The Pen Addict 88/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	88
Title:	Mollycoddling
Release Date:	January 8th, 2014
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 88
Audio File:	Audio Episode 88
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 88
Length:	6565 min <br />1.083 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: Hello and welcome to episode 88 of The Pen Addict, your weekly show where we discuss pens, paper, and the analogue tools that we love so dearly. This is number 88, as I said, and you can find the show notes for today's episode at 5x5.tv slash penaddict slash 88. My name is Myke Hurley, and I am joined by the nobleman of notebooks, Mr. Brad Dowdy.

Brad Dowdy: Ooh, thank you, sir. How are you today?

Myke Hurley: I'm very good. I thought I would start right off with the show notes today, because I fear that some people don't know where they are, and I'm going to make sure that people knew.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, especially since we talk about so many things that people may not be familiar with, it's good to have a place to go and get them.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, and you kind of need to see some of the stuff, too, because it's some of the fun, just seeing what this stuff looks like, so that people got it if they want it.

Brad Dowdy: Exactly.

Brad Dowdy: So what are we getting into today? We got a loaded up show notes list today.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: I'm pretty excited about it, actually. We want to talk about our resolutions and our wish lists and all kinds of stuff, but we got a bunch of things to touch base on before we even get to that.

TWSBI

Myke Hurley: Yeah, let's do some quick-fire follow-up. That's what I think I should do. So you'll remember on last week's episode, I spoke about the Twisby and the fact that I'd broken the cap of my 540 ROC, and I had a few people who had a couple of emails and a couple of tweets within an hour of posting the show from our amazing listeners telling me to contact Twisby directly. And I know that, Brad, you'd also been contacting people as you've been seeing pictures on Instagram of people saying they'd had to replace Twisby parts. So I emailed the guys and gals over at Twisby, and they're going to mail me a new cap. It's on the way. That's awesome. I'm super, super impressed because that's real customer service. They do not need to do this at no charge to me as well.

Brad Dowdy: Wow. That's fantastic. I mean, that's really good to see a company like that that'll support even some older products. And this is a product they admitted when it came out that there were problems with, so it's good to see them just standing behind it and sending out some new parts, and hopefully it'll be as good as new. I have no doubt about it. Yep. So when you get that new cap, are you going to be super careful with it? Are you still going to follow it away? Do you think it might get back into the heavy rotation?

Myke Hurley: No, it'll go back into daily use. Awesome. I don't believe in just mollycoddling it. These things are made to be used at the end of the day. And it's important to me that if I have a pen that I enjoy, then I want to be able to use it. There are so few pens that I really love, and I would hate to not be able to use one through fear of breaking it.

Brad Dowdy: Right. Right. And that's actually, we'll talk about that a little bit more in the resolutions coming up, because I think that's a good thing to talk about. And I've got some comments on, what did you say, mollycoddling?

Myke Hurley: Yeah, did I say that?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah, that's a Britishism.

Myke Hurley: Basically means to care about it too much, like to sort of treat it like a baby.

Brad Dowdy: Yep, yep. I knew what you meant. I just hadn't heard that one before. I like it. Mollycoddling.

Brad Dowdy: Speaking of a pen that doesn't have to be mollycoddled. Do you see the reviews on the new Twisby Classic that came out? I know we talked about it for a couple weeks.

Myke Hurley: I haven't seen any.

Myke Hurley: But, I mean, because I saw you there in the show notes from pretty early on, so I thought I'd wait and you could give me the rundown.

Brad Dowdy: Yes, I don't have one yet.

Brad Dowdy: And I'm not, honestly, I mean, it looks good, and I will totally end up buying one, and it'll be a good pen. I just haven't, it hasn't, like, struck me like, you know, the 580, the Diamond ROC. Just in the looks department, it's a very classic pen, as the name dictates. It's a very basic looking design for Twisby. And what caught me off guard is, you know, I saw the individual pictures of the Twisby Classic, and then once I started seeing people doing the reviews, it's a smaller pen than I thought, just size-wise. It's definitely smaller than the 580 in length and diameter.

Brad Dowdy: And in one of the pictures I saw, it's about the length of the Twisby Mini when the Mini's posted.

Brad Dowdy: So, you know, I've kind of got that pen from Twisby, so I'm not in a hurry to get one. And I will definitely pick one up eventually. And they look pretty good, and I'll probably get the blue one. They have, what, blue, black, burgundy, I think, so far. And I don't know, the reviews, as you expect, are pretty positive so far. And we've got links to the show notes for anyone that's interested in the Twisby Classic. We've got a couple reviews, one from fpquest.com and another one from fpgeeks.com. And, like I said, we're fans of Twisby, and it's a good, you know it's going to be a good pen. And these guys will, you know, did some good reviews on them. And I don't know, I'd be anxious to hear if anyone else gets the Twisby Classic. I think Myke Dudik got one. I don't know if he's reviewed it yet or not. He got the blue one.

Myke Hurley: I'm starting to worry about the dude. Huh? I'm starting to worry about the dude.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, why?

Myke Hurley: Well, he's, you know, he spends more money than both of us combined these days.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, you should see the text I get. Oh, yeah? Yeah, it's just like, oh, just bought this. Oh, just won this auction. I'm like, dude, simmer down. Simmer down over there. So, yeah, we will, yeah. And we have more to blame Dudek for here coming up in this episode. So, the last week after, I think it was right after last week's episode, I was trolling around on Instagram. Instagram is one of my favorite things these days, Myke. Like, after deleting my account a year or two ago, now I can't get enough of Instagram. I don't know what it is. So, I've definitely turned the corner on that. I'm just discovering all kinds of neat stuff on there. And this was a discovery of a product I'd never heard of before at all. And it just came across in one of my searches or hashtag, you know, feeds or something that I look at. I look at Instagram a lot for new products and new products. It's this product called Johns, J-A-W-N-S. And we'll have a link to the product page in the show notes. And what caught me, what caught my eye about the product is it looked like, it just looked like another notebook, like another pocket-sized notebook. Just like, you know, on the field notes, dome paper thing style. But what it has, it has, it's kind of like a combination notebook slash wallet, but not like you would think of like a leather wallet holder for your notebook that holds, you know, credit cards and has these slots. It's actually got the pockets integrated into the notebook cover. They use that Yupo plastic paper, like the Field Notes Expedition Edition, you know, that harder plastic, more durable paper cover. And then they built in these slots just in the paper notebook itself for, they built in credit cards, two credit card slots in the front. And I think one like folder slot in the back and then just the notebook pages in the middle. And I thought that was a pretty neat idea. So I just happened to follow them on Instagram and follow them on Twitter and they reached out to me. And I think they're going to be in production later this month and they said they'd send me a sample to check out. So I look forward to getting that. What do you think about this idea? Have you taken a look into this link?

