The Pen Addict 376/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	376
Title:	The Best Worst Case Scenario
Release Date:	September 11th, 2019
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	Adina Hurley
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 376
Audio File:	Audio Episode 376
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 376
Length:	7474 min <br />1.233 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Sponsors

Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 376, and today's show is brought to you by Away, Pen Chalet, and Harry's. My name is Myke Hurley, I am joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi Brad Dowdy.

Brad Dowdy: Hello Myke Hurley, how are you today?

Myke Hurley: I'm very good, we threatened that it would happen, and it has happened. Idina Hurley is back to join us again today. Hi Idina.

Adina Hurley: Hi, so nice to be back.

Myke Hurley: We had lots of guests recently, and they're all great guests, many returning guests, but we figured it made sense to bring Idina back on the show to talk about not just her pen show experience, but now having owned more particular and specific types of products, how she's been using them over the last few weeks. It's a good way to round out the conversation we had before the San Francisco Pen Show, so we'll be talking about that a little later on in today's episode.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, we left that very open-ended, and people were very anxious to inquire with us, well, what happened? What did Idina do? Did she have fun? What did she buy? So what better reason than to, yeah, for sure, for sure. So we will handle all that today, and I cannot wait. Like, I was part of it, but still hearing Idina now that she's had time to spend with some of the things she came home with and is further away from the trip and to hear all about it, I can't wait.

Adina Hurley: Yeah, happy to share everything.

Myke Hurley: But we do, talking about sharing, the Backers vlog is completed. So what is so funny to you? I'm so embarrassed. Why?

Myke Hurley: I can't believe that I shot all that vertical video. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: I didn't even realize it. Like, I didn't even realize it till you told me that, and I was like, oh, no. I did, didn't I?

Myke Hurley: So what happened was, so yes, the Backers vlog is available. If you're a Kickstarter backer, you get an email which has a link to a video that you can watch, and it's kind of the escapades of not just the pen show, but everything in San Francisco. So I got a bunch of footage from the Relay FM big live show and stuff, so you can go and check all that out. But there was a point during the show where Brad was going to take Idina around and they were going to do this. He was basically going to show her everything, tell her everything, you know, like all of the information that I didn't know that Brad could impart.

Brad Dowdy: The personal pen show tour.

Backers Vlog

Myke Hurley: Exactly, which is a limited but very special experience if you are so lucky as to get to have one of these. And Brad said to me, can I take your phone to take pictures, which is something that he does at every show. So Brad has to leave his phone with me so I can process credit card transactions because I'm looking after the knock table. So he takes my phone and usually would take pictures for the refill newsletter. But I said to him, great, can you also take some video for the vlog for me because I haven't really been able to shoot a bunch of the tables. And he's like, yeah, no problem. And so Brad comes back with a bunch of video, which is really great, but it was all portrait video, not vertical video as I would have needed for a vlog. Brad was in that sweet, sweet Instagram mindset.

Brad Dowdy: I was actually, you know, I was in the Adina mindset. I was doing this for her. And did she ask for portrait video?

Myke Hurley: Like what's the situation?

Brad Dowdy: No, no, no, no. I was doing the tour for her. The video was not my primary thought.

Myke Hurley: Right.

Brad Dowdy: So I was making sure that she had a good time and, you know, we had fun going all around the show and talking to friends and learning about things. And it just never crossed my mind even once. And I would have just assumed that I did it correctly. You know, just doing it just by nature. I do that and nope. And I didn't even realize till that night, I think, or even later when you didn't even look at the videos. It might even been days later. You might even been home or back in the hotel or something. And it was like, oh, no, I totally did. So like I couldn't make it up to you even.

Myke Hurley: And yeah, but it worked out fine because then I got to in the video, I got to build a little frame that I put around them that just says Brad cam. So everybody knew that it wasn't me that was responsible for the vertical video.

Brad Dowdy: I really I laughed at that. It was funny. I if you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at?

Adina Hurley: But I can confirm Brad's attention was all focused on me. And he has been really nice to me to tell me to show me all of the products, tell me the stories behind them. And we had really good chats. So I'm sorry, Myke, for distracting Brad, really.

Myke Hurley: It's not me. You have to apologize. Oh, and it is the thousands of people who backed the Kickstarter campaign with their real money to get that video.

Adina Hurley: Oh, dear. I apologize.

Brad Dowdy: That's all right. They got to look at a sticker head of myself to to make fun of me while I was doing it, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I also enjoyed the cut of me answering the pin question. Yeah. In Relay Feud. That was perfect. I just I just giggled and giggled. I just I don't know. That was such a fun, fun time.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, because we had the video, right, of the Relay FM Family Feud. And I figured that when I was showing like the stuff that I'd shot at the Family Feud event, like I was thinking to myself, oh, rather than just showing what I've shot, why don't I put a clip in of the actual video for people that don't really know what I was setting up at this event? And then I thought, well, why don't I actually just clip Brad's answer to the question that was made for Brad? So I did that and put that in there as well.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I still have nightmares about if I was the the leader for that question. I really do.

Myke Hurley: You would have said like Sailor or something.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, I would have said I probably would have gone with Retro 51. Right.

Myke Hurley: To be quite honest. Right.

Brad Dowdy: And I would have never heard the end of it. And rightfully so. And I'm just so thankful that we sat in the order that we did. And the question came up that it did.

Myke Hurley: Because you would have 100% with that answer lost the answer for your team. Unless the person that you were answering against answered even worse. But that seems unlikely.

Brad Dowdy: Right. Right. 100% would have lost that. So I'm very grateful that I was not on the buzzer for that one.

Myke Hurley: Brad, what is the Moonman M2 transparent demonstrator?

Brad Dowdy: Myke, let me tell you all about it. Actually, I'll let Jeff Abbott, who writes for The Pen Addict, tell all about you. Our review just went up as we recorded this podcast. And this is a pen I've heard about for probably two years now. At least a year and a half. So Baltimore in 2018.

Brad Dowdy: So I got to meet Frank Underwater, who writes a wonderful blog. We'll put a link in the show notes to that. And he brought me a bunch of pens. He writes a lot about Chinese pens. And this was one that he had found and brought to me. And it's just kind of a fascinating looking pen. Right. It's a kind of a not full length torpedo shaped clear, like crystal clear demonstrator fountain pen. And it's highly photogenic. And it's very high quality. And it works really well. And the nibs are awesome. And I say all this to tell you that it's $20. Like it's an inexpensive pen. And people have been wanting me to review it for, you know, ever since then. Frank's been wanting to give me one. And I finally got a hold of one. Well, I mean, I finally got one from Goldspot who sent it to me. And, again, like, you know, things get lost in the queue a little bit for reviews. And I, you know, asked Jeff to say, hey, can you take on this review for me? And he pretty much laughed at me at the end. Like when he submitted this review, he's like, I can't believe how much I enjoy this pen. And I did all of this without ever looking at the link to see how much it cost. And then it freaked out. So it's just one of those pens that you see it. Now you know what it is and you can recognize it. And it's kind of one of those pens who people should just have if they're like more of an advanced fountain pen user, right? This isn't your starter pen, even though it's $20 to purchase. You know, it's made to be eyedroppered. And that's kind of not your beginner experience that you want to give to somebody.

