The Pen Addict 289/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	289
Title:	The Cousin is the Big Brother
Release Date:	January 3rd, 2018
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 289
Audio File:	Audio Episode 289
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 289
Length:	7373 min <br />1.217 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 289. Today's show is brought to you by Casper, Pen Chalet, and Blue Apron. My name is Myke Hurley, I am joined by the new and refreshed 2018 limited edition of Brad Dowdy.

Brad Dowdy: This is going to be the best Brad Dowdy release ever. Yep, we're very excited. I'm very confident that 2018 is going to be an amazing year, because I'm going to make it that way, Myke. That's it. I mean, that's what it takes, right? It takes focus and drive and determination. 2018 is going to be the best year. I don't think I've ever said that before about going into any year, but I'm ready. I'm so pumped for 2018. I can't even stand it. It's like, I want all the days now, and do all the things now, because I want to see how awesome it's going to be. But I'm pretty sure it's going to be awesome.

Myke Hurley: I love the sound of that. I'm experiencing big things from you now.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, yeah. And I'm, you know, I'm acting on it already. I'm going to make it that way. And we're going to make it the best. But, you know, first, I want to rewind a little bit to 2017. You know, we had a little Christmas break, a little New Year's break. And, you know, I'm wondering, and the people are wondering, did you get any stationary gifts over the holidays?

Myke Hurley: No, nobody buys me this sort of stuff. It's like, it's a bad idea, right? Like, it's the same that people don't really buy me technology related things either. Because there's two parts of this one, I pretty much have everything that I would want that is within a realm of price. Right? You know, somebody's not going to pop in with a $900 Nakaya for me for Christmas, right? Like, that's right. That's not going to happen. And then, you know, people are just too concerned to us, like, intimidate. Because it's like, well, am I going to get in the right thing? Is it going to be the wrong type of pen or the wrong type of paper? So people don't buy me that sort of stuff.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, same here. And I think the last pen or something like that that I got for Christmas was something I specifically asked for. And that's been like probably five, six, seven years when I got the County Comm Embassy pen. This comes up every year. We have the same conversation. I never ask for stationary for Christmas for the exact reasons that you laid out.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, like I got a bunch of stuff last year and the year before that was coloring related because that was easy to do. But not anything this year and not anything specific.

Book Gift

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I did get surprised with a book, though, that I was not expecting, did not ask for. It's called. Okay, so here's the title. Here's the title of the book. Ballpoint. It doesn't end there. A tale of genius and grit, perilous times and the invention that changed the way we write. Wow. So that was a surprise gift for my in-laws. And I've just started it. I've read like the introduction and the first chapter and, you know, so far so good. And a bunch of people, when I posted on Twitter, a bunch of people said they read it and said it was really good. It was kind of like a kind of like a mystery, like a detective mystery book, the way the guy writes the book about, you know, turning the ballpoint and the ownership of the creation, you know, into like a tale of intrigue. So that's pretty cool. I was very surprised at that. So I'll be reading that. And I did give some pens, but they're not very, not very huge. My wife likes the paper made ink joys and jet pens has been out of the purple ones forever. So they got them back in stock. So I ordered a stack of them for her stocking. So that was my that was the entirety of my stationary holiday adventure. So I'm like you, I don't like I have everything I want and I don't want someone to surprise me, you know, with stationary because it's probably not going to go well. I mean, even at the time it'll go well, but, you know, in the back of my mind, I'll be like, oh, yeah, thing I'm not going to use. So it's cool, though. I like seeing what everyone else gets for for the holidays. That's the only gift I need, Myke.

Myke Hurley: Okay. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Speaking of gifts, our buddy Ian Schoen, we're going to get Ian on the show. We need to do that. So he dropped a dropped a tweet yesterday. He has this layout in Japanese stationary magazine that just came out awesome. So I wanted to link that in the show notes and he's going to Japan in March and it's going to be doing some doing some work over there. But if y'all haven't seen what Ian's up to, y'all know I love the pen. You know, I love his designs. You know, I've converted Myke into a to a fan and I've converted a lot of people into a fan. But check out this layout of some of the new finishes he's putting on these pens. What do you think about these? Wonderful.

Myke Hurley: They look so good. I like that it's all kind of hidden. Right. So it's like they're just like regular steel or aluminum. What do you reckon they made of?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, these might be tight. I wonder if these are titanium. I don't know if titanium can get the finish that these have. But yeah, they're probably stainless steel.

Myke Hurley: But then when you unscrew the cap, the grip section is like wonderful patina rainbow colors and patterns. They look really, really sweet.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it's fantastic. So I said something to him on Twitter and he's like, just you wait. And I'm like, oh, man. All right. So he's already planning for DC, he tells me. So he said, just you wait. I want to talk about Twisby for a moment, if you'll allow me. Of course. I am a big Twisby fan. I think it's pretty much on record. I really, really enjoy Twisby. Not everyone does. And for good reasons. They have some quality control issues. I feel that they've improved over time. Some people keep getting burned. And I totally get that. So they released the Twisby 580 AL. The latest color edition. This one's called Rose. Looks more, you know, like a looks like a deep red to me, quite honestly. More than a rose. But I guess it's a red rose. So it's a really pretty color.

Brad Dowdy: I want more from Twisby now. So my expectations, they have satiated my needs for all colors of the Diamond 580, of the Mini, of the Eco even, of the Classic. I want my new Twisby pin this year.

Brad Dowdy: I don't know what that is. They used to. I don't go on Facebook much anymore. So I don't see them unless they post it on Instagram or Twitter. They used to do some crazy prototypes trying to figure some things out. You remember a couple years ago, they had some wood prototypes. And, you know, they did that micarta pin a few years ago that was met with rave reviews. But they had quality issues, so they had to cancel it. But I'm ready for Twisby to make a jump. Something has to give this year with Twisby, I think. Because they are some of my most favorite pins to use. I think the new Eco-T, the blue one, is one of my favorite pins I've used in the past, you know, six months. It's an awesome pin. And it's like $28 or whatever it is. I don't even know. And the Diamond 580 lineup, the aluminum barrel and aluminum piston, you know, they're like $60. They're a really good pin. They look great. I'm ready for what's next for Twisby. And I'm not getting bored with them, but I have no interest in purchasing any of these. You know, I did purchase the Eco because I've given all my other ones away. And, you know, blue and red combo is like my favorite combo ever for my personal use. So I've got that one. But that's the only Twisby I use because there really hasn't been anything new in a couple of years. Like the mini VAC, I think, last year was pretty cool. I mean, I think that was 2016. I don't even think that was 2017. So I want to see a step up in Twisby's game this year. I don't know if it's a new model, new materials, something different in the color range. They actually get really close in some of these colors. Like they did the 580 AL orange and then they did the 580 AL lava. And you sit them right next to each other. And there's like one shade of difference in them, right? Then they've had pink and now they have rose. They did lavender and blue and some other things too. But anyway, it's not a complaint.

