Editing The Pen Addict 353/transcript (section)

== Atlanta Pen Show Impressions ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' I know. Can you imagine such a thing? You only had 100 years to plan for it. Anna, how has this year's pen show been for you? What's kind of been the vibe that you felt at the show? How has it been so far? We're only like just over halfway through or one more full day.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. This show feels at this point almost like home, like family. Like this is the show that I've been to the most. We know now so many people here, both vendors and attendees.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So it's, I mean, everybody here is, I mean, it's family. And so, I mean, I just get to, I get to see everybody in a lot of cases. There are people here that I haven't seen in a year. And then, you know, and with the vendors, in some cases, I saw them three weeks ago.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So I just, I love this show. I really enjoy it. And every year for us, I feel like it's gotten better and more welcoming and just more like home. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It is wonderful. What about you, Brad?

'''Anna Reinhardt:''' I mean, it's clear I have a huge bias for this show, right? So I'm coming from that place, but. It's the best pen show in the world. Woo!

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I can say it. I can, I can burn any bridge. I don't care. Big words.

'''Anna Reinhardt:''' The amount of friends and old friends that I get to see every year and new friends I get to make every year. Please don't cry before our first guest. I'm good. I'm good. Cool, cool, cool.

'''Anna Reinhardt:''' It's unparalleled with this show. And I don't quite know why. I mean, I kind of know why. Like, we do this thing and we like to bring out people. And, you know, we started this by, hey, Myke and I had never met for the first two or three years of the show. Let's fly Myke over and do a show. Fifth year this year. Yes. Five years. It has a very different feel for me personally because I actually get to work less at this show because I have more help at the table. When I travel, a lot of times I'm by myself, so I'm stuck behind the table. Well, this year, you know, this time at the Atlanta Pen Show, I get to mix and mingle and walk around and talk to people and see friends and talk to vendors and annoy people like Jonathan Brooks and, you know, at their table. And, but that's fun. Like, I have a good time doing this. Like, Myke got to see me, you know, like in my, you know, you know, my, my space today, you know, just seeing me like nerd out over pencils to people like for 20 minutes.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's a question of I'm looking for a Blackwing 602 20 minutes later. And like Brad had assembled a selection of them like that weren't sharpened. I think they were Jesse's unsharpened Blackwings of which he sharpened four of them, I think. And then just kind of went from there, I think.

'''Anna Reinhardt:''' I don't get to do that. Like, I like doing that. I like the minutia part of this. I think that's why we all get along so well because we can have these highly specific conversations that you don't say out loud in public. Right. Like, we don't, we don't talk like this outside of these walls. And, you know, when I'm at home working by myself, I'm not going, boy, that, you know, the tip of that Blackwing really didn't sharpen up as well this time. You know, you know, I don't get to have those conversations. And here I do and it's normal. Like, and it's fun. And like I get more enjoyment out of that 20 minutes that I had today than anything I'll have at this show. That's important to me. And that's what I enjoy. So I'll always love this show more because I get to put more of myself out there at this show other than like standing behind a table selling cases, which I really do. I'm at Knock Co. The booth is in the front of the first room right over there. There's lots of cool colors. Come see us.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And a new product from Knock Corporation. Could you tell us about that? Yes. This was a surprise to everyone, including me.

'''Anna Reinhardt:''' Yeah. So we try to do something a little different. We always like to, I think anyone who's familiar with our brand knows that we always like to mix and match the colors. And we like to launch cool things randomly. You know, we're not very good at our job. So we just kind of do it. And so we wanted to have some people always like pen show exclusives. And we've never been able to manage those types of quantities, which is like a low volume type of product for a very short time frame. So this year, Jeff, who is a magician with like product ideas, he like literally said to me like in a text one day, he's like, I made a water bottle case. And I'm like, cool. I don't know what you're talking about. It's what everyone needs, right? A case for their water bottle. And then he sends me a picture. I'm like, oh, sweet. It's a stand up pen case. He's like, what do you mean?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I like that you can both look at something and you both have completely different ideas of which neither of you can conceive of the other person's thinking. That is what makes you two such a good pair.

'''Anna Reinhardt:''' Yeah. So I go, well, can we put pen slots on the inside? And he goes, give me a minute.