Myke Hurley: It looks interesting.

Brad Dowdy: It's probably not going to replace your wallet. No.

Myke Hurley: No. No. And then I think to myself, I would want something with a bit of character to it. So like something like a leather case to hold a Field Notes. It's definitely an interesting idea. And they've chosen the right material for sure. Chosen the right material.

Myke Hurley: The video is weird. I don't know why he throws the cards down so hard on the table. I was just watching it now. Yeah. I mean, it certainly looks like an interesting product. Like it's definitely a pretty cool idea. Like it's one of those things that I think you buy a bunch of those and get them out as gifts and people would really dig them. Yeah. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's probably nothing that's going to break my everyday carry rotation. But I think it's something I want to try just to see as an option to see if I could figure out some use for it. Just because I think it's kind of neat. You know, it's just like, you know, I try to stay out of like bulky items like big leather wallets and things like that.

Myke Hurley: I was just about to say like the problem with those levers, with the leather cases and stuff is it adds a significant amount of bulk to your pocket. Right. Yep. Yep. But this one, obviously that doesn't happen. It's really thin because it's just the weight of the notebook itself.

Brad Dowdy: Right. Right. So, I mean, it's a very simple idea. So, we'll see how it's executed. And hopefully I'll get a sample to review here in a month or so. And we'll see if it's worth pursuing further. But I thought it was just kind of a neat, neat little thing. And, you know, looks, it's one of those things where I can appreciate like a simple idea being, you know, made into something new and different like that. So, I think that looks pretty cool.

Lee Reyes

Brad Dowdy: Also, something else I stumbled on yesterday. As a matter of fact, Lee Reyes, who is one of my personal favorite pen bloggers out there, she's the one that did a few weeks ago, maybe a month ago around the time of the Philippines, the hurricane in the Philippines. She did all the auction stuff for all these great pens. And, you know, lots of people participated. She had a great auction going on her website. She posted her 2014 fountain pen wallpaper for people to use and share. These are all pictures of her pens and her artwork and things like that. She did an amazing job. Wow. Anyone that wants a fountain pen or pen and ink related images for their desktop for the upcoming year, you have got to check these pictures out.

Myke Hurley: These are amazing. Didn't she do a great job? I love the Diamine flower ink thing. Isn't that cool?

Brad Dowdy: She actually mentioned in one of her tweets, she's like, boy, that one came out really good. I think that was one of her favorites as well.

Myke Hurley: What are some of these inks that have got splashes in them like that, that are all these different colors?

Brad Dowdy: I know. I don't know.

Myke Hurley: It's just the way they're lit. It's probably just the way it's lit, isn't it?

Brad Dowdy: It's probably the way they're lit and probably the way she's, you know, splashed them down on the page. And, you know, there's this whole range of colors in there. That was my favorite one, I think, probably the one you're talking about. It's called Ink Splashes. That was my favorite one that I saw. But, man, she's got Nakaya's all over the page. And we're definitely going to talk about that later.

Myke Hurley: I feel like Nakaya is something I don't know enough about.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. Well, hide your wallets.

Myke Hurley: All right. Well, you know what happens when we do these things these days? I end up spending stupid amounts of money.

Brad Dowdy: God, it's terrible. It was an expensive week for me. It was an expensive week for me, that's for sure. Because I did get some new pins this week.

Myke Hurley: You did?

Brad Dowdy: Which I did. I didn't think I was going to have them in time for the episode. So I wasn't really focused on them to talk about this week. But I got two new pins this week. I'm helping the economy out this week, Myke. First one I got was from my enabler, Thomas. He always – my inbox gets filled with just links from Thomas. Hey, you might want to check this one out. Hey, you know, he's looking at the Fountain Pen Network classifieds or he'll see something out there that's a good deal. He knows my taste pretty well after all this time spent talking to him. He knows what I like and what I dislike. So if he sees something he thinks I like, he sends me this link in the email. I'm like, man, I guess I got to go check this out. So he sent me a link earlier or late last week. It was for the Pilot Custom Heritage 912, which is the same pin I have, that PO nib, you know, that kind of like hook nib that's really fine and really firm. You know which one I'm talking about?

Myke Hurley: Yes, the one that looks like it's broken.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, my PO nib.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, it looks like it's broken.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. So it's – that's the very same pin style, pin barrel with a stub nib, which I hadn't actually seen. It's not one of the standard nibs. Just like the PO nib isn't one of the standard nibs that it comes with, you know, like fine, extra fine, medium, broad, et cetera. It's got a stock stub nib on it, and it's really great. And I bought it used off Fountain Pen Network. Pins in pristine shape. So I will definitely have more about this pin in the coming days.

Myke Hurley: What did you say it was called? Sorry. Was it the Custom Heritage?

Custom Heritage 912

Brad Dowdy: Custom Heritage 912. 912. And this is with a stub nib, which they call the SU nib.

Brad Dowdy: I don't know exactly why, the SU, but –

Myke Hurley: Stub something.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, S-T-U-B. But it's really nice. It's a very expressive nib, very smooth. I loaded it up with Pelican Edelstein Topaz, which is a real bright blue ink, you know, kind of like the Compaqui ink. I already had a pen inked up with Compaqui, so I wanted to try something else. It's bright and blue. But suffice it to say, you will be reading more about this pen in the coming days and months on penaddict.com.

Brad Dowdy: Now, my other enabling friends, and your enabling friends as well, Mr. Myke Dudek and Mr. Ed Jelly, have been on this roturing kick, right?

Myke Hurley: These guys. I hate – I've decided I hate these guys. I know, right? I just feel like we can't be friends with them anymore. And now I've just realized that we just became the listeners of this show.

Brad Dowdy: That's right.

Myke Hurley: Oh, no. We really did. Now I feel guilty for the last 88 episodes.

Brad Dowdy: Maybe it's the Myke Dudek and Ed Jelly podcast, and we're just living in their world.

Myke Hurley: Oh, it's like one of those alternate reality type deals.

Brad Dowdy: That's right. That's right. So they got into your wallet last week, a couple weeks ago, for a roturing 600 lava fountain pen. Oh, you got one, didn't you? Yeah.

