Editing The Pen Addict 304/transcript (section)

== Pen Show ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. A couple more related to pen show things to talk about. But let's take a break real quick.

'''Myke Hurley:''' All right. Today's show is brought to you by Simple Contacts. It is an awesome thing when an app that you use on your phone can take away a tiresome task. Making something fuss-free. And that is what Simple Contacts does. By being the easy way to renew your contact lens prescription. You can order your contacts from absolutely anywhere in just minutes. All you need to do is complete their online self-guided vision test. It takes less than five minutes. And you can do it from wherever you are. Right now, there's no need for doctor's offices or waiting rooms. And Brad, I believe that you have gone through and taken the test through the Simple Contacts app. And I wanted to kind of get your experience on that before I told people more about Simple Contacts. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I don't wear contacts. But Myke was like, hey, we have this spot coming up in this app. I want you to check out. Go take the vision test for me. And I was like, really? A vision test on my phone? And it's really cool. It's like the eye exam you get at the doctor's office where you take off your glasses. You cover one eye. You read what's on the screen. You're holding your phone in your hand. You read what's on the screen. Cover one eye. Cover the left eye. Cover the right eye.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Have both eyes open. You wouldn't do it with both eyes closed. That wouldn't work. And you go through and you read and see what you can read and click on the things that you can read. And then I thought, okay, that's cool. Then it's like, okay, now set the phone down on a table or a chair somewhere where it's upright and walk 10 feet away. I'm like, wait, what? What is happening here? And so it's like a real eye chart on the wall. And it can tell with whatever depth perception in the phone is how far away you are. Because the little screen will go, okay, further, further. And you kind of get a circle when you're the exact distance away that you need to be for the thing. And then you try to read different lines on the thing. And there's some audio cues, right? You say these things out loud and it knows what your answer is. So it's reading the audio cues that you're giving it for your responses. So I thought that was pretty cool. It was a fun test to take.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That is really awesome. And once you've taken a test, you can confirm your prescription with them. And you're able to order your favorite contacts, whatever brands you use, whatever you love, right from their website or app. They have options for astigmatism, multifocal lenses, colored lenses, and many more. You can get exactly what you need right from the palm of your hand. The vision test costs just $20, which for comparison, an appointment without insurance can cost over $200. And Simple Contacts will help you save money and time. It's worth letting you know, and I have to tell you, this is not a replacement for your periodic fall eye health exam. Simple Contacts should check that your current prescription still helps you see 2020 and now help you renew your lenses based on that prescription. They are not writing completely new prescriptions or examining your eye health. You still have to get that checked out. As a listener of this show, you can get $30 off your contact lenses. Just go to simplecontacts.com slash penaddict, or you can use penaddict at checkout. That is simplecontacts.com slash penaddict and the code penaddict for $30 off. Our thanks to Simple Contacts for their support of this show and RelayFM. So, listener Jack stopped me at the pen show. Jack's always at the pen show. He's a great guy. And he said to me, I have found the old catalogs and archive for the Retro 51 to find the Abondanza for you, which I was very excited about. So, it turns out that the Retro 51 Abondanza first appeared in the 2008 catalog. So, that was the first time that you can find it. And in that too, I'm going to put a link in the show notes to a page on Retro 51's website called Fun Stuff, which has, like, it's like an archive of a bunch of their catalogs. And the PDFs are all still there, and you can go look at them. So, that's pretty cool. So, you can go there and look at that. It's on their extra, extra page, but it's like just this catalog of their old catalogs. And it showed up in 2008 as the pen version that I have. So, you've got the kind of the convertible model of the rollerball ballpoint, the ballpoint, I should say, and the fountain pen. So, you can switch them out. But by 2010, so it's mentioned a couple of times in a couple of further catalogs. But by 2010, it was no longer a convertible pen anymore. It was just a ballpoint. They weren't offering the fountain pen nib for it anymore. And then that 2010 catalog is the last time that it appears. So, it was on sale for a couple of years, it looks like. And was maybe not a popular product, right? Because they made changes to it, and it didn't last for very long. But yeah, that's kind of the history of the Abundanza. So, it does exist now. We know it exists. But yeah, and it's funny because I'm like, oh, 2008. That wasn't that long ago. Nope. Nope. 10 years. It's 10 years ago. And so, yeah. And I have to say, Brad, I adore this pen with just a great, great love. I have a great love for this pen. It genuinely has become one of my most prized pens because it's super weird. And it's like I've never seen anything like it before. And the box is so amazing. And that you got it for me as a gift. Like, it's become a real special pen for me. So, I also just love the way it looks. Yeah, and it's got a good story. Like, it looks great. And yeah, it has a great story, but it looks really good. I love the look of it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. And a quick follow-up. Father Kyle, we missed you at the show this weekend, but he texted me yesterday. He actually has the ballpoint. He sent me a picture of the ballpoint in the same box that you have, but it's just the ballpoint model. So, yeah. I thought that was pretty fun. And so, you know, from never hearing it to, you know, now we find it in the catalogs. And of course, Father Kyle has one, right? Of course he does.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. I bought a pen from Father Kyle, which I picked up from you. He sent it to you. It was a Retro 51 where the body is made of stamps, which is super amazing.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Like hand-laid, not like printed, like hand-laid and lacquered stamps. It was really cool. Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And so, that's a really fun one. So, I got one of those too. So, that was great. There was a picture going around during the pen show, like an Instagram post of something from Pilot. So, it turns out that it is Pilot's 100th anniversary this year, as we know. We've been talking about this for a while. And lower tier shareholders were all sent a gift. So, if you're a shareholder in Pilot, whatever lower tier means, I assume just like not a lot of shares. General.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Probably general shareholders.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Good point. General public. Yeah. They received a box. And in that box is four pens. Now, the box color says 100th anniversary. And they have a little logo for it, which is cool, which is like an infinity symbol, which is broken in half. And one half bears a fountain pen nib, and the other bears like a rollerball point. And inside of the box is a friction, just a regular friction, a regular acroball two-in-one, and a regular kind of Pilot 100 permanent marker. And there's also a Pilot Kakuno, which is branded with the 100th anniversary logo on the cap and on the packaging. So, Pilot also made a point of saying that this is not what they're going to be releasing for the anniversary. This is just for shareholders. But, like, this is not whatever they have or have not got planned. So, the reason that we're bringing this up is because we have been very keen to see how Pilot will be marking their 100th anniversary. Because the previous big anniversaries, for example, the 90-year anniversary, brought with it the Pilot M90, which is, in my opinion, one of the greatest pens ever made. So, it is very... I have a keen eye towards Pilot now, as they are clearly beginning to start whatever it is that they're going to be doing to celebrate their 100th.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, so, I've been anxious since pretty much January 1st. I was like, when is this going to start? It's the 100th year. They're going to make a lot of special editions. And we've gotten bupkas so far. So, you know, I saw this while I was at the pen show. I was just sitting there scrolling through Instagram. This popped up in my feed. I was like, huh, okay. And I showed it to a bunch of people, and their response was, huh, okay. So, it's like this weird little box of goodies. And, I mean, it's cool. These are like barrel colors you can't get in the Acroball or the Friction and the little logo, Kakuno. And it's a nice freebie. Like, this is the freebie kit, right, that they probably made hundreds or thousands of, I guess. And, you know, it's super cool. I totally want one of these. But, man, I'm ready for, like, the big stuff to start happening because, you know, it's coming. I think it's around the corner. Like, I really do. At this point, I'm getting worried that it's going to be, like, all super high-end stuff now. I was like, I would hope we'd start seeing some, like, moderate pens, like, at least some sneak peeks or previews of things to come. But I'm starting to get worried we're going to have some, like, crazy expensive stuff. There's going to be crazy expensive stuff. I hope it's not. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I think they'll do some stuff that's a little bit more general. But I reckon that, I reckon everything that they're going to do is going to start at $100. Like, you won't get anything cheaper than that, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Well, my dream scenario would be where they just did one of each, right? A special $100 for every pin line that they currently have. I mean, it's not out of the question.

