The Pen Addict 343/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	343
Title:	Brown Reticle Blue Dots
Release Date:	January 24th, 2019
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 343
Audio File:	Audio Episode 343
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 343
Length:	5757 min <br />0.95 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Podcast Introduction

Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 343, and today's show is brought to you by FreshBooks and Squarespace. My name is Myke Hurley, I'm joined by Brad Dowdy.

Brad Dowdy: Hello, world-travelling Myke Hurley, how are you? Hello, Atlanta-based Brad Dowdy.

Brad Dowdy: I get fascinated by your travel, is that weird?

Myke Hurley: Um, I don't know. It depends in what way.

Brad Dowdy: Like, I don't necessarily, like, you were at PodCon in Seattle this past week, so we'll talk about that a little bit. But, like, I'm more interested, since I've traveled with you enough, like, I want to know, like, how was, like, the actual travel portion, and what things did you bring with you? Like, I don't care about the event, necessarily. Like, tell me about the event. I'm like, no, tell me, like, about the things you brought in. Did that work or not work for you?

Myke Hurley: Well, it was good. It was good. The difficulty that I had this time is I was at PodCon, it's like a podcast convention, and I did this last year. It's, like, in December 2017. This is the second one. I take posters to be signed, right?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: So I had, like, a couple of hundred posters in a box in my suitcase.

Brad Dowdy: Oof.

Myke Hurley: Now that will make your suitcase pretty heavy. Yeah. As well as the gear that I take to record, because I was recording shows there, like, one of the pieces of gear is literally a weighted microphone stand, right? So yes. Right. I had a very heavy suitcase. I was bumping up against the limits of what I could take on the plane. So that was the interesting thing that I took with me, at least. But PodCon itself was brilliant. I had a great time. I met a lot of wonderful listeners. I met some Panadict listeners, as I always do. I meet Panadict listeners everywhere I go. Nice. It's always there, hiding out. I was on some great panels. You can listen to the panels, actually. They have a ticket you can sign up for called, like, the Digital Pass or something. And you can still get that. So they will release, like, an RSS feed with all of the panels on it. So I was on some good panels. And it was great because I got to spend time with people who I really respect and admire as well. Like, as well as meeting listeners, I got to, like, hang out with podcasters and some of some friends, some of some new friends, and some of some people that I'd like to get to know more. So it was really wonderful. I had a great – I had a really, really, really great time. I enjoyed it even more than the first one. And talking about things that are better than the first one, I had my poster.

Brad Dowdy: Dude. So last year, we – like, I fawned over the poster. That was, like, one of the greatest creations I'd ever seen. And your artist beat it. Yeah. Like, that's abnormal. Yeah. Tell me about this poster.

Myke Hurley: The posters are illustrated by a guy called CJ Rowland. I'll put his Instagram into the chat. I actually think right now he's doing portrait commissions. You should get one done because his work is so good. And I think he was doing it for, like, £60 or something, which – Wow. For his level of work is nothing. This guy is so, so talented. I think that's right. Yeah, like, he's doing Valentine's Day commissions, £60 for one person, £100 for couples, which is a fantastic deal for his style. And I found – like, I found him years ago. He contacted me and was just like, hey, like, I – this is a thing that I do. If you ever need any work, let me know. And then when it came to me needing a poster, I was like, oh, I know this guy who's super talented. Because I followed him on Instagram because I loved his style so much. It was, like, the perfect style for me. Like, I just really loved the way it looked. So then he did my first poster and it went down so well. And so then this year I said to him, well, can we treat it like a sequel? It was, like, my thinking, right? Like, can we treat it like a movie sequel? So the idea is this is meant to be, like, a Miyazaki movie. That's, like, the coloring is such, right? Like, the coloring of this one is really interesting. And this is my, like, impossible flying machine, right? Like, this is me. I'm making my way to PodCon. But, like, the whole time I'm still working. So every person on RelayFM that I podcast with makes a cameo in this. Like, you're peeking in there just over the top of my drone.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, like, that caught me off guard. I was like, oh, look at all the screens. Oh, that's, like, podcast people he's talking to. Like, wait a minute, that's Federico. Am I in there? And sure enough, I, like, there's a little pointy hair and an orange background. It's, like, all this little sneaky stuff in there.

Myke Hurley: And I got my box of pens, which I love that he does stuff. Like, what I love about CJ is he also kind of, like, not in, like, a movie, but, like, pokes fun at me in interesting ways. Right. Like, he knows my little things. So, like, oh, of course he'd have a box of pens. And, like, can I have a big coffee machine, right? Because that's, like, a new thing for me recently. So the guy is so talented. It's just, like, it blows my mind. And I think, like, if you just look at the two, they're, like, so different, right? Like, the styles are so different. He's so cool. And I was so thrilled with this. And so was everybody that picked one up. So go and follow CJ. And, like, even if you just follow him, but, like, his commissions are open now. And I think it's well worth it. There's one of, he did of Adina. It's on his profile as well. Which is super cute. Because she saw this and was like, I want him to draw me a picture. So, okay. So then I was like, all right. Can you, as well as doing this incredible work for me that you're working on right now, can you also make a picture of my wife? And he did that.

PodCon Discussion Begins

Brad Dowdy: Hilarious. All right. Two things. One, can you tell me the scope of PodCon for our listeners who have been to, like, a pen show in the U.S.? How does it compare scope-wise? Yeah. So it's like a massive, massive deal. It's a convention. It's a convention.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's created by the people who created VidCon. So, like, it's not VidCon scale yet. I don't know if it will ever get there. Because VidCon is like a different beast. But it was thousands of people.

Brad Dowdy: So what pens did you bring, if any?

Myke Hurley: Oh, just, I took a Retro 51. I always have with me. I took a bunch of Sharpies. I bought some Metallic Sharpies, and they failed so fast. So I had to use a bunch of ones. They just dried up on me. Like, I have no idea what was wrong with them.