Myke Hurley: As you can imagine, like I'm on their Facebook right now. They've got all sorts of stuff going on over here. Like new models that look interesting, right? But as they do, they just post them and they never explain what they are. But like they're playing around with wood. They're playing around with metals with weird patterns on them. Like different acrylics. Like they've got all sorts. Like they're clearly trying stuff. But, you know, as you even mentioned at the top, like this may never, ever, ever see the light of day. Right. Which is fine. They don't ever really explain it. And they always just kind of say like, yeah, we're messing around with this or we're going to make it or like whatever. But yeah, they're playing around with stuff. But I don't, they don't have anything that looks like it's immediately on the horizon.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I think we're at an inflection point. And this comes from a place of love, right? Like I love the brand. I'm ready for the next thing because I've spent, how many years has the 580 been now? It's got to be at least three with the AL at least two.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Or they just changed the color of the animal. And they just changed the color.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And that's the flagship pen, right? They've done some other colors and they've done the Vax and redesigned the Vax and introduced the minis. But, you know, this comes from a place of like love and respect. I'm a huge Twisby fan. I'm ready for the jump. Where's the jump pin? That's what I'm going to see. So, you know, no complaint. It's just why are we still doing this? Like, let's see something else. Let's put one of those things together and see what happens. So maybe we'll see that this year. I hope so.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, it looks like they're working on a pen called the Precision, which kind of looks like a cross between the Rotary 600 and a Caran d'Ache. It's got like a hexagonal. Yeah, there's pictures on their Facebook. That's probably the new line that they're coming out with. They're going to come out of anything based upon just flicking through these pictures for a few minutes. I'm mostly over Twisby. Like, I don't really have any feelings towards them anymore. And I think it's the staleness that's probably put me in that feeling. But I'm just kind of just like, whatever. Like, that's kind of how I feel. Yeah. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: But I love the heck out of my new Eco. That's one of my most used pens since I've got it. So, great pen. So, we'll see.

Pen Addict Sponsors

Myke Hurley: We'll see. All right. Today's show is brought to you by our friends at Casper, the company focused on sleep that are dedicated to making you exceptionally comfortable one night at a time. You spend a third of your life sleeping. If you spend a third of your life doing absolutely anything, you'd want to make sure that it's as best as it can possibly be. And that is why you want a Casper mattress in your life. Their mattresses are perfectly designed for humans. They have engineering to soothe and support your natural geometry. Everybody's different. And they have all the right support in all the right places. That's what the Casper mattress can do. That's why it can make you so comfortable. They can buy multiple supportive memory foams to get their quality mattress that has just the right sink and bounce. And all of their mattresses are designed and developed in the US. And they have a breathable design to help regulate your body temperature throughout the night. They have over 20,000 reviews online and an average rating of 4.8 stars. People love the Casper mattress. It's quickly becoming the internet's favorite mattress. And I bet that one of those things is that you have a risk-free sleep on it trial with Casper. You get 100 nights to make sure that mattress is right for you. So, the people that keep them are the people that love them. Because if you don't, all you do is just send it back and it's hassle-free. They'll just give you your money back. Like, it's simple. They deliver it directly to your door. And if for any reason you don't love it, they have that hassle-free return policy to take care of it for you. And you get 100 nights to make sure that it works out. Now, Mr. Brad Dowdy, I know that you have a Casper mattress. Can you tell me something you like?

Brad Dowdy: Well, I have interesting body geometry, Myke. So, that's a new term for me. I fall into that category. And it handles my body geometry exceptionally well. I will say I did not get kicked out of the bedroom over the holidays, which is a win. So, I don't have any recent Casper experience in our guest bedroom. But when I do, it handles my body geometry exceptionally well. Good.

Myke Hurley: I like to think that you're handled very nicely. That makes me happy. Mm-hmm. Start sleeping ahead of the curve with Casper. You can get $50 towards any mattress purchase by going to casper.com slash penaddict. And using penaddict at checkout, terms and conditions apply. Once again, that is casper.com slash penaddict and the offer code penaddict to get $50 towards any mattress purchase. Our thanks to Casper for their continued support of this show and RelayFM.

Brad Dowdy: So, one of my new things for 2018. And I'm not doing a hardcore resolution thing. We've talked about this a million times. Neither of us are super big resolution guys. But we'll talk about some things later. But one of the things I want to do more is share more and be available more online. Have a more active online presence. So, I've started playing around with Instagram live. And it is fun. So, I just wanted to throw that out there. If you're on Instagram, you might see me pop in live once or twice a week. I'll try to announce them ahead of time. You know, go on for 30 minutes or so and just chat. But like our good friend Myke from Independence in the chat room, he said I stole his YouTube style. I had a live session with a beer the other night. He's like, hey, that's my shtick. And I'm like, I'm sorry, man. I didn't mean to steal your shtick. But it's fun to just go in and chat. And now that Instagram live allows you to bring in guests, I'm going to start doing that just to see what kind of randomness fun can happen. I think it'll be cool. I tried to join one with Brian Goulet last week or two weeks ago. And it failed. Like the technology failed. It's still new for Instagram. But I like doing it. It's fun. So, look for me on Instagram live more. And if you have any ideas on what you want to see on Instagram live, let me know.

Myke Hurley: Brian is Pen Addict on Instagram.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. That's the one place where I got the good name, right? I don't even know how that happened because that wasn't my first Instagram account. My first Instagram account was Dowdyism, the same as Twitter. Somehow when I went to go do Pen Addict, it was available. I couldn't believe it.

Myke Hurley: And you actually probably ended up getting it in the best place. Yes. Yeah. Right. I think that's this. That for you to have the Pen Addict name is probably the best on Instagram.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. I would agree with that. That's the choice. That's the one you want. Oh, man. I have no clue.

Myke Hurley: Where is this burger place here on your Instagram?

Brad Dowdy: That looks good. Yeah. So, that was in St. Simon's Island. That was on our anniversary trip, my wife and I. It's called Certified Burger, St. Simon's Island. That was a chorizo burger, which was amazing.

Myke Hurley: Mm.

Brad Dowdy: That does look good, actually. That's right. Yeah. So, and I also noticed on Instagram, I need to up my game in the fanciness a little bit. You know, I keep it real on Instagram. I don't stage too much stuff, but I do want to have a few prettier pictures. Like when I did my best nine, they were all kind of dark background-y stuff. I want to bring some more pop into it a little bit. So, I'm going to work on that.

Myke Hurley: You need to get one of those mod cases things. I don't even know what that is. You know, like the big...

Brad Dowdy: Oh, this is ground. The mod case. Okay. Yeah. My friend Catherine and I. Yeah. So, Catherine is the hero of the mod universe. She is awesome. She's the best Instagram photographer I know. And she's amazing. And we have fought over that before. And we've had some discussions around that. So, her and I are like best of friends. She knows where I stand on it. And we just have fun with it. So, yeah. I do have something similar that I just got in the mail that I will share on Instagram sometime this week. But our good friends at Bellroy did a little something-something they sent me. So, we'll be sharing that soon. You got something to share, though.

Myke Hurley: The saga is over.

Brad Dowdy: I got a text or a Slack message from who you bought this from. And he's like, phew.

Sailor Pro Gear

Myke Hurley: We finally, yesterday, I took delivery of the Bung Bwock's fifth anniversary edition Sailor Pro Gear. It finally arrived. The wonderful Haki hooked me up. And I finally have it. It's here. This pen has been from, like, coast to coast, then across the Atlantic, like, and back again.