'''Anna Reinhardt:''' And he's like, yeah. And I was like, we should make this. That is literally how production works for us. So that's product design. It's like ballet, really. Yeah, it really is. It's very strange. And it generally works. So we made this case and said, well, can we get like 100 of them just to bring to the Atlanta pen show? So we did it and we got it. And we've had a manufacturer make these for us. And we brought them to the show. And Jeff's like, well, let's take some pictures, put them out there, you know, send them out in the world, drum up some hype on it. And I was like, let's not. Let's do the opposite. Let's not tell anybody because I just want to see what happens. Like we're in a position like it's just me and Jeff. Like we can mess around and do types of things. I wanted to say instead of like running a hype train on a product, let's not and just show up with new stuff and see what people think. And, you know, I think people like it. It's just a fun, you know, stand up case product. And it also allows us to for it to be a test bed. Is this a viable product where we don't have to outlay for thousands and thousands of cases? We can make 100, see if people like it, give them something cool, do something fun and creative for us. So it's called The Coleman. If you want to know the story about the name, you'll have to come see me at the show and I will relay the name. But we will be it is a not safe for podcast story. So but it's a good story. I promise you. But it's Coleman's a river in Georgia. We name all our products around Georgia natural resources.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I'll give people the ability to Google for it. There's a mountain with a name that can't be said on the show that is in this. Coleman is the closest river to said mountain.

'''Anna Reinhardt:''' There you go. And it's a it's a. And so that's it. Thank you to our longtime customers. You know, the story of how we name products. They've been clamoring for a certain product name. And this is close as they'll ever get. Yes.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I already heard the story. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's not great. So, Anna, have you bought anything at this show?

'''Myke Hurley:''' No, actually. What? What? I haven't bought anything. I have acquired things.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Okay. Of which I exchanged for cash. Did I buy? No, no. I just left money and then took it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' No. No money has exchanged hands.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Okay. Trades or just gifts?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Let's just say no money has exchanged hands.

'''Anna Reinhardt:''' Whoa. I thought my stories were risque.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Oh, good grief. Not that kind of exchange. There are things on hold. Things like hold this. I'll be back later. There are things that, oh, look, that fell into my pocket. I'll pay you later.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, just light theft. Light theft. Okay.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And then there are just things that at this point, okay, keeping in mind that the Little Rock show was three weeks ago. And boy, did I spend a lot of money there. So, I had to dial it back a little bit this trip. But I've received a lot of gifts, little things from friends and people who read the blog and people who listen to the podcast. And so, that's been lovely. So, and they've just been little things, stickers and postcards and notes. And we got a cheesecake. Cheesecake.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. That's a pretty, that's a pretty serious thing. Like a full on, like a full cheesecake?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yes. I'll let Jesse tell the whole story about the cheesecake. Okay. But yes. There's a cheesecake. There's some other things in our fridge too. But yes, so we've, in general, like particularly this show of all shows, everybody here is super generous about everything. Food, beverages of all sorts.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And so, like no one here ever goes hungry or thirsty or, I mean, and so that's part of what I love about this show is last night there were all sorts of snacks and goodies and cupcakes and cookies. And beverages and of all sorts that were being passed around. So, while everyone was also sharing pens and, hey, try this pen. Hey, try this paper. Hey, have you tried this ink yet? And then, hey, have you had these from Canada? There are these really cool little maple cone details about them, please. I heard about them, but I had eaten so much already. I couldn't have one. But, I mean, just everybody, like by the time we were done, we're like, I might have to check myself as overweight baggage at this point.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So, yeah. So, not a lot of goods, but lots of things to eat and lots of great experiences.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Other types of goods. Good stuff. That was a terrible joke. Brad, what about you?

'''Anna Reinhardt:''' I have made two pen purchases, I think. I always go into the show recently. We've talked about it recently, how I've gone, like the whole transformation of this podcast, right? It's like, I hate fountain pens to, okay, I need very specific fountain pens and I'm going to have a list. And I'm going to stick to this list and there's very specific things. The Vanishing Point Grail pen. Yep. Yep. So, I've, you know, learned enough where I feel comfortable to not have a list. Let's see what we can find kind of thing. So, I bought a pen from a gentleman named Matt Martin who is in our room who, so there's good and bad about having close friends at this show. The good is we have fun. We talk about things. You know, we share stories. We share food. The bad is they also know what kind of things you like. Yeah. And they go, hey, I saw this pen. You should go see it. By the way, it's going to be a problem for you. So, that's what happened when I went and talked to Matt. And, you know, we'll show this pen later if anyone wants to see it. And I know a lot of you saw Matt's work in the room because the other thing I noticed this year about the show is we have a ton of new vendors and new makers here. And that's always been, like, a great thing for me to see. And I always like to support those type of people like Matt, like Will Hodges from Tactile Turn. You know, like all kinds of new people and new companies. That is the important growth of this show.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Like, one of the worst things that could happen as much as we love all of the bigger vendors is that a show, a small show like this one would get completely swamped by, like, big companies wanting to come to it. Right? Like, it would change the way the show feels at that point. And so, for us, as anyone that listens to this show will know how much me and Brad value the independent creator, having more and more people come to this show who have a small starting up company who have brought together some money and some product to come here and then sell a bunch of it. It's, like, the very best thing that can happen to a pen show like this one.

