be restored. Balance will be restored, you know? So it's just, but you know, I think over the years, it, you know, my blog has done that anyway. It's done a little bit of shifting back and forth. And I think hopefully that's part of what the appeal of Well-Appointed Desk has been anyway, is that my focus has always been a little bit more art centric where other people have been

Brad Dowdy: more writing centric. So that's one of the big reasons why I enjoy your blog so much is because you do have that shift and then you can see like the, the art perspective coming into even the, you know, some of the regular reviews just by the way you, you, you do some of the writing samples and art samples and things like that, the way you draw and the way you letter and things like that. Not shoot. I think it's perfect. You know, keep mixing it up like that. I think it's great.

Ana Reinert: Good. Thank you. So, yeah.

Myke Hurley: So where should people go to find out more about the show and subscribe immediately?

Ana Reinert: Absolutely. Um, our, you can find us at artsupplyposse.com where you can go to iTunes and do a search for Artsupply Posse. Nailed it. Um, yep. You can also find us on Instagram and

Myke Hurley: Twitter under Artsupply Posse. You really kind of cornered that name. It's good. Yes. You found something that wasn't impossible to get a hold of. And it wasn't too long. Yeah. The big

Ana Reinert: joke is Well-Pointed Desk. Wow. That was a mouthful.

Myke Hurley: All right. Should we, uh, take a break before we jump into some, some interesting pen news of the week? Yes. Yes. Let's. All right. Are you going hype man on this one? I seem to remember you

Brad Dowdy: promising to be hype man. I don't think I'm ready for hype man at this episode. All right. You got to build up to that. I will work on that. I'll build up to it. Yes. I need to, I need to start

Myke Hurley: drinking earlier if that's going to happen. No, you just got some caffeine in you. People are expecting hype man. But, uh, I'm going to do my best and tell everyone that Pen Chalet are back to sponsor this week's episode. The company that have all of your favorite brands, Monteverde, Kaweco, Sailor, Pilot, Pelican, Lamy, so many more. Whatever you're looking for, Pen Chalet should be your first stop. They're an authorized dealer of all of your favorite brands. They have fast and reliable customer service, but it is their great deals and prices and their customer satisfaction that makes them worth visiting every single time. They have free shipping on orders of $50 in the United States. They sell internationally as well and have great shipping rates. And that satisfaction guarantee that I mentioned, Pen Chalet has their low prices on their high quality stuff and that satisfaction guarantee is 100%. Pen Chalet want you to be completely satisfied and they will help you out if you're not. So you should go to PenChalet.com. You want to click that special podcast link at the top of the website and use our code, our password, PenAddict, for this week's special offer and also to get the code that you will need to save 10% on anything at Pen Chalet. Again, I'm going to tell you about our offer in a moment, but you can go to Pen Chalet for any of your pen needs. And if you click that special podcast link and use the PenAddict password, you will get the code to save 10% on anything you buy there. But this week's special offer is the Kaweco Ice Sport in black. This is not a pen that I am familiar with. It's kind of like a like a demonstrator, part demonstrator, and the black section is opaque as well. So I guess, could you eyedrop or something like this?

Cafeco Ice Sport

Brad Dowdy: I think people eyedrop are the classics and the sports, the plastic barrel ones. But this is a new release. That's why you haven't seen this one before. They added a couple of colors into the Ice Sport. This is an inexpensive pen to begin with that I recommend all the time. And I know Anna's a fan of this barrel size and shape and quality as well. And I never see it go on sale. That's like a steal. $17 after all the coupons and everything.

Ana Reinert: Yeah, I rarely see it lower than about $24.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I was gonna say about $24 is pretty consistent. So, you know, even though it's, you know, the percentage off it is great. 30% off of this pen is just for something you never see. That's, that's quite a deal. Especially for such a good pocket pen, a quality writing pen, and it just, it just flat out looks cool.

Myke Hurley: So Brad spoiled my, my ability to reveal the price, which I enjoy so much.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, sorry.

Myke Hurley: So you stole that from me this week.

Brad Dowdy: Well, if you do it much better, because you like read all the details, I just go straight to the, straight to the candy, and you start with the packaging.

Myke Hurley: So I'm gonna try, I'm gonna do it my way. So you can get 30% off the Cafeco Ice Sport in black. Plus, when you add the 10% code to the great savings that Pen Chalet will give, it takes this pen from $27 to just $17 and a penny. It's a new color, as Brad said, and there is a limited amount available, Ron has told me. So if you're interested in picking up one of these brand new Kaweco Ice Sports, head on over to PenChalet.com right now and order immediately. Thank you so much to Pen Chalet for supporting this show and RelayFM.

Brad Dowdy: Alright, so we got a slew of news this week. Two, two really main ones, and then a few little tidbits we're gonna throw in there. And we're gonna start off with not the one that everyone wants to hear about, but it's the one I want to talk, but I want to talk about the most. This is the one that's actually more important. And it's the news that Omos got bought this week, which is super interesting, because I forget who I was just talking to in the past week or two, talking about Omos and not knowing what was gonna happen. And it was kind of disappointing, because they make such wonderful pens. And it was a pen brand that I'd just gotten into, you know, right before, you know, within the year before them going out of business. And the news came out that the group that revitalized the Wall Eversharp brand is the buyer. And that's important, I think, because within the pen community, that's a very well-respected group, right? Like, you wonder about these people who buy old pen companies, Estherbrook, and try to do things that don't really line up with the core values. Of what the brand was at one point in time. Wall Eversharp has proven through their revitalization of the brand, that they can make a high-quality pen that is wonderful looking, wonderful performing, and true to the history of the brand. So, you hope that the same thing is going to happen here with Omos. So, there's still details to be forthcoming. But it's, the way the original post was worded, it says that they bought basically all the stock, all the materials, all of that. So, they're going to be selling some of the old stock pens that they acquired. They have a bunch of the materials that they're going to continue to use to make products. So, I'm assuming by reading this that they have the whole kit and caboodle, including the name and the rights. Like, they're going to now, like, they have Wall Eversharp. Hopefully, they're going to be Omos now, too. Like, it's going to continue on. But that's kind of to be determined. They're still, they just announced this a few days ago. And it's still, you know, working through the thing. I'm sure that it'll be kind of the talk of the pen show in D.C. because they're going to be there. A gentleman named Sid Saperstein, who's one of the owners of Wall Eversharp. He's a really nice guy. I met him at last year's D.C. Pen Show. He was showing off the Deco Band, which is a really huge, massive pen. That's really, really beautiful and really well done. And our friend Matt at Pen Habit reviewed that pen. We'll put that in the show notes. So, I don't know. I thought this was very interesting. This is one of those things where it feels right. You know, just being in the community and reading about the companies involved and things changing hands. This is a very, this one gives me a very comfortable feeling, right? As opposed to, like, what some other brands have done. Hesterbrook and things like that. So, it's a very positive thing, I think, so far. Still, like I said, a lot to be determined. But if this happens and Omos can continue in a reasonable format that does justice to the brand as it existed previously, this is going to be a huge win for everybody.