Myke Hurley: What nip size did you get?

Brad Dowdy: Medium. And it's interesting. I got an email from – and I think you might have been copied on the initial email from our friend Keegan at One Star Leather Goods. He bought a set, like a rollerball fountain pen set, or I don't know if it was a rollerball fountain pen and pencil set. I didn't get into all the details, but he's not – he wasn't really interested in keeping the fountain pen, so he offered to sell it. And him and I consummated a deal last week, and it showed up in my mailbox yesterday. And I got to say, this is a really awesome pen. I'm very happy with it. It looks like Keegan purchased – it's like – probably like yours, like a new old stock pen. I mean, it looks brand new, fresh out the box.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, it was fresh. I mean, and it looked like it had never been used. I don't know if it had, but if it has been used, it was impeccably cleaned.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, exactly. I mean, this one's like no dings, no scratches. It's beautiful.

Brad Dowdy: It's sparklier than I thought it would be looking at the pictures. You know, the lava finish, it's got a little bit more shine into it than I actually thought it would. But I think it looks good. I mean, the finish is great. It's like this really fine grit sandpaper almost, which – it's actually a little bit smoother than that. So that surprised me, the shine of it. And then second, I thought the section was narrower than I kind of assumed it would be. But it's a really good feeling and good fitting pen, a great writing pen. And I'm real happy with the nib. The nib is very firm and it's a medium, but it doesn't write overly wide.

Brad Dowdy: It reminds me a lot of how TWSBI nibs feel. They're very firm and they're not overly inky. There's not a lot of ink coming out on the page, which is something that I tend to prefer. So overall, I'm super happy with this pen. Have you been using yours still?

Myke Hurley: It's all I've used for the last week. And I'm willing to say that it's one of the best pens I've ever owned. I'm in love with it. At first, I thought it was too heavy. But the more and more I've used it, it's just a dream to write with. I love this. I really love this pen. The last couple of weeks, I've received two of the best pens I've ever owned. Like the Pelican M215 and then the Rotaring 600. They're just incredible, incredible pens. And yeah, I'm very, very happy with what I've got at the moment.

Brad Dowdy: That German engineering will get you apparently, right?

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I mean, apparently so.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. But having used the Rotaring 600, the rollerball, which actually Mr. Dudek told me was probably a Newton, the one that I had before, the rollerball was actually way heavier than this pen is. But I actually prefer the weight of this, of the fountain pen, this Lava 600 fountain pen, than I did the rollerball. The rollerball was almost too heavy. And this one's right on the money.

Myke Hurley: Tell me, did the cap get you? What do you mean? Trying to put the cap onto the pen.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, for sure. But I mean, since I had had the other one before, I knew about the push and twist kind of deal. So it'll line up correctly. So I was used to it.

Brad Dowdy: So yeah, it actually got me taking it off at first. I was like, was this a screw cap? But no, it just pops right off.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, it takes some force. I mean, I'm used to it now and I kind of like it. But I was a bit like, I'm going to break this, either putting it on or taking it off. Yep. But yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I was actually told that when I bought the rollerball a couple years ago, actually, that was the guy I bought it from actually made a point to say, here's how you take the cap off. Because yeah, I think people get stuck on it for a second, the first time they try to open it up.

Myke Hurley: Yep.

Brad Dowdy: All right, so we got lots more to cover here. We got lots of lists to go through here for our 2014 stationary resolutions and our wish list. So you wanted to talk about our friends at Squarespace real quick and we'll get into that?

Myke Hurley: Yeah, it sounds like a really good idea. By the way, Brad, Happy New Year.

New Year

Brad Dowdy: Hey, Happy New Year to you. It was weird because we recorded right before the New Year rang in last year. So it's been like a week before we get into this New Year stuff. It feels like the New Year's already come and gone, even though we're only a few days into it. So Happy New Year to you too, sir.

Myke Hurley: And Happy New Year to all of our listeners as well. Of course. Of course. Of course. Let's take a quick moment to thank our sponsor for this week, and that is, of course, the fine folks over at Squarespace. They are the all-in-one platform that makes it easy to create your own website. For a free trial and 10% off, go to squarespace.com and use the offer code Tallyho1. Squarespace is constantly updating their platform with new features, designs, and more support. They're beautiful templates for you to start with and tons of other style options for you to adjust, so you can really create, craft, and make your own space online. Squarespace takes care of hosting, SEO, and even makes your site look fantastic on any device featuring responsive web design. It's really easy to use, but they have over 70 employees dedicated to customer support and their customer care team if you need any help at all. Squarespace truly cares about design, and this shows throughout their entire product. It's on their website, so if you go to squarespace.com, you're going to see a fantastic-looking site with beautiful videos, and it looks really great throughout. Their templates, which are award-winning, so you're going to have an award-winning layout on your site from one of the templates that you choose and adapt. But it also shows in their iOS apps, which I've spoken about in weeks past, like Squarespace Blog and Squarespace Metric, which allow you to post to your blog and to see all of your stats and stuff that come onto your site using those. They also really care about the way that their backend system looks, so when you're posting to your site, it looks fantastic there too. I want to take a quick moment to just note something, and Squarespace haven't asked me to do this, but I wanted to just take a quick second to congratulate them, because Brad, believe it or not, yesterday marked 10 years for Squarespace.

Brad Dowdy: Yes, I saw that. I saw that they did a blog post on that. I was shocked. I had no idea.

Myke Hurley: Indeed. If you go to blog.squarespace.com, you're going to see it right up there at the moment. They've also redesigned their blog, which is one of the first announcements that they're going to have. They're going to have 10 announcements throughout all of January, which I'm really excited to see what they're going to be. I'm looking forward to some cool stuff coming from them. But it just shows they've been around for 10 years. These guys really know what they're doing. They've got it down. They've got all the hosting down. Squarespace sites look fantastic. They just react fantastically. They scale brilliantly. I've been using them for about five or six years myself personally. And even back then, they were incredible as they were up to today. So congratulations to Squarespace for making 10 years. And I think you should go and try them out to see what all the fuss is about. Go to squarespace.com. You can sign up for a free trial. There's no credit card needed to do this. You just give them your name, your email address. You can sign up for an account. And then if you decide to purchase a Squarespace plan, they start at just $8 a month and include a free domain name if you sign up for a year. And make sure that you get 10% off and support this show by using the code TALLYHO1. That's T-A-L-L-Y-H-O and the number one. So thank you so much to Squarespace for supporting 5x5 and The Pen Addict. You're losing my voice.

