The Pen Addict 580/transcript
| The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript | |
|---|---|
| Episode: | 580 |
| Title: | You're Going to Regret All of This |
| Release Date: | September 6th, 2023 |
| Hosts: | Brad Dowdy |
| Guests: | No guests this episode |
| Additional Information | |
| Official page: | Episode 580 |
| Audio File: | Audio Episode 580 |
| Podcast page: | The Pen Addict 580 |
| Length: | 5353 min <br />0.883 h <br /> minutes |
| Previous Transcript | Next Transcript |
Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 580. Today's show is brought to you by Ooni Pizza Ovens and Pen Chalet. My name is Myke Hurley and I'm joined by Brad Dowdy.
Brad Dowdy: Hello, Myke Hurley. How are you?
Myke Hurley: I'm good. How are you?
Orlando Pen Show preparation[edit]
Brad Dowdy: I'm really good. I'm really good. I'm packing for a pen show, Myke. Actually, I take that back. I am packed for a pen show.
Myke Hurley: That's fantastic news. Which one is it?
Brad Dowdy: It is the Orlando Pen Show, which we'll be talking about later this episode. But as we record, by the time people hear this, I will be in the car driving to Orlando.
Myke Hurley: That's going to be you.
Brad Dowdy: Yep. Beep, beep.
Myke Hurley: Beep, beep. Get out of the way. I've got a vacation to go to. Oh, it's no vacation, baby. That's what I meant to say. A pen show. You know, we had this conversation last week, because I get confused, because you go to Florida for vacations. And so, like, I just keep thinking, that was why I asked you, what pen show are you going to? Because I knew you were going to Orlando, but again, thought it was a vacation. Like, I just keep thinking you're going on vacation. But you're not.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. No, but, you know, like, it is definitely like air quotes work, right? Like, it's work, right? But it's not like, like, I'm, let's hold the Orlando talk. We're going to talk about Orlando. I'm doing a little bit of extra this time, which I rarely do. So we'll talk about that when we get there. But we have some important things to cover up front.
St. Jude campaign raffle details[edit]
Myke Hurley: We do. So you, as promised, have opened the raffle for the Pen Addict Community St. Jude campaign dealio. Do you want to talk through a little bit about what's on offer?
Brad Dowdy: Yep. So for, what, the fifth year in a row now, I have collected goods from the community, you know, pens, inks, notebooks, whatever, anything like stationery Pen Addict adjacent type of stuff, to put in a raffle to help raise funds for St. Jude. So what I'm doing for every $10 you donate between, what was it, September 4th? I don't even have my dates here. The 4th to the 26th? Mm-hmm. Yeah. 4th through the 26th that you donate to St. Jude's. You send me your receipt. And for every $10, you get one entry into the raffle for a litany of pens and inks and stationery, which I just said. Yep. And this will continue on. You can enter as many times as you want. You can buy as many raffle tickets as you want. I will continue to add goods. You're eligible for all the goods, no matter if you, if you submit your donation today. And I add more goods tomorrow, you're eligible for everything, literally everything I collect during the month. And it continues to grow and people love participating. And I love their participation in this. And, you know, we have our good friend, John from HelloTello. I'm going to miss some as I'm reading through this, but we'll have a link in the show notes to go check out all the products we have so far. And I want to emphasize that I have so much more coming next week. So like probably next Monday or Tuesday, I'll do an update with like a round two of goods. And I'm sure there'll be like a round three. Because as soon as I start this, the emails start coming in. It's like, hey, can I do this? And I'm like, yes, you absolutely may. So, you know, we've got a pen from Elba.
Myke Hurley: I would imagine as well, like especially if there's a pen show going on, right, that people might be like, oh, can I give you this thing to put in the thing, right?
Brad Dowdy: Like I can imagine. Exactly. Exactly. So I imagine I'll be coming back with some stuff either, you know, just donated or stuff I pick up. But it's some really cool stuff, you know, Frank from Elba, you know, when he did that podcast for us while what back in the summertime. And he said, hey, I know you're doing this thing. People know about what we do every September. So I start getting emails and contacts like in the spring, like, hey, I want to be part of that. Can I make a pen for that? Yes. So like that's what John Tello did this year with this great new Allegria model and this clip and this finish from Heinz Pens and the clip from Hooligan. And Frank made an Ebonite short cap model of his fountain pen design. Plotter is giving us an early release and an early look at a product that's not launching until next week. I don't believe the Shiranami notebook. So people like to I am very lucky that people like love to participate in this and give us like cool things. So Eric from Amarillo Stationaries, he's donating an ink that's not even out yet. His newest ink is the Amarillo Antigo.
Brad Dowdy: So just all kinds of cool stuff y'all can go see here in the link. I'm not going to read everything. And then, Myke, I have a section called Mysterious Benefactors.
Brad Dowdy: This is the stuff that blows my mind. And like I really, really appreciate all our retailers and all our friends and, you know, all the businesses and makers that donate to this. And then we get just listeners want to participate as well. Myke, did you see the stuff that is in this?
Myke Hurley: There's some of the stuff I don't even understand it. Like it's outrageous. There's such beautiful products in here. Yeah. These Sailor Pro gears? Are you kidding me? Yeah.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. There is some massively rare pins in this that various donors have sent to me to give to to participate in this raffle. Right. Like the stationery Delta Pilot Custom 845, Myke, there's only 70 of those pins in existence.
Brad Dowdy: Right. Like this is the type of stuff like people are sending me this stuff and it's brand new. Like it's not even used. Like it's brand new. Like people, I, the amount of products that I'm getting is like, I, I honestly, I, I'm not being like, I, I, I try to be like very open. Like sometimes I have to turn things down. Right. Like sometimes it's just a lot or sometimes it's like, it's too much volume. Right. There is a, there is a, there is a maximum we can do here, but I'd like to, I want to do this as most as possible. But like, and this tag stationery, Secura, like the pink one and the blue one from the aquarium.
