The Pen Addict 319/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	319
Title:	I Triumphantly Return
Release Date:	August 1st, 2018
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 319
Audio File:	Audio Episode 319
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 319
Length:	6767 min <br />1.117 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 319. Today's show is brought to you by Pen Chalet, Away, and Blue Apron. My name is Myke Hurley, and I am joined by Brad Dowdy. Hello, Myke Hurley, how are you? Hello. I'm very good. I feel like I am doing a victory lap or something right now, as I triumphantly return to all of my shows. It's fun.

Brad Dowdy: Well, welcome back. This is called The Pen Addict Podcast. This is where we talk about all things.

Travel Stories Begin

Myke Hurley: A podcast about pens? No. Yes. Isn't that a fake show that doesn't exist?

Brad Dowdy: You know, it's definitely a multiple choice question. It's very possible it doesn't exist, except in our minds, and you're part of it for 319 episodes.

Myke Hurley: No, not 319. You've been a part of the 319. I haven't. Yes. I just missed the last two. We'll just give you 300-ish. Yeah, sure. We can go with that. Maybe. Yeah, I've probably broken 300. Who knows? But I wanted to extend my thanks to Jesse and Les for filling in for me. There is an Ask TPA question that we're probably going to get to later on in the show, so that addresses kind of my feelings about those episodes, so I won't say too much right now. Except for the fact that I wanted to thank both Jesse and Les for filling in. Brad, you did a great job, as always, as interviewer Brad, and you even did the ads this time, which was a lot of fun to hear.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, like, I feel pretty good with interviewer Brad. I feel pretty good with ad read Brad. You know what I'm not in your category with yet? It's the intro. Your intros are, like, really good. My intros, I have to, like, really think about them. Yours feel very natural. I'm, like, I'm scattered through the intro. So I'm listening to your intro to this show, and I'm like...

Myke Hurley: Thousands and thousands of intros that I have committed to the annals of time at this point.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. So Jesse and Les were awesome. They made my life easy on these two weeks you were away, gallivanting and traipsing all over, across the world. Yep. At least about halfway across the globe, I'm thinking, right?

Myke Hurley: We went out to Paris, back to London, then to San Francisco, then to Hawaii, then back to San Francisco, then to London. It was quite a trip.

Brad Dowdy: And how are you recovering from this? I can't imagine.

Myke Hurley: My body is somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean right now, but I'm good. I'm happy to be here, genuinely. Like, as much as I didn't want to leave Hawaii, which I really didn't want to leave Hawaii, it's the greatest place on the planet. I was also... When we were back in San Francisco, which is really good because we kind of had some time to adjust before going back to real life, I was ready to come back to work. Like, I was missing it. But I was ready to get back in front of the microphone again because I do love what I do. So I was really... I genuinely was like, okay, I need to... I have some stuff I need to say. And I have not... And Indiana's bored of listening to me. So someone else needs to.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And it feels good to get back into the routine. Like, I have that challenge. Like, when I get out of my routine, like, I'm good for a little bit. And then there comes a point where I start having to, like, scratch that itch. Like, I need to go back and do the things that I do. So, like, I'm good with this break. Now it's time for me to focus on what I need to do again. So, good. Glad to have you back. Did you have any stationary tales to tell from your honeymoon? My guess would be no. But I always have to ask you these questions when you go away for a while. It's like, what did you do with your pens and paper while you were away?

Myke Hurley: So, not particularly. When I was in Paris, I was with a friend of the show, Tiffany Arment. And we, like, kind of scouted out a couple of little stores that we were walking around. And, you know, it was stuff that I've seen mostly before. But we did go into this one store that looked like it was mostly a bookstore. But it was selling the Y Studio pens. Oh, nice. Which I was really surprised to see. I was like, huh, okay. And they had the desk pen and the one that you hang around your neck.

Brad Dowdy: A belt loop. But, you know, we'll go with neck.

Myke Hurley: I always thought that that went around the neck.

Brad Dowdy: No.

Myke Hurley: Doesn't it have, like, a lanyard or something?

Brad Dowdy: It does, but it's short. It's not a chain pen. It's theoretically a belt loop pen. I always thought that that was.

Myke Hurley: Because it's got, like, the little hole in the top, right? It does. So, I always thought that people hung those around their necks. That makes more sense to me. A little large and weighty. That makes more sense to me than hanging it on your belt. I feel like hanging a pen on a belt is a really bad idea. Because it would be banging against your leg all the time. And it would get. It would drive me insane. Yeah. I feel like you'd have more control of it around your neck. And you'd also strengthen your neck muscles. You would on these brass pens. But, yeah. And then, just the other thing was I was just really disappointed in myself. Because I really intended to take my canalea pens to Hawaii.

Myke Hurley: Especially because we stayed right underneath Haleakala. And I was. And we saw lots of sunsets in Haleakala. And I can attest that the colors. The yellows and the pinks. And the grays and the blacks that are in the Haleakala sunset. Are accurate. Because we saw a lot of those. There were a lot of oranges and pinks as well. But it just depended on where you looked and what the time was. I forgot to take them. I was very disappointed in myself, Brad. Very, very disappointed.

Brad Dowdy: I'm disappointed. I'm sure Hugh and Carol will share their disappointment with me. When I see them this week. And if they don't. I will make sure to throw you under the bus.

Myke Hurley: So, I posted one picture that was a sunset picture. So, you can kind of get an idea. I put it on my Instagram. The best comment. The very, very best comment. Came from Jonathan Brooks. And he just said, how inspirational. Which I liked very much. Very, very much. But, yeah. So, whilst I haven't got any pictures to share of my pens with the scenes that I was seeing there. What I will say. Just to try and make up for it. Is the work that everybody is doing over at Canalea Pens. They are doing an incredible job at recreating the beautiful scenes of Hawaii. So, you can rest assured that when you pick one of those pens up. And we are going to talk about one later on. But you can rest assured that you are getting something that looks accurate in color. And, again. I don't know how they do it.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. That's still beyond my comprehension. So, being gone for two weeks. You had the opportunity to get a backlog of things we needed to talk about. Yeah. And, to be honest. This first topic I had already forgotten about. Because I just assumed it was over. But it turns out it's not. So, why don't you fill us in on the great podcast thread of the Lamy orange ink cartridges. Yep. What's going on now? I thought we had ten boxes coming.

