The Pen Addict 150/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	150
Title:	Live from the Atlanta Pen Show
Release Date:	April 18th, 2015
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	Ana Reinert
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 150
Audio File:	Audio Episode 150
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 150
Length:	7575 min <br />1.25 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Sponsors

Myke Hurley: Live from the Atlanta Pen Show, this is The Pen Addict episode 150. I want to thank today's sponsors, Lynda.com, Pen Chalet, and Mash Drop. My name is Myke Hurley and I'm joined by Mr. Brad Dowdy. Hey guys. And Anna Reinert. Hi Anna. Hi. Hello. Guys, we made it. We're here. This has been like the experience to end all experiences. It's been really, really amazing.

Ana Reinert: I am at a loss for words and we're going to have to sit here and talk for like the next hour. And my mind's so blown, I don't even know what to say. It's been really awesome.

Myke Hurley: So this is the second day of The Pen Show. So it's Saturday, right? We got here yesterday. But me and you have met for the first time now.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. So let's talk about the first bro hug that we had. I was so excited for the show that I couldn't sleep the morning before I came to pick you up. So I slept. I got up early. I got to the airport. We're going to go with two and a half hours early. Anna, you might dispute that.

Brad Dowdy: He was trying to leave like four hours early. He's like, I'm going to go to the airport. I'm going to pick Myke up.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. So Anna was texting me because she had already arrived by the time I'm leaving to pick you up. And I'm trying to not tell her how early I'm leaving and how late you arrive comparatively. So but I still got to the international terminal. I'm going to say a good two and a half hours early. I was just that excited. I just wanted to be there. And, you know, I couldn't couldn't wait. And then I got all the way over there and I was like, he might jump the train to the domestic terminal where I'm not at. And then I'll have to be hunting him down all day. But then you texted me. You got off the plane. You collected your bags. Immigration knew you were Myke Hurley professional podcasters. They scooted you on through. And from the time that you landed until you were in my arms was about 20 minutes, 25 minutes. That was what happened. We should. That was totally what happened. Yeah. We hugged a lot. You took a photo, put it on Instagram. Took a photo. We had a good photo. We hugged a lot. We poked a lot because we weren't sure if it was real or not. And we stared a lot. Like, if I talk, is it like we're talking on the microphone or are we talking in real life?

Myke Hurley: So, yeah, it was pretty awesome. So I want to take a moment to just thank everyone who made this happen. Like all of this is because of the fantastic Kickstarter backers that brought me here and made this happen. And we're recording a video right now, which is going to be up for the Kickstarter backers later on. And so just thank you to all of you for making this happen. This is like a dream come true. We're going to tell you about like the amazing stuff that we've had this we've been doing this weekend. But just this right now. Just thank you so much.

Ana Reinert: Yes. Thank you all so much. Thank you. It's amazing. You guys rock for supporting our little thing that we do. It's pretty crazy.

Myke Hurley: I already feel like this is going to be just a yearly thing now. I just feel like this is just going to be part of my like conference calendar. Yeah. The pen show. I think, Anna, we can put you down, right?

Brad Dowdy: Yes, absolutely. I can't wait to do this again.

Ana Reinert: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: People keep asking me like, really, this is your first pen show? And I'm like, yeah, I think you could really top this.

Pen Shows

Ana Reinert: That is good. That's a huge difficulty.

Brad Dowdy: It's a huge because I mean, there's been so many people that I know from online that I've gotten to meet and to get to meet you and to finally get to meet Brad. I mean, there's just it's been such a great opportunity to just meet everybody in person and everybody's, you know, sharing and swapping pens and swapping stories. Anyways, it's going to be it's going to be tough to beat it. Like if I go anywhere else, like if I on an offhand chance, I decide to go to Dallas. I'm like, it'll be very different experience.

Ana Reinert: I think it absolutely will. And we'll talk about this more. But the links that people travel to get here is just shocking. It's awesome. It's really, really cool. Just how far everyone came just for like this little pen event.

Myke Hurley: It's funny because people keep asking me, have you been to any other pen shows? I'm like, I went to the London pen show. I was like, what was it like? And I'm like, it was really boring. But then I'm thinking about it and it's kind of not fair because it was just me on my own at the pen show. Right. So it's not going to be that exciting. Like, I don't know what I would have expected. Oh, well, no one from Atlanta was at the London pen show. So it kind of sucked.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. Yeah.

Ana Reinert: There is a bar that we have set and you just said that and I wasn't really thinking about it. I thought that before. Right. It was like the bar is set been set pretty high. So, but that's good. I like that challenge.

Brad Dowdy: It's, you know, it's been so amazing. And everyone's been so nice. People that I've met before, people that I haven't, you know, the vendors, they come right up and just, they ask me questions. What are you looking for? What do you want? You know, what do you want to buy? Where are you from?

Ana Reinert: Yep. What's your blog? No, they don't ask us that. They don't ask me that. Some of them aren't sure what blogs are. Lots of them aren't.

Myke Hurley: Trying to explain the podcast has been an interesting experience. It has been. It has been. But people get it pretty quickly most of the time.

Ana Reinert: So, yeah. It's been good.

Myke Hurley: So, obviously, one of the reasons we're here, well, the reason that you're here and what brought me here is that you're exhibiting this one.

Ana Reinert: Yeah, this is Nock's first pen show. We really wanted to try to get there last year, but we were still in the throes of Kickstarter. We were knee-deep in what we were trying to deliver for Kickstarter. So, we couldn't go to a show and try to sell cases when we haven't fulfilled our Kickstarter. So, we were actually kind of let down. Just, we let ourselves down because we couldn't deliver the Kickstarter in time. But I think the end result has only made it better, and it's only gotten bigger and, like, stronger than what we could have delivered last year. So, you know, having that, you know, as, I don't want to call it a failure the first year, but just to see how awesome this year became from it, like, that's not even on my radar, what we did last year compared to this year. It just doesn't exist. This is just, like, start with the clean slate this year. Nox exhibiting, it's gone insanely well. I didn't have any expectations. I didn't know what to expect at all. So, I didn't set any expectations. Certainly no dollar expectations. I just wanted to meet people and talk. And I have talked, man. My voice is raspy, and you can hear it breaking right when I said that. It broke. And I've been getting grief because all I've done is talk. And if I took nothing else away from that show, just meeting the people that we have, Nox stuff aside, just meeting the people has been the best. Yeah. So, yeah, it's really good.

Brad Dowdy: It's been awesome. And I did the same thing. I woke up this morning after the party last night, and I'm like, oh, God, I hope I haven't lost my voice. I didn't realize how much I had talked last night. I was super raspy this morning.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. So, I felt it last night. Then I felt it this morning, and none of it registered that, hey, I'm going to have to go talk in front of a microphone later. Maybe I should do something about it until like two hours ago. You know, I started drinking. So, yeah, I'm hurting pretty good. But Nox effort at the show would not happen without my partner, Jeff, and all the employees at the shop, you know, Alice, Kevin, Ashley, everyone who's helping us, Dino, they killed it so hard. I can't even tell you to make just the Nox piece of the show super successful. So, yeah, it's been really good.

Myke Hurley: So, Brad, I'm going to stop you there. Yep. I want to thank our first sponsor, and then we actually talk about what it's been like for you to exhibit with Nox Cove for the first time. Sure. This very special episode, our 150th episode, is brought to you by our friends over at lynda.com, the online learning platform with over 3,000 on-demand video courses to help you strengthen your business, technology, and creative skills. For a free 10-day trial, visit lynda.com slash penaddict. That's lynda.com slash penaddict. lynda.com is for problem solvers, for the curious, for people who want to make things happen. Maybe you want to master Excel, learn negotiation tactics, build a website, or boost your Photoshop skills. lynda.com can make that happen for you. You can watch and learn from these experts who are super passionate about teaching. These people can teach you stuff about design. They can teach you stuff about the foundations of color. lynda.com have also set this really great site now to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Photoshop. So, they have this whole micro site with tons of training there, which is at lynda.com. So, that just goes through all of Photoshop. They've collected a bunch of really, really cool stuff for you guys there. You can find it if you're interested in learning a bit more about Photoshop. You can browse each of Lynda's courses. You can look at their transcripts. You can see, you can basically search for the type of thing that you're looking for. Oh, I want to remember that bit that I heard before. And you can just watch the video straight from that point. You can also take notes as you go, and you can refer to these later. Your lynda.com membership is going to give you unlimited access to training on hundreds of topics, all for one flat rate. You can watch them wherever you are, whenever you are. They have their iOS and Android apps as well as watching on the web. Whether you're looking to become an industry expert, you're passionate about a hobby, or you just want to learn something new, visit lynda.com right now. That's lynda.com slash penaddict to start your free 10-day trial. Thank you so much to lynda.com for supporting this show and all of RelayFM. So, Mr. Brad Dowdy. Yes. We arrived yesterday for setting up at the pen show. Right. So, it started off with, we weren't ready.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. Yeah. We pretty much weren't ready because when I registered, I checked in to get our vendor badges. I found out the show opened two hours prior to we planned on being set up. So, right out the gate, we're behind the eight ball.