Brad Dowdy: It's just unbelievable. So we're going to continue to see more stuff. I really, really appreciate it. Everyone who has worked with me to make this the biggest and best ever. And I, I just can't thank everybody enough. So stay tuned. Like seriously, stay tuned. There's going to be more coming. Even if you have donated, you're, like I said, you're eligible for anything that I get over the next month. Or if you wait till the end, you're eligible for everything in the beginning. Yes. Don't, don't sweat that. But yeah, we're off to a great start, Myke.
Myke Hurley: All right. So I'm going to give you a quick rundown again. Go to stjude.org slash relay and you can donate today. For every $10 that you do, that you donate, that is equal to one entry in the raffle. So after you donate, forward a copy of your donation receipt or a screenshot of this, including the amount and date of donations. You've got to be able to see all of these. Email these to stjude at pennaddict.com with 2023 raffle in the subject line. Eligible donations are only from September 4th to September 26th. And then Brad will do all the selection stuff. There will, of course, be a link in the show notes with these instructions all written out very clearly. So you can see them for yourself. I also wanted to point people to the Studio Neat Boys because I think this will be very of interest to our listeners. So last year, Tom and Dan put together a gold PVD coated steel version of the Mark 1. And they put this on raffle in a similar fashion for people that support St. Jude. They're doing it again. So I'm going to also put a link in the show notes there. It's a similar thing. But for them, you have to put thoroughly considered in the comments field. I will ask. This is just a kind ask from me. Don't double up your raffle tickets here. I'm not saying don't do this. I'm saying Myke would like it. If you want to enter this one, then put a donation in for this one and also put a donation in for Bradstuff. That's what I would like. Let's just make as much money as we can. As the boys say, most of this is fundraising. That's what we're doing here. All we want you to do is give as much money as you can to help defeat childhood cancer. That's not a big ask, is it? You know?
Brad Dowdy: No. We actually talked about this. I vividly remember the conversations in me deciding, should we limit how much people can donate? And we're like, absolutely not. Nope. Like, so, like, we had long conversations of, like, so, like, what did you say about the, what did you say? Like, relentless donations or what did you say? Merciless fundraising. Merciless fundraising. So, yeah, like, you can donate as much as you want. We would like them to be separate. Like, if you're going to do, you know, $20 for the Mark 1 and $20 for this, the Panatic one, do them separately. That would be awesome. That would be nice. But that is a hassle for people, but I do appreciate that. Agreed.
Myke Hurley: They're also doing a, like, I was thinking of Willy Wonka with this one, especially because it's the golden thing. But, like, this time they're doing something very specific, which is the person who donates the most money, with thoroughly considered in the comments field, will automatically get one of these. And then the rest will be random drawing. Nice, nice, nice. Very cool. So, there is a way to guarantee yourself one.
Brad Dowdy: That is true. Donate a lot. Well, you don't know. It's blind. It's a blind raffle. You don't know.
Myke Hurley: No, but you will because it will say thoroughly considered in the comments, right? So, if you're, like, top donor of the campaign, then you don't know.
Brad Dowdy: What I'm saying is if you and me are going for that, you know, I don't know what you don't know. Exactly.
Myke Hurley: And there could be someone who gets in at, like, the very last minute. You never know. But, like, be generous. Why are we asking you to be generous? It's because this is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. That is September. And we are coming together here at RelayFM. To ask you to support us in supporting the work of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. St. Jude won't stop their life-saving work until no child dies from cancer. And if your support will be one step closer to that day, one cure closer. St. Jude is an incredible place. And they have done incredible work. And they believe that no matter a child's race, ethnicity, beliefs, or ability to pay, that they deserve the care. So, St. Jude will make sure that their patients receive customized care. This is what is needed to treat childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. No matter what barriers they face, St. Jude wants to help these children. And they also want to share their research with the world. And they do. It's very important to them that they do that. They are a research institution and a hospital. They treat children with the research that they have amassed over the years, over the last 60 years. But then they share that research worldwide so that children all over the world can defeat childhood cancer. Because of its supporters, St. Jude can provide children with cutting-edge treatments not covered by insurance at no cost to families. Families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing, or food. Meaning that they can do the thing that matters most, focusing on helping their child live. So, please go to stjude.org slash relay to donate. You can also find out more about fundraising yourself there. So, you could set up a fundraising campaign that you could share with your friends, your family, your co-workers, your community. And you can earn some exclusive RelayFM merchandise for doing so. That is stjude.org slash relay to learn more and donate. St. Jude won't stop until no child dies from cancer. With your support, we'll be one step closer to that day. One cure closer. One child closer. This month and every month. Let's cure childhood cancer together.
Myke Hurley: Me and Stephen are also doing a bunch of videos and milestone streams and stuff like that throughout the month. Mm-hmm. And one of these was a desk tour video that I just put up. I'll put a link in the show notes. It's on my YouTube channel. It's showing off the desk that I use every day. So, there's a bunch of interesting little trinkets and stuff of interest to pan addicts. As well as a preview of this new core keyboard that I got sent from people at Mod Keyboard. So, go check it out. I'll put that in the show notes too.
Brad Dowdy: So, I've made it through six minutes of the video. It's just come in prior to us starting this show. So, I didn't have time to catch it. I have notes, Myke, already. Like, written notes. And I'm going to go through them. So, if you all haven't watched it, go click on the link.
Myke Hurley: I just realized right now in you saying I have notes that I made a blunder in this video. I didn't explain why the stickers are on the desk.
Myke Hurley: So, I'm going to look like a madman to people that don't know me. Like, I've just realized this right now. I think it's a feature. I intended to explain why my desk was covered in stickers. And I realize now that I did not do that.
Brad Dowdy: We'll do it now because that was last year's bet.
Myke Hurley: Well, I mean, I think listeners of this show know. Yeah. But hey-ho. People will just think I'm weird.