Myke Hurley: It comes with a pretty fancy looking pipette.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, yeah. It's like a little glass dropper that you use to fill it up with. And it's just kind of a fascinating pen because in our market, like the scope, and I don't mean like the U.S. market. I mean like in the pen addict market, like it just appeared, you know, out of nowhere, out of thin air. No one knew who this company was. And then boom, they make this cool pen that's $20 that looks great and functions great. And you can see all the ink sloshing around in there. It's just a good, fun pen that a lot of pen addicts enjoy. And I'm late to that bandwagon and I get it now. Like I can totally see it. I could see it just in the way Jeff was talking to me offline about it. Not even in his review, which he raved about it. But just the way he was talking to me about it behind the scenes. He's like, it's kind of like one of those things like I don't get it. Like I don't get how this happens and it's really good. And it's a good value. And yeah, I love it. He loves it. And I see why it's been so popular. And so many people have been wanting me to take a look at it. On top of that, I'm giving one away next week. So I got two of them.

Myke Hurley: Fancy. Yeah. I haven't tried one. I've just seen your, well, I've seen Jeff's images. Jeff's very nice images, actually. Jeff's very good at that.

Brad Dowdy: He's speaking of which, I know I keep hijacking you, but I've asked him to work on a pen photography post for me because he does such a good job. And you want to learn from him? Yeah, no joke. We've talked about it before.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. What do you think I think about the looks of this pen? I think you love it. Except?

Brad Dowdy: The band. Yes. Yeah. I mean, it's glaring. It was good that Jeff used a red ink because you don't see it as much. I don't know that if he did that on purpose.

Myke Hurley: It's not the red that bothers me as much as the just...

Brad Dowdy: The text.

Myke Hurley: Basic script Moon Man printed on the side. Sure. You know that kind of stuff bothers me. I always feel like if a company is going to put its branding on a pen, it has to be done tastefully and the branding has to actually look good. And that is not achieved with this. But it's only $20. So what are you going to do? Right? I'm not going to roast it like I would other pens like Cough Cough Visconti. But this is fine for a $20 pen.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And I get where you're coming from. And this one doesn't phase me. Would I prefer it not to be there? Sure. Yeah. But this one is fine by me. It vanishes in use. I don't notice it as much. And like Jeff says, it's the perfect platform to colorize and anodize and change the... It would be cool if you could even sell different barrel bands with it to match the color of the ink that you're using. It's a very simple thing. I don't mind it, but you're drawn to it immediately. I get it.

Theme System Journal

Myke Hurley: I wanted to give a couple of updates on the Theme System Journal.

Myke Hurley: It's currently in stock. It will not be in stock for very long. We are 87% sold out of our 10x restock. So we saw...

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, you had a waiting list. There was a waiting list built from the last time. So everyone's transitioning through that. Everyone that was on the list got the notification. And I'm sure 90% of those people purchased. So it's going. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: It blew up for a couple of days. It was pretty wild.

Myke Hurley: At some point in the future, I'm going to share more about numbers. But there is one number that I'll give you, Brad, which is just kind of fun. Because my contacts at Cotton Bureau were very excited. But for the first couple of hours, we were selling 30 a minute. Oh, nice. Which was wild.

Brad Dowdy: I'm sure they were. I'm sure... I don't know if they probably... It maybe wasn't on their radar that morning before it went live. Then they probably had to go... Oh, no. They knew. I didn't know.

Myke Hurley: I just said to them, put it up once you've checked them. They put it up. And then a couple of hours later, I got a bunch of messages from my contact there. And they were like, oh, it's going crazy. Good. I'm so excited for you. There's a very small amount left. And there will be probably no more stock until the end of the year. Because it basically has... It's like the best worst case scenario that there can be. Which is that we sold them. But I think I've mentioned this on the show before. Like, I now just have no stock again. And then have to go through this process again of reordering them. And then waiting for months for them to come in. So, I'm still trying to judge demand. And it's very complicated. And it's just like I'm weighing over my head about this kind of stuff. But I'm trying to learn as I go along. And I'm lucky to work with talented people who can help guide me through this process.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Round three, you will actually have stock. That's pretty much how it rolls. Yeah. Especially because we're going to... You'll have to a stock point.

Myke Hurley: We're going to order more again. So... Right. We're going to make another multiple change. This won't be 10x this time. Maybe it'll be like two times the amount. Because I want to keep stock for like a few months. So I can actually work on an updated version. Right? So I want to try that out. And also, the themesystem.com now exists as a place. Oh, good. Where you can go and get instructions about how to use the journal. And I'm hoping to... Once... What I would love you to do, Brad, at some point is once you've kind of taken in my instructions and started working on it, I would love some example photos to post on our website. Okay.

Brad Dowdy: Because that's what I've been waiting for. I was going to ask you, but I didn't know if I was allowed to ask you. So make sure that goes into the show notes. Yep. The themesystem.com.

Myke Hurley: That's the place that you can go now. Cool. Cool. I'm ready. I've been waiting.

Brad Dowdy: I've been holding off until that point. So now I'll be ready to get into it.

Brad Dowdy: Perfect. Perfect. Hey, real quick before we hit our first sponsor. I forgot to mention in our backer vlog section, I am still shipping the Burton pin cases. We're shipped through order 450, which that's about halfway through. So a few more weeks and we'll have them all out there. But I can ship in pretty big batches these days. So I'll probably have another 100, 150 out this weekend, something like that. So just a quick update I forgot to mention.

Away Travel

Myke Hurley: All right. Today's episode is brought to you by Away. Away create thoughtful products designed to change how you see the world. They started with the perfect suitcase and now they offer a range of essentials that solve real travel problems. Their luggage is loaded with features. The Away carry on comes in an array of colors in two sizes and two materials. It's lightweight, durable and made to last for a lifetime of travel. They have four 360 degree spinner wheels to guarantee a smooth ride and come with an optional ejectable battery to keep your devices charged. And the bigger carry on is sized up to make the most of the overhead bin. Away suitcases are designed to last a lifetime. You get a 100 day trial on everything plus free shipping within the US, Europe and Australia. We are big Away fans in this household, Brad, like you are in yours. We just took delivery of two suitcases that we bought ourselves. Away have been very kind to send me some of the carry ons in the past. But I needed to upgrade my suitcase. I wanted like an actual... I got the big one. You know, like the big one, the large that you have.

Brad Dowdy: I know the big one.

Myke Hurley: And I got it in a really lovely color. It's... What is the name of the color? It's like this lovely blue color that I got. Coast, I think was the name of the color that I went with. And I also, I recently took an Away carry on in place of a backpack. Like so on a big trip, I took my suitcase and my carry on where I'd usually take a backpack and I would use my carry on for shorter trips. But I took my carry on so I didn't have to carry things because I have a fractured spine right now. And so I realized that is the way to live. And I found that Away make a relatively new product called the daily carry on, which is it's kind of the capacity is the same, but it's built slightly differently with much more compartments to be used for this exact purpose. Like to be the only thing that you take with you when you're maybe on a... Like to take onto a plane with you or whatever, right? Like it is the companion bag to the bigger bag. And it's got like a bunch of like removable organization stuff in it as well. But I love it and we're going to be using it when we travel to Memphis next week and I'm very excited.

Brad Dowdy: Nice. I need to check that out for myself.

Myke Hurley: It's really awesome. So you can get $20 off of a suitcase of your own by going to awaytravel.com slash penaddict and using the promo code penaddict during checkout. That is awaytravel.com slash penaddict and the promo code penaddict during checkout. Our thanks to Away for their support of this show and Relay FM.

St Jude Donations

Brad Dowdy: Should I talk about St. Jude? I would love you to. So I can... That allows me to talk about them as well.

Myke Hurley: Wonderful. So we are raising money for St. Jude this month, which we're super excited about. We have raised $57,172 so far. We are 76% of the way to our $75,000 goal. I'm super, super excited about that. Let me tell you why this is important. September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. You can join St. Jude Research Hospital this September and Relay FM as well with organizations such as the World Health Organization who are committed to transforming cancer care with the goal of curing at least 60% of children worldwide with six of the most common cancers by 2030. With your support, you will help St. Jude stay true to its life-saving mission, finding cures and saving children. Donate to support childhood cancer around the world at stjude.org slash penaddict. Once again, that is stjude.org slash penaddict to donate now.

