The Pen Addict 295/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	295
Title:	Why is it Not Called Pen Pals?
Release Date:	February 14th, 2018
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 295
Audio File:	Audio Episode 295
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 295
Length:	7676 min <br />1.267 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict. Happy Valentine's Day. This is episode 295. Today's show is brought to you by Squarespace, Pen Chalet, and Bonfell. My name is Myke Hurley and I am joined by my valentine, Mr. Brad Dowdy.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, did you get my card? Nope. Yeah, because I didn't send it, so that's how much I love you.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, there is a card in the mail from me to you, but it's not Valentine's card. Does it contain cash? No, it doesn't. It doesn't. There is something on the way, something that's special on the way for you.

Brad Dowdy: Nice. Oh, I bet I know what it is. We'll wait and we'll discuss this later. I have a guess and I think I'm right, so we need to hold that thought, right? Mm-hmm. Okay. Yep. Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. All right, well, welcome to this Valentine's Day edition where we will talk no more about Valentine's for the rest of the show. Mm-hmm. Because, yeah, there's nothing to talk about. Hashtag fake holidays.

Brad Dowdy: Wow. Brad's taking the political stand now. We can't have Anna on this episode, on the Valentine's Day episode, you know, because, I mean, that's her job. I mean, she makes the cards, you know, keeps the engine running, right?

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Pen Addict Live Relay Con

Brad Dowdy: So let's talk about something else Anna's involved in, which is the Pen Addict Live Relay Con 2018. Myke, we're heading to Canada. Can you believe it?

Myke Hurley: I'm blown away. I think we made our stretch goal, like, on Thursday last week or something. Yeah, it was barely. And now, like, the wheel just keeps on turning. We're probably going to hit 24,000 today, which is incredible. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much to everyone. We're going to be going to Canada. I'm very excited about Toronto. Very excited about Toronto.

Brad Dowdy: I'm very excited at the opportunity we're going to have to blow the roof off of our Canadian friends. I think it's going to be epic. The support we've had just from the Canadian Pen community and the listeners of this show and readers of the blog has been, like, off the charts. They've been ecstatic about this whole thing. They were thrilled that it happened. And we're going to have to, I don't know, we have a lot of figuring to do before we actually do it. We're not just going to, you know, show up at the pen show, say hi, and record a podcast in our room. We're going to have to do something pretty good up there. We have no clue what that is at this point. But we'll start working on that, you know, here in the next few months and plan things out. And, and less we forget, we'll be visiting New York, too. So we're going to have to, we're going to have to figure out how to do this big, do it right, because of the support we got for this campaign has just been outstanding. Y'all are the best. Thank you so much for, for backing us, supporting us and believing in what we do that we provide some fun and entertainment for you guys. And we're happy to do it. And just love every minute of it.

Myke Hurley: Oh, without a doubt, like, just incredible support. Like, we're blown away, as always, you just continue to surprise us with the support that you give. And as Brad said, I underscore it, we're going to do our very best to make the rewards as good as they possibly can be. But there's still time, still three weeks to go on the campaign. If you want to get in and back it, you can, there'll be links in the show notes. The rewards are going to be amazing. You won't want to miss them, because these, this is the only way you're going to get them, right? The videos, the badges, the cases. If you want to get any of these rewards, you will want to sort it out in the next three weeks, because they'll, once they're gone, they're gone forever.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, exactly. And there's not any magical stretch goal we're going to pull out of thin air for the rest of the way.

Myke Hurley: Nope, we're not gonna, I mean, okay, so I just super wanted to say this, like, I know that a lot of people are like, they're like, having fun with us and stuff and like saying, Oh, come to Australia. And like, we want to do all that sort of stuff. Maybe one day, who knows. But I just want to say, no matter what, we're not going to be adding another city this year, anywhere. So we're doing Atlanta, we're just stopping off in New York, and then going on to Toronto. Because of a lot of travel commitments that me and you have throughout this year, we're not unfortunately going to be able to add any locations. But I think we're both more than happy to say 2019, we're going to try and go somewhere new, like somewhere we haven't been before. And we're going to keep trying to make that trend as the years go by. So there's going to be more opportunities for the pen addict to roll into your town, wherever that might be. But for 2018, the pen addict tour will consist mostly of Atlanta and Toronto with a brief stopover in New York City.

Brad Dowdy: Now, that doesn't mean we won't have more things to announce about this project.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, there might be some other little bits and bobs that we might be able to surprise you with. We're working on some things. But this will all be localized around the places that we've already said we're going to visit.

Brad Dowdy: Correct. Exactly right. So, yeah. So this is great. We're glad to be able to do all these things for you guys. And we look forward to seeing everyone on the road once again. Pretty amazing. And we kind of got an amazing response on a podcast called The Backers Podcast, which is a Kickstarter project, which you can imagine by the name. It's a very cool premise. I hadn't listened to it before. But Chris, one of the co-hosts of The Backers Podcast, sent me this link. He's like, hey, I'm really excited about your project. And I backed it. And we do this podcast about Kickstarter. And we talked about you on there. I was like, oh, cool. I'll go listen. Did you get a chance to listen to this, Myke?

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I did. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: What did you think?

Myke Hurley: It was really fun. It was really, really fun.

Brad Dowdy: It was amazing. It was super cool. So we'll have the link in the show notes to Chris's podcast called The Backers Podcast. He was really excited. It was fun because his podcast co-host doesn't know anything about pins or stationery. So listening to Chris explain to him what exactly he was backing was fun and funny. And he might have even talked his co-host into backing himself by the end of it. So it was a good listen. So thank you, Chris, for sharing that. I got a good giggle out of that. It was very, very funny.

Myke Hurley: Yep.

Brad Dowdy: We have a lot of podcast news this week. Actually, Myke, one of the newest podcasts in my listening feed is called The 1857 Podcast. So there's three episodes have dropped now. I've listened to the first one and a half, but it is friends of the community, Stuart Lennon, who runs the pocketnotebooks.co.uk site in the UK. And he's also a Nock customer, which I appreciate Stuart for that. And TJ Cosgrove is his hosting partner. And you may all know TJ Cosgrove from Wooden Graphite YouTube channel, from his several appearances on the Erasable podcast, from his work in the community around pencils, some really, really cool stuff. So getting to listen to these guys talk. So, so far, I don't know totally how to describe the podcast. It's definitely analog-based, but it's just these two guys having a conversation. And number one, it's a beautiful conversation because one's British and one's Irish. And I'm sorry to the rest of the world, but those are the best accents in the world. Myke, you're part of that. That's why I love talking to you so much. But I could listen to these guys talk all day. It was, it's wonderful. And they're just having a chat, right? It's a lot about life stuff, business stuff, school stuff, you know, how they use analogs, things in their work. You know, so far, I haven't listened to the third episode, but I'm about a, like I said, about an episode and a half into the listening so far. I was hoping to get all three done, but it's been one of those weeks. But y'all should check it out. 1857.co.uk is the website. We'll have it in the show notes. Myke, you will enjoy it. It's a good, just have it on in the background podcast. You know, like we talk about specific things and bounce from, you know, topic to topic to topic and cover a lot of new products and things like that. These are just two guys having a chat. And sometimes it's about analog stuff. It's very cool.

Myke Hurley: That's really nice. I like the name. It's very simple.

Brad Dowdy: So I'm being corrected. I'm being corrected in the chat room. Is Stuart Australian? No, I think we're wrong. I think Phil's messing with me. He's saying the best are Scottish and Australian. But I thought they were, they live in England and Ireland. So, but yeah, it's wonderful. You should definitely check it out. Now this next one, podcast news, Myke, caught us a little bit off guard. What? Late last week? Friday? Thursday? Sometime last week? Monday? I don't even, my days are so confused right now. I have no clue. But we were mentioned on a podcast called Ask Me Another, put out by NPR, which is kind of a big deal, right? Like this was a, this was like a whoa kind of moment, right? Right.

