Editing The Pen Addict 133/transcript (section)

== Zip Pouches ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' yep for sure now that makes sense and what I do is I keep like a little zip pouch well with all like the specific things like iPhone charger and you know glasses cleaning cloth and headphones that I can just grab that bag and move that little pouch more like a pouch and move that pouch from bag to bag so yeah let me talk about a couple other bags that I own and have owned and currently own and don't use anymore one bag that I love but I don't have a great use case for it Topa makes one called the sling bag which isn't even on their site anymore but it seems to be still available through Huckberry maybe which is where I got mine first one it's a single strap backpack and it's like in the day pack style where it's just an open zipper you know open pouch in the front with a few little pin slots and pockets on the inside it's a very simple bag but it doesn't fit a laptop like it would fit an iPad in it that's one bag I want to use more but it just doesn't quite fit what I need right now but it's an awesome bag and actually I would recommend that bag over something like the rover pack just because it's a more unique design and if you find that it fits in your in your carry arsenal and if you need 10 bags like I do that's a good one to have the messenger bag I used for years Myke is the Timbuk2 deluxe messenger bag racing stripe I put I have a flicker image of it that we'll have in the show notes this is a fantastic messenger bag Timbuk2 makes really really good stuff in my opinion they're always very durable I've never had like any any physical problems with the Timbuk2 stuff they actually have enjoyed every Timbuk2 bag I've owned I've just always found another bag that's done it better and I got out of them this is the last messenger bag I've owned I've owned it for years and years and years and I haven't used it in years and years and years so I probably just need to sell it because it's still in great shape their bags hold up extremely well I'm just not a messenger bag guy anymore I don't like it slinging around on my shoulder and moving around so much and it's a pretty big bag this is the medium size one I have and it can get pretty heavy and load it out so I prefer having the backpack strap there's also the Timbuk2 shot well which I've used that was my computer bag for a while but the the Patagonia Yerba backpack is is better in comparison one of the worst bags I've ever purchased with this was kind of a fluke purchase I was like oh I could use this I need this and it's been a bag that I haven't used at all just because it's way overkill for what I need it's called the chrome falcon chrome industries makes killer backpacks and killer bags they're really focused in the cycling world you know for like bike commuters you know they make a lot of bike computer commuter specific bags and the one I have is really made for that and I don't use it for that it's got like a waterproof section on the interior so the bag is kind of split into like into half like vertical halves with one is kind of got a waterproof section and then ones for like your laptop and other things like that it's just a monstrous heavy it's the heaviest backpack I own and therefore it doesn't it's not really useful for anything but like serious hardcore travel and something that would just be beat and destroyed this is a very Portland Seattle San Francisco bag for bike commuters they would probably love it it doesn't work for me it's just too big and bulky on the complete opposite side of the spectrum of big and bulky is the nomadic wise walker which I've had that bag from jet pins for probably five or six years now and it's the exact opposite of the chrome falcon it's lightweight and actually almost too small for my back which is probably it's why I don't wear it as much because it's actually a little small and there's so many pockets in it that you almost get lost you can have too many pockets right you can be you can overkill on the organization by far and the nomadic is great quality and great styling but it's too small for me you and I are about the same size we're both around six feet it's it looks a little bit small on a back my size like I let my kids use that bag sometimes just because it's it's light enough and it's not overly big for them and yeah those are kind of some of the bags I own and I threw my old I found a pic old picture of my old Targus computer bag those are the worst bags in creation but everyone knows what those look like right you see those wandering through town through the airport I feel sorry for anyone carrying like the old style computer bags because they are so heavy I mean I guess they protect you know your computer and everything but have you ever carried one of like the traditional made for computer laptop bags

'''Myke Hurley:''' Myke I don't think so I mean well mine mine it depends what you mean by that really but my north face has a as a specific computer compartment well