'''Anna Reinhardt:''' Yeah. It's the right mix because this will never be, like, the biggest pen show in the world. You know, it's never going to be a DC-level pen show or a destination pen show for some of the, like, a worldwide level. But it has the right mix of great retailers, great vintage, you know, sales, and, you know, great new companies. And people have done, you know, really neat and innovative stuff and wanted to get out. Honestly, they want to get it out in front of a different crowd. And this is a little bit of that, too. Like, I honestly think they choose places like Atlanta and Baltimore and some of the smaller shows because they'll just get overrun at a place like DC until they kind of have that experience, you know, under their belt and feel more comfortable doing that. So, I really like doing that. So, Matt's pen, come check it out. It's, like, a full titanium pen. It's kind of right up my alley. You know, it definitely did cause me a problem when they told me about it. And I probably bought the cheapest one on the table, which was not cheap. So, that was problematic. The other pen I bought was just kind of something I did have, like, on a mental list. And I want to say it was kind of a hate purchase. So, like, you should never. You bought one. Yeah. So, you're like, you should never do this. You know, do as I say, not as I do. Never make a hate purchase. And it's not really that. I'm over-exaggerating that. But we've talked about the Montblanc M fountain pen for years, just how poorly it was received, how poorly it was designed when it was supposed to be this pinnacle of design. And I finally kind of wrapped my head around seeing a bunch of reviews around the rollerball model. Like, I was never going to buy the fountain pen. I held it. It's genuinely poorly designed for what it is. The rollerball is not a lot better, but it actually works. And I finally found one for a really good price. Like, I can't pass it up type of price for a pen that I've talked about enough just to have to, like, mess around with and see, like, what is it really, you know, all about. So those are the two things I've bought. I don't know that I'll buy anything else. I don't really have anything on my list. I still got to get the Leonardo. I'll probably pick up one of those just so I'll stop talking about it just to have.

'''Anna Reinhardt:''' Which brings us to you. Yo, what's up?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Hey, how long did it take you to make a purchase?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Pen show opens at 9 a.m. on Friday.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' 9 a.m. on Friday, I bought King of Pen. I knew what I was doing. As Brad said a minute ago, do as I say, not as I do. And we very frequently say, if you're coming to the pen show for the first time, get a lay of the land and understand what you're doing. Now, I came into this pen show knowing what I wanted. Right? Like, I've done this many times. I can now, as I have done and did today, walked around the entire pen show, didn't buy anything. Right? Because now I'm kind of much more in control of understanding what I want and the money that I want to put aside for it. What I knew I wanted was one of two sailors this year. I even wanted the 1911 Royal Tangerine King of Pen or one of the mosaics. Right? So, just a regular 1911 mosaic. So, I kind of came in, looking around a bit, see what was there. And I went to see Dan Smith at the Nibsmith. And he had the 1911 Tangerine King of Pen. I picked it up. I knew it was the pen for me. It is a problem, I think, if you are making a purchase for someone before they have turned on their carb machine.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' We had to just, like, chitchat while he's setting it up. But, yeah, I have it. I have a broad nib. It's filled with Fire on Fire by Mr. Brad Dantley, which is a great ink, by the way. I will say, now that I've used it, it's a very, very good orange, Brad. Thank you. You did a good job there. Appreciate it. You didn't make it specifically. Mr. Oster did an excellent job. You made a very good decision on it. And I have to spend more time with it, but, like, it is as funny and as incredible as all King of Pens are. Because it kind of looks like a prop pen for a TV show where you have to make... So, like, you know in Harry Potter, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I'm going somewhere with this. The guy who plays Hagrid is not actually a giant. So, whenever they're showing him... Sorry, spoilers. Whenever they're showing him, they have to have, like, they have to do a bunch of camera trickery with the other people in the room to make it look like he's a big guy. King of Pens look like what you would give someone to make them look like they were small. Like it would adjust the scale of them as a person. Because it looks just like the 1911 Tangerine, but a little too big. And that's what I like about them, where they're so ridiculous.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Little tiny hands. Great big pen. Yes.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' If you have ever used a King of Pen, you understand immediately why they're so incredible. And I, like Brad, did for me. I've been able to have a few people try this specific King of Pen because people wanted to know what I bought at the show. And people immediately understand it. Now, you should not be buying a King of Pen as your first sailor. You shouldn't be doing that because all of the other sailor pens are incredible. And I think you actually can't appreciate how good the King of Pen is until you understand what other fountain pens other sailors are. So you kind of understand where it is. It is definitely a think about it, super considerate purchase. I mean, it took me from something about six or seven months, maybe getting up to a year from deciding I wanted one to buying one. Because I wanted to find the one that was right for me. And I wouldn't buy just any King of Pen. I see them all the time. Like the Ocean is available. I have no interest in that. The Fresca looks very nice, but I'm not going to get it. The 1911 Tangerine is a color that I adore. So that's it. Like I am not going to start a King of Pen collection like my Pro Gear collection. Show opens at 9 a.m. tomorrow.