Brad Dowdy: This pen has seen some real miles. Literally around the world. Yeah. Probably. Pretty much. Pretty much. Close enough. Like, in miles. Close enough. Three quarters.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. It's seen some serious movement, this thing. And I finally have it. And it was all worth it. Because I just, I love it. I mean, I knew I loved this pen anyway, right? Because I, not only did I fell in love with the pictures, I know a few people that had them. I've seen them at a couple of pen shows. Like, and I made it, like, a personal mission to get one. And then Haki came through and hooked me up. And this is, like, the pen is even ground for a left-handed person. So it works really nicely for me. I'm, maybe something I'd forgotten. I don't remember. Obviously, this pen is weighted very differently. I think it's, the grip is made of aluminium. So it has a metal section, yes. Yeah. It has a metal section, which Pro Gears typically don't.

Brad Dowdy: They make a specific model that does. But yes, they typically do not.

Myke Hurley: So it makes it very different to hold. Like, it feels kind of strange sometimes because it's not what I expect. Like, it's fine. It's weighted quite nicely because everything else is so light that all the weight is down at the bottom. So it just weights, it just rests in your hand quite comfortably. But it does feel very, very different to what I expect when I pick it up. But that makes it, I think, a little bit more special, to be honest. The cap is, like, stealth black, right? Like, black furniture. It's matte black on the cap and on the finial at the end of the pen, like the very end. And then it's got that beautiful gold sparkly acrylic in the middle. I absolutely love it. And Hucky included a bunch of extras, including a sample of the Abisu gold ink that it came with, which is what I have in it. Because gold pen, gold ink. And I think I'm probably going to keep getting gold inks for this. It feels all right. Yeah. Yeah, it looks good. Yeah. I think one of my trends of 2017 has been, like, getting a pen that I like and then finding an ink to match with it. Like, I bought a bunch of inks, like, specifically just for one pen last year. And whether I keep this ink or find another one, I mean, this one's, it's okay. Like, it's not blowing me away, but it's fine. It looks metallic, which is kind of fun. I like that because it makes it kind of weird. So I'll probably, we'll try and find a gold ink for this pen. It's a gold, like, it's, you know, it's all this gold. I feel like that it can't just, like, throw down blue-black. Like, there's got to be something to it, you know? Right. It matches your throne. Exactly.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Oh, we'll see it included a couple of black wings in the box. Oh, nice. A gold and black one. I don't know what it is, but it matches the pen, so I kind of like that. One of the Ada Lovelace volume pencils, which is really cool. Those things are pretty sweet. And a sample of Mont Blanc Lucky Orange, which I haven't tried yet.

Brad Dowdy: You need to try that. I'll be interested to see what you think about it, because I like it very, very much.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I think I'm going to. I mean, I've seen it, you know, I've seen samples of it and stuff, but I haven't used it myself. I'm probably going to dump out my Orange Pro Gear and throw that in there. Yeah. I'm on a big Pro Gear kick right now. I have three now. And I know what one I want next, but it's going to be, I expect actually a lot harder than it was for me to get the fifth anniversary. I want the Pink Love, the Progress Slim Pink Love. The one I have? The one you have. Ah, yeah. Right. That one was a previous Bung Box limited edition, right?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: That one is extremely hard to get.

Brad Dowdy: To get.

Myke Hurley: Hmm.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. If anyone has a line on one of those, let us know. I've never seen one for sale.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: I will pay a good price on that, is what I was saying. Sailor, I mean, you can't go wrong with Pro Gear, but that's a definite problem to have, because they do not stop with these special editions.

Myke Hurley: I've seen a lot. Like, I was just kind of Googling around today. The ones that I hadn't seen, like, there are a bunch of really interesting demonstrators. Like, I think you have the one that's, like, highlighter green, and they make an orange one and a pink one. And I might pick up one of those, because they don't seem to be particularly limited. I can get those for, like, £120 or something.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that was a stock one for a while.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. They look really good. They look really fun. So that might be something in my future. But the one that I really have my eye on is the Pink Love. It's like a Bung Box Special Edition Pro Gear Slim Pink Love. If anybody wants to unload one of those, I'll know somebody that might. Please get in contact with me. I would appreciate that.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, and I was sent a link just last week from my good friend Stacy of a Pro Gear in, like, the Sakura Pink body. Like, I don't know if that's going to be a limited edition one. And a Sakura, like, a light, light pink with rhodium trim. It's really pretty. So, I mean, it's nonstop with sailors right now. Which, you know, that is not something I can catch them all in. There's no way.

Myke Hurley: I don't know if I'm particularly interested in starting a collection. But I know that I really, really love them. And there's a few that I want. Yeah. Right? Like, I don't feel like... The Retro 51, I will buy literally any of them that I like the look of. And I don't feel that way about the Pro Gear. Like, just... Because there's loads of them. But, like, the Retro 51, if I see one, I'm like, oh, yeah, I like that. Then I will immediately buy it. But I don't feel that way yet about the Pro Gear. Plus, it's way easier financially to do that for Retro 51 than the Pro Gears. Right. Because they're all, like, you know, the Retro 51s are between, like, 20 and 50 bucks. And the Pro Gears, you know, minimum, like... Minimum 200. 150 to 300, depending on where they're coming from. So... But, yeah, I love this pen. This was worth it. It was worth the price. It was worth the... I got a fantastic deal on it. And it was worth the aggravation. I hope it was worth the aggravation for Hagi. They really went above and beyond getting this pen for me. So thank you so much.

Stationery Resolutions

Brad Dowdy: Yes. Well, this rolls right in nicely to our next topic, which is 2018 stationary resolutions. And we do this every year, if nothing else, to say that we don't really do resolutions. You and I, like, on a personal level, that's just not our thing. But we're all for, like, making conscious changes and being intentional and, you know, working on things. But, you know, they're not necessarily set in stone, hard, fast resolutions, right? So one of the things that I've seen, you know, thrown around, you know, a word thrown around with my friends online and that I've used for 2018 is the word refinement. And I think that's a really good way to look at things from where I'm at personally, like in pen collecting and fountain pen use and any stationary usage. You know, as the more things I get, the more and the more I use them, the more I figure out what are my favorite things. So those things I use most often kind of get separated from the things I don't. So that's refining what I use. So the things that I don't use as much, I should do something with that because sitting there is not good for anybody. You know, having things sitting around that go unused is unnecessary. And you could put, you know, either the money that you sell those things for and do something that you really want, or you can donate things to other people, you know, which is great to help out others. Like I just sent like a 10 pound box of notebooks to a preschool class. You know, I'm just I you couldn't even see the dent that I left in my in my closet. That's how scary, you know, it is right now. So I want to refine what I use and then move on from the things that I don't because then it's just clutter and I don't like clutter. So one of the things that I wouldn't put down as a resolution that I'm really going for, but an idea that I came up with yesterday is can I finish the year of 2018 with fewer high dollar pens than I started with? Because there's a lot that I don't use and I could put the money in from selling those into something I will use more, you know, that might be something that could be a goal of mine because I'm not really seeing anything on the market that I have to have right now. Like I put a few things in the list that I want to buy.