Discussion of the Mark III pen and personal preferences[edit]
Brad Dowdy: All right. So, number one, I was surprised how much you love the Mark III still. We talked about that when that launched. Oh, my God. That you're still actively using the Mark III, which I find super interesting. Like, in a very positive way. I don't know why.
Myke Hurley: Like, I have no idea why it's got as strong a hole on me as it has. But it has. I adore that thing.
Brad Dowdy: Those are the best products, right? When you don't understand why it's so good and you just keep reaching for it. So, yes, I could tell that. I have almost an intervention level issue with your Canalea pen in the pen cup next to metal pens like your Tactile Turn GT that has ridges on it. I am definitely at some point going to screenshot this for posterity's sake.
Myke Hurley: I have a pen storage issue at the moment that I've yet to resolve since we moved house. And it's just like, it's a whole scene over here. I've got so many pens that are empty and I don't know where the inks are. But it's like, yeah, this is a consequence of that.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, this is bad. This is bad. Like, I can get over, you know, like when the pens touch. Like, they're just going to have to at some point. But when you have acrylics versus ridged metal and they're adjacent, this is a problem. No, no, you're very right.
Myke Hurley: I'm going to rectify that today. That will be rectified as soon as we're off the call.
Brad Dowdy: And I quite enjoyed your orange James Brand draplin collaboration knife. That was pretty neat. So that's as far as I've gotten so far in the show. So, yeah, very cool. But, yeah, fix the canalea next to the tactile turn. Notepad here.
Myke Hurley: Fix the canalea pen cup issue. So I will check that off as soon as we're done.
Brad Dowdy: Okay, that's as far as I've made it so far. So there will be more later. I'll have more feedback later. But, I mean, we had to get that out there right away. That was almost an emergency podcast situation.
Myke Hurley: Yeah, it's pretty bad. I'm not going to lie. I'm embarrassed. Because I love that pen. The reason... And it's like the Mailele band one, too.
Brad Dowdy: Like, it's like you're not... You didn't even play around with that one.
Myke Hurley: The Mailele is protection from these sharp pens. It like...
Brad Dowdy: Okay, it is not. It's not at all with the up and down removing in the cup. No, I'm not letting you get away with this.
Myke Hurley: I have it around and accessible. I know I have a problem.
Brad Dowdy: That video shows lots of problems that I have. It's top to bottom full of problems. It's great. I'm actually anxious to see the rest of it because I did enjoy what I saw so far. It makes me actually want to do my desk like in the current state that it's in because it's absolutely catastrophic. Yeah. And it would probably take me like 20 minutes to go through like a desk that I can reach like my arms around. Like, it's so small. There's so much going on on this desk right now. I think... You have... That's what I'm going to say.
Myke Hurley: I am going to challenge you right now. All right. To make that video, but we put it up as a milestone in the campaign. Okay. So, you tell me an amount and then you can make the Brad... You can make desk tour Brad's version.
Brad Dowdy: Okay. Okay. We'll have to look at it. I'll have to check the numbers, but I would almost certainly be able to do that. That's going to be good. And wow. I'm just looking around right now. I'm just going, yeah. This is... I am in the perfect state for a desk tour because it is a mess. And that's where I want it, right? I don't want to clean this up to do the desk tour. Like, we just got to go for it. We got to keep it real here. I didn't clean mine.
Myke Hurley: All I cleaned away was the things that I couldn't let people see.
Brad Dowdy: Yes. The embargo goods and the business notes. Yeah.
Myke Hurley: What about if we get the $300,000? Okay. I'll put it up on the thing. Done. Awesome. I'm going to put that up today.
Brad Dowdy: Sign me up. We're going to get there for sure. What are we... What's today? The 6th?
Myke Hurley: We're at $179,000 right now. Okay. For the kids of St. Jude. We're going to get there.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. We'll get there. Brad desk tour. Brad's Unprepared desk tour.
Myke Hurley: Brad's version. Yes. That's what we're going for here. Because of St. Jude, I'm going to be traveling next week. Because I'm going to be in Memphis getting ready for the podcast-a-thon, which we'll talk about over the next couple of weeks. So we're going to be pre-recording an episode of the show. So next week, we're going to go two episodes of the show. So one episode will be Brad's Orlando Pen Show recap. The other will probably be all Ask TPA. So if you have a question that you would like to get into us, you can go to penaddictfeedback.com. That is penaddictfeedback.com. And submit an Ask TPA question. And we'll try and get through as many as we can on that episode. What I'll say is if you have shorter questions, they're more likely to be answered in an episode like that, I think. Because we want to try and get through as many of them as we can.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It depends. I really appreciate the long questions. Oh, and we'll get to them. We'll get to them. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. But the longer ones tend to be a lot of the new user stuff. That's true. I'm really kind of stuck here. And that's my favorite thing to help answer. So yeah, we'll get it all covered. We're just not always super timely. If you have a question that requires immediate attention, you might want to just email me, hello at penaddict.com. And I'd be glad to help you out there. But for the show stuff, we could be weeks, two months. I'm getting to them. But we do appreciate it. Please send them in. All right. I wish I would have gotten someone to send me this in, Myke. The Bungu Box Little Witch AL Sport. Did you see this? Apparently, this came out at the San Francisco Pen Show. I did not catch this till afterwards. This is my kind of pen. Like, I love... Like, again, Kaweco is really bordering on Sailor's level of just all the things, grabbing the parts, putting together, and throwing them out there. This one's a little bit beyond that, which is why I kind of give it a little bit of a pass. It's got some extra text on the barrel. It's got a cool nib on it.
Myke Hurley: It's the only effective text on barrel that I've seen from them, I think. You know, like, I've really not liked that. But I think this one is done really, really well. Yeah.
Brad Dowdy: And it works for a while. It followed the brand guidelines, if you will, right? We've had some really, like, mix and match stuff that didn't work in the past.