Myke Hurley: Talking about registration badges.

Ana Reinert: What did mine say? Yeah. So, Myke is now officially my wife. This is some kind of marriage. This is Georgia. So, I don't know how legal this is or not, but Myke is now known as Mary Beth Dowdy, which is my wife's name. So, according to our vendor badges. So, we picked those up and I'm just going through the registration sheet and just, you know, seeing what time everything is. First thing that jumps right out is like, hey, look, today they opened two hours earlier than I planned to be ready.

Myke Hurley: Yep.

Ana Reinert: So, we're under the gun already. And, you know, just the big picture planning for the show from Knox perspective, I felt solid. Solid. Like, manufacturing wise, I thought the shop crew has totally killed everything that we have. They have everything down. We have tons of cases, tons of paper. Everything physically is ready to go. So, we go in two hours early. We unload. And thanks to everyone who has helped us, you know, like Myke has been able to spend some time at the booth helping us. And Ana has been directing people over to us and making more sales for us. And the entire show. And, but just the initial setup of the show was a little bit hectic because number one, we were behind. I felt. We really weren't. Nobody was there. Nobody was there. So, we weren't actually behind. Yes, it opened at 10 o'clock.

Myke Hurley: Nobody arrived till like lunchtime.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. So, we had plenty of time to set up. But lesson number one for knock for trade shows is we didn't have a table plan. Like, we didn't have a layout plan. We didn't have like risers, say, for better display. I think we did great with what we had. And we enlisted the help of everyone who was there to talk about some display options and how we would lay things. It was all hands on deck. It was literally a circle around our table. Yep. Totally. Front and back. And this is two eight-foot long tables. So, you think all around the back and all around the front, we had people going, you know, let's talk about how we do this. And the end of the setup ended up perfect. I think for what we had and what we needed to do, it was great.

Myke Hurley: Because one of the great things about your products is they're so bright. Like, all the knock stuff is just like you walk in the door and it's like, pow.

Brad Dowdy: You also got great placement in the space. Okay. Right inside the front door of the first room.

Ana Reinert: I had nothing to do with that. I don't think. What I said, I asked for one thing when I registered. That, can we be near the Andersons? And I only said that because the way the pen show is set up, there's two rooms. Right? I just wanted to be in the room with them because that was my safety blanket. Right? I know, like, if anything went wrong, I can go to Lisa or Brian and say, here's my issue. Can you help me? And I didn't tell them this beforehand. They didn't know that I asked to be near them.

Ana Reinert: But I had a...

Brad Dowdy: They're now going to step away a little bit. Like, oh, scary groupies.

Ana Reinert: Like, hopefully they're not listening to this live stream. Or they're going to ask me to be moved tomorrow. So...

Brad Dowdy: There'll be a restraining order left on your... Yeah.

Ana Reinert: So, that was my safety blanket. And plus, they bring the crowd. Right? People come to see the Andersons. Right? Absolutely. So, that doesn't...

Myke Hurley: We're talking like four or five tables. Yeah. Ink, paper. Like, basically every... I've never seen so many Retro 51s in one place. Yeah. Like, it was quite emotional.

Ana Reinert: So, the Andersons know how to do pen shows. That's what they do. They kill it. So, I said, let me be there near the Andersons. Well, the Andersons are in the same spot every year. So, I knew where they were. So, our spot ended up being directly behind the Andersons. But where that put us was right smack in front of the first door that everyone walks into. In the pen show, they walk smack into our table. I had no expectation of that. And there's people that have been doing this show for 20 years.

Brad Dowdy: Don't get placement like that?

Product Placement

Ana Reinert: And I don't think so. And they don't have any reason to do that specific thing. There's other options. That was really... When I saw that, my eyes opened. I was like, this is really good. There's no... You walk around two full ballrooms. Say, pick out any table you want. You pick out the one that we got.

Brad Dowdy: And it does help that you're... To what you said, Myke, the product is super vivid. And so, people walk in. They've never... A lot of people have never seen pen cases that weren't brown leather or black leather. And you walk in and there's bright orange and bright blue and these really vivid colors. And it just... Like, everyone gravitates. You know, like, ooh, shiny.

Ana Reinert: Yep. Yep. And so, we got it set up. And I was sweating buckets. And it wasn't, like, from work. It's certainly not the physical labor part. But it's just, like, nerves and adrenaline. You're just, like, pumping. And your brain's just going 1,000 miles a minute. And, you know... So, we got it set up. And then, a few people started trickling in. The customers were coming in. And then, I have to use this square dongle on my phone. And I've never done that before. So, that took me a minute. About two or three sales. I was good. And then, we were off to the races. I mean, I think it's been pretty perfect since then. No issues. You know, we have, like, set up things. You know, it's definitely good notes to take from our first trade show. But, outside of that, I didn't know that I would change a thing.

Myke Hurley: One of the craziest things is, like, I said to you, we kind of need another square dongle. Which you wouldn't even think, like, oh, we're going to be in so much demand. We need two cash registers. But, yeah, you do.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. So, we were passing the phone back and forth down the table. And reaching over each other to grab the phone from the other one. So, we could swipe cards.

Myke Hurley: Like, it's been amazing. But exhausting. Because I was enlisted. And I've been enjoying it. So, it's basically, it's been me, you, and Jeff. And we've had Kevin. And Kevin. Yep. Pretty much the entire time. And David. David, yeah. David's helped us a bunch. And it's been, like, so, two days so far. And it's been crazy. It's been so much fun.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. I don't know that I've had this. Outside of, like, my marriage and my children. Like, outside of, like, personal family stuff. This might be, like, the greatest weekend of my life. And I'm not exaggerating. It's been amazing. You know, I'm sitting, like, three feet away from Anna Reinhart. Who I've never met in person in my life. And, you know, I just want to give her a hug and say, never go away again. It's, like, so cool. It's, you know, I stumble across the words. And I say them the same thing over and over again. It's mind-boggling. But this weekend, and it's not even close to over yet, has been unbelievable. Unbelievable.

Myke Hurley: So, like, one of my favorite things where sometimes, like, people leave. Like, you might go somewhere. Or I might go somewhere. Or Jeff goes somewhere. And there's been a couple of times where it's just been me on the table. And people come over. And I'm, like, I promise these are made in America. Yep. Like, because people start talking to me. And they look at me. And I was, like, no, no, really. Like, I'm just here. The guys that make these, they're in Atlanta. Like, I swear. It's just down the road. And they're, like, where are you from? Yeah. Like, I keep getting a lot. Like, where are you from, boy? And I'm, like, London.

Myke Hurley: But the people are amazing. And, like, people are, like, so interested in the Nox stuff. Like, people that haven't seen it before. We've had a couple of people. I don't even notice this happened. Like, a couple of people just come and just ask for a specific thing. Like, I want a high tower in blue. It's, like, how do you even? And just, like, had, like, $20 in their house. Like, where did you? I don't understand.

Ana Reinert: Right. Who are you? Where did you come from? And wow. Wow. You know? It's nuts. So, from the Nox perspective, I couldn't ask for anything more. It's been outstanding.

Myke Hurley: And it's also something I've really liked as well. Is it, like, your table's been just, like, a place for people to hang out?

Ana Reinert: Yeah. That's been so cool. Like, when you were saying a second ago about how if one of us has gone to take a break or whatever. And the other one's there. Like, if I'm there, someone's asking, where can I find Myke? Have you seen Anna? And all this stuff. Like, you know, Thomas Hall. He's around here somewhere. Do you know where he is? Hiding on the tables. So, like, our table has been this little hub of all this connected activity. It's the in-person Slack room is at our table. Yeah. Right? So, you know, the NotCo Slack room, we invented real life in person.

Myke Hurley: Because it's one of the really funny things is so many people have come to Atlanta that wouldn't usually. Oh, yeah. Anna Reiner. Myke Hurley. Came all the way from London.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. Not the furthest away.

