Editing The Pen Addict 232/transcript

{{Infobox podcast transcript
| name            = The Pen Addict
| number          = 232
| title           = That's Standard Desk
| date            = November 23rd, 2016
| hosts           = [[Brad Dowdy]]<br>
[[Myke Hurley]]
| guests          = 
| link            = [https://www.relay.fm/penaddict/232 Episode 232]
| audiolink       = [https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/thepenaddict/The_Pen_Addict_232.mp3 Audio Episode 232]
| length          = 77
}}

== Pen Addict Podcast ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 232. Today's show is brought to you by Pen Chalet, Dudek Modern Goods, and Tom Bin. My name is Myke Hurley, and I am joined by the wonderful Mr. Brad Dowdy.



== None ==


'''Anna:''' The wonderful up bright and early, so Myke can get out early. I'm wearing my pyjamas and drinking coffee.



== None ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' You are the kindest person on the planet. Last week, I ditched you last minute, and you and Anna did a great job with the show. I enjoyed it a lot. You guys had some nice things to say about me and some mean things to say about me, which is the perfect mix. Yeah, that's the right balance, I feel. That's what I want. I don't want all good, and I don't want all bad. It's got to get a mix, so you get that. But again, you know, I will never leave this show, but if I had to, if something happened to me, you would be fine. You're such a good host.



== None ==


'''Anna:''' You know, it's one of those things, whenever I host, I never realize it until I actually hit record, and I'm like, oh, I have to drive today. Like, I don't plan for that ahead of time. I sit down, like, I'm going to talk to you. And then when, you know, Anna and I are sitting there talking, I'm like, well, I guess I should hit record. Then I'm like, oh, I have to drive. And it's not something I give into any consideration. So I always kind of freak out in the beginning a little bit. And then by the end, I don't remember anything I've said. So, like, I had to go back and listen to that whole episode because I don't remember any of it. Yeah, I think you did a great job. I did go back and listen to it, and actually, it was a really, really good episode. We got a lot of good feedback on that. You were obviously away because your new flat required some repairs that a pin repair shop is not going to cut what was needed at your new flat, right?



== None ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' I needed some serious stuff done. But that is done. But today we're recording earlier because I have to go back there again this evening for some more stuff that's being done. I'm staying there tonight and then probably tomorrow night because we're getting, like, deliveries of stuff. And we're hopefully getting our broadband hooked up. So that's going to be sweet.



== Gift Guide ==


'''Anna:''' Yeah. So when we were talking about all the gift guide stuff last week, actually, when I popped in the show notes, I didn't expect to have all your entries there. So that was awesome. Thank you for doing that. And then the last little bit, Anna and I talked about what we personally wanted for Christmas. And, you know, we thought we'd give you a shot to say what's on Myke Hurley's stationary Christmas list this year.



== Nakaya Pen ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Nakaya.



== Nakaya Pen ==


'''Anna:''' How's that looking? What does Santa think about that? Probably not the year, huh?



== TWSBI Pen ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. No one's buying it for me and I ain't buying it for myself. This was made infinitely worse yesterday evening when a friend of the show, Tiff Ahment, received her Nakaya that she bought. She bought the Feathers one and she did an unboxing on Periscope and it broke me. It just broke me. And I went to bed. I watched it before I went to bed, right? Like, just after I finished recording Analog and it was like 1.30 in the morning or something. And I was getting ready to go to bed and I was thinking to myself how glorious it would be to unbox my Nakaya. So I had sweet dreams of Nakayas. So, I'm going to put Tiff's Periscope in the show notes. Yes, please. Because it was amazing and adorable.



== TWSBI Pen ==


'''Anna:''' Because she's so excited. Did she know it was coming? Because that was like a six-month lead time on this one, right? Did it just kind of... I guess she probably got the shipping notification.



== TWSBI Pen ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Maybe. She seemed surprised. Like, she was expecting it to show up in January or something. Exactly. So, I really want one. I really, really want one. I want one so bad, but I cannot do it right now. Sure. But it's on my list, you know. Like, this is the thing. If somebody wanted to buy me a super expensive gift, nobody should. But if they did, like, this is what I would ask for. Well, actually, okay. Let me rephrase that. It's what I would want. Yeah, what I would ask for is like, can you fix all of the things in my house? Buy me a sofa and furnish my office. Exactly. But instead, I know I would prefer a Nakaya, I think. Because that would make me happy in a different way. But that's what I want. I still know the one that I want. I can never remember the name of it.



== Lamy Safari ==


'''Anna:''' You know, and every time you bring it up, seeing that I own the pen, you would think I would remember the name. But I don't. It's something with Nagoro in it. It's a cracked feature.



== Lamy Safari ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' It's the one with the crack in it. Yeah. Beautiful. And I can't even remember, like, what line it is.



== Lamy Safari ==


'''Anna:''' Yeah. Oh, it's a piccolo.



== Lamy Safari ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Okay. So I'm looking at it again.



== Lamy Safari ==


'''Anna:''' And then they do the, I think this one also came, the Aesthetic Bay does the long piccolo. I think that's the one you were looking at. Right. Maybe. It's a little bit extended, more extended than mine.



== Lamy Safari ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' So that's the one that I want.



== Lamy Safari ==


'''Anna:''' Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. All right. So we're going to put this in the list for future reference. So we'll get you one day. One day. I'm feeling it one day. It's going to happen. Like, honestly, seriously, one day it's going to happen. Because it's like. You might just have to mic drop on me that day and the show would end. That would be kind of scary.



== None ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' What? And just, what, it'd be like I bought it and then that's it? Yeah. Like, that's it. That's the peak.



== None ==


'''Anna:''' It's done. Right? Peak pin right there.



== None ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' I guess so, right? Like, at that point, I've evolved.



== None ==


'''Anna:''' Hmm.



== None ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' You know, like, I've reached my end, you know?



== Pokemon ==


'''Anna:''' Yeah, you're playing too much Pokemon.



== Pokemon ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' I am playing way too much Pokemon. Yeah.



== Notebooks ==


'''Anna:''' Well, with your Pokemon and all the Pokemons you catch, you need a notebook to put those in. So I wanted to mention that our friends at Keep a Notebook, which is this really unique Midori-style notebook system that I've reviewed. I've had for months and months and months. I love the product. It's got this really cool cover, like, that you make yourself when they ship it to you. They've never really had a proper website. I would just send people to their Facebook page and then they had, like, a list of retailers on there. But their proper website page is now up and running. So I wanted to put that in the show notes because I like this system. A lot of people have asked me about this system and the quality of it. And it's a top-notch notebook. Even, you know, they'd probably hate for me to say this, but even if you're not going to use the cover, the notebook inserts are fabulous. They work really well. They're beautifully designed. The paper quality is great. I very, very much love these things. So we'll put the review in the show notes to when I reviewed it, like, a month or so ago. And now that they have an actual website, it's easier for you to go check out their products. So it's very cool.



== Notebooks ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I read your review of this, and it's interesting. The cardboard is an interesting choice.



== Notebooks ==


'''Anna:''' Yeah. Yeah, it's, you know, like those accordion folders, like, you'd see people carrying, like, a huge amount of paperwork on it. They're very thick, thick-type paper made to just kind of be durable, take a beating. It's kind of even thicker than that, I would say. But I wonder, you know, about water and humidity and things like that and how it's going to hold up over a lengthy amount of time. But it's cool in and of itself. I really enjoy the product. I enjoy what they did with this product, making the little cover the way they did. And it's very cool. But regardless of whether you use the cover or not, the notebooks are fantastic. And they have upwards of 15 different formats of the notebook, not, you know, of the insides of the notebook. What does that mean?



== Notebooks ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Like, so you can choose different pocket stuff?



== Notebooks ==


'''Anna:''' Well, no, so you can choose different paper inserts in the notebook. They'll have, like, a travel journal, a regular journal, a calendar, a monthly calendar, daily calendar. So depending on what you need, you can pick the format of the inside book.



== Notebooks ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Oh, the paper. Yeah. Right. Okay. Interesting. So, like, is this, like, intended to be just, like, the traveling thing that you carry around with you? Yeah.



== Traveler's Notebook ==


'''Anna:''' It's supposed to be, it's their take on the traveler's notebook system.



== None ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Huh.



== Traveler's Notebook ==


'''Anna:''' So that's all, which is just hugely popular in Asia. I mean, you know, I look at some of the Singaporean traveler's notebooks meetups and they'll just have, like, stacks. So it'll be, like, 30 or 40 people at these meetups just to show off their planners like that. And they're all that same format, that long, skinny format.



== Traveler's Notebook ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. I do wonder how it will hold up, like, the cardboard.