Lamy Cartridge Discussion

Myke Hurley: The long story of the Lamy orange cartridges, right? Which we found, believed them to be a weird orange ink. I ended up finding a store that seemed to sell them. We got a box. The box that we had looked like it was not the copper orange, but a different orange. So, then I was supposed to give some of these to Brad. But ended up ruining two of the cartridges because I'm an idiot. And then I ordered ten boxes from the company that I'd found that was selling them. When I came home, I was expecting to find those. They did not arrive. So, I emailed the company and said, hey, can you give me an update on this order? They emailed me back to say that they had accidentally sent these cartridges to a different person.

Myke Hurley: And because this is what they called limited edition ink, they were not sure that they could get any more. And that they would have to contact Lamy and let me know. Then Lamy told them. I got another email. And Lamy told them that they have no more cartridges of this color. And they're issuing a refund to me.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, because these were never for sale to begin with. And this is what I expected the first time. I almost didn't expect the one box to show up the first time. And then they did. I was like, huh. So, they must have had a stash of these. And then you broke them and forced them to lie to you to cover their bahonkuses. And, yeah. The end. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: I don't know what really went on there. But I came to the same conclusion that you did.

Brad Dowdy: So, yeah. I don't expect that we'll see much more of these anymore until Lamy just comes out with an orange themselves. This isn't... We discovered what this was like 10 years old type of not for sale promo type of stuff. So, we'll see. Maybe we'll get some interesting colors in the future. And I hope that orange is one of them because this is a nice bright orange. It'd be cool to have.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I will hold on to the, like, two cartridges that I have left. You can have them. Yeah. One day.

Brad Dowdy: One day, right. Maybe this fall. This fall you can bring them to me. I should probably work on that part of the Kickstarter, shouldn't I? The Toronto, New York City.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I would love to know the travel plans.

Brad Dowdy: After DC, we'll do that.

Peak Design Backpacks

Myke Hurley: I know. Sure. You know how I roll. Look, the DC pen show, which we are going to talk about a little later on today, is the biggest pen show of your year. Yeah. I understand that things have to take a little bit of precedence to that. And I know that you're a very efficient man. And as soon as you come back from that trip, everything will be planned out to the second. I know that.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. I'd say that's reasonably accurate. I will go along with that. On my trip, will I be taking a Peak Design Travel backpack? You wish, buddy. Because you put this in the document, and I'm wondering why. Like, this was kind of random. Like, we talk about bags and backpacks all the time, and we both love a good backpack. Then you drop this in on me. Do you have one of these or something? No, no. Are you backing this? What's going on here? Well, I have the...

Myke Hurley: Two million dollars. Yes. Good lord. Yeah. And it's only been up for like three days.

Myke Hurley: So I have the Peak Design Everyday backpack, which is their, like, camera bag, right? I think we've spoken about this. I'm sure we've spoken about this. Yes. We have. I kind of moved away from my tomb bin and went to the Everyday Backpack. And I absolutely love this bag. I know people that love it. I know people that tolerate it. I know people that don't like it. But I am in the, I love this bag. It is the best travel bag I have personally owned. But the thing is, this bag is actually a camera bag, right? Right.

Brad Dowdy: It is a... So is the original.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. It is a backpack to be used for everyday stuff for photographers. It, like, is built by photographers for photographers in mind, right? Like, so there's a lot of features to it, which are photography focused. And I kind of, like, hack it to my own requirements and needs, right? Right. Now, they knew that a bunch of people were using their bag for travel. So they have made a travel bag. That's what this Kickstarter is for. And it is a pretty huge backpack. It's a 45 liter backpack. Right. But the everyday that I have, they do a 20 and a 30 liter. And I have the 20 liter. The 30 liter is huge. But the actual physical dimensions of the backpack that they're making, the new one, is not that much bigger than my 20. Like, it's... So, like, it's just with the way that they've built the system and it's got, like, it can be expanded and stuff like that. But in kind of, like, the regular non-expanded, it's not that much bigger. And they've created a bunch of, like, pouches and cubes and stuff that all look pretty good. Now, I'll tell you the reason that I bag this. Their bag, their everyday bag, is full of little touches that I've never seen on any other bag. Like, they seem to go to quite a length to invent little things. Right? Like, they have that magnetic latch at the front, which I love. And they have these little security things for the zips. And they have this, like, system that goes in the middle. Like, everything's accessed from the side. Right? Like, all these little details that seem to be pretty unique for me. Or at least they execute them in a unique way. Like, kind of a different way. So, I really, really like this bag a lot. And I am super keen to see what an actual travel system from them could look like. So, I have backed it. It is expensive. I mean, the reason that they have made $2 million so far is that, kind of, to get the bag is $235. And then, I mean, I've gone all in on, like, a $400 pledge, which comes with packing cubes and a tech pouch and a wash pouch and a shoe pouch and a rain cover. Because I don't want all of those things, but I do want, like, half of those things. So, I figured that I would just go in for it. So, this is just a company that I think is super interesting. And they're doing Kickstarter really well. Like, this is, like, their third or fourth bag that they put on Kickstarter. You know, it's, like, one of those things where, like, this is how they launch their products now. You know, like, they're just kind of, this is what they do. And I think that it is really interesting. I think, so, I'm pretty keen to see what this is going to look like. Like, this bag is bigger than my bag in a kind of, in a way that I don't know how I'll feel. But I'm pretty excited about this because I like what this company does. So, that's kind of, that's why I wanted to put it in there. I felt like it fit with this show pretty well because it's Kickstarter and it's bags.

Brad Dowdy: Well, and you'll probably use the heck out of this as much as you're moving around, you know, going different places.