Brad Dowdy: So I put in my donation this month, actually. Thank you very much for that.

Myke Hurley: That's very kind of you. Oh, sure, sure. And the penaddict members?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, for sure. So that's something that the penaddict members are used to me doing. And like every quarter, I donate $250. It just so happened that $250 happened to be a magic number for you on this campaign, Michael. What happens at the $250 amount? I love the people laughing at this. Oh, I've been seeing it here.

Myke Hurley: Everybody who donates $250. So for every $250 donation, I remove a sticker from one of my devices and Stephen adds a sticker to one of his.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, you got the wrong end of this deal.

Myke Hurley: Because I was not, it was never, it was, this was like a thing that was mentioned. It was just mentioned. And I was like, oh, interesting. And then Stephen just tweeted it. So now it's a part of my life. Currently, at my last count, I was like 53 stickers down. There's way more. Oh, my God. I'm doing it in batches. So like every few days or whatever, Stephen will count it up, tell me the number, and then I'll start. So my 12.9 inch iPad has no stickers on it anymore. My 11 inch, 50% of them are gone. I will lose probably all the stickers from the 11 and then probably from my MacBook Pro as well before we get to the podcast-a-thon.

Brad Dowdy: When I see pictures of these, I feel the tears coming through the imagery.

Myke Hurley: They can't be fixed. They're gone forever.

Brad Dowdy: There's no, I mean, you're of course happy to do this for St. Jude's. Well, I'm happy to have money raised for St. Jude's. Yeah, but the process that you're having to live through right now, I can feel the pain when I see those images. But hey, it's for a good cause. It's for a good cause. Yeah. I'm finding, as someone not part of this, I'm finding it thoroughly enjoyable to watch.

Myke Hurley: I will say though, personally, I think that there is a special place in the afterlife for the people that donate $249. There are quite a few of those. I noticed that. Those people. I noticed that. Those people, they are kind people. People that have donated multiple $250 donations. I don't know. I don't know about you. I don't know about you. But thank you so much to everyone. I mean, I will do it. I'm doing it, right? Like, I'm going to keep doing it. Yep. Thank you to everybody that's donated. I mentioned Podcast-a-thon next Friday, September 20th. I will be in Memphis, Tennessee, broadcasting live from the St. Jude campus for six hours as part of the RelayFM Podcast-a-thon for St. Jude. I'm going to be putting in the show notes a link to a Twitch event so you can see that and so you can see what time it will be in your local time zone. But it's going to be at 4 p.m. Eastern time on September 20th for six hours. And we've got a bunch of fun stuff planned. So you'll be able to come and hang out with us as we try and cross our goal and push for more. We're working with the wonderful team at Olsak and St. Jude to come up with some wonderful things that we're going to be working on. I'm so excited to be able to do this.

Brad Dowdy: Awesome. Definitely more to come as we wrap up this great fundraising month for St. Jude. Yep. All right. I know everyone's, like, tired of hearing me and you talk before we talk to Adina. But I got a couple of quick things I want to hit if that's okay.

Myke Hurley: Don't ask me. Is that okay with you?

Adina Hurley: Yep. Yep. I want to hear about it. All right. Great.

Wingback Pen

Brad Dowdy: First one is the Wingback Mechanical Pen, which I only bring up not just because I reviewed it Monday, but because people have been inquiring about it. It's a new Kickstarter project, but it's from a company that's done, I think this is their fifth campaign. I mean, mostly, like, lifestyle items. You know, they've done wallets and, you know, other carry accessories and, you know, very EDC type of style. UK company, by the way. And they worked on this pen. They sent me a prototype. I've had it for a while. I've really enjoyed this pen. It's unique in the fact that it's shorter than most of the other machine pens I owned. It's kind of like, if anyone listening back, the machine era twist pen, it's like the same size as that. So it's a good carry size if it's good in the pocket. It's a brass pen with knurling on the grip and knurling on the twist section, which I really enjoy the knurling on the twist. The knurling on the grip is a little aggressive, and I've mentioned that to them as far as feedback goes. You know, they won't take my word for it, but, you know, I just felt like it was worth pointing out. It's a very strong knurling, which we've talked about before, how I kind of, I'm a knurling fan, but, like, there's a wide range of what is good and what is not so good knurling. And the only kind of hang-up that I have, not personally, but from just, like, widely recommending this pen, it's built specifically for the Fisher Space Pen. And you have to be even more specific when saying that, because the Fisher Space Pen, if you buy a refill, it ships with the added, like, kind of Parker plug, like, the little white cap you put on the end of the pen to extend it to Parker length. It doesn't allocate for that in the barrel of the pen, which is also why it's shorter, right? Yeah. So, it fits, like, the mechanism is machined to fit around the back end of that refill and that refill only. So, like, that's your option. Like, to me, it doesn't matter because I like that refill, but I can see that being a hang-up for others. It's pretty limiting. Just something to point out.

Myke Hurley: It's pretty limiting. Especially when, like, there are other pens and, like, there are other refills in that kind of size range, right? Yep. So, it's interesting to have made that choice as they have.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. Yep. So, overall, I'm happy with it. I went ahead and backed it because they offer stainless steel, which I prefer.

Myke Hurley: And they have a bunch of, like, artist versions where they're etching this wonderful artwork into them, which is kind of cool.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. That's what really has me paying attention. Like, I love the artwork on this one. I just want it plain stainless for my first one. If they do something, if, like, they keep on this path of doing this cool stuff. And they sent me some pictures of some of the other artist models. I may end up with one of those down the line. We'll see how it goes. But, yeah, very happy with it so far. So, I just wanted to add some context to the review this week.

Nib Grinders

Brad Dowdy: The second topic I wanted to get to real quick is the years-long question that we've had on the show about, hey, who is a nib grinder I can use in the European market? And I think maybe we have an answer. I haven't talked to her yet. But for some reason, I follow her on Twitter. And it's strings and pedals on Twitter. And I went and looked. And I happen to follow her. So, Annabelle, her tagline is she's an artist, a goldsmith, and a nib specialist. And the reason why her post came up in my feed, which, you know, I get Instagram algorithm out of seeing so many things. But this one, for some reason, rose to the top because it was her show schedule for the rest of the fall and winter where she's going to the shows in Europe to do nib work. And I was like, okay, this is interesting. Then I clicked the link. And she has a nice website and takes work online. So, I think we might actually have an answer to all of our European listeners who have been pining for someone that they can talk to and send their pens to for nib work. So, this looks really, really cool. She does work on the side for Apple. Yeah, she does like one day a week there for them. Like, she's in school. Like, I've been reading all her stuff because I was fascinated. It was like, how did I follow her yet miss all of the context around actually following her, right? So, this looks great. I bet now that maybe hopefully we've mentioned it, someone will reach out and who hears this say, oh, yeah, I've had some experience with her at X-Pen Show. And she did a great job. So, I bet we'll start hearing that from the community. But yes, we'll have a link to her website, opusscenaris.com. And you can look. And she offers nib services online in the European market. And thank you, Annabelle, for existing, for doing this, for putting your...

Myke Hurley: Sorry for us just going ahead and doing this and maybe blowing up your inbox. But let's just... Oh, yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. I didn't speak to her or anything. I didn't drop her an email. But because I just found this yesterday. It's just, you know, Instagram algorithms are what they are. But I'm glad this one popped to the top of my feed. And then I was like, oh, I should follow her. And I was like, wait, I already do. So, how have I not seen this before? So, there you go.