== Traveler's Notebook ==


'''Anna:''' Yep. Have you been using it? Like, it stays on my desk. What does that mean? So I haven't been, it means I haven't been carrying it. So, yes, I've been using it, but I haven't, it's not like a daily carry item. It's a when I need it item right now. I don't carry, the only notebooks I carry with me every day are the, one of the Notco pocket notebooks. The black one, usually, because I just love the little top flap and it's portable and the paper rules. And then the Field Notes 56-week planner is actually still working well for me. I'm, so far, it's, I've stuck to that. It's like five weeks now, which is not quite a record for me, but we're gaining on it.



== Planning ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' What have you been using that for? Just in general, like, you planning out editorial stuff?



== Planning ==


'''Anna:''' To plan out my week. Oh, just your general week? Just a general week. And then I might get to, like, the second week ahead. I usually don't get more than, like, two weeks out on that. So, but I'm going to start putting out some, I have it with the intention of doing more editorial calendar stuff for the future. But I haven't totally integrated that because I don't totally have a system for that yet.



== None ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Okay.



== None ==


'''Anna:''' So.



== Sponsor Break ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' All right, should we take our first break?



== Sponsors ==


'''Anna:''' Yeah, let's do it. We got the most killer sponsors today. So we want to tell you all about some awesome stuff.



== Pen Chalet ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Mm-hmm. Let's start with Pen Chalet. You know Pen Chalet. They have all the pens. They have all the notebooks. They have all the accessories that you're looking for. They have pen holders, refills, fountain pen converters, rollables, fountain pens themselves, ballpoints, mechanical pencils from all of our favorite brands. They always have great discounts, and they have even better discounts running right now, which I'm going to tell you about in a moment. And along with their very fast, reliable customer service and their satisfaction guarantee, they are the first place that you should go to every time you want to buy a pen. They do free shipping on orders of over $50 in the United States, and they also sell internationally with very reasonable shipping rates. If you go to penchalet.com, P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T.com, you want to click the podcast link at the top of the website. Enter the password penaddict for the special offers that you'll find as long as the code that you need to save over at Pen Chalet. You can do this anytime, and you'll get whatever the offers are that week, along with your typically 10% off code. However, this week, we have 15% off on anything at Pen Chalet. It's a biggie. This doesn't come around very often. Ron just holds this back, and a couple of times a year, you'll get 15% off. But where this gets even more exciting is, and everybody knows, this Friday, the 25th of November, is Black Friday. Pen Chalet have got a whole host of Black Friday deals. If you go to our page right now, you'll be able to see some of these early and pre-order some of them, with your 15% discount on top of the amazing deals. Oh, and you know those new field notes that we're going to talk about a little later on in the show? You think? Ron has them. Oh, wow. And you can buy them from Pen Chalet and get 15% off.



== Pen Chalet ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' That's a whole host of stuff. What do you think about that?



== Pen Chalet ==


'''Anna:''' I think that's going to be an issue. Oh, yeah? In a good kind of way. Yeah. Wow. So can I talk about some of the pens that are already in this list?



== Pens ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' I think so. He hasn't told me that I can't.



== Pilot Stanza ==


'''Anna:''' So I'm going to talk about them. I'm going to hold the prices out. Yeah. Number one, I've never heard of the Pilot Stanza ballpoint.



== Pilot Stanza ==


'''Anna:''' There is a carbon fiber barrel that looks killer. This is like the... It looks like a cooler version of the Parker Jotter, which is a great traditional ballpoint. I've never seen this pen before. And there's actually some solid barrel options that are rather inexpensive. Then there's some carbon fiber models that are more expensive. I want to see what refills these take. I'm going to dig around because I've never, ever seen this pen. I haven't been enjoying ballpoint pens recently. This looks like one that would be very interesting to me. So that's one of this list. He also has a pen that I've been using a bunch of, which is the Pilot Ageless ballpoint. I use this all the time. It's got this really cool deployment system. It's like a two-step deployment. You twist it and the nose cone comes out. And then you twist it further and then the refill comes out. And then you can retract, reverse it all back in. And it's a very small, pocketable type pen. It's wonderful. Wonderfully designed. The price he has on these is about half of what I've ever seen them listed for online. It's almost to the point of being a no-brainer.



== Lamy Safari ==


'''Anna:''' That's a really hot deal on those pens. That's a pen that I love. That would look awesome in a stocking, something like that.



== None ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' So you got something else?



== None ==


'''Anna:''' Yeah.



== None ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' He's got a lot of good stuff.



== Lamy Pen ==


'''Anna:''' He's got two awesome Lommies on here, the Pure and the Accent, which I've been eyeballing the Accent for a while.



== Lamy Pen ==


'''Anna:''' The Vanishing Point ballpoint. I'm going to have to stop scrolling. The Vanishing Point ballpoint, which I don't own, but it takes the G2 refill.



== Lamy Pen ==


'''Anna:''' I don't know that you're going to ever find it for cheaper.



== Lamy Pen ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Whoa, look at that price.



== Lamy Pen ==


'''Anna:''' So that might be the time for me to get after this.



== Lamy Pen ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' I can't believe that.



== None ==


'''Anna:''' All right, wrap this up because I'm going to keep scrolling and we'll never end the show.



== Pen Chalet ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' So what you see on the page, if you go there today, before Black Friday, is just a small taste of some of the deals that Ron's going to have. So make sure that you go there as soon as you see this episode and see what's there because everything's in limited supply. And then on Black Friday, 25th November, go back to the Pen Chalet again and you'll get all of those deals. Maybe even sign up for their mailing list. They don't send a lot of stuff at Pen Chalet. They just send it when they have the best, best deals. So go check that out. Go to penchalet.com. Don't forget the password, Pen Addict. Thank you so much to all the great folk at Pen Chalet for their continued support of the show.



== None ==


'''Anna:''' All right, so I have a few links I wanted to get through, some things I've been holding until you came back and after the Gift Guide episode. One of these is I got sent this in an email and the title of the video is Making a Pen Out of Paper.



== YouTube Video ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' I have been sent this video an ungodly amount of times.



== YouTube Video ==


'''Anna:''' Yeah, so this guy's popular, right? He's like a thing on the YouTubes and you're a YouTuber now, which I never, those are words I never thought I would say, but I'm happy for you.



== YouTube Video ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' I haven't made any videos for a while. Life is getting in the way, man.



== None ==


'''Anna:''' You've been a little busy.



== None ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah.



== Paper Pen ==


'''Anna:''' So yeah, I got sent this video. The title is very misleading. Okay, so Making a Pen Out of Paper, I'm like, okay, cool. Let me see how this is going to happen. The first words out of his mouth are micarta. I'm like, oh, okay. He's going to make a micarta pen. That's a lot easier than out of paper, right? I mean, it's essentially, by the time he gets done with it, it's essentially a blank. He makes a blank out of sheets of micarta, makes a pen blank. It's cool what he does because he does it all horizontally. It's not like an acrylic blank like we would see normally. But it's very cool. He did it all different colors. It was fun to watch. He ends up turning the pen. It was nice to watch the pen turning



== Paper Pen ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' because it's like pieces of paper smushed together with a seal, right? How does the micarta work? It's like layers, right?



== Paper Pen ==


'''Anna:''' Yeah, it's essentially glued together. So he does it into layers and then stacks all those layers into what you would normally think of as an acrylic blank like a length rectangle and then puts it on the lathe and does it. It's really cool because he did it in really bright colors so you can see all the action happening. It's fun to watch. It's not exactly making a pen out of paper, though.

'''Myke Hurley:''' No, but I think the thing that I liked about it was the way that when he was turning it and then all the little streamers of paper were flying out. That was cool.

'''Anna:''' I love watching all the pen turners share their videos and pictures and things on Instagram because, yeah, that always looks so cool. Seeing all those shavings go everywhere.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I'd love to try it one day.

'''Anna:''' Yeah. Yeah, I know some people, some of our listeners have bought like small lathes to play around with stuff at their house and things like that. And that seems kind of like a cool thing. It seems like that's definitely a rabbit hole situation, right? Yeah. I mean, once you get that, the next thing you know, you're calling Jonathan Brooks, right? I mean, that's just what's going to happen.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I don't have enough space in the new flat for a lathe.

'''Anna:''' Yeah, step one, lathe. Then like you skip a few steps, you know, question mark, and then Jonathan Brooks. Yeah, I think that's how it works. I mean, that's just how that would escalate.

'''Anna:''' Because you're not going to be happy with anything that you can find regularly.

'''Myke Hurley:''' You need the man with the plan to make some roads for you.



