The Pen Addict 233/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	233
Title:	Andrifolio Candrinople
Release Date:	November 30th, 2016
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 233
Audio File:	Audio Episode 233
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 233
Length:	7373 min <br />1.217 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 233. Today's show is brought to you by Harry's Footcardigan and Tom Binn. My name is Myke Hurley. I am joined by Mr. Brad Dowdy.

Brad Dowdy: Hey, buddy. How are you? Good. How are you? Good, good. I finally recovered from the Thanksgiving weekend and the family festivities for about four or five days. So, Monday and Tuesday have been hectic, and today it's back to pretty much normal. Monday was nuts, just catching up on everything. Tuesday, I was still way behind. It was, like, very stressful. And today we're back to podcasting, which makes everything right in the world again, right? Oh, yeah, you bet. Yeah, so, I know Thanksgiving's obviously mostly an American holiday. The Amiel Canada has their own Thanksgiving. Other countries do, I'm assuming, too. But I know you don't celebrate over there, but in the past, you've, like, gone out for, like, a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Did you do that this week? We did. This past week? Yeah, we did. Yeah, that's what I thought. I saw some pictures on that.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, me and Nadina went and had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner at a chain restaurant. I guess, when I say a chain, it's, like, there's, like, three of them in London. And they do, like, authentic American food. Like, that is their thing. And the food was great. It tasted excellent. We had chicken, and we had mashed potatoes, and we had, like, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. A whole nine yards. It was great.

Thanksgiving Food

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that's awesome. Well, since we're actually on this subject that we didn't plan on touching, we do have a question later in the Ask TPA that's not pen-related. But it's, do you have any, like, traditional holiday meals or foods that you, like, have to have either for Thanksgiving or Christmas? Is there something, like, it wouldn't be that holiday without that food?

Myke Hurley: Oh, it's Christmas. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And, like, is there something specific you have?

Myke Hurley: Like, for me, I mean, this happens more frequently than Christmas, but it's my nan's roast potatoes because they are the best. Like, we have them every, you know, we have more often. But it's, like, the whole meal. So, you've got, like, the, what we call pigs in blankets, which is, like, tiny sausages wrapped in bacon and turkey and, oh, man, the whole thing. The whole thing. I can't wait. I'm so excited for it. Like, it is a shame that, like, we don't do the full meal with trimmings, like, twice, like you guys do. Right. But, yeah, because the Christmas dinner is relatively similar to Thanksgiving. I guess you guys don't have, don't necessarily have turkey as the thing for Christmas because you do it for Thanksgiving, right?

Brad Dowdy: Right. So, that's my purposeful thing that I like to have. Number one for Thanksgiving. My mom makes a spinach, kind of, like, a cream spinach casserole that's really different than anything I've ever had. She knows that she's not allowed to come to Thanksgiving unless she brings that for me. Like, that's my thing. She just gets turned away at the door. Yeah. Yeah. She knows. Like, there's not even a conversation about this. And then for Christmas, since you've had, like, you're saying, like, the entire setup for Thanksgiving, I always like to do something different for Christmas. It used to be steak and shrimp for just years and years and years. And now, sometimes I'll just do, I'll smoke something, you know, something on the smoker, you know, like a pork butt or something like that. Just do something different than you did the traditional turkey stuff for Thanksgiving, and then I'll do something different for Christmas. So, yeah.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense. Like, I don't know. I don't know. There's obviously a reason. I don't know why turkey is the bird or, like, is the meat that everybody eats traditionally at these times of the year. But, yeah, for us, it's Christmas, and it wouldn't be Christmas without it.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. Yep, exactly. So, that question was from Caribbean Sky in the Slack channel. So, I thought that was a fun question. So, yeah, good to know. We had another fun question last week when we were talking about Declan wanting to write in the shower and wanting a pen. I don't know that I've ever gotten more feedback on a question than that one, which I kind of thought would happen, right? That's why I wanted to bring it on the show because I thought it was a great question, super unique, and then so many people had opinions on this. The most common answer, and I sent this on to Declan, he's like, oh, wow, that looks really great. It's called My Aquanotes, which is basically a pad and a pencil that you attach to the wall.

Myke Hurley: Oh, pencil, you say?

Brad Dowdy: Yes, pencil. So, that was definitely the most common. Who recommended a pencil last week? You did. You did. Yep. So, you know, people were talking about the Wopex pencil, which is a more plastic-based barrel instead of a wooden-based barrel. So, we'll handle the, you know, the water and the humidity much, much better. And, you know, when you think about it, you know, all the diver slates all have, like, pencils attached to them, right? You know, for people going underwater, doing underwater diving, they'll take a slate and a pencil to write their notes with. So, that really seems to be the key here is the pencil. So, I appreciate everyone sending that in, and that was good stuff. And this, I got this Aquanotes link, like, five times at least, if not more.