Myke Hurley: I definitely got the impression that they had the rights to the name to continue. Just from reading that post. I mean, it doesn't say it explicitly and I've just checked it again. But it kind of feels like they're saying, oh, we're going to continue to make them. And unless they're going to continue to make new pens out of those materials, but that feels like a bad business move if that's what they did, right? Like buying up the old stock, buying up materials and giving them a new name. I feel like that would not be a great investment there, to be honest. Unless you were just buying the stock to sell it off, which they are doing, and then kind of call it quits. But it doesn't feel like that because the whole post is focused around bringing the brand back to life. Right. And I think you wouldn't be doing that if all you're doing is kind of just fire sailing the stock away.

Brad Dowdy: Right, right. It's just that, like you, I read it a couple of times too, and it never...

Myke Hurley: It doesn't explicitly say it.

Brad Dowdy: Explicitly.

Myke Hurley: But that could be a legal thing because it might not be finished yet.

Brad Dowdy: Right. The feeling is that it's going to continue as Omos, just like Will Ever Sharp did.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. And that's great. I mean, I know that Omos means a lot to people. You know, at Atlanta, I saw people spending ridiculous amounts of money on vintage Omos pens and stuff like that. And I know how important this brand is. There are some stuff that they do really nice, but they have some design details that are not to my liking, which I really hope that the Wild Ever Sharp people change, like the kind of the little logo banding thing that they do around some of the pens. But I'm always happy, as are you, when I see a good company do something like this. And, you know, it's one of the lovely fuzzy feelings that we get as being in this pen community, is seeing stuff like this happen, where there is somebody who loves this brand so much that they don't want to see it die. So they're going to take a risk on it and hope that the community will rally together. And, you know what, I bet there'll be a lot of people in the same way that there were when Nock launched, who will buy the stuff just to support the company, which then helps them kind of get their foot in so they can expand.

Brad Dowdy: Ana, have you ever owned an Omos or reviewed an Omos? I don't recall.

Ana Reinert: I have not. One of my questions is, just reading through the article, whether or not some of what they'll do as they move forward is to sort of reduce the overall line. Because what I see with a lot of these brands is that they had such massive, like, array of products that maybe, you know, because they were saying that there was like a $10 million loss was part of what shut Omos down, is that maybe they need to, as they start to redevelop the brand, introduce only a couple models of a pen at a time. You know, what happens is I think they get, you know, 30 different pen models in four or five different colors. You know, they, I think they exceed what the market can handle, especially in some of these higher price points. You know, and I'm seeing where other companies do three or four models and they only do two colors, three colors, you know, and they release them slowly to build sort of market share and interest and only, maybe only have them available for a limited amount of time so that there's a genuine interest. And then be like, that's it, the blue one is only available for 2016 or 2017.

Ana Reinert: You know, so that they're not keeping a massive inventory and they're not sitting on the market. Let the secondary market have, you know, have those things for a longer term.

Deco Band

Brad Dowdy: I think that's kind of the path that the new Wall Ever Sharp group has gone. Like last year, their main release was the Deco Band. And they were pre-selling it at DC last year and I can't, I think it was maybe in two colors, maybe three. And then they have the Skyline. So they don't like go super, super deep, like you're saying, which I agree, especially when you're, you're taking on this risk too. You know, that's, it seems to be like the right path to take. And I kind of hope I see that as well. So it's good news. We'll probably, you know, I'll, I'll, we'll check them out. They're going to bring, they have some of the stock they're going to bring. Some of it to, to DC. Sure. It'll be snapped up quickly. If it's some of the, some of the popular models, like the Arco celluloid pens that, that did so well in the past year or two. So it'll be, see, it'll be something fun to watch because I like this pen. I like this brand. I was late to get into it because it's actually a pretty, you know, it's a premium, premium brand. Um, but they play really well, like in that 400 to $800 range. Like what they offer is some of the best, um, comparatively in the market. So I'll, I'll definitely be keeping my eyes on this. So on, on practically the opposite end of the spectrum, we got a little tweet this week. Um, Myke and I did saying that the bullet journal, um, it just hit an anniversary. I think it's three year anniversary. So Ryder wrote a post called the bullet journal backstory and Myke and I got a mention in. And I thought that was kind of cool. It's like, I haven't really heard from Ryder since the last time we interviewed him. And I've mentioned several times on this show, how the bullet journal seems to take, have taken this weird life of its own thing. And I feel like it's like, you know, is Ryder even really involved anymore? It's like become this whole thing now, but, um, it was nice to see him, you know, his, his byline on this article. And, uh, you and I, uh, you know, he wrote some very positive things about, uh, you know, the help we gave him back in the day. So I thought that was pretty cool. What'd you think about that, Myke?

Myke Hurley: It was really nice actually, because I mean, you know, for, for us, uh, Ryder was a guest that we wanted to have on to talk about an interesting story. Um, and then next it was kind of like a, you know, it started to take off and the Kickstarter was, was coming and it was going to be really exciting. And, you know, even from our perspective then it was like, great, having him back would be good for us maybe to get some new people come to the show, that kind of thing. So it was just really nice for me at least to read this and him acknowledge that we helped out. Because at the time it didn't really feel like that we would, that, that we did that, right? Like we always felt that I guess we had him on because he was already riding a big wave, you know? And, and that we were excited to talk to him because of that. And so it just surprised me to see that he, he called us out so explicitly in that post. And also to think that we kind of turned him onto Leuchtturm, which ended up, you know, and, and thinking about all of that. And it's like, that's, that's a really nice thing. And I'm so happy to see this because, you know, we've been doing this show for so long now that we have seen people come from, from not doing anything to having a thing to becoming big successes. Like we've seen that a lot, right? Right. You know, like a lot of pen companies, a lot of bloggers, a lot of artists, like we've seen these people kind of appear on the scene. We talk about them, maybe we interview them and then we see them take off and not because of us, just because they're on that trajectory anyway. So it's just really nice to see that, that mentioned by Ryder. And if you're listening, Ryder, thank you. And massive congratulations to everything that you've done. And we'll have to have you back on the show at some point in the future to talk about it all. Because I would really like to know from Ryder now how he feels about the fact that kind of, he's out, kind of out of control of the bullet journal. Like he still owns it and operates it and I'm sure it's a great business for him, but it's bigger than him now, as you said. And I'd be interested to see what he thinks about that.