Myke Hurley: I'm familiar with the show. I know that it is a big show. I've heard of it before. I know it's a big deal. But like, it's not something that I've ever really listened to that much. So like, it didn't, like, it wasn't like a big effect for me personally. It's not like, oh, I'm on one of my favorite shows. But I am like very familiar with how much of a big deal this show is. So it was, it put a big smile on my face.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So the Pit Addict podcast was part of basically a bit, a joke, a joke bit, which was awesome.

Myke Hurley: This is the only thing though. Like, I'm kind of like, I love that this stuff happens. But this is like the fourth time we've been involved in this exact game before. And it's, I don't know, it's getting a little bit old now. Like, oh, here are two podcasts. Guess which one exists? The Pit Addict, Gafor, Gafor. Right? Like, what, Mental Floss, BuzzFeed, and PBS have all played this game with us before.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I approve. I approve of this message.

Myke Hurley: I don't disapprove of it, but it's like, oh gosh, is there any other game we can play?

Brad Dowdy: Which podcast is the most awesome, The Pit Addict or The Pit Addict? Exactly.

Myke Hurley: Why don't we play the most awesome weird show rather than like the how does this exist thing? But yeah, it was great. I mean, it was wonderful. It was hilarious. I mean, I don't know the name of the presenter, but like, they were like, why is it not called Pen Pals? Which was kind of genius.

Brad Dowdy: It's a great name for the reason. She was really good. She did a good job explaining the show.

Myke Hurley: Yep.

Brad Dowdy: You know, I didn't write it all down, but it was a very super clear explanation to make it sound like, is this a real thing or not?

Myke Hurley: I'm assuming it's Ophira Eisenberg, who's the host of Ask Me Another. She was the host.

Brad Dowdy: She was the host. And I forget the woman who answered the question actually got it right. She says, it is real. And so, she was correct. She believed in us, Myke. She had faith that there was a podcast about pens where two friends have been talking about pens for five years. Like, they made all those points. Yeah. So, yeah. But, and then I definitely giggled when she says, oh, they, why is it not called Pen Pals? Like, they missed a huge opportunity there. So, that was funny.

Myke Hurley: It's like, that is a better name for the podcast if the pen addict didn't already exist before, right? Like, I will concede that point that Pen Pals is a fantastic name, but there was a reason, a good reason that we called it the pen addict. But maybe if we have a spinoff, we can call it Pen Pals.

Brad Dowdy: There you go. But we had a ton of feedback on that and everyone was cracking up listening to that.

Myke Hurley: Lots of people, lots and lots of people said that. And because, again, it is a very popular show. And I like, I am a big fan of Jonathan Colton and I know that he's like resident musician on the show. So, that's why it's super cool for me.

Brad Dowdy: All right. So, our show notes is a living document. We use Google Docs and it's always being added, modified. We adjust on the fly during the show. Myke is actually jamming all kinds of stuff in here. That's just happening now as we're recording. So, what are you doing to me here?

Field Notes Signature

Myke Hurley: There's been a new Field Notes release. It's not a subscription release. It is a new standard product release. It's called the Signature. And it is a, there's a two pack and you can choose either a cream color or a gray color. And it is the same format as the Dime Novel. So, it is the Dime Novel edition format. So, like the larger notebook with the stitch sewing and the spine. That has now become, that format has now become a standard edition joining Steno and Front Page and the standard memo book, the planner and the pitch black large size. So, this has become a standard edition. It's $14.95 for a two pack and you can choose your color. And so, yeah, that's it. And Field Notes is saying in their post that they did this because the response to Dime Novel was huge for them. And so, I actually think this is a really great addition to the lineup because I also really love the Dime Novel format. And I just should just note the colors, the gray color is plain and the kind of creamy color is ruled lines on the notebook. And there's no grid or graph or dot grid. No grid. You know what though? I'm going to say for this particular book, I think ruled and plain make the most sense. Honestly, like I think that that makes sense because you can get dot grid in the pitch black, which is a little bit bigger. But this one really does feel more like a kind of writing book and like plain and plain and ruled makes sense for that, I think. Of course, dot grid forever, but you know.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And then you get a pack of these heartbeat two pack along with this. If you place this order today.

Myke Hurley: If you place an order on Valentine's Day, they're doing a special that you can only get as a freebie on Valentine's Day, which is a red notebook. It's called heartbeat. And the O in notes is a heart. So that's a little special just for today. So by the time most people listen to this, they won't be able to get their hands on the heartbeat one. But yeah, I really, really like the signature. I still have, I think I still have an unopened pack of Dime Novels. So I'm not going to rush to grab these. Even though the limited edition heartbeat one is tempting me, I'm going to not do it. Because I already have some field notes on the way, right? The MLBD ones. So I'm going to hold off. I'm going to hold off. I'm going to fight against my instincts. But I think that the signature is a nice addition to the lineup.

Brad Dowdy: I think the expansion of their standard lineup is always good. And that was such a good book. That was easily the best one that they did in the past year. When I look back at the year in field notes, that was the clear standout, the Dime Novel edition. And it's cool to see it have its own format as part of the stock offerings by field notes. So very cool. I love it.

Myke Hurley: And as somebody who has for a long time tried to convince them via this show to increase their lineup, I'm happy that they have done it quicker than they usually have. The edition of the memo book and the pitch black, there was some time in between. But they have got this one out there before the next edition. So yeah, I think that's really great. So I'm pleased to see that as a nice edition of the today lineup. All right. Today's show is brought to you in part by our friends over at Bombfell, the online personal styling service dedicated to finding the right clothes for you. If you're a modern man, you might like to streamline the more stressful parts of your life. And with Bombfell, you can update your look with brand new items to help refresh your wardrobe. When you sign up, you'll be paired with your own stylist. They will hand select items that they think are going to work for you. They have a little questionnaire stuff that you go through so they can get an idea about what you like and what you don't like. They'll look through menswear collections around the world and find the stuff that you're going to look great in. They'll send it all to you. You only pay for what you keep and returns are free. It is the smart way to shop. And the more you keep, the more you save. With Bombfell's keep more, save more pricing. So let me break this down. If you keep four or more of the items that they send you, you get 20% off the order. If you keep three, you get 15% off. Keep two, you get 10% off. So the more you keep, the more you save. And Bombfell is completely flexible. You can push up, delay, or skip shipments at any time. Now Brad, I believe that you have been through this process with Bombfell. And I want to know how great you look in the clothes, isn't you?

Brad Dowdy: This, number one, it was a really cool process. So you take what amounts to an online quiz on your likes, dislikes, styles, you know, favorite types of clothes, types of fit, types of style that you want to have sorted out for you. And you end up with your own personal stylist. And they email you back and forth. Like after I did the quiz, you know, I forget the name of the person I was working with. But they would email me back and forth and say, okay, I got this. I got your questions. I'm going to start working on it. And then I will send you, you know, a list of stuff that we're going to ship you. And then we can talk about it. Like if you want to change anything, anything like that. So the items that they picked out for me, it was a three-piece order. So it was pants, t-shirt, and shirt. And just from like the quiz was in-depth enough that they nailed everything. It was very, I think I remember last time talking about it, I just giggled when I got the thing, got the email saying, here's what we're sending you. And I just died laughing because it was so perfect, right? It was like this plaid, plaid shirt and a cool t-shirt and nice pair of khaki jeans. And these pants I got, Myke, from them are the best pants I own. They're so cool. They're so nice. There's like I'm going to have to hunt more of these down when I want some more because it's not something I would have ever bought for myself. You know, because I don't really shop like all kinds of different brands like they have access to. So they were able to look at my likes, look at my body information, right? They take into account like your size and your shape and find things that work for you. And I have to say, Bombfell completely nailed it. I was ecstatic with the clothes that I got. And they went so far as finding me the most perfect pair of pants I own. So it's kind of cool.

