The Pen Addict 97/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	97
Title:	I Don't Want My Pens To Touch!
Release Date:	March 11th, 2014
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 97
Audio File:	Audio Episode 97
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 97
Length:	5555 min <br />0.917 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: Hello and welcome to episode 97 of The Pen Addict podcast on 5x5. The Pen Addict is a weekly show where we discuss pens, paper, and the analogue tools that we love ever so dearly. My name is Myke Hurley and I am joined by a man whose wife once misunderstood a holiday of a lifetime because he was talking about zebras and safaris, Mr. Brad Dowdy.

Brad Dowdy: That was a little stretch right there, but that was pretty good.

Myke Hurley: Oh no, they're getting like, you know, when I say it's like bottom of the barrel time, like I've really, you know, we are so there, it's, you know.

Brad Dowdy: You've hit it, you've hit the bottom. But hey, that's pretty good, you know, like on episode 30 or so, that would have brought the house down.

Myke Hurley: That's a good point, actually.

Myke Hurley: But that's cool. Set the bar too high. I peaked too soon.

Brad Dowdy: I know, I know, I know. But still, well, well done, sir. So how are all things pen and paper and analog-y this week?

Nock Cases

Myke Hurley: So, sad because I haven't received my Nock cases.

Brad Dowdy: Man, man. So have you tracked them? That's probably a fruitless endeavor for you to even bother with.

Myke Hurley: The only tracks going out of the US.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, yeah, that's right. So, yeah, I think pretty much, it's weird, I've been following some of the tracking.

Brad Dowdy: And whether it's going to Canada or going over to Europe, seems like it goes through Miami. So, our pen cases, as one of my Canadian friends has said, our pen cases get nice and tan before hitting the rest of the world.

Myke Hurley: Oh, they only left Miami on the 8th. Oh, no wonder I haven't got them yet. Yeah. Wow, that took a long time to get to Miami.

Brad Dowdy: I think they show up there, then they hang out there for a while and work on their tans. So, yeah, I think that's the theory.

Myke Hurley: Wait, it left Macon on the 4th. Well, the electronic shipping information received on the 2nd, left Macon on the 4th, got to Miami on the 7th, left Miami on the 8th.

Brad Dowdy: Hmm, interesting.

Myke Hurley: Oh, no, wait. No, it didn't. It left on the 9th. So, no wonder I haven't got it yet.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so maybe by next week.

Myke Hurley: Maybe by next week. I hope so. But some good news, and I'm not going to spoil this. This will also be a point for next week, too. I made a purchase.

Brad Dowdy: Ooh. Is that all we're getting? That's all you're getting.

Myke Hurley: Man. Or maybe, to give a hint, I won an item.

Brad Dowdy: Really? Mm-hmm.

Brad Dowdy: Interesting. Interesting. So, yeah, I don't know anything about this. So, I guess we'll wait until next week to figure that out. So, well, cool. Well, last week, we had our friend Andy Wellfle from Woodclinch on to talk about pencils. And I don't know what your inbox or Twitter feed looked like, but we got so much positive feedback off of that episode. So, it was really cool to see that we did something a little bit different for the podcast. And Andy was such a pro. He did a good job.

Myke Hurley: Great guest. Excellent. Yeah. Excellent guest.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. He wanted to make sure I got one correction out there, though, because I did get a few specific emails pertaining to a misspeak that he had when we were talking about the lead hardness and the lead grades and how the actual lead in the pencil is manufactured. He said that the graphite was mixed with wax. And I got a couple of emails going, oh, what is he talking about? It's not mixed with wax. How dare he? Yeah. It's mixed with clay.

Myke Hurley: That guy, he was a good guest, but he's never coming back on the show again.

Brad Dowdy: No.

Myke Hurley: Andy, you have been struck.

Brad Dowdy: So, he got, as I get stuck all the time with my old Pilot 51 that I used to keep getting reamed over that I could never get out of my head, Andy, got mixed up in that he wanted to say that the graphite is actually mixed with clay. And when the clay content in the graphite makes the lead and the clay content is higher, it gives a waxier feel. So, Andy certainly knows that. So, stand down, pitchfork and torch-bearing internetters.

Myke Hurley: Well, personally, Brad, the lead that I have in the pencils here that I have is mixed with wax and it gives a clay-like feel. So, you know, I wonder what people think of that.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And you know what? People really like those yikes pencils that you and him were talking about and I still never heard of those things.

Myke Hurley: I think that they may have just been UK-based.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. But that really struck a chord with people, too.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. But if you were a child of, like, the 90s, these things mean something to you if you're UK-based. They had, like, a massive, like, you know, loads and loads of different styles. Really cool. Yeah.

Podcast Launch

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, I think Andy thought the podcast went so well last week. He put his big boy pants on and he's going to launch a podcast of his own.

Myke Hurley: Ripping us off, Brad. Huh? He's ripping us off.

Brad Dowdy: I know. I know. We're going to have to throw down. It's going to be like Anchorman. You know, we're going to break out the, we're going to, Britt killed somebody with a trident.

Myke Hurley: Well, you know, if it comes to fighting with stationary, we're going to definitely win because pens are, you know, they're mightier. And pencils, you know. Yeah. Pencils snap. And, you know.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. There's no doubt. But they have, between Andy and Johnny from the pencil revolution and Tim from what was formerly the Daily Carrier and is now the writing arsenal, which we'll talk about that later, too. Um, they, the three of them are joining together and making the Erasable podcast, which is a great name. And they're going to make a podcast about pencils. So, I'm excited to see what those guys come up with because they're all really smart and knowledgeable and have combined for years and years and years of experience.

Myke Hurley: No, I'm, I'm really actually genuinely excited about this.