'''Brad Dowdy:''' yeah no all my bags like have the computer compartments like the the Topo and the you know Patagonia but I'm talking about companies that make specifically market them as computer bags like you can tell the difference when you see them and they're just they're really massively heavy and uncomfortable and uh just not an awesome not an awesome thing so um so that's that's what I have and believe it or not I want more Myke of course you do of course there's you wouldn't be an addict unless you had everything you need right in front of you and still wanted more right exactly so I mean that's pretty much the definition of an addict and there's I had to stop the wish list I limited it to three because that could have had like probably six or eight here pretty easy and there's one bag that I put at the top of the wish list I don't know if I'll ever get it but everyone raves about it that has it and that's the Tom Ben Synapse um Tom Ben makes awesome products I've had one of their small uh I can't even remember the name of it but it was really a notebook cover it wasn't really a bag but they're super high quality um made in in Seattle they have they do great great work with their products every I've never heard a negative word about a Tom

'''Myke Hurley:''' Ben bag yeah I know so many people that have Tom Ben bags I'm so intrigued by all the little bits you can add into them yeah

'''Brad Dowdy:''' so that's accessories you know so that's kind of held me back from that because I don't want that right I don't need all of that I don't need to load out my bag even further and I don't love the exterior designs of them they're very plain and straightforward they look great and actually like the insides of the bag where you can get some you can kind of build your own and put all the materials together that's what I would have to do is just kind of put all the materials together that I want like the necessarily the stock ones but you know it's more about using it than how it looks and from everything I've read using these Tom Ben bags is amazing and they last forever um and they're just really really high quality and I put some links for the show notes they do some really cool stuff on their blog they do a video where they go like the some of the people that work there go through the bags that they carry so that's really neat to see um always like checking that out so that's one the something from Tom Ben would probably be my next purchase I would think

'''Myke Hurley:''' but that's Hackett has the smart alec or at least he did the last time that we were in San Francisco and I was so jealous of it

'''Brad Dowdy:''' yeah that's a cool bag um because he had a bunch of

'''Myke Hurley:''' the things as well like what do they call them like the I think they call it like the Freudian slip or something yeah funny you know what like all the little accessories that they have that you can slide into their bags and it adds like different pockets and velcro straps and all that cool stuff

'''Brad Dowdy:''' yeah they do some great great names too they have the brain bag and they just came out with the parental unit which is a diaper bag that Casey List needs to look into um you know they they they have fun and but they take their bag making like super seriously and um it's a great great product and um that if the next I won't say it's the next bag I buy because Lord knows I don't need to purchase another bag but it might be a Tom Ben um because they're I just want to experience like the full one of the large backpacks for myself because I've had the little small um carrying case for notebooks in the past when I bought my a light shifter it was down between two bags it was either I was either getting the a light shifter or I was getting the clutter works clutter flip which is a really old school design from a very popular company called clutter works um I think they're in Montana based in Montana in the here in the US um it's just a really great design bag I thought it didn't quite have the size or capacity that I wanted for travel I didn't want another day bag I wanted uh like a week-long bag where I could stuff lots of things in you know not not to travel with as far as like all of your clothes and like be your you know live out of your the bag bag but just more stuff that I would need for a longer time frame away from home um I love the shape and design and the colors of all the uh clutter flips so um that's another one that's on my radar I'll probably never own it but I stare at it a lot um especially the uh the teal blue one it's uh it's a really really cool looking bag and then the last one is inside line equipment they have really been on my radar here recently um they're very much like chrome industries and like uh mission workshop if people are familiar with those brands they make a very cycling friendly bag um but they also make like photo bags and different uh packable things like you're talking about Myke with the Tom Ben the different accessories that get built into it and I just think their designs really speak to me it's a very basic clean lines um type of bag but has a lot going on looks like you can do a lot of things and um I don't know if that's one that's been intriguing me for a while so actually that's one I'd be curious if any listeners have any experience with inside line equipment one bag company I left off which I will probably get some emails on so I'm gonna go ahead and cover it now is go ruck are you familiar with those bags Myke

