Editing The Pen Addict 101/transcript (section)

== Pelican Pens ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Wow, that's, that's an incredible offer. I didn't notice the, uh, the Pelican in that list.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, I haven't gone through everything yet. But, um, that was something I noticed immediately. So, um, you guys go check that out and, um, and buy them all up. Sell them out.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Pilot Metropolitan $14.98. Right. Before a discount.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So this week's pen blog of the week is more of a pencil blog of the week once again. And this time it's pencil revolution. My friend Johnny Gamber, um, I wanted to give a special shout out to him. He does an awesome job. It's one of the oldest, um, pencil pen analog tool review blogs that I know of. He started way back in 2005 and he's finally converted me over to the dark side into the, uh, the wooden pencil realm. And, um, it's a pretty fun place to be. Um, Johnny's does a great job, um, of reviewing and photographing and, and, um, talking about all the products that he uses. But, you know, he's in following him over the years on Twitter and on Instagram, you know, he's gotten me into, um, he gets his, he gets his, uh, kids really active into like the pencils and paper thing. And so I'm trying to learn from that and get my kids, you know, like he gives his daughters like some field notes and some pencils and that's kind of her, her fun thing to play with. And, you know, I've kind of, you know, picked up on that and give my kids, you know, the same kind of thing. So they know they have the special tools that daddy, daddy gets to use too. So I appreciate Johnny, you know, doing that and sharing that, um, with all of us. So, um, y'all probably already know about pencil revolution, but if not, you should definitely, um, add that to your, to your reading list. And he's also part of the, uh, the, the three musketeers of, of pencil dome who do the, uh, erasable podcast. So you can check out him on erasable too. So thanks Johnny. Our nemeses. Yes.

'''Myke Hurley:''' We'll always be basically a hundred in front of them. So unless they start doing one a day, then we're in trouble. Then we'll have to do two a day. That's right. That's right. Can't let them catch up. I don't want to do that. So please do one a day.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. They're doing a really good job. They just had episode three earlier this week. I listened to it. Um, they gave me a couple of shout outs. I appreciate that. And, um, yeah, definitely check them out. So, um, thank you Johnny for being awesome.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. So you know what this weekend is, Myke?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Um, let me think of something. What is this weekend? What's going on in your neck of the woods? Nothing that I can really speak to.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Nothing for you. Well, for me, it's Atlanta pen show weekend and that's always a big deal for me.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Um, well, I'm going away for the weekend, but that's not necessarily what people are looking to hear.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So three, this will be my third. Yeah. This will be my third Atlanta pen show and usually starting about in January. I know it's coming up in April and I started getting anxious and, you know, start saving up the, uh, the secret, uh, the secret fund for, um, for my pen show exploits. And, you know, this year I is going to be, I don't know, I think better than ever because I'm finally getting, it takes a while to kind of get into the flow of what a pen show is like. I remember the first time I went in 2012, I was a deer in the headlights. I had no idea what to expect. Um, no idea necessarily how to handle myself, you know, how to deal with the vendors, how to, you know, purchase a fountain pen. That was the show where I purchased my, uh, black mat pilot vanishing point, my first, you know, kind of expensive fountain pen. And, you know, I'd had some Lamy safaris I think before then, but nothing else. So that was where I broke down and got, um, got that, um, vanishing point. So that was kind of my first experience. And I just, I remember, remember being like really nervous and just kind of running around the show, just like not really knowing what I was doing, not real comfortable talking with the vendors and not real comfortable handling, you know, the pens on, on the table, which they're more than happy to have you do. So, you know, by the time last year rolled around, I felt, okay, I kind of got that first experience out of the way. And now the second time I'm going to come with a shopping list and these are the things I'm going to look for. And, you know, I had a much better experience just because I was more experienced going to a pen show. You know, it is a little intimidating the first time. So the second time around, you know, I had an idea, a better