Editing The Pen Addict 258/transcript (section)

== Triangle Pen Show ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So I'll be checking out the latest and greatest from Aurora at the Triangle Pen Show in two weeks. Myke and Raleigh. Actually, not in Raleigh. It's outside of Raleigh in a town called Cary in North Carolina. June 2nd to 4th. Come see me. Come hang out. If you're in the area, come visit. I think Franklin Kristoff might do an open house. I got to find out from them. So this is my way of asking them publicly and putting them on the spot. That would be cool to go see their shop while I was there. And you're going to get to meet one of the littlest pen addicts. My daughter, Elizabeth, is coming to work her first show. So she will be there. She is traveling with me as we set up the knock table. And we'll be slinging some pen cases and some paper there. And I'm looking forward to it. It's a new show for me. And I think it's going to be awesome. I'm really, really excited. So we can, gosh, I guess we leave a week from tomorrow. So it's not even two weeks away.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So what will people be able to expect from Brad Dowdy of the show, do you think?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Well, I don't know. I'll be there. And I'll say hi. And there'll be hugs. And there'll be beer. The hugs are the important part. Yeah. That's generally what you can expect from me. So it'll be fun. And we'll, of course, have some knock stuff you can only get at pen shows these days. Jeff's working a little magic for this show. Some people have been asking for a certain case. So they're going to be super ticked off when they see it and can't get it. Which is, you know, we got to have some stuff that's pen show only.

'''Myke Hurley:''' No, I like that. I think it's good. I mean, it's encouraging people to come out to their local pen shows. I think that's a great idea. Yep. And plus, as we said before, like for people that already own your entire product line, of which there are many, this gives them something else to buy from you, which is always a good thing. Exactly.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' We are in business to stay in business. Heck yeah, you are. You know, so yes, we sell things.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So yeah. So we have some new products to talk about today, Brad.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. And some of these are new as in brand new, just announced this week. And some of these are old and I miss them. One of them's even from last year. Um, I get the Farnie's pen catalog, which I would normally not even flip through, but it's kind of cool to see all the pens and all the things and, uh, see which terrible Esther Brooks they're promoting this, this time around, because my God, that guy still exists. And which I didn't realize until like I got to the second to last page of the catalog. And, um, there was some tragic, tragic stuff in there. Um, but I noticed two pens that, um, should have been on my radar and weren't just to discuss. One is the Fisher space pen 50th anniversary pen in the catalog. Um, I don't know when this exactly came out, but it's kind of cool. I've become a Fisher space pen fan. I mean, I guess I always have been, but I find myself using that format of small pocket pen more these days with the way my work goes at knock. You know, I just want something small to throw in my pocket. And a lot of times it's the Fisher space pen, or at least something like the shown pen with the Fisher space pen refill 50th, uh, 50th anniversary. One is black with a gold section and has the five phases of the moon and a 50 on there. Uh, what do you think about this one? I think it looks pretty cool. It's beautiful.

'''Myke Hurley:''' As far as like a limited edition goes, it's really good. Cause it's sticking to what it is, right? Like it's space and right. But like what they've chosen, the design that they've chosen is just a good looking design. Right. You know, like that doesn't need to be a 50th. It could just be a design and you'd be happy with it. I think it's really, really nice. I think it's really, really nice.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So, um, there's your, uh, your next gift to our friend, Stephen Hackett. Um, he will, uh, I don't know y'all, y'all that relay space pen y'all did for us was so cool. I still like that one a lot. Yeah. This is pretty great.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Me too. That's, that sits on my desk. Like I absolutely love that thing. I will give that as a tip to anyone like space pens with engravings on them are great gifts. Yep.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. This next pen, I guess is a great gift, but I have some real questions about it. So I've, this is another one I found in the catalog and it's a cross pen, which I don't necessarily, you know, we don't run in those circles. Like when we had the cross with the tracker, um, we talked about a few podcasts ago where you can, if you lose your pen, you can Bluetooth track it with the tracker software. That was something not on my radar until someone sent me this. No one sent me this, but I saw it in the catalog. It's called the pure peerless Fondery 47 collector's edition. So what this group of pens is, I'm going to read this real quick. This special edition rollerball pen supports Fondery 47's efforts to help stop gun violence in war torn regions of Africa by removing assault rifles from circulation. Awesome. Right. That's a, they have a very, you know, it's a plan, you know, they're going in, they're trying to do something good and where they lose me is they make the pen from recycled AK 47s. AK 47s. So what you're asking someone to do is support the removal of AK 47s from the planet, specifically in Africa, by buying a pen in, that you would now hold in your hand that represents a destroyed AK 47, including the serial number of the weapon.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So here's my thinking on this. I think that that's cool, but I don't like the fact that they designed it with, so the design, I'll come back to why I think that's a cool thing in a minute. They say like it is designed to look like it's inspired by an AK 47. I think that's crazy. But the idea that it's made from them is good, right? Like the pen is to stop gun violence. So you are literally taking pens, sorry, taking guns, pen violence, taking guns and turning them into pens, right? Like I think that that is cool. My problem is that they've used gun design cues. That doesn't make any sense. That makes no sense.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. So what stopped me in my tracks on this pen was the looks. Like I'm flipping through the catalog. I was like, wow, this is a really good looking cross pen. What is this? And then I read the story. I was like, okay, that's great. They're removing guns from this area in Africa. That's awful. And then I look closer at the pen. And I was like, well, it's made to represent an AK 47, which is kind of backwards. If I'm, it kind of crosses the wires there of, do I support, you know, this program by carrying a mini AK 47 pen is what it looks like to me, but it's a sweet looking pen. Yeah. I don't know. It was just the, I am having, I don't care, you know, which side of the, the ledger you're on this pen design plus the story doesn't make sense to me. Like I'm, I, it doesn't jive in my brain what they're trying to do here. Um, besides trying to do good, but I think it was, and they made a beautiful pen, but are the people who support this program going to want to carry this pen? I don't know. It was just that I had more questions than answers when I saw this pen, which I thought was just a really good looking pen.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's actually one of the better cross designs I've seen in a long time, to be quite honest. It's great.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Mm-hmm.