Myke Hurley: Rather than using any, you know, like, a wooden pencil, even if it's got something covered with it, you could just use a mechanical pencil, because it's plastic.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, but we were talking about any rust factor of any metal parts. A lot of those have metal clips. They'll have metal sleeve around the eraser. Different little bits that will, it doesn't necessarily matter that they get wet in the shower, but they might get the humidity that stays in after, and that's what's going to get into those parts and corrode them.

Myke Hurley: I bet you could find something, though. Yeah. It's mostly plastic.

Brad Dowdy: You know, like, one of those, like, cheap, big-type things? Yeah, the Paper Mate one that you see everywhere. It's yellow with the pink eraser. Yep. That looks like the pencil. That Paper Mate one, that's actually probably a pretty good one. I don't know what that one's called, but...

Myke Hurley: Like, I bet there's got to be one of them. Like, there's got to be something where it's all plastic parts except for, like, the spring. Right. And then I think you'd be good. I think you'd be good. And plus, they're so cheap, you could just replace... You're going to replace them before they rust anyway. Right, right. So there you go. We solved it. Aqua notes to stick on the shower wall, and it comes with a little sticky thing, and then some kind of cheap mechanical pencil. That's how you take notes in the shower.

Brad Dowdy: I'm digging it. I'm down with that. Are you going to start doing that?

Myke Hurley: Do you know what? Our new place has a pretty good shower.

Myke Hurley: We haven't... I've kind of been confined to baths for a long time. So yeah, maybe. If Adina will allow it. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: I'm going to go with no.

Myke Hurley: I'm probably not going to do it. To be honest, my phone is waterproof now. So I would just open the shower door and just write it down on my phone and then get back in the shower again. You need the iPad on the wall in the shower. That's where we're headed. Honestly, as soon as they make a fully waterproof iPad, I would do that. I don't want to put it in a bag or anything, but we're going to mount one in the kitchen. I have an old iPad Air, and we're going to put it in the kitchen. I would totally put it in the shower. You could watch movies and stuff. It'd be awesome. I would 100% do that if they make a waterproof iPad.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. Don't bring it to the pen show. We're not going to put it up in our mutual shower. Yeah, you say that, you know you'd love it.

Brad Dowdy: Did you do any shopping over this holiday shopping extravaganza weekend, Black Friday, Cyber Monday? I mean, my mailbox was inundated with stuff. Did you do any stuffing besides at the dinner table?

Myke Hurley: Yeah, but nothing that's super relevant for the show. When you're buying a house, Black Friday slash Cyber Monday, it's pretty sweet. You can buy a lot of things that you need. Like, dumb things. Like, a drill. And you can get them for super cheap. So, I did a few things like that. And there's still some stuff that I'm looking at on Amazon. Like, Amazon's got some decent deals on some smart home stuff. And it's still running through to the end of the week, right? Because Cyber Monday and Black Friday are now week-long events. I think it needs to be rebranded. Yeah, it's lost its meaning. So, I'm still looking at some stuff. But no, I didn't buy any pens or anything. Yeah. Just because that's not where my dollars are going right now.

Brad Dowdy: I'm like you. I bought a TV. Oh. But that was out of necessity because my 15-year-old TV died last week. Like, early in the week.

Myke Hurley: Well, that's not too bad, though.

Brad Dowdy: No. I mean, I got 15 years out of a Samsung TV. But, you know, so I bought a TV. But the one thing I did go...

Myke Hurley: Great time for a TV to die, though. Like, if a TV is going to die, like, a couple of days before Black Friday, it's a great time for a TV to die.

Pen Chalet

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, yeah. I was totally good with that. So, I was fine with that. I did attempt to make a purchase from our friends at Pen Chalet. They had the Kaweco AC Sport in orange. Which, of all the Kawecos I own, I don't own an AC, which is the carbon fiber. Inlay model. And they just came out with an orange barrel and a green barrel. And I was so busy through the holiday weekend, I finally went on Monday to go do a little bit of pen shopping. And that one was sold out by the time. Too slow, man. Too slow. I just didn't have time on Friday.

Myke Hurley: You know the Pen Chalet deal. They sell out. People love that place. I know.

Brad Dowdy: I know. I just couldn't swing it Friday or the weekend. And by Monday, they were gonzo. So, I would have liked to have purchased that one. And I will eventually own that pen. But it was not to be this past weekend. But that was one I was after. Other than that, I wasn't necessarily after anything that I had to have. But that was one I was looking at. And I would have pulled the trigger if it was in stock.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I'm still on my Amazon right now. I'm kind of just leafing through. It's so much crap. But there are, like, just little things in there that are good. Oh, they've got a good deal on a TV that I'm interested in, actually.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I don't just do the browse thing. I go with a purpose, even online. Like, I would just, the money will just start flying out my wallet.