Brad Dowdy: You are. You are. I was wondering if you're catching the plague that I had these past few weeks.

Myke Hurley: A little bit.

Brad Dowdy: A little bit. Hey, one thing I forgot to mention when I was talking about these new pens that I got, the Rotring I've got from Keegan at One Star Leather. He sent me a package. He sent me my wife's coming in from the mailbox yesterday. And I see her looking down at this white envelope. And she's just got this quizzical look on her face. And I'm just like staring at her. I don't know what she's doing. And she's just looking and kind of looking cross-eyed at it. And she hands me the package. And the label of the package in the ship to address, it says, Brad, the enabler, Dowdy, Prince of Pens, Knight of Notco, the man of Macon, on my shipping label. What a dude. So he brought his A-game on that one. So that was awesome. So thank you, Keegan, for doing that. And thank you for confusing the heck out of my wife and me having to explain to her what's going on.

Myke Hurley: So this is a thing that I do every week.

Brad Dowdy: Those are always uncomfortable conversations with people who don't. I mean, she obviously knows pretty much everything I've got going on with pens and paper and everything. But when there's like these little inside jokes and things and you have to explain them to a person like in real words and not in reality life, not on internet life, it kind of falls flat sometimes.

Myke Hurley: Yep. It does.

Brad Dowdy: All right. So let's get into this. Last year we did our 2013 stationary resolutions. And it kind of stuck as a good episode. People like to hear about that and hear what we were planning on for in the pen and paper world in the new year. And we followed up on it halfway, three quarters through the year last year to see how we did. And so we wanted to do that again this year with our 2014 stationary resolutions and wish list. And it's good to talk about these publicly so people can hold you accountable, Myke. Are you nervous about that?

Myke Hurley: That's sad.

Brad Dowdy: I know. It's always. But that's why you do it. So I don't normally do resolutions just, you know, New Year's resolutions. But I do like having these pen and paper resolutions that I try to stick to throughout the year. So one of my biggest one this year is to really work with the Hobonichi planner that I have and really make that kind of my go-to capturing device and, you know, really just use the planner as a planner. You know, live in the Hobonichi planner. I've never been a planner person to where I've been able to stick with the planner for its intended use for a full year. So it's actually kind of a scary thing for me. I was very hesitant to even order the Hobonichi planner. But I enjoy writing in it so much that, you know, I'm carrying it with me everywhere I go.

Brad Dowdy: And I'm trying to really focus on using it. And I'm not focusing on how I'm using it. You know, I'm focusing on just using it. Writing things down to remember, you know, writing to-do lists, writing plans, you know. I'm trying to do – I'm trying to add in, like, some little sketches and things. I'm trying to – one of the things, other things just in general I want to do this year is try to explore my creative side a little bit more. I always – that's kind of a repressed gene in me, if you will. Like, I don't explore, like, my artistic side very much even though I know I've got it in me because I'm too nervous and I have that hesitancy. So I'm going to try to break through on that this year. We'll see. I'm going to use the Hobonichi for that because there's room in the planner just for, you know, sketches and doodles and drawings and things like that. And try to, you know, free me up a little bit mentally. So that's going to be my biggest thing I'm going to work on this year is to use that planner throughout the entire year.

Brad Dowdy: And, I don't know, stick with it because I've never been a planner person. And so that's – it's actually going to be pretty hard for me. I mean, I forget sometimes, like, I've already forgotten, like, on the weekends when I'm not necessarily carrying around with me as I would, like, all through the week through work and things like that. I forget to, like, you know, jot things down that I wanted to remember or need to do and things like that. So I'm working on that and that's going to be – so y'all hold me to that and hopefully towards the end of the year we'll follow back up on this and see how I did. And hopefully I've done well.

Myke Hurley: That's a noble goal, man.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it's a hard one because it's not my style. No. Not my style at all. I'm usually just, you know, just a blank field notes list and jotting things down, scribbles and things like that. So, yeah, using that's going to be a goal of mine. And, you know, I've got this fancy cover that Mr. Bruckwicky made for me. So I've got that going for me, which is nice. And so, yeah, we're going to do it to it. But so one of the other things I want to do this year is to use more vintage pens.

Brad Dowdy: My tendencies lean to the modern, obviously. Like I've just bought these new very nice pens. Even, you know, I wouldn't consider the Rotring, you know, a vintage pen at all. I consider it kind of a classic modern design. But like last year at the pen show, I bought that Vacumatic, right? And it's still one of my favorite looking pens. But I never use it. And this goes back to what you were talking about in the beginning of the show with your Twisby. It's like, you know, I buy these pens to use, not to sit here and look pretty, you know, on a desk. You know, what good is that? And I've got to force myself to use them more often. I don't know why I'm mollycoddling these pens. Because there's no need for that. I mean, it's a mental block, I think, for me. And I don't want to necessarily add much to my vintage collection. You know, like I might buy one or two more pens. But I want to use the vintage pens that I have. Like I have some really nice pens sitting here. I have a Parker 51. And I have an Estabrook. And I have a Vacumatic. And they just sit here in my pen case. And I never ink them up. And I don't know why. So I want to get into using those more. Because those pens deserve to be used. And they're just great writers. They're great looking. And I don't know what my hesitancy is to ink those up. And use them over some of the more current pens that I own.

Brad Dowdy: And my last resolution is I want to write more and write better. Or I guess I should say I want to write more better. And I guess with that, I mean, I've had, you know, since we've been, since I've started the NotCo company, I think I've, and I knew it was coming. And that's why I've kind of planned around it. And I haven't been writing quite as much as I like to for the pen addict. And I want to get back to doing, you know, some longer, some longer reviews, some longer articles, some more general writing. I've never thought my writing quality was very good. So I want to improve on my blogging and my writing style and my writing quantity and quality. So that's going to be a challenge. I don't know that I necessarily have some quantifiable measure for that. But I feel creatively challenged, I guess. I guess I want to be a little bit more creative this year and do some different things. And what those things are, I'm not sure. But, you know, writing and drawing and doing, you know, firing off those creative brain cells in my head. And those are the things I want to work on this year. So that's kind of my list. You know, I think it's definitely doable type stuff. And, you know, things that kind of get lost in the shuffle, like my vintage pens. You know, they're sitting there. I need to use them because I love looking at them. So might as well put them in the rotation, Myke. It's the way to go, man. Yeah, yeah. So what are your plans for the year?