Myke Hurley: Well, this is it, right? Like, and I don't, I mean, I don't see myself as a single bag travel bag person. Right. You know, like, I'm not going to start necessarily going on, like, weekend trips and putting everything in a backpack. Like, I actually prefer bags with wheels for that, like, for clothes and toiletries and stuff. Like, I like to check. I always check. Like, I check carry-on sized bags because I don't like to have to go through the whole, like, you've got to get this toiletry and this size. And, like, I don't like to make those kind of weird trade-offs when, because I'm always flying transatlantic mostly, I always get an included check bag. Right. Like, every airline that I fly with, you get at least one bag that you can check for free. So, I just do it. Right. And, you know, whatever. Like, it's just something that I've always done this. So, I'm not, like, a single bag travel person. But I do tend to carry just a lot of stuff in my carry-on bag. You know, I'm bringing, right, my computers. I'm bringing pens and paper. I'm bringing my Nintendo Switch. You know, like, I tend to have quite a lot of stuff anyway. So, yeah. You know, I don't know. Maybe I have this thing. I use it for a bit. Don't like it. And sell it. Right. But I actually do think I'm going to like this bag because I like their products. So, there you go. And they've got an estimated delivery by the end of the year, which, you know, I'm pretty confident that they'll be able to do. I mean, this doesn't surprise me, though, because this company, all the materials, like, the base materials that they're using, they use all these materials, right? Like, they know how to work with it all. Like, this is purely just, I would expect, we need to get the product out there. And so, they're going to, you know, they're going to do that. It's pretty cool. Yeah, that's cool that they're getting it done by the end of the year. I don't even notice that. That's what they're saying. You never know, right? Like, you never know. Oh, sure, sure, sure, sure. But that just statement. I trust them, though. Yeah, I have faith in them because they're a pretty established company at this point. They should know what they're doing, right? So, like, when they tell me by the end of the year, I'm expecting that, right? Because I'm looking at this, and I'm like, you don't need to, you don't need to kickstarter this, right? You could sell this on your own, most likely, right? But this is a choice that they're making. But I don't necessarily think it's because they need to buy a machine that they don't own, right? Like, I don't think it's like that. This is a pre-order system. So, I have faith that they'll be able to deliver it on time.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so with Peak, I'm always impressed with their designs and their build and their quality. But I discovered I'm not a modular bag system guy. When I ordered the Boundary Prima, everyone was asking me about that. And I received it, and I kept calling it, like, a feat of engineering, right? That's what these Peak design bags are. But I couldn't use it. Like, it was too big and too modular and too much going on. And the only Peak I've seen that I would consider carrying, which Myke Inkdependence just mentioned in the chat room, he has – I see him carry around his Peak Messenger. It looks really nice. So, maybe one of these days I'll look at that. But the peaks and the boundaries with all the innards are not for me. And I know you don't have to use them, but it also kind of defeats the purpose if you're not using the things that they're designed for. Yeah. But I continue to watch them because they're doing really good things in a really nice way. So, I'll be interested to see what you think about this bag. 45 is huge. I have a 48 Tom Ben Aeronaut, which is closer to a duffel, but has backpack straps. It's huge. But I can get, like, five, six days of clothes in there easy. It can be, like, one-bag travel for me.

Myke Hurley: That is – it's bigger than I would typically want a bag to be. But that is, like, the maximum size. Its normal state is 35, which still might be too big for me. But we'll see. Mm-hmm.

Kickstarter Project Discussion

Brad Dowdy: Yep. Well, I got another Kickstarter project to talk about, but let's talk about one of our good friends first.

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Brad Dowdy: So you mentioned that Peak, this was like their third project and they're over like $2 million. Well, under our neck of the woods, our good friends at Big Eye Design just launched their 24th Kickstarter project. How is that a thing? How is that a thing, man? Blimey. I didn't realize that. I mean, I know I've been friends with Chadwick and Joe for a long time. I didn't realize it was 24 projects worth. And not everything's pens. So like, you know, we may not all see everything. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But the latest one is a pen. It's the Ti Click EDC. And this is taking the Ti Arto, which was like the big, the larger fits all the refills type of pen and squishing it down into a smaller size and adding a knock and making it. It doesn't fit the 200 plus refills, but it fits like 100 refills. You know, the way they built this pen. Everyone's pretty excited about this. It did. It's already at $132,000 after I think it just launched Monday or it launched just like a few days ago. So I'm a backer. I'm definitely getting one of these. I haven't had one to test out yet. But I'll drive up to Chadwick's house here, you know, maybe when I get back from D.C. and stalk him and knock him out when he leaves the house and steal the one out of his pocket. So he doesn't live too far away from me now. So I'll have to go hit him up and find this. But I love what they do. And they are consistently great. Like they have this down to a science, obviously, with this many projects under their belt. So I just wanted to mention that it's a company I love, making a product I like. I'm all in.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, it looks really cool. Like this isn't a pen for me personally. Right.

Myke Hurley: But I'm very confident that it will be made incredibly well because I have one of their pens and I don't remember the name of it. Is it the one with the magnetic cap?

Brad Dowdy: Oh, man, I have no idea. I don't think they've done a magnetic cap one. But like I said, this is their 24th campaign. I could be getting something.

Myke Hurley: I might have a different one of theirs when I'm thinking of something else. But these guys, they really know what they're doing. Like you're going to get a great thing. And they've done fantastic. They've made how much is this? It says it impounds to me. $132,000 on this. So bravo, gentlemen. Bravo, indeed.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. Yep. So what do you think about the system pencil? Like I'm changing a hard turn here into one of the best retro 51 pens we have ever seen. I think that feeling is mutual between the best of us.

Myke Hurley: It's my favorite. I think so. I think it's my favorite. The system by Mumbag Dudek is my favorite retro 51 design. So he dropped a pencil on you now. What are you going to do? I'm thinking about it still. Yeah. I'm out. Okay. The reason that I'm on the fence about it is because I just don't use mechanical pencils very much.

Myke Hurley: I have a retro 51 mechanical pencil and I like it. I don't love it. And I don't choose it over my rotary. So that's the reason that I haven't bought this yet. But if you do want a mechanical pencil version for whatever reason, you can now get your hands on it and it's going to look incredible. I really like the black eraser on the end. That's the thing that's like, that's what's really getting me because I think that looks so good. But it's there if you want it. And I think the mechanism is kind of interesting because it twists like the tornado. So you kind of twist it out and twist it back. It's an interesting mechanism. I think it works pretty well because it's not clicky because that would be such a shame because the twist is part of what makes the tornado so great. Probably where the name comes from. Yeah, probably. I've just realized that. Maybe. Wow, mind blown.

Brad Dowdy: That's probably where the name comes from because you twist it. That'll deserve an email. Now I'll have to email them or tweet them or something. Check that.

Myke Hurley: Someone check that for me.

Brad Dowdy: Not all pens deserve a pencil component. This is one that's a perfect setup, right? Yeah. Like, you know, people that, you know, not a lot of people buy like the combo, the pen and pencil combo sets because they're not always like the, you don't always want both of them. I have a feeling that a lot of people will pick this one up. It's like, this is kind of like the perfect pen and pencil combo to add those both of those things available. Right. Right. So like, you know, I have never considered doing like a combo set because I don't know. I haven't, I haven't thought of what would work as both writing instruments. Like I don't like, I could make, you know, the pencil all day long, but is it like a good set for someone to buy? I don't think so. But like the system is like, that feels like the right one to do like the pencil set for. And it looks awesome. So I might sit here and talk myself into it, which I really don't need it.