'''Anna Reinhardt:''' There's probably some Frescas available.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I've seen a Fresca, but that is a great color.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But that's not for me. The Fresca, you know, it was exactly as you told me with these two. It's just like, and I think even initially and again with the King of Pen, like they are both amazing. But the Tangerine, once you see it, you're like, oh boy, like you've seen it. And that thing is incredible. So you kind of can't describe the color of this thing. So yeah, I bought King of Pen at 9 a.m. in the morning. It's just another great Myke story, really, I suppose. I'm a caricature myself. It is definitely consistent with the lore of the show.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right, should we get ready to bring on our first guest? Yeah. All right, let's take our first break for the episode. And then we will introduce our first guest for this show. So today's episode is brought to you by Squarespace. You can make your next move with Squarespace because they will let you easily create a website for your next idea. They let you grab a unique domain name, take advantage of and customize award-winning templates and so much more to give you that perfect place online to put whatever it is you want to put there. Whether you want to make a blog or an online store. Maybe you hear something and you're like, I've got some stuff to sell. You can set up a website with Squarespace and put everything that you need on it and have all of that functionality at your fingertips. It is an all-in-one platform that will let you put whatever it is you want to put online, online. There's nothing to install or patch or upgrade. You don't have to worry about any of that. Squarespace have got you covered and they back it all up with award-winning, 24-7 customer support. I love Squarespace. Brad loves Squarespace. We've been using them for years. Anytime I want to put something online, I go to Squarespace first because it's so easy to me. I know how to build a Squarespace website. Typically when I want to make a website, what I don't want to do is spend hundreds of hours learning how to build a website. I have an idea and I want to make the thing. That's what Squarespace lets me do and it can let you do it too. If you go to squarespace.com slash penaddict, you can sign up for a trial. There's no credit card required to do it and you can play around and tinker to your heart's content and get your website set up the way that you want to. Then when you want to launch it to the world, you sign up for one of their plans. They start at just $12 a month but you can get 10% of your first purchase of a website or domain and show your support for this show by going to squarespace.com slash penaddict and using the code penaddict to get that 10% off. Once more, that is squarespace.com slash penaddict and the code penaddict for 10% of your first purchase. We thank Squarespace for their continued support of this show. They have actually been sponsoring the show for as long as the show has been around, which is kind of incredible. Clearly a lot of you need to build websites. Squarespace, make your next move, make your next website. All right, Brad, do you want to introduce our first guest?

'''Anna Reinhardt:''' I will. So we started doing a thing a couple years ago where, okay, we appreciate that y'all listen to us once a week, every week, and this is our opportunity to maybe tell you a few more stories that aren't about us. You know, like we can regale you with tales of sailor and, you know, all of the funnies. I regale thee with tales of sailors.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Come from far and wide.

'''Anna Reinhardt:''' But what we've been able to do with this platform at this show is bring on some people that we really love and really respect, and we want to share their stories with y'all. So we have two great guests tonight. The first one is Chris Roth from Write Notepads. So come on up here, Chris.

'''Anna Reinhardt:''' Oh, boy.