Myke Hurley: So I've got a few. Like you. I want to help people, more people in my life find the right pen. I was showing off my pen collection to the lady over the weekend. And it was, she was very interested by them all. And was like sort of enjoying using each of them. And sort of coming from an art background and stuff. It was something that she was very, very intrigued with. So, you know, she was testing them all out and was showing very sort of similar thoughts and feelings to me about how they feel and stuff like that. And of everything. She really liked the Twisby stub nib. Mm-hmm. And the, she actually liked the Parker Vacumatic quite a lot. Just the way that they were, yeah, smooth they were. Mm-hmm. So, and she's always been, you know, she's always been the sort of person that is like, I want to have one pen. So, she used to have this one pen that she loved. But she lost it. And then since then, it's just been a kind of whatever, you know. Yeah. It's fancy. And she uses, I think it was like some pilot, like, art pens. So, you know, I'm going to show her the Sakura Pigma Micron and the, what's the other one I'm thinking of?

Brad Dowdy: No, there's a bunch. Yeah. Uni pen, pilot drawing pen. Yeah. So, stuff like that.

Myke Hurley: Copic. You think about the Copic? I figured a Copic multiliner, yeah. Yeah. I'll put those in the show notes. So, yeah. So, just trying to help people in my life find the pens that are right for them. Mm-hmm. As opposed to necessarily just being, this is the one that I think you should have. Gotcha. And that stuff. I think that might be an interesting task this year to see how I get along with that.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that's a very noble, noble goal. I like that.

Myke Hurley: It could be interesting. It could be interesting for sure. I just want to try that out. So, I want to go to the pen show again in October, but with more money this time. That's a bigger budget. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: So, I can start saving now.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, exactly. I want to be able to allow for some surprise purchases and also have a couple of things that I definitely want to get. I want to buy a couple more Retro 51s. I don't really feel like I've done that too much in 2013 and maybe my collection is waning a little bit because of it. And I want to back a minimum of five really cool pen and paper related Kickstarters this year.

Brad Dowdy: I like that. I like that. There's some interesting things out on Kickstarter. It kind of, about six or eight months ago, I thought there was kind of a lull in the cool pen and paper Kickstarter stuff. And then, you know, probably back around the summertime, it seemed like it kind of started ramping up again. And I ended up back in several things. And yeah, I think that's really cool. Is anything on your radar recently on there? I don't know that I've noticed anything. I know the ink, obviously, here recently. But yeah, I need to check and see if there's anything cool on Kickstarter here recently. But I think that's a really good idea.

Myke Hurley: I haven't seen anything. And I think that's part of it is I need to maybe spend some time looking there myself as opposed to having people show me.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I think that's good. I've actually found some things browsing around on my own. And not even necessarily pen and paper stuff, but just some really neat projects that have funded here recently just for me browsing and finding some things that you can find things that fit your style or your needs or things like that. So that's a very good one. I think we'll keep good tabs on that list and see what's out there.

Myke Hurley: No doubt.

Nakaya Pens

Brad Dowdy: All right. So my wish list. Now, this was fun to put together because I'd been thinking about this anyway. But I'd never put it down on paper. And I've already scratched one off. And we're early in the year, Myke. The Rotring Lava 600 fountain pen. That was on the wish list regardless. And, you know, we're still in single digits in January. And I've got one scratched off the list. So I'm happy about that. So I'm well on my way up my wish list. Now, the rest of the list is going to be a challenge. There's two pens that I really want to buy this year. One of them, I think, is probably coming sooner than later. The other one is going to take some... Gosh, what's the words I'm looking for? Coming to terms mentally. And that's with the Nakaya.

Brad Dowdy: For years, or at least since I've been into fountain pens for the past couple years, I've always just been fascinated with the Nakaya brand. The style of the pen. The history of the pen. The quality of the pen. They're just the most beautiful pens I've ever seen. And I think I'm getting to that phase where I want to add one in my collection. Like previously, you know, like when I was getting started with fountain pens, I always looked at them and drooled over them and thought, not now or, you know, it's not my time for one. Because they're very expensive. I mean, it's going to be $600 or $700 just to even consider one. And, you know, that'll be two or three times more than the most expensive pen I own as of right now. So that's one challenge behind it. And two, the second challenge is back to kind of how I was talking about the vintage pens. I don't want to spend that kind of money and not use the pen. Right? So there's like this pull, like this back and forth kind of, you know, do you spend this kind of money to let the pen sit there and look pretty? And it's like, that's not something I want to do, right? If I'm going to spend that kind of money on a pen, I still want to use it. And I want to use it every day. And actually, I want to be, you know, carry it with me at all times because I've committed so much money to it. And so that's kind of the biggest hangup I have on the Nakaya. I'm not opposed to paying the money. I'm more nervous about paying the money and not using the product because I'm scared of breaking or damaging it or something like that. So that's something I have to get over mentally. I don't think that's not a pen. You just go to the website and add it to your shopping cart and hit purchase. So there's going to be a lot more thought put into this purchase. And if I do make it, I imagine it will be towards, you know, the middle or second half of the year. I'm not ready to pull the trigger yet. I'm sure I'll wake up one day and say, okay, today's the day that we're going to buy the Nakaya. Except I, you know, need to give myself two or three months lead time if I want something special on it. Because if you don't buy one from someone in stock like at nibs.com, they do take a while to manufacture. So we'll see. We'll see if I cross that one off the list this year. It's a maybe. It's a definitely maybe. I've got some more brain cells to wrap around the whole Nakaya thing. But I will eventually own one. It's just going to take some thinking to actually pull that trigger.