Brad Dowdy: Yes, I'll be reaching out to him. I'm probably not going to do any more guests in August just because it's kind of a crazy month for us. But starting in September, we're going to do, I'll be reaching out to a lot of people and I'm going to be doing something that the listeners asked for is to bring on just the regular listeners of the show. I've already got a few that I'm talking with. So we'll get to have some fun stuff coming up like in September, but probably not before then because we're going to be pretty sideways on this whole thing. You bet. So what do you think about this whole, have you followed any of like the Bujo hashtags, Anna, on Instagram? I know, I think back in Atlanta, you were participating in one of the, one of like the monthly hashtags that kind of comes out and people follow. Is that correct? Or am I getting my wires crossed?

Ana Reinert: Yeah, I was doing the, the lettering project that, that, oh gosh, I'm totally blanking on what the name of the project is called. I will look it up.

Brad Dowdy: Rock Your Handwriting? Was it that one?

Ana Reinert: Yeah, the Rock Your Handwriting project. But yeah, that all came out of the bullet journaling projects. And no, it's fascinating to see just how large the bullet journaling has become. And there are so many pockets of people who are taking it and doing different things. And if you go on YouTube or Instagram or anything, how many different communities have taken it and sort of gone their own way with it. And, and I'm sure at a certain point, you know, I mean, even Ryder probably doesn't know all of the places it's popped up because it's, I mean, it really has. It's, it's grown so organically as people have found uses for it, you know, from, you know, different, I mean, just so many different communities. I can't even like begin to put my finger on like how many different pockets of people from, you know, the professional, you know, business professionals to stay at home moms to, you know, I mean, like different kinds of people who are doing, using it for projects and, and crafting. And I mean, it's just, I can't even begin to imagine like all the different categories and ways that people are using it for school studies and work. And I mean, it's just, and all of those little sub communities have, you know, boards online or sub Reddit groups that are using it or finding ways to use it. I mean, even within my, you know, little communities on Ravelry, different people will have sub boards where they're using bullet journaling for different things. So, I mean, places you wouldn't expect to find it. So, and every once in a while I'll get, I'll get earburned on Ravelry about somebody using it and they've tracked me down or, you know, so it just is amusing. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And I think that was the, that was the unknown secret sauce when, when writer created it, that it's so functional for so many people. Like you don't know that at the time, but it's, it's just really customizable to, to your needs. So it's, it's pretty cool. So we will, we will, I will effort that interview here in the fall as we, as we go through. So, all right, Myke, we got some field notes action this week. Some, some interesting things happened to products kind of appeared out of thin air. Well, one you expected, but one you didn't. So why don't you, why don't you tell me what's going on here?

Myke Hurley: So a few days ago, I saw Ginny from Three Staples link to the new Nixon field notes. So they did one of these before, which I have where there was a three pack and one of them felt a bit like, like tape from a skateboard, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or like a sandpapery type feeling. Well, she, she mentioned it on Twitter and I ordered them and previously they could only be bought from the US. But this time I was able to, to order them and it said free shipping, 17 pounds. This is very peculiar. There's no way they're letting this go through. And I grabbed one and it arrived like a couple of days later. So they're shipping some of these from the EU now, it would seem as well. Interesting. And so I have them and it's amazing.

Myke Hurley: Have you seen these? Like other than my Instagram photo?

Brad Dowdy: Someone shared a link just showing the cover banded and then I went over to the page and I ordered five packs of them.

Myke Hurley: You being serious?

Brad Dowdy: So this is, so this is my, this is my jam right here. Whoa. I like the surfing style. I like the photographic, I like the photographic covers, like the America the Beautiful edition. This is one of the coolest editions. Uh, I've seen in a long time. I haven't bought any extra field notes in forever. So I, I went, uh, I went a little crazy on this one. I may or may not have bought a watch too. That should be here today.

Myke Hurley: But five though? Five?

Brad Dowdy: FOMO, baby.

Ana Reinert: That's a lot. No kidding.

Brad Dowdy: Yep.

Myke Hurley: Wow. I'm kind of, I don't know what to say now.

Brad Dowdy: So like everything, like this is like everything I grew up like loving and this is like aesthetic really appeals to me. And, um, yeah, I just kind of went stupid. So if I was, you go big or go home and, uh, I went big on this order. So.

Myke Hurley: No doubt.

Brad Dowdy: So no problem detected, right?

Myke Hurley: That's, uh, okay. So you have any?

Brad Dowdy: They're coming today. They're coming today.

Myke Hurley: All right. So let me, let me talk about these. So maybe I can try and get over what you just said. So she said the photo covers, they went three completely different kind of color styles, which I like. There's one that's black and white. One which is more orangey and one which is more blue. And they're all surf focused. Um, they have some kind of text on the back, uh, about from Nixon. Uh, there are photos taken by a guy called Jeff Devine or Devine. And on, also on the back, it explains where the photos are taken. Um, which is kind of nice. So I like all of that. And it talks a little bit about Nixon's heritage and, uh, inside. So this is what I liked. There is one grid, one plane, one lined. So yeah, there is a really, really nice set. And I thought to myself, how lovely that these are. And I took my little photo of them, put them on Instagram. Um, and I was very happy with them. But then, but then. Then the mailman came again. The mailman came this morning and he delivered something that I have been eagerly awaiting, which is my, um, draft playing pretty much everything book. The everything else kit. So this is a little add-on that you could buy directly from Draplin's site. Um, and it is, I'll put a link to Draplin's site in the show notes where if you scroll down the page, you will find, uh, the everything else kit. And I'll, I'll put, it has a great little photo of that, which I'll, uh, I'll, I'll put in the show notes as well, which kind of explains everything that you get in this. I wouldn't even know what to call it really. Uh, you kind of cause it like an expanded thing. But it's effectively stickers and art prints, bookmarks, uh, great certificate, some badges. So it's really great. Um, the hand-signed certificate of authenticity was beautiful. I have set number 549. Uh, the art prints are incredible. Like, I would buy this for the art prints alone. Because now I have a small selection of Draplin art prints, so I'll be framing those and putting them in my new office when we move. Because they're just stunning. And they're all focused on, like, the oranges and the greys that are kind of part of the book. Stickers. I have a bunch of stickers now that are on my iPads from this sheet. But the real crown here is the field notes that it comes with. They are, they're incredible. They're absolutely incredible. So, I want to give some of the statistics of these field notes. Because there is one part of it which is very, very interesting to me. Um, the paper is a canvas cover made by a company called Nina Royal Sundance. Well, the paper is called Nina Royal Sundance Linen. Now, as I was feeling this, I was like, this reminds me of something. And I can't work out what it is. And then I remembered Raven's Wing. These remind me of Raven's Wing. So, I went and looked at the website. And the Raven's Wing covers are Nina Classic Linen.