Brad Dowdy: So that might be a goal for 2018. It's not a, you know, a firm resolution saying I'm going to have this because I'm not that dead set on it, but I could see that happening just by the nature of things happening this year.

Brad Dowdy: Other thing in 2018 is I want to share more, you know, whether it's on Twitter or Instagram, you know, I've been putting out some of my sketches, you know, which I just goof off. Like I'm not like an artist, but I like to doodle and draw and sketch. I'm going to take pictures of those and share them.

Brad Dowdy: I also feel like I turned a personal corner at the end of 2017. And kind of have a renewed vision of what I want to be in this community and what I can do for the community and how the community as a whole can grow and lift everyone up. I think I left a lot on the table last year. I think I could have done more. I think I could have done better. And I don't want to have that regret again this year. So that's one of my, if you want to call that a resolution, that's fine. But I just think, you know, my actions this year are going to be like very uplifting, very supportive, very sharing and caring. And I just want the positivity of this community to continue to grow because that's what this community is. It's very different than most other communities and online. And we can't get sucked up into some of the negativity and that I was a part of. I can see a clear path out of that. Not that it was ever really bad. But the excitement I have for 2018 is hopefully contagious and infectious because I'm pumped. I know that I'm going to do better this year on a personal level. And I hope, you know, I can share that with other people. And, you know, I hope that we can continue to spread, you know, the awesomeness of this community and continue to grow and just be the community that we all want to be a part of. Right. So that's something I thought a lot about in the past month or two. And that's why normally I don't really care about, you know, specific numbers or days to make a change. You make a change anytime. It doesn't have to be on a certain number or a certain day. But this one felt a little bit different. Like turning that calendar to 2018, you know, I've been anxious to get here because I want to see, like, the excitement of this community, like, continue to shine through. And I'm pumped. So those are kind of my not so much resolutions, but my thoughts on what I can do in 2018. I think it's going to be the best year ever. And I'm not saying that, you know, in any kind of hyperbolic way. I just, I feel like I can do more and I'm going to do it.

Myke Hurley: I think that's the best kind of approach because you learn some things in 2017 and you're applying them going forward. Like, it's not necessarily, I mean, it's not even really a 2018 resolution as such. It's just how the timing ended up working out that it's like, yeah, now that you've realized some of this sort of stuff anyway. Like, especially that last point. And so, you know, it's a thread that has been going through for the last few weeks. So I think that they sound great, Brad. And I think that you should be proud of those.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And that's the thing is like when the end of the year hits, I want to be proud. But I want to be proud every day too, right? That's the way I got to look at it. Every day, make myself proud of what I've done for the community today. And go from there, you know, do good every day. And, you know, raise up everyone in the community and come from a place of positivity. And that's just how it's going to be. And I'm there. I'm ready. It's on. So let's talk about spending my money. Great. I do have a few things on the 2018 list that I am shopping for. I think we'll see a theme throughout the year that I will probably buy less pens this year than any other year before. I already, I just feel that ever since the end of last year. Since pen show season ended last year, I haven't really wanted to buy anything. Especially at the high dollar level. I haven't wanted to spend any type of money.

Brad Dowdy: But there are a couple things, just so we can talk about some products for a second. On my shopping list, I want to get a vintage and or probably both new Pelican M101. So the link I have in the show notes, you'll see what style I'm talking about when I reference this. It's an older vintage style with, it's a shorter model pen. It has a different clip than most Pelicans, different cap shape.

Myke Hurley: I really don't like that cap and clip. Yeah, see, I love it. Basically, the clip is like a relatively standard in a way that it pops out and goes down. You know, like they have that kind of, the bill, right? The Pelican's bill, which is their clip. But instead of it starting at the top of the pen, where there's maybe like half a centimeter between the very top of the pen and the start of the clip, it's like one and a half centimeters down. So it's like a quarter of the way down the cap.

Myke Hurley: That's not for me.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And on a full size pen, I wouldn't like that. But this is a short pen. So it looks a little bit different.

Myke Hurley: There are some models where they incorporate it into the design and it looks nicer. So like that all of the cap above the clip is a different color. But like on the red one, I really don't like how it looks on the red one. Because like, again, there'll be a link in the show notes so you can click and see what we're talking about. But there's a cap where like it's all red and the cap is gold. And I don't like that. But the ones where it kind of breaks up the color a little bit is a bit better.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So I don't know. I really like that design. I think it's kind of cool. So I'm going to figure out which one of these I'm going to get. There's still a current model 101. Like it's got this red and orange kind of acrylic that I've had in my cart like once or twice. And I just haven't wanted to spend the money because the new ones are very expensive. They're like 400 and something dollars. I don't feel that they're necessarily worth that much. So that's why I haven't pulled the trigger. So maybe I can get a vintage one that I like for, you know, between a one and $200. We'll see. But that's not something that's hard for me to find. Like you go to any pen show, you'll have your choice of plenty of these. Um, but that's one on my, that's been on my radar for a while. And this is the year I'll probably get one. The second one is I want to get a Fagionato pen and I've reviewed them on the blog or I've had them. Susan's reviewed them. I've seen them at pen shows. I've liked their style. It's never been at the top of my list, but I think since my list is very short right now, it's time for me to pick one of these up for my own use. They have really nice acrylics and celluloids. Um, Fagionato is out of France and, uh, I know Papier Plume has started to carry them in the U S. So that's one I'm going to keep an eye on and I'll probably pick one of those up. They're reasonably priced. They're not cheap. They're not expensive. They're just kind of in the middle there. So that's probably one just because I like the shape and style of the pen.

Ink Bottles

Brad Dowdy: And finally, I do want a bottle of ink, but not all the inks we talked about on my Instagram live yesterday, uh, about ink overload, but like, I love inks, but I don't need any more, but I do want to pick up Robert Oster motor oil, which I'll probably get at the LA pen show next month. So we will do that soon. And speaking of pen shows before I forget, Myke, first pen show of the year, the Philadelphia pen show is in two weeks. So we'll put the link to the Philly pen show site. If you're in the area, you should get out there. A good friend, uh, Scott Franklin runs that show and it's always a good time. I know a bunch of listeners go to that show, so you should definitely check that out if you are in the area. So as I divert from the things I'm shopping for, that's the extent of it. Myke, I don't have like the one big thing. I don't have, you know, three more sailor pro gears. You know, I don't have like a huge shopping list this year. And I think that's good. Like I'm really happy with this short little list and there's not much else I want right now. And I feel kind of good about it.

