Editing The Pen Addict 167/transcript (section)

== Pen Testing ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Absolutely. Absolutely. All right. Let's move on to the next topic and that's testing out pens. So Hutch asks, I'm curious about the protocol for trying pens out. I assume that unless the vendor already has a pen inked up as a tester that it's frowned upon to ask to try to pin down, try a pen out. This is kind of the same thing. You kind of got to feel out each individual vendor is different on the modern pens. Most people will let you try them out, but almost none of the modern stuff's going to be inked up as least in my experience. Um, you know, people are selling modern pens. They might allow you to dip the nib or something like that. But I just don't see that a lot in the modern stuff. The vintage pens, some of them will be inked. Some of them will let you, um, you know, dip the nib to try it. Um, you know, definitely if you have a favorite pad of paper, bring that with you to try it on your own paper. Um, don't bring your own ink to dip your nib in. Uh, vendors aren't going to want that, but always ask, you know, just don't start grabbing stuff and picking stuff up and testing and, and playing around with like a wide range of stuff. Because at a pen show this busy and, you know, one person manning the booth, their brain's going to be fried just trying to keep up with everything. Um, that doesn't mean, you know, don't, don't pick up and inspect and look out. But if you're like really interested in something and want to test it out, you always want to ask first. Obviously, I mean, it sounds obvious, but you get wrapped up in things, you know, I get wrapped up in, you know, finding something neat and, you know, just not paying attention to what I'm doing or something like that. So, you know, just ask again, it's the whole respectfulness, you know, they believe me, they want you to try the pen because they want to sell it to you. They want you to buy it. Yeah. But, you know, you know, have that conversation with the vendor, you know, and, you know, even ask them some more questions. What can you tell me about this pen? If it's a vintage pen, has it been restored? Has there been any work done to the pen? Or is it like in the as is state? Has they found it? Maybe it's some, you know, estate sale and there hasn't been any work done to it. And say, you know, can I take a look at it and, you know, kind of inspect it? Can I, are you okay if I, you know, unscrew it and take it apart and, you know, look at the inside, see how clean it is, things like that. So have a, have a conversation with the vendor. Um, I wouldn't walk up to anyone's table and just start, you know, going through their pens and taking them apart and, and writing with them, you know, unless I had some kind of a conversation with them first, at least just to say, you know, Hey, how are you? And let them know that I'm here and that I'm interested in looking at a few things. And, but, um, just be sure.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's hard to say this because I get wrapped up into it, but don't be shy. And that's what a lot of our, a lot of our issues are. Um, you know, our, our personal issues for this community, you know, we just don't have that experience and being shy about something you don't know. It's just going to happen, but everyone is so nice and they're willing to help you. And you can ask, don't think your questions are dumb. I mean, we all have these questions and again, lean on your friends that are there or people that you've met while you're at the show to help you decide on things, you know, um, Lisa wanted me to make a point that if you are very specific in what you're looking for, like a high quality vintage item, be prepared to purchase it because the next time you come around the room, it's probably not going to be there at a show like this. So that's, that's something you, you should, Lisa said, I should mention to keep in mind, you know, I always talk about, you know, going around the room, getting the lay of the land, you know, there there's times where, um, if you see something that you, you know, is a good deal and you've done your research, it's okay to just jump on it and buy it the first time around. So, all right, what to take to the show? Hutch also asked, what should I plan to bring to the show? My initial thoughts are cash because vendors may not take credit cards, pens to trade or let others try notebooks, backpack, uh, things like that. So cash is definitely a big thing, but I didn't have too much problem using credit cards if I needed to. Most everyone's at least using like the square readers, but a lot of the vintage, uh, dealers, they're not going to, uh, deal with credit cards. They'll just use cash only. So if you're looking for that, make sure you have some, make sure you have it. Um, cash is King as Carrie says, and I wrote that in the document too, because not everyone will take it, not everyone will take credit cards. So, um, most of your vendors who have modern pens or have online storefronts or physical storefronts, they're going to have, um, some type of, you know, square reader or any type of, some type of, you know, PayPal credit card reader, things in that pens and paper you should definitely bring. Um, if not just to experience what, you know, have some things for other people to try. If they have questions that they haven't tried, you know, it's a big sharing platform for all of us, you know, um, when we're out and about, you know, learning about these new things and to be able to test something and try something that you have or that you don't have that someone else has is pretty cool just to have, you know, I always carry a few things with me just in case someone has a thought and I say, Hey, you know, I've got something similar or I've got that exact pen and you know, you can try it. The haggling part. I rarely see any like trading of pens. Um, I'm not saying it doesn't happen. I just rarely see it. Um, I wouldn't go in with a huge expectation that you're going to be able to trade your pens for