Myke Hurley: There you go. We have a great deal for Pen Addict listeners so you can feel as good as Brad. You get $25 off your first purchase by going to bombfell.com slash penaddict. That is B-O-M-B-F-E-L-L dot com slash penaddict. Signing up is easy. You tell them your measurements and the kind of clothes you like in a questionnaire. You get an email from your stylist with a selection. You have 48 hours to make any changes or cancel everything altogether. And then once everything arrives, you have seven days before any payment is made so you can send back what you don't want. And Bombfell also has the option to sign up on behalf of somebody in your life if you want to do that. It's time to upgrade your wardrobe and feel great in the clothes you wear. Go to bombfell.com slash penaddict for $25 off your first purchase. Bombfell. Open and close. We thank Bombfell for their support of this show. All right, buddy. Let's get back into this. So we had some great feedback from Benny who sent in to us two articles that are completely in German about the Kaweco Apple Pencil sleeve situation. And he basically broke it down for us to explain what is going on. Basically, Kaweco is making this product. It is a real product and it will be available soon. That's as much information as they've given. There are more pictures of it in these articles, these two articles. You'll be able to spot them very easily in the show notes because the titles of them are all in German. So, yeah, there's more pictures in there so you can see what's going on. It's very interesting looking. I am actually super excited about this and will be keeping my eye out for it. And also, I expect this to be one of those situations where I'll be able to write some dumb review for someone because I'm literally the only person in the world that anybody knows about that will care about this kind of thing. Because it's like when the Apple Pencil first came out. It was the marrying of my two worlds.

Brad Dowdy: Right. And I'm the dumb person that will publish it because that's where you publish your Apple Pencil review, right? So we'll be dumb together and do something cool. So I look forward to it. I will get one of these for sure. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: As soon as I see they're available, I will have at least one of them on the way to me.

Kaweco Pens

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Kaweco turns things around pretty quick. Like I imagine this is not a far off product. This is I don't think they're they're displaying for the holiday 2018. You know, like you get a lot of these trade show type things. I think, you know, this is I'm totally speculation on my part, but I think this is going to be a quick turnaround. I bet we'll see it in the next couple of months. I bet we'll see it in the spring. So these two articles are awesome. I have not seen either one of these. We like you said, we'll have the links in the show notes. The Karanda ash colored pencil display in the second link that you sent sick is amazing. Yeah. Like I'm dying. Just looking at this is like, I want this in my house. Yeah. It's like I need I need a wall of my house to be this display. Okay.

Myke Hurley: So Caroline Weaver from I was going to say she was that because I was seeing her on her Instagram stories.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. And she was there at Paper World. So maybe maybe that's maybe that's somewhere we need to go. You know, one of these years. Paper World, although it's a little bit early in the year. But that would be kind of cool. This looks like a really awesome show. There's all kinds. I'm just mind boggled scrolling through these two posts. So take some time to go through our show notes when you when you hear this and you'll you will really enjoy both of these articles. So I'm going to save them for for later reading this next one. I save for later reading Myke because I got it about a month ago. And I got this email saying, hey, look what Uniball is doing with the Jetstream. They're making a Parker style refill for the Jetstream. I was like, what? And the link I was sent was to a Flash page and I don't install Flash on my devices.

Myke Hurley: So to Flash. Well, Chrome is great, though, because it will work in Chrome.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So I tried. I didn't I didn't couldn't get it to pull up without plugins and whatever. So I was like, well, I'll just wait. And like, we'll talk about it when I spend the time to go find this link and and, you know, get something that I can actually share with other people. And then Matthias from Blystiff sent me over a link this weekend saying, hey, did you see this? And it was the actual press release page of the Uniball Jetstream Parker style refill on a non Flash page. Now we can talk about it and share it with everyone. But this is a crazy idea. For Uniball, I'm still trying to wrap my head around the why. But. I totally approve of it existing. Right. Like now there's more options for Jetstream refills in other pens that don't have good Parker refill options. Right. So what do you think about this?

Myke Hurley: It looks like a professional version.

Myke Hurley: Right. Like. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like the images make it kind of just look more like an executive pen, like a business pen.

Myke Hurley: And, you know, my feeling on that sort of stuff. Like I always agree when a company wants to do something like this because I think it's smart business to do that. Like you want to get into the office supply world if you're a company like Jetstream. And a great way to do that is to create a pen which isn't expensive but looks more expensive than it really is because that's what people buy.

Brad Dowdy: Right. So I don't really care for the pen barrel itself.

Myke Hurley: No, I would never buy it. I don't like it. I mean, I don't really like the Jetstream that much anyway, but the body does nothing for me. But it's businessy.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I'm still just kind of surprised, like for a company that makes their own refills and their own proprietary refills and refills that don't fit anyone else's pens to make a kind of worldwide generic refill is. Like I'm just trying to wrap my head around what their thought process was behind this. Like I'm all for it, but I'm like, why did they do that? Do they want to just sell refills?

Myke Hurley: I mean, well, you're potentially leaving money on the table. Right. Like if there is a growing world of Kickstarter pens and stuff like that, right? And they're using refills, which are specific. If you create something that's a little bit more generic that can be used more widely, people will buy it. Like they need to make the refills anyway because they have to put them in their products. You may as well sell them wholesale as well to other companies that want to want to throw them in there. And then the Jetstream name and brand, because it's all branded Jetstream all over the side, gets out wider. Like it is a strange move. I don't know if it's going to be successful for them, but yeah, I can see I can see a potential reason for why they may have done this.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, like I'm all for it and I'm just I'm just confused by it. Like are we going to get a I hope they make a Schmidt style refill for the P8126 with a gel with the Signo gel P8126 refill in smaller tip sizes. I mean, if they make that, I may never leave the house again. I mean, that would that would that would end my life. Right.

Myke Hurley: If someone made a good gel, me and you would super fight about that. Right. Like you're replacing the P8126 for a Jetstream. Boo. Yeah. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: So no, no, I want the Signo gel.

Myke Hurley: It's like, oh, but still it's not. Yeah, it's not. It's not the top, top doggy.

Brad Dowdy: But the most exciting thing on this page is where it says 0.5 millimeters. That's for a Jetstream. That's like a 0.3 gel. Oh, 0.5 millimeters. Jetstream is crazy fine. Like I would recommend the 0.7 millimeter Jetstream. It's like a 0.5 millimeter gel ink line. But I am crazy excited about this. I'm just still trying to wrap my head about around its existence and the viability of the product. But man, if they make a push into just generic standard refill shapes with their ink, it's game over for refills. I mean, it's not going to markedly improve their bottom line. There's only X amount of refills you can sell. But for someone like me who likes to play around with this kind of stuff, that's all the refill I'll ever need if they make, you know, just a couple more styles. So I'll be interested to see if they do more. You know, maybe this shape is just not, you know, copyrightable, patentable or something. You know, like where maybe the Schmidt refill is. Maybe you can or can't do that. It's never stopped Monteverdi from making whatever they want. So we'll see. This is a whole new ballgame. And I'm very curious about how it's going to proceed from here. So speaking of the Retro 51, Myke. Yeah. The Chicago Tornado, Myke. What do you think? This is the Anderson Pens exclusive. It kind of fits in with their heading to Chicago, opening their new store. I can't imagine a more perfect, perfectly aligned pen than this. It's got the Chicago flag on it. It's got the Chicago skyline on it. If you're a Chicagoan, this looks like a no-brainer to me. What do you think?

Myke Hurley: It's a really, really nice looking pen. And I like what it's about. Like, I mean, this one doesn't necessarily float my boat so much because it's super Chicago focused, right? Like in a way that I think is mostly intended for people that super love Chicago. I love Chicago. It's a great place. But I've only been there one time, right? Like I don't even know what the buildings are. I can't tell them. I can't work them out from looking at it. But what I will say is I think that this is a fantastic pairing of two of my favorite companies, especially because I always buy Retro 51s from Anderson Pens. What's probably going to happen is this will be one that I will pick up from Lisa at the pen show. That's probably what's going to happen to me here.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So it's not coming till April. So maybe they'll have them for Atlanta. And if you see it there, yeah, you're going to end up with it. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: I like this. I like this. And, you know, again, the Anderson's pen store opening up is something to be celebrated. So this is a great way to do that.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. Yep. All right. You got mail.