Myke Hurley: Well, at least you'll have somewhere to put it though, Brad.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. What do you mean, Myke?

Myke Hurley: You have a new product of your own. I actually saw this in Atlanta. You showed me this when I went back to the workshop. It is the Knock Co pencil pouch, which is one of the most inventive visual designs that the two of you have put out because everything is colored like a yellow pencil, right? With the pink eraser. But this is a longer case, which is intended to hold woodcase pencils, right?

Brad Dowdy: Right. Yeah. So we made, we always wanted to make just like a pencil pouch. And we decided if we're going to make a pencil pouch, we have the material ability to make it look like a pencil. You know, that's not necessarily an original idea. I'm sure there's lots of pencil pouches out there, but we did it in our style with, you know, our fabrics and our materials. And we did a little bit of a tweak on the Knock logo, put a pencil on the crossbar at the bottom. I just, I know it's my stuff, but I love how this turned out. It looks really fun. I love it. The yellow bag for the pencil barrel, the pink zipper for the eraser and the graphite handle pull for the lead component. I thought it just worked. And we were, when Jeff and I put this together earlier this year, we're like, yep, that's it. Like, this is the one. So we did it. So, but this is a nice, simple, traditional pen pouch, right? When you think of a, or pencil pouch, when you think of a pencil pouch, this is what it is. Just an open bag envelope style, you know, size wise, rectangular zip across the top. And that's it. It's super simple. It's very inexpensive. 15 bucks. Like, you know, this, you know, it doesn't have like all the bells and whistles of a Sinclair or a seed case, but that's not what it's for. It's for smaller stuff, accessories. And it looks cool. I'm not going to lie. It looks cool as heck.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. You knocked it out of the pocket that design. Like, thank you. It really, it's not very, very simple, but it screams what it's supposed to be. Yeah. It's very good. It looks very good.

Brad Dowdy: Well, and it feels like us, like we, we just, we make things that we like and, you know, this, this turned out really good. This puts a smile on our face. So we're, we're glad to have it.

Myke Hurley: Talking of knockout designs.

Brad Dowdy: This is on a different level here. So this is where you drop the ball on your trip. I picked you up a little bit because my review of the Canalea Hanuma Bay fountain pen came out last week, which I'd been meaning to do it for months since we got it in Atlanta. And I, I don't know. I really love this pen. It's been inked up since I got it. It's my favorite design that they have. I'm almost like, should I sell my other one? Because I'm going to use this one every time I want to use a Canalea pen. And, um, it's like, no, I kind of like the orange one too. So yeah, these materials and designs and the way these pens feel and write are just nice. They're really nice. Um, it's like, I can't put it down. I can't stop staring at it. It's one of those pens where you just hold it in your hand, even if you're not writing with it. Like if you're using it and writing and then you stop writing, you'll just hold it and look at it because it's so neat looking. Um, I really enjoy it. And it turns out I made a mistake in the story.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, you, you, I mentioned many times during this, uh, review and it actually isn't even really a typical review, which I actually kind of really like. You don't really talk about the pen itself very much. Like you don't really, it's like, oh, it writes like this and it's weighted like this and the nib is like this. Because with Canalea, that's mostly unimportant. Like, really, you're buying these pens because of how they look. And you find one that looks good for you. And as you said, and I like the way you closed it, right? Where you tell your own story with it. And that's what you did. You told a small selection of stories about kind of getting this pen and then just Canalea pens in general. Because it helps kind of illustrate the idea that these pens are just beautiful objects that perform perfectly well. Right? Like, right. That they don't blow you out away with a certain mechanism or whatever. They're just, they're nice and simple in the, like the actual, like.

Myke Hurley: The shape. The shape. Or the build. The build. The build. Because they don't want to, I believe that the reason for this is they don't want to distract from the material. Because the material sells these pens, you know. Right. These literally picture perfect designs that they put out. And Hanuma Bay has some stuff that's interesting, right? Like, the section has a transparent part. Like, a demonstrator part that runs through it. I think that's present in all of them. At least it has been in all the ones that I've seen. That there is a clear, like a predominantly clear element that runs through it somewhere. Right? There's a bunch of glitter. You know, like shine and loads of different colors. It really is just a stunning design. But yeah, one of the stories you told, you said that at the 2017 Atlanta show, I wanted to get to the floor early to get the Haleakala silhouette. That was in DC. Was it? Yeah. Because the Haleakala was the DC launch pen. Gotcha.

Brad Dowdy: In 2017. So, Hanuma will be at this show. So, I should remember that.

Myke Hurley: It was Atlanta 2017 or 2016 when I did the same thing, but for my first one. Gotcha. You remember, right? Like, I was waiting for them to open up and then just went and picked it. But yes, that was the one where the pen that I ended up choosing was the one that was featured in Pen World.

Brad Dowdy: That cracked me up to no end when you told me that. I was like, that's just perfect. Of course, Myke picked that one out. And now he's got that story to tell, which I thought was funny.

Myke Hurley: And I still believe personally that Hugh and Carol probably wanted to keep that one, but just sold it to me to be nice. Well, they had it out. You picked it out. I know. But it's like one of the things where it's like, oh, didn't mean to put that one out. Right? Like, that's kind of how I've always imagined that story going. You keep telling yourself that. But yeah, look, there's just, with these pens, there's just like, when reviewing them, there's not really much point in getting into the nitty gritty with it. Because they're like, you have to see them to believe them, right? Which is a big thing. I mean, you can buy them online. And if you really want one, if you don't have the opportunity to get to a pen show, then yeah, buy them online. But if you do have the opportunity to get to a pen show in maybe like a month and you know Canalea is going to be there, wait. Go and pick one out. Because the designs of these things are so wonderful. And literally every single one is unique. That there's kind of something special that can't be described with that, with a list of specs. It's pretty great.

Pen Chalet Sponsorship

Brad Dowdy: Yep, it's pretty great. Speaking of pretty great, Myke, talk to me about my friends at Pen Chalet.