'''Myke Hurley:''' They might sell this Kakuno. They've made packaging for it, right? So you never know. This might be just, like, a sign of something, right? This Kakuno may have just gone to the shareholders first. You know, because this is, like, it's stamped on the cap. They've made special packaging for it. You know, you never know, right? Like, that's a lot of effort to go to just for a shareholder box. So, you know, I am keenly optimistic purely because they've created a specific logo for this anniversary. Like, they've gone to the hassle of not just writing 100. Like, they've made a little logo. Like, they have started the branding for their 100th anniversary. All I want, though, is an M100. Like, that's all I want, right? And I will be so sad if we don't get anything, like, in the Mayu line or the Murex line, you know, that mimics those. Because, like, I will be, honestly, I will be really surprised. I think I might be on my own here, but I will be really surprised and disappointed if they don't have a pen in that style, you know? Like, the kind of pocket and with the integrated nib. Like, I would be super surprised if they didn't do something like that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, we'll see. You know, I don't have my hopes up for that. But I don't know what else is going on.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I feel like I'm the only one that does, and I don't know why. I don't know why it's just me that believes that this pen will exist. But maybe I'm just too hopeful. Yeah, I don't know. But you know what, Brad? I don't care because I've got two of them anyway. So, ha-ha.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, I have mine, so I'm happy.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I'm sorry, everyone. I love you.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Sorry, teaser for a pen. That is launching on the 19th, April the 19th, as we record this, which is tomorrow. Speaking of owning two of something. Yes. This is something that I'm very excited about, which is Myke Dudek has partnered with Retro51 to create a limited edition Tornado, which is launching tomorrow. It's available on the ClickyPost. I don't know if I'm allowed to say this, but I have seen this pen. Mm-hmm. And I have keenly instructed Myke to keep one for me. Mm-hmm. Because this thing is going to sell out incredibly quickly. So, keep your eye out for it. I would recommend maybe following ClickyPost on Instagram. Yeah, this thing looks really, really, really good.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Really good. This is better than any Retro51 that I've designed. Just flat out. It's amazing. Mm-hmm. It's better than probably anything. I don't know. I don't remember the whole last year or two of release cycles. This is one of the best limited editions I've seen in a while. Yeah, it's better than anything they've released in a long time. It's out of bounds. Yep. It's really, really good. I'm going to be paying keen attention to make sure I get one because I love this pen. It's fantastic. So, yeah. I can't wait to get this. So, tomorrow. Yeah, tomorrow's the 19th. I need to figure out what time, but I will be ready to pull the trigger on one of these bad boys. So, yeah. I'm looking forward to it. All right. Next thing, Myke. Something we've got to talk about that broke, I think, like right after two weeks ago, podcast. Sometime before Atlanta pen show. That our good friends at Kenro Industries, the distributor for Aurora and Montegrappa, especially the Montegrappa. Montegrappa.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Montegrappa. I saw one of those, by the way. Yeah. That is a pen which is deceiving. Like, it is deceivingly heavy, which is a good thing because it just looks like it's like an acrylic pen, right? But it's a heavy pen. I just can't stand the clip and the little detail that goes around the cap. Aside from that, it's a really nice looking pen, but I can't deal with that.