Myke Hurley: Mm-hmm.

Brad Dowdy: And we were talking about this last week to see what would arrive before this week's show. So what do you have for us today? These are things I really want to talk about and hear what you say.

Spoke Design Pencil

Myke Hurley: So I got, after you mentioned it a couple of weeks ago, I bought the Spoke Design Model 4 pencil.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm.

Myke Hurley: Mm-hmm. Which is the mechanical pencil. What is it made? Like, what is it built on?

Brad Dowdy: It's an aluminum barrel steel grip section.

Myke Hurley: But it's built upon a specific pencil, isn't it? A Pentel?

Brad Dowdy: Oh, the Pentel P series. The 203, 5, 7, and 9. Yeah. The Pentel P205.

Myke Hurley: So I bought this for two reasons. I really liked the overall design of the pencil. Right? Like, I thought it looked really nice, kind of just like the overall industrial design. And I also really like the fact that it comes in a stand. Mm-hmm. Right? Like, I think that those two things are super cool. And I'm mostly happy with the product. I think it looks really great. I love the overall look of it. And the stand itself is like a cool thing. But the stand isn't exactly what I want because it moves around. Yeah. Yeah. I want the stand to stay still. It's lightweight. So they're like, there are two ways to fix this. And like, the decisions for neither of those. Either to make it heavy or to put some of that, like, I don't know what it's called. But that, like, incredibly sticky, real sticky stuff that, like, Studio and E.U.s on their products. Like, on their docks. What is it? Like, that micro something something.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I don't know the name of it. But I think Pinwell uses it as well.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Like, the micro suction thing. So, like, you stick it down and it doesn't come off. Because every time I pick up the pencil, it moves. And, like, that's counter to what I want it to do.

Brad Dowdy: It's a Delrin. So it's like a light plastic holder. So, but, you know, it's like a freebie in the whole grand scheme of things. But, yeah, it is lightweight. Yeah. I don't really use it.

Myke Hurley: I see what you mean about, like, the freebie. But that, this is the reason I bought it. Do you know what I'm saying? Sure. So I would have thrown in a few more dollars to get an addition of it in some way. Like, even if, honestly, it just came with a one-time sticky pad. Mm-hmm. Right? Like, that would work better for what I wanted. Also, it's longer than I would like. It's a pretty big pencil. Mm-hmm. Like, in my hand, it's a bit bigger than I would want. And this is because there's so much going on. You've got, like, a really long, like, point at the end. And then where the pencil leg comes out is quite long. And then the grip section is quite long. And then there's a lot of the body as well. So it's pretty long, too. But I'm getting used to it by just adjusting my grip differently. Like, not gripping it right at the very bottom. Kind of gripping it more in, like, the middle of the grip section is working quite nicely. But, yeah, I really like it. This is 100% going to stay on my desk. I mean, that's why I want, like, a little, just like a pencil that's just there. It's there. It just can stay there. It looks really nice. It's got a nice industrial design. I've got, like, the black and silver. So it just looks really classy. Yeah. And I'm very, I am, overall, I really like it. But there are, I would really love to see some additions or options for the stand.

Brad Dowdy: Well, that makes sense. So Brian, who created the Spoke Pencil, him and I have been talking in the background a bunch, you know, scheming and maybe working on some things. But I learned that he also has a magnet company. And I'm going to do something a little cool for next week's giveaway. A little bit different. So it's related to Brian's work with his magnets. So stay tuned next Tuesday for something.

Myke Hurley: I mean, he could just make a magnetic base and then I'll put a magnet underneath my desk and then that would solve the problem. It would be super wicked cool.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. So that's what I was thinking. So, yeah. It's cool. This is one of my favorite products. I love this pencil.

Myke Hurley: It is very nice from a company that I've never heard of, like before now, the overall design and finish of the product, like the pencil itself is excellent. It's very, very nicely made. But yeah, if version five, model five, I would love to see some enhancements to the stand or at least just some options. Like I would, I know not everybody would, but I would totally pay more. So, yeah. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Very cool. Very cool. But that's not all. That's the main event.

Sailor 1911 Pen

Myke Hurley: The main event. I have been tracking this thing across its journey to me and I've been so excited and it arrived today. It is the Sailor 1911 Royal Tangerine Fountain Pen. Mm-hmm. Words cannot describe this color. It is like, maybe the closest that I could describe it to would be a tangerine or orange colored jelly bean from the Jelly Belly Company. It is like a, this is one of those, it's exactly what we thought. This is one of those pens that you can't photograph because it cannot show the vibrancy of the color. It's wonderful, Brad. It's wonderful. I love the color of this pen so much. It is like one of the most interesting looking orange pens that I have. Like there is an almost neon-like vibrancy to it that I love. I absolutely love. And yeah, I bought the standard version, standard size. Yes. So it is small. It's a little smaller than I would have thought, but it's the right size. I wouldn't want bigger than this. I'm trying to like think, like I'm looking at this against like my pro gears or whatever. And I would say that like in length, it's about as long as a regular pro gear. Like it's slimmer. But I wouldn't have wanted it to be bigger than a pro gear, right? That's kind of one of the things that I don't like so much about the 1911 line in general is that like, especially with the cap on, they're very long pens. Because they have like the tapered end to them and stuff too. So I feel like I made the right decision of the 1911. And the reason that it is smaller than I think it, that I thought it was going to be is because I typically see the larger version. So I'm happy with my decision.

Myke Hurley: It has, I got a zoom nib on this one, which is just weird and wonderful. So this is like a quick refresher. I'll see if I can explain this. The zoom nib is done in such a way that you can hold, you can hold the pen upside down and write with it and get a super fine line. Or you can hold it in a regular way and get a fat line or hold it to the side and get an even fatter line. Is that a good way of describing it?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, generally it's designed for the angle of your writing. So if you have a low angle, you know, if you hold the pen more parallel to the desk, you're going to get a wider line. And if you hold it more vertical to the desk, more horizontal to the desk, you'll get a finer line. But it's such a large nib, you can do all kinds of things like you said, with it writing upside down, writing some really wide sideways lines. So it's made for line variance that goes from wide to wider.

Myke Hurley: And if you're a weirdo like me, you get just random, like a completely random thickness of line, which is a lot of fun. Like every time I'm using it, I don't know what's going to happen next. So yeah, and I wanted it because, you know, this is now my fourth Sailor pen. And I have different nibs on all of them, I think, now at this point. And I like that because I don't just want the same nibs all the time. You know, I want there to be some difference to it other than just design. And I will say at this point, Brad, like it is undeniable now that Sailor is my favorite pen brand, like overall. I am in serious love with Sailor. Like it is almost offensive right now how much I love this pen brand. Like I want to buy all of them. And I don't know why. I don't know exactly why this has happened, right? Because I've had a Pro Gear for like three years. And I've used it all the time during that period, right? Like I have constantly used my Orange Pro Gear, which I bought at the first Atlanta show. I've used it, you know, multiple times a week, every single week since I bought it. But I feel like a switch has kind of flicked in my brain. And now I just want to buy them. And like I will end this year with a King of Pen. Like that's where I want to go now. I am more excited about buying a King of Pen than I am about buying a Nakaya. Like I've and I feel more drawn to that than I think I have ever felt drawn to a pen of that value before. I like the way you talk. Which is really weird though, I think. Because genuinely, the Nakaya is an incredible writing experience with unbelievable design and so much like mystique around it. But for some, but that I know I shouldn't. But like there is a part of me that like because of all of that, it's like this whole big thing that is, you know, it's like you now have this precious piece of material that you must fawn over and look after forever. It's kind of how I feel about it in my brain. But the King of Pen, it's just a bigger pro gear and I already have those. But at the same time, like I said this I think two weeks ago, I got chills when I used the King of Pen. Because it is just this unbelievable experience. So that is my purchase, probably at Atlanta. So if anyone out there is listening who stocks these things, keep an eye out for me because I'm taking one. Yeah, I'm super excited about Sailor Pens right now because I just think that, and again, this is not anything new. For the money that these pens are, no one comes close. Like in my opinion, like the price of a pro gear, like a $200 pro gear, that is crazy, right? The quality of that pen, like a $200 pro gear is like about as good as you can get and it's $200. So, yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so listening to you talk about Sailor is the journey that a lot of us go on where you get more experience. You figure out what you like, you get the opportunity to try more things. You end up putting, you know, things up against each other comparison-wise between things you own and things you might purchase. And you relate it back to the things that you like a lot. And you've hit that refinement point where you know what you want now and that's what you're going to go after. You know, you're past, not that you would never ever experiment again, but you're kind of past the experimental try all the things stage. Oh, I am.