== Montblanc Ink ==


'''Anna:''' Oh, speaking of needing to find this Montblanc Lucky Orange ink, we're going to have to give this one the shot. So our friend Dr. Deans from Pen Economics, he posted a tweet with the new Montblanc Jazz Blue and Lucky Orange inks. So...

'''Myke Hurley:''' I don't know anything about these.

'''Anna:''' Why should I know about these? They're not out yet. This is where Dr. Deans caused an uproar like back in the spring because he got access to Montblanc's releases for the rest of the year, right? And there was a big brouhaha over it and they, you know, people like on FBN took down the information and stuff like that and he shared it, which I believe he fully should have. But anyway, so these have been, had scheduled dates for December to come out. So they're finally...

'''Myke Hurley:''' This is a brouhaha that I don't know anything about. Like I didn't follow this.

'''Anna:''' You don't need to worry about it. I mean, it's nothing to... It's no big deal, but...

'''Myke Hurley:''' Don't worry,

'''Anna:''' you're pretty little head about it, Myke. You know, just typical, typical fountain pen network. Drama. Drama, yeah. And they were pretty much wrong, but whatever. Anyway, so this Instagram account that Jonathan saw these inks from, I'm not even going to attempt to pronounce the name, but we'll have it in there. He apparently has access to all this stuff. So he has all the pictures of the new Montblanc inks, some of the colors. I haven't totally seen a sample yet. This looks kind of like a very regular orange, so I kind of want to see if it's more corally. Like, you know, the red that they make their pens out of, which is more of a coral. I'm wondering if that orange is going to be more like that or if it's going to be more of a real, real orange. But we'll see. I've been enjoying Montblanc inks recently. One of my friends sent me the Leo Tolstoy. That may be the... One of my top... New top favorite inks between Tolstoy and Sazerac. That's about the only inks I've been using recently. So... Just thought I'd throw that out there. Maybe it's a new orange for your... Take over your Fugugaki.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, so... I have... There's no, like... I can't see anything where it shows what this looks like on the paper, though, right?

'''Anna:''' Yeah, he hasn't opened the bottle. He's got the bottle sitting right there, but there's no actual ink sample. Why would you do that? Maybe he's selling them. Maybe he's a retailer, and this is his on the sly... On the Sly Little Account, something. He's only got, like, 50 followers, so... It's definitely something stealth.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Really some beautiful photos of Mont Blanc products on this account. Oh, God, man. I want that one so much. The... Is it Rouge Noir? With the snake? The orange one?

'''Anna:''' Yeah. Yeah, I haven't gotten over that one yet. It's still really nice.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Whenever I'm in an airport, I go and take a look at it. Oh, man. This account's awesome. Yeah, I know. I totally followed it. There's some great stuff on here. But, yeah, every time I'm in an airport, that's where I tend to see Mont Blanc stuff the most. I go and, like, press my face up against the window and take a look at it, you know? Just like that badass snake.

'''Anna:''' Yeah, you know better than to set foot in there, right? That would not end well.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Oh, yeah. They walk up to me, you know? Because they see what I'm looking at, right? And whilst I don't necessarily look like your average Mont Blanc customer, I'm looking at specific pens, right? I think they know what I'm looking at, and they know that I know what I'm looking at, right? And they come up to me, they're like, oh, hello, sir, how can we help today? And I run away.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's like, there's no help you can give me, my friend. Just pain. Just pain. Pain in the wallet. Yeah.

'''Anna:''' Well, you're going to give help to one of our readers right now because this question is all about you because you're a plumbing expert. You're a plumbing expert, so we need to know this. I got this email like a couple weeks ago, and I already answered him. And I said, the more I thought about it, I was like, I'm sharing this email on the podcast, and I told him that. And it's too great of a question because number one, it's hilarious, but number two, it's a legitimate thing that people do. Like, it's no joke. People do this seriously. So let's talk about Declan and not Casey Liss's Declan, right? Isn't that his son's name?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah.

'''Anna:''' Yeah, so not that Declan, but this is another Declan. Declan needs a shower pen. So let me read this email. I'm looking for a pen that will be able to write in the expedition field notes in the shower. I used to have a shower with glass that I would use to sketch out characters and try new ideas for pictures, but I have just moved into a house with a shower without glass. Alas. But then I thought, this will be the perfect use for the expedition edition. So I ordered some and they arrived. I also have a couple of space pens, but I'm worried that they might rust. Do you have any thoughts on something I could use?

'''Myke Hurley:''' I have a question straight up, though.

'''Anna:''' Like, I don't understand where the glass thing comes into this. So that was his previous location. So in your old house, he had a glass door that would fog up so he could use his finger to write in the fog.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That doesn't feel like a safe way to record your ideas.

'''Anna:''' Well, I mean, I guess they were temporary and then, you know, he would make sure to capture them when he got out, I guess. So, you know, he'd just kind of write through all the steam in the window. But he can't do that anymore. He's moved to a new flat, apparently, Myke. Um, so, he's using the Expedition Edition in the shower, which is approved usage of the Expedition Edition. And also, he's using the Space Pen, which is approved usage of the Space Pen, but he's worrying about it rusting. I'm not sure what the ink cartridges themselves are made of, like the, the, the refills, what they're made of. The, depending on the barrel itself, I guess some of those materials could rust. But actually, what I answered him was the stainless steel shown design pen that I reviewed. Because the stainless is not going to rust. And it'll keep the Fisher Space Pen intact. And, I don't know, it's, it seems like the right fit. He was pretty excited with that answer. It's a little bit pricey. It's like a hundred bucks. Because that, that stainless is, is expensive. Um, but if anyone else has any, like, rust-free, rust-proof pen ideas for jotting down your ideas in the shower, Declan needs to know. And I need to know. Because, uh, this was a great question. It was amazing.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Why don't I just use a pencil?

'''Anna:''' Yeah, I mean, they will get soggy. I mean, they will work.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Sure, but like, you know, you just get like a bunch of wood case pencils that aren't expensive. I guess. And then just, when one of them starts to get soggy, you just, just throw it out. Like a pencil would work perfectly, right?

'''Anna:''' It would, it would work. It would work perfectly. Um, but then I, I do worry about the pencil getting wet and it rotting and leaving debris around and things like that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Hmm. Yeah, I guess so.



== Shower Pen ==


'''Anna:''' It's a serious question, Myke. We need an answer. So, I went with stainless steel pen from Shone Design with the space pen refill. So, we'll have to think about it. I'll have to put some more thought in it. You know, like a clutch pencil would be good, but I bet some of the parts on that would rust. They're not going to be waterproof. I bet that would not end well. So, anyway. No. How would these next products hold up in the shower, Myke? What do you think? Um,

'''Myke Hurley:''' I think, I think you might end up with some of the situation that we have with the wood case pencil. Like, I don't know if you'd want to take them in the shower. Maybe we can consider if they're approved for use. So, Myke Dudek, if you can let us know, like, will your products work in the shower? You know, maybe the metal one, but I don't think that one's available anymore, right?

'''Anna:''' The cube. The cube, yeah. I have no idea if it's still available and I'm certainly glad I have two of those because those are bad to the bone. So, let's talk about Mr. Dudek and his modern goods because they're the perfect Christmas gift for our listeners.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Myke Dudek is back sponsoring this week's episode. You know Myke Dudek. We've had, we've had many conversations. Dudek's been on the show, right? Yeah. Twice, I think. Okay. At least once. So many episodes now, I can't keep up. But I know that we talk about him. He is a mainstay character of the pen addict because he makes incredible products, handmade stuff in Arizona, USA. He takes beautiful solid walnut and he carves pen storage solutions out of these. Products like the cube, the block, the groove. This is how all of these were born because he takes these beautiful walnut pieces and he makes them using his own pen addict knowledge to make them the perfect complements to store and display your most valuable pieces with the wood that he picks. It's going to look amazing on your desk now. It's going to look amazing in a year. It's probably going to look amazing in 30 years because these things are built to last. Dudek Modern Goods has 12 designs that you can choose from with several options to fit your needs. Whether you have large pens in your collection and need a space to hold your notebooks or journal anything. Anything you want to hold. Any of your writing equipment. They have the succulent series which is a newer thing which can add a little greenery to your desk because all of these there's three different modes here. Three different lines in this product. Three different products in this line. The greenery, the sprout, and the planter. They all include these little stainless steel planting dishes so you can add a bit of nature to your desk and just brighten up your day as well as storing your most valuable pens. But one of the products that I'm most interested in I think I need to get my order in for one of these is the Stationer. This is perfect for journalists. It can hold up to seven of your favorite writing instruments. It's a lovely long single line there and also an A5 sized notebook as well. You just slide it in the back. So on your desk it's ready at all times for you to bust out and write down your most precious thoughts. Myke ships internationally with reasonable shipping rates. Walnut is heavy. He does his best to keep those shipping rates down and therefore he has shipped to more than 20 countries around the world. Now, the reason that Myke is sponsoring right now is because it's the holiday season. This is his busy time and this type of stuff. It's a good gift, right? All these things are really great gifts. They're great gifts for you personally. You can ask for them or you can give them to other people in your life that you think might enjoy them. But because of that, he's super busy and all of this stuff is handmade. So, the holidays are approaching. If you're thinking about buying this as a gift or asking for this as a gift, seriously, get your order in right now. Because if you don't get it in right now, you might not get it before the holiday season. I know this seems early, but these things take a lot of time to make and plus, Myke is super busy this time anyway. So, if you want one of Myke Dudek's incredible products and if you don't have any, trust me, you want one. All of my most precious pens are kept displayed in one of these products and I trust the Dudek to do this for me. Go to DudekModernGoods.com That's D-U-D-E-K-M-O-D-E-R-N-G-O-O-D-S DudekModernGoods.com There'll be a link in the show notes. You can find out more there and if you use the code PENADDICT or one word, you'll get 10% off any of Myke's amazing products. The code is available through the month of November, so act fast. Thank you so much to Dudek Modern Goods for supporting this show and Relay FM.