Myke Hurley: So talking about that, I feel good about kind of the way that I approached 2017 and I don't really want to make any changes to it. So like I would say I made way less frivolous purchases in previous years. Like I bought way less stuff that was kind of just like on a whim. Um, and I tended to buy things that I, I really wanted as opposed to stuff I just want to try out. Um, and then kind of going in hand in hand with that, I think most of the big purchases that I made were from pen shows or from people that I met at pen shows. So I actually saw a lot of the stuff that I bought before I bought it. Um, and I want to keep doing what I did in 2017, which is to kind of continuing to go outside of my usual realms. You know, like I bought way more like, well, like I bought like some one-off stuff and I bought way more ambitious stuff than I've bought in previous years because that's kind of like it's one is where my trend's going, but it's also like as a way to push myself and also to try and support more independent creators. Like that's been a big thing for me this year is to buy more stuff made by independent creators, because honestly, I think that's where the most exciting stuff is in our industry anyway. Um, totally. And so I've been trying, I, 2017, I really focused on that. I'm looking at my desk and I can see the fruits of my labor. So, so I'm going to continue to do that. Um, I want to try and find a way, I don't know what that way is yet to, uh, integrate a notebook into my life on a daily basis. That is not just taking quick doodles. I don't know what that is yet. Um, I don't think it's a system like bullet journaling. Uh, as I, as I mentioned before, that was something that I tried to look into. And the more that I pondered on it, the more I realized that isn't a system that I want, but I think some kind of journaling system, some kind of thing, uh, something a little bit more introspective or creative might be what I'm looking for, but I haven't yet got my head around what that's going to be. Um, for the first time ever, I'm planning on selling some pens this year for no reason other than I have a lot of stuff that I'm never going to use. So somebody should use them.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, totally.

Myke Hurley: Right. Like I have a lot of good stuff like that. I'm just never going to use, you know, like some Kickstarter pens that I bought fountain pens that I bought, you know, a bunch of stuff like that. I just have, but isn't it, it's just going to sit in my storage system forever. So. Right. I'm planning on doing a bunch of cleaning and then a bunch of selling at some point this year. Um, I don't know when, and it's not for any rule. I'm not really looking to profit on it particularly, but like, it's just as a way to start getting rid of some of it. And if I'm going to do that, then I may as well sell it. Right. Oh, there's a couple of pens that I want to have tuned up, uh, maybe fixed, including my Menlo. Like I want to get, I want to, I really want to get that done this year. So I'm probably just going to talk to Edison, send it to them. Yeah. And then as always, always on the list, uh, a big purchase. Um, I reckon it might not be this year, but I'm putting it on there. Uh, I read the reason I reckon it might not be this year is I have another big purchase that I want to make this year, which is not a pen, um, but would take that money. And it's a watch. I want to buy a watch before I get married. Uh, because I want, I don't want to wear my Apple watch on my wedding day. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. That's cool. I don't want my, I don't want to look at my wedding photos in 20 years time and laugh at the Motorola star tack on my wrist.

Myke Hurley: So I'm going to buy a watch. And because a million people will ask me what watch I want, uh, I'm going to put a link to it in the show notes, but it is, uh, the Nomos, uh, Metro Datum Gang Reserve is what I want. I've wanted it for like, uh, a year or so. Um, Marco Arment showed it to me and I fell in love with it and I don't want anything else. And I've tried one on and I know it's perfect and I've got my eye on some places to get it from. So I'm going to be getting that this year. But that is like, that's probably like, that's your purchase of the year. Right. Like that, that's, that's probably going to come out of my pen, pen money. Uh, yeah, I think that's important. Yeah, exactly. I mean, there's a crossover there between them. And, uh, but if I was going to buy, and if I do buy a big pen this year, you never know something good might happen. I might treat myself.

Myke Hurley: It is out of a Nakaya or a Sailor King of pen now because I've really loved Nakaya's. They're beautiful, but that King of pen made me feel something that no Nakaya's ever made me feel. Yeah. Like I, I love Nakaya's for like their design. They're wonderful pens.

Myke Hurley: But using that King of pen in DC, it was like an out of body experience. Like I think it might just, it might just be like right from a writing perspective, the perfect pen for me. I think that's what it is. So one of the two.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's really great. I mean, I, you know, you know how, where I stand on the King of pen and the Nakaya for that matter. So yeah. I mean, you can't go wrong there, but, uh, I'm with you on the, uh, the, I think the, the watch would take precedence. If you're going to spend that kind of, that kind of dough, uh, that's the way to go. So, I mean, we're talking like two Nakaya money. Yeah. Oh, easy. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: So for sure. For sure. Kind of important though. But if you do want to buy pens, you want to make sure you can get the best price on them, right? Like that's a good thing. You always want to make sure you get the right price. And the best place to get the best prices is over at pen chalet, P E N C H A L E T.com. They sell authentic, amazing roller balls, fountain pens, ballpoint, mechanical pencils, and so much more. They have carrying cases, pen holders, refills, fountain pen converters. They have inks. They have everything from your favorite brands. Maybe you want to buy Pelican stuff. What about Lamy stuff or pilot stuff? Sailor stuff, Kaveko stuff. They're an authorized dealer of all of these brands. They're very proud of their customer service at pen chalet. They have a low price on their high quality pens and that 100% satisfaction guarantee. That is how much they believe in their customer service. They do free shipping on orders of over $50 in the United States and they sell internationally with very reasonable shipping rates. So go to penchalet.com. That's P E N C H A L E T.com. Click that podcast link at the top of the website and enter the password pen addict or one word for this week's special offer. And to get the code that you need to save 10% on anything at pen chalet. That's what I want to focus on this week. You get that code, right? There's a pen that you want in your life. There's maybe something you've been, hmm, should I get it? Should I get it? Wouldn't it be great if you could get 10% off and free shipping? Well, you can at pen chalet. Just go to P E N C H A L E T.com. The password is pen addict and you can get the code that you need to save 10% off. And with our offers this week, Ron has a cornucopia of writing treats for you this week. Some great offers. If you want to see them, you know where you're going to go. Penchalet.com. Our thanks to pen chalet for their support of this show and Relay FM.

Notebook Systems

Brad Dowdy: So you were talking about finding that singular notebook or notebook type system to use in your daily life. And I started doing that this year with the Hobonichi cousin, which is like the big brother to the, or I guess I should say cousin. Wow, I botched that up. It's the cousin to the Hobonichi Techo, which is the smaller.

Myke Hurley: The cousin is the big brother.