Myke Hurley: No, I know. We'll get into that in a little bit later. Should we take... I want to... Because we're talking about exhibiting. But, like, so we're here to sell. But we're also here to buy as well. And people have been buying stuff. So, I want to talk a little bit about that as well. Like, what it's been like buying at the show and that kind of stuff. Before we do that, talking about buying pens. We have our good friends over at the Pen Chalet sponsoring this week's episode as well. You know Pen Chalet. They sell just everything. They sell amazing roller balls, fountain pens, ball points. They have everything. They have all your favorite brands like Lamy, Pilot, Kaweco, Namiki, so many more. They're an authorized dealer of all of them. They offer great customer service. They're always running deals. We have more deals today that I'm going to get to than we've ever had before. So, like, we haven't spent enough money today? Yeah. Is that what you're telling me? Well, I'm just going to make you spend more. Okay. Like, Pen Chalet are awesome. They do free shipping on orders of 50 bucks in the United States. I'm saying bucks because I've been saying this so much over the last couple of days. Myke can count American money. It's pretty awesome. That's so cool. American money is all the same size and it drives me crazy. Because, like, British money, like, the bigger the note, it's physically bigger. So, it's so easy. Anyway, we've been talking about this a little bit. I've heard this story.

Brad Dowdy: So, a million pound note doesn't actually, you can't fold that up and put it in your pocket.

Myke Hurley: The size of the country.

Myke Hurley: But, talking about the UK, Pen Chalet, they do ship internationally. They have great shipping rates as well. And that's just something I've had stuff shipped from Pen Chalet before. So, you need to go to PenChalet.com. That's P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T.com. And use the code Pen Addict. You're going to save 10% off on your order. Or click the podcast link at the top of the website and enter the password Pen Addict for even more savings as well as your 10% off. Now, for people listening to the audio, these are going to be the deals they're going to get. I mean, people watching the video, the deals may be different. But there's always great deals over at Pen Chalet. So, let me tell you about some of the stuff that we've got today. So, not only are Pen Chalet doing a giveaway at the moment, which you can find over on their website, which is for National Stationery Week. They have $1,500 in prizes, including a grand prize total of a $1,000 retail, platinum 3776, black tiger. I've never even heard of this, but it costs a grand. So, they're doing it at the moment. That's like a big giveaway that they're doing. But their usual deals that they're doing. So, we have Pilot Custom 823, Pilot Custom 74, Namiki Falcon, Pelican 200, Platinum Psi?

Ana Reinert: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Psi, I believe. Lamy Studio, Imperial Blue, Lamy Tipo Rollable, and Lamy CP1. They have different colors and different nib sizes. So, you can go over to the website, PenChalet.com, click the little radio podcast button, enter the Pen Addict code. You'll get a list of all these great stuff. The prices are incredible. I'm just looking at the page now. They've got some fantastic stuff for you guys this time. So, you should go check it out. Thank you so much to Pen Chalet for sponsoring this week's episode. We love you guys. We love it. Thank you, Ron. Everyone here. They're here all the time. Ron and everyone at Pen Chalet. Thank you so much for helping make this happen. Because they have. They help make this stuff happen.

Ana Reinert: There's no doubt that, you know, guys like Ron and companies like Pen Chalet and everyone else who sponsors the show is also why we're here. I mean, they help us get us here. So, thank you.

Brad Dowdy: Absolutely.

Myke Hurley: So, we'll be buying stuff.

Pen Show Experience

Ana Reinert: Yeah. It's been, I think, I don't know if I've bought the least. I've certainly shopped the least. So, why don't, Ana, you talk about what your buying experience has been like. I think he's insinuating you've been shopping the most. From day one.

Brad Dowdy: See, to be honest, there's other people who have seriously out shopped me.

Ana Reinert: I have seen you the least. So, that means you've been shopping the most.

Brad Dowdy: I've been talking. Which is, I mean, for me, normally, I'm very, I'm generally introverted. I'm fearful of strangers. But everybody here has been so nice and so kind and helpful and polite. And so, it's like every table I go to, next thing you know, I'm getting stories about, like, you know, fighting in the Korean War. And next thing you know, I'm pulling up a chair and we're having a conversation and I'm getting all these wonderful stories. So, the opportunity just to meet people and find all this, you know. They tell me histories of how they acquired certain vintage pens.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. That's something you only get at a pen show. Pen show.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And because I'm here all three days, I have time to be like, you know what, I want to hear this story. Let me pull up a chair and sit and talk with you for a while. Because I don't have to, like, I'm not rushing through trying to do this in a day. Which has made it really nice. And it's given me opportunity to walk through the show several times. Look at different tables, both vintage and new vendors. Play with inks. I spent a lot of time at the Franklin Kristoff playing. They have whole trays with every single nib type that they have. And they have them inked up. So, you can figure out which nib you want put into which pen body.

Ana Reinert: This is like 30 different testers or so. Yeah. Because they have the steel. 30 different testing pens.

Franklin Kristoff Pens

Brad Dowdy: They have the steel ones and they have the gold nibs. And so, you can try each one of them. And so, that was, you know, there was an hour and a half right there. Right. That's exactly right. You have to try them all. And then you have to go back because by the time you get to the last one, you're like, oh, I can't remember what that first one was.

Myke Hurley: That's exactly right. And what I really like about the Franklin Kristoff as well is once you've picked it, so you pick the body, you pick the nib, they then have you sit down and they tune it. Yeah. Which is awesome.

Brad Dowdy: And he wants to ink it up for you and make sure that you've had your experience and does this feel okay for you? Do we need to...

Ana Reinert: Sits with you individually and works through all that stuff.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Which is really amazing too.

Ana Reinert: And that's something... Happy birthday, Jim.

Brad Dowdy: Happy birthday, Jim.

Brad Dowdy: But having that opportunity. So that's part of my shopping trip was I did... I spent... I visited the Franklin Kristoff booth several times before I finally made a decision. And when I made a decision, Lori at Franklin Kristoff was like, you better decide what you want because I've only got one of the pocket 66s left. So...

Ana Reinert: Get off the pot.

Brad Dowdy: So I had... She finally was like, I'm holding this off for you. But if you're not down here, first thing in the morning, I'm selling it.

Ana Reinert: So she got me before we opened this morning and she said, as soon as you see Anna, send her over to me.

Brad Dowdy: Well, and I got my time zones mixed up. My computer didn't reset. So my computer was on central time. So I'm upstairs thinking it is 8.55 and I'm just going to stroll in there at 9 o'clock and I get down there and everybody's like, where the heck have you been? I'm like, oh no.

Ana Reinert: But she took care of you. Lori's been great all weekend. She's been super...

Brad Dowdy: Yes, taking care of everybody.

Ana Reinert: Every time I look over there, that table's packed.

Brad Dowdy: Absolutely. I hope they've... And they have. They've been selling out. They've, you know, they're out of half the nibs and, you know, which is awesome because you know that they do this a lot. So they know how much to bring and yet still things are selling out. So that's really amazing.

Myke Hurley: Most of it was gone Friday. Friday is just like the early birthday, basically.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's Friday work hours for normal people. Not that we're normal people physically at a pen show, but you get the drift. I thought it would be pretty light traffic. Vendors milling around, talking with each other, catching up on friends and that. And we were really busy with sales and everyone else was too. It was a really kind of a nuts day. I didn't expect Friday to go that way at all.

Brad Dowdy: I think a lot of the other vendors said the same thing. Like their Fridays are usually much quieter. And I think it was the huge pen addict community contingency that came in and said, I came all the way from Baltimore. I came all the way from New York. I want... I'm going to get what I want as soon as I can and I don't want them to sell out. So... Which is awesome.

Pen Show Layout

Myke Hurley: So the kind of the way that the pen show is set up is like there's two rooms and one room has more modern stuff. So this is the room that we're in because the Andersons have like four tables and Franklin Christoph have like three tables. So it takes up the majority of the room.

Ana Reinert: And it's not divided that way on purpose. It just happens to be... They're just a big... We're actually in the smaller room. Yeah. But it's the first main room because that's where you get to first. And then the other room, the large room, has a lot more vintage stuff. There's some huge vintage spreads. I mean, like you'll see the Andersons have a bunch of vintage stuff, but they might have one table of vintage stuff. There's guys and gals in the back room with like two and three tables, just spreads of vintage pens. Like really good looking stuff. Yeah. And I haven't even made it back there to shop yet. Like at all.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Because it's harder to...

Ana Reinert: Because you have to leave the room, right? Yes. I have to leave the room and go. I've only made it to a couple of tables. So you got the 66 pocket from Franklin Christoph. Did you get anything else?

Brad Dowdy: I did. Today I made it over into the larger room and I bought two Estabrooks. Oh, nice. I got a yellow purse pen to match my... I have a pink one that I found on eBay a couple of years ago. And then I got a replacement for... I had a green Estabrook that was starting to crack. And so the green, of course, green's my favorite color. Yeah. So I wanted to find another green one. And I wasn't going to be picky about whether I got an SJ or transitional or whatever. But I found a transitional green in nice shape that had been resacked and got a very nice price on it. So it's very pleased. And he's like, oh, you know, about the nibs. And I'm like, no, I'm good. I got a pile of them.