Myke Hurley: Like it's why I started buying so much, like so many and still want to like focus on like the design of the acrylic pens, you know, like in the small makers. Because it was more about owning these, honestly, what I consider to just be beautiful pieces of art, right? Like the Canaleas and the Jonathan Brooks pens and like the twist pen that I own. Honestly, to me, they're like my art collection. It's kind of how I look at them. There are just these beautiful things that honestly just sit on my desk so I can look at them a lot of the time because I just love to. But now like I have found my writing brand. Like my brand where like it doesn't matter what I buy, I know I'm going to get this top tier unparalleled writing experience for me. Right. And that's Sailor. And as well, they have wicked cool designs, right? Like.

Brad Dowdy: And they never stop.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. You tweeted one that looked bonkers a couple of days ago.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It was a Valentine's Day looking one. It was kind of like cream and ivory and pink. And it was pretty rad. I liked it.

Sailor Pens

Myke Hurley: They never stop. Yeah. It's like there it is. I really liked it except for the fact that it had like the name of the pen stamped on the side. I kind of.

Brad Dowdy: They've done that for a couple. I've seen a few of those like that. They did. They did a bung box. One of the sunshine. They did a realo. That was pure yellow. And it had it stamped on the side. And I can't remember the exact name of it. But it's a beautiful.

Myke Hurley: Sailor strawberry milk. Which I really love the colors. But the name is like huge. It's like across the entire side of one. Like one side of the barrel. It's a little much for me. But it's a great looking. It's awesome. Great looking pen.

Brad Dowdy: It's awesome. Yeah. The Soleil. That's the word. The word I was trying to think of. A few years ago. They did a special for bung box. And it's called the Soleil. And it was on the stamped on the barrel. So it was very cool.

Myke Hurley: So I know I'm going to. Like so many people were talking to me about this at Atlanta last year. And I was chickening out about like using those in Japanese intermediary. And companies to help you buy some of the special editions and stuff. I know I'm going to end up doing that soon. Yeah. White Rabbit. That's the one. I know I'm going to end up doing that soon. Because there are these editions. Right? And like I want them. Like that. If I wouldn't have got the bung box fifth anniversary pen. I still would have been so sad. And I have it now. And I can't. Like I'm still every now and then. I like see if I can try and find a pink love. Again. Anybody out there that wants to unload one of those. Like you know you're going to get a good price out on me. Like let's talk. The Sailor Pink Club. The bung box pink. No one's going to sell me one of these. But if anybody does want to. I can help. You can help. Hook me up. Get a good price.

Brad Dowdy: Well it sounds to me like you need a sailor specific website for your collection Myke. It's moving me along.

Myke Hurley: He's moving me along. Today's show is brought to you by Squarespace. Use the offer code Inc at checkout and you'll get 10% of your first purchase. Make your next move with Squarespace with the ability to grab a unique domain name. Take advantage of 24-7 customer support which is award winning as well as their award winning templates or more. Squarespace lets you easily create the website that you want for your next idea. That is why you can make your next move with them. Because no matter what type of idea you have. No matter what type of website you want to do. Whether you want to create a portfolio of your artwork. An online store to sell your wares. Or a blog. Or you know some kind of tribute site to Sailor Pan Company. Squarespace is the all-in-one platform that will let you do it. There's nothing to worry about with Squarespace. You don't have to install anything. Patch anything. Upgrade anything. They do all that stuff for you. Don't get bogged down in having to worry about security updates for your website. When you just want to go there and publish the stuff that you're making.

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Brad Dowdy: And we always talk about. Because we're getting ready to talk about the LA Pin Show. All these Pin Show owners need to update their sites to Squarespace. It just makes it such a better site. I know. Just do it.

Myke Hurley: Please. And two things. One. Get Squarespace websites. Two. Actually put information on them.

Myke Hurley: That's overrated. You'd be surprised. Just having basic information on your website. For people coming to your events. Is a good thing to have. That is something that people tend to want. Turns out.

Brad Dowdy: Turns out. Boy oh boy. Well turns out I'm leaving for LA on Friday morning. So I'll be there Friday afternoon Pin Show time to LA. So that'll be my weekend activities. It's looking like it's going to be an interesting show. Maybe not DC level interesting. I hope not. But there's lots of things floating around the internet that the construction's not done. For the hotel. The location. Oh yeah. Is back to the old location maybe. Not into the new location. The bar and restaurant is in a tent in the parking lot. Oh my gosh. It's going to be an interesting event I feel. Wow.

Myke Hurley: We thought that DC was bad huh?

Brad Dowdy: This is like a whole next level situation. So I'm trying not to be like Debbie Downer about the whole thing. But I'm just a little bit nervous because I'm working the event for Venice Pens. You know I'm not just attending. Like I'm wondering what the headache is going to be for vendors at this show. And you know what the ramifications are going to be. So you know. You know. Well we always make the best out of it. We always do. But you know you'd like to have a drama free stress free weekend. And that doesn't look like it's going to be the case. It looked like there. We might run into some roadblocks. But we'll hope for the best. And deal with whatever comes our way. But I will be there. It'll be awesome. I'll be working for Venice like I said. And you know this is my first show of the year. I look forward to seeing all the people. Which LA always has a great crowd. They have a great local people. Local people. Great people that travel from into the show. So it's going to be fun. And you know knowing us pen addicts like we do. Well we can make any show fun. No matter the drama that goes on. Right?

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: If not Myke. If not we're going to stab someone in the neck with a trident nib. Let's not.

Myke Hurley: Let's not say that though. You know. Anyway. I know that what you're trying to do right now is create a nice transition. Which I appreciate. You know. A segue from topic to topic. But I think that just legally. It's probably a good idea to not say stuff like that. Because if somebody did have an accident with a nib. Now they're going to look at you. And I don't want that. I need a co-host. I don't want you to be locked up in jail. In a. In LA jail. In the parking lot of the hotel.

Brad Dowdy: That's true. That's true. They'll just throw me in the parking lot. The jail's not ready either. No. Y'all see me. I'll be in the. The jail slash bar. If you need me. In LA.

Myke Hurley: Well you know. We love Atlanta. Because it has a waffle house in the parking lot. So you know. Why not put the bar there?

Brad Dowdy: Right. Right. Right. Right. So we're. We're laughing about the. The trident nib. Because Myke asked me last week. He says. I want to know about this trident nib. That I'm seeing online. And that's. That's the. Collaboration. From Ralph Reyes. Who's reaching Ralph online. You. You know him from the internet. He is on the BYOB. Podcast. Pen podcast. He is. The guy. At the pen shows. That's in the lobby. At 3 a.m. When you're sleepwalking. And he's still going strong. So that's Ralph. And. He's an awesome. Awesome guy. I met him in Chicago. For the first time last year. When he was just getting into this. And now he's gone knee deep. Into like these customized. Nibs. That he's actually putting together. With Frontier Pen Co. It's a. What's the best way to describe this. It's a stacked. Nib. If you will. It's basically. Three nibs. Welded. To each other. To form like. Really. Large. Wide. Lines. With a fountain pen. So. He launched them. In. At the Philadelphia Pen Show. Last year. Pierre. From Desiderata Pen Co. Made barrels. For these nibs. To fit in. And they're just. These. It's a very. Artistic. Type. Of nib. Right. Like. It's not something. I would use. Because. I write small. And I don't do. Like. Large. Projects. Or large. Lettering. Or write letters. With lots of flair. But this is like. Designed for that. It's like. The fountain pen version. Of a folded nib. If you will. Right. Okay. So.