Myke Hurley: Oh, let me do that. So our friends over at Pen Chalet sell everything you're looking for. They sell rollerballs, fountain pens, ballpoints, mechanical pencils. They have refills and pen cases and pen holders and converters and so much more. From big to small, from all of your favorite brands, Pen Chalet have got it all. And they're an authorized dealer of all of their products. They offer fast and reliable customer service. They do free shipping on orders of over $50 in the US. And they sell internationally as well and have great shipping rates for that. Pen Chalet always work to have the best prices available. And they very frequently have deals and discounts that are just available for everybody. As well as the special stuff that we do. Pen Chalet has low prices and high quality pens. And they offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. So 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. Enter the password Pen Addict. And you'll get your hands on this week's special offer. And the code that you need to save 10% on anything you buy at Pen Chalet. You don't need to just buy what's on the page. You can take the code there and use that code to get 10% off of anything. But this week's special offer. So Ron told me, I have a selection of stuff, big and small, at many different prices. Tell people to go and look at it. Because it's too many things. And there's some stuff you can't talk about price-wise. So I understand there's a lot of things over at Pen Chalet that are available for Pen Addict listeners right now.

Brad Dowdy: I haven't made it to the bottom of the page yet. There you go. I usually can, right? So it looks like Ron's going through an annual sale. Just like, you know, getting, cleaning, cycling through the stock and getting deals on things he needs to move. Which there's some pretty awesome pins in here. Like I said, there's normally like six or seven or eight things. And I'll hit the bottom of the page. This one takes a lot of scrolling to get to the bottom. So you need to check it out. There's Aurora's in here. Visconti's in here.

Brad Dowdy: Platinum's in here. Conklin. There's Pilot Star.

Myke Hurley: There's Pen Cases in there as well. Sailor Pen Case. A couple of Platinums. It goes on and on and on. So you need to go and check it out.

Brad Dowdy: So yeah, this is a huge, huge list of goods for Pen Addict listeners. And yeah, and you can even use that discount on any other products that aren't listed.

Myke Hurley: So go and support Pen Chalet because they do such a great job of supporting this show. Go to PenChalet.com and click that podcast link and you can get everything that you need. Thank you so much to Pen Chalet for the continued support of this show and Relay FM.

Brad Dowdy: Heading to DC tomorrow, Myke. Washington, DC International Pen Mega Super Hype Show. I think that's the official name of it.

Myke Hurley: It's a really big name.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So it's Bob, the promoter. He likes to keep the name big just because it's the biggest pen show in the world, you know, according to him at least. And we had some issues last year. You know, we've discussed that. If you go back about, I don't know, 50 episodes or so, I'm sure we talked a lot about last year's DC Pen Show experience and all the difficulties that came along with that. But this year, earlier this year, I was nervous. Right now, I'm just hype. Like, I am so excited. I haven't been this excited for a pen show since, like, San Francisco about two years ago. Like, my first San Francisco or last year's San Francisco because that's just a really good show. And it's fun. And, you know, I like going out to that area. I haven't been this excited for a show in a while. I don't know if it's because I haven't been to a show in a while, even though it's only been, like, two months. That seems like a long time for me. I miss seeing, you know, all my friends that get to be there. I miss just the environment of a pen show. I miss working a pen show.

Brad Dowdy: And what happened last year at the show is not even on my radar right now, which I feel is like that's a good place for me to be mentally. You know, maybe that's delusional in the end. But I am more excited for this show than I've been for any show in quite some time. I can't put my finger on it. I just think there's going to be a lot of people there. There's going to be a lot of friends there. And I hope it's going to be, you know, a lot of customers there for Knock. And I'm just excited. So, yeah. We'll see how it goes. You'll know pretty quickly how it's going by Friday.

Myke Hurley: So, look out for some Instagram lives of a red-faced Brad Dowdy to appear some time over the weekend. Yeah. Website's so bad. My God.

Brad Dowdy: That's why I wasn't sure of the actual show name. I just call it the DC Pen Show.

Myke Hurley: The Washington DC Collectible Fountain Pen Super Show. Okay. It's the 27th annual.

Brad Dowdy: I thought there was some international thing in there, but maybe not.

Myke Hurley: I think there was international before, but now it's collectible.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. Pretty amazing. It's more national than international. So, anyway. It's going to be fun. You know, I'm going to have Jeff and I both go to this show because it's traditionally super big and super busy. We do.

DC Pen Show Discussion

Myke Hurley: You're one man down. One man down this year. Come on. Yeah. One man down this year. You sad I'm not going to be there?

Brad Dowdy: Not really. Yeah. I'm good. Good. Good. Good talk. Good talk.

Brad Dowdy: I just finished seeing you. I'm going to see you in a few months, so I'm not shedding any tears, you know. I'll miss you, though. Of course, I'll miss you. Fine, fine, fine. You know, the people will miss you. I won't miss you. The people will miss you, though. Okay. I'll accept that. They'll ask where you are. They'll be looking for you. The people will be looking for you. but yeah I'll have Jeff and then we're going to be right next to Van S pens who has Anna and Joe from the gentleman stationer so that's going to be the party area with all of us all in one spot so you'll have to come you'll have to come find us when you get there apparently we have a pretty good pretty good table this year apparently Bob already has the tables assigned so we'll see oh he does I mean you never know right I mean I would really like

Myke Hurley: everything to go well so like next week when we talk about it it's just going to be good stuff right as opposed to like oh we're going to talk about it and it's going to be just Brad's mad for 20 minutes you know what I mean like it's just whilst you know if that's what happens that's what we'll talk about but I much prefer to talk about the good things that happened rather than focusing on the bad things that happened you know so I do hope that everything goes well I would assume that after the debacle of last year that it would go better because I just don't understand how anyone couldn't learn from that experience no matter what somebody's capabilities are like you would learn from that experience because it really was a mess so right you know uh what are you what are you doing in regards to stock this year are you bringing more because you know the legend goes uh that we completely sold out on the first day last year

Brad Dowdy: well not the first day but by by Sunday at like noon we shut down because we're out of stock

Myke Hurley: I mean like the first full day by the end of Saturday we had no pen cases left oh yeah pretty much we just had paper products pretty much on on Sunday and like the larger lookouts I think yeah we had some lookouts we had some uh some of the bags what's the bag called the linear linear that's it and some paper products that that was it that was all that it was yeah and then we sold out all that