'''Myke Hurley:''' of course I am they're

'''Brad Dowdy:''' awesome looking and I would totally get one but I don't I don't know that they would do anything different from what I have now I'd rather get like the Tom Ben uh synapse next uh I've almost put the go ruck in my cart several times like over the holidays they had some deals on them I was like man I should get one of these because they're so well loved things that I'm going to do it and amazingly durable from what everyone says and I could just never pull the trigger I didn't know if it was different enough from what the bags I have now um are and what I use it and you know they're pretty expensive like I mean a lot of these bags are expensive the Tom Ben and the clutter works are you know they're all creeping up around 200 bucks each and the inside line is 200 plus

'''Myke Hurley:''' and to say that somebody's inside line bags like that transit backpack is just a stunning piece of beauty yeah

'''Brad Dowdy:''' they're I'm really intrigued with what they're doing um it it really looks amazing but you know you get down to I I'm pretty happy with the ones that I have and I'm already not using a whole stack of bags um so I need to sell those bags I'm I'm guessing because I'm just not using them um it's hard to part with some of them but um go rucks I mean go rucks should definitely be on this list and a lot of people swear by them and love bought love them um but I'm not doing any rucking I'm not going on any go ruck challenges anytime soon which is a really awesome event I know our friend Patrick Rohn participates in some of that so I haven't found the need to wear that the go ruck bag would fit in replacing anything that I'm currently using so that's kind of that's kind of my bag story um if you can't tell I I like bags a lot I like backpacks a lot um Jeff and I it's common bond aside from pen cases is backpacks um we talk about them we uh if you can get in real trouble looking at some of the Japanese sites that you know we didn't mention a single one here but I we have bought a couple uh samples just to check out what some of these companies um in the far east are doing they're doing some really unique stuff um you can lose hours of your time just searching those companies and seeing how different they are from some of the things that you know we talked about here today so yeah I have I have a pretty big bag and backpack problem um if you couldn't tell so Myke what what do you think do I have a backpack addiction

'''Myke Hurley:''' well it's not what I wouldn't have expected like everything you've said I'm kind of like yep yep sounds like Brad

'''Brad Dowdy:''' so I have I have problems is what

'''Myke Hurley:''' you're saying it's not like you've surprised me with the fact that you're as obsessed with this stuff as you are many of the other things that you're obsessed with

'''Brad Dowdy:''' yeah yeah so it's just one of those things man I I love a good backpack design and that gets me I mean that's you know the pen designs intrigue me bag and backpack designs intrigue me you know um yeah it's just one of those things you know I have a little bit of a sneaker fetish too I love sneaker design I don't have a big shoe collection um or anything but I really like some of the crazy unique shoe designs I just I like those type of designs those are the type of things that really speak to me so anyway I think that's our I think that's our bag episode that everyone uh has been clamoring for so I hope that I hope that answered uh some questions about what I use and what Myke uses um for what you guys were uh you know wanting out of this episode but if if not definitely get in touch and I want you to tell them how to do that Myke

'''Myke Hurley:''' you want to find the show notes for this week's episode go to relay.fm slash penaddict slash 133 you'll find a button there where you can click a link to send us an email as well um or you can hit us up on twitter I am at imike i-m-y-k-e and Brad is at dowdyism d-o-w-d-y-i-s-m we'll be back next week of another episode of the penaddict podcast please support our sponsors for this week lynda.com and artsnacks.co great guys and girls over there helping us make this show for you every week if you want to listen to the show live please go to relay.fm slash live and check the schedule that's on that page you can click the link to go to the schedule to find out when the show records we've got some interesting scheduling stuff over the next couple of weeks with the holidays looming so you want to make sure you keep an eye on that too you can even add that calendar to your own google calendar so you'll know when everything is streaming live