someone, something that a vendor has. Um, I don't have a lot of experience with that. It probably happens some, I'd say it's pretty small, um, amount of trading pens. Like I wouldn't go from table to table, say, here's the pens I have. Are you interested in any of these? I would, you know, look at a pen that, you know, I'm looking to purchase and say, you know, I do have a few pens if you're interested in, you know, maybe a trade and they'll, they'll tell you right off the bat. No, I don't do trading. Um, you know, or yes, let me look and see what you have. But I would expect that they would say, yeah, I'm not really interested in trading, but you know, it doesn't hurt to ask. I just don't see that a lot. Surprisingly. Um, you know, I'm not sure how big of a thing that is at DC, um, especially on a day like Saturday at DC, where there's going to be so many people and it's going to be so packed that I don't even know if, um, you know, dealers will have time. I mean, I'm sure they always want to look and see what other people have in case they run across something they really need. But I imagine that's going to be a pretty, uh, infrequent thing. Um, the backpack is a key for me. Um, I just don't bring a gigantic one cause it'll be crowded. You'll be banging into people. You'll be banging into tables. Um, but you know, bringing enough to bring, you know, pens, papers, inks, whatever, you know, your purchases, don't just bring a huge one. And, uh, be sure to bring food or not bring food, plan for food, you know, bring snacks or plan to take a break in the middle of the day. Um, I've gotten caught on multiple occasions where I've just been going and going and going and like, I'll just crash at like three o'clock and realize that I forgotten to eat lunch. I haven't drank any water. You need to have a mental idea to take a break during the middle of the day, get a drink, get lunch, get refreshed. You will absolutely wear yourself out at one of these shows. Um, and it doesn't, you think that's a crazy idea that that would happen. It absolutely happens. I mean, you will just get yourself wiped out if you just keep going and going and not stopping. So aside from the backpack, um, fishing vests are like super important. Um, you know, you just throw one on, it's got six pockets on the front. You know, if you haven't bought your fishing vest for this show, you should go out and shop now. Um, and, uh, anyone that has a fishing vest on, uh, is going to get a big hug from me.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Are you going to be wearing one?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' No, no, but I think we're going to see, I think we'll just, we'll have to do a, uh, we should do a contest contest for like the most, uh, fishing vest, uh, Instagram pictures or something like that. Because, um, it's, it's, uh, it's going to be hot of, uh, with fishing vests in there.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh, and, uh, Lisa says, don't wear white unless you want ink all over yourself.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Well, you know, you can wear it like war paint or something. Um, that's true.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's true. If you're going to wear white, just, just start at the ink sampling table. There's a big ink sampling table and just start throwing it all over yourself and just cut to the chase real quick. So that, that is something else that DC has that are not a lot of shows have. They have out in the, in the concourse type area, they have a huge tables of open ink bottles where you can go out and test all these kinds of inks that a lot of vendors, uh, like donate to, um, these, uh, this table. So where you can test out a lot of things, so bring your pens and paper if you want to try them out.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I've kind of alluded to this earlier, but make friends. This is the single best thing about the pen show. Even if you don't spend a dollar, just meeting people, talking to people, making friends, trying their pens out, letting them try your pens out, seeing new stuff. Um, that's, has always been the biggest takeaway for me from these pen shows. It's not what great pen I found. It's what great people I met, you know, talk to people, go to lunch with people. Um, yeah, who said it, uh, Chris Manning. I think he, he's going to be a vendor at the show. He, he's the one that makes like the silver, uh, silver barreled pens. He said, if you're not at the bar at night, you're missing half the pen show, you know, just the community around this whole thing is a big deal. That's going to be what you're going to remember the most. Not what awesome pen you got. You're going to say, oh, I got to meet this person and they told me this story and I got to use this pen of theirs. There's going to be so much like activity after the show, but it'll be in a really relaxed atmosphere, hanging around the bar, you know, the pen attic meetup on Friday. Pen attic meetup is just going to be a bunch of people sitting around, you know, we're going to order pizza and, you know, just sitting around chit chatting, you know, trying pens, testing inks, playing with paper, all that kind of stuff. That's, that's the kind of best thing about this really. You know, even if you didn't come away with a pen or ink, you're going to come away with memories of the people that you met. The one key is when you're making these friends and you have a group of friends and you see a bunch of people you want to meet, make sure you're not blocking the vendor's table. That sounds petty. And, but you forget about this when you're like out in the room and all of a sudden there's five of you standing in front of one vendor's table and people can't get to that person's table. The vendor's going to give you a, he's going to give you the stink eye and you know, like people can't get to my table from all y'all hugging in front of my table and chit chatting. So, you know, there, there's, there's definitely room and time and to, to do all this and make friends, but you know, just be cognizant of your, of