'''Anna:''' His stuff is legitimately awesome. You should very much consider getting something from him for yourself for the holidays, asking for it, gifting it. There's a whole range of products. It's hard to even recommend one. Probably the one that I don't have that I want the most is one of the succulent ones because I'm still working on my new desk setup and that would be ideal because I do not have any foliage out there and I would like that. So I might look at that myself. So thank you, Mr. Dudek, for sponsoring us and really get those orders in. Like within this next week, he makes all this stuff himself and he does such an amazing job, but it takes time. As you know, anyone who makes anything, he wants to make it right, so it's going to take a little bit of time, so get those orders in.

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

'''Anna:''' All right, so I got my order in for the Steel and Flint Kickstarter project. It's a new pen on the Kickstarter. It's been talked about a little bit around the pen blogosphere. It's a pocketable pen made out of aluminum. It has a long sheath type cover, like you remember the pen type B that I love, Myke. It has that long sleeve. It's similar in that aspect, but it's nothing like the pen type B at all. And I got my hands on this pen. This is a pretty legitimate pocket pen contender, Myke. Have you checked this out at all?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I've read your stuff. Some people sent it to me anyway. I do want to very quickly address the pen type B thing. Yeah. Because you said this in your review as well. You're like, this is nothing like this, right? Mm-hmm. And I'm just wondering why you say that. I mean, they look similar.

'''Anna:''' That's it. Right. I mean, that's where it stops. If I put those two pens side by side and said, Myke, check out these two pens, by the time you finished handling them, picking them up, uncapping them, using them, you would not relate these pens even in look by the time you were done using them.

'''Myke Hurley:''' But why is that? Like, what differentiates them?

'''Anna:''' So, the steel and flint pen is far lighter, like a third of the weight. The brass sleeve on the pen type B has some weight to it. It's about three quarters of an inch shorter. It's narrower in diameter. It has a large, knurled grip section. Uh-huh. The sleeve action is nothing like pen type B's. This is a literal cap where a pen type B has that tolerance fit, that zero tolerance fit. Yeah, it's for a challenge, right? Yeah, where it just, you know, pops on and off because the air has to escape. The fit's so tight. This is just a long cap, if you will. Does it clip in or does it just sit on it? There's a magnet on each end of the pen, so let me see if you can hear this. I'm going to put the pen on and you'll just hear metal on metal at first.

'''Anna:''' And then you can hear it like catch the magnet.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I hear the click at the end. So. Okay, I see what you're saying. Like, there are, I can see why people compare them because they're, I can. They have a lot of similarities in design, but it looks like that there is differences not just because they couldn't make it to the quality of the pen type B or whatever. It seems like there's just very different design, different choices, like the magnets and the knurl grip and stuff. That seems like this is the way I want to make it as opposed to this is all I could do. Does that make sense? That is correct. Because every now and then you'll see a pen where it's like you look just like this pen and it's different because you couldn't manufacture it the same way. Right. But okay, I buy it. I see what you're saying. It's because you mention it and it's like I wanted to just dig into that a little bit.

'''Anna:''' Well, no, a bunch of people mentioned it before I even did my review. It was all up in the comments section of the Steel and Flint Kickstarter. You know how much I love that pen type B.

'''Anna:''' Literally, if I gave someone both of these pens and say, you know, look how similarly these pens are but then had you pick them up and test them out, by the time you were done you wouldn't think they were similar at all. Completely different feel and honestly, completely different aesthetic even though they're similarly shaped. They are nothing alike except the cap happens to sleeve the entire barrel for the most part for both of these pens. That's the only thing. They are really not alike at all in my opinion.

'''Anna:''' So, there's that. And I mean, I love the pen type B. That's one of my all-time favorite pens. They're just not alike. They feel completely different. I mean, to me, they look completely different. They function completely different. The cap is nothing like the pen type B going on and off the pen. So, to me, they're nothing alike. Which is good.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So, I, I, I don't like this. Why? There is a design choice in this pen, which I've seen in a bunch of pens that I just can't, I just can't get behind, which is why it goes from, like, a cylinder to, like, straight flat, right? Like, it's just like, it's been cut off and then there's just like, a little bit stuck at the end. I really, I just really, really don't like that. Like, it's kind of brutal in design in a way that doesn't appeal to me. Like, every other pen, well, not every other pen, but like, you've got that picture of pens, right? Just where it tapers off into a point, that is appealing to me. Right. When a pen just kind of, just like, stops dead, the barrel just stops dead. I don't like that. I really don't.

'''Anna:''' That's the one comment I've gotten on this pen. How do you like that? You know, design aspect of it. And honestly, with this pen, I never considered it because it works well. Like, you can see everything properly. Everything's the right length away from where the barrel cuts off. You know, the tip's not hidden from your line of sight when you're writing. So, I didn't even consider that because it was such a non-issue for me, but I have had people bring that up. Just like I brought it up the first time I had the, the TI2, TI2, I get all those names mixed up. That pen I didn't like because it kind of had that abrupt stop at the end and just the needle of the refill stuck out. And I was like, boy, I really don't like that. Turns out, I do like it. And this one, I didn't even consider, I guess because I have enough pens that are like this style. It didn't even register with me, but I can understand why people would not like that. From a functionality perspective, it's a complete non-issue. You have line of sight completely with this pen.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. It's just aesthetics.

'''Anna:''' Yeah. No, I understand it. Hey, it's not for everybody.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Like if that went off into like a, like if it tapered into the tip, I think this would be a really great looking pen. Yeah. I really just don't like that. I just don't like that choice.

'''Anna:''' Yeah. I wonder how the, how the length of the pen would, would change. I'd have to think about that, but it could probably be done because like the shown design pocket pen that I always use, it's the far right one in that, in that picture that you're referring to. It's a shorter pen, but it actually has the, the conical taper towards the end of the tip. So yeah, it can be done.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. It's just one of those things where I look at it and it really just, I think to myself, why would you design it that way? Like this is just something that I am like vehemently against from a design perspective. Wow. Like I see a few pens like this, they pop up on Kickstarter. This is like a trend that I've been seeing and, and I don't get it. Like I look at it, it's like, is it because it's, is it cheaper to make this way? Like I, I have to like try

'''Anna:''' and rationalize it in my head. Right. I wonder if there's some machining costs involved. I have no idea. I don't machine pens. So yeah, I don't know.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I just really don't like it, Brad. Yeah.

'''Anna:''' Well, I really like this pen. It's very cool. It's been, it's been hanging out in my pocket. I have the black matte one so far so good on the finish. That's one thing. One thing I'm, my two concerns are one is the finish going to wear in a strange way by taking on and off the cap because of the long sleeve design and the black finish. Like, is it going to scrape eventually metal on metal? So far it hasn't. And then two, the after Kickstarter price, I think is going to be too high, but we'll see what he does afterwards. I think he's talking like over a hundred dollars after Kickstarter and I wouldn't pay that for this pen. But I'm, I paid 69, I think for this and that's feels about right.

'''Anna:''' But I could see like, I would really like this pen like in a titanium. That'd be really nice.

'''Myke Hurley:''' There is one line in your review that I have to read because I think it's the single greatest line you've ever written.

'''Anna:''' Well, I don't know. that's not saying a lot.