Brad Dowdy: I am, too. I am, too. So, we'll, we'll throw all our support behind them. And, um, I think they let the cat out of the bag a little bit early. And, um, because they don't, they don't have anything live yet. And, um.

Myke Hurley: They have super cool podcast artwork.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it is. It looks great. Like. I don't know who did that.

Myke Hurley: I want to know who did that. So, if one of you guys can tell me who did that, I want to know because I want something.

Brad Dowdy: I don't know if it's, I don't know if it's the same guy that did Andy's, uh, Andy did that, that pencil, uh, vector set. I forget the name of it. We'll have to link it. I don't know if we linked it previously a couple weeks ago or not, but we'll link it. There's a guy that Andy, um, worked with to create this pencil vector set that you see on their Twitter page.

Myke Hurley: Oh, I guess it's those, isn't it?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, I wonder if it's the same guy put together the icon, um, or the, the show artwork. Cause it's spectacular. Um, they did a really good job. So, hopefully their show is as good as their artwork. And I'm, I'm sure it will be. And we throw our full support behind these guys at the Erasable Podcast. So, go follow them on Twitter. We'll have the link in the show notes, but they're at Erasable Podcast on Twitter. Um, they don't have a show live yet, but, um, but now that the cat's really out of the bag, the pressure's on guys. So, you better deliver.

Myke Hurley: They have a website, which is Erasable.us. Or Erasable.us, which is, again, quite funny.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm.

Myke Hurley: It's a good name. It's a very good name. Good domain. Good artwork. Basically, 95% of the podcast done. I know.

Brad Dowdy: I know. Now just, uh, now just deliver. Make it, make it listenable.

Myke Hurley: I think, I think that there should be a, like a rivalry.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm.

Myke Hurley: You know? Okay. Between, yeah. Between the pen show and the pencil show.

Brad Dowdy: Okay.

Myke Hurley: And I think, you know, we'll see how that goes. I mean, episode 100. But, you know, guys, you can feel free to try and, uh, show us what's what, I guess.

Bring It On Movie

Brad Dowdy: That's right. That's right. It's gonna be like, uh, did you ever see that movie Bring It On?

Myke Hurley: The cheerleading movie.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Just double checking that we're talking about the same movie. No, I haven't. I haven't seen the cheerleading movie. And do not, for a second, try to, to blame this on your children.

Brad Dowdy: No, I, no. This was out before I had kids. I love that movie. Okay. At least the first one. It was all downhill after the first one.

Myke Hurley: So you've seen more than one of, one cheerleading movie.

Brad Dowdy: How, how could, well, no. Well, there was Bring It On 2, then like all these other shoot-offs. I never saw any of the other ones. Oh, yeah. Okay. You can't really go wrong with Kirsten Dunst and Elijah Dusku.

Myke Hurley: Don't try and make it about the ladies now, buddy. All right? I'm on to you. I understand that you love cheerleading movies. Brad cheerleaded Doughty. Yeah. Does they know you?

Brad Dowdy: No, there's a new podcast.

Myke Hurley: The cheerleading movie cast.

Brad Dowdy: Hey, do you see what, um, do you see what the Office Supply Geek did to me yesterday?

Myke Hurley: I don't think so. I don't know.

Brad Dowdy: Click on that link in the show notes. You haven't seen this, really?

Myke Hurley: No.

Brad Dowdy: All right. Hit it. Okay.

Myke Hurley: Okay. Let me take a look. It's loading.

Myke Hurley: Oh, my God.

Myke Hurley: What? Oh. Is that not the most awesome thing ever? Yes.

Brad Dowdy: So, in the show notes, you'll go find this link because it's too long for us to, uh, for you to, um, for us to say it on the air. But needless to say, when you get to this point in the podcast, go straight to the show notes at 5x5.tv slash penaddict slash 97 and hit this link and you are in for quite a treat. Um, basically, I, I won't, uh, give it all the way away, but, um, Brian has made a modification to one of our, um, our Knock Co. Hightower pen and notebook case. And, um, it's pretty impressive.

Myke Hurley: I hope this comes to standard or like at least an option in further, in further Knock cases. I'm pretty sure that it would not take a lot to convince Jeffrey to make that happen.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, my God. No. Yeah. I'm surprised. This looks like something that Jeff would, uh, come up with on his own. There's no doubt. So.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Yeah. Jeffrey, I would, I would very much, uh, I would very much pay extra. Um, to have, to have this built in. And I really, I don't want to spoil it. You have to kind of go and see it.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. You can't really talk about it. It's, it's not too much to talk about. It's more of a, it's more of a visual.

Myke Hurley: Yep.

TWSBI Facebook

Brad Dowdy: So, um, I was stumbling through, as I do, um, Twizby's Facebook page, because I'm pretty sure they just troll us. It's like just a big troll page with all their new stuff that they put on. But they had a pretty funny post I ran across last night. Um, it's about a pin case. And all the, all it says, it's, it says, do you like this type of pin case? And it's basically a small skinny leather pouch with just a zipper top. So there's, it's just a pouch and it's really about maybe two or three pins tall. It's a very skinny, long, skinny pouch. It says, do you like this type of pin case? I have two, can put four pins into it. I found it very easy for me to use. I'm thinking to make Twizby case like this, like or no like. So I don't know how many comments were on this thing, but the prevailing thought when talking about fountain pens, since Twizby's a fountain pen brand in this case is three out of four people said, sure, the case looks fine, but I don't want my pins to touch. For a lot of reasons. And I mean, it's just like, just everything, everything down. Not if the pins would be touching. Yes, the pins will touch. Um, I don't mind pins that touch. And it's just on and on. And finally, what made me put this in there about halfway down, he goes, okay, I see a lot of no likes and then about 30 more comments later, um, Twizby goes, okay, thanks you all got the idea. It was just on and on and on. It just incessantly, I, we don't want our pins to touch. And, um, I, that just brought me back to when we were designing knock. And I think that's probably the first thing that I told Jeff, right, is we're making these cases and none of the pins can touch. Why?