Myke Hurley: And you'll have to correct me if I'm wrong, Brad. But to your memory, did the Raven's Wing covers have a slight texture to them?

Brad Dowdy: I didn't think they did.

Myke Hurley: Okay.

Brad Dowdy: I thought they were smoother. Okay.

Myke Hurley: Well, maybe that's the case. Maybe I'm kind of crazy with this then. But there is a real slight kind of texture to the front of the books, which I like a lot. And anyway, they're all black. They have beautiful orange foil stamping of all the text on them. Standard issue, pretty much everything. Memo book. Black canvas with orange foil. 5,000 books into three packs. And it's got a great little paragraph at the back about the book. And I love the little special edition foil stamp that I like a lot. The paper inside is orange, which is crazy. It's got a dotted grid. But it's this beautiful orange. I think looking wise, this might be, I think, the best looking, like kind of simple field notes that I own. It's so striking. I don't know how useful it would be with the bright orange paper, but it's so striking. And I think one of the reasons I keep thinking about Raven's Wing is the black and orange. It comes with a great orange belly band. I have numbers 957 and 998.

Brad Dowdy: So, Ana, are we as insane as we sound?

Ana Reinert: Not really, because I'm sitting here ordering those field notes right now.

Field Notes Expansion Kit

Myke Hurley: Have you ever got the Everything Else expansion kit coming or anything? Did either of you two buy this?

Ana Reinert: I did not get the expansion kit.

Brad Dowdy: No, I passed on it as well.

Myke Hurley: Well, I'm very happy that I got it. Mm-hmm.

Brad Dowdy: It looks awesome. It looks totally cool. But, you know, my reasoning back then, which is, you know, just exactly why I bought so many of the Nixon, is I will use the Nixon. I wouldn't use anything in this expansion kit. So, I reappropriated those funds into something that I would use. Because I would just never use, this expansion kit would sit in a box for me. And, you know, I didn't feel that was a good use. As cool as it looks and as awesome as it is, you know, I spent the same amount of money or a little bit more on the Nixon. Nixon's, but I will use them. I, you know, I say I bought five of them and you were a gas, but, like, I'll give, like, two or three of those three packs away. You know, that's why I buy extra things like that to give them away and do things like that.

Myke Hurley: So, for me, the field notes were an addition to this. Like, I was more interested in the stickers and the art prints. And I like the idea of putting it in this, like, the book in a nice sleeve because I really do love the book so much. Yes, that's pretty cool. That's pretty cool. So, but, yeah, I was going for the prints and the stickers and the field notes were going to be, like, a nice addition. And I had no idea just how good they were going to look, especially because the picture has the field notes logo in silver. Although the actual books themselves, it's all printed in orange, which makes it look more striking.

Myke Hurley: So, very nice. I had a great mail day today. I even got some other little things, but I'm going to leave them for next week's episode.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, our show notes are already taking a hit. Like, we could record for two or three hours today, I think, at the pace we're going, which is good. This is good stuff. I love talking about it. But let's talk about something else we love, Myke.

Myke Hurley: That's Harry's. I've got some exciting news today about Harry's. So, I'm sure that you've seen how big Razer manufacturers always come out with new models, right? They have the new one that does this. They have the new one that does that. But with these new features, obviously, usually, you're expected to see increased prices, right? New features. It's got more than your previous model. Maybe you pay a little bit more for it. Well, our friends at Harry's don't believe in this. They have made a bunch of exciting new improvements to their razors. And you know what I'm going to say next. They're keeping their prices exactly the same. Harry's five-blade razors now include a softer flex hinge for a more comfortable glide, a trimmer blade to get those hard-to-reach places, a lubricating strip, and they also have a new textured razor handle for more control when your hands are wet and maybe soapy. Harry's believes so much in the quality of their new razors that they continue to guarantee that. And they also give you a full refund if you're not happy. Harry's new razors offer an even higher quality shave at about half the price of big brand blades. Their blades are just $2 each. This is why, on average, an everyday shaver will save $150 each year on blades using Harry's. Now, Brad, I believe you got a little bit of a sneak peek at this new Harry's set stuff. So what do you think?

Brad Dowdy: I didn't know it had that extra trimming blade until you just told me that, which is really cool. So I normally bring the pens and paper into the recording studio that I'm talking about. So today I brought the two Harry's razors, the newer model and the older model. And while you were talking, I picked it up and I was like, I'll be damned. There's a trimming blade on the back of this blade.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, so it's like a little blade that sticks out of the back, right?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, yeah. That's super cool. Which, being a bearded one as I am, that's actually really, really helpful. So I need to give that a whirl. But I did notice that when I put it on. But the new handle is great. It's a slightly smaller handle than if you've used one of the molded plastic or rubber or mat handles that they've made before. It's just a tick smaller all the way around. It's about the same weight, maybe a hair lighter. But the grip sections are super, super nice. This is the one I'm using all the time now. I've used it for a couple weeks now, I guess. And it's been nothing but great. But now that I see that these new blades have the trimming blade, I'm even more excited. So that's very cool.

Myke Hurley: What do you think about the flex hinge and the lubricating strip and stuff? Is that an as a shave for you?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it seems actually pretty much the same. The flex hinge is maybe a little bit more flexy. But that's about it. It's actually really close to the same performance, if not a little bit better. So yeah, you can tell a slight difference when you're using it in a good way.

Myke Hurley: Excellent stuff. Harry's starter set is a fantastic deal. For just $15, you get a weighted razor handle, moisturizing shave cream, and three precision-engineered five-blade cartridges. And a travel cover, too. But how about getting this for $10? Well, go to harrys.com and you'll get $5 off if you use the coupon code PENADDICT with your first purchase. That's H-A-R-R-Y-S.com coupon code PENADDICT at checkout for a special $5 off. Thank you so much to Harry's for their support of this show and RelayFM.

Cronzy Pen

Brad Dowdy: So, Anna, how cronzy did you get last night? Did you get really cronzy on us? I got cronzy last night.