'''Myke Hurley:''' As far as being the world's finest soft-close magnetic pen, okay, I guess so when it's a competition of one. I can caveat myself into being the world's finest Bradley Stephen Dowdy too, which doesn't tell you much. So good, right? Because they say that this is, as you said, the world's finest soft-close magnetic pen, but there isn't anything to compare it to. Nobody else does, says this. Right. Yeah,

'''Anna:''' that's ridiculous. I don't like marketing speak and being someone that sells stuff online, it's a very difficult, it's a challenge because you want to say, you know, when you make something, you're like, this is the best thing ever, right? You probably believe it

'''Myke Hurley:''' or at least you should.

'''Anna:''' Yeah. Yeah, but I'm never going to absolute myself that way, right? That's an absolute and there's, you can't do that. I'm just, I'm just against that type of writing and this comes from someone who is extremely hyperbolic like myself. That's, it's nonsensical because it doesn't mean anything, right? There is no meaning to a statement of that nature.

'''Myke Hurley:''' No, not in this way. Like, if this was a, an actual category of pens that is, you know, like tons of people make and you are voted as such, then yeah, you can be that. Sure. It's possible to have that statement, but I don't think in this instance it makes any sense.

'''Anna:''' Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, interesting, but yes. All right. Anyway, hey, before we go on, Joe brings up a good point, Mr. Gentleman Stationer, which I forgot about, which we always talk about with drafting pencils, like the rotary, that, that clearance in that design is made for a lot of engineering usage so it can be used well with a straight edge, you know, type of, you know, ruler. I mean, sure,

'''Myke Hurley:''' I can see that, but I, again, I wonder if that is the decision people are actually making. Like, I'm sure it does help and there are some pens that are made that way. Like, maybe the pen type B was because of, like, the people that made it. yeah,

'''Anna:''' they purposefully said that, yes.

'''Myke Hurley:''' But I don't know if all of these pens are made to be that way.

'''Anna:''' Agreed.



== Main Event ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' All right, main event.

'''Anna:''' Your main event. I mean, I don't know how this, I mean, I could have put this first, but I figured we'd build up because everyone knows it's coming, right? This made my life a lot easier today for these show notes because we don't always, we always talk on Wednesdays around Field Notes launch time how they announce after our show, like within hours after we announce. So we have to- It's been that way all year. Yeah. So we have to wait an entire week to record. We even recorded a special episode one time because it came out within minutes after we ended. So we have Field Notes Black Ice. What do you think, Myke?

'''Myke Hurley:''' The 33rd quarterly edition. This one is very interesting. Very interesting.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So this is like a full foil stamped, metallic stamped cover, right? Right. These things are basically mirrors. Have you seen pictures of people with them yet? No. So I put a link in the show notes to my friend John Voorhees, he writes at Mac Stories. Yeah, great guy. He lives in Chicago and John went to pick them up yesterday and he posted a tweet with four pictures. Three of them are of the new office, I guess. Yeah, it looks so good. And then one of them is like a picture that he took at the Field Notes and you can see the outline of him in the image. You can see him

'''Anna:''' holding up the phone. Yeah.

'''Anna:''' Oh my gosh.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So I think that this is a very, very good looking set. I love the orange binding. They're not stapled. They're bound with the DDC orange, right? Which is really cool.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's using the America, the beautiful paper, which is some of my favorite paper that they've ever used because of the thickness. The only thing I don't like is the line. Sure. I don't like that they're lined.

'''Anna:''' Yeah, I agree with you there. I do like that they added that double orange line at the top. That aesthetically makes it look a little bit better. Which I eventually came around to America's beautiful line paper because it just has a little, tweaks it a little bit and I don't know, for some reason I do like that. I mean, in general, no, I don't like the lines but I like that they added that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So I agree with everything you just said. In the America, the beautiful edition, I didn't care about the lines when I actually started using them but it's just when I see them, I see the image, I'm like, oh man, I wish it was reticle or dot because that's just what I tend to prefer but I'm sure these are going to be great because then I remembered, oh, one of my favorite editions which is sitting right in front of me, right, is the,

'''Myke Hurley:''' what's the name of the reporter book? I keep getting it mixed up now that they have the- Well, it's the byline and the front page. Yeah, because I keep thinking front page but they're not front page. It's a byline. Byline is lined, right? And I forget that. I know I just prefer grids. That format almost requires lines. I completely agree with you. So, I think it will be, I mean, for me, it's like, okay, it's lined but it's the best paper you've ever used so I'll get over it. Right. Like, that America, the beautiful paper is the bar none the best paper that Field Notes have put in a book. Like, it is the most fountain pen friendly. I think the byline

'''Anna:''' is probably better

'''Myke Hurley:''' to be perfectly honest. Yeah, could be, could be.

'''Anna:''' They might be the same. I don't have the specs right in front of me but it might be the same. No, because the other one, the byline had a different one. Byline is different.

'''Myke Hurley:''' But that paper, that America, the beautiful paper is awesome. I'm really excited to get these in to handle them and then I'm trying to not buy more just in general but, so I haven't. I've got my subscription coming in. I just renewed my subscription by the way.

'''Anna:''' Same here. So we're on the same schedule.

'''Myke Hurley:''' We are on the same schedule, yeah. So this will come in and I feel like when I get these I will then order some more. I really don't want to because I just have too many and I'm very aware of that now that I'm moving. Like, I'm seeing how many I actually own. I put them all in a box a couple of weeks ago. That was an experience. But these really are very, very special looking and they come with wrapping paper and a label.

'''Anna:''' The label's great.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Just keep putting stickers in Field Notes, all right? Like, you just, you're helping me out here. And the video, they made a really great video like a, which has kind of, are you familiar with ASMR? Do you know what ASMR is?

'''Anna:''' No.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's the style of YouTube video. It's like audio, sensory, something, something, where basically it's just the sound of things. It's like the sound of somebody cutting a tomato. Okay. You know, it's like, it's that, it's, they're like, it's a certain type of person where like, those sounds can just like trigger things in their brains and it's just like catnip. Yeah, right, right. Right? This video has an element of that for me. The sound of the touching of the paper and the folding of the paper, like those noises. Sounds amazing. I love it. It does the thing in my brain. And it really kind of hit me in the feels at the end. So like they put it under the, they like, they take it out, they put the label on, they put it under the tree and it says, to Aaron from Jim. And it's like, oh,

'''Anna:''' well, that's, um, not only amazing, but that's also a throwback to how the company started because the car company started with a, to Jim from Aaron.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yep. Yep.

'''Anna:''' So that's how this entire company got started. So I thought that was a nice callback to that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I thought that was real, real sweet, especially because the binding is DDC orange. Yeah. You know, I, yeah, I liked that. I liked that. That, that, that was just a nice thing. It's just another thing where it's like best company in the world. I love so much. I just love them so much.

'''Anna:''' Yep. So my thoughts on this are pretty much mirror yours. I like it a lot. I have not ordered anymore. Like I ordered some extra lunacy. Um, I have not ordered any more of these, but I might, I don't know, I might end up with another extra pack or something. I'm really anxious to, I'm pretty sure I will. Yeah. I'm really anxious to try the binding. Um, I've always called it perfect binding, this type of binding there. This is a more advanced, they're calling pure bound, which is a little stronger and more flexible than the perfect binding that I'm used to in this type of binding. So I want to see how the, um, the break, uh, the scoring, um, works when you fold it over. I want to see how the pages sit, you know, as the binding goes in general, they work pretty well, able to lay flat. Um, our friend Jenny at three staples is already having like endless, uh, tweets in at her, like what she's going to do now that there's no staples. I feel bad for her.

'''Myke Hurley:''' man, she's got to start a spinoff site.

'''Anna:''' I know, I know. So there's not three staples in this one, but, um,

'''Myke Hurley:''' one binding, I guess would be the website. Name.

'''Anna:''' Yeah.

'''Anna:''' So it's, it's, uh, it's really nice. I mean, I think the full is going to be awesome. This is a killer gift and, um, it's going to do really well. I mean, I like it, you know, I probably like lunacy more, but that's kind of picking knits. This looks, when I got this one, I was, I was got the email. I was like, Oh, this is really neat. It's really cool. I love the full foil cover and the way the, um, the letters are embossed or debossed in there. It looks fantastic. And, uh, I look forward to see the, um, to see this binding in action. That's what I'm, I'm most anxious about, um, in this edition.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Ginny just needs to take a stapler to one of them. And you're done. Yeah. Put three staples in the front cover. There you go. You're all good.

'''Anna:''' Just be good.

'''Myke Hurley:''' But,

'''Anna:''' uh, yeah, they're really good.



== Baron Fig Discussion ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' So this is, this is a perfect representation of what we were talking about a couple of weeks ago.

'''Anna:''' Mm-hmm.