Brad Dowdy: So the Metallic, like the chisel tip?

Myke Hurley: No, just like the regular one. I don't know what you call it.

Brad Dowdy: Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. So, okay, cool. Well, good. I'm glad you had a good time. You sound pretty good for all the travel I know you've just completed.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I came home yesterday. Like, 24 hours ago. I might be delirious by the end of the episode. You never know what's going to happen.

Brad Dowdy: True, true. But I've heard Jet Lag Myke, and this time I think you've got him beat. I hope so. Very cool. Very cool. Speaking of getting beat, I kind of want to do that sometimes when it relates to people involved with the DC Penn Show.

Myke Hurley: Uh-oh.

Brad Dowdy: And I just want to throw this out there because there's been some things that have popped up in the Penn community. And I don't have any affiliation with DC. And I know Bob Johnson, the longtime promoter, has not endeared himself to a lot of people over the years for various decisions he's made. But right now, he's in the midst of trying to save the Penn Show from getting stolen out from under him. What? So, I just want to bring this up. I don't have all the details. And there's a lot of information out there. But basically, last year, when, you know, two years ago, how bad it went, right? Mm-hmm. That was the terrible show. And then he took on someone to help him with this year.

Brad Dowdy: Excuse me. Last year. And so, that person, his name's Glenn Bowen, helped him out. And then this year, Glenn has tried to basically usurp him, took over the mailing list, got people to send Glenn money directly, took a recreated website, all these things without Bob's approval. So, this is all you need to know for right now. And this is really all that there is out there.

Brad Dowdy: Bob still runs the DC Penn Show. He's in charge. Any payments should be going to Bob Johnson. The PennCentral.com website has been reverted back to its original bad state, and Bob knows it. But Bob has put his contact information, including his phone number, front and center on that page.

Myke Hurley: That's probably a bad idea, but fine.

Brad Dowdy: Well, he's never had it available. He's panicking, right?

Myke Hurley: Right, right, right.

Brad Dowdy: Like, he's getting, like, someone is trying to take advantage of him.

Myke Hurley: So, for as much as you are aware, this isn't someone trying to scam people. It's somebody who's trying to run their own Penn Show instead of this one. I don't know. Okay, you don't know.

Brad Dowdy: I can't say for a fact either way. But I know that Bob has the hotel contract. And if, you know, people, Bob's responsible for the show. So, Bob's the one that needs the payments for the show to get your tables. If anyone has paid Glenn, you know, Bob is going to accept that if you have proof of payment. But Glenn is in no way in charge of what's happening at the DC Penn Show. So, like, I don't even want to talk about this stuff, but it's become such a prevalent topic that I think it's out there. And it's the biggest Penn Show, right?

Myke Hurley: And at least our hope would be, by us talking about this, we are at least able to get the word out to people that might be in the situation of trying to attend, right? Right. This is a venue that you would assume a lot of relevant parties would be paying attention to, would be the hope.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah, and a lot of it, like, the email went out to, like, the vendor list. So, people have started to pay. But if they need to be paying Bob, not writing checks. Like, a whole new bank account was created that was separate from him.

Myke Hurley: Oh, this is a real mess.

Brad Dowdy: So, yeah. Like, I'm not going to, like, CSI this to death. But you should just know that anything related to the DC Penn Show that you have questions about needs to go through Bob Johnson and PennCentral.com. You know? So, like, attendees, it's not going to affect you, really, that much at all. But you should know when you're looking at information that until there's even more clarity comes out that you should focus on PennCentral.com, a new Instagram. That's Penn Central. So, you know, I just feel like it's a word of warning that people should be made aware of. And, you know, that's kind of all there is right now. It's just a super weird situation that none of us are involved in directly. But it affects, like, travel and planning and businesses and things like that when you're trying to deal with this. So, a bunch of shenanigans going on with the DC Penn Show. And we're just trying to make sure everyone, you know, is playing it safe with their money and who they contact and what the right thing to do is right now. So, get in touch with Bob if you're a DC Penn Show vendor. That's who you should be conducting business through. And I'm sure this podcast will get me some nasty emails in the inbox over the next week. So, I look forward to those.

Brad Dowdy: I don't know. Well, when people are trying to stage a coup, they don't exactly think clearly. Yeah, okay. So, we'll see. I don't know. Most people don't know what an internet radio show is anyway. So, we're probably good.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I think we're flying to the radar for something. But I think this is a good word to get out.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I mean, we're a community touchstone, right? Yeah. So, you want to spread this word a little bit. Even though we may not have 100% of the information, I'm confident with the information that I do have to share this.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Do you know if you're planning on attending DC?

Brad Dowdy: I mean, so, we've all... Yes, I want to. And I've never had to buy my table because it's historically been impossible to deal with Bob. So, Van S always gets one extra table and I just pay her.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: So, I never have to deal with Bob. And you and I know that we don't bother doing any events there because we can't really deal with Bob. So, we just kind of go and work and have fun otherwise. So, yeah, it doesn't affect me at all.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. So, just as like an update, Kickstarter-wise, we're not going to DC. We did it once and I do want to go back there one day. But it's not the place for us right now. We have picked our second show.

Brad Dowdy: We know where we're going. We know where we want to go.

Mystery Location Announcement

Myke Hurley: So, we're doing Atlanta and Mystery Location. Mystery. More about that soon. But we've picked the place.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I'm just trying to finalize the... It's a new place. Some pricing. New place. We have not been to the place. We have not been to that place before. So, if we have been to that place, it's not that place. Not that place.

Myke Hurley: So, it's not Toronto. It's not New York. It's not DC. So, yeah. We're going to a new place for the Pan Addict Podcasts. And I will say, maybe in sharing what I said, we will be doing a live show at that place, too.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, that's also new. So, double new. More to come. New place. Very soon. And live show. First pre-announced live show.