Brad Dowdy: The cousin is the big brother of the Techo. And it's the A5 size where the Techo is A6 size. And I was super intimidated, you know, with this notebook sitting on my desk. Like, oh my God, I have failed every Hobonichi Techo I've had. So why should I go with the larger, more intimidating model? But, you know, of course that's what I did. And, you know, I've just started using it on the first because it's a dated planner. You know, one page per day. And as it turns out, I kind of like the larger format because I'm already running out of space on each day. And I didn't realize maybe one of the issues with the Techo was the space was smaller. So I was more particular about what I wrote. So I didn't use up all that space. And with the cousin, I am free to just write and doodle and do stupid stuff and write important stuff and all the things. And when I do that, I find I want to write more. So what I've had to do is, you know, have another notebook on the side. Like my knock, you know, dot dash notebook. I use that a lot to just have like brainstorming ideas. You know, the cousin, like so far every day I've written just general things, you know, thoughts, things I want to work on. It's less, it's more of a journal than a task list, if you will. Like it's become very little task list actually. And, but that keeps me wanting like a second notebook to like just scratch ideas down. So when I'm not using like a notebook or like a note card, I also use like the drafts iOS app, which I find is really, really necessary for like quick jotting down when I don't have a notebook on me. And then I can go and put it in, you know, in my notebook. But, you know, every day it's just kind of daily thoughts, either like on the personal side or the professional side. And so far I'm using a different pen every day for the page. I'm going to try to keep that going through the entire year. And I'll do a little short, you know, basically a Twitter length review of that pen. You know, I may collect these and share these later. Of the pen and ink I'm using. And I've used it for testing out new things like some pencils. Like on the first day I had a bunch of pencils that I wanted to sharpen up and see how they, how they looked and how they felt. So I just jotted that down in there. I'm also drawing coffee cups on each page for how much coffee I've drank that day. So, you know, we're definitely in the three cup per day range of my little coffee cup drawings. And then just, you know, random stuff. Like I said, I'm sketching the pen that I'm using, you know. Sketching is a loose term. These are pretty, these are pretty rough. But I like these little doodles. So I'm just really digging how open this book is. I'm having no issue whatsoever filling it up. Which I thought might be an issue. And in fact, I'm needing more space for non-daily stuff. You know, something that's not tied into, like if I'm on January the 3rd. I'm not tied to that date. You know, I need to write something random. You know, like some planning or something like that. The only issue I've had so far is the dry time is brutal on this Tomoe River.

Myke Hurley: So you were really selling me, right? Because like this is the perfect kind of notebook for what I'm looking for. Where it's like it's almost diary centered but not focused. You know, it's big and blah, blah, blah. But I couldn't deal with a bad dry time. If you can't, I can't. Because it would just become one big block of ink.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yep. Dry time is really bad. So I'm having to leave the notebook open for a while. Like after I'm done writing, I'm having to use like a note card under my hand. Because sometimes the way the page is set up, it's divided. Like the top section is like for time of day and notes. And then there's like a bottom section that's open. So it's like two thirds of a section on the top than one third on the bottom. So the bottom third is really good for the pen of the day review that I'm doing. So sometimes I'll write that first. Well, then I have to go above it and write on top of it. So I'm using like a note card in between my hand and the page. And then if I go back to a previous page and append something to one of the notes, I have to leave it there for a second till it dries and then flip back to the current page. So I don't like, you know, you don't get those ink remnants on the page that it's touching. So I think I'll just have to put a sheet of paper in it if I'm going to close it like immediately after writing with a fountain pen. It's just fountain pen inks that have this issue. So yeah, it's kind of a bother because I'll finish writing a whole, you know, two or three paragraphs with a fountain pen. Then I have to sit there for a second before I can close it or change the page. So that's kind of a downer. I'll deal with it because so far I'm using it kind of how I wanted to. I was hoping it might work out and it really is working out exactly how I hoped. But the dry time is a pain in the butt. So and then I need to try a few other pens with it. Like I haven't done a gel ink page yet or a pencil page yet. So I'll be doing some more of that. But, you know, fountain pens take some dry time, but they also look the best on there, right? That's that's it's the feature and the downside of that paper.

Brad Dowdy: So very happy with it so far. I'm going to keep using it. I will post pictures every now and then, you know, not every day. I'm going to use it and then, you know, we'll see how it goes. We'll we'll touch base, you know, every month or two. See if I'm see if I'm still going. And as a side note, I do have a giveaway going on the pen addict blog for a different planner, but one that was so hot it sold out like immediately. The Kukuyo Jiban Techo is very, very popular along the lines of the Hobonichi Cousin. And I'm giving one away on the blog. So we'll have that link in the show notes. You should have plenty of time to to enter if you're hearing this a day or two from now. It's going on a few days. So that's another planner that might that could be next year's planner. I wanted to give this cousin a try. But the Jiban Techo is very, very popular. And I think they're pretty much sold out everywhere. So I've got one to give away. So go get it.

Myke Hurley: So do you keep the cousin in a seed case?

Brad Dowdy: Oh, yeah. So I should mention that. Yes, I do. And everyone wants those like yesterday. And I want to sell them to you yesterday. And I had a call with the manufacturer. And we're trying to figure out a way where we can be more than single threaded. So they're coming. They're they're in the queue. But right now, you know, Mandarin and Steel, Brasstowns and Sinclairs are next in the queue. Then Raven is probably next in the queue. Then probably the A5. So it's just, you know, we had a long talk with the manufacturer yesterday trying to figure out how we can be more productive for both of us. So right now we're single threaded. You know, one one production line is all ours. But, you know, it's going to take them a couple of weeks to get through these Mandarin colors. So it's hard to say. It's taken too long. I'm frustrated with it. So we're working on it. The A5 seed cases are going to be here soon. I mean, it might be a month. It might be two. But I mean, they're definitely happening. They're definitely going to be here. It's just I can't give a better date than I'm not sure.

Brad Dowdy: But yes, I care. I care. I know. Hey, I'm sorry, too. No one's sorrier than Brad. Yeah, I know. I mean, this is, you know, well, I'm going to do a long kind of here's where we're at State of the Union knock post. Sometime soon. Just kind of say, you know, this is this is how we operate as a business. And, you know, it sucks. I can't get everything all at once. But that's just kind of how it has to work. Right. So and we're we're OK with that, like Jeff and I. But it's hard to schedule and plan that way. And I know it's frustrating for our customers when they're ready for stuff now because I want to give them stuff now. And it's tough. So we're working, working on it, trying to do trying to see if we can change things a little bit with the manufacturing. Process.

Myke Hurley: So working on it. Let me ask you a question. And you can please say no comment on this question if you so desire.

Myke Hurley: With hindsight, would you have waited to launch the seed case?

Brad Dowdy: No.

Myke Hurley: OK, you still would have just gone with the one. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. All right. Well, that tells me what I need to know then is that like that sold really well. So like whatever.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, yeah.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Yeah. OK, because I know that the idea was always it's a line. Right. But you just haven't been able to put the whole line out yet. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: No, I would not.

Brad Dowdy: I would not have done it differently. OK, good. No, no regrets. Yeah. No, not even a question. Like I didn't even have to think about that. I've never thought about that. No, I'm happy with that. All right.

Myke Hurley: I'm going for big segues today. So talk into something else that you won't regret. Let's talk about Blue Apron. Nice. They are the number one fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service in the country. You can get $30 off your first delivery and free shipping by going to blueapron.com slash penaddict. Blue Apron delivers fresh pre-portioned ingredients with step-by-step recipes right to your door. Their recipes can be cooked in 45 minutes or less. And they offer 12 new recipes every week. You can pick two, three or four based on what best fits your schedule. The Blue Apron menu changes all the time. Every week it's changing based on what is in season. Upcoming meals include Steak Diane with mushroom pencils and mashed potatoes or General Tso's chicken with bok choy and jasmine rice. And now Blue Apron is teaming with Whole30 to bring you even more delicious recipes. Until February 26th, Blue Apron's menu will feature two Whole30 approved recipes each week. Recipes like Mexican spiced barramundi with kale, sweet potato and avocado salad. And togarashi chicken lettuce with less cups of avocado. Blue Apron sends the best food to you. It's great quality. And you'll be able to kickstart your new year with Blue Apron and Whole30. They're combining to get even better food in your stomach. One of my favorite things about this stuff is that you get these great recipe cards, right? So you get these great recipes. You cook. You learn how to cook. You got all the recipes there. Super easy to follow. If it's something that you like, you've got the whole card. You can just cook it again. I'm doing that tonight, actually. Blue Apron is treating our listeners to their first three meals, which is a $30 value right for you. $30 off your first delivery with free shipping. So just go to blueapron.com slash penaddict and you'll get $30 off your first order with free shipping at blueapron.com slash penaddict. Blue Apron, a better way to cook.