Myke Hurley: Just things that didn't make any sense, really.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. And I don't know. This one, like, I don't need, like, a new Kaweco. And, like, I have no intention on buying this one, but this is the kind of product that I love, right? Like, I really, really like this pen a lot. So I just thought that was cool. Cool thing to share because I think they launched it in San Francisco, but it's just kind of getting the publicity treatment now, like, on their site and on Instagram and stuff like that. Because now that they're going to be back from the San Francisco Pen Show, able to sell them in the shop, it's something to check out. Anyway, so I just really found that interesting. Um, we have another interesting pen we're going to have to talk about. I think we should talk about something else interesting before we get there because I need to prepare myself for this next topic we're going to have to cover.
Myke Hurley: Yeah, that's a really good idea. Let's take a break first and then we'll get to that. And we can cast your mind away to a better place right now. Yeah. We're going to calm you down before we go into our next topic. We're going to talk about pizza. This episode is brought to you by Ooni Pizza Ovens. Uni is the world's number one pizza oven company. This is because they make excellent, surprisingly small ovens powered by your choice of either wood, charcoal or gas to let you make restaurant quality pizza in your own backyard. Ooni Pizza Ovens are incredibly easy to use and super portable. They fit into any outside space. Ooni Pizza Ovens can reach temperatures of up to 900 degrees Fahrenheit. This enables you to cook restaurant quality pizza in as little as 60 seconds. The high temperature is what you need to really get that excellent result. It's what separates these pizzas from what you can make in a home oven just from a taste perspective, a visual perspective and a convenience perspective as well. They have a bunch of really excellent models over at Uni. They have the Uni Coda 16, which is what Brad has. This can cook up to 16 inch pizzas. They have an innovative L-shaped burner at the back to give you even heat distribution. They have the Uni Karu, which you can use wood, charcoal or gas. They have the Uni Vault, which is an electric powered pizza oven. They have so many more besides. There is the pizza oven for you. Just waiting there at Uni.com. Their pizza oven start at just $299 with free shipping to the US, UK and the EU. They also have all of the accessories that you're going to need from peels to cutters to oven tables. Everything you're going to need is over there at Uni. And you will get 10% off your purchase of an Uni pizza oven, which could be up to $50 off an Uni Coda 16. When you go to Uni.com, that's O-O-N-I.com and use the code ADDICT2023 at checkout. Brad, you love making pizza in your Uni, right?
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And we're getting ready to the best season for Uni pizza cooking, which is the fall. You can get that temperature cranked up and you can have, you know, a little bit of outside picnicking or dinner party or anything outside going. It's getting ready to be ideal pizza weather to cook in the Uni. So I cannot wait to crank it back up. So admittedly, it's been a little bit hot here to stand in front of the fire, even though it doesn't really radiate that much outwards. But you still want to have that experience, getting it outside, having it set up and going to town on some pizzas this fall. I can't wait.
Myke Hurley: Everybody wants to do this. Uni is the perfect tool for the job, which is why they're always in such high demand. So if you want one, go get one. Go to Uni.com and use the code ADDICT2023 for 10% off. Our thanks to Ooni Pizza Ovens for their support of this show and Relay FM.
Return of the Scribble/Color Pick pen[edit]
Brad Dowdy: Myke, what is dead may never die, my friend. The scribble pin is back, now known as the Color Pick pin. And our inboxes are full because it is live on Kickstarter right now. And it has met its funding goal. And it is just very problematic. And I put in the show notes.
Myke Hurley: Of this product, the last time we did this, when they made that really weird video. Do you remember?
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, when they made the failure video and published the failure video.
Myke Hurley: Where it was like meant to show you why is this thing working. Yeah, yeah. I would have to go back.
Brad Dowdy: It did not work. I would have to go back into... So it was post-scribble, it became something else. And then they were posting videos on that. We got links to that. It never made it to Kickstarter at that time or to Indiegogo or any other platform. But they were releasing these videos.
Myke Hurley: I think it might have been Color Pick, you know?
Brad Dowdy: It might have been. It might have been. It was just failure after failure after failure. And it didn't work. And it never worked. And it was just... It was making the grinding noise like when it was mixing the colors. It was like, oh my gosh. This one, it's the same concept. And if you're new to the podcast, we've been covering... The product kind of initiated the pin was called the Scribble Pin. And it ended up being like a huge, huge mess on Kickstarter. And this was probably, what, six or eight years ago at this point. So we've been covering it that long. We kind of did a recap of the Scribble Pin probably in episode 400 or 401 of the podcast. Where we kind of went back through some of the highlights. Some of the things that we were known for at the time. To catch people up like the new Starting Point episode. So if you want to hear about the Scribble Pin, either in 400 or 401, we should cover it. It was in 400. Okay. Because it was a big topic, right? It was... It was... At the time, it was... And I don't say this lightly. It was a scam product, right? At the time. And I'm not relating that to this product. Because I think you and I will agree that the Color Pick, based on the videos that they've shared now. It... I'm going to go out here and you can correct me if you see it differently. It technically works. Yes. Is that fair?
Myke Hurley: This thing that they have shown us, there is a video which shows the product. And I've put it on... In the show notes. It's called Color Pick Pen Test in Five Colors. This is a video. A single video. No cuts. So they should just...
Brad Dowdy: You can see that it works. To give you the context, this came out of their comment section on the Kickstarter.
Myke Hurley: Yeah. Well, unsurprisingly. Because how many times has this happened, right?
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It technically works, but I don't understand why you would pay money for this product in the results that you get, right? Yeah, it's terrible. It still looks terrible.
Myke Hurley: And also, I think that this is only working within a very set parameters. These four colors. That's what I reckon this thing could produce. A blue, a red, a green, and a yellow. I do not think it can produce the 16 million colors that they are purporting that it can cover. And it still suffers from a lot of the same problems that we've seen last time. Because it's just the way that physics would stop this thing from working. Yes, you can scan a color, and the pen is doing some kind of mixing inside with a bunch of cartridges to provide you with the ink that you need. Yeah, but then when you change color, you have to eject a ton of ink until the old ink has run through it. Right. This is just a terrible product. Like, it has improved, but it is never going to be like what they're showing in the videos. Which, by the way, this video... I'm sorry. If you watch the video on their site and back them, I don't know what to tell you. Right? Like, the people that have watched...