Myke Hurley: Why Brad? So I just don't want mine to knock together. No pun intended.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Well, that's what they, that's what they will do. I mean, in any open style pouch case.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: So, I mean, that's what they're talking about. You know, everyone wants to keep, you want, with fountain pens, it seems to matter more. It does matter more. Um, because you've, most people have paid more for that pen and they want to keep it, you know, a little bit nicer and not get all scratched up and dinged up. That's why, like, we sell a little zip pouch case, but that's really made for, you know, like your high tech C's or your Sharpies or your Secure Pigro Microns. You know, you just put a bunch in there. And those pins, I don't care about touching, right? You know, the, the disposable, replaceable type of pins, you know, Uniball, Sino DXs, all of those type of things. But my fountain pens, I want some separation and segregation in them. You know, I don't want them to touch. And, you know, that's just from a scratching perspective. You know, a lot of these fountain pens have, um, very high attention, attention to details on, you know, things like the clip and, you know, different chrome bits. And you just don't want these things getting scratched up. So when people are buying more expensive pens, um, which fountain pens fall into that category, people just don't want to carry them around in an open case where they're just banging around on each other all day. So I, the more I read the comments on that post, the more I just started laughing because this is the, like the exact thought process I had when we were, Jeff and I sat down for the very first time. There was a, it was a pretty short list of things that we had to have and then that couldn't happen. And, you know, one of the things that couldn't happen was, all right, these pens can't touch. So that's why there's, you know, dedicated pockets and, you know, some cases have flaps. So when you fold the pen case over on top of each other, the clips aren't hitting and things like that. So it was, uh, it was really funny to see that, um, on Twisby's page and just the, the reaction was so strong that it actually made him say, okay, I've got it. Y'all can stop now. We're not going to do it.

Myke Hurley: It's like the Twisby page, the Twisby Facebook page continues to be a source of intrigue for me because it's like now it's written, like probably sometimes, but I'm noticing like it's been written in the first person, like Twisby is this one guy or girl.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I think it actually is. I don't, I don't know the, the lineage of the Twisby Facebook page, but there is one guy who's kind of the face of the public facing Twisby, if you will, his name is Speedy. Speedy. Okay. Yeah. Speedy. He's like the son of the founder. And then like the, he's like the, he's based in the U S he's kind of like the U S distribution point. And so I think he does all the marketing and stuff too. So it's kind of like, it's coming from him.

Myke Hurley: But it's like, he's saying like he's going to make it.

Brad Dowdy: Right. And you know what? He might. I mean, seriously, that's, that's kind of the way they roll. I mean, it's a very family based organization from what I gather and different things I've read, I've read. So, you know, they've got a, what's that?

Myke Hurley: So I wish Speedy good luck.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. No, he's awesome. He's the one that keeps posting these tease pictures on here. Like, did we even talk about this wood one a couple of weeks ago when we're, I don't think that one was up on the, on the page when we were talking about it a couple of weeks ago when we're talking about the aluminum piston filler 580 and things like that. And they're working on a way to make the TWSBI classic post and things. So anyway, it's, they should just call it the TWSBI prototype page because that's pretty much what it is.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Nothing wrong with that, but that is what it is.

Brad Dowdy: It is what it is. So that was pretty funny. In sadder Pen news, which, eh, it's, it's more kind of a meh than sad, but, and I didn't catch this until someone sent me the link a couple of weeks ago or a week and a half ago that Staples is about to close 225 US stores. And, you know, reading the article, it's not really a surprise that this is, this consolidation's happening in this office supply store space. You know, they're all feeling the wrath of Amazon pretty much online and Staples is wanting to focus more online. And this doesn't really relate to Pen's because it's just, you know, Pen's doesn't drive any business to those stores. And, you know, they're not made to, you know, I'm sure they're getting, you know, more killed on the, the, the PC business, you know, falling off a cliff and things like that. And they're trying to move more to just online shopping. But I thought it was interesting just because, you know, that's kind of the gateway drug though for, you know, the pen, pencil, paper, office supply junkies, right? But, you know, before we had this internet that we all love so much, you know, this is some of the places we would go, you know, Staples, Office Max, Office Depot, all those places to just kind of find some new pens and find something different and better. And that's certainly where I found some of my, you know, first pens that I really enjoyed the most. And, you know, I'm sad for any business to, to be hurting and have to close stores, but you see it in places like Best Buy too, where they just have these massive square footage stores that they just don't need. You know, they can't fill the stores up anymore because the products aren't selling and they can get those things, you know, people, people are shopping online more now. And I think that, I guess that's what Staples are moving to. So, I mean, it kind of stinks that, you know, people won't have these options, but I don't know. I guess you can kind of see the writing on the wall for a long time as far as these big, big box retailers go.

Myke Hurley: Yep. Same with all of them.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. Do you, do Staples, Office Max or Office Depot have any UK presence?

Myke Hurley: We have Staples, but not in big numbers. They're like huge outlet stores and we don't have many of them. Gotcha. We have a, a, a high street stationer. We have a couple, one called Ryman and one called WH Smith, but Ryman is just office supplies. Um, and that, that seems to be doing relatively well.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. Interesting. So yeah, I mean.

Myke Hurley: Oh, this reminded me, I meant to bring this up last week. In the mall, which is attached to where I work. So I work in, um, the new financial district in London and there's multiple skyscrapers, but there's a mall underneath all the skyscrapers. Does that building a Moleskine shop?