Myke Hurley: All right. Before we start grilling, Adina, for all the money she spent at the San Francisco Pen Show. Let's get everybody in the pen-buying mood and talk about our friends over at Pen Chalet. They sell everything you're looking for. And they have all of your favorite brands. Whether you want a rollerball from Lamy or you want a fountain pen from Pilot. Whether you want a Sailor or a Kaweco or a Namiki. No matter what it is, mechanical pencils might be what you're up to next. Pen Chalet have them. They have carrying cases and refills. Found to pen converters and pen holders. They're always adding new styles of pen every single month. And Pen Chalet believe in fast and reliable service. They're doing special discounts all the time. They have closeout specials as well. Pen Chalet want to give you high quality pens at low prices. And they back it up with that 100% satisfaction guarantee. They sell internationally. They have great shipping rates. I've bought from Pen Chalet a bunch of times myself personally. But if you're in the US and you spend over $50, which probably isn't that difficult to do, you will get free shipping. So go to penchalet.com, P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T.com and click the podcast link at the top of the website and enter the password penaddict for this week's special offer. And to get the code that you need to save 10% on anything at any time, over at Pen Chalet. Brad, what have we got on deck from Ron this week?

Brad Dowdy: We got three standouts. I mean, the list is always too long to talk about everything, but three standouts in my mind. Number one is the Opus 88 Omar, which is the large size, large capacity Omos eyedropper that gets really good reviews. They've done a really good job with their eyedropper fountain pens, kind of new to our market overall. So that's a great pen, great deal. If you're a big spender, the Parker Dual Fold Centennial is a really, really nice pen. I have one of these and it's kind of glorious, but it is kind of pricey. So if you're looking for a deal on one of those, this is the place to go. And then on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, I'll talk about this every time he pops this on here is the Pilot Ageless Ballpoint Pen. It has this unique click mechanism. It's a real pocket friendly pen and it's one of my favorite just pens to have to carry around. And it's at a price you don't normally get them at, which is kind of Ron's middle name.

Myke Hurley: Whilst going to the website to look along with you, I saw something that is new. It's an exclusive Retro 51 called the Retro 51 Typewriter.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. We can't escape without talking about this. It is fantastic looking. Yeah. It's a custom made just for pen chalet. And it's really, really exceptionally well done. And I know people have already started to receive theirs and it's just fantastic. It's just, I mean, it's everything you would expect if you said a vintage typewriter and a pen, they delivered on it.

Pen Chalet Deals

Myke Hurley: They sure did. So go right now, penchalet.com. Click that podcast link at the top of the website and enter the password pen addict for those special deals. Our thanks to pen chalet for their support of this show and relay FM. All right. So from an overall perspective, Edina, I kind of want to get your thoughts on attending the San Francisco pen show. Do you have any overall thoughts? Was there anything like that surprised you compared to what you expected you were going to be seeing?

Adina Hurley: So I think that in the show that the episode you recorded right after the show, you summed it up pretty well in saying that I had first pen show fever. But yeah, that was pretty accurate. But I guess I found it all overwhelmingly positive and just wonderful. I did not expect to enjoy it this much and to feel so welcome. Um, and, uh, it was just like, there are so many beautiful pens. Everyone was so lovely. And this community around pens was just so nice. Um, I love the ink stations to test ink in there.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, you spend a lot of time on those.

Adina Hurley: Oh, I love those so much. And I'm just so sad that I didn't get to try them all. Um, the classes were awesome. Um, obviously seeing you guys in the live show, that was another mind blowing experience for me because I've never, until the day before I had never seen Myke on a live show. Um, and the location was great as well. I know you guys talked a lot about that. So there, I don't know. I, I imagine that not every show is like this, but this just seemed like such a wonderful show, pen show to start with. And it definitely makes me want to go back or try others as well. Um, and I was just gushing about the whole thing for the days following it and during and everyone who talked to me, I guess, even Anna, I think said on the episode that she could tell I was really enjoying it. So it was awesome. Um, in terms of what was different than expected, um, the funniest thing probably was that I didn't expect to get recognized so much. I thought I was just like, uh, walk around, try things incognito. Uh, but, uh, it, it, it was, it was actually really cool that a lot of people recognized me and recognized me because of the episode I was on on before the show. And everyone was just so nice. Either they were newbies like me and I had someone to talk to, either they were, um, more advanced and they were just so keen to help me and explain things to me. And I really appreciated that from everyone. I learned so much in a weekend. I feel more, um, less intimidated by this whole world. Um, what else?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. In the, in the lead up to the show, like in the, in the pre-show that we did with you, uh, you talked a lot about the beginner fountain pens that you had, um, you know, going into the show and were a little bit concerned just on, you know, how you would feel, you know, being around all of the other, you know, people who are maybe more experienced. But I think from the feedback you gave me and from the feedback other, others gave me, people really appreciated that fact about you. What did you think about the reception for like, you know, what you were saying about just being a beginner in all of this and how you were accepted?

Adina Hurley: Uh, I think that once you own that view and think that it's, it's okay. Everyone starts somewhere. I think everyone just took the, that position with me and just explain things. No one, it just, I, that's, it's difficult to explain. I guess when you make your position known, other people know what you need and how to treat you and what you need help with. So, uh, I, I really appreciated that some people just came up to me and told me, here's what you need to look for when you're buying a pen or, um, or, um, just sharing the Franklin Christophe experience that you guys have recommended me do. Other people who are at my level tried it too. And we were comparing notes and it was just really lovely to have people to talk to at my level in a way, um, in terms of reception.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And that's the point. Like I wanted to get across is like that it's not uncommon for someone like you say at your level to come to one of these shows. Like everyone has to come to their first pen show, right? And everyone has to buy their first pen and learn about these things. And I've found this community to be just like so open and willing to help anyone with questions. Like I was anxious to see if that was like the experience you would get. And I think it's pretty clear that it was.

Adina Hurley: Yeah. And everyone just, uh, wanted to help. I would often, so I have two pens that I wasn't super happy with how they were writing and I would just get other people to write with them and test them and put, they were able because they're more advanced to put into words what they thought was wrong with how the pens wrote, but I couldn't verbalize that. So, but more advanced pen owners would already have that level of knowledge. And that was awesome. And including you, you were able to give me the tips or send me in the right direction for what to do next. And from that, I learned so much because I ended up, um, at the, the Nibsmith stand. And I, this is when I was with you and, uh, then looked at the pen and that's how I learned that, whoa, uh, red inks with red pigment actually are more on the dry side. And that's what I was using on my sailor, uh, pen with a fine nib. So ink had less space to flow through and it was more dry. That's why I had such a dry experience when I wanted the wet flow experience. And it's like, I'm learning so much about these things and everyone has the patience to tell me, uh, what they think I might be looking for, how I can get there and what I need to do to fix it. And this is how I learned about ink additives. And I think that was a surprise for Myke as well. So that was cool for me as well that I could find my, and that's what I always wanted, I guess, to find my way through the show, find out about my own stuff and then share them with Myke and even Myke to be surprised because it's like, it's such a big world that everyone has their own experience and everyone finds their own stuff in it. And I guess that's the part of being part of, part of a pen community that we can share and exchange stories and whatever.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I always come away from a pen show with a little factoid like that. Like I didn't know that different colors of ink are typically will flow differently and that you can buy additives from companies like Van Ness to drop into ink to change the properties a little bit. I had no idea that you could do any of that. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: And, and to Adina's point of, of, you know, answering questions and, you know, so many people are out there to help. That's one of like my most important things I try to mention before a show is even though like I'm working at the knock table, like I'm here for you, for listeners or anyone who's, you know, has any question of anything like that's going on, like with something, a pen they're looking at an ink question, like just, and I'm glad people take advantage of like coming up and like asking me to help them. Like it's, it's hard to ask for help when you don't know, you know, people who to ask. So I always try to make a point of saying that, Hey, I'm open to like any and all questions. And, you know, people come up to say, hi, say, Hey, this is my first pen show. I make a point to say, Hey, if you're looking around and you ever have a question on anything and you're not comfortable or just inquisitive, just, you know, come back and I'll do what I can to help you. And if I don't know the answer, I probably know someone who does. So, you know, that's very important to me at, at pen shows to, to, you know, help others out who are just getting into this hobby. So yeah, it's awesome.