Brad Dowdy: I thought the exact same thing.
Myke Hurley: ...this video, and they're like, yeah, okay. I will give these people... I will give these people... What is it? $160? Like... Okay, we found it. Kate is the best. Episode 480. So, like, literally 100 episodes ago.
Brad Dowdy: Oh, this is the one where it's plugged in.
Myke Hurley: This is the one... Yeah, but this is the last time that this thing popped up. It was called The Scribble, again. Okay. And they made that... It's just... This episode is worth listening to just for our reaction to the video that they made. It was just one of the most...
Brad Dowdy: It's one of the worst things I've ever seen. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. In every possible way. You do not publish this information.
Myke Hurley: Yeah. Because it just made the product look terrible. Yeah. But, yeah, this thing... I mean, look, if you see this and you're like, yeah, I want this, I mean, you're going to get what you pay for, which is this thing is trash. And, like... Right. All the... You know, it's truly wild to me that this thing exists. The video is very clearly using some kind of AI voice generation system, which I don't understand why they're doing it. It contains multiple inaccuracies, like, in grammar and just, like, words being left out in sentences. Like, or if you... I mean, I don't know what to say. And also, like, they showed one thing in this video of, like, using this pen and then using it in an app to, like, make... That's what this product should be. Like, it shouldn't be anything else than this. Like, it should be, like, you get a light sensor and you can sense a color and then it recognizes the color and lets you drawing a drawing app. That is where this product should start and end. And that sounds like not a great product, but that is as much as it should ever be. It's as useful as this thing could ever be because the idea that I could go up to an Apple, scan the color of an Apple and immediately be able to draw... And, like, and there's, you know, they like to say so many times in this thing, you can just get rid of all your coloring. No, you can't. You can't do that because this thing is trash. It's never going to work the way that you want it to. And I just cannot believe this thing continues to exist. Like, it just, like, it makes me frustrated about Kickstarter.
Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm.
Myke Hurley: This should never have been allowed on the platform in the first place and it shouldn't continue to be allowed on the... Like, what...
Brad Dowdy: They even say in their mic that it's not 100% functional yet. Like, in their comments, the creators. We're not 100% there. It's like...
Myke Hurley: I mean, that, though, like, I'm sure that's the case of a lot of Kickstarters, right? And they're hoping to get... I mean, I don't know. Like, I don't know if that's against the rules. I know not you. Like, but, like, you know, I imagine a lot of Kickstarters start that way, but they have a path. Like, these guys clearly don't have a path to getting this thing to work because it's just, like, not possible. But, like, I just feel like, in my mind, Kickstarter is supposed to review stuff and this just doesn't pass the common sense test.
Myke Hurley: Yeah, I agree. And I don't... So, I don't understand why it's here on the site. Like, it's wild. It's really wild to me. Like, I just don't get it. I don't understand it.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Well, you said... I can't believe you said this because it's my exact feeling on this. If you go and watch that YouTube video that the creators linked in the comments and you still give them your money, that's on you. Yeah. Because...
Myke Hurley: I don't want to be mean, but it's like you kind of deserve what you're getting. Which is... If you watch that video... Either your money's stolen or something that's not going to work. Yep.
Brad Dowdy: Yep. So, it's unbelievable. It's... I... It's unbelievable. Unbelievable. So, anyway. You know what, Myke? If you want to buy a real pen, can you tell people where to go cleanse their palate and get something they can really love?
Brad Dowdy: Oh, okay.
Myke Hurley: I was like, where are we going now? Have I got something else? No. I was so professional there. I know. I'm sorry. I didn't have the document open. I was still looking at the Kickstarter page because I was just lost in the fact that they claim they've won awards for this thing. It just annoys me so much. Like, but like, yes, we have to talk about it. We have to talk about it. We do. I just can't... I'm glad I got you so fired up.
Brad Dowdy: Like, I didn't think this was coming, but it's on.
Myke Hurley: I just can't believe that we're still doing this so many years later. And it's so ugly, this thing too, right?
Brad Dowdy: That's the other thing is like, I couldn't even get past, like, we're still talking about this. I can't believe it. Like, the functionality of this is horrible. And that's before you even like have to look at it. It's literally like... It looks like a dentist's tool. Yeah. Or it's like a standalone mixer or something. I don't know. Like, I mean, it's definitely something that people aren't going to repeat on this podcast. Like, it is like outrageously ugly.
Myke Hurley: And it's just like the idea that this would be for any artist, right? And that they would like be able to use it. Champion this product. Yeah. Like, I just... I just don't know. I really don't know. This episode is brought to you by PenchLA, who sell authentic products.
Brad Dowdy: Can we get a shout out to my segue that you botched? Like, I feel pretty good about that. You knocked out of the plug.
Myke Hurley: A star, A++++ would segue again. You nailed it. I did not. Thank you. PenchLA do. They sell amazing roller balls and fountain pens, ballpoints, mechanical pencils, fountain pen converters, inks, carrying cases, pen holders, refills, all the accessories you're going to need. They have products from your favorite brands, and they have the best prices around. Every couple of weeks, you're going to find not only new products coming to PenchLA, but also tons of great deals. They're adding new styles of products all the time, and they believe in fast and reliable customer service. You get free shipping on orders of over $75 when you're in the US, but they sell internationally with great shipping rates as well. PenchLA believe in a simple thing. Low prices on high-quality pens and a 100% satisfaction guarantee. I want you to go to PenchLA.com, P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T.com and click the podcast link at the top of the website. Enter the password PenAddict. This is where you will get this week's special offer and to get the code that you need to save 10% on anything at any time over at PenchLA. What special offers do we have on deck this week, Brad?