Myke Hurley: I got cronzy. We all got a bit cronzy. Got a little cronzy. So, the entire internet yesterday got in contact with me and Brad to let us know about an Indiegogo project called cronzy. And I first saw this on the Verge's Circuit Breaker Gadget blog. And it links off to an Indiegogo page funding a product called the cronzy. They are looking for $200,000 to help create the pen, which gives 16 million colors in your pocket. They have a flexible funding goal, which means whatever money pledged, they will keep. And currently, they are just a hair under $11,000 raised. Let me tell you what the cronzy does. And dear listener, if you've been listening to this show for a while, you can kind of try and maybe think that this sounds a little bit similar to you. So, the cronzy is a pen. It's an incredible pen that has a scanner built into one end of it. And you are able to scan any color that you come across in the real world. And the magical ink inside of the cronzy will automatically mix on the fly and change the ink that comes out of the tip of the pen to the color that you have scanned. Now, dear listeners, if you have been listening to this show for some time, you will know that this sounds almost exactly like our old friend, the scribble pen. For anyone who has not been listening to it, I'll find a couple of episodes that talk about the scribble pen on this show, and I'll put them in the show notes. But the scribble pen was a Kickstarter project that did just this. And after some complaints and some investigation, Kickstarter asked the scribble folk to provide a video that actually showed a working prototype, which they could not do to the satisfaction of Kickstarter. It was then kicked off. I think they maybe launched on Indiegogo. Indiegogo shut them down, and then they did some funding on their own, and it mainly went away. But now we have another product that is here that I guess is different.

Brad Dowdy: So that's the big question, right? So it's identical in idea and functionality and theory. And they've gone a little... This is like...

Brad Dowdy: If the scribble pen took a year off to refine their scam further and make it even better, this is what they would come up with, right? So this is way nicer all the way around than the scribble pen in everything that they've done up until this point. Would you agree with that statement?

Ana Reinert: I'm putting air quotes around better.

Brad Dowdy: Yes, relatively better. They've refined. And I'm not saying that this is the scribble people. And I am saying that the scribble pen was a scam. I'm not saying the Kronzee is a scam yet. But this is just creepy. This is like... It makes me ill. It's... Especially when I see something on The Verge. I tweeted The Verge writer one of the links of the scribble recap, you know, on why it was so bad. And she didn't respond to me, but that's okay.

Myke Hurley: So my feeling about this is it's a shame that it's there, but how are they to know? We were all taken in by the scribble. Right. To an extent. To an extent. I mean, we had lots of questions about the feasibility of it, but I don't think that we immediately called it a scam. We just had lots of questions. Sure.

Ana Reinert: Yeah, that's fair.

Brad Dowdy: That's fair.

Ana Reinert: And the video that was on The Verge addressed a lot of the questions that have been asked. Like, what happens when you switch colors? And they showed, yes, there is a transition period where, you know, when you switch from a reddish color to a bluish color, you're going to get some sort of purple happening, you know. So it's, I mean, it's all the things that we assumed were going to happen. Like, it doesn't immediately, you know, clean out the barrel. I mean, it's the same thing that happens if you just try to switch out ink cartridges in your pen. Like, you're going to have a transition where the feed is going to have a different color in it, and you're going to have the colors mixing, you know. So it's like, and it's the kind of stuff that it's like, if these are the same people, like, all they had to do was say, yeah, at a certain point, you're going to have to have a piece of scratch paper, you know, where you're going to have to do a little bit of scribbling, hence scribble pen, you know, while the color transitions. Like, it's not, like, it's not rocket science. Like, when you switch colors, you know, it's not unlike cleaning a paintbrush or cleaning out, you know, cleaning out your nib on a fountain pen. Like, when you change colors, you have to clean it out.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so one of the comments in the Reddit thread that's following this, we'll put a link in the show notes for it because I can't say it because Michael will have to edit out the name of the Reddit group that it's in. But they pointed out in the video that they tested all the colors that didn't require color switching. So I thought that was, like, an immediate red flag. I mean, there's just so much, you know, these people, like,

Myke Hurley: What do you mean, Brad?

Brad Dowdy: So it's a CMYK color cartridge right in the barrel. And they didn't switch to one of the colors. I'm not looking at it right now. But one of the colors was not a stock solid color.

Ana Reinert: It was like a purple or something.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. That would actually have to do the mix of, like, the pink and the blue, right, to make the purple. It did not do that. It did non-mixing color tests, if that makes sense.

Color Swatches

Ana Reinert: Yeah. There was something weird. Like, they had four color swatches across the back of the display that they were using to test. And they did three out of the four. And I wondered why they didn't do the fourth. And I didn't know if they felt like the video. Like, my instinct was like, did you think the video was too long? And I'm like, at this point, it's six minutes of watching you mix colors. So, like, why not go for eight minutes and just show us the last color? And then I was like, could they not get the color to mix properly? Like, at this point, if you're asking for $100,000 or $200,000, like, I'm willing to watch another two minutes of video if you want my money.

Brad Dowdy: Right. And the kicker with this, and Myke put it in the show notes, that it is under Indiegogo, they have an option called flexible funding. So, they're going to get, if someone pledged $1 or they hit their $200,000 goal, they're getting whatever amount of money that is sent to them for backing. So, if you back this and they don't hit $200,000, your money is still going to this. So, your money is spent if you back this project. So, that's a waste.

Myke Hurley: So, here are some of the things that I don't like about this and raise some red flags for me. The app looks the same. It's very, very similar in design. Very similar in design. The demo video, the initial demo video, very similar in execution. The prototype video that you guys are referencing, I thought was terrible.

Myke Hurley: There are visible cuts in places, especially towards the end, which is very peculiar. And the whole way that the guy is holding the pen is unnatural. The movements that he's making whilst holding the pen and changing the colors, they're so unnatural that it feels like something untoward is going on. Something is being hidden. Or like there's some kind of sleight of hand, if it is all one shot. Like when he's changing the colors and he like wiggles his hand down the pen. Like it all just looks very strange. And when I see something like that, I think there is a reason you're doing this. What is the reason that you're doing this? Because just to my mind, it doesn't make sense. Like he holds the pen so peculiarly. Now, that's just something I don't like about it. But the thing that I find really super weird about this, if you watch the About Cronzy video that's on the page, it's maybe about a third of the way down. There is a video called About Cronzy, where they kind of talk about the company. And there is a voiceover.

Myke Hurley: Well, there's not a voiceover. It's the guy, John, the electronic hardware. Oh, no, Alex, the CEO. It's Alex, the CEO of Cronzy. And he's talking, and there's clearly a voiceover. So his voice is being overdubbed. And you can see he's mouthing along to it, but it's not perfect. And whenever the word Cronzy is said, he is mouthing a different word. Nice. Not Cronzy.