Myke Hurley: Yep. So, we've got exciting stuff in the works. All right. Today's episode is brought to you by our friends of FreshBooks. FreshBooks will help you save time with invoicing, expense tracking, and getting paid online. FreshBooks has drastically reduced the time it takes that are over 10 million people to deal with their paperwork. FreshBooks can save you 192 hours. That's a lot of hours with their super simple cloud accounting software for freelancers. Because I use FreshBooks every single day. I use it every week, at least. I actually logged on yesterday because I wanted to go in and see, like, okay. It's that time. It's that time. It's that time. Yep. Like, I wanted to just go and check. Like, do we have anybody that's late to pay us? And I could look from the very front screen of FreshBooks could see that, no, I didn't need to bug anyone. Because it's right there, front and center. It tells me how, like, kind of the overall age of our outstanding invoices. So, I can go in and check what I need to check. I love that. That every time I log into FreshBooks, I'm given notifications about what I need to be paying attention to. So, I don't have to dig through everything. But you can also, if you want to, you can have FreshBooks send out automatic late payment email reminders for you. So, you never need to think about it. FreshBooks has so many amazing features. Every time you send an invoice, you can see right there that somebody's received it. You can see that they've opened it. You can even see that they've printed it. It takes away those guessing games. If you listen to this show right now and think to yourself, huh, I send invoices. Or, huh, I track expenses. Ah, but I don't know if I want to try it. No, now is the time. Because FreshBooks are offering an unrestricted 30-day free trial with no credit card required. All you have to do is go to freshbooks.com slash penaddict. And you can sign up and try it out for yourself right now. And if they say to you, hey, how did you hear about us? Tell them from the Pen Addict Podcast. Our thanks to FreshBooks for their continued support of this show and RelayFM.

Brad Dowdy: So I saw... I may have even been tagged. Yeah, I was tagged in this post on Instagram.

Myke Hurley: Can I just say, I love that people do this. So, like, by and large, I don't like it when people, like, randomly tag me in photos. When it's like, oh, it's a giveaway. Tag seven friends. Like, please don't do that. Like, I don't need that.

Brad Dowdy: See, let me stop you right there. I tell people, I haven't really gone out there and said this, because I don't like that idea of the giveaway, right? I don't like those Instagram giveaways. Yeah, I think it's not. The tag, retweet, follow, all those things. I tell people to go ahead and tag me because I hate them. And that way, they don't have to feel guilty about tagging someone that it's going to annoy. Anyway, so anytime you want to do those Instagram giveaways where you have to, like, tag people and do all this, just throw Penn Act in there. I couldn't care less. All right, throw him in, but don't throw him in. Yes, because I'll never run one of those type of giveaways on Instagram, because that's too much work for somebody to do all that mess.

Myke Hurley: It's interesting, because, like, I don't like, I hate them, and so don't want to see them. But you hate them, but don't care about seeing them.

Brad Dowdy: Well, I want to make our listeners' lives easier, because there's some good giveaways they should enter, and if they ever feel, and someone, a lot of people won't enter because they're guilty about the tagging people part, right? It puts people in a bind. So I'm just saying, throw Penn Act in there. Why are you making me feel bad? I do not care. Like, I literally do not care.

Myke Hurley: Hmm.

Brad Dowdy: So, sorry. We should get back to why.

Myke Hurley: No, I'm the bad guy. All right, okay. No, I don't think so at all. If you want to keep tagging me, keep tagging me. But anyway, what I was going to say is, I really appreciate that when cool pens pop up on Instagram, people tag me in them. So, like, we have King of Pen that we'll talk about in a minute. I find out about so many cool limited edition pens, because people tag me, and then I get to see them. So, I like that service that the Pen Addict listeners provide for me. They're like, oh, Myke would like to see this. And you know what? You're always right. He does want to see them.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, because this one I would not have seen unless our friend Fude fan tagged me in this post about this Platinum 3776. So, I don't know what this store is, and I tried to hunt it down, and I couldn't find it. But he says, I'm going to read just this little blurb in his Instagram post. It says, another look at this Wagner commissioned, I don't know if it's Wagner or Wagner, but he's in Japan. And I don't know. Don't yell at me. This Wagner commissioned Platinum 3776 matte brown barrel and rose gold trim are such a great combination. Kudos, Morison. As expected, the nib has that sublime Platinum feedback that Pen Addict keeps raving about on the podcast. So, that's how I found this post, because I follow Fude fan, but I also follow 3,000 other people. And you never know what the Instagram algorithm is going to show you. So, thank you for tagging me in this. It's a beautiful pen. Like, I want this pen. I'm not going to get it. Like, it's not something I'm going to hunt down and stuff. I like that Platinum's doing this. I'm sure they've done this for a long time. I'm sure they've done custom editions for lots of people. But now we're starting to get a little more insight and a few more eyeballs on these types of things, right? As this community keeps growing and people start to find interesting things. And then they latch on to things. And they kind of dig in and figure out new things that are being created for new stores. Especially when you have someone on the ground like Jacob in Tokyo, you know, sending over these images. And let me see. He has a link to Wagner. So, I guess Wagner's just a shop. Yes, I don't know. So, the point of sharing this is obviously that this was something that I wanted from Platinum this year, right? I want the Platinum. I want Platinum to play around with some custom editions. I want my orange Platinum. Like, I think an orange Rhodium trim Platinum 3776 has to be in the cards. That's one of the most perfect, like, limited edition colors. They got to get that done. But, you know, I may never see this pen in person in my life. But I love that we can share these things with people halfway around the world and say, Boy, that's really cool. I hope Platinum keeps doing cool things like this. And maybe one day I'll get one that, you know, really fits my style. I would totally buy this one. How about you?

Myke Hurley: I'd need to see it. I don't know. Brown is not really my color. I don't think. Yeah. Yeah. But it does look beautiful. Like, it's very nice. I love the nib. The nib has some really interesting art on it. Like, it's very good looking. But it's, I don't know if brown and gold. I'd have to see. I'd have to see how rose the rose gold is, you know?

