Editing The Pen Addict 220/transcript (section)

== San Francisco Visit ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' No. I mean. Yes. But we weren't in San Francisco. So I said no. Because I never actually made it into San Francisco. Does that make sense?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Is this like how the DC pen shows. Not in DC?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Completely. Right. So we're a good 30, 40 minutes from San Francisco proper. So we weren't in San Francisco. And I would have loved to have gone to San Francisco. So you know. Maybe next year. When I'm hopefully doing it for Nock. I can build in. What that one extra day. Or two extra days. You know. To. In particular towns. I wouldn't be able to do it all the time. But you know. Like it's funny. When I went to Chicago. And when I went to San Francisco. I'm a huge baseball fan. Right. So. They have two of the best ballparks. In the country. That I've never been to. So Chicago has Wrigley Field. And San Francisco has AT&T. And they're just beautiful. They're like. Like if you did a ranking of the 30 ballparks. They're probably. Between both of them. They're probably like top three. And both the times I was in town. My team was playing. The home team.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Oh.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So the Atlanta Braves. Were in Chicago. When I was in Chicago. And in San Francisco. When I was in San Francisco. And I couldn't make it to a game. That's like a. You know. A kick in the. You know where. Like that's. That was hard. But. You know. Just with the timing. Of it. You know. It would never. Ever. Work out in a million years. That I could get to it. So. I'll have to figure out. If I make it to those. Even if the Braves aren't playing. Like when I travel. I want to be able to go to. Some of the ballparks. Because that's like my thing. Besides the Pen stuff. Is all the baseball stuff. So. I didn't get to. San Francisco. But like the area. That we were at. Was wonderful. So just driving to Jetpens. It's totally like. You know. The Silicon Valley TV show. You know. From San Francisco. To San Jose. You go through. Mountain View. And. You know. You go through. Palo Alto. And you just see like. Every huge office building ever. You know. You know. Microsoft. Dell. You know. I didn't get to see. Apple's campus. But you know. It's all right there. And the hotel. Where the Pen show was at. Is Oracle's Hotel. Because their office is. You know. Two blocks away. And you know. They have their big. America's Cup. Racing boat. In the lake. In the front of their. Office building. It's just kind of insane. You know. Oh. How strange. Yeah. Yeah. So it's. We were in. What was called. Redwood City. So it's like. 30-40 minutes south. Of San Francisco. But it was. Just a beautiful area. Hotel was fantastic. The night we got in. So after I went to Jetpens. I just. Ubered back to the hotel. That was my first Uber experience too. Which could not have been any. Any smoother. It was really good. I mean. If anywhere. You know. If Uber is going to succeed anywhere. That's the place it's going to succeed. Right. So they have it down to a science there. And. You get back to the hotel. Meet up with the Vanesses. And. Start seeing everyone. Thursday night. We were able to get into. The. Ballroom. To start setting up. On Thursday night. Which we're thankful for. Because we found out. We didn't realize it at the time. But the show opened at 7 a.m. For weekend pass holders on Friday.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That's straight up. Madness.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So. Honestly. That doesn't make any. Make any sense.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That's way too early. Like who needs 7 a.m.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Especially on a Friday. So we were kind of nervous about that. So we tried to set up everything. Thursday night. So we didn't get finished. In the ballroom Thursday night. Until probably around 10 p.m. I'm thinking we. Wrapped it up. Like we just ordered pizza and ate. While we were setting up. Um. Because we didn't want to have to do it in the morning. Um. Once you get. We have so much ink to set up. That. If we try to do it in the morning. And people are coming. Yeah. You know. And like we're having to stop. We would never get like. Into a comfortable place.

'''Myke Hurley:''' At least. I guess the benefit for you. Kind of going west. Is that the time zone difference. Like a 7 a.m. Start. Isn't so tough. Right. Right. Because you were probably up and about. A little bit earlier. And easier. Because of that. I expect.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Except I didn't go to bed. Until so late. Oh bro. That night. I kind of like. It. It didn't really work in my favor. You need to.

