Editing The Pen Addict 426/transcript

{{Infobox podcast transcript
| name            = The Pen Addict
| number          = 426
| title           = When Am I Gonna Get One?
| date            = September 2nd, 2020
| hosts           = [[Brad Dowdy]]<br>
[[Myke Hurley]]
| guests          = 
| link            = [https://www.relay.fm/penaddict/426 Episode 426]
| audiolink       = [https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/thepenaddict/The_Pen_Addict_426.mp3 Audio Episode 426]
| length          = 61
}}

'''Myke Hurley:''' From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 426, and today's show is brought to you by the Canalea Pen Company and Canbro Industries. My name is Myke Hurley, and I am joined by Mr. Brad Dowdy. Hi, Brad.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Hey, Myke. I don't know why I'm just totally cracking up. You having a good time? I don't know why. I mean, I guess I'm here talking to you. Right. I mean, that's normally no laughing matter, but I'm feeling pretty good this morning, and I just can't explain it. Maybe it's because this first topic, right out the gate, we've been giving the Retro 51 Celebration updates, and I guess because I've made 50%-ish progress on it, I'm feeling a little bit lighter, a little bit weight off my shoulder type of thing. Like, I couldn't, like, a week and a half ago, two weeks ago, I couldn't walk into my shipping area, except in the maze I made to work between the boxes, right? So now I've cleared out, like, half that space. So just for those who have not followed the Kickstarter campaign emails that I've been sending out, I've shipped 300 packages. Like, they're in flight. They've started to arrive. I'm going to have another 200 out by this week. So that'll get me to 500 packages shipped, and that'll give me, like, three, 350 left, and I'm happy. Like, this is the first time, like, I've been really, really pressuring myself the last two weeks. Like, I've been moody and angsty and just, you know, working a lot, like, which is cool. Like, I'm down for this. Like, this is what I signed up for. I'm in. And finally get to that threshold, like, the peak of the mountain. So now I can, like, see. Oh, it's like, oh, look, there's the horizon, and I'm going to start heading that way pretty soon. So I'm feeling better about the packing situation. People are starting to get their pins. They're very happy with them, which is another stress factor, right? I have all these pins, and no one's seen them yet. So how do they react when they get a large 3x12 craft tube in their mailbox that contains a pin and a poster? What do they think about these things and feedback, thankfully? And, you know, we anticipate good feedback, but you never know until you get it, and it's been great. So I've been very happy to see these out in the wild. When am I going to get one? That's a great question, Myke. Okay. I've been thinking about that a lot recently.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Right.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And with the, you know, I was waiting on a secondary package to arrive for you, which arrived a couple days ago. Right. I have something else that a very kind listener who you've met at the Atlanta Pen Show and who has given you a gift before sent a new gift for you that I'm not going to spoil. But when you see it, you will go, oh, I love this, and I love this person for doing this. I don't want to spoil it. Yeah. And then I have to think, okay, that's three things I have to send, Myke. Is there anything else? Yeah. So probably this weekend I'll send it because yours is going to be more difficult to pack. So I didn't just jam everything in the same old tube that I've been using for these. I just need to consider that a little bit more. So I should have it shipped by Sunday. I'll let you know, but it should go out this weekend.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Thank you. I would really like one. And I know a couple of things that you're holding for me, and I would really like them too.



== Gifts ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh, you might want to tell me.

'''Myke Hurley:''' The only reason I say this is because, as we mentioned on the show, you have a very checkered past of actually sending things to me that you have promised.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Have I ever not sent you the thing?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. I'm sure sometimes there's a thing you were supposed to send me, and then I end up just getting it from you in person. That's true. Oh, yeah. One of the things was like the pins, the enamel pins from years ago. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's a good one. Yeah. And I had to get them from you like a year later. I had to get some random ones, and then you gave me a thousand of my face that was wrong. Yeah. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Like, yeah, your face got messed up. So that was cool. So you have lots of extras.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. But they're good, though. I like that bag of my face enamel pins, you know.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' They're not even messed up. They just didn't like how they... No, they're just wrong. Yeah. They were just wrong, but it's still you.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Because it was supposed to be... There were two versions of me, right? And one just looked too much like you. I think that was the problem.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. It just didn't go with the rest of the set. So it's pretty funny. So anyway, you know, good stuff. I'm happy with the feedback, and I'm happy that I've made progress. So therefore, Myke, I'm able to laugh when we start the podcast as I did today.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Right. You're not in despair, is what you're saying.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Mm-mm. Mm-mm. Mm-mm. And I think I'm going to laugh more with this next topic, because I was shocked to see that it made the list. What is going on here?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Well, nothing too much. I... It's just a little bit of follow-up. I did a pen refill today. Mm-mm. And, you know, so I just went through. I had a few pens. Most of the pens that I use frequently are... Oh, I just received a text message, which is very important, saying that there is a request in my household for more Califolio Andronople. Okay. And that I should order that to you for it to be put in this bundle that you're sending to me.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh, nice. Okay. Let me write this note.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So I'm going to see if I can do that. Okay. I don't know where that... Writing it. I'm not 100% sure where that request came from, but somewhere in the house.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I can effort that.



== Refilling Pens ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' So I will endeavor to make that a reality.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's just going to delay your shipping for like... Is it though, Brad? Six to nine months.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Oh, six to nine months. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm sure that's the case. So I wanted to do some refilling, and I was really pleased to have had my pen and ink chart that I made so I could remember what inks went where. Nice. I love it. Although I have realized now that I didn't record one, which was the Wicked Witch pen. I don't remember which green I put in it, whether it was Keyline Pie or Ackerman. I think I put Ackerman in, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I want to say that's the discussion we had, but I don't know that that's the route that you went when you actually went to go do it, but that was the discussion. No, I'm going to say that it has Ackerman in it. Because to me, that's a completely obvious no-brainer choice. That's what should be in there.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was what I put in there, because it's the darker green, isn't it? Mm-hmm. Keyline Pie is the lighter green, and everyone in the Discord is saying Ackerman, and I trust the collective brain, so...