'''Myke Hurley:''' When we were talking about Baron Fig. Yeah. And we were saying that our concern was that they would just keep just changing colors and stuff. Right. And they've already done a little bit of that, right? They did like Workplay 2 or something. Yeah. Yeah. Um, which I know that you weren't very happy with. I saw you tweeting about it.

'''Anna:''' Right.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Right. I think, what did you say on Twitter? This is exactly what I worried about.

'''Anna:''' Yes. Yes. So, worried about the, not much difference difference. Yeah. Right. Eh, no big deal. Workplay was hugely popular. One of the best notebooks they made. Probably my favorite, favorite notebook that they've made. Well, they introduced Workplay 2. They just re-released that for their first limited edition. Well, that's laziness in my opinion. I've talked to them.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I agree that they should have done this eventually. It should be. I don't know if this was the right way to like, kickstart the special editions. I don't know. Exactly. I don't know.

'''Anna:''' That's, that's where I'm at with that. Yeah. It's not the right way to start it out. It's like, it gives me the feeling that I was hoping I wouldn't have. It's like, yep, here we go.

'''Myke Hurley:''' But my point in bringing this up is look at Field Notes. This is their 33rd edition. What did they do? They false sent the entire cover and took the staples away. They made a completely different book. Right? Like they took the staples out. They bound it completely differently. They used new processes to make their book. And the previous one was a completely different format. Oh no, the like two previous, a completely different format. Right? Like they were the long ones. Then the one that we just had, they cut a hole in the front of it. Like, right. That is, that is design iteration, you know? Right. And that, that's what I think we both really want to see from Baron Fig. We want them to succeed. Yeah.

'''Anna:''' We love the products. Yeah. Like, give me something different.

'''Myke Hurley:''' But there has to be more. I mean, look, we're not, we're not asking them to be like Field Notes, right? Like the crew of Field Notes, they are on a whole different plane to everybody else. They've been doing this for years. They have got this down. They're an incredibly creative set of people. But I really want to see Baron Fig just start to break out of their bubble a bit more because it looks like what we're going to get, at least, you know, that's why it's been set up, is every quarter, just a different color. And I don't know if that's enough.

'''Anna:''' We'll see. Well, they, they tech, they DMed me after that and they said, I hear you. And the next one's going to be something different and you'll like it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Well, now it's on, now it's on record. Yep. You heard it here first. Well, we got, we got our eye on you, Baron Fig. But, for the time being. Because we want you to succeed. We do. That's, this is the whole thing, right? It's like, I, I, we're not trying to say like, this company's terrible. Like we're, I'm trying to like, give, I'm trying to say like, we want you to do well. Because we, we're all in this together. Yeah. Like I believe in Baron Fig, like that they can like knock this out of the park. But, but right now, like Field Notes are, the champ, right? And, and that's probably the way it's going to stay. Because, they're the best company in the world. I think I've established that already. But I want to, I want to see more from, from Baron Fig. Because, you know, you look at something like this, this is amazing.

'''Anna:''' They'll do it. I have faith in it. They see, you know, they're not blind. I think they'll do it.

'''Anna:''' I have faith. I have faith.



== Ask TPA ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' All right. We should do some, we should go back to some of those Ask TPA questions, right? Those, yeah.

'''Anna:''' So, I probably still have 15 or 20 to get through. So, let's, let's knock out a couple today. Because I told everyone who wrote in that I would read their letter. So, I got to hold up to that, Myke.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So, this, this section is Ask TPA, the special written Ask TPA. It's brought to you by Tom Bin. Tom Bin. Yes. Now, is it fair to say Tom Bin are your blood rivals? I don't know.

'''Anna:''' Tom, we're the bear and fig to their field notes. How about that? Oh, look at that. Yeah. Tom Bin is the top of the mountain that I aspire to. They are one of my favorite companies on the planet. They do it right. They make the best products. It shows up in every last detail. And, you know, if I ever get to a level with knock to where someone says, wow, that's like a Tom Bin product. I can die a happy man. They are an amazing company.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Tom Bin, like, categorically make the best bags for computers. Like, they do more than that, right? They make bags for all sorts. But, like, if you want a computer bag, if you want a bag that you're going to put any type of computer product in, Tom Bin have nailed it. Right? Like, I got a Ristretto recently. It was my first Tom Bin bag. It's just incredible. Like, every part of it is amazing.

'''Anna:''' Yeah. So, I have the Aeronaut travel duffel. And, I used that a bunch last year for traveling to pin shows. Yep. And, it's one of those products. Packing's never fun. But, I actually smile when I pack this bag. Because, I'm like, wow, they got this right. And, look at all the stuff I can do with it. And, the way I can pack it to carry more than I ever thought it would, while it still remains lightweight and functional and beautiful. It's, it's a weird feeling to be that happy about a carry-on bag. But, it's that good. It's crazy good.

'''Myke Hurley:''' All of their stuff is made of care. Like, they have great systems as well for packing, right? You can get like their, Yeah, I have some of the cubes. The cubes. And, they do, it's something called the synapse as well, right? Which is like where you can put a bunch of dongles and cables in. Like, everything is well thought out. They have great add-ons that they don't like really push on you. Like, when I got my Ristretto, I got like the, the, the upgraded shoulder strap. So comfortable.

'''Anna:''' Yeah, actually, I got the upgraded shoulder strap with my aeronaut as well. And, it's got great give to it. It, it, it feels like somehow it's like magically reduces the weight, even though that's not physically possible. It feels that way. It's like you lift the bag with your hands and you're like, wow, that's kind of heavy. Then you throw it on with that strap and you're like, what just happened?

'''Myke Hurley:''' You hit it. You heard it first. Tom bin, the creator of magical bags, like magic bags. All Tom bin bags are made in the USA. If you want to order one now, which you should go to Tom bin.com. That's T O M B I H N.com. Tom bin, lifetime guarantee, superior construction, thoughtful design. Thanks to Tom bin for their support of the pen addict and relay FM.

'''Anna:''' Yeah. So we've got y'all quite a shopping list today between Tom bin, Myke Dudek and pen chalet. I mean, this is one stop shopping between, you know, last week's episode and this week's episode. Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' There's a funny thing about the pen addict in the last few months of the year. Everybody wants spots. Yeah. We get super booked sponsor wise towards the end of the year.

'''Anna:''' Speaking of which, and I won't spill the beans, but I did get something magical. I think from Harry's yesterday, just showed up at the front door, you know, shows up. So yeah, I have a feeling we might be talking about that next week or something. Yeah,

'''Myke Hurley:''' we are. We are. I like it. I like it. In your mind, it just shows up. Doesn't, I knew it was going. I know. Yeah. I arrange it, but I just, you arrange it,

'''Anna:''' but you never, you never tell me. And then next thing you know, there's a box. So anyway,

'''Myke Hurley:''' if you are Brad Downey, how many packages arrive at your house every day? Come on.

'''Anna:''' I mean, it's daily. I saw the, the UPS and FedEx truck cross paths the other day, like right in front of the driveway. It's like, yep, that's about, that's about right.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Just making the daily rounds.

'''Anna:''' Yeah. Yeah. Actually when, uh, recently UPS, I guess our regular driver switched and the, the new guy came, he goes, Hey, I'm the new driver. Like the other one knew me. Like he felt kind of guilty. He's like, Oh, you're stuck with me now. At least he like made a point to say, Hey, I'm the new guy. You're going to see me a lot. Yeah. All right. Let's crack into these letters. All right. Yeah. So a lot of these are from when we, um, originally asked for handwritten STPA sent to my PO box here in Georgia. And there's a bunch we didn't get to that day. I put all these, I had all these stacked and ready to go. It's separated. So we could continue reading them, but I have not opened them and reread them to prepare for the show. So I don't know exactly what I'm going to get. I read them the first time, but then didn't get to them on the show. So you know what I mean? I put the letters back and now I'm going to reopen them. But this one I wanted to get to the first time we did it and I didn't, but it actually works out better to the day because she's in the chat room and it's hot couple loving. And this is her original letter because she's already had a follow-up letter. So we do have follow-up handwritten STPA, by the way, Myke, but this letter is so good because she drew some pictures on it. Um, I don't know how she knew this and she probably didn't. She was probably just drawing it. Um, I think it was an inktober. Um, the key word that day was flight for day 19. So she drew two characters from one of my most favorite movies, which is how to train your dragon. Um, have you seen that movie, Myke?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah.