'''Myke Hurley:''' You need to quit this party animal lifestyle.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You have. Well that's the thing. Is I didn't at all. You know. It was just. Ended up being. You know. Like midnight or so. Before I went to bed. You know. Or like 1130. You know. Which was like. I was on like. Two. Two in the morning. My time. By that time. So. And then. Yeah. The morning came early. But it was fine. Like. I slept fine. Wasn't too worn out. But yeah. We were down there. I was up at six. Down there. Before seven. And just getting going. And. Friday was awesome. You know. It was just really busy. Which we're starting to figure out. Like these Friday weekend pass holders. Seem to be a bigger deal. Than they have in the past. You know. Talking with Lisa. And people who have been to other pin shows. You know. Around. Around the country. That you're getting a lot more action on Friday. Than you used to in the past. People are making a weekend out of it. You know. And. Either coming in Thursday night. Or coming in early Friday. And. Just mingling around the show. And getting an early start. And. It's really cool. I mean. It's great to be busy. On Friday. When. You know. A lot of. Like the locals are working.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And having people travel. And be there. And the show activity. Picks up. Like really. Really well.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Do you think that's part in case. Like as well as like people making these. Trips to the shows. It's. It's. Like the issue of scarcity. So like. If somebody's going to make the trip. They want to get there as early as they can. So they can get everything that they wanted.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. And that happens. A lot of times. You know. A lot of people will get there early. And do some early shopping. And get the things that they want. And. Then just relax. Kind of the rest of the weekend. And then just mingle. And take their time. And really soak in the show. Really check out all the. All the different vendors. And the different goings on. And. At this show. There's a lot going on. Outside of the. An individual room itself. And the one. One thing about the room. That this show is in. This is the first show. I've done. That's been self-contained into one room. And I kind of like that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. What's the difference?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I don't know. Just. It's a good vibe. When you see it like busy all the time. Not that it's never. Not busy in other shows. Where it's broken up between different rooms. But it was just different. In a. In a really cool way. Everyone was all in the same place. Right. You didn't have to send people to other rooms. To find something.

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

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's a big room. You know. Probably a little over a hundred and something tables. It was really large. And. You know. Just a big. Square room. And it was just packed. Pretty much all weekend. You know. Um. And. What I was saying a second ago. Was. They have a lot of other activities. During. The show. Lots of classes. Um. Lots of events at night. So like. That's one of the things I. I. I took away from this show. Is. How they mixed in. Other things. Um. Every show does it. But they do it a little differently. Um. So like. We had the pen addict meet up. On Friday night. Which. A lot of shows have. Been gracious enough for us to do. And then on Saturday night. They had a band. You know. They just brought in. You know. Like a. A country. Bluegrass. Rockabilly. Type of band. You know. Just to play. Just for something different. For the. Um. For the attendees. You know. That kind of stuff is cool. And then. Um. You know. All the different classes. They had throughout. All weekend. You know. It. Wasn't just like. Um. You know. The handwriting classes. It was. Letter writing classes. And a planner meet up. And just all. Like a few different things. That. A lot of people that listen to this show. Or read the blog. Are into. You know. Um. There weren't as many. Repair classes. If you will. How to repair. Parker Vacumatic. You know. There was a good. Wall ever sharp history. Class. Like. I wouldn't mind going to that. But. Um. You know. There weren't a lot of. Like. Every show seems to have the same group of classes. And this one mixed it up a little bit. Which was enjoyable.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So. It's like. Allowing people to maybe do something a little bit different.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Yeah. Which was great. So. And it brings in. I don't want to say it brings in a different crowd. But it makes. Like. It gives. Everyone in attendance. Something to maybe do. Outside of the show. If they are interested. You certainly don't have to do those things. But. Um. A lot of people were making plans around. The classes. You know. That are going to be there. Friday. Saturday. And Sunday. Where they're going to mix in. And they're not going to hover around the ballroom all day. They're going to. Get into one of those classes. Or. Sometimes three or more. You know. Things like that. So. It was just a. Good setup overall. For a show. Show. Very comfortable. Good room. Um. Good vibe. The whole weekend. Uh. The promoters. You know. Had it. You know. Very under control. They weren't running around like chickens with their head cut off. Which. You know. That's the planning that goes into it. They did a. A really good job. Everything was. Uh. Taken care of. It was nice.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So. What did you buy? Or what did you see? That was maybe a little bit new or different. Was it? Didn't catch your eye? I know it's only just been a couple of weeks since the last one. So. I wouldn't imagine too much.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So. That's. That's pretty accurate. Um. As far as like new and different. I didn't see anything that I was totally.