Ana Reinert: So we just need someone who is a good lip reader to tell us what they were actually saying.

Myke Hurley: Yes. I would be very interested if somebody can work it out. It's very strange. I'll put a link in the chat room if people want to go and verify that it looks like he's not saying Cronzy to me. But every time that you hear the word Cronzy, his mouth is saying something different.

Myke Hurley: Now, I'm sensitive to these kinds of things because I found like, you know, if I watch a TV show, I can tell when something's being overdubbed and stuff like that. And I think it's because I work so much with audio. But it's clearly overdubbed, which is fine if maybe they shot the video and the audio differently and they had some audio problems. They didn't want to shoot the video again. Sure. So they just kind of re-recorded it. But he's clearly not saying Cronzy. He's saying something else. And if they have changed the name of the company during this process, I feel like maybe they should have re-shot the video. It's weird. So this is the thing. I am not sure and I'm not convinced that this is Scribble. Yeah. But what I do think is that this is a company influenced by Scribble and they're doing one of two things. They are scamming or they are building something which will not work. Right.

Brad Dowdy: But it's going to cost you $150 to find out.

Myke Hurley: Exactly.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: And they maybe know it won't work.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So I'm with you. I mean, I'm more on the second aspect of this. I think it's another attempt. And I'm just, you know, it's a 10-foot pole, man. Just get this thing away from me. There's no way that this is going to work or be worth the money. No, it's so. Or if you even see a product, right? I mean, this money's gone if you put it here. Yeah. Listeners of this show are smart enough to not do that. But when you see this thing hit $200,000, it hurts to see that happen, you know?

Gadget Blog

Myke Hurley: So the only thing that's filling me with some kind of optimism here is it's already been posted to The Verge, like the single biggest gadget blog in technology today. And they've only got to $11,000.

Brad Dowdy: Right.

Myke Hurley: So my hope would be that it's not going to bubble the way the Scribble did. Because the Scribble made a lot of money, right?

Brad Dowdy: Oh, a couple hundred thousand. Yeah. Before they got pulled.

Myke Hurley: I get it, yeah. So Cronzy could have done that if Cronzy was first.

Brad Dowdy: Yes.

Brad Dowdy: So now Cronzy has to fight the Scribble press.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Which is 100% negative, so.

Myke Hurley: And it's us.

Ana Reinert: I'd just like to see, you know, somebody raise $200,000 to donate real pens to kids in schools who need pens and materials to learn. Like, I just don't, I just feel like this is, I appreciate people making an effort to improve technology and try to create something unique. But I feel like this is a place where right now in the marketplace, there really isn't a need for this kind of tool.

Ana Reinert: And it's. Frankly, it's because it would never actually be that good. And, yeah, and I completely agree. And it's like, for asking for so much money for something that really technologically isn't, it's not suited for what you need it to do to fit in, you know, the size that you need it. Yeah. Like, could we not do something better with that kind of money and the kind of effort people are putting behind this? You know, to get people writing, children writing, like, drawing. Exactly. Like, please, can we do something else with $200,000?

Brad Dowdy: That would be nice. That would be nice. So, anyway. So, unfortunately, we'll probably have to talk about this again at some point. It always seems to work out that way when I don't want to talk about this junk. But, you know, I, it's, it's a little bit interesting just to see the train wreck. Like, but not that much that I really want to talk about it all the time just because I'm just kind of over it. Kind of like where we are with the scribble. But it's, it's, it's the cockroach of the pen world, man. This thing is just never going to die. It'll, it'll survive the Armageddon. And, you know, the first thing that'll pop back up is, hey, do you want to buy a pen that has put 60 million colors in your pocket? So.

Myke Hurley: I mean, sure. Why wouldn't you? Yeah. This is the problem.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, I'm going to get 16 million colors at the Washington, D.C. Fountain Pen Super Show, Michael. Because that's what we're, that's what we're here to talk about. And all the colors I'm going to put in my pocket at that show. So, that's what I want to talk about the rest of this show. What do you think?

Myke Hurley: I think that's great. Why don't you tee up the Washington, D.C. Pen Super Show? And then we can go into a little bit more detail in a moment about what each day is going to be like for anybody that's going to be attending.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, it's here. It's technically doesn't start till Friday. But it's most, a lot of people travel in on Thursday to get a head start. And there's some things going on. So, it's the biggest fountain pen show in the world. The self-proclaimed, I don't know that's an auditable statement. But it's the self-proclaimed world's largest fountain pen show. And it's going to be awesome. And Anna and I are going to be there working for Venice Pens with Father Kyle. And we're going to be joined by Mr. Kerry Fountain Pen Day, hopefully adjacent to us in the room, in the atrium slash sauna. That is the atrium. But if you've never been to this show, it's really quite amazing. And it's worth the trip. And it's worth the travels. And even if I wasn't working or doing anything, I would try to go to this show. Just because it's so cool. You get to meet so many people that you talk to online. You get to see so many things that maybe even your local pen show doesn't have. So I wanted to get Anna on to at least talk about that and talk about what the weekend has in store for us. So let's do that right after we talk about our good friends from Squarespace.

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Brad Dowdy: Awesome. All right, Ana. So what is your perception of this show? Hearing us talk about it, seeing that, you know, I'm super experienced now. I've been one entire year, right? So apparently, you know, I've got like a ton of experience with this show. But never having been, what are your thoughts going to the world's largest fountain pen show?

Ana Reinert: Um, I'm going to be working really hard.

Brad Dowdy: That's pretty much, that's very accurate.

Ana Reinert: Yeah, people keep asking me like, you're, you're going like at work. They're like, you're going on vacation. And I'm like, well, by vacation, I'm going to go shill ink for four days. So it's my own interpretation of vacation.

Brad Dowdy: But it's actually a good vacation, even though like, we will be.

Myke Hurley: It's a workcation.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yes. Friday and Saturday, Ana and I are just going to be working our tails off. There's like, it's kind of crazy that way. But there is some calmness. Like Thursday is a great day to come in. Because you can kind of get, you just kind of get the feel and just the hanging out. And there's so many people there already on Thursday. You'll see all kinds of vendors with stuff out on their tables on Thursday.

Ana Reinert: I probably won't get to the hotel until probably right as everybody's sort of closing up. Because I don't get in until about, my flight doesn't land until about 3.30. So I probably won't actually get to the hotel until about 5.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Ana Reinert: So everybody will be kind of closing up shop by about that point. But I'll be just in time for happy hour.