'''Anna:''' Animated. I love that movie. Great movie. She drew. Yeah. She drew a hiccup and toothless on the back. Um, which are so cool. The, my favorite characters and toothless is even more appropriate because all my tooth issues. Uh, recently I got that tooth pulled on Monday. So I'm, uh, I'm doing this, uh, one man down. I am, I am literally toothless while I'm reading this letter. So thank you so much for sending this. So let's, let's see what she says. Hey, Brad and Myke, how are y'all doing? See, she's from Georgia. So she knows how to write. She knows how to write the y'alls. Love the podcast and blog. Oh, and Myke's new vlog is great. Oh, great. She's sucking up to you already. I subscribe to a few people on YouTube who do something similar, but Myke, yours is one of the best. I have a few questions. Okay. More than a few. Have you guys ever considered doing customized field notes to give away at pen shows? Great question. Timely question. We looked at this from the minute we started this podcast and we can't do specific field notes. That's why we created something like the pen addict notebook for this last show. Yeah. Just frankly,

'''Myke Hurley:''' the, the, the, the order number would be too high and we can't sell them.

'''Anna:''' Right. We would have to fully eat that cost. We're not above doing that. That would be a large number that we could not afford. Yeah. That's the problem. We would not be able to charge you for the notebooks, which I would love to not be able to charge you for the notebooks. We're not in a position to not charge you for the notebooks. Yeah. So we would, we could get them and we'd have to give them away and not charge for them. Dream scenario. Maybe it can happen one day. I doubt it's going to happen, but, you know, it's, it's just part of the deal with the, with the field notes. So,

'''Myke Hurley:''' which I understand because they shouldn't really have people selling them. Like, it's always weird when you see that happen, but they tend to be like retail collaborations. Right. But we're not right. I don't think we're doing one of those anytime soon. Yeah.

'''Anna:''' Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I don't think that would work out.



== Custom Pens ==


'''Anna:''' Uh, so question number two, wow, there's six questions. She wasn't joking. Uh, Brad, since knock is now in retail, will you and Jeff be doing any collaborations or blue label products? Yes. We are already trying to prototype for next year. We want to do something for the Atlanta pen show. We don't know exactly what that is yet, but we're playing around with a few things. You probably saw something in our Instagram, um, last week that we've been playing around with. Um, we don't know if it's going to work or not, but, uh, yeah, we're always going to be making stuff. Even if we're, someone's making, um, retail items for us, we're always going to be making and expand. We have to expand the blue label stuff. Actually, this will give us the freedom to do that. All right. Number three, Myke, what pen and nib combo do you have that you think best shows off the properties of Fuyugaki?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Um, I'm going to say it's the, I think it's going to be the sailor pro gear. Like I think it just does a really excellent job. Um, I have the gold nib. Uh, I think it's a medium.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I feel like that does a really good job with it. I mean, I think that the pro gear, probably anything that you put in it is going to do a great job. Um, but there is also something about using my orange pen with the orange ink. Exactly. That's what I was going to say. It matches too. Yeah.

'''Anna:''' That makes it show up better. It's, it's no joke. It appears better with an orange pen. All right. So number four, this is for both of us and we're, we're off the reservation here. What's your favorite movie? You go first.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Oh, like my favorite ever movie. This is where I really struggle with this. So I'm really bad at picking a favorite movie. What I can do is tell you a small selection of movies that I keep on my iPad all the time because I'll come watch them anytime and I'm fine. Uh, Scott Pilgrim versus the world. Godfather one and two.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Goodfellas and Glenn Gary, Glenn Ross.

'''Anna:''' Nice. That's a great selection. I mean, that's some top tier stuff. My favorite movie all time is train spotting. Um, I never get tired of that. I watch it all the time and, you know, I have all the, the additions and the books and, you know, the 20th anniversary commentary and all that stuff. The movie I keep on my, my iPhone so I can watch it anytime as a movie called control, which is the story of joy division. What a surprise. Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I could have picked that for you. I think.

'''Anna:''' Yeah. Yeah. So those are my, probably my two favorite movies. Um, very, both very, very, um, British, Scottish, musically inclined dark movies. Um, that's kind of my, my personal genre. So yeah, there's, um, while those movies have nothing to do with each other, they're actually quite similar in story. Yeah. If you will.

'''Anna:''' All right. So number five, is there a custom maker out there that you would suggest someone who wants a custom pen, but doesn't want to order strictly by just looking online? Is there a custom maker who does a lot of pen shows so I can try them first? Jonathan Brooks. Yeah. Um, that's, he does stuff that's not online all the time. Like he doesn't have, I don't check his store all the time because it doesn't ever seem to have all the stuff on there. Maybe he's changing that, but it shows he always has something killer. And even if you find a material in a different shape, you know, like the shape of the pen you like, does it match the material you like? That's something he can do. So you can always try something from Jonathan. Um, hopefully he'll be in Atlanta this year. Um, so you should be able to see him cause you better be coming to the Atlanta pen show this year. Do you, do you have any other suggestion on that? Or you, I feel that's like, uh, I'm, I'm pretty happy with that answer.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Jonathan is exactly who I would have suggested.

'''Anna:''' Yeah. Yep. So last question, who do you think makes the prettiest nibs? Do you have an opinion?

'''Myke Hurley:''' No.

'''Anna:''' So I would say sailor would be my favorite. Mont Blanc might make the best, the most prettiest nibs. Um, of which I don't really own any, but like one standard small nib for Mont Blanc. Um, but some of their specialty nibs, like their, um, what do you call it? Special editions, limited editions. Those nibs are, are crazy good on stock kind of gold nibs. I love sailors. Sailor's nibs are great. All right. Awesome. Awesome letter. Thank you. Hot cup of loving. Yeah. Thanks so much. She was still listening. All right. So what do we got here?

'''Myke Hurley:''' We got here. Rifling through those papers over there.

'''Anna:''' I am. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Um, wow. Some wonderful handwriting on this. Do not bend. We have, um, wax seal. Oh, this one's on a card.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Oh, wow.

'''Anna:''' This is a whole big deal over there. This is from Adam. This is like, um, is this from page stationary? This card, that's real neat little card with a pipe on it. It's nice. This from Adam, um, with his nice, uh, wax seal. does love the pod at podcast. Thank you for always pointing, uh, putting out great content weekly. Two questions. What was your best slash worst pin purchase? So we get that one a lot. Um, best pin purchased. Hmm.

'''Anna:''' Hmm. Um, these are hard questions because I never think about it that way. Um, Oh, JBK. I do love Donnie Darko. I will say that, um, for the movie thing. They're talking about me in the chat room now. Best, worst pin purchase. Gosh, dog.

'''Myke Hurley:''' You can't think of the best. Like, what are you, what are you considering this from?

'''Anna:''' Just thinking of, I have, I'm thinking I have too much stuff. So it's a difficult thing. My best is my first Nakaya. I think that's the best because that pin has remained the best. Like there's so much went into the purchasing of that pin and for it to actually deliver and exceed my expectations. That has to be the best. Okay. Um, worst is hard because I tend to avoid things that I don't think I would like. I mean, nothing's like completely failed me. We talk about the Lamy 2000, how it had to have nib work done to be like a writing pen that I really enjoy. But I don't necessarily have a worst, uh, purchase. Do you have anything for either of these categories? All right. The worst is the Oto dude. That's a horrible pin. Yeah. Do you remember that? Oh yeah. I'll remember that. Cause that's one of the, uh, one of the, I think I did an article years ago about the top five worst pins I've ever reviewed. I think that was number one. I think it was the worst.

'''Myke Hurley:''' The Oto dude is horrific.

'''Anna:''' Yeah. Except I didn't pay for it. So I didn't actually purchase you. You, you did. And it's just trash tastic.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So someone in the chat room said the vision air, but that's not, that doesn't count because I knew it was bad before I bought it. You bought it purposefully to, to see just how bad it was going to be. Exactly. So actually it ended up being a great purchase because it provided me with endless entertainment. Right. Yeah. That's a great purchase. And it's like, I bring that thing. I bring that thing to pen shows. People want to see it. I think out of all of my pens that I own, that's the one that people want to see the most. I'm not even kidding. People that come up to me at the Atlanta has happened many times. We're like, do you have to vision air? So yeah, I'll go to the vision.

'''Anna:''' Yep. Yep. I totally agree. All right. So I think of my best now.



== Pilot Pen ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' This is that, that's, this is, that is really difficult because like I have my favorites. I think, I think it's going to have to be the pilot M90. Oh yeah.

'''Anna:''' I forgot about that already. Yeah. That's a great pen.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I use that every day.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I love this pen, but it's just because it was the combination of a long search for it. Right. And, you know, buying it from Thomas was, was an amazing way to kind of cap that. And I absolutely love this pen and I'm proud of myself that I do use it every day, you know, because this is a pen that would have been real easy to just display.