Ana Reinert: I got that under control. Yeah. I got that covered. Yeah. You have a ton of nibs. I do.

Brad Dowdy: And one of mine is missing. And I'm not sure if I didn't bring it or if I just managed to misplace it. But hopefully it'll turn up.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Or there's been a theft. No. No. I've heard a rumor that there's, in that room, there's two of the new Estabrooks. Oh, yeah.

Brad Dowdy: I did hear about that. And yeah. And people are not talking nicely about them. I have not made an effort to seek them out because I might get a little.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. That's on my radar for tomorrow. Hopefully they have one inked up. I can test out and see how it goes. Your mind will be blown. Yes. I fully expect my wallet to fly right out of my pants and throw dollar bills at them. I can't buy one so fast. Yeah. I got to have one. What a human mind. In your moments away from the table. So I knew pre-show that Franklin Kristoff was going to have two new pens. And that was going to be my first purchase.

Brad Dowdy: What did you buy?

Pocket 66 Pens

Ana Reinert: Just like straight over there. I bought the same pen you did. The Pocket 66 in ice. What color did yours? Did you get?

Brad Dowdy: Oh, mine's ice too. Yeah.

Ana Reinert: Twins. Pen twins. Pen twins.

Brad Dowdy: Actually, I think there's more like pen octuplets because I think there's quite a few that got purchased.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. Yeah. So they're out of those pens now.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I think. Well, like I said, I got the last one.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. Yeah. They're out of those. Then they have a new slip cap model that they just introduced. I think it's called the model 20. I could be wrong on that. It's so new. I don't have it ingrained into my skull yet, but it's just a straight black, smooth, clipless pen. And the cap just, there's no threading. There's no click. But the way it's designed, the slip cap design just sits on the pen perfectly when it's capped and then perfectly when it's posted. So there's no other action to that pen at all.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I don't know how it works, but it's like friction based. Yeah. And I mean, it seems pretty incredible, but it just sits. You just put it on, it just sits. But it's dead solid. And then when you take it off, you don't have to like really force it. It just comes off. But it doesn't like fall off. It's pretty crazy. Did you buy one? No.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. So part of the Frank and Christophe deal is the nib that you get to pick out. So what did you go with? Could you?

Brad Dowdy: I have a fine in mine.

Ana Reinert: Okay.

Brad Dowdy: But I also have an appointment with Myke Masayamo tomorrow.

Ana Reinert: So that might change. Yeah. Yeah. We're going to get to that. So I got a fine cursive italic, which is one of Myke's grinds. And then I got a needle point, which is also one of Myke's grinds. I don't pass up the chance to get Masayamo nibs. And they stock them as part of their offerings for their pens. So yeah, that thing, that was the only two pens I bought yesterday. Then I picked up one today. Yeah. What is that one today? So, um, so friend of the show and current, um, visitor of the podcast, Joe Crace from Franklin, Tennessee, um, gentleman station, gentleman stationer, Mr. Gentleman stationer has been putting this Lamy 2000 ballpoint, uh, in my face several times because every time he does it, I, ooh and ah, and that's the reaction you want. Right. Not any Lamy 2000 ballpoint, the old, old school, well-worn and used like Macrelon worn down, smooth stamped made in West Germany on the barrel. Excellent. And I was like, where did you get this? And he's like, this guy over here. And he showed me and he got it. I don't know if he got it yesterday or today. And he didn't tell me this up front. And he came back around again. Um, and I said, all right, let me see the pin again. I really like it. I mean, it's, I mean, it, I don't want to say it looks like a beater, but this is a well-loved pin and it's beautiful because of that. Right. And he said, you know, the guy's got the same pin in a multi pin. And so I got that. I went over, I went over there. I said, are you serious? I've never even seen that pin. I don't know what this pin is. And I said, he pointed me to the guy and like, I was over there with like in two minutes. Right. Cause this is something I would be super interested in if it was, you know, not a unicorn. And I went over there and there it is sitting there. And I looked at it. It's in great shape. You know, it takes four deep. It's got four in cartridges, all D one refills. None of them work. It's must have like the original cartridges in it. It looks like a mess. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: So I got ideas.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. So I can put all the magic D one refills in there. Instead of the Lamy ones. And I'm super happy with that. But explain how this works. So it's like crazy thing. So it's like the, I call it before, like when I review pins and I don't actually know the real name for it, but I call it like a gravity eject where you basically turn the pin the direction you want the color to come out. So you want to see on the pin barrel what color you want. So this pin, it's slotted for red, green, blue, and black. So you look at that color on the barrel, then click the knock. And that's the color that shoots out the barrel.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. So you look at it like it's, it's got the colors like around the top of the knock. And as you look at it, whatever's looking at you back, you click and that's the color. So you click in, you turn it like 90 degrees, you click it and it'll be a different color. It's crazy. I've never seen anything like it. And I, and I'm so jealous of you.

Brad Dowdy: Was it ridiculously expensive?

Ana Reinert: No. And that was what makes it like the grin on my face, even bigger. I'll tell you, it was 45 bucks.

Myke Hurley: Whoa. Yeah. That's amazing.

Ana Reinert: Everyone hates spread down. I don't know what those go for. Cause I didn't even look, but it didn't matter for that price. No, absolutely not. So like if it, I'd not knowing anything about that pin, it may go for 50 bucks on eBay. But like if it said like 150 bucks, like in my head, I'm like, I've never even seen this pin, much less heard of it. I would say, okay, let me think about it. Then maybe do a little research on it and see, you know, where is that price line? But for 45 bucks, take it home, clean it up, get some, you know, Zebra Sarasa, uh, D1 gel refills.

Brad Dowdy: That is exactly what I would recommend.

Ana Reinert: And I'd be good to go.

Brad Dowdy: Absolutely.

Ana Reinert: I'm real happy about that purchase.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. I can see why you would be.

Ana Reinert: Thanks Joe for pointing me in the right direction. So between Friday and Saturday, I've been physically at the pin show all day. I've made three stops. Franklin Kristoff on the first day, Van S pins on the first day, which I got some ink from. I got bung box silent night, which is a really deep dark blue, which I think was sold out

Brad Dowdy: by the time I got there. Yeah.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. They were hoarding my bottle in the back. Very kind of them. Yeah. That was so nice of them. So connected. Yeah. Connected. I got the pin connections. Yeah. Yeah. What does that give me? No, I'm just kidding. You said what it got you. Yeah. It was pretty awesome. Um, and then that was the only two tables I visited yesterday. And how many vendors y'all think are here? Let's say 50.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Sounds about right.

Ana Reinert: 40 to 50 individual vendors. So I made it to those two vendors yesterday. And then I made it to the Lamy 2000 guy today. I have not had time to walk around the backside of our table, much less go shop around the show. But we're going to work on that tomorrow. I think the three of us are going to go shopping together.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. I think that's a good plan. Yeah. And actually, even for me, um, I have not actually like walked from table to table. What happens is I will get to a table and someone will be like, no, you need to go over there. Yeah. And, or I'll get a text message or someone will call me and be like, no, they have this thing. You need to go see it right now. I mean, even the other vendors are like, Oh, you like that? You should go over and see that guy at the end. So it's like, I, you know, like if people were trying, cause somebody said, somebody came up to me and he goes, we must be going along the same path. And I'm like, there is no way anybody could be following me because I'm going around here like a fly drunk on Coke. You know, like, so, but it's been fun. And cause every place I go, somebody else is like making a suggestion. Oh, you're looking for more Estabrooks. Oh, this guy over here has a whole tray of them. You know, I've only got a few, but go over there and visit that guy, which has been awesome. I mean, so it's very, I mean, they're willing to share with each other and say, Hey, if what you're really looking for is this brand or this type of product, like I know this guy has a ton of them or this lady has stuff.

Ana Reinert: Right. So that's a pen show feature, right? You come here and everyone is on the same page. They all want the same thing. They're here not to sell stuff. They're here because they love this community. People I don't know, I feel comfortable saying that about them because that's how they act, right? With the experiences that you've had with people that you don't know and they don't know you and they're willing to say, you know, not like brush you off. They want to help you find the things that you're looking for because that's how this community is. So that's like one of the pen show one-on-one things I've always said is talk to people. They're going to help you. They're going to be super nice and point you in the right direction. And that's why you come to a pen show is to have that engagement with the vendors just to, you know, kind of, if you've never been, it kind of helps you calm down. Right. Because a lot of people are telling me like, this is my first pen show and I'm nervous and I'm like, here's what you do and just kind of get that feeling and you kind of settle in. Now, speaking of pen show one-on-one, Myke Hurley failed at that. Would you like to explain to the crowd what happened?

Myke Hurley: Well, I spent all my money on Friday. Well, I spent the majority of the money that I'm going to spend on Friday, but.