Myke Hurley: I don't usually browse. Like, I definitely don't usually do that. But this has been a time where, like, I'm looking for things that I don't know I need yet. But, like, I do need, right? Like, a drill. Right? I was like, I saw one. I was like, I don't have one of these. And I probably need one. Like a spatula. Exactly. We're looking at, like, all the weird home stuff. It's like, yeah. So, it's been useful, at least, to just kind of, even though I'm not buying everything, like, to just highlight a few things that I need. Because, quite frankly, I would expect a lot of this stuff to continue to be discounted to a degree after cyber weekday is over.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: So, that's good. I did browse around pen chalet, but I couldn't pull the trigger. I wanted that orange pen.

Myke Hurley: I'm opening tabs now, Brad. This is bad. This is bad news.

Brad Dowdy: That is bad. Don't buy a house, Giz.

Myke Hurley: It's really expensive.

Brad Dowdy: That it is.

Myke Hurley: It's not even just the buying of the house, right? Like, you'd think that once you've done that, you're good. But no.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, you've planned for that money. Yeah. That money's budgeted. Yep. But then it's everything else. Hey, look. Let's fill the house now. So...

Myke Hurley: Oh, it's the worst.

Brad Dowdy: This is an interesting show this week. It's...

Myke Hurley: It's something. It's something.

Myke Hurley: All right. I wanted to mention something. I see it's in our document, and I know you don't want to say it.

Brad Dowdy: Well, you put it in there. Yeah. It's in the document.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. But I know you don't even want to lead into it just because you're such a nice guy like that. That's why I had that pause. I wanted to just congratulate you. You put a post on the blog that the penaddict.com has hit 400 paying members to the penaddict membership program, which is amazing. This is the membership program that gets you Brad's refill newsletter, as well as a good feeling for knowing that you're supporting penaddict.com. So I just wanted to congratulate you on hitting that milestone. That's a lot of members, man.

Brad Dowdy: So I was pretty excited. And I wanted to share that. And I also wanted to drive more people to come think about joining the membership over at the penaddict. It supports me directly. This is what I do for a living now. So it's super, super helpful. And I thought that was a pretty big number. Like I feel extremely pleased with that. You know, there's ups and downs and probably next year as it rolls around to like the start time again, when you have a huge, you know, land rush of people joining, you know, will all those resubscribe again for the next year? You know, I hope I've delivered a good enough product throughout the year. It's been consistent. It's been quality. I feel I put a lot of time and effort into it. So hopefully, you know, it's just going to keep on growing and not have like a huge slide like in January or something like that. But I don't even care at this point because the numbers have gotten really, really good. I'm so pleased with that. And thank you, everyone who has signed up for that and makes me smile. That's a that's a big number. And I wanted to share.

Myke Hurley: Yes. Nice work, man. Congratulations.

Brad Dowdy: Thank you, sir.

Myke Hurley: All right. Let's take our first break. And then we're going to talk about those lovely field notes. This week's episode is brought to you by Foot Cardigan. Now, ladies and gentlemen out there in podcast land, I have a couple of questions for you. Do you want to be known as the best gift giver in the entire world? Do you want to be the most popular person around the holiday season? Have you ever wished that the sock fairy would pay you a visit? Do you want to be the envy of everyone you know? Do you want awesome socks delivered to your mailbox? If the answer to any of these is yes, quite frankly, they should all be. Then Foot Cardigan is here to make these dreams come true. Foot Cardigan delivers fun socks every month right to your doorstep. You will never have to be seen out in public again with boring socks on. And the best part of it all is that you don't choose what pair you get every month. You get a surprise pair in the mail. Surprises are the greatest. And Foot Cardigan socks are awesome. I have been a Foot Cardigan subscriber for over a year now. I signed up. And I paid myself. I signed up last year when they were a sponsor because I wanted to see what it was all about. And I've kept my subscription going because I am a huge fan of the socks that arrive. I was talking about these yesterday on Connected and I have them on today. I have my gray fried egg socks on today, Brad. They are gray and they have yellow and white naturally fried eggs all over them. I never would have bought a pair of fried egg socks. But now they're one of my favorite pairs of socks. I love it. I love getting the little bag come through the mailbox and I open it up and I see what awesomeness is inside. Foot Cardigan's descriptions start at $9 a month. They are a fantastic gift or just something to treat yourself with. Foot Cardigan has socks for men, women and kids and in a bunch of different styles as well. They have no show socks, luxury socks. No matter what it is, Foot Cardigan have got your feet covered. Quite literally. Go to FootCardigan.com and get 10% off your first order with the coupon code PEN. P-E-N. Once again, that's FootCardigan.com. Promo code PEN at checkout for 10% off any subscription. Just try them out. If you just go for one month, you get a nice pair of socks for $8 or something. Just give it a try. Seriously, I really, really love these. They have made my sock drawer a much more exciting place. Thank you so much to Foot Cardigan for their support.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I'm in. I'm going to do this with me. Seriously, man. I love it. I really love it. It's only $9 a month plus shipping. So that's kind of crazy. And I've turned the corner on the sock thing. Like I'm a short sock guy. They do those now with Foot Cardigan. I know. So I see that and that's going to pique my interest there. So yeah, I'm all about that.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, that's a new thing for them.