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I just want to give another shout-out to Fountain Pen Companion, FP, I have not been diligent in adding my stuff, but this is another time to let you know that it's out there for your consideration of keeping track of these things, and for everyone to keep track of these things, and I think Urban does a great job, so shout-out to FPC.inc, and everyone should use it if you're in situations like we are. Do as I say, not as I do.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I would mostly agree with that sentiment.

'''Myke Hurley:''' All right, so... It is September. September is Child Cancer Awareness Month. Did you know that in the United States, more than four out of five children with cancer survive? But, in many developing countries, more than four out of five of the children do not survive. The St. Jude International Outreach Program is a global initiative for St. Jude to develop one-on-one relationships with 24 hospitals in 17 countries in low- and middle-income areas such as Mexico, Haiti, and the Philippines. Or Haiti and the Philippines, I should say. St. Jude is leading the way... Leading the way the world understands, treats, and defeats childhood cancer, and other life-threatening diseases, and St. Jude will not stop until no child dies from cancer. Donate today at stjude.org slash relay, and you can help support St. Jude kids from around the world during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Again, go to stjude.org slash relay. St. Jude is not just a wonderful hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. It's an institution that helps people all over the world with their research, and now with the International Outreach Program as well. I am absolutely thrilled to say that today we will pass $60,000 raised for St. Jude. And we are two days into September, my friends, so let's keep this going. Go to stjude.org slash relay. When you're there, you're going to see we've got milestones and schedules. As we're hitting different milestones, me and Stephen are participating in different live streams and releasing really fun content. And there will be more added in as the month progresses. And also, from now until September 15th, for every $250 raised, we will be placing a googly eye on something in our home offices or studios. Just so you can know that if you give $250 or more, no matter what you give, it all adds up. We're not doing it for just $250 donations. But basically, we'll take the full money raised over a 24-hour period or whatever, divide it by $250, and then we will put a googly eye on something. So we are destroying the visuals of our home offices for your enjoyment and to help the kids of St. Jude.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I will say that's a better option than your beard this year.

'''Myke Hurley:''' The googly eyes were inspired by being on my face last time. And now we are instead making them a much more permanent fixture until September 15th, when we are going to be switching over to something more fun and ambitious, which we will see. So we're sharing the stuff on, me and Stephen are sharing images of the atrocities that we're committing on our social media pages.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Nice. So y'all are doing a great job so far. The streams look like they're going well. I haven't been able to tune in yet, but I am always retweeting them. There's always something going on. I am just proud of y'all, how seriously you take this, but then how well you execute, like trying to have fun and trying to raise money for these kids, because it's super serious and super important to all of us at RelayFM. And I have to work on what I'm going to do for a raffle. So I just made a note, as you were talking, to email the person I want to discuss this with and see how we can go about doing that so we can make a donation. And I will definitely get that done here in the next week or two. So we can, I don't know, it'd be nice if I could talk about it next week. So we'll see.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yo-ho, ho-ho. You really did that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Is it a pirate life for me, Brad Dowdy?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's the question I have. So Sailor released a new 1911 North American exclusive edition. I feel like we have a lot of North America exclusive editions, Myke, but that's another, that's maybe at the back end of this conversation. But the Sailor 1911 Pirates Life, yellow with yellow barrel, gold trim, go.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So I don't know if the pictures that have been posted from Sailor Pen North America are really doing an even halfway decent job of trying to show off this pen. Like, the lighting and resolution of these images is not good. So I don't feel like I can make a real judgment about this pen. If it's the color that it's seeming to be, it's not for me.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I mean, I, so let's just talk about the color before I say my personal thoughts on the pen. And Sailor North America is clearly having a difficult time sharing this color because they had to make a second post, right? With more comparisons.

'''Myke Hurley:''' But where the, the, uh, in the second post, it doesn't look anything like the first post. Right. And they're telling me that the image that they're comparing it to is mustard, but the pen that they're comparing it to looks gray. Okay. So, you know, I don't really think that they're doing their best work here.



== Pirate Themed Pen ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' So like, I, this reminds me of when the lime green one came out like two years ago. Yeah. It was the same thing. Like it could, you couldn't photograph that pen well. So you had to see it in person to see whether you like it. Like I, like I'm not buying this pen. Just like I didn't buy the Wicked Witch, um, either, but I like this pen. Like this pen will do well. It's, I think it's an okay color and the gold trim. I would prefer the brighter yellow version, but I think it's the more, uh, Dijon, uh, version of, of the color is probably the real color. So when we get to see it in person, you know, we'll, we'll be able to decide, but I think it's going to do well. It's a good color. What do you think about the story and the naming?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Um, I, I would expect a more golden looking pen for pirates. Cause I guess it's meant to, what is it? Is it meant to evoke?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I'm guessing the gold doubloon. Yeah. The gold doubloon and they're shipping it with a little, you know, little gold coin. Yeah. I think that's fantastic. With the logo.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Like, I think I saw that and like, I thought that was amazing. I like the logo. Super cool. Logo's cool. Yeah. And it's got, it's like a nib. It's the sailor nib with like the crossed swords behind it. I think all of that part looks great, but I would have expected a more golden looking finish. Maybe that's what we've got and it's just not possible to see. Um, but what I will say is I do like, uh, even if the execution maybe isn't there for me, I do like that. They're going to this kind of level, right? Like we have an idea. The idea is whimsical and we're adding something into the package to really drive it home. I like that. And I hope that this is an approach that sailor of North America are able to continue because I think it helps kind of push them apart from either a sailor of Japan or be the 70 billion, uh, special release pens made for all and sundry.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. I like any product that tosses in some extras with it. I don't care if it's stickers, bookmarks, ribbons, it could be the cheapest five cent thing. But if you give me the little thing, I'm like, Hey, cool. Look, I got this little thing. I just spent 300 and something dollars on this pen, but look at my doubloon.