Myke Hurley: I think that might be a little bit out of my price range right now.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, I can definitely understand that. The other problem is it's, you know, the Lay's potato chip problem. No one can eat just one. You know, once I get the first one, then I'm really sunk. You know, because there's always there's going to be a second one. And then that's when you start running into into issues. And that's a that's an expensive habit there. So, well, there's some more thinking to be done. It's on my wish list. It's permanent. It's got a permanent home on my wish list. And we'll see if I scratch it off sometime this year. I'm thinking yes, but I'm thinking not soon, if that makes sense. One I am thinking soon, though, is Edison Menlo. Um, that's the like the the pump filler that Brian Gray made for Edison pens last year. It's not it's a very expensive pen, too. It's like it's 350, I think, to just get in the base model one. But I'm more I don't know. For some reason, I've used several Edison pens. I love how they're made. I love how they fit my hand. The quality is top notch. And I'm not afraid to use those for some reason. And I guess it's because I've got experience with them. Unlike the Nakaya, where I treat like a museum piece, you know, the Edison, I'm which is equally as museum quality. Um, I'm just, you know, put them in my pocket and go to town. And I love using them. So I want to get this, uh, this pump filler that Brian has made. And, um, I think that one will probably be a sooner rather than later pen. Um, it's not immediate. It's not forthcoming since I've just spent, um, I've just spent a lot on this pilot custom heritage and roturing lava here in the first week of the month of the year. Um, but I bet, I don't know, probably in a couple months I'll get that pen. Cause that's a really cool pen. And, um, it's just some, ever since he announced it, it's been on my shopping list. And I think this is the year I break down and get that one. Um, another pen, which would kind of surprise me that I wanted. And I don't know. I, do I need it? No, but I kind of want it is I want another vanishing point. Um, they've come out with some cool ones here in the past year. There's a gun metal in gray one that, uh, Ed Jelly keeps posting. And he did, he did just a picture post. I think it was just like directed at me just to taunt me because now I want that pen. Um, and then they, that's the one they came out with last year. Then this year they're coming out with a white and black one that I think looks pretty sexy. Um, I've got the link in the show notes. Cult Pens has that one already.

Brad Dowdy: I have a feeling I'll, I use my vanishing point. Vanishing points, what I keep in my, um, Hobonichi planner. That's what I use, um, in there constantly. So it's a pen I use all day, every day. Um, it's a perfect pen for that. And I kind of, I don't know. I've just kind of, kind of got the hankering for another one. So that's on the list. Um, a couple other smaller items is the Sailor Pro Gear. I keep, that's been on the wish list since last year. And I've never come through and got one. Um, it's very similar to the Pilot Custom Heritage 912s that I enjoy so much. So I want to get, I want to pick up a Pro Gear this year. Um, it's just a nice solid workhorse type pen. You know, it's probably cost me in the $150, $200 range. Um, the Sailor nibs are some of the best in the world. And I want to add more to my collection. I also want to get another Franklin Kristoff Model 40 Pocket. Um, the pen that I love so much. And it's probably my current favorite pen. Um, the Smoke and Ice Franklin Kristoff. I want to get a solid barrel color one. Like they have a dark green one that looks pretty neat. And I want to get it with a needle tip instead of the, uh, um, cursive italic nib.

Brad Dowdy: And lastly, I'm putting a call out to the listeners.

Brad Dowdy: I stumbled across an ink that I missed that came out in a limited edition two years ago. It's the Roaring Klingner Blau Schwartz. It was a limited edition blue black. They made a thousand bottles of it. So one of my goals this year is to somehow manage a bottle of that ink. So I need the listeners to come through on that one. So if anyone has any bottles, partial bottles, samples they want to sell, get in touch. Because I want to, I missed out on this and, uh, being the blue black ink fan that I am, I want to add this to the collection of my blue black ink. So, um, that's, that's going to be a tough one to fulfill. So, uh, that's why we're going to, we're going to put a call out to the listeners on that one.

Brad Dowdy: Do you have any, you can, you can sell me, Myke?

Myke Hurley: Um, not hidden away. Okay. I'll check the vault.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. Just checking. Just checking. I wasn't sure.

Myke Hurley: I really struggled putting together a wishlist. Um, because a lot of the stuff that I've had on my wishlist for a while, I've actually been able to knock off recently. And there wasn't really too much that jumped out at me. I mean, this is, these first two, they were on my wishlist when we spoke about the gift guide. Yeah. Um, so the Frank, Franklin Christophe model 40 fire and ice, I really want one. And the only reason that I haven't bought one yet is because if I get one, I want to do it the way that you did it with the silicon grease and stuff. But I'm kind of a bit apprehensive of doing that.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Don't be. I actually had someone on Twitter ask me about that. I was totally apprehensive of that, Myke. I mean, like really freaked out by that. It's, it's, it's been one of the simplest, easiest things that I've ever done. And it works flawlessly. Okay. It's, it's seriously, it's a non consideration. Okay. That's how easy it is.

Myke Hurley: Okay. Um, and I also want a Kaweco art sport. My understanding is they're getting even harder to get hold of.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. So you need to, uh, get on that one sooner.

Myke Hurley: I want it, but I can let this one go though. Yeah. Because I own Kawecos. I mean, it's just another one that looks nice. I don't have a Kaweco that I love so much that I would use it every day. And that's kind of becoming a thing for me now, Brad. I'm trying to buy pens that I think I would use every day because I have truly excellent pens now. Right. In the TWSBI Mini, the TWSBI 540, the Pelican M215, the, um, Rottering Lava 600 and the Retro 51, right?

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm.

Myke Hurley: Those, I think there's five there. Yeah. They are like, they're as good as it gets.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. That's a great lineup.

Myke Hurley: Like, I really think that those pens are just, for me, they're, they're like, they're so great. Why would I want to buy something that is just going to sit in a pen cup now? Right. Um, I really am trying to try and buy pens that I think could be amazing. So I know that what that means is I will be spending more money on pens when I do buy them. Mm-hmm. Because in theory, those pens, those really, truly excellent pens are going to be more expensive. With the exception of the Retro 51, but I don't actually consider that in the same class as the other four. Mm-hmm. It's just because it's just such a good pen for the value of money. Um, so, you know, for me, it's like, yeah, that makes sense to do that. Yep. To get that. But, um, the others, they're just, for me, they're kind of as good as it gets.

Brad Dowdy: Right. Yeah, I can understand that completely. Exactly.

Myke Hurley: So when I'm thinking about buying something like this now, I'm kind of like, well, is it going to be? Is it going to be that good?

Myke Hurley: And then I start to think, well, maybe not. But then you look at some of the stuff that's on the list that, like, might. So that's why, like, the Kaweco, I'm willing to let it go because I don't actually think that it's going to be any different to the other Kawecos. And I have Kawecos and they're not on that list. Yeah. But something like the Franklin Kristoff could well be because you really seem to love that pen. Yeah. I don't trust you. So I want a new Twisby. Originally, they said the classic, but I'm not really that excited by that pen. I would have bought one by now. Right. So I want another Twisby. I'm hoping they'll have something else this year. And this is the other bit. This is the bit that I think is quite bold, a prediction. And I don't know if you've read it before now, if you've not read it now. And I wonder what you think of this. But in 2014, I want a pen that we have never heard of before at all to blow my mind. Yeah. I want to buy a pen that we have never come across. Ideally, a pen that is new, brand new, not like the Twisby, blah, blah, blah. Right. Like, I want it to be something that comes out of nowhere, like a Franklin Kristoff, for me and you at least. Sure. It's brand new to us. We've never heard of it before. And it becomes an instant favorite of mine.