Ana Reinert: I would like to expand on that statement. You spent the majority of the money you were going to spend on Friday by taking like 10 steps away from the booth without even seeing the rest of the show. But the things that I bought, there aren't any more of them. Did you go around the rest of the show to see? No. Okay.

Myke Hurley: I was just checking. Well, because one is the Franklin Kristoff booth. Okay. That's fair. So my pen, I bought a model to smoke and ice. It was the last one. It's really, I love that pen. I don't have that one yet. I got the last medium cursive italic nib. Yes. With the Masayama grind. So that, I wouldn't have been able to get that. So I was right in doing that. Yes. And I bought the sailor that you have. What is the model?

Ana Reinert: It's the Sapporo. Yep. I'm sorry. It's not the Sapporo. It's the Progear. The Sapporo is the smaller one. The Progear is the full size sailor in. Orange. Orange.

Myke Hurley: Now, the reason I bought that was because I had an appointment with Myke Masayama and the enabler himself, Mr. Thomas Hall, told me Masayama worked on sailor for 20 years. Yeah. He worked for them. So he said, if you want, because I said I wanted it, is if you want it, buy it now so you can get it in your appointment because you only get two nibs. And I would have, maybe I wouldn't have got another appointment until late Saturday or Sunday. And then I also, one was a pen that I'd already requested, which was from Dan Bishop, which was a, I got another ink. I got it in steel with a copper grip.

Ana Reinert: So, yes, I spent all my money quickly, but I think, well, why is purchases? I will let you completely off the hook because you actually did it right. You planned beforehand, right? So we talked about, you know, how my first pen show, I had like this huge list of things and it was not knowing what to expect and not having anyone to tell me that this information, I was a little bit let down that I couldn't find all these things just because I didn't know what would really be there. I just assumed whatever I could find online, I'm going to find at the pen show. Not remotely the case at all. You're going to find that stuff, but it's going to be actually more limited. You're going to have a huger selection here and a wider range, but it'll take a little work to find the things. So you had a list and you knew right where you could find those things, especially when you're buying from a brand like Franklin Kristoff. That's where you're going to buy it from, right? So you did absolutely right by marking those things off the list, even though. Well, I bought one other thing, which did take a bit of research, which was something for you. Yeah. This was, yeah, this, I don't, I don't know what to say. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: So it's the, what is the Vacumatic? Mm-hmm. What is it called? Golden Web. Golden Web, which we spoke about a couple of weeks ago. So people might remember a few episodes ago, Brad mentioned a Vacumatic that he liked, which is called the Golden Web. During that show, I started placing eBay bids. Unbeknownst to me. Yep. Because I found some in the UK and it just kept getting sniped, kept getting sniped. So I was looking around because the Parker Vacumatic, which is a pen that we both have.

Brad Dowdy: Do you have one? Um, I don't. I have a dual fold. I have a Parker dual fold. Yep.

Myke Hurley: Yep. Because the Vacumatic, like it was the same at London, same here, they're everywhere. Every table that has any vintage has some. Yes. Um, I assume it's because they're beautiful, but they were very common. Yes.

Ana Reinert: But they look really great. Yeah. And super unique at the time. And even in 2015, still super unique in their filling system. You know, that's why they're so popular now. It's still like a huge deal, even being so common way back in the early 1900s. Yes.

Myke Hurley: So I started looking around and I found one of these ones. Um, I was very happy that I did. And I think I got looking at what it would have cost me on eBay. I got it for a really good price. Sweet. And there was one other, which was more expensive, but it wasn't as good condition. That's awesome. And I also got the guy, the guy that I bought it from told me the whole story. Like he restored it himself. Like he found them along with like, this is a story you hear from basically every vendor. They'd say, I found this like tray in somebody's attic or like a yard sale or some sort of like state sale. And then they're like, oh, and I replaced the thing inside. But so this is something that I did do. He was explaining to me and another guy, like the way that the filling system works on them. And it's like you, you unscrew the end and there's this little wheel that you turn and it pops up the pump filler. So I did that and ink went everywhere. Oh no, you didn't tell me that. So like, he was just telling me, it was like, oh, you just, you pop it up and you pop at the thing. So I was doing what he was telling me to do and ink just went, I went, I'm buying this. Don't worry.

Myke Hurley: Sorry about that. Yeah. Then I, then I, you break it, you buy it. Yep. Yep. So it was all okay. He just cleaned it all up for me. Good. Which is why there was a little bit of ink on the nib because that just exploded it.

Ana Reinert: No problem. 20 seconds earlier. No problem. Then you like strolled over. I'm sitting there working, you know, and Myke's like standing like closer to me than like he would normally do.

Brad Dowdy: Well.

Ana Reinert: You know, I know, I mean, I know we love each other.

Brad Dowdy: There's a lot of bromance going on.

Ana Reinert: We love each other. So we're always close, but you could tell Myke wanted to tell me something and I'm, I think I was taking money or doing or talking or whatever. And like, as soon as I like finished before I could even like shift just a hair, Myke goes, I got a gift for you. And he handed me that pen and it was like seriously meaningful and I really appreciate it. That was awesome. Thank you very much. That was my other purchase.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. You guys are going to make me all over here watching YouTube.

Ana Reinert: This has been an emotional weekend just because it's been so great. It's been yet just the, the people and the energy around. And I've been running on adrenaline like for two days straight and it's like catching up, but man, it's been like really, yeah.

Brad Dowdy: How many people have stopped and said, you're Brad Dowdy. Can I shake your hand? Can I hug you?

Ana Reinert: I lost count. We've taken lots of pictures. We've taken lots of pictures. We've done lots of autographs.

Brad Dowdy: You've done autographs. I've done autographs. Oh, that's amazing.

Ana Reinert: I've had people not looking for me, catch me as I'm walking by because they hear the voice and I see their head turn. Like I've heard that. Are you the, yeah. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: That's, hey. It's been a couple of people. It's so funny. Like when like Brad's buying pens from West Germany, like I'm standing at the table and people keep coming by and they're like, they're like, I was like, he's not here right now.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. Back at the knock, back at the knock table. I'm away from the knock table. They come looking for me. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: So at one point yesterday you were walking through the show and you had about half a dozen people following you and I'm like, Brad's got a posse.

Ana Reinert: So it was this a group of students came by today. This was, it was their fourth time. I think I'm trying to find you. They stopped at the knock table the four times looking for me and I don't even think I was gone too, too long, but we had lunch and we stepped up. It was different. Yeah. Over different. They were at the show shopping. They traveled from Augusta, Georgia, which is about two and a half hours away to come to the show. And they also wanted to meet me and they kept, the guys kept telling me they kept coming. They, when I got back, I just came back around the table when they were finally in either you or Jeff pointed this group of group of kids out that were standing over there and they're not kids, you know, young adults, 20 year olds. And they came over and they're like, Brad, they've been looking for you. And I'm like, like how? Like I would, my first thought was like, whoa. And then it was like, no, they wanted to meet you. They've been by the table like four times. So hi guys from Augusta. I forget all y'all's names, but y'all were awesome. So we took a bunch of pictures and it's really been kind of neat.

Myke Hurley: So there's a funny moment. Like when one of the times you were away, because obviously I'd been back and Jeff was like, oh, he's here now to me. Right. And I said, hi. And they were like, you Brad?

Myke Hurley: Jeff thought that they were looking for me because I'd like, you know, because I've traveled all this way, but no, they just wanted to see you. They didn't care about me.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. But let's not be, you know, that self-centered. There's been a bunch of people looking for you. There's been a bunch of people looking for Anna. There's been, once we started telling all the people that were actually going to be here, those people were looking for those other people that they knew were going to be here. And it's just like this whole web that we have of awesomeness, the web of awesomeness. Write that on your knock cards and slide them under the door.

Pen Grind Language

Myke Hurley: Yeah. But that's like a weird analog title suggestion system which we proposed earlier on. So I want to talk about, I want to come back to that. Yeah. Because that's like the kind of like the community aspect. I also want to talk about Nibwork. Yes. But before we do that, let me thank our final sponsor for this week. Okay. And that's our friends over at MashDrop who are an online community for enthusiasts of all kinds. From audio and electronics to quilting and cooking. It's a place for you to connect with people like you. To discuss your favorite products and activities and buy them together. That's what MashDrop does. They represent a new type of online experience that combines community, content and commerce. MashDrop offers a place where enthusiasts can meet online and connect over the products they love. The forum, they offer that as well. You can vote on and discuss the products that you're passionate about. And it also provides you with a platform where you can connect directly to manufacturers and buy the products together to get bulk pricing. They're not a flash sale website. They're not a deal site. They're just a place that helps you work with people like you to get stuff that you want from the people that you love. The thing that is most important to the people over at MashDrop is that they want to build communities around the things that they love. And the things that people love and the things that we all love together because that's what they really love doing. They're not just about creating flash deals and stuff like that. They want to basically create a platform that people who are like-minded and enthusiastic about things can get things at great deals and also discuss the stuff that they love as well. I know that group buys are something that are really important to people in the pen community, especially when we spend so much money at these pen shows. And some of the stuff that we buy is really expensive. Like we've all spent quite a bit of money today. We've been saving for it. But buying in bulk can really help lower the price and stuff for online orders. And this is where a service like MashDrop can help. They get prices like 20% to 30% off brands like Pelican, Frank and Kristoff, who we mentioned before. They're all on MashDrop from time to time. Now, one that the guys over at MashDrop sent to me today, which is fantastic. They're doing a stainless steel Lamy 2000 for $235.