'''Myke Hurley:''' You want to feel like you get extra value, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So I, I, I'm with you. I like seeing this. I, I'm not sure they executed the idea that I think they had a really good idea that I think did fall short execution wise, but I mean, I don't know what I would change, but like, it's a start. Like if we see more of this, that's what I don't know, because this certainly we're going to have to start talking about sailor in terms of, of the before times and after times, right? This is clearly a before times decision. And now that they're under new ownership in 2021, what are we going to see for sailor North America special editions? Are we going to get North America special editions? Things like that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So, um, I just don't know if I would have gone with yellow for a pirate themed pen.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I think that's the biggest conversation that people would have liked to seen. I would have liked to, my, my get, my recommendation was to make it parrot colored. Interesting. Like if you're going to go really fun pirate, right? This is real, this is fun pirate. This is not, um, this is not horror pirate, right? This is fun pirate. So let's do something parody.

'''Myke Hurley:''' See, I would have gone with a Jolly Roger. So I would have made like a white and black pen and somehow put a Jolly Roger on it somewhere.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. The one thing we don't see, and I don't know that we'll ever see from sailor, which we do see from platinum is barrel markings. Like platinum will not hesitate to star Wars up their pen. Yeah. Right. They'll star Wars, the barrel sailor tends to not do that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I'm having a hard time thinking just in a finial. That's kind of how I imagined. Exactly.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' They do exactly. That's, that's exactly right. The, uh, pro gear with the pirates life logo on the finial. It's like black. Yeah. So I, I hope this is the start of a thing for them to do a little more fun, a little more whimsical. Um, I think they did a good job on this. I, you know, I have questions about it. I think it's going to sell. I actually think this is going to sell pretty well. Um, and it, it should do pretty good. I kind of like the pen. I kind of like the overall, I definitely would want to see this in person. Um, but yeah, I mean, I think overall good, but I almost have more questions now that I've seen something like this because as simple as it is, this is a pretty large outlier for sailor in the U S they might do a lot of this. Stuff in Japan and do these add-ons and, and specifics and trying to tell specific stories, but we usually don't get that in the U S it's usually all integrated into the pen, like gray lighthouse or something like that, or wicked witch, you know, it's all built into the pen. So we'll see if they're going to start telling stories outside of the pen product as well. And, uh, I'm here for it if they do.

'''Myke Hurley:''' All right. This episode is brought to you in part by the Canalea pen company. Canalea make stunningly beautiful pens inspired by images of Hawaii. Canalea's founders, you and Carol believe that these locations can help recharge our spirit and help us connect with nature, which is a mindset that I think feels more and more helpful today. And while the story behind these pens is wonderful, the execution is what sets them apart. Every single Canalea pen is handmade and a process that means that no two pens will ever look alike. And every nib is tuned before it ships to a customer. What you get is something truly unique for you, which is one of my very favorite things about Canalea pens. You effectively get a one-off every single time when it's not for the price of what a one-off of this quality you would imagine would cost. And it really is just a wonderful thing. In August, Canalea celebrated their fourth anniversary, which is incredible. Wow. And their Aolani pen won Pen World's 2020 Reader's Choice Award for Best Artisan Pen. This is my personal favorite right now, the Canalea lineup, I think. I'm using it today. And so this is like the purple and blue one. The colors are fantastic. And it does something that I'd never really seen before in an artisan pen in creating this like sense of depth in the resin, which really is wild. Like you look at this pen and it looks like it could go on forever. It's really very, very interesting. And it's kind of one of those things you have to see to believe or to really understand. In honor of both of these events, all Aolani orders that are received from now through to the end of September, September 30th, will be created and shipped within four weeks. This is instead of the usual eight to 12 weeks that it can take for a Canalea pen to be shipped out for you. So they're doing these within four weeks. And this is the time to order what is a truly magnificent pen. And Canalea's latest creation, the Kona Cherry, is still being created and shipped within four weeks since its launch this past spring. Both of these pens have been very popular additions to the Canalea lineup and would be superb additions to your collection. Canalea pens features YOWO number six nibs. You can buy steel or 18 karat gold nibs direct from Canalea. And they also offer rose gold too from sizes from extra fine to 1.1 millimeter stub. And every pen ships in a beautifully packaged keepsake box. We were just talking about feeling like you want to get extras. Oh boy, do you feel like you get extras when you order one of these pens? Yes. Like the boxes are so good that you would just use them for other things, right? Like it's not like just the packaging. These little wooden boxes, the like belly band, I guess we could call it, that goes around the box, has seeds in it that you can plant. Like talk about packaging. They know how to do it. Canalea pen is also run by wonderful and caring people. They have a story that they want to share with the world and they do it with these truly inspired products that they make, which are of the highest quality that I've ever come across. I believe and continue to believe that they deserve all the success that they're seeing. And here at the pen addict, we want to congratulate Hugh and Carol for their fourth anniversary of the Canalea Penco. You can check out their range right now at CanaleaPenco.com. That's K-A-N-I-L-E-A-P-E-N-C-O. CanaleaPenco.com. Go there today to choose your aloha. Our thanks to Canalea Penco for their support of this show and Relay FM.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I have a statement to make. Uh-oh. Brad Dowdy, you have the floor. Clear my throat. I'm going on record that I have an experiment coming up because I'm not sure that I've been correct about the canonical Canalea Penco barrel shape.