Brad Dowdy: Right, right. And it's just, it looks like the generally basic style. It doesn't look like it's, you know, etched or molded barrels like the kampu or nice and all those things. But I think it's just super, super cool. Good looking. So, you mentioned the nib. And I wanted to bring this up because this came up in Slack last week. That someone in Slack linked to a post on another forum saying that they had a really bad experience with platinum nibs out of the box. Like, they had to go through, like, four different nibs and things like that. Because, and they won in my opinion because I always rave about the out-of-the-box platinum experience. And I think that's generally true. Although, I will say that the soft fine, and that also came up in the responses in Slack. Like, the soft fine platinum that they introduced in their main lineup last year was extremely dry. And I think a lot of people had fits with that one. So, like, that's fair. Like, that nib was not great out of the box. Like, for me, it was. I liked it for what it was. I didn't have any modifications out of it. And then I got to thinking about it. And I got an ultra extra fine in my Kumpu that I didn't think was ultra extra fine enough. So, maybe there's something to the platinum nib thing. I'll have to start paying attention more. I've never had an issue with extra fine, fine, medium, whatever general basic stock nibs I've used from platinum. They've all just sung right from the get-go. But maybe on the specialty type nibs that they're expanding those lineups a little bit more. Maybe something to keep an eye on. So, that's something I'll pay attention to in the future. I don't see it as an across-the-board issue. It seems like an outlier more than anything. But I do know a lot of people had soft fine nib issues when they dropped that in the main lineup last year. So, maybe it's a matter of tweaking that as they continue to move forward with lots more nibs and lots more pens. Especially my orange rhodium trim pen. Speaking of which.

Myke Hurley: Oh, God.

Brad Dowdy: Professional freaking podcaster right there. That's all I know. This is killing me. What are you going to do, Myke? What's killing you? What are you talking about?

Myke Hurley: Two new King of Pens. They're in the 1911 shape. And they are carrying with them the Fresca Blue and Royal Tangerine colors. So, we have two Sailor King of Pens in two of the most interesting designs, color-wise, that they've done in a long time in the standard lineup. I'm really struggling with this one. I know I'm going to buy. Okay. So, I know I want to buy the orange one, right? The blue one, I'd need to see it. But I love that orange so much. And I love my King of Pens so much. I feel like this would be like a home run. But it's just like now I'm wondering when and where do I buy it. And I'm thinking, like, whilst it is available at some online vendors, I maybe should wait and see if I can pick it up in person at some point. So, I just don't buy it now.

Myke Hurley: But, oh my God, it's killing me.

Brad Dowdy: I've come around to the 1911 shape. We've talked about this a lot. These look really good. They've always done kind of a round. The Ebonite Arushi King of Pens, like the older King of Pens from several years ago, just the black Ebonite Arushi King of Pens all had rounded tops. But they weren't on 1911 because they didn't have all the additional cap bands and hardware. As much as these. I've always liked that shape in a large size pen. That's a really good shape. I mean, these are a pass for me. Personally, I have two King of Pens. I'm good. Like, this is a lot of money to spend on another one that I wouldn't use as much as the two that I currently have. Because I'm enthralled with the two that I currently have. But these are stunning. These will absolutely sell out, I think. It's a tough pill to swallow price point.

Myke Hurley: I'm waffling on whether I should. Because I know I want one of these. I know that. Like, even the blue one, I think I would really enjoy.

Brad Dowdy: That blue in person looks stunning. Ugh! But you know how good that orange looks. I mean, it's the same tint. Right?

Myke Hurley: Then, like, do I want the blue because I already have the orange? Or do I want the orange because I know I love the orange?

Brad Dowdy: This is the problem. I'll tell you this. If you bought the blue, you would regret it not having the orange. I'll just tell you that right now.

Myke Hurley: So, what? You're telling me to buy both of them? What are you telling me right now, Brad? Because I can't do that.

King of Pens Discussion

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I'm saying if you bought the blue first, you're going to regret it and end up with both. So, you should buy the orange and be done.

Myke Hurley: But I don't... But this is the thing, though. I don't know if I want to buy it right now because it's still like an $880 pen, right? Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: It's no joke. It's no joke.

Myke Hurley: It's a serious investment.

Brad Dowdy: Like, y'all know how I feel about the king of pen. I have never once in my life said that the king of pen is worth that price. It's for anyone. It's ridiculous. It's worth that price to me. Yes. It is, for what you get, it is insanely overpriced. It's a plastic barrel pen.

Myke Hurley: But let me tell you, though. But. Let me tell you. I have never used a pen as good as the king of pen that I have. It is... Right. There's something about it. By far and away, the best pen I have ever used. I prefer it to every Nakaya I've ever used. Like, it is my absolute number one. So, then it's like, okay, is it worth $800 to me? Yes, it is. Right. Right? But I just...

Brad Dowdy: I just... But it's an absolutely egregious price point.

Myke Hurley: It is an obscene amount of money.

Brad Dowdy: And they will sell every single one of these.

Myke Hurley: That's why it's killing me, because then am I going to always regret it if I didn't get it?

Brad Dowdy: You will not, Myke. You will not regret it if you didn't get it, because there's always a next pen.

Myke Hurley: But it's the orange one that I really like.

Brad Dowdy: I know. I'm just telling you.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, you're right. You are right. Because the one that I have is not one that I knew that I wanted, because it didn't exist to me. Right. Right? But I prefer it to every other one that I've used. Like, in the design. You know, like, it is my favorite. The one that I have is my favorite.

Pen Price Discussion

Brad Dowdy: Totally. And that was just... That was dumb luck.

Myke Hurley: Mm-hmm.

Brad Dowdy: Guess what? I mean, dumb luck can happen again in two or three years, right? They're going to make more colors that I like, I know. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Yeah. But I still do really want this orange one.