Brad Dowdy: All right. So let's talk about this Field Notes Black Ice. We did the intro last week, but now we actually both have the notebooks in hand. Myke got his faster than normal, I feel like, this time.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Yeah, I was pretty excited about that. They came yesterday.

Brad Dowdy: So maybe they're shipping them earlier and earlier.

Myke Hurley: I mean, I can only be happy about that, right?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, for sure. Like when you told me you had them, I was surprised because I'd only gotten mine like a couple days before.

Myke Hurley: So do you want to start? What do you think of this?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it's pretty good. It's middle of the road for me. You open it up. It's like, whoa. That's like, it gave me a huge smile when I open up the package and like rip the cellophane off and spread out the three. I got like a huge smile on my face. I was like, oh, these are really sweet. One thing I love about the Chrome cover is shockingly, it does not hold your fingerprints. Yeah, I don't know what they're doing to this. It's how like mucked up. I mean, these could get carried in pockets. They get destroyed anyway. But you know how this Chrome type stuff tends to hold fingerprints and smudges. It doesn't do anything. Like even if you try.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I'm trying now. Like you can't do it. I also wonder like what's how these will wear. I bet that'd be quite interesting to see.

Pen Testing

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that'd be good. So over the past couple of days, I've filled four or five pages testing out different pens. I love the double orange line on the top. So pretty, right? That's a real throwback like with America is Beautiful to like the original field notebooks from, you know, the farming industry. You know, they had these extra lines and borders and different things like that. I really like that. The paper is really good except for fountain pens. It's not a good fountain pen paper. It's not enjoyable to write with a pen. The way the paper takes the ink, it's an immediate soak in. So there's a little bit of feathering. But what that also does is make your nib attach to the paper more. So it's a, there's more friction with the paper with a fountain pen nib.

Brad Dowdy: Shockingly, brush pens, like a thick, soft black brush pen did amazingly well. That was the first pen I tested. I was like, well, if this is that good, the fountain pen is going to be great. The fountain pen was not enjoyable to write with. My nib kept sticking in the paper. However, it's obviously awesome with gel pen. I wrote a full page with gel pen. I wrote a full page with pencil. They're wonderful. Love the edition. Not going to buy more. And it'll be middle of the pack when I do my updated rankings. Really good. Just really middle. I mean, it's lunacy is better, you know, out of the recent editions. I prefer that. If I'm not using fountain pens anyway in these. I do love the binding. It doesn't lay perfectly flat, which you're going to, I'll let you talk about. But I like the style and the scoring and the, um, the yellow hint. Really great. I mean, I really like it. I mean, this is like a three out of four star book, which is wonderful. There's not many four out of fours, right? I mean, it's really, really good. It's just not, I mean, it won't sniff my top 10. That's for sure.

Myke Hurley: It's interesting to me because I, I am not experiencing what you're experiencing in the same way. You know, like this, this to me just feels like, honestly, I'm being completely honest. This just feels to me. It's like good field notes, fountain pen usage.

Brad Dowdy: Hmm.

Myke Hurley: Like this to me is as like, as good as it is. I'm not experiencing what you're experiencing. Yeah. Well, I, you know, I, I've tried it with, um, a fine nib, uh, a music nib, uh, brought a 1.1 stub and a medium. Um, and it's, it worked great for all of those.

Brad Dowdy: Really? Cause like my stub is my broad stub, um, is the one I tested with. And it was like, if I was writing on a shirt or a mattress, there was a, there was a soft feel like the nib went into the paper, the ink feathered, surprising. There was, there was no bleed through. Like it really holds the ink well on the front side of the page. It doesn't go through to the back, which is good. So maybe I'll try some finer stuff and see, but I was, I could tell the experience from the nib on the paper that it wasn't going to do well, but I will try it some more.

Myke Hurley: Using my 1.1, I'm having no feathering. I have slight feathering from abroad that I've tried, but not so much that it will bother me. I've had to like look super close to see it. What ink are you using? Uh, oh, I'm using, um, Hiroshizuku. I'm using Pilot Purple, like the Namiki Purple. Uh, I'm also using, uh, KWZ Raspberry and, um, uh, Cal, Cal, Cal, and, uh, androfolio.

Califolio Anginople

Myke Hurley: Califolio Anginople. Califolio Anginople. I'm a little sick, by the way. I don't know if I mentioned that today. That was fantastic. Androfolio Calinople. I'm using that one. It's a new ink. It's a new blend. You might not have heard of it. That's the problem. Yeah. And I'm not having the problems that you're having. Maybe this is a writing style problem. I don't know. Like maybe, uh, you know, I'm going with the grain. I don't know. Cause me and you, I mean, just the way that we use pens is like, couldn't be more different. So I don't know.