Brad Dowdy: That's exactly right. And that's what will be awesome about Thursday. You can just come and mingle, you know, by the time I get, I don't land until 2 o'clock. So I'm not really that much ahead of you. So everyone will be kind of packing up.

Ana Reinert: Are you flying into Reagan or into? Dulles. Dulles. Yeah, I'm flying into Reagan. So I'm freaking Lisa out because I'm like, I'm taking public transport. She's like super nervous for me. And I'm like, it's fine. It's two trains. I'm a city kid by birth. So I'll work it out.

Brad Dowdy: You can handle it. Speaking of Lisa, her and our working compatriots, Cassie and Father Kyle are apparently in the car driving today. And we're going to try to listen in to us. So hey, everybody. Hope to see you safe and sound there tomorrow afternoon. So it'll be fun. I'm really looking forward to it. It's, I still don't think even as much work as I put into the Atlanta Pen Show. I don't think I've ever been as exhausted as I was with DC last year. Like I was destroyed like every night, but I also closed down the bar every night there. So, you know, going to bed at 1 a.m. and getting back up at 7 to start working at 8. You know, I kind of did it to myself. So you may not see me closing down the bar every night this weekend. Oh, Father Kyle's in. Are you listening? So somehow they've managed the chat room on the drive. So there's somewhere in Middle Tennessee, supposedly today.

Myke Hurley: So don't chat and drive.

Ana Reinert: He's not driving. Maybe not right now anyway. Yeah. Well, Middle Tennessee, I went to UT Knoxville. So wave on the way.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. And I was in, I was in Franklin over the weekend. So they are, they are making their way. So that's going to be awesome. I can't wait to get there. It's besides Atlanta. This is definitely the most fun I've had at a Pen Show just because of the people. Like everyone makes the time to go to DC. So any vendor that you were hoping to ever see at a Pen Show, they're going to be there. You know, for the most part. And any of your friends online, a lot of them are going to be there. So it's, it's just a legitimately cool show.

Brad Dowdy: I barely left the hotel other than to eat. Like it's super convenient. Like all the food places are like right outside the door. So they just, it's, it's a good location, even though it's, you know, theoretically not in DC, right? It's not technically, I should say. It's in Tyson's Corner, Maryland, but it's a good event. And, you know, I just, I can't wait to get there. Like, I'm really, really excited. I know how much work it's going to be. I know how tired I'm going to be. I know much, how much I have to do, but that's cool. That's like, I'm up for that. Right. You know, that's why I'm going. I'm up for doing that. And it's, it's just great to see.

Pencils

Ana Reinert: Yeah. I'm super excited. People who've run into me at Atlanta and in Chicago, I was noted for having some pencils to sort of soften the pen blow. I'm planning, I had a plan. I was going to bring, not magic pencils this time, but, but in the theme of DC, I was bringing red, blue pencils. I ordered, you know, nonpartisan, red and blue. There you go. I ordered, I ordered three boxes and only one of them showed up. So I'm so pissed.

Brad Dowdy: So get on early.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. So I don't have very many, I'm going to actually run by, um, maker goods, my friend's shop here in, um, Kansas city. And I know she sells them and see if I can get a couple of boxes from her. I'll see how many she has. Um, or if she's open today, um, see if I can scrounge up a couple more boxes.

Brad Dowdy: But yeah. Quick note from our friends in the chat room. It is actually in Virginia, not Maryland. So get it, get it right. Brad. It's a, it's an interesting area right there. Um, uh, of, of the map. So, um, it's, it's not far from DC. I know a bunch of people are going into DC to see the sites and things like that before the show. Some people take Saturday off of the pin show that are there all week to go into DC, uh, proper to do some tours and stuff because the Saturday pin show is madness. Um, legit madness. But, um, you know, Friday is not bad. If you're like, if you, you have to buy the trader's pass to get in Friday. So that's like a $45 ticket for Friday, it's kind of worth it. Um, it's all Friday, Saturday, and Sunday pass. If you're going to be there, Friday is kind of the best day to shop because everyone's there and set up and you don't have the total mob scene of the public. Which, like, every year we take pictures of the line to get in on Saturday at, like, 9 a.m. It's out the door, down around the end of the hotel, down around the street. It's kind of crazy.

Ana Reinert: So it's like, it's like Saturday San Diego Comic Con crazy.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. Yes. That would definitely be, um, definitely be a thing. And then Sunday is not too bad. Like, it's just kind of steady. It's like, you can actually breathe on Sunday a little bit, um, even though you're selling and working hard and doing, doing cool stuff. Um, it's, it's manageable. Um, Saturday's a little bit nuts. It'll like, you'll start, then you'll be, oh my God, it's lunchtime. And then it'll be five o'clock. So, and each day, at least Friday and Saturday have cool things to do. Like, at the hotel, after show stuff, like, um, the show promoter has, like, a wine and cheese hour at six o'clock on Friday. At seven o'clock. Yeah. I think I missed that last year. I went for, I don't know. I was too busy, um, last year. But Friday night is the party you want to be at. It's Carrie's Fountain Pen Day party from seven to nine. Um, there's gonna be.

Ana Reinert: And you, you need the Friday pass in order to get into the party, right?

Brad Dowdy: Uh, to our, to the Fountain Pen Day party? No.

Ana Reinert: Mm-hmm.

Brad Dowdy: Anyone can, anyone can go. Friday night. Um, you know, there's not really gonna be food or drink. I think we're gonna get some, like, uh, some dessert stuff. You know, some snacks and things like that. But there'll be plenty of beer at the bar that you should definitely bring in. Hopefully the air conditioner, uh, will work if we're in the same room as we were last year. But, uh, Carrie's doing, I, I, I'm putting Carrie on the spot here. He's yelling at me in the chat room. It's our party. It's our party. But, uh, I, I like to, uh, I like to mess with Carrie. Um, but we're, we have a bunch of stuff planned for giveaways. And it's really just a meetup. You know, bring your pens, bring your paper, come hang out with people that maybe you didn't get to see during the day. Or if you just got into town, you know, come in and see and hang out. It's really, that's all we're going to be doing. And just, uh, chilling and hanging with, uh, like-minded folks and giving a bunch of stuff away, um, stacks of stuff. So you want to be there just for that. Just for that. I've got some stuff for the giveaway too. Sweet, sweet. And, uh, I've got, I, I actually packed yesterday, um, like all my clothes. Cause I needed to see if I needed to do laundry. Cause I just returned from another trip. So today is the pack everything else day. And so I need to go pack all the, uh, the goodies I'm going to be giving away. And, uh, Lisa Van Es is bringing a bunch of stuff for us to give away. So it's going to be very cool. And then, um, like I said, Saturday is the nuts day. It's like, just, it's, it's pretty much as crazy as you think it could be. You know, it's, um, just a lot of people, uh, a lot of, a lot of ink slinging. We'll be slinging all the ink. Uh, Anna, you already have your name on a few bottles of the Califolio Andronople.