Adina Hurley: Oh, that's really nice. It makes it, it definitely makes it more accessible and less intimidating for someone who's new to all of this. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Because that's a, that's a big and crowded room to walk through, right? It's like, you can't even see, you can't even see the floor half the time, like on Friday and Saturday, it was so busy, right? Yeah.

Adina Hurley: But yeah, something else I discovered too, that yes, a pen show is the perfect place to take your broken or less than perfect pens to, because there's so many people there to help you and need grinders. And it's just a perfect place to, if you write with pens anyway, to take them, talk to other people about them, fix them if needed.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Cause that was one of the things that you were talking about and you were struggling with a little bit, right? Was you had a Sailor Pro gear that you were unhappy with the result, like the way that it was writing for you?

Adina Hurley: Yeah. So it was the first time I got a fine nib. Um, and I am using this Robert Oster ink, uh, that's with a shimmer. I think it's dusty pink. I'm, I can remember the shade really well.

Myke Hurley: Is it Quartz something? Isn't it the name?

Adina Hurley: Oh, might be. I don't have it on me right now.

Myke Hurley: I'll find it and put it in the show notes, don't worry.

Adina Hurley: Um, so it's not a vivid, strong color anyway. So that combined with the fact that not enough ink was flowing through the nib either, I felt like I was never writing. And even though the pen was, the nib was gliding well on paper, it just felt like it, there was some resistance somewhere. And in showing it to other people and showing it to Dan from Nibsmith, um, he was able to widen the shaft, I guess, and make more ink follow, flow through. And he suggested the additives and oh my God, ever since I came home, I, I've been perfectly happy with it. And I haven't even added the additive to the ink yet. I will try that as an experiment as well, but that, that, that little consultation session just made such a huge difference for, for a pen that I loved how it looked anyway. I wanted it to write perfectly as well, you know?

Brad Dowdy: Right. So like the, the level of minutia that so many people, including myself to this day, don't know about, like you can actually take a fountain pen and adjust its flow. You can make it a drier writer, or you can make it a wetter writer without, you know, much work by someone who knows what they're doing. It's literally just like some physical adjustments to the nib and the feed and how they're seated on each other. And, you know, people like you had this pen, you love the aesthetic, it writes okay, but is there a way to make it right? Perfect for you specifically. And like, you can learn these things and get these adjustments made. And like, it's kind of eyeopening, like some, for someone who would buy a pen and not have these resources that we do and really be disappointed with the experience because they expected something else. And, you know, there's an argument, well, I shouldn't have to adjust anything. Well, that's kind of not the case with fountain pens, you know, they're made to be highly customizable. And sometimes you have to get a little tweak done to make it perfect for you, which you found out in this case.

Adina Hurley: Exactly. It's so difficult. Your writing style is so personal to you that it's difficult to standardize a nib and a flow and all of these features to match everyone. So, and I was ready to think that, oh, all sailors are wrong. I'll never, are bad for me. I'll never buy a sailor. But really it's all, it's more about when you buy a pen, I guess it's, you should, people, people should, and me, I should think more about how to make it my own as well. And especially as this one in particular was my first leap into the more valuable pen ownership world. And I think something that I've talked about to other people at the show as well has been that this first big purchase is such a significant purchase for them. People were telling me how, oh, what you were talking about inspired me to make my first pen purchase, a serious pen purchase at this show. And they were coming back with the pens, showing them to me. So it really is a more emotional purchase than others. And you want, you want it to be perfect. And you're not always going to be a going to make this at the pen show and adjust it on the spot. Sometimes you'll order it online. And you might be disappointed when it gets to you when you finally get your hands on it. And it's okay, it can be fixed. That's what I've learned.

Myke Hurley: It's not always fixing. Sometimes it's just, it is adjusting. There's been many instances where I've had a pen where like, this is fine. It works. It works good for me, but you can get it tuned a little bit more for it to be perfect. Yeah. You know, I think that was kind of where you were with yours that maybe we would have tried a different ink and you would have been like, yeah, it's a bit scratchy, but it does the job. But now it's like, oh, it's, it's spot on. Cause plus you, it's a fine. Yeah. It is a fine. Yeah. Which is, which is more on the kind of outer edge of what you're used to right now anyway. So it was always going to meet with resistance, pardon the pun, but like it was always going to meet with some resistance for you anyway, because you were used to stub nibs and broads and then going to a fine is a big jump. So it was always going to be tricky anyway. But then there was also some, some stuff that actually didn't need

Adina Hurley: to be adjusted for that pen to be spot on for you. Yeah. So that, that was great. That was, that was great. That was, I love the experience of going through all of this and making my first pen purchase great for me. And I love my sailor now. Yeah. And this is my experience of anything

Myke Hurley: that I've had nib grinded ground or adjusting. Like I've not gone to some of the lengths that Brad's gone to get like, here's this crazy custom grind that will only really work for my handwriting or whatever. Like it's always just been like, this isn't working right. Can you help me? Yeah. Or like, I've just bought this pen and I want to make sure that it's like perfect. Yeah. And so I've done some stuff like that in the past, but I've never, I've never gone into a nib grinding situation to be like, let's, let's do some mad science. Yeah. And my goal alone is just

Brad Dowdy: to get people comfortable sitting in that chair because that's a nerve wracking experience if you've

Myke Hurley: never done it before. So anything you can do to like help with that. You are sitting across the table from someone who knows so much more about this thing than you do. And that, that is daunting on its own, let alone that you are entrusting them with some irreparable in some instances work, right? They are removing metal from the nib because there isn't some, a ton that you could do if it's done wrong. So you're putting a lot of trust in people's hands as well when you go into those

Adina Hurley: situations. So it is daunting. This is another world that I've started to discover a bit and mostly through the Franklin Christoph experience when I tried a lot of nibs as you guys recommended to me and I could try the factory nibs and that was great to understand the type of nib that is best for me. But then they had this category of the Masuyama fine tuned nibs. And then understanding that this is someone who tries a nib in all the way. Do you know you saw that guy? Yeah. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Okay, cool. I wasn't sure if you knew that you'd seen him, but yeah. Yeah, I made sure. Yeah,

Brad Dowdy: I did. I did. We didn't get to, we didn't get to talk to him, but I made sure. Yeah,

Adina Hurley: I knew who he was and that he's a big deal and that I tried his, the nibs he fine tuned in the experience. And wow, you can definitely tell the difference when you try a factory issued nib versus one that's been fine tuned by a nib grinder. Cause this is someone who's put in a lot more hours to, I assume from what I understand at least, to try the nib from all angles and just make sure it, uh, aqua planes, a term I learned at this, uh, show, um, and just glides nicely on the paper with no resistance and just works perfectly. And this is just more hours put into that one nib and why it costs more, but wow, the difference is you can tell it's worth it for sure. Um, yeah. Uh, what else? I think that, uh, another thing that I didn't expect was, uh, more about me and how quickly I lost my, we're getting introspective now. I just lost it really. There are so many beautiful pens and so there was so much fun to be had and classes were awesome. And, but, um, I always thought I was, uh, going to be this rational, uh, consumer making the rational purchase decisions. And I had a budget and I was going to stick to it. And no, no, I lost it. I fell in love with so many pens on the first day. And, um,

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Just, just for the record, will you restate your initial budget?