Brad Dowdy: For the record, I'm, I'm using, uh, Kaweco Sunrise Orange.

Myke Hurley: Okay. So, I mean, I would love to know, uh, what the listeners are experiencing. Like, because I really am not, I'm not getting it in the way that you're explaining it. This feels as good to me as, as any of the good field notes papers for founding pens.

Brad Dowdy: How does it compare to byline? Like, do you see, have you been able to test that comparatively? Byline is spectacular. This is so different to me.

Myke Hurley: Um, I've gotten next to each other right now. Uh, so I'll tell you how I would explain it. I can explain this in a way that I think it sounds like you, but maybe I don't, I don't feel it in the same way. Byline, it feels like the ink is more sitting on top of the paper. And with, uh, the black ice, it feels like it's going in. Yes. But I don't find that as a problem. I think it feels kind of nice.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. There's like a nib attachment to the paper, you know, not good way.

Myke Hurley: See, this is the thing. When you say that, I imagine like it digging in and not moving, right? Like that's how it sounds the way you're describing it. Well, I, I had some catches. Yeah. I, that happened. See, I would say that that makes sense to my usage, like from the way you're describing it, but it's not in a negative way. Right. Like it's not catching for me. I've tried four different pens, you know?

Brad Dowdy: Um, but the thing, the thing is I don't really care because I still use other pens and field nodes more than I use fountain pens. So I'm good with that.

Myke Hurley: This is more of a thing for me anyway, because I only use fountain pens, right?

Brad Dowdy: Yes. And, and I almost never use fountain pens really except in byline.

Myke Hurley: Maybe I'm, I'm generally more forgiving of this type of paper because I've used the worst kind of field nodes, a paper for fountain pens, you know?

Brad Dowdy: Exactly. You've always been that way. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: So maybe, maybe just the benefits of this are far outweighing the negatives to it, but like, I'm not seeing it the same way that you are, but I will also attest of all of the pens that I've used, I'm getting no bleed through and that is incredible.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that's true. That is, that is true. Even with the amount of ink going into the page, there is no bleed, which is kind of crazy.

Myke Hurley: Uh, I think actually it was, well, you know, I was, I was kind of critical of the lining, like the fact that it was lined. It's so faint. It's not a problem for me.

Lining Design

Brad Dowdy: Like it's not restrictive lining, you know? I, I actually didn't mind the lines, which usually I just like shut down lines immediately. That was it. They were a non-issue for me and I kind of hate to say, but I enjoyed it. I don't know what's wrong with me.

Myke Hurley: I think it's the combination of the, the, the, the, the overall lining being faint with the really bold double top line. It kind of like takes, it kind of takes my eye away from the fact that there's lines on the page.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I love that top.

Myke Hurley: Oh yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I love that top line.

Myke Hurley: So I have to say like going back to the design of these, I think this is probably the most visually striking book that they've made. Hmm. I can't, not, not that I'm saying it's the best or like, but like if you see this like in front of you, I think this would be the one that you'd be like, what is going on over there? Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: I'm trying to, I'm trying to decide if I agree or disagree with you and I maybe agree. You know, one of the ones that I think is the best and you don't get to see it. And it's one I'm on an Island on because most people hated was unexposed. I fricking love that addition. I love the neon colors, but you never, you don't get to see those displayed ever.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. So like it's the combo of the Chrome and the, like the contrast with the thick orange binding. It really makes these look very, very different to me. I think this is a book that you wouldn't be able to use in public about people asking you about it. Like if you bust one of these out at a meeting, people could be like, what are you doing over there? Yeah. What is that? Right. And I used to get that. Not always. I always used field notes, right? When I used to work in the bank. Like, and every now and then there'd be an addition where people were like, what is that over there? And this is totally one of them. I have to say, like from a pure design perspective, this one has gone very high up my list. I don't know how high yet because I need to redo my rankings. But this is, I think, probably the, maybe the highest newcomer of this year in regards to rankings of like from a design perspective.

Brad Dowdy: Um, when you're up against sweet tooth, that's a, that's not a high bar to cross.

Myke Hurley: Sweet tooth. I didn't, sweet tooth. I don't really like very much as time has gone on. It's like, I can see that there is a use for these. I don't have that use. You know, like the idea of writing something and tearing out, like if that's your bag, like if you want to leave notes for people, it's amazing. And it's cool that they made it. Uh, but it's not, it's not, it's not what I use them for. So what you've got, sweet tooth, lunacy, this and byline. Yep. That's our additions this year. Yeah. Byline obviously has gone super high up. Uh, and I think this has as well. I really like lunacy. I like it a lot. Um, I appreciate it a lot, but it's not one that is like in my top five. I don't even know. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: It's not going to be top five for me, but it'll be ahead of this one.