Brad Dowdy: We have a ton of Ask TPA follow-up from two weeks ago. So much so that we didn't even request any new questions this week. But I'm going to go immediately off the document here into what I wrote into January 3rd's entry in my Hobonichi cousin mic. This was an Ask TPA question I received via snail mail. So I'm always open to getting snail mail. The address you can find on my website to send me letters. And this Ask TPA is a great one. And I wanted to make sure I shared it. So this was like a five-page letter, if not longer, from someone I consider a good friend, even though I've never met them in person. But like I said before, you just kind of know when someone, you line up with someone pretty good. You can kind of tell. So this is from someone that is really important to me. So the question was, in the span of this entire letter, this came up. It says, how are you managing the extreme balance of family, work, side projects, and hobbies? How did you do that before with the third shift job? Still amazed you only had one breakdown. So that's the entirety of the question, but there's a lot there in that two sentences, three sentences.

Brad Dowdy: I may have only had one breakdown publicly, but I assure you on the back end, there was a lot more breakdowns than that. And Myke and I have talked about things in the past. And this is going on three, four, five years ago. I've certainly had some challenges in my life that I've had to fight through and getting through work stuff and side business stuff and hobby stuff and family stuff and trying to figure out all those things together. It has not been easy always on the back end. I feel like the last couple of years, things have been going really, really well personally and professionally. But it wasn't always that way, and it's never always been that way. You know, without turning this into the... Does anyone listen to that podcast, The Hilarious World of Depression? It's a really, really high quality, great podcast with people talking about their challenges and anxieties and depression and how they battled these things and came out better on the other side or are still fighting every day to figure this out. Luckily, it's been a couple of years since I've had one of these breakdowns, and I don't foresee it happening anytime soon. But balance is part of it. You know, I've found that I'm really good at knocking out a task list if I do one thing at a time. You know, that's what we get all wrapped up in these days is there's so many things coming at you. It's hard to balance just completing one thing all the way and then moving on to the next thing. You know, when I'm trying to attack my email, which I set aside specific time for, you know, I'll set aside an hour to do email. Nothing else is going on during that time. You know, my blog's not open. Twitter's not open. You know, the TV's not on. You know, I have to get through that and then I can move on to the next thing. So doing one thing as my priority at all times is helpful. Even though I have a huge list, like I might have 10 other things I need to do today, I'm only going to work on one at a time because I'm just going to fail myself if I don't.

Brad Dowdy: My family takes precedence over everything. You know, depending on everyone's situation, everyone's situation is different. But, you know, if my family needs to do something, the email can wait. You know, you know, I'm not going to put off my kids or my wife, you know, to answer the next email. Right. You know, you, you, if you focus on that, you know, then you're going to have to make the time to work, even if that's going to take away your personal time or your hobby time or your fun time, you make that family time first. That said, never put yourself in a position to like have to constantly be apologizing for missing something or not doing something or putting something off. Right. You don't want to constantly say, hey, sorry, I didn't get to this yesterday. Oh, sorry, I didn't do that thing. You know, if you have to get work done, you got to set aside time for it and you got to make sure everyone, you know, whether it's your, you know, your day job or your family time that, okay, this is my work time. This is where this happens. This is why this needs to happen. And then, you know, you set aside that time, you get it done and then you, then you're free, you know, then you're free to do that family time. So I admit that that's harder with a traditional job. I'm coming from a position where I don't have a traditional job anymore. So it's a little different for me, right? My work schedule is not wake up, go in for eight hours, don't see the family and then come home. And, you know, the family, you know, you know, is jumping on you to, hey, hey, dad, do this, or I need you to do that, or let's go do this. And, you know, that's different. You know, that's very, very hard. That was one of the biggest challenges back when I had to make a decision to keep the pen out of going. That was the decisions that came out of those breakdown times, right? It was what's something had to give when I decided to go full time into this job. And it's hard for me. Like, my situation is very different from anybody else's situation. We all have our individual situations to take account of. But I was in a place where I had a support system where I could make this jump and make this change in my life. Before, I had to give up something I love, like the pen addict. I'm very thankful and grateful for that. So, this is something, you know, I could do a whole podcast on. Like we said, The Hilarious World of Depression. Great podcast title. Because it's very not hilarious at all. And they cover all these topics there. But, yeah, you just gotta, I just, you know, I know what's important to me. I make sure that's taken care of. And then I work through the rest of it. You know, I don't have some type of system. I'm not a very system-oriented person. I know what's required of me. And I'll sacrifice the things on my end to make sure that things like family are taken care of, if that makes sense. So, I don't know if I answered anything there to that question. I know I rambled a lot. But it's hard. It's individual. There's no black and white answers. But you just have to understand what's important. Take care of that first. And then fit in everything else in that five minutes a day after you've handled everything else important. And then that's where the challenge comes in. But put the challenge on yourself to figure out. Don't put that on the people in your life. You know, handle that first. And then, you know, try to figure everything else out in the one free minute you have during the day.

Brad Dowdy: So, that took an interesting turn.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I wanted to. I'm not going to help anyone either. But I wanted to just underline and expand on one point that you mentioned, which is about support system. Support systems are very important if you want to have any kind of self-employed career, side business, anything, right? Like any big life change. It's important to have people with you that can support you for various reasons. But there is just something that's not very often mentioned that I think is important when talking about this stuff. You know, people talk about like how important it is to have your support system so you can go on your own. And I could only do this because of my support system. You know, I had loved ones around me that was so important. This isn't something that people have to do. Like the loved ones in your life don't have to actually support your decisions. And you need to remember that. And if they don't, then maybe it's something you shouldn't do. Like it is not a given that some that your partner should support you in quitting your job. If it's not the right thing in their opinion. Am I making sense? Right? Like I feel like it's, this isn't like a thing that like you must have your support system and your support system must support you 100% in everything that you decide to do. Like that's not how life works. And right. Some like, and it doesn't also like, because having someone that supports you is a good thing. Someone not supporting you in a certain thing doesn't make them a bad person. Like I just wanted to just put that out there. Yep. They actually might be being a better person by saving you from making a mistake that you can't see. So there you go.

Brad Dowdy: Exactly. Exactly. So that's why you put those people first and foremost. It's a, you know, any type of partnership. It's a, it's a two-way street, right?

Myke Hurley: Mm-hmm.