Moleskine Stores

Brad Dowdy: Really? Like a dedicated Moleskine shop?

Myke Hurley: Moleskine branded. It's just Moleskine products.

Brad Dowdy: Interesting. I mean, over the, since of the, in the time that I've done the blog, um, so I guess starting in about 2007, I, Moleskine has really morphed from a notebook company for the most part to a lifestyle accessories brand where they're just branching out into so many different categories. Um, you know, along with notebooks, they want to, you know, they're made, you know, um, carrying cases and just other things, lots of other business related items, you know, to where you could stock your whole desk with, you know, Moleskine items. Um, it, it's, I think they had some changeover and someone, our listeners will know better than I do. I'm just going off of memory. I think they had some like hierarchy changeover back in the past several years, some new leadership at the top. And they've really just kind of pushed this whole lifestyle thing. And it's almost like they've gotten away from their core a little bit. So it'll be interesting to see how, you know, what's, what all's carried in that shop. I bet it's pretty cool. They always have Moleskine. One of the things I've always been impressed with, if, if nothing else is their design aesthetic. I think they, they do a good job designing products. Um, they just tend to be overpriced and not as high quality as other things you can get. Um, but they've got that brand name they're pushing, right? So they, they can sell a lot on name alone. So I guess that's why we're seeing something like that. So I'll be anxious to see, um, when it opens, it will be, uh, um, a good place to get pen refills. Hopefully that's one of the best products they make.

Myke Hurley: Well, like the wrap, like, cause it's the stores being, like, you know, it's being getting ready to be opened and they have like a wrap around the windows, you know? And, um, it's got notebooks and stuff, but it's also got like bags and stuff on it, but like outlines, just like silhouettes of them, you know? So, uh, that kind of gives it, I think an idea is the type of thing that they're looking to create.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. And it'll, it'll be cool. Cause maybe they'll have like all the special editions in one place, you know, like how they do the star Wars and the Hobbit and, and all those different little Lego ones. That'll be cool. So maybe they'll have some neat things like that, that they'll carry that you'll be able to see. And I never used this product, but I, one of the most interesting products they've made in the past, in past several years is the Evernote notebook and that integration, how they've tried to push that a little bit. Um, I don't know that that's doing well for them or I don't, I don't know whether it is or isn't, but, um, it, it was cool to see them do something like that. So hopefully there's going to be more of that, uh, to come, uh, with Moleskine. I don't follow them too closely as a brand, honestly. Um, just because I don't use hardly any Moleskine products except some of their pens. So.

Myke Hurley: I think, um, where I work, it's, it's perfect.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, totally.

Myke Hurley: It's like, you know, it's, it's perfect. They've, they have picked the exact place.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, I imagine they will, they will do pretty well. Yeah. Just for that location and for, you know, it's become pretty much a household name. Obviously not as, not as in ingrained into people's life, but it's getting there. People understand, you know, if they don't know anything about paper, they probably at least know what a Moleskine looks like.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: You know, they'll say any little black notebook. Oh, is that a, is that a Moleskine? Oh, I've heard of that. You know, they've, they've kind of getting, getting to that point of recognition. So.

Myke Hurley: I think like it's got that sort of Kleenex nature to it. You know, where they, people call books that have those sort of faux leather, hard bound, you know, look to them. Oh, they're Moleskines.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. It's definitely crossed over into a generic catch all term. Mm-hmm. Yep. Yep. Well, cool. Well, I got a few other things I want to talk about. And I get a little game I want to play with you real quick. So why don't you talk about our good friends at Squarespace?

Myke Hurley: We're going to play a game. Yeah. I didn't know we were playing a game.

Brad Dowdy: I know. It's a game show.

Myke Hurley: Good. I love game shows. So let's take a quick moment to thank Squarespace. As Brad mentioned, they are the all-in-one platform that makes it fast and easy to create your own website. For a free trial and 10% off, go to squarespace.com and use the offer code Tallyho3. Squarespace are making sure that they always do amazing work to make sure that their platform is up to date. This means that they're always implementing new features. They're always revising and adding new designs. And they're making sure that their support is strengthened and even greater all the time. When talking about their designs and their templates, they have absolutely fantastic ones that you can get started with. They also have tons of style options that you can adjust so you can really tweak and craft and create and craft or creaft as I was going to call it. Everything. Your own space on the internet. Everything is drag and drop on Squarespace's platform. So it's super easy to add content from your desktop. And you can easily rearrange elements of content within the page or drag and drop. And you can see exactly how this is going to look before publishing it live. You basically, you create your web page in your web page. It's kind of cool. Squarespace makes sure that your site looks fantastic on any device because they all feature their, every template, every Squarespace website features its own unique mobile design. You can easily connect all of your favorite web and social services. So you can push content in and pull content out of them and display them to your world out there. You know, if you want to tweet a link to every post that you put on your blog, very, very easy to do that built in. Squarespace also has their e-commerce platform, Squarespace Commerce. So you can set up and shop and sell things in just minutes. And that is how we've spoken before. Our Brad is going to be setting up his shop and his store for Knock as well as having their website there. They will be using Squarespace for that. It's super easy to use Squarespace as a whole. But if you need any help, they have over 70 dedicated employees that are on their customer care team based in New York City. They're available for live chat during the week and have super fast email support throughout the day and night. Now, guys and girls, this is your last chance. If you would love to get a job over at Squarespace, well, you can do that. They're looking to hire over 30 engineers and designers by March 15th. You really don't have long now. So if you want to be in for a chance to go for a job at Squarespace, you can go to beapartofit.squarespace.com. You'll find out more. And if you are considered for an interview, if you fill out an application for them, if you put them on your short list or somewhere you want to work, they'll take you out to New York for the weekend and they'll pay for everything. They'll put you up in lovely accommodation and they'll let you explore the sites. So you should definitely go and do that if you're interested in joining the fantastic Squarespace team. If I was a designer or a developer, then I would have rushed at it already. As I said earlier, you can try out Squarespace for free. No credit card required to do this. And if you decide to purchase, it starts at just $8 a month and includes a domain name for free if you sign up for a year. Make sure that you get 10% off and support this show by using the offer code TALLYHO3. That's T-A-L-L-Y-H-O and the number three. So thank you so much to Squarespace for their support to 5x5 and The Pen Addict.