Myke Hurley: I mean... $880.

Brad Dowdy: Like, if you're even remotely considering this one, the Fresca is not an option.

Myke Hurley: All right. That's it. That's good to know. That's good to know. It does look really great, but yeah, it's not the orange, is it?

Brad Dowdy: For what you have, yes. Oh, gosh. Yeah. If you buy the Fresca, you're just committing to buy both of them.

Brad Dowdy: And that's not what you want. No. You don't want to do that. That's too much money for a plastic pen.

Brad Dowdy: Plus, you can't even see what makes these pens so expensive in this model, because you can't see through them. Like, that big, huge nib unit section, all that material on the inside. That's a really good point. Of the pen. You see, I would never buy this. You lose that visual.

Myke Hurley: I would never buy this if I hadn't already owned one. Right? I would never buy this pen because all it is is a big version of the pen I already have. Right? Right. Or you look at it. But I bought, I wanted a clear one. I wanted a demonstrator model so you could see the crazy mechanics going on inside this thing, which just seemed like such a beautiful overkill. Right. But now, I love it because of how it feels to use. So, I know that even though I can't see into this 1911, I would still love it because of

Brad Dowdy: how it feels to use. Right. Right? So, here's the actual real problem and Sandra's kind of alluding to this in the chat room. The minute you pick this up, you are done.

Brad Dowdy: I just promise you that. If you ever pick this pen up, you will buy it. If you have that opportunity at a pen show, like in Atlanta, that's going to be your siren's call and will you or won't you, you know, that's going to be the inflection point. So, I think you need to decide before you come to Atlanta.

Myke Hurley: Well, but that's assuming there would be any.

Brad Dowdy: True. There will. I mean, they obviously have a pretty good stock of these colors, right? They're using the colors that were sold so well before. So, I think they're committed to that color. And I imagine these are obviously going to be way more available than like the Arushi King of Pens and things that are harder to make and that are, you know, twice as much as these. And these are already expensive. So, they're awesome. They're stunning. I'm 100% out. I have no interest. But I love everything. I just, the money. It's too much money for what it is. And I say this owning two of them.

Myke Hurley: Okay. I will buy one. I'm not going to buy it today. Okay. Right? Like if I see this pen at a pen show, I will buy it. Like, this is my guarantee to the world. I will buy it. But I'm not going to buy it online. There's just something about that amount of money. I'm not, I just don't want to, I don't want my transaction to occur online for that. I want to be able to pick it up and hold it before I fork over nearly $1,000.

Brad Dowdy: I'll let you know in Baltimore, my thoughts. I'll get a chance to see them then. No. So, that's only.

Myke Hurley: I don't want to know.

Brad Dowdy: You know I'm going to love it.

Myke Hurley: I know. So, I don't want to know.

King of Pen Website

Brad Dowdy: Oh, boy. Who knew King of Pen was going to sink its teeth into us? Sorry about that. That was all my fault. So, I got another thing that I know you don't want to buy this pen online. But there might be some paper you want to buy online. And I think I may have mentioned Blank Slate Paper Company in the podcast before. But maybe not. Because it didn't have its full launch until yesterday. This is our buddy Dave. I don't think you have. Yeah. This is our buddy Dave Ray. You know Mountain Biker Dave. We all know Mountain Biker Dave. Love Dave. Yeah. Love Dave. He's the best. He's been working on this site. I don't know. I think I sat with Dave in D.C. Last year. And went through the game plan. For Blank Slate Paper. And what he's built. Like, he's built the code for this. To customize your notepads. And by customization. We're talking. If you can think of it on a notepad. You can have it. And you can have it all. You can have as little or as much.

Myke Hurley: I don't understand how this is possible. Like, I just. I can't get my head around it. It's freaking amazing. How can you do all these things?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, I've tested like alpha versions of the site. Beta versions of the site. And I got the. I was on the beta team. And I got a beta code to order one. So, I got mine at 50% off. But I went through like the entire ordering process. And I went for something simple. But I know other people that played around with this. And got all kinds of craziness in their paper designs. I basically went with an orange graph. Like, you can pick like every color of the rainbow. Any color of graph you want. Any color of dot. Any color of hex. I mean, what's. I mean, any shape. You can change the line widths. Like, you don't have a fixed line width. Or you don't have a fixed grid square. You can have a one millimeter square. You can have a ten millimeter square. You can have. You know. You can have your horizontal lines green. And your vertical lines pink. Or you can have your dots blue. I don't. It's. It's the dangdest thing I've ever seen. It's super fun to build it. I have mine sitting on my desk here. It comes in two paper styles. I have the HP premium 32 pound paper in mine. And I forget the other one. Since that's what I bought. So, I can't remember the other name. But there's two choices. So, I don't know. This is just insanely cool to see a friend build something like this. And to be able to watch it like get released into a product is fascinating. But what blows my mind is actually the coding and like the back end that actually makes this possible. And it's like dead simple. Right? You just like go in. You can sit there and play around with all the tools to your heart's desire to see what kind of paper format you can come up with. And then you go, okay, I'm done. I made, you know, this unicorn barf dot grid graph reticle hexagonal notepad and order. And then boom. Like, you know, whenever it like a week later or whenever, however long it takes to get made. I don't. I can't remember. It just shows up. And there's your paper. It's pretty cool. I love how this customization is on this. So, good job by you, Dave.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, it's wild. This is wild. I love it. What a great idea.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, you'll have to spend some time going through the creator and see what all you can do. Like me saying words about what the paper creator part of it is, it's not going to do it justice. You'll have to, we'll have a link in the show notes. You can go and mess around with that and just play around, see what you can create. Like I said, I didn't get too crazy. I think I got a five or six millimeter orange grid. I almost did alternating color lines, but I thought, let's just do orange for the beginning. So, I did that. It was great. Boom.