Adina Hurley: Yes. In the episode we called, we used to budget that I can stand by today. We used to budget, including me, uh, uh, was $250. And I think I spent three to four times that amount. Obviously I also had Myke in my ear and also as an enabler, uh, who constantly encouraged me and, uh, uh, nudged me towards making these purchases, but I never thought, I never thought I was going to leave a show with that much.

Myke Hurley: I sacrificed the majority of what would have been my budget and then encouraged Adina to spend it.

Adina Hurley: But, oh my God, I'm still, I can't believe I did that. I just fell in love with a lot of pens, but walked away with two, but I love them so much. And I matched them with the perfect ink. Um, and I just love looking at them.

Pen Purchases

Myke Hurley: We'll get, we'll get to talking about what they are, but like on that point, it was just kind of funny where it got to that point where there were like a couple of pens that Adina purchased and she decided she was buying them before she ever knew how much they cost. It was just like, it was like, yeah, no, I'm going to get that one. It's like, have you spoken to literally anyone

Myke Hurley: about the price of this? No, I realized that I realized that after one of them that I was like, she didn't look at the price of that. Did she?

Adina Hurley: I guess to explain that, I feel like I have to, is that I'm always such a rational human being. And I felt I was doing so well by starting with a shortlist and every day knocking off a few options off it that, and I rarely fall in love with stuff. Uh, but when I do, I allow myself an impulse buy because it's worth it. How often does that happen? The problem was that at a pen show, it happens a lot to me. So that's something I need to know about myself when I walk into a pen show

Myke Hurley: next time. Everybody is dying to know, dying to know the pens that you purchased. But before we tell them, we'll take our final break and thank Harry's for their support of this show. People, humans have been shaving for over 5,000 years from using basic tools to the first copper riser. No, the idea is the same. What we need is the same thing. Sharp, durable blades. The ancient Greeks didn't need flexible hinge balls or heated handles, and neither do you. That's why Harry's doesn't add gimmicky features to their razors. They focus on the qualities that actually matter for a close, comfortable shave, and they never upcharge you. Harry's make quality, durable blades at a fair price, just $2 per blade. And to keep those prices low, they cut out the middleman by buying their own world-class blade factory located in Germany that's been making some of the best razor blades in the world for 99 years. That way, they can provide great quality of factory direct prices. Harry's is a brand you can be proud of as well. 1% of their sales are donated to organizations that provide access to mental health care for men as well, which is awesome. They offer a 100% quality guarantee. If you don't love your shave, let them know and they will give you a refund. Brad, can you tell me

Brad Dowdy: something about your Harry's experience? Yeah, the blades last longer than any other blade that, no matter the cost. Like, these blades are cheaper and better and last longer. It's kind of the biggest no-brainer in shaving. You know, I've spent, you know, $5, $4 and $5 on blades that don't last as long as these Harry's blades and don't do as good a job. I know I switched the blade on my razor probably like a week before San Francisco and I'm still using the same blade. Like, and it's not even close to wearing out. And I'm an every other day shaver, so there's that. But even then, the quality is just fantastic. And I'm also a big fan of their new texturizing putty for my hair, Myke.

Myke Hurley: So, big fan. As a listener of this show, you can redeem your Harry's trial set. It includes a weighted ergonomic handle for easy grip, five-blade razor with lubricated strip and trimmer blade for a close shave, rich leather and shave gel to keep you smelling great, and a travel blade cover as well to keep your razor dry and easy on the go. Go to harrys.com slash penaddict to start shaving better today. That's harrys.com slash penaddict to redeem your offer and help support the show. Our thanks to Harry's for their continued support of the Pen Addict Podcast and Bril AFM.

Myke Hurley: All right, so what'd you get?

Adina Hurley: So, I got the Canalea... Canalea? Canalea. Yeah, I'm not very good at that. Canalea pen, the Kahakai... Kahakai one? Oh, God, I'm not very good at pronouncing all of this.

Brad Dowdy: That's fine. Well, you fit right in with us.

Adina Hurley: Okay, okay.

Brad Dowdy: Can't pronounce anything.

Adina Hurley: But I love, I love looking at it and I love riding with it. Kahakai, right? Kahakai, yes.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so this is the beach scene.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, there's like two. This is the one where there is no translucency in it. Right. I have the one that's the translucency, the Maui Makai.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, this is like the sandy beach one. Yeah. In green sand, yeah.

Adina Hurley: Nice. And I love staring at it and rolling it in my hands, like into the light. And I love the texture on that sand, the water, then the depth of the ocean. And it just reminds me a lot of our trip to Hawaii, which has been just so awesome. And the views are like nothing you can even post on Instagram. You can't really translate it into a picture. I've never seen that. But I absolutely love it. And part of me, when I buy pens, I like the ink matching experience as well to find the perfect match. And I know I'm not alone in this. And actually, Anna has helped me find the perfect one, which is Robert Oster turquoise. And she had a great reasoning in that because it's an Australian brand, they're ones who would be able to understand better than most that blue, greenish shade of the oceans. And it just, it's perfect. I love this combo so much. And I've actually ran, I filled it at the show, filled it with ink at the show. And I just ran out of it as I was writing notes for this. So I guess that's the one I've been using the most.

Myke Hurley: That's a testament to how much I've been using it. Plus as well, Hugh gave you the five star treatment.

Adina Hurley: Oh my God. He taught me how fountain pens work really. And I love learning how things work, because then I know how to use them or why they're not working. And it was, it was just amazing. And I learned so much in that. And it's, he has also tuned it perfectly to my writing. So it's, it's all done for me. I chose the one that spoke to me out of the range that they had. And it's just

Myke Hurley: no, no regrets. Good. Yeah, that makes the fifth canalea pen in this household. Oh my God, you have four? I have four, yeah.

Adina Hurley: Oh my God. How many do you have, Brad? Two. Okay. Between us, we have quite a few.

Myke Hurley: I'm an addict.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And I don't think Myke and I even own the same one. I think our tastes are different as far as styles go. I don't think you own the same, any of the ones that I have.

Myke Hurley: You're like Hanawama Bay, right? Yeah, yeah. That's my favorite. Yeah, we both have that one. And then you have, what do you have?

Brad Dowdy: One of the, one of the lava flow ones.

Myke Hurley: Kahala Sun. Is it the all orange one?

Brad Dowdy: It's the all, no, it's not the all orange one. It's the black, gray and orange one.

Myke Hurley: Oh, Kahala Sunset. I also really like that one a lot. That's a real good one. That one's been kind of in the back of my mind for a while, but I never went ahead and got it. But yeah.

Adina Hurley: They're all beautiful.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, you blew the budget like really quick. Yeah. But that's not, that's not all. No. And what's behind door two, door number two?