Myke Hurley: It just dumps out. Like. A ton of ink. Yep. Right.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. And this is. It's a take. On a traditional. Sailor nib. I think the King Eagle. Is the one. Where it's a stacked. Nib. Right. Where the tipping. Of the nib. Is essentially. Three layers. Of nibs. Kind of all stuck together.

Myke Hurley: Is Ralph making these. Himself.

Brad Dowdy: So. I don't know. All the details. I know he's doing. A lot of this. This himself. A lot of the. Manufacturing. Party stuff.

Myke Hurley: These designs. Are wild. Like. Looking through. His Instagram. There are some of them. That are just like. How is this even. Staying together.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And it's actually. I haven't talked to him. I need to talk to him. Directly. About. Like. What he's doing. Because. There's also. Regalia. Writing labs. Which he's putting on. On the Instagram. But there's no real. Great way. To get it. There's a flex nib. On there. Which we'll have linked. In the show notes. The flex nib. Looks awesome. But he did like. Ten of them. Right. So. Right. You know. It looks like. Really cool. That's something. You know. I want to. You know. Learn more about. So. Follow Ralph. On Instagram. And that's the best way. To see what he's doing. You know. He's not drinking ink anymore. He's welding nibs. So. This is. This is. His latest adventure. So. I'll see him soon. At a pen show. Hopefully. I don't know exactly. Where he's gonna. Where he's gonna be next. So. He's. He's an awesome dude. So. I look forward to seeing. What he's doing here. Because it's super interesting.

Myke Hurley: So. We go from something good. To something. A little bit disappointing.

Lamy Safari

Myke Hurley: They. They were. It was rumored. And we were. We were concerned. And the rumors have come true. The 2018 Lamy Safari. Is an. All black. Matte black. That's what they did. This is. This is crap. I'm sorry. It's like. It's like. Lamy. I just. Trying to give. The. Team. Ale Star. A win. Here. Oh. It's a lock. Yeah. And. They've done it. I mean. Maybe they just feel bad. For the Ale Star. Because it's. You know. It's. It's. It's had a bad. Bad shot. For so long. The competition. Yeah. So they just. They just figured. You know. We. We also. You know. They make the Ale Star. They must love the Ale Star. So they decided. To just. Make a really cool. Vibrant pink Ale Star. And kind of just like. Screw the pooch a little bit. On the Lamy Safari. I would say like. Okay. So like. As. As a design. For the Lamy Safari. An all black. Or a black nib. Is nice. Like. That is a cool design. It doesn't really feel like. Special edition. Right. When. Because they've already done it. Exactly. And. Also. Because the. Ale Star one. Is so freaking cool. Right. Like. If they. If they did like. An all white Ale Star. And an all black Safari. It's like. Okay. Like. Well. You know. You've got to do what you've got to do. But you've got like. This vibrant pink one. And you're stacking it up. Against just a matte black one. And it's not exciting.

Brad Dowdy: I'm sitting here. Behind the microphone. With my arms crossed. Pouting. This is. Makes me so mad. I would rather have. Their tenth shade of green. Than this all black.

Myke Hurley: Hmm.

Brad Dowdy: Pen that I already own. I already own this pen. It was called charcoal. A few years ago. When they did matte black. Black nib. Black clip. I. I have this pen. What are they going to do for the ink? Black. They're just going to repackage the black. Like they did with that blue last year. Super black.

Myke Hurley: Mm-hmm.

Brad Dowdy: Maybe they'll get that guy. That has the. The Vantablack contract.

Myke Hurley: Well. I was just going to say. If they found a way. To make a Vantablack. Lummy Safari. Now that would be. A whole different situation. Like. When I put my pen down. I can't find it anymore.

Brad Dowdy: Only one person's allowed. To use Vantablack. Like. Get straight. So. I am.

Brad Dowdy: Legitimately upset at this. Like. It makes me mad. The problem is. From. It's just me being selfish. Right? I want more. They're going to sell a crap ton of these. Right? They just are.

Brad Dowdy: Because. You know. They're lamy. They're easily accessible. It's a very cool. Looking pen. It's just not special. This is not a special edition. Um. You know. They've done black glossy. As part of their regular lineup. With chrome. They've done. Essentially. I wonder if this is just the charcoal black one. That they did. And they're just redoing it. And. I don't know. Maybe they'll call the ink charcoal. Or something. I don't know. I'm really down. About this. Decision. And not just because. It gives the. The AL star the win. Because. The AL star is awesome. The pink is. Amazing. But. This is just a letdown. For me. As someone who usually buys this every year. This is a massive letdown. I'm not going to be buying it. There's no. I mean. There's no point.

Myke Hurley: No. There isn't really. It's.

Brad Dowdy: And I'm a safari fan. Obviously. I like. I love. Lamy safaris. Yeah. Like. I've probably. I don't know how many I have. Probably not 10. But I bet I've got 7 or 8. You know. I have a bunch of special editions. I enjoy writing with them. I enjoy the colors. They're fun. Um. You know. This is going to sell well. I. I mean. There's no doubt in my mind it's going to sell well. It's not going to sell as good as the. The pink. AL star though. That thing is awesome. So. Whatever.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I'm. I'm. Disappointed.

Myke Hurley: Let me make you happy. All right. Let me tell you about pen chalet. Pen chalet. Have all the stuff you want. You know. When I was talking about my. My wonderful 1911. I got it from pen chalet. Because they're an authorized dealer. Of all the stuff. They get these things. I was able to pre-order it. Right. Like. They get it. They get these pens in quick. From sailor. As well as. Cafeco. Monte Verde. Pelican. Lami. Pilot. Namiki. So many more. So many brands. Adding all the time. And they shipped it to me super quick. It was like here within like a week. And. It was fairly priced. I'm super happy about that. If I was in the United States of America. I would have got free shipping on this order. Because it was over $50. But being outside of the US. I love the pen chalet shipping. They ship quickly. And they ship for a good price. They have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. On their pens. They don't just sell sailor fountain pens. They don't just sell fountain pens. They sell all types of pens. They have all types of accessories. They do inks. They do carrying cases. They do converters. Everything you're going to need. So. If you want to buy something new for yourself. You should always go to pen chalet first. And there's a good reason for that. Because if you go to penchalet.com. That's P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T dot com. And click the podcast link at the top of the website. And use the password penaddict. You will get yourself the code that you need. To save 10% on anything at pen chalet at any time. And also access to a special offer. This week's special offer. Features a couple of different products. We have some great prices. On some story supply notebooks. Which we're a big fan of those. We love story supply. So they're great notebooks. Especially for fountain pens. They're great pocket notebooks. Great prices. Excellent prices. And a selection of. I don't know if this is 3952. Or 3952. Or 3952. I'm assuming it's 3952. That's what I go with. They make a bunch of really cool looking fountain pens. And there's a selection of 3952 fountain pens. Over at pen chalet. For you.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. So I haven't tested those yet. But they've gotten good reviews. On you know Joe at. Gentleman Stationers reviewed them. Anna I believe has reviewed them. At the well appointed desk. I think both their reviews were very positive. I have not tried them out yet. Because I. The abalone one. Which is not on for sale. I forget the name of it. These look much better. These look more my style. Than the first one that I saw getting reviewed was. And then the story supply pricing. Of the notebooks. And the notebook cover. Is outstanding. They're super fountain pen. Fountain pen friendly paper. I love those notebooks. And there's. If you scroll down a little bit more. There's some. There's some lammies on this page. That you should definitely consider. More than the. The black. Safari. I thought this was going to be. One of those situations. Where I killed the pen. That Ron has on sale. Remember at that time. That was awesome.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. That's not. I was like. Oh no. Hopefully not again. You're good. So yeah. Go check these out.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Go check it all out. There's amazing deals. Always over at Pen Chalet. And you can go to. Pen Chalet.com. Check those out. Click the podcast link. At the top of the website. Use the code. Pen Addict. Thanks so much to Pen Chalet. For their support. Of this show. And Relay FM.