Ana Reinert: Yeah, so it's weird spending money at the pen show and feeling that you need to go make a purchase of a pen that you've been eyeballing for like a long time that I haven't been around like looking at the pen show. That's a really good deal on the Lamy 2000 stainless. I mean, I just bought a Lamy 2000 ballpoint today. So the stainless for that price is going to make me perk up a little bit and go, you know, poke around and see how many buttons I mash before, you know, I complete the order. And I just have one thing else to say about that. Hey, Matthew.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, he's been looking for one. So these deals are totally worth checking out. If you want to find out more, go to dro.ps slash the pen addict and sign up. Thank you so much to MashDrop for supporting this show and all of RelayFM. So let's talk about nib work.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. So when we talked about pen show prep stuff, we discussed kind of the things kind of just laying out a game plan for people who've never been before. Just so you kind of have an idea and you're not going in totally blind. And people who've never been, one of the things a lot of them want to get done is nib work. They have a pen that's not working right or they have a pen that they need adjusted to write differently or they want to take a really gushing broad nib and turn into a stub or italic nib. And our recommendation was if that's the type of work you want to get done, walk into the pen show, head straight to the person doing that work and put your name on the list. So we did that Friday. I had two pens to get work on. You had two pens to get work on. And you've got something for tomorrow, right?

Brad Dowdy: I have an appointment, but I haven't quite figured out what I'm going to get done. But everybody was like, if you're thinking about it, sign up. The worst thing that could happen is that I could go, I could get to that point and not be ready to make a decision. And so I just say, I'm sorry, cross my name off the list and it means the next person gets bumped up. So it's not a huge big deal and I've got some ideas, but I'm definitely going to continue to talk to you guys about what you recommend.

Ana Reinert: For sure. For sure. And one of my favorite people in the world that I've ever met in the pen community is Myke Masayama. And I've only met him at the pen show and I met him first through Thomas Hall, which is the king enabler. Which is obvious. He tries to voice that title on me. We've had long discussions about this today and Thomas is at the top of the enabling chain. Although Lee Reyes. Also very bad. Yeah, she, she's, she might be the, she's definitely the queen, but she's.

Brad Dowdy: She could be an enabler except she bought the pen that she was supposed to enable me to buy.

Ana Reinert: Right. So Thomas introducing me into Myke's work, one, and then Myke as a person, two, has been really, really good. I have a great relationship with Mr. Masayama. He's a really genuinely nice guy. Um, people will be intimidated by a guy sitting behind a machine with his head down, you know, with a loop out and working on these, these pins, you know, behind this, you know, little screen. So, you know, you're with, you know, like a, uh, splash guard, you know, so you're not getting stuff on you. You know, you look at this and it's like, this is scary and intimidating.

Brad Dowdy: His wife is also really nice. She is super nice. So she was super, it kind of made it a little bit easier for me to go ahead and schedule the appointment and be like, okay, I can do this.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. Yeah. But so just for everyone's kind of knowledge on how this works, um, Myke Hurley and I, when we got in Friday morning, we had our names on the list, probably 10 o'clock. Um, cause we were there at nine setting up and we put our names on early before. Do that. Cause like, I'm going to put all our names down. Yeah. So we were like third, fourth and fifth in line already at that time. And it was afternoon before our turns came up like one, two o'clock in the afternoon. And we were early on the list. So it takes a little time because what Myke does is he talks to you about what do you want? How do you write? What do you want it to feel like? What's your expectation of the result of this? And takes all that information and here's what you can and can't do. So like I had a Nakaya that I wanted to change up the nib a little bit. It's really close to being how I wanted to. And in talking to him and discussing what my end result should be, he led me down a path, including sketch drawings. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: That was so awesome when he drew that up. Yeah.

Ana Reinert: Of exactly what I'm saying, what it looks like and what he can do all in this same little drawing. And then we came to a decision together. He's like, okay, I got it. And then you just kind of kick back in your chair, let him do magic. And he's grinding away and cleaning and inspecting. Like making jokes. Yeah. It's really fun. Yeah. Yeah. So you just let the magician work.

Brad Dowdy: So did you take him anything specific being left-handed? Like were there any specific requests that you made?

Myke Hurley: I didn't. But I did show him and he did note it. So I don't know if he maybe made a difference with it. But there was, I think I was talking to Dave and he was saying that he said like, I'm a lefty. And like, I want you to think about that. So what Myke did is he ground the pen to a point and then he gave the pen to Dave and made him write on sandpaper. So he could see where it marked and then he ground the nib down that way. I was like, whoa.

Brad Dowdy: And Dave got the architect grind, right? Yeah. Yeah. Because he handed it to me and I played with it and I'm like, oh no, now I want one of these. Uh-huh.

Ana Reinert: Uh-huh.

Brad Dowdy: It was amazing. And because I do think that he made an effort to hit that because Dave has the same sort of upside down writing. Yes. We both do. Yeah. So I put it in my hand and usually somebody will hand me a pen and I'm like, it may or may not write it the way that I want it to. And it was like, oh.

Ana Reinert: Right. So the whole point of this is guys like Myke Masuyama and like everyone else here at the show is here to help you. They want you to be not just satisfied but like over the moon and they will work and work and work to make that happen. And that's what Myke does.

Brad Dowdy: And it's interesting because when there's other – I've been to other events like when you go to a flea market or something and you see that pen in that case, you got to do the whole like super cool head, cool. So how much is that?

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: And hopefully like your excitement doesn't show on your face because then somebody is all of a sudden going to add $10 to the price because they know you want that piece. Here it's totally the opposite. Like I walked up to this table. This gentleman had a whole tray of Astro Brooks and I was just going bananas. And I was like, do I want this one or this one? Do I want this one or this one? I was so excited to get them. And he looked at me and he goes, these are going to a good home. I'm going to knock $20 off the price. I'm like, that doesn't happen anywhere else. And I had someone else. I went and talked to somebody about a Pelican that he had. And he says, you look like someone that would be a good home for this pen. And he's like, what if I make you a deal? And I'm like, that doesn't – like any place else if you act that excited about something, they'd be like, how much more money can I get out of you? Which is – it's a cool experience and it's very different. You can ask somebody if you really like a pen and the price on there is a little out of your price range if they can work with you. And I think most people are fairly flexible about it. Some are like, no, that's – I mean, there's a lot of work that I put into this. But at least they're not trying to really – I mean, like they want to make money so that they can continue to do this. But they aren't trying to hoodwink anybody or try to just make a buck.

Ana Reinert: Yeah, it's a super consistent theme that you'll see. Like in – just from my experience, Atlanta is the only show I've been to and this is my third time. But the experience never changed. It's continually the same, which is continually awesome.

Myke Hurley: So I had two pens worth. Yeah. So I had my Edison, my custom Edison. So there was just something not right about it. And I gave it to Myke. He just took a look at it. He's like, yep, I can totally see what it is. And he just worked on it. All I said to him was it just doesn't feel right. Like I didn't know what else to say. Like I had Brad. Like we had ours done together, right? He did yours and he did mine because I was a little bit intimidated. Sure. I didn't really know what to say.

Ana Reinert: You didn't know how to speak the language of pen grind language. Yeah. Right. You didn't know how to say what I want Masuyama to accomplish for me, how to relay that information. But even if I wasn't there, Myke would just take over, right? Like if I wasn't pointing you in this direction or telling Masuyama what we had talked about previously, how we need to look at this. Myke would take over and just like he did with Dave, show me. Yeah. Put your pen in your hand right with this. And if you're wanting something that you don't have currently, he'll reach over. Like he grabbed me two or three different pens when I was getting one of mine stub. And he's like, write with these. Let me see. Let me see how small you write. We were talking about how small I write. He was hilarious. He was dogging me a little bit. And then he's like picking these out. He's watching me. And he's going to be able to make that recommendation just from watching me because that's his job. I mean, he's a super professional. So like if I wasn't even there, he's going to direct that traffic, right? He's going to make sure like you're going to leave with a pen that's going to make your jaw drop. And a nib, I should say. And I think you got some jaw dropping work done.