'''Myke Hurley:''' The Canalea-onical, as you might want to say.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I am all classic flush all the time, right? There's one, two, three, four, five different shapes of barrel designs that Canalea offers. And I don't think people get that because I'm a classic flush guy. You're a classic flush guy, right? I think most people who... I think it's clearly their best seller when you see them in person. Most of the table is classic flush because it's the largest and it's the least unencumbered by additional design choices, right? There's no step in the barrel. There's no clip. You know, it's just pure materials and design, which is what I want from Canalea, right? That's what you're showing. The next one I get is going to be classic slim. And I'm kind of concerned that I've overlooked this one so much because I... It might be better for me than the classic flush. I don't know. It's got a clip. I'm going to get it with classic slim with a clip. I'm going to try the next time I get a Canalea pen because I'm looking at the shapes of these. I went through these a bunch like a month or so ago. And I'm stuck on the classic slim because I bet it's still a pretty large pen because classic flush is very large. I think it might be the better writing pen. Right.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Because the size and aesthetic and a clip. The cap is the same size, it looks like, or about the same size, but the body of the pen is thinner, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And it tapers towards the end of the barrel and it has a clip with the Canalea logo on it. So I guess this is more of a hold that thought than a statement. So the next Canalea I get when I've been all flush all the time, I'm changing. I'm changing. Next one I get. So we'll see. So hold that thought on there. So that's my statement. I am too, because I just think it's a mistake to overlook the other options they offer. Yeah. Because of how much I love this one, I just ignored the rest. And I think this one might be a good choice because the, it's going to be like the good leave my house pen choice because the, the classic flush is not necessarily made to that. It's more desk pen style. Right.

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

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, all right. There you go. So, Blackwing XIX, Myke, I know this is, the wooden pencils are not your topic, but I'm just going to say up front, this is the latest Blackwing's volume edition. And this will be the first edition that I purchased since my subscription lapsed. That's how good I think this pencil is. So, number one, the story's great. It's, you know, based around the women's suffrage movement in the U.S. and the 19th Amendment that got ratified in 1920 to allow, basically allow women to vote. Now, it's, the story is, is not as clean and simple as that. And Blackwing has, you know, definitely talked about this in the marketing and, and, you know, notes on this pencil, which, as they should. But, but the pencil itself, it's got, it's purple. It's great. It's kind of, I think it might be their first purple barrel. It's, it's really sharp. White stamp, silver ferrule, purple eraser, and a white stripe around the ferrule. And then it has the stars on the, the gold stars. And they're the 36 states that had ratified the amendment at the time in 1920, 36 out of the 48 states, what the other 12 states were doing. I don't know, but, and I think it has, it has the firm core to it. This is the firm graphite core. This is everything I want in a pencil. I am buying this pencil set. I didn't buy the Robbie Shankar. I didn't buy the ones previous to that. Since my subscription lapsed, I think it's been about a year. This is the first one I cannot wait to get. I don't know if you, I'm not expecting you to have a commentary on this because you're not the pencil guy, but this looks like an A plus effort from Blackwing from my perspective in story and style. They have begun to execute these very, very well. I mean, they've been doing it for years now. And in the beginning, there were some questions like how is, you know, okay, the pencil's great, but is the execution of the story, you know, important enough to, to really lean into. And I think in the, in this case, they've done a really nice job. Like they have additional, additional swag you can buy. There's a matching notebook. There is an enamel pen. There's a banner that says vote for women. It's just well done across the board. This is what I like to see in the stationary companies that I support that they've, they've put some thought into this and built it out. So I am in on this dozen pencils.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I like the way it looks. I did just realize that I consider it's a win for me personally, that I noticed that the logo had changed. The Blackwing logo has changed. That's a whole topic. I love it. Do you want to have a topic on that? I don't know. Do I? You tell me, do I? Cause I love, okay. Yeah. I think it looks fantastic.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I do not love it. I do. I don't love it. Okay. I don't hate it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I don't hate it.



== Blackwing XIX Design ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' I think it looks better than the old one.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I don't know. I haven't formulated my thoughts. It is, when I think of Blackwing, I don't think of the utmost of modern design. Okay. And that's what that logo represents to me.

'''Myke Hurley:''' But wouldn't you say that their recent products have given them the ability to do that?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yes. I think they're going in that direction. Right. Which is why the logo design was changed. And I don't disagree with it. I just, I don't love it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Right.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I don't dislike it at all. Like, it affects me none. Like, I'm not going, oh, this is terrible. But I can't pinpoint why I don't love it. I just like it. It's fine. What I don't like is the new square boxes. I would rather have the flat pack boxes on pencils. But that's neither here nor there. Like, none of these, none of these things matter. But I will say I don't love the new logo. And I can't pinpoint it. It doesn't hit right for me. But I can't really explain why. But I don't dislike it either. Right. So.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I guess the other thing I would say is I'm not like, it's just like an interesting thing to me. I don't have like a super strong opinion one way or the other. But it doesn't like appear from their product pages that they're like donating any proceeds to anything for this edition.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I think they are because they usually do it for every edition.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Oh, they do? Oh, cool then. Yeah. Because just it would be weird to me to create something about like a very clearly political issue. Yeah. Of which there are still issues and not make a donation, you know? Yeah. I couldn't see it on the product page, but.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I'll double check. Usually they list it pretty clearly. But almost every release has some type of tie in, which is another great thing about the company as a whole. They definitely believe in that. That's great. I mean, hopefully that's the case for this one.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I would just find that personally a little bit like weird to be like we're going to make a very political statement.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And then that's that. Right. It kind of feels it would feel like profiting on it rather than honoring it and then using it as an ability to to do something. So they do not.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' They do not have a history of profiting off a thing like this. Yeah. Their history is that they will also put their money where their mouth is and their design decisions.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So it says a portion from the sales of all Blackwing products benefit the Blackwing Foundation, which funds and develops arts and music education at the K-12 level.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So they usually do separate things, though, individually. Like I think they did one for the Ravi Shankar one. I think they had a specific donation, even though that was music related as well. Right. We can look into it and see.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I don't need us to dive into it. Like if they have a history of it and I assume that they will do whatever it is they want to do, but they'll put some money to a good place. Right. That was it. But like I didn't really know about that too much because I don't pay attention to Blackwing as much. Right. But that's good because I mean, do you know what I mean? Like it would be a little weird. Right. Yeah. Because it's like we're making this political statement. Please buy our product. Thank you.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right.