Brad Dowdy: One more. Lamy. mention. If I will. They. Changed their distributors. Last year. The. Pink one. The AL Star. Is having some distribution issues. Some people are getting it. Much earlier than others. It's been. Kind of a cluster. So far. Since Lamy switched over. There's. Out of stock items.

Brad Dowdy: There's. You know. Weird. Delays. Some people getting things. Some people not. So I think they're still trying to figure things out. So hopefully this is. They'll take this. This time. This year. To sort all the issues out. Get it right for next year. And do something cool. Again. So. To put the Safari back on top. Because you know it's going to happen. Because Safari wins. Just not this year.

Brad Dowdy: You can't let go. Right? I'm upset. I'm upset. What I'm not upset about Myke. Is my boundary prima backpack. I'm just confused. I'm not upset about it at all.

Myke Hurley: We were talking about this. Right? I think this was in the show. Was this in the show? Were we talking about it afterwards? It was in. And you had a backpack.

Brad Dowdy: It was in the show originally. Like a long time ago.

Myke Hurley: Okay. But we were talking about this. Last week. After the show. We were talking about it. You were saying. You had a package coming. And it was like. Yeah. A billion pounds in weight. Yeah. Or something.

Brad Dowdy: It was. It was 18 pounds. When it showed up. It was only eight. So it had an extra one. Ah. There you go. But that's. It still. It didn't make it that much better. So. I've had. I've talked about this ever since I backed it. You know. On Twitter. Or in other places. Not necessarily on the show. But so many people have asked me about this backpack. That I thought I should at least mention it. I'm not going to do like a full review. Or anything on here. They wanted to know. You know. What it's like. Was it worth it? That kind of stuff. Because this is a system.

Myke Hurley: Right? This is not a backpack. Like. This is like a whole packing system.

Kickstarter Project

Brad Dowdy: Kind of. Yeah. Yeah. So. This is. A Kickstarter project I backed last year. And it got really big. And they had. You know. Your standard delays. And distribution problems. And. All of the angst that goes with a big project. That kind of blows out. And. I just sat back. And there was nothing that ever. Made me question anything. Other than. Hey. It's just going longer.

Brad Dowdy: And I finally got it last week. And I. I don't think everyone's received theirs yet. There's all kinds of. Like I said. Distribution issues. Where different parts of the world. Are getting them at different times. But I got mine. Last week. I need an instruction manual. For it.

Myke Hurley: It looks. Incredibly. I'm looking at. Through the. The page. And like. There's like this little magnet. Which hooks onto a thing for keys. There's bags. That go in bags. That go in bags. It looks. Really complicated.

Brad Dowdy: It's. Extraordinarily. Complicated. It is so. Over engineered. Yeah. I guess. In a good way. For them. Like.

Myke Hurley: I mean. It looks like. They had a bunch of. Really cool ideas. And they wanted to just do. All of them. Which is why this product. Got spacked so much. I'm assuming.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. They literally did. Everything. Like. Any idea they had. They put it in here. There's spots in this bag. I'm not going to find for months. There's. There's spots in this bag. That I don't know how to use. There's things I. Vehemently. Disagree with. From a design perspective. But. Functionally. And technically. It's. Magnificently. Well. Made. I don't know what the real. Retail price is. I paid $179 on Kickstarter. I haven't looked to see. What these are selling for. After. I would be shocked. If they were under $250. I made the comment. That I couldn't get this thing. Manufactured in the U.S. For. What I paid for it. Absolutely no way. The hardware. That they used on this. Is some of the hardware. We've played around with. For our bags. And backpacks. Just like the little. Clasps. And magnets. And things like that. Are super expensive. Even. You know. Getting them. You know. In the Asian market. You know. This. I don't even know. Which. Where this was made. But it was definitely. Made overseas. But technically.

Brad Dowdy: It's extraordinary. Like. It is so well made.

Myke Hurley: And I want to just. Throw a thing in here. Because I know. You're not saying this. But I just want to make it clear. Like. You mentioned. You wouldn't be able. To get it made. In the U.S. For the price. Like. It's not a problem. That it's made overseas. No. Right. But it's just. You decide. To make.

Brad Dowdy: In the bottom.

Myke Hurley: If it was. Yeah. Like. You decide. To make your stuff. In the U.S. So like. Your point is. If you wanted to stick to. What you guys want to do. You wouldn't be able to do it. It's not that. Like. I mean. I always just feel like. I feel like. I have to. Sometimes. People just get really. Up in arms. About made in America. Right. We've spoken about this. A bunch of times. Like. Yeah. It does not. Denote quality of a product. If it's made in America. Or not. Like. There are great makers. All over the world. And it just differs in price. Like. I always just feel like. It's worth mentioning that. Now and again. Because like. People are just like. Oh. It must be made in. No. It doesn't have to be made in America. Oh. No. No. No. No. Like. What if you. You know. Like. Your standards are like. What if you made it in Germany. Like. Is that a problem. You know. Like. You know. So yeah. I just wanted to just. Just throw that out there.

Brad Dowdy: Oh yeah. No. I'm totally for made anywhere.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: You know. Like. I mean. I wouldn't have bought it.

Brad Dowdy: I just don't know how to use it. I don't know if I can use it. It's crazy heavy. Like. It's super heavy duty canvas. It's got back padding. It's got waist belts. It's got. The biggest problem I have. Is. It's kind of too hard to use. Right. It's not. It's. Which I understood going into it. It's like. I have to buy this bag. To see what they're going to do with it. Like. I just have to. Like. The price is too good. For. If what they're saying. They're going to do. If they can actually pull this off. For this price. I want it. Just because. I want to see it as someone who makes things. And they did. They. I mean. The construct. I wish. This was like a video. Podcast or something. Where. I could just show everyone. Like. I'm pulling this Velcro thing. Don't say stuff like that. Out of the pocket. Yeah. I know. But. I just. I just pulled this. Velcro thing. Out of this. Pouch. That lives in the bottom of the bag. I have no clue. What this is for. Like. Literally. No clue. Like. There's a whole bag. It's a bag. In a bag thing. But. That's the part that I don't like. Is the bag. In the bag. I took that out. To actually use the. Use the bag yesterday. But. So. Let me see if I can wrap this up. In some kind of. Nice. Neat package. It's an amazing. Feat of engineering. And manufacturing. Everything. About this bag. Is perfect. Like. Their factory. Their design. Is perfect. Their factory. Nailed. The manufacturing. Of it. I don't know. That I can use it. So. Like. I can be super ecstatic. About. What they made. At the same time.

Brad Dowdy: It could be non-functional. For me. And that's kind of. Where it is. It's going to be too heavy. Like. I could use this bag. To travel to LA. But if I did that. I wouldn't want it to be the bag. That I walked around LA with. It would be too heavy. I think as a commuter. I think you would end up. Finding this bag too heavy. Like. If you had an hour commute. Like. If you lived in the city. And you walked to the train. And then you rode the train. And then you walked to your office. And then you returned. Tripped it. I think this bag. Would be too heavy for you. I'm trying to figure out. The perfect use case. For this bag. And that's where I'm failing. With. Its design. So. You know. But at the same time. I'm in awe of it. Right. I just keep fidgeting with it. Because. The things that they did. Are amazing. I don't know how they put this together. So. I'm going to keep talking about it. I don't. But I. It's funny. I don't know that I can use it. Like. I got to figure this thing out. So. If anyone has any boundary. Prima questions. I got lots of emails. Lots of. Tweets about it. Send them to me. I'll be glad to. Answer them. As I. Play around with it more. I'm just. I don't know if I'm. Going to be able to keep it. You know. Because it might not work for me.