Brad Dowdy: They have this really cool Conklin crescent filler, which is one of the classic Conklin designs, right? It has this crescent, for lack of a better term, on the barrel. And I believe it's like a lever filler under the crescent. You kind of twist it and manipulate it to fill the pen. And it's kind of a modernization of a vintage filling system for fountain pens. And it's really cool. The ones I've seen in the past have been really neat. And it's kind of one of the cooler things that Conklin does. But this one, this chrome pattern in like this, it's like a chased rubber pattern, right? You remember seeing on like ebonite and hard rubber pens, you know, like from the early 1900s and mid 1900s, but they've kind of done a chrome version of this. So it's a very modern version of a classic design, which I think is, looks pretty neat. Also the Pelican M205, the Appetite color, which I think was last year, one of last year's colors. The demonstrator is a really, really great pen. The M205 is a fantastic pen, one of my favorites. And this is a really great price off of that. There's a couple of Benus in there, which I don't know that I've ever seen Benus in the, on the podcast page before. So the Minima, which is their smaller version, you can get for quite a good price for some of these Benu pens, which I haven't seen before. And then lastly, something I found way down the list, which if you ever go to our Pen Addict page on Pen Chalet, you got to keep scrolling. They have loose nibs or a loose nib for the Pelican 800. So this is an 18K gold replacement fountain pen nib. And it's a crazy good price. Like you don't need, you normally can't find these loose nibs, especially at this price. So I imagine that's not going to last very long there at Pen Chalet. So go check them out. There's even some great stuff further down the list, Platinum Procyon and just even more. Just go check them out. And thank you so much, Pen Chalet. So yeah, definitely hit them up.
Myke Hurley: P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T dot com. Go there right now. Hit the podcast link at the top of the website and enter the password Pen Addict to get your hands on these offers. A sincere thanks to Pen Chalet for the continued support of this show and RelayFM.
Brad Dowdy: All right. Shout out of the week. One of my Mastodon friends, Cheryl Lindo-Jones, who I've actually been following online for like before I was on Mastodon and they were on Mastodon. Um, but they've never really, uh, had like a dedicated, uh, pen space, but now they do. So you can go follow their blog, uh, online. Um, Cheryl started doing a 30 inks for 30 days, which is a popular September, um, thing to do in the stationery space. So a lot of people are participating in the 30, 30 inks, 30 days challenge. And Cheryl's, uh, been posting all of the inks. Um, and you can go check out why they're doing it, what they're doing. And, uh, it's really fun. So, uh, go check out Cheryl Lindo, Cheryl Lindo Jones.com. And then, uh, she will yell at me on Mastodon later for going, why did you put that in there? And because it's awesome. That's why, that's why I did it. So, so shout out of the week, shout out of the week, pen show of the week, Myke. That's what it feels like these days. There is a certain season of the year where it really is just like, which one is it this
Myke Hurley: week?
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Um, to me, this is kind of the end, but that's a little bit unfair because I know, uh, like Dallas is always a good show, uh, later in September in the U S and then you, you have, um, the Columbus pen show, I think in October, November. And there's a couple, definitely a couple, a couple more, but this is the last one I'm traveling to this year. Um, the Orlando pen shows this week, I'm heading down, like I mentioned at the top, um, right after the show. So that's a little bit of a different schedule for me this week. The Orlando pen show has a great schedule. It is essentially a Friday, Saturday show, no Sunday show there, uh, 10 to six, uh, to the public Friday and Saturday, but they do Thursday night. They do kind of a vendors kind of like a soft launch, you know, hang out, get together party, which I think is a great benefit for vendors and weekend pass holders. If you're coming in Thursday to be ready for Friday morning, the show promoter, just buying the vendors pizza on a Thursday night when they've traveled to get there, I think is a pretty cool. It's like, it's a small thing that I think goes a long way for vendors. So I think that's pretty cool. So I'll be doing that Thursday night. Um, and then go into the show Friday and Saturday, but Myke Thursday morning, I am playing golf, which I think I might've mentioned on the show before I've certainly, well, no, me and you
Myke Hurley: spoke about it. Yeah. And I'm very jealous because I'm going to play golf with you.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Well, I don't know that you actually want to, because I have not swung a golf club in over two years.
Myke Hurley: I'm like, I'm an absolute novice. It would be perfect for me.