Brad Dowdy: I like that a lot.

New Purchases

Myke Hurley: That's what I really wish for, more than anything else in my list, is I want something totally new this year. And that doesn't seem out of the ordinary, because of those pens that I just listed that were my favorites, maybe 75% of them I'd never heard of in 2013. Yep. That's cool. I like that. I think that would be a lot of fun. So I hope that that happens.

Brad Dowdy: That's cool. I like that. Now, I did reach out on Twitter with all of our followers just to see kind of what their resolutions were for 2014. You know, around pens and paper and ink and all that stuff. And also some of their wish list items. So I collected all these. It's a huge list. I don't know if I'll get to all of them, but I want to talk about a couple of them specifically. One, which was kind of the impetus as a reminder for this show, because it was a week or so ago.

Brad Dowdy: Brad Thornborough.

Brad Dowdy: He's going first, and he's going big. He said, I just made my last pen order for 2013, planning to go cold turkey in 2014. Wish me luck.

Brad Dowdy: Oof.

Myke Hurley: Guy's crazy.

Brad Dowdy: Oof. Brad. Brad, I hope you're not listening to this episode, Brad.

Brad Dowdy: And, you know, we appreciate you being a listener of the podcast, and we hope you continue to download and not listen. Don't ever come back. But, ooh, man. Good luck. Because I do. I sincerely wish you luck if that's your goal for 2014. You know, and I think he's kind of getting at a point that a lot of people made, actually, in not so stringent terms. Is a lot of people's resolutions for 2014 were to use the pens and paper that they have already and use them better. Or, you know, if they're buying or subscribing to Field Notes, use them instead of, you know, stacking up, you know, 12 or 20 of them, you know, sitting around in cellophane. Actually get things out and use them. Put the pen to the paper and use the tools that you're actually spending the money on. And I think we can all get behind that. And that's definitely a recurring theme throughout a lot of people's comments.

Brad Dowdy: Tim Wassum, who just did a – I think he's – oh, I'm going to miss the name of his blog. It's the Daily Carry blog, but I forget the name of the actual URL of the blog. I'll get it and we'll put it in the show notes. His is to use more wood case pencils. And that's one of those things I mentioned last year that I wanted to try to do more, like in the middle of the year when I was reviewing some pencils. And I just – I could never do it. I couldn't do it. I failed on that one. I'm not going to say I'm going to do that again this year because I'll probably fail again. But, I mean, that would be something I would like to do. It's probably not going to happen for me. He also says, I also resolved to try to spend a little less money on pen stuff in 2014. Emphasis on try and little.

Myke Hurley: What's happened to our listeners?

Brad Dowdy: Huh? I don't know. I don't know.

Brad Dowdy: It's – hey, we all go through that, even me. It's like, okay, I've got a good collection here. Let's simmer it down. And then all of a sudden, one week into the year, I've blown the budget.

Brad Dowdy: Eric Rohn, used more field notes than I buy. Last year, finished four to five, bought 20. That's kind of what I was talking. Talking about earlier, we all kind of have these same feelings. He says, same for pens. Use and love the ones I have. Want less. I don't know if I'll want less, but I want to use the ones I have more. That's for sure.

Brad Dowdy: Pensomnia. My resolution is to conquer my fear of the blank page and actually use my pens and paper to draw something every day. That's always a good one. And that's something I'm trying to kind of encompass in with the Hobonichi and drawing and trying to have this whole creative vibe going on this year. I think that's a good thing.

Brad Dowdy: Let's see. Oh, Mary Collis says, this is something that I've been doing a pretty decent job on, actually. She says, maintain a low number of inked pens. I used to go 10 or 12 deep in ink pens, and now I'm trying to keep it like around five or six. That's working much better for me. My preference would be about three or so ink pens at all times. But when I get two new pens in a week and I already have a bunch of pens inked up, these new ones are getting inked up, too. So right now I'm about five or six. She also says, write letters to new pen pals. Maintain a new journaling habit. And her wish list is a Visconti Wall Street.

Myke Hurley: You're going to say gerbling.

Brad Dowdy: Gerbling. New gerbling habit. Maintain journaling habit. We definitely don't want any gerbling habits. All right. Visconti Wall Street. That's on her wish list. Myke, don't go look at that pen, okay? The Visconti Wall Street. Don't go look at it. Don't Google search that pen, okay?

Myke Hurley: Okay.

Brad Dowdy: All right.

Brad Dowdy: Don't do it.

Myke Hurley: I'm not doing it. I promise. Okay.

Brad Dowdy: All right.

Brad Dowdy: Lindsay Hinkle. Don't. Myke, don't do it.

Myke Hurley: I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it right now.

Brad Dowdy: Lindsay Hinkle says. You didn't do it, did you? No, I didn't. Okay.

Myke Hurley: I didn't put a link in the show notes either. Oh, good.

Brad Dowdy: Good. Good. Keep using a bullet journaling method and write mail. Write mail. 50 pieces of personal mail. Preferably with inks from the Goulet Pens ink drop subscription. That came out a bunch. You know, this encompassed a bunch of it. A lot of people really like the bullet journaling system when we talked to, gosh, I'm blanking on his name right now. But when we had.

Myke Hurley: Brian Carroll.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. When we had him on to talk about bullet journaling. That's stuck with a lot of people. It's been very popular. That's been a popular episode. And a lot of people are keeping up with that method. And then a lot of people are also saying, you know, something about trying various inks and using like the Goulet ink drop subscription. I think that's a great idea. I really like the ink drop subscription when I subscribe to it. You know, I stopped after a while because I ended up getting more than I needed and I wasn't getting through them properly. But it's something you can stop and start at any time. And that's a good way to try and try new things in 2014.