Brad Dowdy: Very, very important. All right. So let's talk about pens. William says, I was thinking that seeing ink in demonstrators is great. So why hasn't anyone put in an LED in the barrel with the ink? I think it would be pretty cool to see the ink illuminated. All right. So William just blew my mind, right? Why isn't, why aren't LEDs in demonstrator pens a thing yet? Can someone get on this and have a disco party up in my pen barrel? Like we need, we need to see this happen, Myke. Like, I mean, there's pens with lights, like you get them at Disney World and you got that pen and those, those swirly things that'll, you know, poke your eyes out and, you know, whip your arms. You know, there's lots of lights going on in the pens, but why isn't there one in the barrel?

Myke Hurley: It sounds like Exhibit needs to come here and pimp someone's pen.

Pimp My Pen

Brad Dowdy: Let's get, let's get Exhibit on the phone and we'll, we'll start a new show called Pimp My Pen and we're going to, we're going to LED it up. So we need to figure that out a way. I'm sure there's some, some pen out there with, with lights in it. So we just need to put them in our fancy pens now. So Ted writes, I just lost the first and only $150 plus fountain pen I ever bought. Thoughts on coping with my loss and my growing hesitation about making such an investment. Again, your own horror stories.

Brad Dowdy: We've talked about this before. I've never lost a pen like that. I've very rarely lost a pen ever. So I feel you Ted, I feel for your loss, but that can't stop you from getting the next pen. That's important to you.

Brad Dowdy: I'm very particular about where I put things down or store things. So I know if I've used a pen, there's only X amount of places it can be, right? It's in my shirt pocket. It's in a pen case or it's in the storage. And I don't leave things around randomly. You know, I don't have the opportunity to, you know, I don't put myself in situations where I can lose a pen. So it sucks that you lost the pen. Don't let it stop you from getting another one, but just try to think about, okay, well, this pen has a home somewhere and, you know, I'm going to use it. And when I'm done with it, I'm going to put it in its home, whether that's in this specific spot on a desk, whether that's in your pocket, whether that's in a pen case or a backpack, give it a home and that'll help you, you know, keep track of it a little bit better.

Brad Dowdy: You've lost pens for certain time periods, right, Myke? But you've never lost, lost a pen. Like it's gone, lost, right?

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I don't think that I've had any of that. I've like gone, gone, gone.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Is that a song? Gone. That was a song. Probably. I mean, there's got to be a song that's been gone, gone, gone, gone.

Brad Dowdy: All right. Bring it wants to know. This goes back into our eyedropper question. Just got a new Franklin Kristoff O2 and antique glass. Any thoughts on inks that might stain if eyedroppered? If you're worried about that, you probably shouldn't get the pen, which is something I wouldn't have said a few years ago because I was exactly in the same boat. I have this clear barrel pen. I'm worried about the ink staining it and I would hesitate and I didn't know what ink to put in it. And sure, there's some really strong inks that you probably don't want to put in there.

Brad Dowdy: But I decided that I could get past that. You know, when I cleaned out the eyedropper pen and I could see a faint hint of blue, that didn't bother me. You know, I don't think it stained it. It may just not be cleaned perfectly. But guess what? The next time I fill it with ink and use the pen, I'm not going to see that. So that's kind of the path I took on staining an eyedropper pen.

Brad Dowdy: That I don't put extreme inks in there to begin with, but I'm also not going to hesitate to do what I want to make me enjoy using the pen because that's what it's about. And if I use some bright purple ink and then I clean it out and there's a hint of purple in it, that's okay. Like I've gotten to a point in my pen collecting and pen using to where that's okay because the next time I use it and put in a blue ink, you're not going to see it. And I'm going to enjoy using the pen more than worrying about staining it. So that's kind of how I feel about that. So there are a few inks you should avoid, but you know, on the extreme end of things like Noodler's Baystate Blue, but in general, use it. If it leaves a little mark, you're going to be fine because you're going to fill up with something else and you're going to keep using it. Enjoy the pen. And if that takes away from your enjoyment of the pen, you should sell the pen.

Brad Dowdy: So Joe says, I'm branching out ink wise for the first time. I really like JFK Navy Blue. Any good similar inks. I'd like a blue black that's more black than blue.

Brad Dowdy: JFK.

Myke Hurley: A blue black that's more black than blue. I just like that sentence.

Brad Dowdy: It's a thing. That's I like when I review blue blacks, I'll say it's more black or it's more blue or it's more blue or black black. Yes, for sure. So JFK Navy Blue is one of my favorite inks. You can get a black or a blue black with Diamine. That's one I've even their their regular blue black or if you want it really black there. What do they call it? 1851 edition. Whichever their special edition blue black is really black of the blue blacks that I use. I actually don't like it because it's too black for me. I like more blue or gray. But that's a blacker blue black ink, if you will.

Nib Cleaning

Brad Dowdy: What's a good cloth? Preferably. This is from Allie, by the way. What's a good cloth? Not disposable to carry in a pen case to clean the nibs while on the go. I don't know the name of them, but you just need to search like Amazon or somewhere for microfiber towels. They come in like a, I don't know, like a small eight inch by eight inch towel. You get like a 10 pack or a 20 pack for like five or six bucks. That's what I use. So they're they're soft. They're not going to leave lint everywhere. They'll soak up the ink. They'll, you know, wipe off your nib very cleanly. And they're washable, non-disposable, cheap. Um, like I, I think I literally just went on to Amazon said microfiber towel, found a pack of them and then paid like six bucks for them. And that's my favorite cleaning cloth. And it's a good cloth to go for on the go. All right. Last one this week from Eugene. Have you ever used a pen to open a package that is ripped through the packing tape? He says, I did, but regretted it every time. Absolutely. You know, the BICs are made for that. Right. I mean, that's one of the features of a BIC pen. They're cheap, disposable, and they open packages really well. They have good stab ability, uh, good rip ability. And, um, you know, that's, that's part of their marketing. This is how you rip open boxes is with a BIC.

Brad Dowdy: How about you, Myke? Do you open packages? I haven't done that in a while because I have pocket knives now, but you know, I, uh, I have a knife.

Myke Hurley: I have a knife.

Brad Dowdy: I have opened an hellacious amount of boxes with a pen. I mean, stab it and rip Eugene, go for it. But you know, it's not like I'm using a retro 51 or fountain pen for that.

Myke Hurley: No, I stopped doing that when I got good pens, but I have a knife now anyway. So I just use that. Yeah. And I can't talk about the knife that I have.

Brad Dowdy: Well, you'll get arrested. So, yeah. So, uh, let's end on that note before we get Myke arrested.

Myke Hurley: I'm looking forward to static over that.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I'm looking forward to a big 2018 from both of us, Myke. I expect a lot out of you this year, Myke.

Myke Hurley: Is that going to be inside or outside of the clink?

Brad Dowdy: Mm. Mm. Uh, I, I don't know. I'll say, do you have to pay customs fees? If you're in jail and receive a package.

Myke Hurley: Um, I feel like the, the option isn't really mine at that point.

Myke Hurley: Thanks so much to Casper Penchelle and Blue Apron for their support of this week's show. If you want to find Brad online, go to penaddict.com. He has penaddict on Instagram and Dowdyism on Twitter. I am iMike, I-M-Y-K-E. We'll be back next time. Happy New Year, everybody. Until then, say goodbye, Mr. Brad Dowdy. Goodbye, Mr. Brad Dowdy.