Brad Dowdy: One quick word on their support. That it's never failed to be exceptional.

Brad Dowdy: They're always quick to respond, quick to look at errors or any issues that you have or even just basic general questions. But if I run into something that's more of a bug-related issue as opposed to just a general question, they are quick to escalate, which I really appreciate. You get that first-level support that they go in and look at the problems and they're like, oh yeah, I see what you're talking about. It looks like an issue. You know what? I'm going to go ahead and escalate this to the next group that needs to look at this and they're going to get back in touch with you. They're going to dig into it a little more. So I always appreciate knowing that that escalation is going on and they let you know that as opposed to just letting your support ticket float out there and never, never land until someone decides to touch it and get working on it. So I always appreciate that about them. And that's been consistent since day one. Their support is always excellent. Now, our pen blog of the week is actually a Squarespace blog for a change. I don't know the way I've even done one yet. Not that it matters, but it was interesting because our blog of the week is called The Writing Arsenal. And if no one has ever heard of that blog, it's kind of like last week's pen blog of the week. The Pessimistic Petit is a newly renamed, rebranded blog. Well, The Writing Arsenal is a newly renamed, rebranded blog. I don't know if this is a trick just to get listed as the pen blog of the week on the Pen Addict Podcast. But this was the previously mentioned Tim, Tim Wassum, I believe is how you say his last name. I'm not sure. I'm taking a shot at that. But it was called The Daily Carry. Now, a lot of you are probably familiar with that and have read it before. So he's rebranded and he's getting ready to join the Erasable Podcast. But Tim does, it's a newer blog and right from the jump, I could tell that he was going to do an awesome job and he really has. He's in-depth reviews, great photography, great product selection. He loves him some pencils too, so he's going to be perfect for the Erasable. But he's gotten into lots of pens, lots of fountain pens, really just kind of all over the topic and does a super, super good job at reviewing and has a great blog to read and I enjoy it very much. So y'all go check out Tim's blog. If you previously followed The Daily Carry, it is now The Writing Arsenal. And he's got a whole blog post explaining why I switched the name and URL and all that fun stuff. So you might need to update your feed readers to the latest and greatest. But thanks for being awesome, Tim, and keep up the good work.

Myke Hurley: Woohoo! Woo!

Notebook Selection

Brad Dowdy: All right, you want to play a game real quick? Of course. So I've held this email a couple weeks just because I thought it was pretty neat. And it relates to a lot of things we talk about all the time. But this is a guy going on a trip. So let's talk about this. This is an email from Grum. He says, I'm about to journey on a world trip, one that will cost less than $50 a day. So you can imagine that I'll have very minimal luggage. Since I'm a pen nerd, I want to bring everything with me. But of course, that'll be a stupid idea. So here's my question. If you decided to travel the world, what would you carry with you to satisfy the pen addiction? This goes for pens as well as a sort of stationery. He says, for me, it's my Midori Traveler's Journal and fistful of banded Apple notebooks as well as a space pen. I'll miss my collection of fountain pens. But that would be silly to bring with me, especially when they have a habit of popping on planes. Plus carrying nice pens will just tempt fate and I'll either lose or break them on day one. Cheers. So you're going around the world. Let's say you're gone for six months, Myke. All right. And this is a one backpack trip. And, you know, you're going, you're going, you know, just kind of more bouncing, you know, maybe couch surfing, you know, hostel to hostel or, you know, just jumping on the train and finding that next destination. But, you know, you have to carry some pen and paper with you, right? Because that's just what you do on these kind of trips. You know, you're logging, you know, you're spending some time journaling. You need something to write with. You know, maybe you're sketching, you know, some of the fancy places that you're visiting or, you know, you're taking down some phone numbers or some email addresses for those, you know, Swedish girls you met in Ibiza, you know. Sure. As I do. Yeah, as you do. As one does. So what are you bringing that fits into this mold here?

Myke Hurley: Well, the obvious things are a handful of field notes, notebooks for me, I think, for sure, especially on a trip like that. I would definitely take a Fisher Space Pen because I thought you should have something pocketable and something that can be used on all occasions. And in all scenarios, you want to have something like that. And then I wouldn't take any fountain pens.

Myke Hurley: I feel like fountain pens would be a bad idea because you'd also need ink to fill them. You kind of don't want to carry ink around. So, I mean, you know, so I can have the good time feel of pens that I enjoy, I probably would take a Retro 51, right? Because I feel like that's going to last me some time, refill in there, you know, for when I want to do some long writing, if I want to do any or some, like, writing for fun, as opposed to writing for, like, utility or whatever. Then that's probably what I would take. So, a stack full of field notes, a Retro 51, and a Fisher Space Pen.

Myke Hurley: Cool. I think that's a good mix for me.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I've been hesitant to, like, do the pocketable thing like field notes, but I think that would be useful.