Myke Hurley: Wow, look at this. You can...

Brad Dowdy: You can sit there for an hour making paper patterns.

Myke Hurley: You can layer them. Yeah. It's insane. So, I can have...

Brad Dowdy: Huh.

Brad Dowdy: Like... That's pretty... That's exactly, I think, what Dave's going for is like, oh, I can do this. Huh. Like, that's what you do when you go through this little creator tool that he has there. It's really neat.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I can do some stuff that I should never do. But I can also do some things that I should do.

Brad Dowdy: That's the point. How do you know it's not great until you do it? Right? Yeah. It could be terrible. It could be awful. But guess what? You still got to make it and it looks pretty cool. And you can try it out and see how it works. And then you can... If it doesn't work, you can go build another one.

Myke Hurley: I can put all of them on together.

Myke Hurley: Horizontal lines. Please don't. Vertical lines. Dot and reticle. I've done it. And that is... And you can adjust the spacing between... Yeah. So, I can see all of them independently. Yep. Dave, you need to... If you're listening, you need to make a promise to me. If anybody ever tries to get all four of them printed at the same time, tell them no. I've just done this and it's... It's not good, man. Tell them no. No one should want reticle, dot, horizontal, and vertical lines. Or different colors. It would be a bad experience. Yeah, this is...

Brad Dowdy: Oh my God, Brad. I'm making some monsters over here. It's not different colors, Myke. It's all the colors. This is a... Huge difference.

Myke Hurley: Brown reticle, blue dots, orange, vertical, blue... A green horizontal.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, you're going to break, Dave. Yeah, it's not... Don't break it, Myke.

Myke Hurley: It's not good. I don't know if... I have a link for it. I don't know if it's a link that people can actually see. If that's how it works.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, yeah. I don't know.

Brad Dowdy: So, I have my pad. I've been using it. So, when I go through this one... Oh, it does... I think it pulled yours up. Boy, that is grotesque. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it pulled yours up.

Myke Hurley: I'll see if... I'll put it in the show notes. I don't know if it will save, but...

Brad Dowdy: Oh, God. You can get a close-up view and it's even worse.

Myke Hurley: That's what I mean. The close-up view is where the real horror starts to show. Or maybe this starts something terrible and people just buy that design that I made.

Brad Dowdy: Right. I mean, that could be something. Maybe you might have actually just solved some, like, quantum physics problem by that grid. But, I mean...

Myke Hurley: Someone could find some use for it, right? Yeah. Oh, I can actually make the lines thicker.

Myke Hurley: I'm glad you're enjoying this. Which makes it worse... Better in a worse way.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I was going to make, like, a plaid grid and I talked myself out of it. I should have. I went very basic on my first pad. And then I'm going to get another pad with the secondary paper. I just got to figure out what I'll make. I'll probably just do some kind of daughter radical thing.

Myke Hurley: Okay. I definitely made it worse. And now I'm done. Okay.

Tool Discussion Ends

Myke Hurley: I'm glad you enjoyed that. This is a great tool. How fun. Good work, Dave.

Brad Dowdy: Good job, Dave. Like, this is all, like, created by him. Like, every piece of, like, this back end on how this works is created by him. So, it's very, very impressive work.

Sponsor Segment Begins

Myke Hurley: All right. Today's episode is brought to you by Squarespace. Make your next move with Squarespace. They will let you easily create a website for your next idea or project with all of the tools that you need to make it shine. Whether you want to make a blog or a portfolio, an online store, a site for an event, a site for your business, a site for your band. They have all of the tools that you're going to need in an all-in-one platform. You can get a unique domain name to give your website the brand that it deserves. You can take advantage of and customize award-winning templates so it looks fantastic for all of your visitors. And take advantage of 24-7 customer support in case you need any help at all. There is nothing to install or patch or upgrade with Squarespace. It is that all-in-one platform. Everything that is there is just easy for you to use. You can just use it all in the web browser. You don't have to worry about anything except making your content the best that it can possibly be. I have used Squarespace for I don't even know how many years. I don't even know how many projects, but I know it's a lot of them and I know it's for as long as I've ever wanted to be a professional on the internet. Because I understand how to use Squarespace in a way that I don't understand how to code a website. I just don't know how to do it, but I don't need to know because I can use Squarespace. Their plans start at just $12 a month, but you can start a trial today with no credit card required by going to squarespace.com slash penaddict. When you sign up, use the code penaddict to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain and you'll also be showing your support for this show. Once again, that's squarespace.com slash penaddict and the code penaddict for 10% off your first purchase. Our thanks to Squarespace for their support of this show. Squarespace, make your next move, make your next website.

Brad Dowdy: Really excited about this batch of Ask TPA we have this week. Some really good questions. So let's dig into them. I'll read the first one, then we'll switch them up. So Andrew Hathaway asks, What's the best way to find information on part sizes and specifications to ensure that swapping parts will fit and function correctly? I found it rather hard to gather information on what nib sizes, pens, and nib units were. Is there a reliable resource for this? What an amazing question. I'm surprised this doesn't come up all the time.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Back in the fishing vest, the dawn of the fishing vest, there were manuals from all the big manufacturers because they were essentially also doing double duty as repair shops. So you had full on parts manuals. Every piece is part size diameter dimensions. You had a pen shows down. You could find these old manuals on the desk or on tables for sale. But this is not what you're asking. You're asking today, how can I know what parts I can swap and manipulate and move and change and play around with? Because that's honestly part of the fun. Once you get past like, you know, once you get to like level 10 fountain pen, you know, you're ready to get into like the fidgeting and the manipulating and the creating things with your different fountain pens. How do you know what you can do? Is there a resource for that? And there's not. So that's a long way of me telling you there's not. But it's just a matter of the conversation around the experts in that area and finding where those people hang out like FP Geeks or Fountain Pen Network where you're taking one part and you want to know what else it can fit. You know, you're just going to have to find where these people hang out and be able to talk to them. The pen addict slack, you know, we have a lot of a lot of people who will figure out ways to put vintage flex nibs into TWSBs, you know, things like that. But there's no one resource that says, you know, where you get to take, you know, take something from column A, something from column B and you can make, you know, your Franken pen. There's just not a resource like that. It would be fabulous if they were. I think it's a fantastic idea. It's just we're almost to a too far gone state right now to circle back and create something like that. But it's technically possible, but I just don't think there's a resource out there like it. So you're just going to have to find the right people to talk to about the specific thing. You know, start with a specific question. You know, I want to do this. How can I find the person that can help me do this? And then build on that information. That's the best thing I can say right now.