'''Myke Hurley:''' You know, I feel like I would want to see some action from that, too, which is great that they are.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Yeah. They are pretty well known for their charitable endeavors. So like I have faith that they're going to do the right thing. That's why I don't look as much because I assume they're going to do the right thing because that's what they've built since the beginning.

'''Myke Hurley:''' They have a history of it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. Cool.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. So I want to talk. This is a little bit interesting businessy stationary topic. And this is the portion of the show where I fawn over Daryl from Misubi and his cheeks probably just turned red for me embarrassing him like that. But he sent out a newsletter that I just wanted to talk about newsletters in general, like retailer newsletters and how a lot of retailers could learn from Daryl. I learned a lot from Daryl. Daryl's beliefs and my beliefs in how operations should be run with utmost transparency and honesty and talking to people as if you're talking to human beings, not consumers or bank accounts. And I think what Daryl has always executed in his business has been that. And then to have this example of this newsletter that I'll be honest, it goes on and on and on. It's a very lengthy newsletter.



== Business Practices ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' I read it, although it's great.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It is, but it's the fall 2020 update. He lets you know right up front and he's like, hey, I'm not here to sell you a specific thing today. I'm giving you the State of the Union address for the fall. So buckle up. He goes into the nuts and bolts of why he exists, what decisions they're having to make as a business right now, you know, what changes affect them by not being able to go to pen shows. As he mentions in the newsletter, we should be in San Francisco right now and I should be able to launch all these new products right now. And that's a big part of my year and that's damaging to my business. So what can I do about it and how can I explain that to you, the customer, in a very human way? And I just thought what he did was really, really nice. I take a lot. Like, I don't know that I've ever, like, saved a newsletter for future reference. Like, I put a link in pinboard to this and tagged it so I can find this later to use as a reference for ideas of what a newsletter should be. Because I'm going to have to have a newsletter similar to this for Not coming up here in the next couple weeks. So I'm thinking about this a lot because we've had some changes behind the scenes at Not. And I'm going to have a product launch soon for Not. But I also have to tell the story of why we made the changes we do. So when I see things like this from a retailer just taking you through the personal notes of the decisions that they make, it means a lot to me as a business person that someone's willing to do this. And I just really appreciate it. Like, he talks specifically about, hey, our products are freaking expensive, right? And here's why they're expensive. But that's also, like, maybe one of the things that's holding us back. So here's how we're going to address that, right? Like, he knows, Daryl knows exactly what's up. And being able to translate that into a communication with your customer is so valuable that you just want to support people like this. So I just wanted to fawn over this for a minute because this is the kind of thing that gets me going. And it's a weird thing to say that a retailer's newsletter gets me hyped up. And, like, these are the things that I find important.

'''Myke Hurley:''' We'll have all special things, Brad, you know? Yeah. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So you read the whole thing. I mean, I know I rambled a lot there. Do you want to say anything about this?