Brad Dowdy: Because, you know, if you're out and about, you know, sightseeing during the day, you don't want to carry around the larger items. You know, like, I think a Rodeo Webby, you know, something with a more hardbound style with a harder back to, you know, where you can write on your knees or, you know, have a little bit of structure writing, but it's still not overly big. That would kind of be the thing that I would lean to. But I could see the portability aspect is not so great for just, like, the during the day stuff. So, maybe a field notes would be good for that. So, maybe I'd carry both of those, actually, which wouldn't be overly big, but maybe pushing it a little bit with the larger notebook. But I think I just want something more durable with a harder bound cover. And I'm actually, I'll probably take a few Secura Pigma Microns. It's not the most, necessarily the most durable pen in the world. I'd take maybe two or three of them. And, I don't know, that's just a good all-around pen for me. I see the, I mean, the space pen is kind of a no-brainer. But just kind of give me that good combination of a good quality pen with something I also enjoy writing with. So, I don't know, that would be what I would take. And, you know, I wouldn't be, you know, worried about losing those pens. Definitely wouldn't take a fountain pen for an extended, you know, six-month backpacking-type trip. So, let us know what you would take, you know, if you could take, you know, one notebook or maybe one or two notebooks and, you know, a single pen or one or two pens. You know, nothing, you know, kind of limit yourself to what you can fit in a backpack easily. And what makes the cut if you're going on a jaunt for a few months? And, I don't know, I thought it was an interesting question. We've covered, we've talked about this type of thing before. But, you know, never in this exact question. But I thought it was a neat question. Plus, maybe I'm just jealous. You know, I want to get on a plane and a train with a backpack and a journal and live that life. It's always a cool dream that a lot of us have. So, thanks for the question, Grum. I definitely appreciate it.

Brad Dowdy: So, maybe one of the notebooks that would make the cut, Myke, is one I reviewed yesterday on the blog. I don't know if you've seen, I don't know if you've read my blog, Myke. Sorry, what is your blog? Yeah, it's called Pen Addict. It's at, you can find it, thepenaddict.com.

Myke Hurley: I thought it was Pen-A-Dict. Oh, I've been reading it wrong.

Brad Dowdy: Penaddict.com, where I review Moleskines.

Myke Hurley: I remember you talking about this book.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so I stumbled across that, the Johns, J-A-W-N-S brand notebook on Instagram. And I thought it was cool. Reached out to one of the guys that makes them. His name's Daniel. And said, hey, this is a pretty neat product. And he said, yeah, I'll send you one once we start production for you to check out. So, he did. And this is a really neat notebook. And I think it's actually perfect for travel. So, that's why I wanted to play that little game. Because I don't know that this notebook is necessarily like, it's not even like a Field Notes competitor type notebook. I don't think it's really even in the same category. Because I see this notebook. Basically what it is, it's, think of it around a standard Field Notes size. It's not those exact dimensions, but it's a little bit different. It's like 3 by 6 by 5. So, it's a little shorter in the length. But around the same width. And it's got an extra durable cover. It's got the Yupo paper, 80 pound cover. Which the Yupo is the, kind of like the plastic type paper. And it's just on the cover of the Johns. So, that makes it tear proof. Makes it waterproof. So, this is a very durable cover that can take a beating. And what Johns has done with the cover is they put in, on the front inside cover, there's two card slots. Inside the back, inside the back cover, there's a full length pocket for larger papers. And inside the back cover, like in between, like the inner and outer binding of the cover, is a wallet slot. So, this could be, this is a great travel book. Or like I said, like an urban warrior. You're almost like you, Myke, where, you know, if you're riding the train a lot, where you don't have to necessarily, you know, take your wallet every day. Or, you know, someone that's making a day trip or traveling. They can put a few of their most important items, you know, like identification and, you know, insurance or whatever notification cards they need in here. They can put some bills in the back slot and have, you know, 40 pages of paper to write their notes on. It's kind of an all-in-one wallet slash notebook. But it's really, it's well-made. The footprint of it, if you will, is really small, which I like, even with, you know, a couple of cards and some bills in there. Now, I will say it is designed for the U.S. dollar bill dimensions. It doesn't have, like, the depth necessary to carry some of the foreign denominations outside of maybe the inside back pocket. But I like what they've done here with the Johns. I like the attention to detail that they've put in it. I mentioned in the review that it's not a cheap notebook. It's $12 for a single notebook. But it's something that kind of fits a specific need for specific individuals. You know, it's not going to be my everyday daily back pocket journal like a Field Notes or a Doan paper book would be. But it's going to be a very useful product for when I need something this specific, if that makes sense.

Brad Dowdy: So I like what they've done here. This is their first crack at it, their first product. There's going to be more to come. You know, I'd like to see some with darker covers. And I think those are going to be coming down the line as opposed to the all-white. And pretty much everything is going to be made. They're made in St. Louis, Missouri. And everything is going to be made in kind of small batches. So, like, this white one is going to have a 250-unit run. And that's it. And they're just going to keep making more. So they'll have different ones to come out. So take a look and see if this is a fit for you. I thought it was an interesting enough product to kind of give its own standalone review for, you know, as opposed to a standard memo book. So it's pretty cool. Do you think you would use something like this, Myke? Do you see a fit ever for this?

Myke Hurley: It looks nice. I don't think it's for me. Yeah. There's something just about, like, the pockets and, like, the card slots and stuff. I don't think I'd use them. And I kind of am not a massive fan of the way that that paper is printed.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, the triangle grid.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. See, I like that. But I've always been into the weird and interesting grid patterns. It's funny. You know, once I started writing on it, I don't even notice things like that. I just I I like the subtle backgrounds like that. But I can see. And, you know, I don't know if in the future they'll have, you know, the the triangle grids kind of their thing. But I don't know if they'll have other options down the line. And I didn't ask specifically about that. But, yeah, I could see where some people wouldn't like that for sure. For sure.