Myke Hurley: Our next question comes from Michael B. Lasher. What could field notes do in 2019 to blow your socks off? I've struggled with this one.

Brad Dowdy: I did too. And I still don't have a definitive answer. I don't know that I have an answer.

Myke Hurley: I don't think they could blow my socks off.

Brad Dowdy: I don't think they can blow my socks off. But I will say this. In field notes, I trust, right? I trust that they're going to at some point, right? I don't know technically what that would be. But there's going to be one or two editions next year where I go, yes, this is why I subscribe to field notes, right? So just having faith in the overall company.

Myke Hurley: There aren't other companies that I just give money to blindly. I pay them up front for products that they have never shown me. Right. Like that is the difference with field notes because I trust them. Like to blow my socks off is a difficult thing, I think. Because at this point, I expect so much from them. Right. For them to really like to blow me away is difficult, I think, these days, right? Like and I think that most of the time that they've done it is when they go really ambitious. But the other times when I don't like them is when they also go really ambitious. So like it's difficult. It is very difficult. But I agree with your sentiment. Like I believe they can do it. And I'm genuinely really excited to see what they've got for 2019.

Brad Dowdy: So let me give you an example of one of their notebooks that blew my socks off, yet I disliked. And this is why I trust them as a company. When they did the Shelterwood edition, the way that they manipulated the physical wood to make a notebook cover blew my socks off. Like that technically blew my socks off. I disliked that edition just for me personally to use. Right. That doesn't mean I was not blown away by what they accomplished with that edition. And I think that's what they do best. Right. They're willing to experiment and take some chances like that. And that's why, like you said, I pay them money for things I have not seen because I have faith that they're going to knock my socks off consistently. All right. J. Mary. I like carrying pins in my pants pocket because it's convenient. Recently, I noticed cracks in the cap of my favorite print pin, Aurora Optima Orange Flex. Do you carry pocket pins in your pocket? What about regular pins? Now I'm hesitant to carry pins I care about in my pocket. He attached a picture. That's a legit crack. That's like something pressure or something you banged into. I carry pins in my pocket all the time. I've carried my Aurora Optima Gray Flex in my pocket as recently as this week.

Brad Dowdy: I don't know what happened to that pin. That's a lot. That's a big crack. That's not just something over time type of crack. That's a sizable crack in that cap. So there are single pin sleeves you can get that don't really bulk up the pins too much like the Rickshaw single pin sleeve for a fabric sleeve. Or, you know, there's many, many leather pin sleeves where you can get a single pin sleeve in there. I don't hesitate to carry any pin in my pocket. As a matter of fact, the one I've been the most nervous about carrying in my pocket, which I have done for most of the past week, is the Mark 1 because there's no clip. And it's very slick. And it's retractable. So there's all kinds of things that can go wrong in my pocket. Like losing it for one because it's very slick and can just slide right out. But I still carry pins in my pocket. You know, I don't carry keys in the same pocket as my pins. But I mean, I don't have any tips other than you can get a single pin sleeve because whatever hit that pin was more than normal every day carrying around carry.

Myke Hurley: I was wondering what you wanted to say about it. Like, is it just, is that a natural crack or something? You reckon something hit it?

Brad Dowdy: It wasn't like just a split in the acrylic? Yep. That's not an everyday knock around crack to me. But I mean, I can't see it in person. It doesn't look like an everyday knock around crack to me. That looks like if you hit your leg on the corner of a coffee table, except the pin was in the way.

Myke Hurley: Okay.

Myke Hurley: All right. Next question comes from at QMSQRD. KMSQRD. I'm taking a first order logic course this semester, which is going to require using pencil. I haven't regularly used a pencil in 20 plus years. Any suggestions for something that holds a point, writes reasonably darkly and doesn't smear?

Brad Dowdy: So there's a pretty wide ranging group of pencils you can start looking at for this. I'm assuming we're talking woodcase pencil here.

Myke Hurley: They haven't specified.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. The way it's worded sounds woodcase to me, and that's how I took this. I'd look at something like the Uni Mark sheet, which is a pencil that I really, really love. It's got a firm tip, still writes dark, holds the point very well. The Blackwing 602 is also in that category. If they ever come out with the Blackwing Extra Firm Core, that would definitely be something in the category. But look at something on the H side of the scale, maybe up to 2H, and you'll get a little firmer point. It'll still be reasonably dark. It's going to hold the point well. It's going to be really fine looking. I don't have anything highly specific to recommend other than those that I just did, because there's actually a pretty wide range there. The Uni Mark sheet is one I would look at towards the top of the list, and also the Blackwing 602. And then see what you think. And you say, oh, no, this is too soft, or this smears too much, whatever. And then we can look at something different. And if it's a mechanical pencil, then that's a completely different conversation. All right, Sarah says she usually goes to the Atlanta Penn Show.

Myke Hurley: Is it Uni Mark sheet or Mitsubishi?

Brad Dowdy: It's the same thing. It's Mitsubishi Mark sheet. So Mitsubishi is the parent company. It's confusing. Google wasn't helping me with Uni. Sorry, Mitsubishi Mark sheet. Okay. But theoretically, the same. Like Mitsubishi is the parent, but they release products under Mitsubishi. Then they release products under Uni. And then they release products under Uni Ball. And there's probably even more. But yeah, all related. Thank you. Did you find it?