Ana Reinert: Um, no, I got, I got my bottle of Andronople at the last show.

Brad Dowdy: You're set, but we'll, we'll be pimping that one hard though.

Ana Reinert: Absolutely. And I do have my, uh, Sailor Pink glove loaded with Andronople if anyone wants to try it out.

Brad Dowdy: Nice. Nice. So yeah, that, that's the way to go. And, um, you know, there's another, uh, you know, I think there's a Kenro event that night, Saturday night. I don't know what the, the deal is totally with that one. Um, but yeah, it's, it's one of the coolest hangout shows. Um, that I've been to, um, in the show after hours. It's just a really good bar setup area. Lots of big chairs, lots of big tables. Um, I pretty much spent, if I wasn't, um, working for Lisa or at the water cooler because it was hot and I had to drink, I was drinking mixture. I was drinking enough water all day. Um, because I was dying of thirst. Um, I was pretty much at the bar. That's probably the reason why I was dying of thirst every day. Huh? Um, so it's, um, it's fun. I'm ready. I'm ready to go. Like I was nervous a few weeks ago. I was like, oh, this is going to be crazy. It's going to be busy. But right now I'm just, it's time to go and I'm ready to be there. And tomorrow's the day.

Ana Reinert: Absolutely. And if, if you're not like us and working through the whole show, I did see that there's, um, several classes available. So I think if you get there early enough, you can sign up. There's probably still spaces available for, um, like calligraphy classes and that kind of thing that, uh, like Deborah Basil and, um, I forget who else is teaching. There's some other, I think, I don't know if Michael Saul is teaching one, but they're listed on the website.

Brad Dowdy: I want to say he is, but I, yeah, I'm not sure either. So there they are up on the website, um, you know, pending your ability to navigate it.

Ana Reinert: If anything, you can ask when you get there, what classes are available and what still have spaces.

Brad Dowdy: So Myke, when do you arrive?

Ana Reinert: That's why we don't hear him. We don't hear him. He's already on the plane. He's, he's taken off for the airport.

Brad Dowdy: I'll take that as a, I get in Friday afternoon. So no, I have nothing for you, Dowdy. One year. We're going to get you one year. We're going to get you there. I can feel it.

Myke Hurley: I have a plan actually that I'm going to talk to you about after the show.

Brad Dowdy: Okay, cool. We will work on that. I would like the plan.

Ana Reinert: I like the plan already. I'm, I fully support it, whatever it is. And bring your lovely fiance. I would like to meet her.

Myke Hurley: Yes. That's, that's a whole other plan. That's a bigger plan.

STPA

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. That's like a crazy plan. We actually had planned to talk more about that in the STPA section, but we're not even going to get to that today.

Myke Hurley: Like we're, uh, maybe next week, probably.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Next week. Um, yeah. Next week we have a, we have a double recording, right?

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So we'll record two episodes. We'll do some DC recap next week. We'll do, uh, a whole show of STPA. So we'll have plenty of stuff to talk about next week. Anything else we need to talk about the pen show, uh, Anna for this weekend?

Ana Reinert: I can't think of anything.

Brad Dowdy: Definitely follow us on the, on the Instagrams. I'm sure there'll be lots of pictures.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. I'm super excited to meet tons of people and I've got stuff waiting for me when I get there. Are you going to, are you looking to buy anything?

Brad Dowdy: I don't, I am not. I, I still want to try out the Visconti Homo Sapiens Steel Age. That one's kind of always been on my radar. I think some people, um, that are coming to the show will have those. So I want to, I want to test those out just to kind of see what I think, see if I want to, want to make a purchase. I have nothing that I'm desperately looking for. Um, I'll be looking to see if there's any vintage pilot stuff. Um, it looks like, um, you know, most of the, yeah. I'm trying to think if there's anything else online really specifically looking for and there's not, which is good. You know, that's kind of how I've been doing the pin shows recently. Just kind of see, you know, what, uh, what I fall into and, um, it's usually some pretty good stuff, but I definitely don't have a list. How about you?

Ana Reinert: No, I don't really have a list. Um, Tom from Gold Spot Pens is bringing me, I, I did a, um, an ask the desk post a couple of weeks ago about, um, some like cross century pens. And so now I have a cross century pen addiction. I'm my, my own worst enabler. Um, so he's bringing me a cross, um, one of the cross century twos and he's engraving it for me. So I'm all excited about getting it. It's going to be engraved with a well-appointed desk. So it's like, it's like, I'm, I'm like a little kid. I'm like, yay.

Ana Reinert: So he's bringing that to me. Um, he, um, also does the, um, ink journals. So I'm going to finally get to meet him in person. So that'll be fun.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I look forward to that. And, uh, yeah, it's all about the people. It's the way to go. So, uh, I can't wait. See all our, see all our friends.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. All right. Take us away, Myke. We have places to go, people to see, ink to sling.

Ana Reinert: Suitcases to pack. We're going to try to fit you in our suitcase, Myke.

Myke Hurley: Okay, great. That sounds like a good idea. Uh, if you want to find show notes for this week's episode, you want to head on over to relay.fm slash pen addict slash 216. If you want to find Brad online, he is at Brad. What are you at? Dowdyism. That's it.

Brad Dowdy: Hey, I got the blue check mark. Woo. It means something.

Myke Hurley: Oh, did you? Yeah. Aren't you? Aren't you fancy?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So you can go to check marks at Dowdyism.

Myke Hurley: At Dowdyism to find all of your check marks. Uh, if you're looking for them, D O W D Y I S M. You can also find Brad at pen addict.com and knock.co. And he is a pen addict on Instagram. If you want to find Anna online, the places you can do that, you can go to wellappointeddesk.com. Uh, Anna is on Twitter. She is well, a P P T desk on Twitter and the same on Instagram as well. If you want to find her there, you can go and do that. I recommend following both of them on Instagram for, uh, Washington DC pen show related stuff.

Brad Dowdy: And I am DC pen show 2016.

Myke Hurley: There you go. And I am at I Myke. I M Y K E. Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of the show. Thanks again to Harry's Squarespace. And of course the five folk over at pen show LA for sponsoring this week's show. And we'll be back next time. Until then say goodbye guys.

Ana Reinert: Goodbye guys.