Brad Dowdy: So this is going to be a mess. Like it full stop. Like it's going to be, uh, hilarious and fun. And like, I don't take this stuff seriously anymore. I literally have not been to a driving range or a top golf, or I haven't hit a putt in the house in over two years. So this is going to be fun. So I'm playing with my friends at Kenro industries, uh, distributor of all of our favorite brands like the, like Estherbrook, Aurora and Y studio and all kinds of fun stuff. So, um, they asked me, said, Hey, you want to come in early? Um, and, and play golf for this Thursday morning before we do the show. And I'm like, yes, I do. Which, um, you know, I would, I rarely do that, right? I rarely take the days before the days after shows to like do something fun and chill and relax. So I am taking advantage of that. So that's going to be the schedule this week. I am going, uh, Wednesday night. I'll be getting in there driving. It's about a five, five and a half hour drive for me. So it's not too bad. I don't mind doing that. Uh, playing golf Thursday morning, doing the vendor opening Thursday night, going to the show Friday and Saturday, and really just planning on having fun. I really liked the venue that they have for this show. The hotel is massive. It's kind of like a conference type hotel, which you can imagine Orlando has a lot of facilities like this, but where this one is different. Um, it's not like say some of the resort type hotels. It's more of just like a conference hotel, but it's attached to a mall and giving the state of malls, at least in the U S you might not think that's a very good thing, but this is one of the malls that has been, I guess, very successful. Um, it's kind of like a high end mall. It's gigantic. It's got all these great shops, great food, which is important to pen show attendees. And it's literally attached to the hotel. Like you walk out of like the hotel for you're through the door and then you're in the mall. Um, and it's like, like I didn't even scratch the surface of the mall last year. Like it's a big, big, like it's a, it's a destination type of place and therefore it gets all the destination type stores. Like pretty much anything you want is there. And like I said, it's got all kinds of like crazy food choices last year. Like I ate Brazilian last year, like just wild stuff. And you know, as well as steak shack, you know, things like that. But, uh, yeah, I, I really look forward to it. It's a good location. What I realized, like, I didn't know what I was getting into last year, right? It was their first show at the hotel, new promoter, new show. And it was small, like, and it's going to stay, you know, small ish, right? And, you know, Atlanta sized or maybe a little bit bigger between Atlanta and Baltimore, maybe. Um, there were a lot of makers that attended this show and that was something I pointed out from last year's events and how much I enjoyed getting to spend time with makers at a show where you can actually like sit and talk with them, you know, for a while and learn about what they're doing. And that maker list has expanded even more this year. They have increased the size of the rooms, the, um, the, the show floor space. They're moving to a different section of the hotel to, uh, give it a bigger floor, which is great, which has attracted more vendors and more makers. So it's really, really neat to see, uh, the growth. And I think Joe does a good job and his whole, you know, his, his wife and the whole team that, that does everything for Orlando. They, they're really like on top of the information that you need shared before the show. Like when you go to Washington DC, like you can get all the information like statically, like on the page and, you know, like on the website and you just cross your fingers and go. Or Joe seems to be like very proactive. Like just randomly, we'll put a post on Instagram saying, you know, if you're coming in Thursday, be sure to check, you know, your email, because we're going to tell you everything that's going on on Thursday. It's like, I appreciate that. Like it makes everything so much easier and more comfortable for me to go to a show when I know like what's going on, what to expect when I get there and not have to be just like blindsided by, you know, where do I go? What do I do? So I do appreciate that. And it's noticeable compared to some other shows. So the one thing that I did going into DC was take a look at the vendor list to kind of get an idea of what I wanted to check out. And there's a few people that I haven't seen before or some that I have seen before and haven't ever shopped from before in Orlando. So I wanted to give a couple of vendors a shout out and I know I'm leaving everybody out. Like I could literally just go down the entire vendor list and can't wait to see all these people. So, you know, a lot of friends that are going to be there. A lot of people I talk to every year and I'm definitely going to hang out with. But I'm going to make a point to go to the London Pen Code table, which not not from your area, Myke, from from London, Ontario, Canada. So unfortunately not local to you, but they will be at the Orlando Pen Show. And I got to meet Sean for the first time in DC, checked out his pens. I did not pick one up at the time, but I think that's in the cards probably this time. So I definitely want to spend some time talking to Sean, getting to know him because I just kind of, you know, got introduced to him at DC. And I appreciate the fact that he is already making the return trip back to the Orlando show. Someone that I just learned about yesterday when I was streaming, Abigail Markoff, Florida resident pen maker, someone brand new to me, makes some really neat looking pens that I'm looking forward to checking out and getting to meet them and seeing all the cool stuff that they make. I've been browsing her site and it looks just kind of amazing. And then Joe Little from Little Pen Designs. I've actually ordered from Joe online. One thing Joe does, Myke, and I'll have to show it to you. I don't have a link directly, but I can find you one before the show ends randomly or just sporadically, I guess is a better word. Joe will take acrylic blanks and make them around the Pentel Sharp Mechanical Pencil mechanisms like we do for spoke pen. Like take that mechanism and we make metal barrels. He makes acrylic barrels. Like you see, you know, from like your fountain pens and things like that. So those are cool. I've ordered a couple of those from them from Joe. I enjoy those pencils. So I'll be checking them out. And yeah, I'm just really excited to get down there. I need to look at the classes. They have a, they had a bunch of good classes this year.
Classes and activities at the pen show[edit]
Brad Dowdy: From my friend Stephanie doing a creative journaling class to Vanessa Langton to Langton doing a wax seal class. Nick's obviously doing his calligraphy class. It's, it's really good. So yeah, that's, that's kind of like the short list. Those, that's my Friday list. Right. So that's the way I tend to do it. It's like if, if you're on the list, those are my first stops. And then the rest of the show just opens up from there for the rest of the weekend for me.
Myke Hurley: You got any like personal shopping list or aims, like something you're trying to get out of this show specifically that, that you haven't from previous ones other than these like specific makers.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So what's funny about this and I can, I've noticed this over probably the last couple of years, the current production line pins from most companies, I'm just, I have so much access online now that like, I'm not anxious to see the new Leonardo because I've already seen it. Right. Or I've already bought one. Like I bought a Leonardo online like a month ago. Right. So where before I would be like, I need to check this out. I need to check this out. I will say there is one, there is a new platinum 3776. Oh, I got to find the color. Have you seen this? I actually need to talk to you about this. I don't think so. It's like an aqua blue and rose gold. So I need to find the link and find the name, but it is a like platinum hasn't done like a really bright color like this. They only do it. I don't know, maybe once a year, maybe once every other year. But I haven't seen this before and I will find the link in the show notes. It's here for you.
Myke Hurley: I'll also take a poke around and see if I can find it.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. But so that's a, it's, it's rare that I am going for like a main product line at a pen show. And because I have those opportunities elsewhere. Right. So what I'll do is like, I will, I want to talk to those vendors. I want to see what they like. And what is the sense of Komodo? I think so. Is it blue and rose gold? Yeah. Translucent.
Myke Hurley: Yeah. That's nice looking. That's it. I would like to see that too. You know, like, yeah, that's a pen I'd want to see. I was not expecting when you, when you described it, that it would be a demonstrator. Yep. Because that's rose gold is a bold move there, I think.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So it's not coming out until October. It looks like. So I might not get to see why that there, but I am shockingly compelled by this pen. Like I.