'''Myke Hurley:''' My favorite part. So, like, you know, they were talking about the ways that they want to change the business to make some of their products more affordable.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And I like this part specifically. We're embarking on a concerted effort to excise FOMO or the fear of missing out from our operations. The first concrete change you'll see in this regard is the removal of special edition nomenclature across our entire product line. So the idea being that, in general, there is, like, an element of FOMO. Like, you miss out, you know, and then, oh, so I've got to buy this thing so I will miss out. But, like, at the same time, there are a lot of people that are being rightly more considerate about their money. So if they decide not to buy, now they feel like they missed out from it. And it isn't about changing the business so that they don't have limited runs. Like, they even go on to reference, like, that some products are limited, like, later on in the email. But it's changing the naming so it's less in your face constantly. So they're not called limited editions. They're just called special editions. Special edition will go away. I don't know if this will be the thing that does that. I mean, I think it might require additional tweaking because I've said this a lot in the past. Like, a name is just the name of a thing until the thing becomes that thing. So, like, it might just end up being, for that Musubi, the phrase special edition causes the same FOMO. But it's the idea of being aware of this phenomenon and actively trying to take steps to change it that I think is very admirable.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Exactly. It's the recognizing, recognition of it and the concept of it and actively working to say, maybe I could do something a little bit different so I'm not necessarily pushing these factors that might, you know, be a negative, you know, in perception or in, you know, just anything else. I just thought it was, yeah, it was excellent. That was definitely something that stood out from there. So, like, this is a template of how to do it. And I just, this seems like a weird thing to share on the podcast, but I found it so good that I could not put it in the show notes to discuss the idea and the thoughts of this. Oh, and by the way, he's got a bunch of cool new products coming out, so y'all should go check those out too. But, like, that even, this whole thing isn't, the products didn't drive me wanting to discuss this. It's the business side of things and understanding your business and understanding your place in the world and understanding the, you know, the market and, you know, being honest and straightforward and transparent in your business. I just think it's great and it's a joy to see.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' This one, next link, Myke.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's not really a link, is it?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Well, good story here. This wasn't intended to be a follow-up from me praising Daryl's business decisions. As it turns out, what was going to just be a discussion about an ink bottle is now me praising another company's business decisions. So, one of the hot items in the stationary world this past week was seeing the new Krishna ink bottles that they were going to be shipping their next batch of inks in. So, Krishna is an ink maker out of India. Very popular. They've become very popular over the past few years. They have really cool colors, cool sheening and shading properties, things like that. So, they've gotten popular. So, this image was making its rounds on the internet. So, I was like, hey, let's put this, I put it in the show notes. I like, I want to talk about this bottle because it's cool. So, I put the link in the show notes last night. And then, this morning before the show, as I'm adding a couple of other things into the show doc, Myke's got a big red flag next to the link. It says, broken link. I'm like, well, we've had this before where maybe the site was down when Myke clicked it. And, you know, it was fine when I clicked it. So, I clicked it. And sure enough, it's not there. It's like, huh. So, I scoured the Krishna site. I'm looking for this link. I was like, this is a cool ink bottle. I want to talk about it, Myke. And I couldn't find it. So, I went into the Pen Addict Slack. I was like, someone's got it linked there. I'll go find a link from the Slack room. So, I go into the Ink channel. And there's a message from Aditya of Krishna Inks. I was like, this is interesting. I can't see the image of the bottle.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And it doesn't seem to exist on the internet anymore. And now, Aditya is putting a message in the Pen Addict Slack. And I thought it was interesting. So, let me just read this. And then, we'll kind of circle back. I would like to clarify the current situation. We had purchased the beautiful bottles from a vendor who claimed they were generic in his original design. We launched them in good faith, only to find out beyond doubt this morning that they were an imitation of Gecko Design bottles. We are retracting the bottles for now in discussion with the designer to see if something can be done for the current customers. We will refund any pre-orders immediately if we are not permitted to sell these. Apologies to all of you. We would never even consider these bottles had we known they were someone else's design. Perfect. Amazing response. This is what you want to see. They were trying to do something cool. They had all their ducks in a row up until the point that they didn't. Right? So, at that point, what do you do? You come straight out with the details. You know? And I have no reason not to trust Aditya's words in this. Like, we're just there pulling it back. They've scrubbed the internet of this image because I tried to find it. I'm sure we can find it again. And I just think this is how you handle things. These are the companies you want to support when they make the decisions like this, just like I was talking about with Musubi. I didn't think I was about to talk about Krishna's business decisions in this topic. But it turns out, here we are. Just from last night to this morning, it completely changed. So, I appreciate them doing this. Now, those of you who haven't seen the ink bottle, I don't know how to correctly describe this. It basically looks like it's out of a chemistry set. It's very neat. It's taken a round ink bottle base and then attached the top of the Ackermann ink bottle off the side. I don't know how to explain it other than that. It doesn't have a base. It has legs. So, the bottle itself has legs, a little short, you know, like one, two centimeter legs and a large capacity ball shaped ink well that you tip over into the top area where you would fill, unscrew the cap and then fill your fountain pen from. So, it was a very unique look, totally chemistry set and now we can't have nice things. So, there you have it. I just thought it was interesting. Like, I just, I was all jazzed to talk about this bottle and then we turn into, hey, we can't sell that bottle because the person we were buying it from didn't tell us the whole story. So, I appreciate Krishna just coming out with that statement and they're going to figure out what to do. And there you go. We'll see if there is another cool bottle after this. But I appreciate them trying. Frustration. I appreciate it. Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Like, to be thrown into a drama that you kind of didn't really have anything to cause. Right. Frustrating. It's very frustrating.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. Yep. So, there you go. So, anyway, I just thought I appreciated how they handled that and I always want to give them a good shout out for that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' All right. This episode is also brought to you by Kenro Industries. And we are very excited to talk about their new pen. dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear dear blue, carmine red, and tuxedo charcoal. I thoroughly enjoy the names of those colors. The metal clip and accents also match the ring on the pen and the nib too in color. They have an ergonomic grip, threaded cap, and stainless steel nib in glossy rhodium or gold plating. And there are plenty of nib sizes with a cartridge and converter filler system both included in the box. And it also comes in a fabric gift box with a polishing cloth as well. The JR Pocket Pen launches worldwide on September 4th, and you can find it on our friends at penchalet, P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T dot com. That's penchalet.com is one of the places you'll be able to pick up the JR Pocket Pen. Brad, I believe you have one of these, right? I have it in my hands right now. Okay, okay.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I had the secret delivery from Kenro. I've had this for a few days. This is a perfect execution of a modern vintage style fountain pen. So building off the original J series that Estabrook made, it's not a large pen, right? So when the new Estabrook came out, when Kenro took over, you know, one of their first pens was to make the Estabrook Esty, which is a very large acrylic pen, really nothing like the historical Estabrooks, right? It was a standalone pen. It was a new Estabrook and a new design. While this pen is not like a mimic of the J, you can see a lot of the J in this pen. Number one, the size. It is a smaller pen, smaller than the Estys. If the Estys are too big for you or the Camdens are too big for you, this is going to be your pen. It's got a very sleek barrel. When it's uncapped, the grip section has a concave, you know, grip section. It fits your hand well. It's very light. It's very sleek. When it's uncapped, it feels a lot like the J does in feel. Just, it kind of really imitates that feel and style and build and size of that classic pen. I have the Capri Blue mic, which is like a blue swirled acrylic with gold trim. If you went to a fountain pen show and you saw like a full tray of probably these three colors, this one, the red one, and the black one, you would think someone had found like a new old stock, like set of vintage pens. They really do have that vintage look. The cap has a little bit taper that looks like the J. The clip is probably the most telling homage to the J. It's got the same stripes on the clip that the J had in the past. You know, that's the closest thing this current J has to the old one. So like, I noticed that immediately. It's like, oh, the clip design is perfect. Like it's the perfect match. So I think this pen is going to do very, very well for what Kenro has tried to do with this, you know, re-imagining of the J. So it's the JR because it's the J re-imagined, right? It's the modern version of what, if Estabrook was building the J today, what would it look like? And I think they kind of nailed the idea of what they're going to do here. And I think they executed it very well. I'm really, really enjoying this pen because I like this size of pen a lot. Size and weight perspective, it reminds me a lot of the Pelican 2 series and 4 series pens. Like that's the size and scale we're talking about here. You know, that size of Pelican, it's around that size, that weight. And, and you know, that's one of my favorite pens already. So this is, this is right in line with that. I think it's fantastic. And I think it's going to do really well. I can't wait until I can finally share pictures of these at 1201 Eastern on Friday, because no one gets to see this pen except me until then. So y'all go check them out. Y'all go check them out.