Brad Dowdy: too so like we just ended up shutting it down with like a handful of things just to pack up it wasn't even worth it um yeah we have we've over packed I'm wondering what TSA is going to think about this bag when I roll it in to the uh to the airport tomorrow we're bringing a lot of stuff um we have more stuff this year because we'll have the seed a5 cases which have been a huge hit we'll have the pencil cases of course that we just made and as of right now I'm scheduled to have the first alternate color of the Tallulah case show up at my house this afternoon so if that arrives in time which I'm planning on it that will be a big hit for DC um I hope uh here let me let me tell you a little manufacturing story because I don't want to get any Kickstarter people upset that there'll be a different color Tallulah available before they get their Kickstarter one yeah so this is this is my manufacturing story this is my life right so I've talked about how when we work with our case manufacturer that we work off a priority list so and that's always kind of changing like we'll work a month or two out of a time like they have purchase orders for thousands and thousands and thousands of cases of ours right now and then we work through the models and colors we need in what priority order so for like a month straight like in June clay Tallulahs were number one um for the Tallulahs and then there's a second color of Tallulah that's gonna be black and gray so I said that the clay one I want first and then you know he'd resend the uh the information you know that he okay he's got it and here's the order confirm this order I'm like yep that looks good and then you know like a couple weeks later we confirm it again and I'll be like you know I don't care what you do I need the clay ones first so then we'll confirm it again like three confirmations that the clay Tallulah cases are going to be made first and then Monday or maybe Friday I get an email saying okay the black Tallulahs are shipping I lost my mind I sent them the biggest nasty gram ever because it's only going to get me in trouble for two reasons number one they're going to show up before the clay ones and number two I have to sell them at DC because that's how we make money right so like I'm not gonna hold them until we get the clay ones I sent the nastiest email I was so mad that I said my email was something to the order of like so no matter how much I said it there was no shot at those clay ones getting made first was there like I was I was just I was livid and then we got on the phone after that and I blasted him and like this is just my this is just my rep right this isn't like the guy making the manufacturing queue right this is my my account manager if you will and but it is responsible he's my liaison right he has

Myke Hurley: to be communicating your words your message to his team and then he's communicating the message from the

Brad Dowdy: team back to you that's what an account manager does right so I was I was hot but there's at least some moderately good news the clay Kickstarter Tallulah cases are starting to ship um next week so oh we're still gonna hit our we're still gonna hit our time frame for August we'd said August all along but I would have liked to had those in Kickstarter backers hands before I started selling the black ones like it's not gonna be no one's getting the same case as the Kickstarter backers right that case in that color is only for them yeah but then we ordered at the same time we ordered a black and gray one for us to have as inventory right and they just screwed up the order which I mean that should be the name of their company as we screwed up the order like I that's all I deal with so that's my life I said it's like it's no matter I like no matter what I say you're gonna do whatever you want and it's frustrating so so I made him at least I said all right well you're gonna pay to get these black ones here so I can take them to DC and at least you know make some money

Myke Hurley: so they said okay let me ask you sorry just as a as a we turn this into a Kickstarter update will the pins be going out with these cases

Backing Card Production

Brad Dowdy: yep they the pins are ready um Anna has the pins in hands she just got the backing cards like we're making the our own backing cards separately so those just arrived last week so now the pins need to batch be attached to the backing cards those need to get to me and we'll have all of it shipped out before August is up as long as they hold hold tight to their um August 3rd starting to ship date for the Tallulah and Clay for Kickstarter so we're super close we're we're like right there and then um so I sent out a backer update on the Kickstarter I'll send out the address survey at the end of the after DC once I get back from DC we'll send out a backer survey to get everyone an address and then by the end of the month we'll have them all shipped so should be easy

Myke Hurley: well that's good that's good that's something I will agree uh with uh Jay uh JS Ockley and uh Jay Suckley in the in the chat that you really buried the lead on that one like oh well you know Kickstarter's cancelled uh no lol JK

Brad Dowdy: well I just I like to do things a certain way and I wanted the Kickstarter backers to have their cases first like that's I mean that's how I like to operate right so

Myke Hurley: yeah I know because that's what you you didn't we didn't say it but right but the the the the assumption is easy to be made right that like the first people that are going to get this new case that was premiered for the Kickstarter campaign would be Kickstarter backers right that's just kind of an assumption that we can all make

Brad Dowdy: together yeah but it just makes me mad when I do everything I can to make that happen and still can't make it happen yes I get I get frustrated so and then at the same time like I understand the optics of me bringing a new case to DC and letting other people buy it is a little bit weird but I also can't not bring that case to DC if I have it right from a business perspective so it's a little bit weird I didn't like how it played out I tried my dangness I don't know what else I could have done but they're not far behind they're literally the the first shipping date is 8-3 so like in two days they should start leaving the facility which means I'll get them next week so which means it won't be long till everyone has their Kickstarter case and pin set in hand so we're still we're still good on the time frame but uh that's my

Sponsor Break

Myke Hurley: manufacturing story for this week I appreciate it let's take a break thank our final sponsor for this episode and that is our friends at away they're a team of thinkers seekers and designers they make smart premium suitcases so your luggage will never cost more than your plane ticket if you're anything like me and you carry electric devices with you as you roam around the the world on planes and trains and automobiles I can almost guarantee that one thing that you definitely need that you always want is battery battery is a thing that we all need all the time we need more battery to charge our devices well if you buy an away carry-on you'll be all set because both sizes of the carry-on feature usb ports of a battery large enough to charge your phone five times from a single charge and has a great little mechanism where you can pop the battery out just you push it down it springs right out and then you can carry it around with you when you arrive at your destination so it's not only good for when you're kind of in transit but then also when you're at the place that you want to be because typically when you go somewhere you also need more battery too because using your phone for pictures and navigation all that kind of stuff so away have got you covered when you're traveling and then when you arrive as well go to away travel.com slash pen addict right now and you can browse their suitcase options they feature premium german polycarbonate which is unrivaled in strength and impact resistance whilst remaining lightweight they have 10 colors and five sizes to choose from they have the carry-on the bigger carry-on the medium the large and the kids carry-on as well away keep their prices down because they cut out the middleman they sell directly to you so you can get first class luggage at coach prices they have a patent pending compression system which i love because uh one when we went out to paris i took my away case and i took too much stuff but i was able to put it in and like cinch it down and it was all able to fit um i love the 360 degree spinner wheels that's what i was saying earlier right like i like to be able to pull a case not put everything on my back when i'm traveling i like to just have it especially with the four wheels if you can just push it pull it it's really easy to use um aways carry-ons are compliant with all major u.s airlines and they have tsa combination locks built in they also feature a removable washable laundry bag so you can separate your clean clothes from your worn ones away have a lifetime guarantee on their products if anything breaks they'll fix or replace it for life and they have a 100 day no questions asked trial and if you don't like it you can just send it back within 100 days to them so no questions asked return policy they're great with that and they do free shipping on any order within the lower 48 states of the u.s but they ship into many places all over the world so you can check out right now at awaytravel.com slash penaddict you can go find out more about the suitcase that charges your phone and then when you use the code penaddict to check out you'll get 20 off any of their suitcases that's awaytravel.com slash penaddict and the code penaddict to get that 20 off thank you so much to away for their support of this show and relay fm so you know i'm an away owner now right i yes you are yes you