Ink Recommendations

Adina Hurley: Well, when I was complaining last time about my sailor and I was thinking that my nib was a bit scratchy or, or I was looking for recommendations. I don't really remember, but I was looking for recommendations for what other brands to look into. You recommended platinum to me. So when I was doing my tour around the room and the pen show, I went directly there and tried the platinum nibs and I was sold right away. And that, that it, the fact that it was writing perfectly without having to do anything to it, combined with the fact that I just set eyes on this beautiful Century 3776 Sakura really spoke to me again. It was again, one of those pens that I just fell in love with and I really, really wanted. And when I was sucker for stories as well, when the sales representative was telling me that, Oh, actually 3776 is the height of Mount Fuji. And actually these. Yeah. We got, uh, we got hit by a rep. But I'm a sucker for stories. And he was saying how, um, on the nib, all of those lines that look like a mountain is actually supposed to be Mount Fuji. And I, when you, when I look at the nib, there's also this little heart in it when I write and all that, I was like, okay, I'm sold. I didn't even ask how much it costs. I thought it was going to be as much as my sailor, but I think it was slightly more expensive.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. That was kind of a, it's not necessarily a special edition, but that's a higher level of, yeah. Like their base 3776, the Sakura model, which is the pink one. That's just stunning looking. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a weird solid old pen. It's kind of interesting. That's the one I knew when she came back and told me what it was. That's why I was like, I said in my head, I was like, Oh, she didn't look at the price of that.

Myke Hurley: Oh, we, uh, I do want to say we were lucky to get a good deal on that.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And still, even so it's just, it's just a great pen. It's, I, I mean, I love it. Once she picked that one out, I was like, yeah, you did good. I'm going to point out two, two things that you've said that I just want to make clear to our readers, um, or our readers, our listeners, our listeners too. Um, I write a thing as well. Um, both like Franklin Kristoff that you raved about their table and the platinum, um, set up there from the distributor luxury brands had the full nib lineups inked up for you to test at their table. So you, and I know you really appreciated that fact about both of those places. And I just wanted to point that out that you've, you've said that like several times, probably without knowing. And I just want to make listeners aware that there are these opportunities out there to test all of the

Adina Hurley: things out before you ever buy anything. Yeah. It's not specifically the pen you are going to buy, because that's going to be new and obviously it would have been tested by other, uh, show guests, but even so it made such a huge difference in understanding how the factory should nibs work for these two brands. It's, and it's been very helpful. Even if it's about understanding whether you're more of a fine person or an italic or whatever. Wow. I feel like I know so much now. You got a big crash course that weekend. Um, so yeah, that's been awesome. And I'm so happy I was able to do that. It, um, and yeah, I was, it was awesome. And yeah, uh, what, what I wanted to say with the platinum in terms of the ink matching experience, cause I absolutely love doing that as well. Um, I, I left the pen buying, uh, to the last two hours of the whole show because I was this perfectly rational consumers, but just possible and knocking off, uh, like really trying to decide that, that those are the two pens I want. I, I, we bought them on the, in the last two hours and only after I bought those, I bought inks for them. So, and there wasn't much stock left after three days, three, three very intense days. But, uh, even so a listener, I think, and her overheard me saying that I really wanted this ink that I'm going to struggle to pronounce. I think it's

Brad Dowdy: J Herban. J Herban. Oh, there you go. J Herban. That's it. I'm not going to repeat. And it's the,

Adina Hurley: the Coral de Tropique. I, I, I can't pronounce French. I'm sorry. I studied German. Um,

Brad Dowdy: we know exactly which one you're talking about. J Herban. J Herban. J Herban. Oh, yeah. Tropical

Adina Hurley: coral. Yeah. That's the one. And it just works. So it's gorgeous to start with, and it works perfectly with my platinum. So now I love having this, uh, the broad nib on the, um, can lay up pen in turquoise and this one, that's a medium nib in coral. And I always, when I write notes, I use them both. And sometimes I bring in the sailor as well that has this shimmering for more special notes.

Myke Hurley: Didn't you get some other ink stuff for the platinum?

Adina Hurley: I did. Uh, we went to the Van Ness ink stand and they had a lot of Monteverde and I keep finding myself drawn to them because all of their colors are so, um, vivid and I love that about them. And I was so happy that I was able to find the Aaron Knight, which is this beautiful emerald, um, shade of green, uh, but also, um, this limited series. I think you've already spoken about it in strawberry shortcake, purple mist. Sweet life. Is it sweet life? Yeah. Those are, those are really good fun as well. Um, and I, I bought these inks after I tried a few ink testing stations, which I absolutely loved as well. So.

Myke Hurley: What was the name of the green one that you liked?

Adina Hurley: Aaron Knight.

Myke Hurley: Okay. Which is all for the show notes.

Adina Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: The Monteverde, the Monteverde inks came up a bunch like between you and I, Myke, during this show that they've done a really good job over the past one to two years of upping their quality, their colors, um, their, uh, variety. And, uh, they've, they've been getting really good reviews. I'm very happy with the Monteverde, what they have done with the inks. So yeah, good job.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. It's cool. Isn't it really? Like I've been using the sweet life a lot and I'm, I like it. I like it a lot. I've been very happy. I've been using the key lime pie, uh, and the blue velvet cake.

Brad Dowdy: And I think they're really, they're really well priced too. Like it's a good deal.

Myke Hurley: Oh, it's silly how cheap they are. Honestly, like that it's nothing. Well, not nothing, but you know what I mean? Yeah. What are $8 a bottle?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. $8 or $10 for 50 mils? Yeah. I don't know. Maybe 30, but yeah, maybe 30, but still it doesn't, it doesn't even matter. That's a good deal.

Adina Hurley: Yeah. So yeah.

Brad Dowdy: All right. So what else did you get, Adina? Was that, was that the extent of the damage or are we still building here?

Adina Hurley: No, no, that was literally it. The pens were the most damaged. And I feel a bit embarrassed saying that, like knowing that I left with $250 in mine.

Myke Hurley: No one thought that you were going to do what you said you were going to do. So don't worry.

Adina Hurley: Oh, I definitely lost my mind, but I'm so happy with these pens and I feel like I don't want anything else for a while. I don't know how long this feeling will last. Not long. Okay.

Brad Dowdy: You'll see. Yeah. Yeah. Because you're learning what you like now. It could be trouble for a while.

Myke Hurley: So you're, you're, you're only going to be pushed towards finding more things that you enjoy.

Surfing Analogy

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. There's a way that you're, you're just, you're, you're like, if you were to surfing, you're like still paddling out.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Yeah. You, you, you basically at the moment you are doing the surfing lesson where you're still on the sand.

Adina Hurley: Oh my God.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Like you're, you're doing the jump up thing.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. You found the nice beach. Like you're there. You hit the destination and now you're starting to paddle and there's going to be some pretty cool waves coming and we'll, we'll see how you ride them.

Adina Hurley: Yep. We'll see.

Myke Hurley: Wait until you start finding pens that have been created by Japanese artists. who like the one I'm using today, who, you know, some, somebody sat with a little hammer and knocked some marks into some steel and wrapped it around a sailor pro gear. That's when you're on the wave at that point. You've got a way to go. Yeah.

Adina Hurley: Okay. How many years does, uh, Oh, it depends. Eight years.

Myke Hurley: It took me eight.

Adina Hurley: Yeah. We, yeah, we go for the phases.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. You got some time. Although to be honest, it, but it took me and Brad a while to get into fountain pens and you've just jumped straight into fountain pens.

Adina Hurley: Oh yeah. You were saying that how surprised I was, but yeah, we'll see how it goes. So far. I'm just, I love using the ones that I have and I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. And I'm still, I'm still, um, I know that I, if I get bored of anything, I can bring in the new inks and feel, make them feel new again for a while.

Brad Dowdy: That's exactly right.

Myke Hurley: I just took a look at my desk and I'd like to give an update on my platinum, uh, the 3776 galaxy. I haven't brought myself to part of it yet. It's still sitting here, but you have, you like have an

Brad Dowdy: address to ship it to. You just haven't done it. Yeah.