'''Myke Hurley:''' You send me a picture. I want to see. And if you want to see those images as well, don't forget to follow the Estabrook pens account on Instagram. It's Estabrook underscore official. It's obviously going to be a great place to see the image of this wonderful new pen. And I want to thank camera industries for helping us for supporting the show and for allowing us to help them launch their new JR pocket pen, which you can find over at Pen Chalet. Our thanks to Ken Rowe for their support of this show and Relay FM.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. A little more pen talk today. Myke, do we have time for me to hit a few more pretty quick topics and then we'll call it a day, but we have some things to talk about. Yep. Retro 51 escape. Are you in or out?



== Recent Releases ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Well, I don't think I can get in. Can I?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I don't know. That's a question. Pen Chalet. It's all sold out, it seems. So what did I write in the show doc for this? Will this sell out before the show? And what's the answer?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Which is a shame, really, because I saw this link and I sent it to Stephen. Uh-huh. Because I knew he would love it. Resident space guru. Yeah. And it was sold out and he was bummed out about it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So this is, uh, and man, it's, it's orange, it's NASA, it's space shuttly. It's, uh, what is this supposed to be? The escape pod type of design? Like, what are we, what it's, I don't know what the story is here. Oh, I don't know, man. I thought it was like, I don't know. It's like, they sell out, yeah, they sell out so fast you can't even read the story. Yeah. So congrats to all of you who now have the escape and, you know, maybe retro could, should consider staying in business seeing that they execute these pins so well and, you know, they sell out so fast. Like it's September, Myke. I think that's when that, like the original letter is like, yeah, we're going to be winding down around September. It's September now. So I guess we're going to have to see what happens, but I mean, they keep kind of doing what they do really, really well and I just don't want it to stop. It was, that's all.

'''Myke Hurley:''' The fact that they, I wished, honestly, I wished that they'd like just churned out really crap products the last six months, right? Just like real, like just bad pens. So, you know, it can like taper us off a bit, but they're going out with like a real bang. It's just like hit after hit.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. The 30th anniversary edition. Did you get that one? The pearlescent?

'''Myke Hurley:''' I didn't. I saw that there was one for like a six figure number on eBay, which is so ridiculous.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. It was a joke. It was sent to me. Someone put up the 30th anniversary tornado, the rollerball model for $100,000 on eBay, just kind of as a joke because it had some, it had some joke in the comment and the underlying thing. Right. But yeah, it's, it's kind of hilarious, but yeah. Another job well done that is gone before we even get to talk about it. Just like the submarine one from a week or two ago. It's just like, boof, they're just, they're gone. They, they have a thing and I don't want it to go away. All right. Something that is not going away, Myke. I want to give a special shout out to my friend, Joshua Daniel Danley at the Pelican's Perch. One of the best stationary blogs, one of the best blogs period on the internet. Joshua does so much research and has so much knowledge about Pelican that I hope he writes a book one day. I hope that's in his, in his head. Um, I think he could execute a Pelican book, um, unlike anyone else that I know. And it's his sixth anniversary of the Pelican's Perch. Uh, this week, he's running a contest where you can win one of the new Pelican M205 Moonstone fountain pens, which we spoke about last week, which I think I'm going to have to purchase. It looks really, really great. So if you're not following, subscribing and reading Joshua's blog on the regular, you need to change that. It's genuinely, even if you're not a Pelican fan, if you're a stationary fan, you can learn so much just about, he talks about the operations of Pelican and the history of the brand and the stories that the factories had to tell. It's not just like new product release after new product release, which he covers as well, but it's interspersed with these historical pieces, these research pieces, and he does it better than anyone else. So congratulations, Joshua. And I implore everyone to go read the Pelican's Perch. Um, every time a new post appears, you put in something to the show notes. I, I, I guess I'm prepared for seeing that I wrote the article, but you know, I just wasn't necessarily prepared to talk about it on this, but we, we probably should because it's a regular occurrence on this show that I talk about the Y studio brassing fountain pen.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yep. And you finally reviewed it, which you mentioned this, um, in the refill newsletter that you write refill. Yep. And you mentioned like, Oh, I've never actually reviewed the Y studio brassing pen, which seems like it's actually not possible. Right. Uh, but yeah, like you've written the review finally.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's one of those things. And I explained it in the review that was like, Oh, I have this pen. I love it. I should review it. And then I don't review it immediately, but I just keep using it. And then I keep using it and using it. And then you get to this point where there's this transition to where I've used this product so much. I've reviewed it. Like I've certainly reviewed this pen in the past. And then someone will ask me about it to link it because I talk about it so much. Can you link me the review? Then I'll go search. And I was like, wait, I haven't actually.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's like, this just feels like a full-gone conclusion. Like, so I'll spoil for refill, which is a great newsletter that people should subscribe to. Where should they go to subscribe to it, Brad? Penentic.com slash members. You also mentioned you've never reviewed, uh, the King of Pen.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Um, yes. So I ink that up and I don't think I'll do that for Monday, but I might do it for the following Monday. Like it is staying inked until I reviewed it and use until I review it. So that is going to come very, very soon. And it'll be the, my first King of Pen, which is the sky, which is, yeah, it's my favorite. It's my favorite. I have four King of Pens. It's still my favorite. So I'm going to review that one coming up soon because again, I talk about it so much. I need to have a place to send people for my collected thoughts because the King of Pen is a complex thought process pen for me, right? It's not easy or straightforward to discuss the King of Pen. Yeah. Um, the Y studio brassing portable fountain pen is a little bit more straightforward, but under the lens of it being a very unique pen, right? It's a very different style of pen, very unique pen. Um, and it's just something I completely enjoy and would not want to be without this pen ever. Like it's just that good for me, but it's absolutely not for everybody. So I was glad I was finally able to do it. I had to go count like what you put in the show doc. I had to go count how many Y studio product reviews I had done. And I'd done six other Y studio products, but never my single favorite. It kind of is. And I actually went back to find the receipt of when I bought this. I was like, how long have I had this pen and raved about it and not review it. And I bought it in November, 2016. So we're going on four years here pretty soon. And I never reviewed a pen that I just talk about. And I, this pen has made an appearance in like all the other Y studio reviews, right? Because it's that cool of a pen, but it's never been reviewed. So I just found that whole thing funny. So finally, we have a link to the portable fountain pen, Brassing, portable fountain pen from Y studio. One of my personal favorite pens that you'll never find on any top five list unless it says Brad's favorite pens.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And then you also put something in the, in the document here called the wing back.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I want to talk about this. This is hot off the presses for me. So I've gotten some wing back pens before they did a Kickstarter last year. They do a portable EDC type of pen and it's a shorter configuration pen with a twist knurling on the top twist knob and a knurled grip. And they did a brass one last year. They did a whole set of brass pens that I really, really love. They sent them, sent one to me. I enjoyed it. I think I reviewed, yeah, I reviewed it on the blog. So you can go back if you're curious about this, but what they've done this time is they've done, um, what do they call on this plating on this? It's not, I want to like, I immediately go to PVD, but that's not right. It's tungsten carbide over stainless steel. So what this is, is this black coating over a stainless steel barrel pen that makes it pretty much indestructible from a scratching, dinging and denting, uh, perspective. So I like the size of this pen. It's on Kickstarter right now. Um, it's only got a few hours left. Like by the time you listen to this, it might be over. So, but just check out what wing back does their UK company, Myke, they're in London. Um, they make really cool stuff. I'm highly tempted by this flask that they're selling as part of this. So they have a, uh, a key cash, which is like a little key chain holder that you can put like little notes in. Um, like if you lose your keys, you can have your note in it on and they have a flask and they have the pen all with this tungsten carbide coating. I have the pen in my hand right now. And the reason why we're just talking about this show is because I was just able to pick it up on Monday.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So it's kind of funny really that like the image of the flask, they're just pouring like whiskey into it. That's not what I would have expected, but all right.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's all, it's not a big flask. It's only a hundred milliliters. So, right. So it's more of like a fancy hip flask than it's not. It's not like a coffee flask at all. Right. Like I would put coffee in it. Oh, they actually call it a hip flask.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And it actually has a bottle opener on the bottom, which is kind of hilarious.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yes. This is definitely a booze, booze flask, not a caffeine flask, but it doesn't look like a booze flask though.