Brad Dowdy: i forgot about that yeah they we we took them to london they did amazingly well the uh employees at the hotel enjoyed them very much like they i got dark ones like we got the four i got the forest green oh yeah the uh we're sitting there checking out and you know the two ladies uh one of them's checking me out and then her partner's standing right there um and you could see them just start talking to each other like you know while i'm sitting there signing something or whatever and they go oh we're sorry we're just commenting on your luggage what is it i'm like oh let me tell you so yeah let me tell you about the suitcase that charges your phone use the coupon code penaddict at checkout

Myke Hurley: so i will say like we're out with the ad now and we're just chatting about it now but i have that aluminium one right um i got the uh the aluminium carry-on it's getting all dinged up now and i love it that's why i bought it because they like i have pictures on their website if it all dinged up like like bumps in itself because that's what aluminium suitcases do right like they get they get kind of dinged up and uh it looks so good like that it really it just looks

Brad Dowdy: excellent one more away story i gave alex grief because she was carrying around the away uh charger

Myke Hurley: when i saw casey do it too i saw casey do it too and i was like haha that's what gave me the idea for saying about when you arrive at a place you can take it with you because a bunch of podcasters with their away cases were carrying around their away batteries in london that was hilarious so yeah

Listener Questions Begin

Brad Dowdy: all right we got some ass tpa to get to and the first one you referred to earlier and it's for you so i will ask it how was it listening to several shows in a row purely as a listener i enjoy it

Myke Hurley: greatly because i like pen stuff yeah it's funny to me when i listen to the pen addict and i'm like oh this is a good show like you know like again i'm not commenting on myself because i'm not on those episodes right but like i listen to it and i'm like yeah i like this type of conversation so it's always a lot of fun for me to listen back i will say i i really enjoy listening to the show uh because i find you very interesting brad you're you're you're very good at this stuff very good at talking which is one of the reasons why uh i keep showing up week after week for so many years right because i just enjoy doing the show with you but the subject matter is good too so uh i i enjoy being a listener of this show when i'm not around awesome yeah that's cool i uh i always wonder that like when

Brad Dowdy: you're outside of the thing that you do a lot and then you see it like from a different uh in your case ear different set of ears or in my case with pin cases different set of eyes it's uh you know it's it's cool when you're when you're really happy about that those type of things and about the content you produce like it's fun to kind of see that you know do its own thing without you sometimes

Myke Hurley: yeah permanently it brings me back energized as well exactly exactly because it's like oh i enjoyed that what can i do to make it better you know that's kind of how i feel when when i come back after a little after a break so yeah well the jury's still out on that so yeah yeah yeah for sure for

Brad Dowdy: sure i get it all right so let's see if we can help out michelle real quick her seven-year-old's best friend is moving overseas in a few weeks so i'm putting together a letter writing box for her what would you include she's already a total pen and pencil nerd so anything new would need to be really awesome or i can skip it so anna replied she she mentioned um rubber stamps stamp pads and stickers and washi tape which is great like the first thing i thought of was stickers and washi tape because they're just fun to add to letters and then i thought well how about changing the the correspondence page completely because i enjoy the black paper that i've gotten and i think kids that age would really like seeing like the bright inks that you can put on the black paper so i'll have a couple of show notes links in the show notes for some black paper i've tested out i haven't tried the exact yasutomo pens that i linked in here but they're these gel ink pens that are bright on the black paper so the uh the paper is the étranger de costa rica blanc de noir black paper that was perfectly pronounced it's the strange costa rica paper um i have actually reviewed that on the blog it's very nice i use the white gel pen with it and uh it's it's really good but you can get some bright color so i thought that would be a fun letter writing thing but plus they come in loose sheets which is always good for letters so i thought that was cool so zach wants to know how do you clean the pen type b case ink linked into mine and now the pen comes out of the case a mess every time i tried renting it but that did not work it's too long for a q-tip and too narrow to force anything else down that's a really good question and i forward forwarded that on to say way at um cwnt um i don't know if the titanium barrel is causing it to kind of stick a little bit and if there's some magic that they've used i know they've cleaned a lot of pens in their time so i will get back at you zach i just found that this morning and forwarded that onto him so we'll see what he says and if not i will follow up because i'd be interested to know for myself if that happened so nathan wants to know what ink do you use on your hobonichi i'm finding everything smudges on the tomoe river even after several minutes i'm thinking i try noodler's bernanke bernanke black i have no ink limitations on hobonichi or tomoe river paper in general it does take longer to dry but the inks i use don't take several minutes to dry they may take 30 seconds to dry which is an eternity yeah but i'm not coming back like a day later and you know it's still wet i do keep a blotting page in my techo or in my cousin excuse me for that you know it's just kind of the nature of the paper but it is the ink if it's minutes you know you do want to switch your ink but in general like all the sailor and pilot and pelican inks i use they don't they're dry in a reasonable time frame for tomoe river paper so you know i but if you're having a several minutes dry time with any particular ink i that is probably an ink problem and it could be something out there i don't know what it would be but you know i i don't really have uh i don't

Myke Hurley: really have any ink limitations i i put in there so yeah i kind of my usage of tomoe river paper these days is in my uh is in my hobonichi right and i'm only ever really using one page at a time and i just like leave it open it's like i write my stuff down i just leave it open to dry because i don't want to restrict what i'm using to to use ink that is like specifically good for drying because i want to use all of my inks now right like if i have an ink i want to use it because i'm using all these different pens every day so i don't rush i don't restrict myself so that way you know i'm just using it for stuff that is like using one page at a time i leave it to dry and then that's kind of that's kind of it so i mean you know i don't really have any specific recommendations either for stuff that i think would be really good because it's not how i use these products and that's one of the features and why

Brad Dowdy: tomoe river is so loved is that it shows off ink properties very well right and to limit yourself to a quick drying black i feel like it's kind of uh selling the paper a little bit short so maybe you can find something you know try some sailor inks or my robert oster inks don't don't seem to have a problem in there i i can't think of an ink that is really not dried on that paper in after a long time so give it give a few more inks a shot all right sharise hopefully i'll see her this weekend she's interested in trading or selling a high value pin to vendors at the dc pin show how should i go about that and what can i expect in negotiations i'm looking for cash trade or a combination of both and i would love recommendations on any reputable reputable dealers for high ends trades sales thanks i would try to sell person to person before i try to sell to a dealer at the bar or whatever like i