Myke Hurley: This is, this is one of my faves just because it's so like when it, when it arrived, I was like, Whoa, look at you. It is very visually appealing. And also like as a fan of field notes, it, it's breaking my brain a little because it's the same shape, but it doesn't look the same. And it's the binding, right? Right. This is the same shape. They haven't, they haven't pulled a byline on me, but this doesn't look like my other field notes. And I liked that a lot as well. Um, the binding itself, I really liked the look of it. I agree with you. I wish it, I wish it could lay flat. And the fact that this doesn't lay flat at all is, is a shame, but you can, and maybe if people wouldn't want to do this initially, but this is fine. You can kind of fold it open. So you kind of just open the page and just, just put a crease into it. And then when you're done, just close it and put the crease back again. You know, you just fold it the other way. I've actually found that to, to work surprisingly well. And when doing that, it then just has the opening factor of a regular field notes because field notes never close, right? Like once you started using them, they always open a little bit. Um, and I've found that, you know, folding the pages open, like putting a fold into them, it will stay relatively flat on the table. And then you can just close it up and just kind of, I don't know, wiggle it about a bit and put the fold back.

Brad Dowdy: It's thin enough to where it's not that big a deal.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I love these, Brad. I'm just like handling it right now. I love the way the cover feels. This has got one of the good cover feels, you know, it doesn't feel like drink local, but like in the same way that I just wanted to touch drink local. Yeah. Yeah. Everyone hated that cover. I love that. Oh, I love that cover. Um, I, I like this one as well. Cause it's got a kind of a grippiness to it. Um, yeah, I really liked this a lot. I've got, I've really, I'm not going to buy more just because I can't, like I just can't. Um, but, um, I have two packs of these things and I really love them. I think, I think it's a great addition. I saw, I think, I think I saw, uh, the, the field notes account retweet this. Um, this is one of the strongest three in a row that I've had for a long time. And I think I do have to agree with that. No doubt. It was a good year. Byline, Lunacy and Black Ice. Like that is a, that's a pretty awesome trio.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I totally agree.

Myke Hurley: They're firing on all cylinders over there.

Brad Dowdy: Um, most of us, you know, on a personal, what we like about field notes, we're usually pretty happy with like a two out of four. Um, this was a strong three out of four with like three that will be talked about for years to come.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I, um, I feel like I've really got my money's worth this year, especially because, uh, with the, the, the extra, the blue and orange.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, exactly. So speaking of money, and we might want to hold this till another show because we've proud alone about these quite a bit. We're second edition in a row, 1295 retail price, individual packs thoughts or hold that for another show.

Myke Hurley: No, let's talk about it now.

Price Increase

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's, I mean, as far as you and I are concerned not to put words in your mouth, we've talked about this forever. However, how do they do it at the price they do it at? This is normal. I mean, that's what they should have been for years to be quite honest. It's still like the price does not even make me blink, but they've gone up $3 per three pack without really any racket about it, which is good. So here's my thinking.

Myke Hurley: They make 20, 25, 35,000 books, right? They sell out every time. No, three packs. Yeah. Three packs. Yeah. Yes. Sell out every time. Put the freaking price up. Yeah. You're selling out, right? Like, you know, these aren't stupid people, but it's like, it's basic economics, right? It's like, we'll just put the price up. And if they continue to sell out, which they are, you know, or getting close to, I assume, keep, you know, just keep doing it. And then it gives you more, it gives you more leeway to do more interesting things. You know, maybe they could only do these last three sets of books because they're selling like $12.95.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, I agree. I agree. And the subscriptions are still the same price.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Which is great, by the way. Right. Because I just did mine.

Brad Dowdy: But it's just funny with most brands, a 30% price increase does not go unnoticed. This one essentially did.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I mean, you know, it's maybe it's one of those things where people saw it and they were just like, all right. Like, that's what it is.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that's something to hang your hat on as far as what Field Notes does right. So, I mean, we're obviously super fanboys.

Myke Hurley: I assume Lunacy will sell out soon and then these will sell out soon as well. And it's like, go for it.

Brad Dowdy: Sweet Tooth will still be in stock, though.

Brad Dowdy: Sorry, I had to. Shenandoah is still in stock as well. I like that addition, but I understand why. I understand why.

Myke Hurley: I think weirdly, so is Workshop Companion. They only made 17,000 of those.

Brad Dowdy: That's a weird addition.

Myke Hurley: It is, but it's six notebooks and they look real cool. You know, it's like National Crop sold well.

Brad Dowdy: We're going to get so much hate mail on this episode.

Myke Hurley: Why? What have we done? What, because of Sweet Tooth?

Brad Dowdy: No, because of Field Notes in general. We actually haven't talked about them that much.