'''Myke Hurley:''' No. Which could end up with people finding themselves in some funny situations, I guess.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yes. But if you like really pay attention to the sizing of it and the pictures, you can tell it's not very large. Yeah. So it, but it's beautiful. Like it's stunning. Like that's the thing I want to back. Like if I didn't have the pen, um, which I, I do. Yay me. Um, that flask is kind of calling my name. I'm going to, it's very expensive. So let me just get that out there. All of these products with the coating on there, the, the wing back, I think the brass one last year was around 90 or a hundred pounds. I want to say when it launched and this one with the coating is more like 140 pounds. So these are expensive pens, but like, this is, this is your long-term purchase EDC type pen. If you're into this type of thing, I can vouch for that. For the quality and the style and the feel. It's very EDC. It's very good. It's very EDC. Yeah. It's a, it's a me type of pen, not necessarily like a you type of pen. Like. I don't think it's a me pen. No, no. Not at all.

'''Myke Hurley:''' What refill goes in the pen?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So Parker style, they ship it with the Fisher space pen, of course, because that's what you do for EDC. Right? Yeah. But it's your Parker style. So I'll have to see if the jet stream can fit. They do a, uh, interesting thing with, um, a lot of these Parker style refills. If you'll notice a lot, and a lot of people don't, um, they have kind of like a, this little cap thing on the back, this little rubber cap. And some of the pens, like this just fits the Fisher space pen without that cap space on it. So it's not going to fit necessarily any of your other Parker style refills. It may only fit the Fisher space pens without the plastic Parker refill extension, which people who understand that statement will know exactly what I mean. So it might only fit these Fisher space phone refills. When I look at the hardware that they use, like it's a custom built, uh, twist mechanism for this.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That'd be a shame.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But it's cool. Like I am down with this pen. I love the style. I love the feel. Um, yeah, I'll, I'll shoot it up on the Instagram later.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Brad's Instagram, by the way, is Instagram.com slash pen addict. That's where you can go for that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Best, best username ever.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It is. It's better than your Twitter username, which is Dowdyism, D-O-W-D-Y-I-S-M. You should try harder to get pen addict.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I've offered the guy money. I know. He will not take my money. I've left him alone for like two years now. I'm not going to bother him. I'm just, you know, we're just going to hope one day that it falls into my hands and I doubt it will.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Trying to do that stuff is not as wild. Like the relay at relay FM is a suspended account, right? We have a trademark on the name, which apparently is what you are, what you need to claim a name that is suspended, right? But Twitter just won't, they won't do it. They won't give it to us. We've tried a bunch of times.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So it's not super worth it. I have a pen underscore addict, which is the feed feed on Twitter, you know, the RSS feed feed. So Dowdyism is fine. It will live on. And if I ever somehow get at pen addict, I'll swap it over, but I'm not too concerned about it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' You go to pen addict.com, knock.co, spoke design.com. That's where you can find all of Brad's great writing and products. You mentioned something coming from knock.co. Is there a place people should be keeping their eye on? Should they subscribe to the newsletter? Like what do you want to do?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Subscribe to the newsletter and hit the Instagram. So at knock.co, N-O-C-K-C-O. And then on at knock.co.com, we have a newsletter link. Just click sign up for that. And hopefully we'll have news here in the next one to two weeks max. Like it's got to get done.

'''Myke Hurley:''' All right. You can find links and information about this episode by going to relay.fm slash pen addict slash four to six. If you want to find me online, I'm I'm Ike. I am Y-K-E. And don't forget, go to stjude.org slash relay where you can donate to St. Jude Children's Cancer Research Hospital for the month. September, which is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. And we'll be back next time. Thanks to Canalea and Kenro for the support of this week's episode. Until next time. Say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.

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