Myke Hurley: know that sounds super weird but like that is a thing right like that that i've seen so many times

Brad Dowdy: yep like you're going to get better value selling person to person than you're going to get from a dealer even the best most reputable dealer is going to want to resell that pin so there's only there's a cap on what they're going to be willing to pay or trade you for you could probably do better in a one-to-one situation with a um you know like even online like in the slack buy sell or sell trade room you know um you're going to get more bang for your buck going to another collector than another vendor um you know that's a tough question because you're like in the right place for that just like hey i've got pins to sell i'm going to sell them to vendors or trade and get some other stuff yeah i mean and the vendors aren't doing anything wrong by offering you probably a lower price than you think for your pin because they're trying to make money on the back end of that transaction where if you're selling to an individual they're trying to get that pin so they can use it they're adding a pen to their collection

Myke Hurley: that they're going to keep it's not being bought with the idea that there needs to still be a margin

Brad Dowdy: on this right so there's going to be a lot of opportunities and i know sheree's and a lot of people know her so i think you know just you know show me what pins you're looking to sell and then i'll spread the word around and if anyone's like looking for those type of things you know we can get in touch i think just like the selling it to you're going to do you're going to be better off selling it to another end user than another vendor you know so we'll see but uh talk to me when you get when you

Myke Hurley: get there try and have some kind of plan in mind right like do you want to receive paypal payments or whatever that's kind of a thing that i'd recommend and sure just have the person send the payment in front of you when they're next to you and you're good to go right like i've done that

Brad Dowdy: before just um i've you know made a transaction at a bar where i opened up my phone sent paypal to x person for x amount of money they look in their phone verified give me the pin boom we're done yep you know so i would definitely start with the community before vendors um and that's nothing against vendors they're just looking at it from a different perspective than the rest of us yep

Myke Hurley: yep definitely i think i think that's the perfect way to do it yep all right a couple more and we'll

Brad Dowdy: get us out of here nathan wants to know any tips for protecting the sleeve on a non-retractable sleeve drafting pencil when traveling such as a rotring 600 i do not know an answer to that mike do you absolutely not yeah you put it in an individual pen case you know a single pen pen case you know that's going to be the best thing or in some type of pocket or pouch and it still could get bent in the wrong situation any pencil cap that's made for wooden pencils is going to be metal on metal on a rotring and it's probably a little bit wider it's not going to work right i don't think uh and it'll sound terrible like it'll be very uncomfortable so i don't know that there is a perfect answer for this maybe try one of the rubber they i think they do make rubber um protection like wooden pencil caps those would probably work better for the rotring as opposed to the tin ones that i tend to use on my

Myke Hurley: wooden pencils yeah i think it would probably introduce more problems than it would solve right yeah probably yeah or just not really do much for you at all yep you know what you could do you know you can get those like you can get those erasers that you can put on the end of woodcase pencils that's not a bad idea those triangular shaped kind of yeah that might work that might fit if it fits

Brad Dowdy: yeah so you put it in a cucumber that might work no all right rich wants to know i just received my first vintage pen a parker 51 from my father now what do i do i'm not a pen restorer and have no idea if it works also i have no idea of its value so not sure whether i should attempt to restore it myself this new vintage pen owner needs help if you're interested in restoring it i think you should go for it it's a parker 51 there's gobs of information on the internet you can search for parker 51 repairs you can probably find the original manuals you know if that's a project you want to take on yourself there's easy to find sources out there to um to figure out you know what you need to do and the 51 doesn't have too many moving parts so it's hopefully you know maybe easy for you to figure that out if you don't there's definitely people who can restore the parker 51 i'd be happy to give you some names um like jeff powers at powers pen co i use him a lot of people use him he's really good at repairing vintage pens you know martin ferguson and martin's pens you know there's lots of people that can help you out with that um but if you're want to do it yourself this is one pen where i think you could probably do it and you know but just with a little uh little bit of research online and it might make you happy since it was like in the family and it was your father's pen and you know you can say you restored it yourself that might be kind of a cool thing to to sort out so last one from the pastoral urbanite mike are you still using your kaweco apple pencil sleeve and if so how are you carrying it yeah i'm still using both of them how are you carrying it same way that i always carry the apple pencil with a

Myke Hurley: leuch term pen loop uh just affixed to the back of the ipad and then it just slides right in there and it's held on quite nicely it is not the uh so the question specifically states from pastoral i can't find an elegant solution i think my solution is pretty elegant because it's there's not a lot to it like i've seen so many apple pencil holders which are attached to cases or these huge elastic things that you put around the smart cover or whatever i find the leuch term pen loop to be the perfect way to store an apple pencil never falls out um the only time it ever comes off is sometimes if it gets kind of caught on something in my bag but then the pencil just stays in the back it doesn't fall on the floor right so if it's not attached to the ipad oh it's in my backpack but that's very rare that that happens uh and these things are so cheap they're like two pound fifty right and you can get them from all those different vendors um that i just buy a few of them they have a bunch of colors i buy a bunch of them every time i need one and then i've always got a stock of them in my pen drawer and i replace them maybe every year so that is i honestly that that is the only way i have ever stored an apple pencil onto an ipad purely because i've never found anything better i still need to get one of those one of these days i still don't know if it's available in america yeah i haven't looked i'm sure we'll we'll see it when they do yeah because they're still super expensive to ship uh from europe so because you you're you're getting not a great deal on the conversion right because you're going to convert it from euros to to dollars and then you've got to pay for shipping so it doesn't work as well as it is for us where we get money back from the exchange right so yep it's it's expensive but for the money i paid well worth it so worth it that i bought one for my other one too so i really really love it it's a great product cool all right that wraps up this episode then it's great to be back oh it's always happy to be back uh you can find our show notes today at relay.fm slash pen addicts slash 319 thanks to our sponsors pen chalet away and blue apron you can find brad he is over uh at penaddict.com but go to twitch.tv slash pen addict and you can find what brad's doing there he's a busy busy boy these days um he's also pen addict on instagram dowdyism on twitter i am i mike i am y ke and we'll be back next time until then say goodbye brad and good luck at dc

Brad Dowdy: goodbye brad good luck at dc i'm not going good you you