Brad Dowdy: But it's it's pretty cool. And I like it. And, you know, like I said, I'm not going to use this every day. But the more I played around with it and, you know, tried different things with it, the more I really liked it and can see the utility of it. So it was very cool. So thank you, Daniel and John's for for sending this out to me. This neat little notebook.

Myke Hurley: Do you know the where the name comes from?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it is the I'm going to mess it up if I don't look at it. It's the Journal of All Things Written, Needed and Sketched.

Myke Hurley: So it should be.

Brad Dowdy: So it's an acronym.

Myke Hurley: Jo-a-ant. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Jo-a-tho-wings-a-wanza. Yeah. Journal for All Things Written, Needed and Sketched. John's.

Myke Hurley: Jo-a-tho-an-t-w-n-a-s.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Okay.

Brad Dowdy: Speaking of Jo-a-tho-an-d-n-a-n-a-s, the Rotor Foden, Tasha and Glider people reached out to me this week on my email. It was pretty funny. They're like, hey, we heard you reviewed our product or something, but I can't find it on your blog. I was like, oh, yeah, because we talked about it on the podcast.

Myke Hurley: Oh, really?

Brad Dowdy: Here's the link. Yeah. So they said, so I said, yeah, here's the link. And they replied back. It's like, okay, cool. I'll go listen to it. I like how you put that on them that they were like super excited.

Myke Hurley: Hey, you.

Brad Dowdy: Hey, how you doing? Yeah, they did. That's how they wrote it. But, you know, lots of exclamation points and interesting formatting. They're going to think that you're me. I know. So, I know. That's a bad thing. I don't want that to happen. No.

Myke Hurley: Hello, Rotor Foden people.

Brad Dowdy: Use it every day. Yep.

Brad Dowdy: One more quick thing, and then we'll call it a show. But I mentioned last week that I got a new pen. And when we did our wish list items for 2014 back in January, you know, I had two pens top that list that I really wanted to get this year. One was a Nakaya of some type. You know, I don't know the specific model.

Brad Dowdy: And that's still at the top of the list. And the second item on my list was an Edison Menlo, which Brian Gray at Edison came out with a pen last year with a pump filling system. Similar to, like, your Vacumatic mic, where it's got, you know, the screw off. They call it the blind cap on the end of the pen. And you screw that off, and it reveals, like, a pump system, right, to fill your pen. You dip the nib in the ink, and you pump it several times, and it sucks ink into the pen. And I thought this is a great design. No one really makes things like that anymore. So Brian kind of engineered his own solution to that and made a pen line at Edison called the Menlo. And I was like, I got to get one of these. One, because I think just the general, the design of the pen in general is a really good-looking pen. And I've become a huge fan of Edison, obviously, over these past years. So I talked to Brian really probably early in January, probably not too long after that episode. So I said, hey, I'm thinking about a Menlo. And the Menlo is pretty much all custom-made by Brian. There's not a production line like the Beaumont. Like, you can't just go to Anderson Pens and pick up a Menlo necessarily. It's a custom-made pen, so you work with Brian directly. You tell him kind of what you're looking for in materials and look and design of the pen. So I wanted to do something, you know, kind of different. And I was asking him about a few different specs and said, hey, can we do this for a Menlo? So I sent him that email with what I was doing. He came back. He's like, yeah, we can totally do that. No problem at all. You know, let me know when you're ready to discuss it further. You know, I'll work up a price invoice for you, and we'll get it going. So I was like, cool. So now I kind of got an idea. The idea in my head, I can get what I want. And, you know, I already know the price generally. And so I just left it there. And, you know, knowing that later this year I'm going to come around to it and order that pen. So a week ago, or about a week and a half ago, I'm up in Atlanta working with Jeff. And he hands me an envelope with a piece of paper. Well, you know, a sealed envelope, obviously, with a letter in it. And then the outside of it says, don't open this until I tell you to. I'm like, hmm, okay. So he gave you it? Yes. No, so he gave me this letter.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. And on the outside of the letter, it says, don't open this until I tell you to. Yeah. I love this guy. Yeah. So I said, I actually asked him.

Brad Dowdy: I said, so what do we, so do we have like a safe word? Am I waiting for like the safe, so what is our safe word? Onions? So I'm just waiting for you to say onions, then I can open this. And so I just took it home with me. And, you know, I'm true to my word. I just put it in my backpack and forgot about it.

Brad Dowdy: So like two days later or the next day, I'm going out and I get my mailboxes stuffed full of products. I've been on a run recently with all kinds of stuff I've been buying, stuff I'm testing out. So I had like three packages in the mailbox that day and one of them is from Edison Pen Company. And it's definitely a pen. I mean, it's the square box. There's no doubt that there's a pen inside this box. I'm like, I didn't order anything from Edison. You know, so maybe Brian wants me to, maybe he's sending me something to test out. I don't know. Maybe Brian has a question for me, wants me to, you know, see if I like this. I don't know, whatever. I'm running through all these things. I'm like, but I'm pretty sure I did not order a pen from Edison. So I go in, open the box, and in the paperwork that comes with the box, like the first sheet, there's like three or four sheets of paper, you know, with the packing list and just the notes on it. And the first sheet that you open up, it says, open the letter.

Brad Dowdy: I'm like, oh, damn, he didn't.

Jeffrey Special Pen

Brad Dowdy: So this is, I think before I even open the pen, I go get the letter, open it up, and Jeff has written me this, you know, I'll keep that between me and Jeff, but he's written me a great letter about, you know, working together and starting this company and, you know, you know, being able to, you know, really bring our dreams, you know, to life and, you know, appreciating my support and all this, just this really great letter. Oh, that guy. Then I opened the box, and it's the Menlo design that I've asked Brian about back a couple months ago. So Jeff had worked up this idea to get me a Menlo, reached out to Brian. Brian says, hey, you know, I got this email from Brad a few months ago, and then they collaborated, or as I told them individually, that they co-conspired to make this pen for me and sent it to me. And that's the story of how I got my Edison Menlo. And it's a really special pen, special story from a special guy. So thank you, Jeff. And thank you, Brian, for being complicit in this endeavor, because y'all are some sneaky bastages.