Myke Hurley: It looks amazing. It really looks amazing. Like. Because it just looks like a nice bag. But it's got all these. Wild features. I think it's very impressive.

Small Bag

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So. The. Honestly. If the bag. The small bag. Inside the large compartment. Of the main bag. Was not there. I would be a lot happier with it. But you can take it out. Which I did. But now I have this extra thing. I don't know what to do with. It's just weird. Anyway. I should stop talking about this now. And talk about something I did. Buy and can use. Okay. Yeah. So maybe I'll do an Instagram live. About this bag. I don't know. It'd be hard to get it all on the screen.

Myke Hurley: You should.

Brad Dowdy: It's giant. It's as big as my torso. And I'm not a small man, Myke. I don't know if I can get this on the screen. And you'd be able to see it. So. We'll see. We'll see. But let's. Let's. Let's talk about a project. That I have backed. And will use. Did you see these mics? The elemental notebooks on Kickstarter?

Myke Hurley: I saw them because you tweeted about them.

Brad Dowdy: They're pretty rad. I like. I like these styles. You know. It's. Okay. It's generally a basic notebook. Right. It's a hardcover. A5-ish size notebook. I don't know if it's true A5. I. I just. I just slammed buy buttons. And. You know. Okay. Give me two of them. Without reading the specs. It looks like it's A5. But. You know. I read through the whole project. The. Style of the notebooks is cool. The artwork is cool. The. Minimal. Look of them. Is cool. The story is cool. About the elements. You know. Science based. Notebooks. I did. Kind of. Roll my eyes. At the stretch goal levels. And then. Lo and behold. They sent an email today. We lowered the stretch goal levels. Yeah. They were a bit wild. Like. They went. Well. Huge. That. It's. It was unreasonable. Like. Yeah. It's like. I don't know what. Projects. You. Followed. Before. To think that these are achievable. But it's probably not going to happen.

Myke Hurley: So they were like. The levels were like. 20 grand. 30 grand. 40 grand. Like. It was like. Huge jumps. 40.

Brad Dowdy: Oh really? No. Those are the new levels. Oh. They were like. One of them was like. 125 grand. For one of the colors. It's just too much.

Myke Hurley: It's just the color. Like. Right.

Brad Dowdy: Right. You know. Yeah. So. But. They've. Corrected them. They've lowered them. They're still pretty high. They'll probably hit a few of them. Hey. Maybe they'll hit them all. You know. It's a really cool project. I think it's going to real. I think it's going to do well. It's obviously. It's just made its goal. Like in the past day or two. I think. Did it make its goal? Yeah. So. It's 20,000 of a $15,000 goal. So. They're. Made their goal. And. The. Stretch goal requirements. Have changed. But it's like. I. Backed for two. Notebooks. I'm just going to get whatever. You know. Things they. Whatever. Levels they get to. You know. It's like. You don't know what levels they're going to get to. I could end up with two black notebooks. You know. But. They. So. 25,000 is the next level. And then 35. And then 45. Then 70. 90. And 120. That's the new levels. So. We'll see. If this project gets to 40. I. I mean. That's probably. About where it's headed. I think at the most. 35 to 40. So. If you get to 35. You'll get three color choices. That's cool by me. You know. I think it'll get there. It looks like a great notebook. Okay.

Myke Hurley: I like the. I like the overall design of them. They're nice and simple. I like the little. Element stuff. And. I don't really understand. The. Colors. On the right hand side. But. It looks nice.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I'm going to go with. It's sciency.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. In a way that I don't fully understand. Yeah. Me neither.

Brad Dowdy: Into it. It's sciency. And it looks cool. Like. I'm super cool.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. And I'm pleased. Whatever. They brought their stretch. Stretch goals down. That's good.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. Yeah. So. Now we'll have more choice. All right. We've had a long show. I'm going to hit one. Ask TPA. Okay. If that's okay with you. Yeah. Because I need. I need the listeners help Myke. So. I. Overloaded. The ask TPA section. This week. Because I had so many good questions. But I'm going to take one. And it's from our friend.

Myke Hurley: We'll save the others. We'll save the others. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No.

Brad Dowdy: These are. These will just roll into next week. Because they're all good questions. But I want to hit this one from TPA. Because it's. A great question. I do not have an answer for. So. I want to get the listeners help. So. As TPA does. He refers to himself in the mail. This is TPA. And I come to you with a mission. Write a blog post. Or make a podcast episode. About how to store. And archive old journals. Most people will only have space. In a garage. Attic. Basement. Or storage unit. So solutions should account. For temperature fluctuations. Yes. This is a problem I'm having. I have done some googling. And I see nothing definitive. I love it too. Like I have everything digital. But I have so many notebooks. Taking up too much space. And I think putting them in a plastic tub. In the attic. Might not be a good idea. So. I replied to him. I was like. I love this question. I don't have an answer. But I think it's worth exploring. And I want to know. If listeners. Do anything. To protect. The. I guess the. Archival nature. Of. A notebook. That they have used. And want to keep. And want to pass down. From generation to generation. Are you doing anything special. To account for. Climate. Are you doing anything special. To account for. Air. You know. What things. Are you doing. That are out of. The. Throwing them in a bin. And sticking them in an attic. Which is probably. What a lot of us do. Or throw them in a bin. Stick them in a closet. You know. Are you managing. The temperature. Are you worrying about the climate. Are you. Airtight sealing these things. You know. Do not open until 2050. You know. And vacuum seal them. And you know. Put them in a. Put them in a sealed. Chamber. Hyperbaric chamber. You know. What are you doing. That's above. The basics. And. Hit me on Twitter. Send me an email. Hello at pinaddict.com. Because I want to know.

Brad Dowdy: Because I think it's an interesting question. That a lot of us. Could probably get some benefit from. Because. We write a lot. And. We store things. I have stacks of notebooks. That I've used. And. They sit in my closet. And that's fine. Like they're fine for now. They're in a. Climate controlled room. They're not stored in a box. Or anything. But. They're sitting there. Temperature's not fluctuating too much. You know. It's not too humid. But is that going to last. 50 years. You know. Are the properties of the paper. And the ink going to change. You know. Should you use. Pencil and a stone tablet. If you want your things to last forever. I don't know. So. Hit us up with those answers. And. We will explore them in a future episode. Myke. So. I like this question a lot. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Me too. Me too. I'm interested to see. What people come up with. That doesn't cost a billion dollars.

Brad Dowdy: Well. Some of us are billionaires. Myke. We can get. Elon Musk. Involved. In our project. To. To seal. And store our notebooks forever. And he can send them off.

Myke Hurley: To the moon. Or to Mars. Or like. To an asteroid. Or something. Anyway.

Brad Dowdy: I mean. You have a line to Elon. Right. I mean. We do a space podcast. On the network. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They know him.

Myke Hurley: They know him. Okay. Okay.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. Okay. So. We've got this covered. So. Yeah. Give. Give Elon some ideas. And we'll see what we can do.

Myke Hurley: All right. I can do that. If you want to catch our show notes for this week. Head on over to. Relay.fm. Slash. Penaddict. Slash. Two. Nine. Five. Wow. We're getting up there. Buddy. Woo. Approaching that 300. Barreling in. If you want to find Brad online. Penaddict.com. Knock.co. Penaddict on Instagram. Dowdyism on Twitter. I am iMike. I-M-Y-K-E. Thanks so much to Squarespace. Penchalet. And Bombfell. For checking out and supporting the show. We appreciate that. And also don't forget. Stationary.wiki. It's a thing that exists. Go there. Get information. Fill it out. We live for the support. And also. Talking about support. Thank you so much to everybody that backed our Kickstarter campaign. And if you're still about to. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We love you. You're the best. Until next time. Say goodbye Brad.

Brad Dowdy: Goodbye Brad.