Myke Hurley: No, I mean, look, if you're listening, if you're still listening to this show and you either A, don't like Field Notes or B, don't like us talking about it, I don't know why you're here. Because this happens almost, this happens like every month. Every three months, at least. Well, every three months we go deep, but we always, we talk about them all the time. It's one of our favorite companies, in case you would not guessed. Yeah. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Let's talk about another one of our favorite companies.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I think that's, that's probably a good idea for right now. This week's episode is brought to you by Harry's. Ladies and gentlemen, the holiday season is coming up fast. Look, we all know how difficult gift shopping can be. Harry's are here to make it that one bit easier for you, because sometimes the best gifts are the ones that are thoughtful and practical. And that's what Harry's product's all about. For this holiday season, why not buy a loved one the Harry's limited edition holiday set? It features a midnight blue chrome razor handle, which you can have engraved for that extra personal touch. You get three of Harry's German engineered five blade cartridges that provide a comfortable shave each and every time. And their foaming shave gel that smells great. This all comes in a beautifully designed box, perfect for gift giving. And it costs just $30 at harrys.com. And they also have a range of other sets starting at just $10. And I can tell you in a moment how you can make those prices even cheaper. Harry's believes in the qualities of their razor so much that they will guarantee it. You'll get a full refund if you're not happy. Now, I believe that Harry Claus has rained down upon you, Mr. Brad Gowdy. He has. So you've got the Christmas set.

Brad Dowdy: So I have the Christmas set right here in hand. These are the magic boxes that show up at my front door. It's a great gift box. It's like a hinged, very nice band and button seal gift box. So it'll look great under the tree. What did you call the handle? What are they calling this?

Myke Hurley: It is called the Midnight Blue Chrome. Chrome.

Brad Dowdy: It's killer. It's maybe my new favorite handle. I might have to steal this one for myself. Even though I'm all on the orange train, this one's pretty sweet. You could just double hand it. Oh, that would be good. Double shave at the same time. You know, I was thinking while you were reading this, like, we're giving people socks and razors for Christmas, which traditionally would draw some funny looks.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: But between foot cardigan and Harry's, I think you're going to, like, kill Christmas. Like, you're going to be like the man or the woman if you're, like, hooking people up with some sweet socks and razors.

Myke Hurley: Traditionally, if you bought people these types of products, they would be like, oh, you don't even care about me. But we have companies that make stuff that's so good, you'll be the most popular person around the tree.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So this box for $30, it has the 3.4 ounce shave cream. It's got the extra blades and it also has the razor head protection sleeve that, you know, like I carry in my dop kit or whatever. So it's great. It's fantastic. It's tailor-made for Christmas. It's a deep blue box with some silver trim. It will look great under the tree. So definitely look at this.

Myke Hurley: Go to harrys.com right now. Use the code PENADDICT to check out and you'll get $5 off your order. So you'll be able to get that amazing holiday set for just $25 while supplies last. Free shipping ends on December the 9th. So act now. Once again, that's H-A-R-R-Y-S.com. Code PENADDICT, all one word, to get $5 off your order. Thank you so much to Harries for the continued support of this show and RelayFM.

Brad Dowdy: So we had a fun little game come up in the Slack channel, the PENADDICT Slack, the other day and people wanted my opinion on it. And I said, you know, this is a great one for the podcast. So let me save it for there and I'll answer there. So it didn't have an official name, but I'm calling it the $500 game. Someone basically brought up, if you had $500 and you could buy three pens, what pens would those be? And you have to buy three pens. You know, there's not, well, I'm just going to buy one for $450 and be done. You fit three pens in your $500 budget. So I thought one pen was extremely easy for me. And it's the Pilot Custom 823. And I basically looked at standard U.S. retail prices. That one goes for like $288. So it's a very expensive pen. It's one of the most unique, well-designed, fun, functional, amazing pens. It could definitely be the only pen you ever owned in your life. But if you're listening to the show, we all know that's not going to happen. Pilot Custom 823. Was a lock on my list. Everything else after that was a challenge. I didn't want to put the Lamy 2000 on there.

Brad Dowdy: But I couldn't come up with a good reason why. If you buy the Custom 823, you get a wonderful Japanese pen. One of the best designed classic Japanese pens ever. You add in the Lamy 2000 for about $160. You get maybe the single best German pen ever designed. So that takes up most of your budget right there. And I had to have a little fun. And of course, I'm going to throw in the TWSBI Eco with mine for $32. So between the Custom 823 and the Lamy 2000, you get two of the greatest pens ever made. And then you get just the ton of fun TWSBI Eco. It leaves you $20 left over. I figure you can get a bottle of ink with that to load up all your inks. Because you actually, all of these are piston, well, two piston fillers, one vacuum filler. So no cartridges, converters here, Michael. So what do you think about my list?

Myke Hurley: So I was annoyed to come to this list because you had picked pens that I wanted to pick. So that was a struggle for me because I mean, the 823, I've never used one. I don't really get it. I'm not a big fan of the look of the pen, to be honest. It doesn't really float my boat. But I really wanted to pick your other two. I really wanted to pick the Lamy 2000 and I really wanted to pick the TWSBI Eco. Because I think for the exact reasons that you chose, like the Lamy 2000 is probably the best pen you can buy for $160.