Myke Hurley: Feels like a very Brad pen to me. Yeah. Maybe not the rose gold part, but like maybe that will look good. But like the blue demonstrator is like that. That's Brad Dowdy right there. Yeah.
Brad Dowdy: I think the rose gold looks amazing. So yeah, I am all in on this pen. So check that out. So I probably won't get to see one if they're not coming out till October. So, you know, after that, it's, it's really just learning about all these makers and spending time with people who might only be local to this show, right? Like Abigail Markoff, who is, you know, a Florida resident. So that's one of the cool things going to shows in different parts of the country is you get to meet people who that might be their only show of the year, right? They're not, they're not on, on the carnival circuit. Like a lot of us are for all the shows around the country. So that's important to me is to spend time with the locals or the smaller vendors or the smaller retailers, because I have access to all the other stuff year round, right? Like all I have to do is like make a phone call or shoot an email and I can figure out whatever I want. And it's the, the opportunities to see some of the smaller makers, local makers, local vendors, things like that at these shows that really, really gets me going. That's what gets me excited. Like I am super excited to, to get there and taking the show. So yeah, I'm looking forward to it.
Myke Hurley: Are you planning on doing any of the classes?
Brad Dowdy: I am going to figure that out probably Thursday, Thursday night. I will sign up for anything. I Stephanie's journaling class, which I told her I would take last year. I didn't get to, and then she yelled at me deservedly. So shout out Miss G's crafties. I'm probably do that, especially cause I think that's on Friday. And then there were a couple, Oh, there was like some, so there's like three classes in a row and I don't have this pulled up right in front of me, but starry night resins is doing a resin making class, which I think they did last year. No, that sounds fun. Yeah, that sounds cool. So they did that last year. Yeah.
Myke Hurley: How did they make that look? That's fascinating to me.
Brad Dowdy: So right in a row, I think there's that class and then Vanessa's wax seal and stamps class. And then right after that, I believe is Anderillium's history. Is there a cleanup class after the resin and wax seal classes? Well, then just wait. So then the third one right after that is Anderillium, who's an ink maker, their history of inks class. So like, that's gotta be messy too, right? So like, I'm just going to get, I need to get an apron at the mall on Thursday night to be prepared for the rest of the weekend. So I think that's the, that's the plan going in.
Myke Hurley: That sounds like a lot of fun. Yeah.
Brad Dowdy: So I can go to the mall and maybe I can find like a Prada or a Gucci apron, right? Because it's, it's one of those fancy malls. Yeah. So I, oh, LV apron. That's what we need. LV apron. Make it happen, Myke.
Myke Hurley: Wait, well, how am I going to make it happen? You need like a Louis Vuitton sponsorship?
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Or something, or at least a bank transfer.
Adding Brad's desk tour milestone to the St. Jude campaign[edit]
Myke Hurley: Oh, speaking of that, actually. So during the episode, I went in to add the Brad's desk tour milestone to the campaign. Okay. And we'd originally said it would be for 300,000. I can't do that because it said, if I do that, it will increase our milestone. And I felt like everyone would get really mad at me if I, our goal, if I changed our campaign goal, just like on the pen addict. So it is now set for, if we meet the goal of 293,000, which gets us to two and a half million raised for the kids of St. Jude, Brad will create his own desk tour video.
Brad Dowdy: Hilarious. Okay. This is going to be so bad. You're going to regret all of this, by the way.
Myke Hurley: Oh, I'm not going to regret it. I'll tell you that right now. Because like you come in here with your like, oh, look what you're doing to this poor, poor pen. And I can't wait to see what atrocities you're doing to these poor, poor pens.
Brad Dowdy: Oh, man. Okay. I need to think about this. Yeah. I'm looking around. No tidying. I'm not tired. Oh, I'm not tidying. I think I'm safe. Like I'm to the good. Yeah.
Myke Hurley: I'm good.
Myke Hurley: So please go donate to St. Jude. That's stjude.org slash relay. And we'll be, again, obviously we're going to be talking about this throughout the month. We've got the podcast on coming up real soon. And so we do want you to send in your RSTPA questions. You can go to penaddictfeedback.com and you can send those in and we'll be getting to as many of them as we can in a couple of weeks time because we'll be pre-recording that episode. But Brad, I hope you have a great pen show. I look forward to seeing it all unfold on Instagram and getting the report and refill, which I assume you'll be doing over the weekend.
Brad Dowdy: I'll be doing. I'll be doing. And seeing how poorly my reels went at DC. They were great. We might as well try again. We might as well try again. What do you mean poorly? I don't know. I just feel like I don't do a good job on those. But yeah. I guess it doesn't matter. Just do it.
Myke Hurley: And that was fun. I liked it. So I'm going to try to do more.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I think I will try to do more this time because when a show is not the scope and size of something like DC, you have a little bit more freedom to do some of that stuff. So I'm going to try to embrace that this week. So yeah. Definitely stay tuned. Penaddict on Instagram.
Myke Hurley: Yeah. It's like I want to see more of what's happening at these pen shows. And you're the man on the ground. You know?
Brad Dowdy: I'm on it.
Myke Hurley: I'm on it. If you want to find Brad online, go to that Penaddict page. He's Penaddict on Instagram. Of course, he's also Penaddict on Mastodon. Penaddict over at twitch.tv slash Penaddict where you can see Brad streaming multiple times a week. Also at Penaddict.com. You've really got that consistent branding going on these days. I'm a big fan. Took a while. You can also go to spokedesign.com where you can find Brad's products. You can find me online. I'm iMike. I-M-Y-K-E on threads and Mastodon. You can go there to find links to the video that I was talking about earlier. But that's also in the show notes, which you can find at relay.fm slash penaddict slash 580. You can also find those in your podcast app of choice. Thank you so much to Pen, Chalet, and Uni for their support of this week's episode. But most of all, thank you for listening. Don't forget, don't forget, I should say, stgeo.org slash relay. We'll be back next week. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Bye, Brad. Bye. !