'''Anna:''' Yes. Right. Right. Right. But that's not what it's made for. I mean, if there's anything that design calls for that design calls for, let's go, let's use this pen.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And it is just, perfect. I love it. I love everything about this pen. And I cannot believe pilot don't make this. It boggles my mind that they do not have a standard version of this pen. It absolutely just boggles my mind because it's in every single way, one of the best pens I've ever owned. The size of it, like the, the weight of it, the balance of it, and just the design. It's one of the most beautiful designs. Like, I can't believe there is an A pen that is sold that looks like this.

'''Anna:''' They could charge whatever they wanted for it too.

'''Myke Hurley:''' You could, you could charge $600 for this pen and people will buy it. Yeah. Because, yeah, it really, truly boggles my mind, especially now, like, imagine this, but friction fit.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So there's no lip on it. That's the only thing. It's like, there's that lip on it, right? Where the cap clips in. Imagine that friction fit, just this solid one piece thing, right? They just, you just really make a great seal, like a kind of invisible seal, which is possible to do. It would just be,

'''Myke Hurley:''' there would be nothing, nothing could come near it. Nothing could come near it.

'''Anna:''' Yeah. Tony's pointing out the E95 S, which is, has the same shape and the same click, but it's got that plastic barrel and the nibs not integrated. I mean, I love the E95. I have one. It's killer. It's not the same. No, that's not the same, but people who want that, people who want that style of pen, that's the best they're going to do. Unless they're going secondary market market.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. The nib, there's a seam, right? The thing that makes this so beautiful is that the nib is made of the barrel. Right. Right. Like it is one and the same.

'''Anna:''' Yep. All right. Adam's got one more question. He says, I love my cron dash 849 when I need a ballpoint, which I agree. That's a great ballpoint. Any pen suggestions for similar look, feel and refill. So if you want to stick on that reef, that ballpoint refill side of the ledger, the Schmidt 9000 M, I think is a better refill than the, what do they call the eight 49s? The gigantic or the monster. It's got some, some refill name like that. Um, it's a great refill. I love it. The Schmidt, I think is a little bit better in my mind. Um, for a pen, you can get the retro 51 tornado slims. They come with that. And I think that's a very comparable to the cron dash 849s Goliath. Thank you. Gentleman stationer, Joe in the chat room. Awesome chat room participation today. I know we went early, but maybe everyone's off today or at least everyone's slacking today, which I can appreciate. All right. So can we hit one more? What do we think?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah.

'''Anna:''' One more. What do we got here? Oh goodness. Everything's falling. All right.

'''Anna:''' This one's from Heather. She has hash hashtag ask TPA right on the front of the envelope with a little smiley face. So I can get totally behind that. So let's see. Oh wow. Okay. So her handwriting is great, but what I'm oh wowing about is her stationary. This pad has a Parker quink ink bottle and box, like in the top corner of the pad. Like it's a stationary pad with that, uh, that little image on there. So that's very cool. It says, dear Mr. Dowdy. Hi, I love the podcast and website. I listen as I can, which is while at work or mowing the yard. So hopefully this note makes it to you in time. I have a fountain pen novice question about field notes. Lots of field notes questions, Myke. I wonder why. So this is a, this is a great question and I haven't read, but I'm looking at this next sentence. Am I using them incorrectly? My brother gave me a few three packs, snow blind, sweet tooth, and regular. I've been using them with fine and medium fountain pens and have noticed bleed through feathering, ghosting on some, but not others. Are field notes created equal? Do they all use the same weight of paper or some heftier than others? Any help is greatly appreciated. Sincerely, Heather. So you've run into the issue that a lot of us fountain pen users have. Field notes are not all created equally. In fact, field notes are created differently. Nearly every single time. Yep. You got probably two of the, you probably got three of the worst additions to use fountain pens in, which is regular sweet tooth and snow blind. There's a couple that are worse, but there's some that are so good for fountain pens. So what you're looking for with field notes is they always lay out the specs. You want to start with the ones that say 70 pound paper on them. Yep. So they actually changed their regular stock from 50 pound weight paper to 70. 60, but still it's not quite as good as some of the 70 pound paper, which you'll find in this new edition, um, black ice. So for example, that'll be a good one. Um, the lunacy edition, I think has, um, does it have 70? It might have 60. I'll have to check. So that's where you want to start because they are definitely not all created equal. Some of the papers are 70.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Okay.

'''Anna:''' So some, they're starting to change. They're not putting, if you noticed a trend here, Myke, they are starting to change a little bit in the paper quality. Yep. Um, you also noticed, which I forgot to mention when we did, um, when we were talking about black ice, that the, the base price has gone up, uh, or has stayed the same as the previous edition. They're now 12, 95, a three pack instead of nine 95, right? Yep. We knew that was coming. That had to come. There's, we kept, we've said for years, I don't know how they can afford this. So the last two additions now have been a new price point, which is completely fair.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And I think what it's doing is allowing them to be even more creative.

'''Anna:''' Right. Like we've, we've said for years, we didn't know how they were doing it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Nope.

'''Anna:''' So, so Heather, there is absolutely a difference. Start with any edition where the paper lists itself as 70 pound paper. Um, you still may, you're fine in medium nibs should work fine in most of those. There's going to be a couple where the papers finished differently. So not only is there different weights of paper, there's different finishes on the paper. So not everything's going to be the same, but you can find a couple of really good additions. I have a feeling this current one, black ice is going to be a good, good fountain pen friendly paper. So check that one out.

'''Anna:''' All right. So, um, let's do one more. Cause it's a postcard and it's a short one. Then I'll leave some of the longer ones for next time. Okay. Sounds good. Time for last one. Yeah. This is from, this is from Joel. He sent me a cool, uh, postcard, um, from science fiction, monkey planet, planet of the apes. It's like a book. It's like an old penguin book cover. It's a very cool postcard. So let's see. Myke and Brad as collectors of writing instruments. I assume you guys write all the time. Is that accurate? What kind of writing makes up the majority of what you do? Journaling, letter writing, lists, short stories. I used to collect guitars, amps, and pedals. At one point, I felt generally like I didn't play enough to justify the amount of gear I owned. Have either of you ever experienced this with pens? Looking forward to hearing your review of that book on handwriting. Yeah. I need to email Andrew back. Don't I keep up the good work, Joel? So what do you think, Myke? Do you ever feel guilty for owning all this stuff and just of having to justify using it?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yes.

'''Anna:''' Yeah. I think that's fair. Yeah. I don't necessarily feel guilty. Yeah. But all the time, but a lot of time, yeah, I totally feel guilty.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I feel guilty when I'm faced with more than usual. So looking at my desk right now, I have like nine of my most expensive pens in a dudek block, a bunch of field notes, two of my custom acrylic pens just sitting there, one on a pen rep, one on a stand. That is totally fine. That's standard desk. When I opened that wardrobe over there a couple of days ago and took all that stuff out and put it in boxes and looked at just how much dead tree was just in my home. Yeah, I felt bad.

'''Anna:''' Yeah, I do have some guilt from time to time about how much stuff I actually have. Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' At some point with my field notes collection, as I mentioned, I want to make a video out of them at some point. When I do that, I'm going to siphon off the stuff that I'm going to sell or give away. Because I have too many. I have way too many of all of it. And I don't need as much as I have. Like I know that.

'''Anna:''' Yep.

'''Anna:''' Yep. I'm with you. I can't really argue with that. But just as to what do we write the most? I write notes and lists the most. I don't write stories or journals. But I mean, I'm always writing, you know, just constant, constant scribblings.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I'm notes and scribbles. Like notes and doodles. You know, I have a couple of shows where I just break out the cross field. And I just doodle the whole time.

'''Anna:''' Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Cool.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That's what I use that for, by the way. Cross field, because I know you were surprised I picked it. It has two purposes in my life. It is my doodle pad and my new pen testing pad. Because it's flat out the most comfortable and nicest paper I own. Yep. So it's perfect for that.

'''Anna:''' That's what it should be used for. No, I thought it was a great pick because I didn't expect it. Yeah. It's wonderful.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Love that pad. Yeah. All right. That wraps up this week's episode. If you want to find our show notes for today, head on over to relay.fm slash pen addict slash 232. If you want to find Brad online, he's over at penaddict.com and at knock.co. He is on Twitter at dowdyism and he is on Instagram at penaddict. I am iMike, I-M-Y-K-E on all of them. You can find, I'm on YouTube as well. YouTube.com slash Myke Hurley. You can find my videos there. We spoke about it a couple of times, so I'm going to promote it. Thanks so much for listening. As always, thanks to our great sponsors this week, Pen Chalet, Dudek, Modern Goods, and Tom Bin. Go support our sponsors because that in turn helps support the show. Thank you for listening. We'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad.

'''Anna:''' Goodbye, Brad.

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