Adina Hurley: So, so I am in charge of the logistics part and I have a reminder on my list to remind Myke to put the broken nib into the pen to replace that so I can send it. But I just can't bring myself to telling that to Myke because I know he is very sad to part with it and it will take a while. He needs to be in the right emotional space to, to, you know, to accept that this will need to happen. But I have a reminder and I keep it up there. Top of mind.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. We'll, we'll let him get past, uh, iPhone announcements and St. Jude charity. So maybe in early October we can, we can get him to ship it back.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Let's wait until I have some new toys and nails.

Adina Hurley: Okay.

Myke Hurley: Idina could tell you right now that I've picked up and started lovingly fondling the pen while we were talking about that. So that's where I am in my life.

Adina Hurley: Yeah. I knew it wasn't going to happen anytime soon. Let's give him a new phone and then we can take the galaxy away from him.

Brad Dowdy: That's right. That's right. Just distract him.

Myke Hurley: Do you have anything that you're interested in trying more of now that you've kind of, you're, you've arrived at the beach as we say, like, is there anything that like you now have in your mind of like, Oh, I think this might be an avenue I'd like to explore. And it doesn't have to be buying tons and tons of more pens, but like, is there anything that is, has become more interesting to you post the show?

Adina Hurley: Um, I think it's, uh, I, I have loved seeing this new trend of, uh, being able to customize your own pens. And that's even taking a really,

Myke Hurley: Oh, you're going to, you've gone too far. No, but I mean, you want to talk about money.

Adina Hurley: No, no, but no, I don't mean that. I don't mean, um, craziest artisan Japanese style or anything. I, and I'm thinking more about the, this pen. I saw the Bungu box stand, I think, where they took a TWSBI Eco and they painted watermelons on it.

Myke Hurley: Oh, but that takes like a, what is, what are those pens? Like $50 and they charge like $200 for them. It's not as bad. This is a great thing to be in, but like custom. Now we're into a whole other board game.

Adina Hurley: I just feel that when you get to the, I love the fact that we don't need to be pretentious about it and we can take like a $50 pen, how much TWSBI Eco can be and still make it our own. And I love this thing. I, it makes it's, it gets me thinking, how could I make it? Make a pen my own. Like, why would I paint on it? Okay. I'm quite, and it's, it feels modern as well. I don't know why. And I just love that idea. I, it's not for now. It's not for now, but, uh, I really love that idea. And I also hearing you guys that you're taking your, can I, I don't know whether I can talk about this.

Myke Hurley: No, we're not talking about that yet. We're not talking about anything. But me and Brad are working on some, some stuff, but we're not talking about it.

Brad Dowdy: Lots of things.

Adina Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. Just, just the fact that Adina now knows who Bungu Box is. That's all I need out of this entire trip. That's all I need. Like that is just glorious in and of itself. So.

Adina Hurley: Oh no. Um, but yeah, they really had one of a kind stuff. And I loved the thing that it wasn't factory, um, manufactured stuff, things that you can buy off the shelf, but they were made somehow unique. And I know that this is just the start into a bigger thing and how you get into owning a pen where someone knocks a new dent into it every day for a year. I know it's a slippery slope. Uh, as much as I want to lie to myself. Um, but the other thing, and it's not necessarily about pens, but it's more about how to think about writing ink and whatever. It's, um, I wanted to say that I really love the, the workshops that, uh, lay organized at the pen show. One of them being creative journaling and one of them being the mad scientist Mo Dawn. And she really taught me to, basically after those two workshops, I'll never look at journaling or ink the same ever again. And it just taught me to get more used to imperfection or just taking ink and splodging it on paper and smearing it around and putting bleach on it. And it just felt like so much fun. And the, that's something that I'm interested right now in doing more of, um, in, and just using more of the techniques that she has taught us and using my own inks and pens and whatever tools I have around to play with that sort of stuff.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I think that's fantastic. There's a, uh, it's, it's weird to say, but like giving yourself the permission and the freedom to do those types of experiments is like a learned thing. It doesn't come natural to, to allow yourself to just be as free as someone like Leia is. And it's cool that she has these classes and gives you tips and shows you all the things that she does.

Myke Hurley: Because if anything, she is then, she is then in charge of giving you the permission to do it. Right. So you don't need to give yourself the permission then because she's done it for you. And I think that can be beneficial for a lot of people.

Journaling

Adina Hurley: So something I've been doing a lot of this year has been journaling. And I know that there are a lot of people who are like me because I've met them. Uh, but it's that idea that when you're, when you start a new journal, you write your name perfectly on the first page and you draw this little illustration and you always feel really bad if you make a mistake and you have to, um, you know, put a line through it and write again, or if you have an ink blood or whatever, it's like, there's so much perfection tied into it. And it was awesome going into Leia's workshop. And she was basically saying, no, you're going to start writing halfway through the page. And that, that caused a bit of anxiety into me, but it's just, it was just, she was, she had all of these techniques in trying to make us get used to imperfection, especially around journaling, because that's just not needed. And also she made us rip off pages of it and, I love it. And just smear ink around and it does a really good techniques. I wish I had something to point people to, but that was just awesome. Just follow Leia. Yep. And speaking of follows,

Brad Dowdy: we need to put Adina's Instagram, if that's okay by her in our show notes, because my wife said, oh my gosh, did you see Adina's story she put up the other day about, you know, all the stuff at the fountain pen show? I was like, Ooh, I'd missed it. And then I went to check it out and it was great. So, you know, make sure to put that out there if you want. If you made a highlight.

Adina Hurley: No, I'll create a highlight. Yeah. Just to make sure people can see it.

Myke Hurley: Create a highlight and then I can put that exact thing in the show notes too.

Brad Dowdy: Mary Beth made a point to come and tell me how cool that was. Wow. And she saw that and she thought you did such a good job. And then she yelled at me like, you need to do more of that. Let me tell you, Brad, I want to give you the behind the scenes here.

Adina Hurley: First of all, thank you, Mary Beth.

Myke Hurley: This process, I am not kidding you, is a two to three hour process. Where Adina sits down and she looks at her images. She takes a piece of paper. She writes down all of the images and what she wants to say in each of them that she posts. She writes like a whole content plan. Then she sits and edits the images in Fisco and then posts them. I love it. I came into my office a couple of days ago to edit Cortex. I left and she was still sitting at the table and she was like halfway through the list. It's like, oh my God.

Brad Dowdy: So Mary Beth's exact quote to me is, I pulled it up and I don't normally look at stories with that many dashes across the top, but this one was awesome. That's why you see it.

Myke Hurley: The work bears fruit and the fruit is very good Instagram stories. But the work is incredible to see. That is the mind of a marketer. That's hilarious. I love it. You're hired. I'm hiring you officially.

Adina Hurley: That's why it took me only two to three weeks to post about a pen show. Exactly. Exactly.

Myke Hurley: Takes multiple days. That's glorious. Instagram at Adina Hurley on Instagram. All right. I think that's brought us to the end of this episode. If you want to find Brad online, Brad is at Dowdyism, D-O-W-D-Y-I-S-M on Twitter. He is penaddict on Instagram. You go to penaddict.com and knock.co. Brad, you're back on Twitch, right? I saw. I am. I am. Twitch.tv slash penaddict.

Brad Dowdy: Tuesdays and Thursdays slash penaddict. Yep.

Myke Hurley: I'll make sure that's in the show notes as well so people can just go and subscribe straight away to that. I am iMike. I am Y-K-E. I think my Instagram stories are good, but they're not to Adina's level of good.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Mary Beth doesn't talk about your stories. No.

Myke Hurley: That's the sign. That is like the stamp of approval. Does it meet the Mary Beth test? Mm-hmm. Thanks so much to our sponsors this week, Harry's Pen Chalet and Away, and thank you all for listening. We'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.

Adina Hurley: Goodbye, Brad.

Myke Hurley: Oh, no. I forgot you. Bye. Bye. Bye.