Myke Hurley: Yes.

Brad Dowdy: Okay.

Brad Dowdy: Sarah usually goes to the Atlanta Penn Show, but the early scheduling this year means I have to miss it. And the San Francisco Penn Show always conflicts with Burning Man. Since I can't go to Atlanta, I'd like to try a new show this year. While I enjoy shopping, looking at all the pens, I like learning opportunities, panels and workshops, and socializing even more. Do you have any recommendations for an alternate Penn Show I should check out? I'd be open to anything in North America. I feel like I answered this question, or maybe I just said it on Twitter. My two that I would recommend are probably Chicago and Baltimore. I know Baltimore is coming up soon. You may not have time to, you know, work on that travel. But both of those have great panels, workshops, classes. They have a great show. And then they have very good after hours, just socializing and hanging out spaces. At least out of the shows I've been to, I haven't been to every show in the country. Those kind of come to the top of my list. So that's what I would be thinking about.

Myke Hurley: All right, next question comes from Jim. Jim says, I'm thinking about trying my first stub nib, mainly to see line variation and potential ink shading. I'm somewhat worried as I usually go with a fine or extra fine nib, as my handwriting looks better with a smaller nib. My questions are these. Do you have a favorite stub nib in the under $60 category? I have a TWSBI 580 ALR. What are the pros and cons of getting a stub unit for it rather than just purchasing a new pen like a TWSBI Eco? Or a stub for the Safari, although the Lamy calls their stubs italics. I would say that like stub nib TWSBI, love it. Like 100%, I would say go there.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. So both of those pens that you mentioned, the TWSBI and the Safari, have just nib options you can buy. The TWSBI 580s, you can buy a complete nib unit. You can get 1.5 and 1.1 stubs. I don't know if they have a bigger one. But if you like extra fine, you want to go, you know, 1.1. The Safari, you can also get a 1.1, a 1.5, and a 1.9, but that's probably too wide. I really like the 1.1 Safari nibs are sharper on the edge. So they're more of an italic, yeah, like a stub italic. I really like that. If you like extra fine, you might actually like that Safari italic nib better. And then you can even go finer if you go into some of the Japanese brands. Like Pilot, the Plumix comes with a .9 stub italic. I think they call it an italic. That I think is just fantastic. So that's one of my favorites. Even though it's a weird pen, it comes in. If you have a Pilot pen, you can swap it into. Or maybe the Metropolitan might even offer that as an option. But the .9 Pilot steel stub nibs are really, really good. So I choose the Safari. Just get a loose Safari nib. You can get one for like 10 or 12 bucks. They're easy to swap in and out. Cheaper than the TWSBI nib. See if you like that style of writing. And then go from there.

Brad Dowdy: All right. Christian is in the market for a portfolio. And was wondering if you have any suggestions. I have a Colonel Littleton number 18A4 portfolio. But was not in love with it. Since I use fountain pens in most notepads. That can handle fountain pen ink or A4 size. I would like my portfolio to accommodate a rhodiopad or such. Thank you so much. So this is a question I get pretty frequently. And I don't have an awesome answer for it. I think like the Bellroy A4 folios are pretty fantastic. They're very expensive. I don't know if that's like a style that you like. I'd look at one star leather. Even if he doesn't. I don't know if Keegan makes A4 size folios. He would probably custom make you one. That would have the bells and whistles that you want. I don't know for that for a fact. But the A4 size folio used to be like a real commonplace thing. You know. You know a decade or two ago. And it's still in use. So I want to know what those good products are. And those are all I can come up with right now. So if you have any folios that you use to carry A4 size pads. Not A5. I think we're pretty good on A5. But A4 full size pads. Other than something like the Bellroy. Which is really expensive. But really nice. Let me know. I'd be interested to poke around and see what other folios are out there. Do you have anything for this? Have you seen anything or carried anything like this?

Myke Hurley: No. No. I have nothing for that.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's been a while since I've carried something that size in a folio. So yeah. I'd be good to know. Poke around Bellroy. Take a look at one star leather goods. And then I'll see if the chat has anything. And I'll shoot you an email. If there's any other tips and tricks for good high quality A4 size portfolio. All right.

Myke Hurley: I think that wraps it up for today's episode. If you want to find our show notes. Go to relay.fm slash penaddict slash 343. Or look in your podcast app of choice. And you should find links to a bunch of stuff we've spoken about there today. Something I hadn't considered. So the horrific paper that I have made. Right? Yeah. The link makes it adjustable. So since the chat room has gone in and changed it. So now I am wondering. What is that going to look like by next week? All right. Stay tuned. Because people can go in and just play around with it. Dave, I really hope we don't break anything on your website. This is going to be a stress test for you, I guess. A little stress for sure. But it's, you know, that's the thing. People can go in and just tinker around with it. And oh boy, they are. Is it worse? Sorry, Dave. Thank you so much to Squarespace and FreshBooks for their support of the show. Thank you for listening. You can find Brad online at penaddict.com. He's dowdyism on Twitter. Penaddict on Instagram. I am imike. I am YKE. I'm penaddict. I do that all the time. On Instagram and Twitter. I am imike. I'm not imike. I'm penaddict. Maybe I am. But probably not.

Myke Hurley: Brad, when are you Twitch streaming next?

Brad Dowdy: That's a good question. It'll probably be this weekend or next week. We had a couple of great streams this week where I addressed envelopes for like four hours. And it was hilarious. We had the best time. Like, y'all should come hang out. I keep everyone entertained while they're all working and shouldn't be working. They put me on in the background while I address envelopes. It's fantastic.

Myke Hurley: Twitch.tv slash penaddict for that as well. We'll be back next week. Until then, say goodbye, Brad.

Brad Dowdy: Goodbye, Brad.