Myke Hurley: It was incredible. Like all I said to him was, it doesn't feel right. Because that's all I could say, right? Because I didn't know. I couldn't like really express what was wrong with it. But he just tried it. And he was like, yeah, I know what it is. And then he was doing this really interesting thing where he like balanced the end of the pen on his finger. I was just dragging it along the page. I think he was trying to see where it was scratching. Yeah. And he started working on it. And he was like, I'm going to make this. I don't know why he did this. But he's like, I'm going to make this look like a Mont Blanc.

Myke Hurley: Okay. He was just like, because this is when you left. You'd left at this. Right. Right. And he was like, I'm just going to, he says, I want to make this look like a Mont Blanc nib. And he started working on it. And he ground it down. And then he gave me his loop at the end. And he had me look at it. And he was like explaining what he did. And then later in the evening, I told Thomas Hall this. And I showed Thomas. And then he grabbed a Mont Blanc that he had. And he was showing me. And I don't, like it was just the way it was slanted on one side. And it looked just like the Mont Blanc nib that Thomas had. And I just think that Myke was just like, I want to have a bit of fun. And he was like, I'm going to make it look like this. That's amazing. Yeah. You didn't even tell me that. That's beyond cool.

Brad Dowdy: I want to play with it. I want to try it out.

Myke Hurley: It's fantastic. And then also I took him the sailor and he just tuned it. Yes. And that was really awesome. Like he turned the pen around and basically put his fingers into the nib. And was like prying it open to look inside. It was crazy. He didn't really do too much to me. He was just like positioning it. Right.

Ana Reinert: It was a really awesome experience. Yeah. It was a new pen that didn't have any issues that would just, you wanted to get tuned a little bit. You want, you have the opportunity to have something done that's not easily done anywhere else. But here today. Right. So you go do that. He has 20 years experience with these nibs. Yeah. Yeah. And even more after that doing all his own work. So yeah. If we haven't heaped enough praise on Mr. Masayama, we all think very highly of him. And you know, you hear us, you hear me talking about him a lot on the show. And there's, there's a good reason why.

Kickstarter Project

Myke Hurley: So the last thing I want to talk about today is kind of, it's like a double party. It's like the knock party that we had last night. Yeah. And just a little bit more about the community. So like, it's so awesome that we have everyone here. Mm-hmm. Like, so many people that we talk about on the show. So many listeners of the show came down. We've just had a great time together. And like, it's not over yet. Unfortunately, a couple people had to leave. Like, Myke Dudek had to leave. Mm-hmm. Because it was his son's birthday. Mm-hmm. Right. So it's fair enough excuse. I suppose. Happy birthday, little dude. Yep. And so it was great. It's just been really great to have everyone here. And one of the things that I've loved, and this was the same. Like, so we had a party at Knock. Everyone came down. Mm-hmm. It was raining. So we were all crammed in the workshop. Mm-hmm. Something that was really great. And we posted some pictures of these. Like, the streamers. Like, they made streamers. And the streamers were some of the insides, like the yellow insides, of the Kickstarter cases. Right.

Ana Reinert: For the Kickstarter project. Right. So everyone who backed the Kickstarter project, your case flap was at the party. It was. And it had your case. Help decorate. It told me it had a good time. It said the beer was excellent and the pizza was awesome. It was a little upset about the weather, but they were inside the whole time. So your cases didn't get wet. But, yeah, they really enjoyed the party. So, yeah. Got to see Jeff make some cases, like, right in front of me, which is insane.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. He's got mad skills.

Ana Reinert: Emily?

Brad Dowdy: No.

Myke Hurley: Ashley.

Ana Reinert: Ashley. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Ashley sat down and just started sewing. They just noted now. Everybody just was riveted to watch her. So, and we were like, are we making you nervous? And she's like, no, I just pretend you're not here.

Pen Enthusiasts

Ana Reinert: Yeah. Yeah, she does. And we were actually wanting to do more demonstration type stuff. But since we, like, couldn't, like, release the pressure of people outside because it was raining so much, it became a little crowded because everyone would be kind of just kind of clamoring over everything to see everything. So we wanted to do some more, like, demonstration stuff. But it ended up working out in the end pretty well. But the party itself was fascinating. It's, everyone is so much on the same page in this community. And we talked about it in the car. You and I drove together to the show. And it doesn't matter what the community is. But if you're part of something, no matter if you've never met someone in person or you've never even met them, period, but you're kind of part of this bigger community in a sense, you can just walk up to people and start conversations. And you literally have a new best friend, like, within two minutes. It's unlike anything I've experienced. You don't get this in a lot of realms. This is one where that happens. And I think we kind of all experience that, like, at a place like the party where we're all kind of there together.

Brad Dowdy: It was, one of my favorite moments was my friend Amanda came with me to the party. And she met Punky, Casey. And the two of them, I think, actually work on the same base. And so all of a sudden they were speaking entirely in army.

Ana Reinert: Yep.

Brad Dowdy: And pens at the same time. And the rest of us are all like, we're backing away.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. We're backing away.

Brad Dowdy: And they must have talked for half an hour and animatedly and excitedly. And it was like, these are two people that potentially may have never met before or known that they had so many things in common. Right. And just collided at the party and had a really good time. And it was awesome.

Myke Hurley: One of my favorite things, like, about talking to people, meeting with people, everyone just hands their pens out to each other. So Mark, one of the guys who helped organize this for us.

Ana Reinert: Mark Bacchus runs the Atlanta Pen Show.

Myke Hurley: Well, that's what Brad says. He helps out. He helps out a lot. And he helped us out with a lot of this. So thank you, Mark. Because he really has helped coordinate a bunch of us. He legitimately helped a lot. He was just showing me some stuff this morning. And he gives me this sailor, right? And it's this orange sailor. And it's got ridges, like, all the way down. And I'm trying it. And he goes, try it out. So he's like, I try it out. He's explaining to you. Yeah, he's telling me some of the lineage of it. And I give it back to him. He's like, they made 25 of those. And I nearly passed out. I was like, why are you letting me touch this? And this is, like, this thing. Like, there are people that will just give you pens that I'm not. Like, they're like four-figure sums of money. Yeah. And just, like, try it.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. And that's, everyone is like that. Like, I took a picture on Instagram. We'll put it in the show notes. Yes. And it was Lee Reyes brought her pens to the show. At the party. At the party. Excuse me. Yes, thank you. And she just grabbed a chair at our shop. Our shop is, you know, garage-esque. But it's our shop, and we love it. She just grabs a little chair, flips over a bucket, and lays out this pen spread. And she opens it up. You know, it's like the gold briefcase in Pulp Fiction, right? It's just the light hits you, and it's just, you know, Nakaya and Danitrio and everything that she brought.

Brad Dowdy: All these amazing pens.

Ana Reinert: And she's literally holding court in this little corner of the shop for hours, and people are just funneling through and coming, pulling up other chairs and handing the pens, try this, try this, try this. And once I saw her doing that, I started walking around to other people who I knew were, like, really new at this. Like, you know, not people who have done this for a few years or have some experience with, like, fountain pens, but people who would be nervous, who don't know Lee from anyone. And I would walk up to them, and I'm like, let me explain to you what's happening over here and who this is and what she's showing these people. And this is your chance to go try a pen that you will never try again in your life. Literally. Ever.

Brad Dowdy: And also without ever having any sales pressure or anything. She's just letting you try it. Like, try it out. See if you like it. Then you can pursue it if that's something that you want. Or, again, a pen you'd never have another opportunity because there's no way you could afford it.

Myke Hurley: Because a lot of them are, like, they're custom.

Brad Dowdy: They're custom. They're limited edition. They only made seven of them. I mean, like, there's...

Ana Reinert: And she has all six. She's got six of them. Yeah. So everyone I said this to said, no, I'm not going over there and doing that. Let me explain it to you again. And you will never, ever in your life have the experience that is five feet away right there.

Brad Dowdy: Held in the hands of some of the nicest, the nicest woman I think I've ever met. Just... Yep. I mean, I had lunch with her today. Yeah. And literally, we all just started pouring pens out on the table and everybody was passing everything around. And then we got the slack notice that there was a pen and ink tryout. Yeah. Just sort of randomly hosted in the lobby. And people were just bringing their pens. And, like, I just got this nib ground. You guys want to try it? Hey, I've got this bottle of this very rare ink. Would you like to dip and try it out and see if you like the color?

Ana Reinert: Yep.

Brad Dowdy: It's crazy. It is. I passed one pen around and I had one of my Estabrooks with a kind of a rare nib on it. And when it came back around, Casey was like, I cleaned it for you. It's spotless.