idea. I picked up a few things on my shopping list and was really, really happy. You know, I met the Andersons that year, um, from Anderson Pens. And, you know, I talked to a bunch of other vendors and found out what they were doing. Um, I had some nib work done, which I had never done before, um, by Myke Masayama. So it was a real kind of, um, branching out experience last year. Now this year, as I'm, I'm getting ready, I find that I could almost go with no list, if that makes sense. Like I have a general idea, but not necessarily any like very, very specific pens that I want to pick up. Like last year I had some very specific pens I wanted to pick up and I think I maybe only got one on that list because the, the, the pen show, you just find different things. It's about exploring and trying new things and trying new brands and talking to people and, you know, maybe discovering something new. So I've got a general list, which I'll go over. And, but I think out of this list, you know, I might end up with one of the pens I have listed on here, maybe two, because I'm just going to kind of take it all in. Cause last year I went and I found some other things that were very cool. Like I found an Edison Pearl, which you don't normally run across. And that was just something I had to have. So, you know, that's what it's for discovering new things and, and finding new pens that kind of really fit your style and things like that. So one of the things I want to look for this year is a vintage pen with an ultra flexible nib. Sometimes they call them a wet noodle. I don't know if I'm going to go like super, super flex or just kind of like a medium flex, but more flexible than like a Falcon. What? Super flex. Super flex.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But there's a couple of brands that are kind of known for that. Waterman makes a lot of, or made a lot of older pens with really flexible nibs and a brand called maybe Todd back in the day made some pens. So I'm going to check. There's usually a bunch of vintage pens outweigh modern pens by a large number at pen shows, I'd say. So I should have a lot of choices there. But I remember last year, like one of the things I wanted very much was a Parker 51. Do you remember that? Sure do. And I knew that I was going to come away with a Parker 51 just because there's so many available at a show like this. Well, I looked at dozens and dozens and dozens and none of them spoke to me. Like either the color wasn't right or the condition wasn't good enough. I had exactly the same.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Do you remember?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. I went for the exact same process that you did when I went to the London pen show.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep, exactly. So I thought for sure I'd be able to find a good vintage Parker 51 and I came away with zero. So I'm saying that I'll have lots of options and lots of choices and I should be able to come away with something that I like. But maybe I don't. This pen's probably, I'd say, I'm kind of ballparking like $100, $150 for that pen. But I'm not dead set on coming away with one if I don't find one that I like. Kind of like I did with the Parker 51 last year. Like I had to have a 51 and I was disappointed that I didn't get one. But in the end, I mean, everything worked out fine. One of the pens I'm definitely going to come away with, and I don't know which model exactly yet, but Franklin Kristoff is, they're only about, they're in Raleigh, North Carolina, so they're only about eight hours. So they bring a bunch to this show. And they have, usually have like three huge tables of stuff. They've been coming out with a few new models. That smoke and ice pocket fountain pen I have, they made a larger model. I don't know the exact model number off the top of my head. I'm going to look at that one. And since the two smoke, I have the smoke and ice and fired ice model 40 pocket, I want to get one of the larger size. And both the ones I have have cursive italic nibs. I want to get one with a needle tip this time. So that's the one pen you can pretty much bank on me coming home with. It's something from Franklin Kristoff with one of, Myke Masuyama does their needle tips, their cursive italic nibs. And I want to come home with one of those. That's for sure. One I probably won't come home with, but it's kind of on my watch list, is the Stormtrooper vanishing point, the white barrel with the black trim. For some reason, I can't figure that out. Maybe a listener can help me figure it out. And I've actually emailed Brian Anderson about this, is this doesn't seem to be like a full release vanishing point. Like not everyone carries this one. Like the gunmetal one that they released last year, everyone carried that. It's like a normal stock line pen. This white one with the black trim, not everyone carries. Like Colt Pens has it, but it's at a premium to the regular line. So I don't know if this is some kind of special edition or what, but if I can find one for a reasonable price, I want to get that.