Brad Dowdy: Keith Weir also has, you know, to keep a bullet journal or use a spiral decks, which is kind of like a chronodex, which we've mentioned from Patrick Ng before. He has some great, great planning tools. And Keith also has a wish list items that several people have. Purchase a Lamy 2000, a Pelican 200 series, or a Vanishing Point. Those are all awesome choices. And several other readers have the Lamy Vanishing Point Pelican wish list. Ed Jelly, he's in my brain. He's reading my notes. His wish list is Nakaya and an Edison Menlo. So him and I will have to commiserate on our shopping experiences for those two pens throughout the year because knowing Ed, he will definitely come up with those before too long. So here's one from Myke Dudek. Decrease roturing purchases. Nah. It's just nah.

Brad Dowdy: You know, because I'd have to pull up my text. I think he's already bought two this year, if I'm not mistaken. If not three. I think he's already bought two different, two new roturings. Plus, he bought some roturing display, like, holders. So he's off the deep end. Sorry, Myke. You're losing it.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I saw those. He's not doing a good job so far, is he?

Vintage Pens

Brad Dowdy: He also says he wants to try at least 20 new inks and buy something vintage, like a VAC or a 51. And I think that's a good move.

Myke Hurley: Myke, the man doesn't buy enough vintage already.

Brad Dowdy: I know. I know. I know.

Brad Dowdy: Toffer. Make me an offer. His resolution is to destroy my notebooks more, not with fire. When he did that last year? No. Around last year, around New Year's, he took all his old notebooks that he'd filled and burnt them.

Myke Hurley: I don't remember that. I feel like I would have blanked that out of my brain.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. That was his way to cleanse. He took all these old thoughts in his notebook, notebooks. I mean, it's like stacks of notebooks. He's throwing them in like a fire, like a chimney, like a little fire pit thing. And to start fresh, he torched them. Wow. So, I mean, I thought that was good. So, he's going to work on that this year.

Brad Dowdy: Susan Piggott. She has a pen and paper resolution. To practice her penmanship, mine is still horrible, she says. And I've seen hers. It is not horrible like yours. You need to practice yours, Myke.

Myke Hurley: Yes, yes, yes. Whatever. No.

Brad Dowdy: No. Did you see, we saw that link Thomas shared where a left-handed overrider is just putting us all to shame in her penmanship. I forget the name, but it was on Fountain Pen Network. That was fascinating to see.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I'll find that. Was that today?

Brad Dowdy: Yesterday. Yesterday. We'll share that link in the show notes. Go check out this handwriting. It's pretty impressive to use a left-handed overrider using a flex pen. Pilot Namiki Falcon. And it's just really, really good handwriting. And that's pretty much it. I mean, you know, I got lots of other ones. Sorry if I didn't read everyone's, but it's a lot of common things. You know, use the things we have. Use the things we have better.

Brad Dowdy: And, you know, lots of, you know, getting into vintage pens or getting, you know, something classic like Alami 2000, things like that. So it's been awesome. Awesome to read all these things. And I really appreciate everyone chiming in. And it was fun to see some of the extreme ones like Mr. Thornborrows and some of the other ones too. Some of the other wishlist items that helped me add to my wishlist as well. So thank you all very much for helping us out with this episode.

Myke Hurley: Agreed. We love it when you guys get in touch with this stuff. So much appreciated.

Myke Hurley: So are we done for this week's episode?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. And I was just going to say best of luck with all the resolutions and the wishlist items for 2014. I know we'll be following up on it later in the year. See how we're all doing.

Myke Hurley: Indeed we will. If you want to catch up with us online, there's a few ways you can do it. Brad writes over at penaddict.com. You can find his pen cases over at knockco.com. It's knockco.com, isn't it? Yep. N-O-C-K-C-O.com. Got it. Still waiting. I know.

Brad Dowdy: I know. We sent out an update this week. We're going to be a little bit delayed.

Myke Hurley: Nice. That was a nicely written, nicely worded update, by the way.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, thanks. I appreciate that. It was hard to write. It's not something you want to write. But I think that level of transparency is a must, in my opinion. So that's the things I believe in. And so I'm going to live by that as well. And even if it's writing things that you don't want to necessarily write, that's the way we operate. So we'll be a couple weeks, a few weeks maybe behind our normal January schedule for shipping. But just know that we're working hard on getting all that stuff out. So you will get your cases, that's for sure.

Kickstarter

Myke Hurley: And can you give people a pro tip about Kickstarter right now? Mm-hmm. While we're at the end of the show, because this seems like the kind of audience that would like this. Download the Kickstarter app.

Myke Hurley: Log in on the app. Go to your notifications. Turn on push notifications for updates. And then you can turn off email notifications in the app. It's a much better experience. You get to browse Kickstarter and put pledges through and stuff on the iPhone. And you don't need to get Kickstarter emails anymore. You just get them by push notification. Keeps the old email inbox clean.

Brad Dowdy: There you go. Pro tip. I like that.

Myke Hurley: I did it myself the other day. And I just really liked that in the app's preferences, like in your preference page on the app, you're able to turn off email notifications. That's why it's pretty cool.

Brad Dowdy: Cool. Because I do use the app, but I don't have it set up like that. So I like that. Very good. Pro tip.

Myke Hurley: Indeed. Indeed. And that's how I got your update. Great. And I got one for the Inc. today where they said that they were thinking about doing different size nibs.

Brad Dowdy: I saw that.

Myke Hurley: And I hope they don't give in to peer pressure and go from medium to fine just because of you pen addicts. They should stick with medium. Hey, I didn't say a word. Oh, I bet you didn't.

Brad Dowdy: But I'll be filling out the survey.

Myke Hurley: I'm sure that you will. I hope that they stick with the medium nib personally because I think it's better for the majority of people. Probably so. They can sell them. They can sell on selection nibs. That'd be cool. There you go. Yep. That's what we call a revenue stream. Here's another pro tip. When you're on Kickstarter and looking for Karas Customs, don't type Kickstarter into the search box on Kickstarter. It's not going to get you. It's not going to get you what you want. It's just going to...

Brad Dowdy: Now that's a pro tip I can get behind right there.

Myke Hurley: Don't search the name of the website on the website that you're already on. It's not going to get you anywhere. And you can find Brad on Twitter. He is Dowdyism, D-O-W-D-Y-I-S-M. And I am iMike, I-M-Y-K-E. We'll be back next week. I'm sorry that you've had to listen to me and him be absolutely sick this week, really. I'm croaking and he's coughing.

Myke Hurley: That's what we call a great start to 2014, everyone. Happy New Year to you all. Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode. And I hope that you continue to listen to us as the year progresses. We'll be back next week with another episode of The Pen Addict. Until then, bye-bye. Bye.