Ana Reinert: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: I'm like, oh, okay, great. I'm putting it in the end of my case because now I don't have to clean that one later. Yeah.

Ana Reinert: So, Lee at the party was one of my personal highlights. I mean, there was a ton of highlights. It was... The party was really, really awesome. You know, despite the rain, it went off really well. But I want to talk a little bit more about, like I was saying, about Lee letting people try. But, like, about how you were talking about everyone just bringing their pens out, letting everyone try anything. I thought something super telling happened today. This afternoon, I was by myself working the table at the knock table. And our friend Joe Lebo comes up to me and he wanted to show me. He has one of the original altar manufacturing cases, which predates Knock. That was the name of Jeff Bruckwicky's company when he sent me the first pen case that we eventually turned into Knock. And Joe has one of the original ones, one that I don't even have with this orange tag that's really cool. And he said, I wanted to bring this by to show it to you. And I was like, oh, good. And we were just talking. He's like, what are you doing? And he's like, we're having this pen meetup and testing it out there. I just left all my pens out there. And I just wanted to come show you this.

Ana Reinert: That says a lot, that statement. For someone to not even blink, to leave their most prized possessions. These mean a lot to us, clearly. Yeah. Pens are kind of our thing. We like pens. To have that philosophy permeate through the community where that's like a thing that you just do. I didn't say it. It didn't hit me when Joe said it. But I was like, wow. Yeah. That says a lot about what this community brings.

Brad Dowdy: And we have you to thank for so much of this. You know that.

Ana Reinert: So are you, buddy. Don't say that at all.

Brad Dowdy: I mean, you've really helped to build the community. And we do whatever we can to help carry it on. But without that opportunity and the forum that you created and Slack has been great for us to get even more involved in each other's business. Yep.

Ana Reinert: Right.

Brad Dowdy: In all sorts of ways. Whether it's, hey, I've got a pen I need to sell. I need to make a little money for the pen show. Yeah. Two, you know, I just found this deal on this ink. I know everybody's looking for it. Right. Go this way. It's been great. I mean, it's been such an opportunity. And even today, somebody said, hey, I know you took a picture. Is there any way I can get an original? And I'm like, yeah. And I just direct messaged them on Slack. I'm like, because I could upload the file. And here you go. You've got the picture. I didn't have to ask him for his email address and chase all that down. I'm like, done. Done and done.

Ana Reinert: Yep. I've been doing that a bunch too. Send me that. Send me that. Send me that. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Like, you know, saying about all this stuff, like, I'm way, I felt the last couple of days way more confident just to taking someone's pens and just using them. Yeah. And in the same way, like, if someone mentioned something that I have or, like, I'm showing someone something, like, even if I've never met them before, I just give it to them. Yeah. Like, there you go. Try it.

Ana Reinert: Like, there's a pad there. Just try it. Yeah. It's a real strange phenomenon for outsiders to, like, not that they would hear this show, but, like, people wouldn't, you do what now? And you just let them, how much and what? And you don't know where it is. Yeah. Yeah. This happens in this community. It's really special.

Scooter Clubs

Brad Dowdy: The only other time I've ever had experiences like this was I was in a scooter club.

Ana Reinert: Uh-huh.

Brad Dowdy: And you would literally just. I've seen pictures. Of course. I would, you would literally just hand, like, anybody else in the club, you just hand them the keys to your bike. Yeah. Or, you know, just be like, go, take it for a spin. Right. And, you know, next thing you know, you see, like, I had a very small bike and I'd see, like, a 300-pound, 6'4 guy, like, on my bike. I'm like, look. It's amazing. I mean, it's, you have to have a really connected community like that to be able to just hand somebody a pen and be like, hey, try it out. Let me know what you think, you know? If it is something that you're wanting to buy, like, why not borrow mine and sit for half an hour and just fiddle with it and doodle and we'll talk and we'll have a beer. And then you can decide, do you really want to buy that or not? So, it's a great, I mean, this whole experience has been just epic. I don't know that I could put it into words.

Myke Hurley: I know. The last thing that I want to talk about is just a quick mention. We're talking about community and that kind of stuff. What did you get this morning?

Ana Reinert: I forgot about this already. Okay. So, the guy that runs the pen show, Mark Bacchus, we mentioned him in this episode. So, he comes up to the table. This is early on today. This is like, they have pre-show hours. So, we weren't very busy from like 9 to 10. But Mark's there because he runs the show. And he comes up to me. He says, hey, can I borrow an index card?

Brad Dowdy: Perfect person to ask.

Myke Hurley: He said no and sent him away.

Ana Reinert: So, he sees the stack there. He's like, hey, can I borrow an index card? He comes back. Like, he walks away. And we're sitting right across from Myke Masayama. And Mark and Myke are real close. So, he goes and sits over there by Masayama. And I don't, whatever. He's doing whatever with the card. Needs to make a note.

Gift Exchange

Ana Reinert: And I'm doing, getting set up. Probably selling something, whatever. Mark comes back over. Hands me the index card. Except, under the card is a three pack of Field Notes Butcher Orange.

Brad Dowdy: No way.

Ana Reinert: That I don't have. That I've been looking for for years. You don't have. Nobody has. Okay. Almost nobody has. There's a few people. A sealed three. A sealed three pack. And he got, and on this index card is, here's what I would like in trade for this. You know. And he, like, he knows. Let's make a deal. He's gone to sit down to make a mental list. Because he knows the things that I have. And he says, these are, and like, you know. Like, way less than, like, if he went to eBay and threw this out there. Like, he's being, like. So, firstborn child? Yeah. No. Yeah. We might can make that deal. My kids don't listen to the podcast. But, no. He's, like.

Ana Reinert: I didn't know what to say. It's, like, my jaw dropped. He's, like. So, what do you think? Can you do this? I'm, like.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. Seriously? Yeah. Yeah. Like, you know. I like this pen. And I like this pen. And this maybe other three pack of Field Notes. But he's, like, so nonchalant about the whole thing. And I can't talk at this time. So, it's, like. Yeah. He's, like. Okay. See ya. And I'm just standing here holding this. So, he just left you as well. Yeah. He literally. He's, like. All right. I'll talk to you later. But see ya. And I'm, like. Oh, okay. And I'm, like.

Brad Dowdy: The briefcase full of money was slid under the table later.

Ana Reinert: It's, like. My first thing. I gotta take a picture of this.

Ana Reinert: I had been that giddy off show. And, you know. I was glad they got me in the morning. Because, you know. In the afternoons. You kind of get this little crash thing going.

Myke Hurley: So, we just want you. For you to, like. Break into and to write your shopping lists.

Ana Reinert: Right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I already. I know. Yeah. I have the open one that I can start writing in upstairs. So. But the three packs stay in sealed. Yeah. Yeah. We'll see. One of each. One of each sealed. So, yes. That was a pretty special moment this morning. And a weekend full of special moments.

Brad Dowdy: There were a lot. I had several people just hand me things. Yeah.

Ana Reinert: Mm-hmm.

Brad Dowdy: And it's, like. Yeah. Like gifts. People are bringing, like, gifts for, like. What about the. What about the two boxes of donuts?

Ana Reinert: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: That was epic. Yeah. Those. I don't know where they came from. But it was just. Things. And funny shapes and covered in cocoa puffs.

Ana Reinert: Not just pens and paper and ink show up. No. Lots of things show up.

Brad Dowdy: Two dozen donuts.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. Just, like, out of the blue. Like, here you go for everybody. Yeah. And it's been awesome. Yeah. Really cool.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Thank you. There's one more day left. Yeah. We're not even done yet. Nope. Again, like, you've heard us talk about how much of a great time we're having. And, again, thanks to you guys for making it happen. Thank you. Um. And I hope that more of you will join us next year.

Ana Reinert: Yeah. I. You keep saying that. Like, it's, like, definitive. We're going to make this happen. I think. You're going to be here.

Myke Hurley: I think. I think so.

Ana Reinert: I will definitely be here.

Myke Hurley: I'm going to make it happen. Nice.

Brad Dowdy: After all of the pictures, now my husband's like, okay, maybe I'll come next year.

Ana Reinert: I think we can get something done about that. So, yeah. Thank y'all both so much for being part of this. It wouldn't be the same without y'all here. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Myke Hurley: So, thank you all for listening to this week's episode. Of course, we have some show notes, which you can find over at relay.fm slash panalex slash 150. I keep forgetting. Like, it's episode 150 as well. Yeah. It's like official podcasting business. This is episode 150. That's a big deal. Yep. I'm proud of that. We're counting 50s now. That's how long this show's been going for. Thanks again to our sponsors, Linda, Pen Shelley, and Mashdrop. Thank you all for listening. Until next week. Say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad. Say goodbye, Anna.

Brad Dowdy: Goodbye, Anna. Goodbye, Anna.