where you're at in the show. And like I said, from what Lisa tells me on Saturday, it's just going to be crazy anyway. So be sure you make, make time for downtime and some hangout time, you know, after the show lunch, go, go, you know, with people that, you know, you've just met for the day and, and, and go out. So it's, it's going to be really, really fun from that aspect. So I, and I mentioned the meetup. So Friday night, seven o'clock seminar room one, there'll be signs. We're going to order pizza. Um, you know, the hotel bar is there, so you'll be able to get drinks from there, but it's just going to be a fun time. You know, a lot of people are coming. And, um, so if you're there, you better come talk to me. Don't be shy. I don't bite. Um, I do hug though. So if you're in the vicinity and like, I recognize your face from Twitter, I will run and like, give you a bear hug. Um, you know, I like just jump on you, um, you know, unknowingly because for some reason I can, I do kind of notice faces and, uh, I can remember names a little bit. So I, um, I definitely snuck up on a few people at the Atlanta pen show and, um, I said, Hey, I know you when I don't really know them. So expect, expect hugs from me and, uh, expect a great night, Friday night and expect a great weekend. It's going to be awesome. And make sure you share everything. You know, people are going to want to see pictures, tweets. I practiced my periscoping this weekend, Myke. I don't know.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I saw that. I didn't see the stream, but I saw the notification. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So I'm going to, me and Jeff, we're going to periscope some stuff. Um, it's been pretty fun. So we'll, I'll put out a post probably Wednesday or Thursday. I'll just schedule it for when I'm traveling and have, you know, just for people who are interested. Most people already know where to find me on Twitter and Instagram and all that, but I'll have a link, um, on the blog and it's going to be, it's going to be a great time. I wish you were there, Myke. I know how much fun we had last time, but maybe we can work on that next year.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. I hope so. I hope so.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. So, uh, what else on the pen show stuff? I think that's kind, those are kind of the highlights I wanted to put down. Those are where I got the most questions about, um, really lean on the community when you're there. If you don't know something, ask a friendly face because a lot of times those people have the same questions of you or they asked that question last year. We're at the, they're at the show that happens constantly. That's been a huge benefit that I've found from being in this community and knowing people, even if you only know their Twitter name or their online avatar, you know, ask people and they're going to be so happy to help you. Um, there's a lot of like-mindedness, you know, in this community and at this show and we're all here to help. I want everyone to have an awesome time and, you know, don't be shy. Say hi. Carrie will be walking around with the fountain pen day buttons all over his shirt. I'm sure. Um, so you'll, you'll know who he is and, uh, yeah, you'll definitely know who Jeff is. And, uh, so yeah, you'll, you'll see lots of familiar faces, lots of familiar names. And just even if you don't get involved in the buying and selling aspect, get involved in the people aspect of it. That's going to be the thing that's going to stick with you forever. So that's what I have to say on that, Myke. And next week, next Monday, we'll do the re we'll do a recap, uh, of the pen show next week's episode. And hopefully I will make it home in time to record or else you're just going to have to call me in the car and we'll do a, we'll do a live episode as I'm driving home from the airport. But I, we land at like, I don't know, 12 or one o'clock Monday afternoon. So I should be barring any crazy delays. I'll make it home in time for the show, but, uh, don't plan on much, uh, podcast prep for me. Kind sir. We'll just do a, we'll wing the DC show recap next Monday. How's that sound?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Sounds perfect. That's exactly what I'd want to hear anyway.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. Well, let's wrap it up. Cause, uh, I've got packing to do. I've got pins to ink. I've got backpacks to pack. Oh, uh, speaking of backpacks, people always say, people say Thomas Hall mentioned it. Someone mentioned in the chat room, bring like an extra, uh, like stuff sack in your bag. Y'all know what stuff sacks are. You know what stuff sack is, Myke? No, it's just like, it's like a compressed bag that's empty when you pack it, but it can expand when you fill it on your way home. Cause so you can put all your loot in it. So yeah, bring, bring extra bag to throw in your bag to carry all your stuff home. So anyway, that's it. Perfect.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Well, for everybody that does attend, I hope that you have a fantastic time. Um, I hope you have, if you even have half as much fun as we haven't had at Atlanta, you're going to have a great time. Yeah. Um, and I'm sure that you will, especially with everybody going. I'm very sorry that I can't make it out. Um, unfortunately, uh, I will not be making like a surprise jump out of a cake or anything. Um, I am unfortunately unable to attend this, uh, shindig. Uh, but for those of you that are, as I said, have a great time. If you want to find the show notes for this week's episode, head on over to relay.fm slash pen addict slash one six seven. And we'll be back next time. Good luck, Brad. Thank you, sir. Thanks again to our sponsors as well for supporting this week's episode, Fracture and Harry's. Go check them out. But most of all, thank you for listening. Until next time, say goodbye, Brad.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Goodbye, Brad.

[[Category:Podcast Transcripts]]
[[Category:The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript]]