Brad Dowdy: But it was really special, and there's no doubt that this is far and away my favorite pen that I may ever own, because it has more meaning to it than just a pen.

Myke Hurley: That's so nice. I love the story.

Brad Dowdy: I wanted to tell that story. So aside, you know, there's... Aside from this, I hate the pen. No, no. I was going to say, there's nothing I can review about this pen that's going to top what the pen actually means to me, you know, on a personal level. And I think that's really what it's all about. And, you know, it doesn't hurt that the pen is flat out amazingly awesome. And there will be a full review forthcoming. And it can...

Myke Hurley: I think I want one of these. I mean, obviously, I would love a Jeffrey Special, but we don't all get those. But I'm looking at it. And I mean, I love the designs of the Edison stuff, you know, like I love all the swirly acrylic and all that, you know.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so on my design, I was asking Brian, I was like, hey, you know, I like the demonstrator, you know, the clear acrylic type pen. So I said, you know, I want something with like a, maybe a red cap and, you know, a blue barrel and, you know, a clear section or something like that. Just something, you know, I like the red, white, and blue. Like, you know, I like the TWSBI rock. I just like how those look. It's something that appeals to me. So this is a pen that is totally me, right? I mean, some people will probably look at this pen and think it's just ugly as sin. And I think it's the most beautiful pen I've ever seen because it encompasses me, you know. It's the colors that I wanted, the design that I wanted. And it's mine. I mean, it was made for me. I'm the only one that's going to have it.

Brad Dowdy: And it's just really special. And it's an amazing pen just on its own. I mean, it's going to be a favorite regardless of all the additional meaning behind it. But I actually call it the Menlo 3D. By the way it looks with the red and blue, it looks like the old 3D glasses. So it's pretty cool.

Myke Hurley: Now you just made my, like, decision in getting one of these even more difficult because now I need to think, what's the mic version of this?

Brad Dowdy: Yep. Yeah. So, yeah, you'll get lost for hours going through the Edison, like, materials archive. Like, all the materials you can pick out.

Myke Hurley: Where is that?

Brad Dowdy: There's some cool stuff. He has a link to a Smug Mug gallery. Oh, yeah. If you go to, like, the Menlo product page, you can click on a gallery. But you can really get any material in any pen that he's ever done. And, I mean, he's got hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pages of materials, of pens that he's made. And you can pick and choose. You get it made for yourself, so.

Myke Hurley: I feel like I need an Obi-Wan Kenobi to help me in this.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm.

Myke Hurley: Obi-Wan Pen Nobi.

Brad Dowdy: Yep.

Myke Hurley: That's what I need.

Brad Dowdy: There you go. That would have been a better title than the earlier one.

Myke Hurley: I knew you were going to say that and I hate you.

Myke Hurley: All right. Well, that's a wrap, sir. I know what kind of thing I want now. What? I want, like, that sort of, you know, that, like, style that he does, that, like, acrylic with, like, all the waves. I want, but I want it to, like, lava.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: You know, like, black and orange and red. Yep.

Brad Dowdy: He's done something similar. I'll have to see if I can find you the links. Yeah. And find something close. Cool.

Myke Hurley: That's why I like the look of. Mm-hmm. Because I found one that's kind of similar, but it's white and not black. Gotcha. So, if you find that, please send it to me.

Brad Dowdy: You got it. And, yeah, you're going to spend hours looking through that stuff because I know I will. I've done that on more than one occasion.

Myke Hurley: Okay. Well, okay. Well, I'm interested to see your actual review of it as well. Giant. Yeah. For as much as is possible, just review the pen.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, totally. Yeah. No, it's, there's no doubt because he actually got me a, he had Brian grind down a nib for me too. It's a steel nib and it's with a 0.5 millimeter stub nib. So, that's on there. So, it's great. It's, it's, so far, the early returns are, if this was the only fountain pen I had, I would be happy.

Myke Hurley: Wow.

Brad Dowdy: So, that says a lot about.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Yeah. I really want this pen.

Brad Dowdy: How this pen fits and feels and writes and is functional. So, yeah.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I think I want one. I think I want one a lot. I've been thinking as well, like, I want to get another pen and I want it to be a 1.5.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm.

TWSBI

Myke Hurley: Just to try that. But, I'll probably just wait and get a Twisbee and, like, a new Twisbee or whatever and get a 1.5. Cool. Whenever that will be. Okay. So, if you want to catch up with us online, there's a few ways you can do that. You can get us on Twitter. I am at imike, I-M-Y-K-E, and Brad is at dowdyism, D-O-W-D-Y-I-S-M. Brad also writes over at penaddict.com. Pen-ad-e-ked, depending on, you know, the way that you come across it.

Myke Hurley: If you want to catch up with the show notes for today's episode, go to 5x5.tv slash penaddict slash 97. We're nearly at the special episode 100, which is getting bigger and bigger and bigger every day.

Brad Dowdy: It's pretty crazy, yeah.

Myke Hurley: It's getting pretty insane. I don't know what we're going to do.

Brad Dowdy: All this stuff.

Myke Hurley: So, yeah, look out for that in a couple of weeks' time. Episode 100, very, very excited. I want to thank you all for listening to this week's episode of the penaddict, as always. And thank you, Brad, for being here. Until next time, say goodbye, Bradley.

Brad Dowdy: Goodbye, Bradley. Bye.