Myke Hurley: Like it is out and out one of the best pens ever made. It feels incredible. Lamy nibs are amazing. I mean, there are some problems with the 2000 line here and there. But you can just get it replaced and you'll get a good one, right? Like it just seems to be a bit of a bad lottery at points. But the way that pen feels, the material, that Microlon that it is made from, you've never felt anything like it. It's like warm metal. It doesn't even make any sense. It like breaks your brain. So I struggled because I really liked both of those. A lock for me was the Sailor Pro gear. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So that was my second choice. But the math didn't work. Right. I think that's a great first choice. So yes, totally agree.

Myke Hurley: Because you can get those for about $250. Yeah. Right. That's what I got mine for. I found them online. They can be more expensive. It depends on the color. But you can get one for $250.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

TWSBI Eco

Myke Hurley: I wanted to pick the TWSBI Eco. But you'd pick that. So I went with an obvious choice for me to Retro 51 Tornado. Yeah. It is a joke for me at this point. Like it's a joke of the show. But in the same way that the Lamy 2000 will surprise you as to just how good it is, so will the Retro 51. Yeah. Like those pens, they are, you can find one somewhere. Like if you look at Anderson pens, for example, you're going to find one that matches your personal style because they have so many. And then you'll buy it and be blown away at just how good it feels. Right. Because they're kind of, I've never found another pen like it.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. That's why we recommend it so much. It really kind of changes people's idea of what they should expect from a pen.

Myke Hurley: So I thoroughly recommend it, the Retro 51 Tornado. So now I'm stuck. I don't know where to go. Right. At this point. So like I'm thinking a lot and I'm like, what, what do I go with? And I started looking at some other stuff. I really wanted to pick a Pelican. I really wanted to pick the M205, but I could not get one to fit within the price range. Because as well, my problem was, I think if you get a Pelican, if you get a 205, you have to get a gold nib. Yeah. In my opinion, the gold nib is far superior to the point that it is like a different pen. It isn't just like a slight improvement. My 205 went from, I don't want to use this to, I will use this as my only pen for a year. Right. That was kind of how it went when I added the gold in. So like, yeah, you can find them. Like Glenn's saying, like the M205 Aquamarine, you can find them, but you can't get a gold nib on them.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So. So you bought an aftermarket gold nib and swapped it in. I did. I did.

Myke Hurley: Yep. So I was like, what do I go with here? And I was racking my brain and I was looking around for a while and I thought to myself, let's go with something fun. Let's go with something that's well made and a little bit different. So I went with a Franklin Kristoff Model 2 Smoke and Ice with a Masuyama nib for $185.

Brad Dowdy: I thought you won the game right there. Oh yeah? Yes. One zero mic. You did really good with that one. That's an excellent choice. It's just a cool looking pen. Yeah. I always said something you would have had to bleep out.

Brad Dowdy: And the nib choice is wonderful. And yeah, if I would have thought about that, I would have picked that over the 2000. But yeah, I love that pen. Very highly recommended. Yep. Really great model that they carry. So yeah. Good choice. I love it.

Myke Hurley: I like this game.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I was surprised that you were like, hey, I like this game. I was like, I wasn't sure if you would or not.

Myke Hurley: I really did. So set more challenges for us. This was a fun thing to do. Maybe we can try and see how low we can go, right? Yeah. How low in dollars can we go to really turn out something great?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Or it could fit something else, you know? It could be like a whole writing setup, you know? Pen, paper, ink, pencil, whatever. Something like that. Y'all think of something. Y'all always think of stuff better than we do anyway.

Myke Hurley: Yep. Set us some challenges. Send us them in the Slack. Send us some Twitter. Send us them on email. We'd love to hear the games you can set for us. A $500 game was a winner.

Brad Dowdy: Winner. And I'm going to say you won that game, Myke. I like your list. Thank you. Good job, mate. So this next question is a challenge as well, but not one that we'll go through. But it's a challenge to answer. And it was brought up in the Slack Pen Addict channel. By the way, if you're not part of that channel and you want to be, just send me an email. Tweet me. All I need is an email address to send you an invite to. It's fun. There's some cool Secret Santa stuff going on in there. So get in on that if you want. But I asked for anyone who wanted us to talk about anything today. Because we had room to slide in a couple of small topics.

Gray Market

Brad Dowdy: And the question of the gray market came up as it relates to shopping for pens. So, you know, my initial response is, yes, I have thoughts on this. But also that the gray market, I think by definition is in the pen world is hard to define what falls in the gray market. But by real definition, you know, according to Wikipedia, you know, bastion of all that is good and truthful on the internet. The definition is pretty clear. It's the trade of a commodity through distribution channels that are legal but unintended by the original manufacturer. I think that plays well with a company like Massdrop. Okay. So this is where my gray market radar goes up. And I have some issues.

Brad Dowdy: Massdrop's not doing anything illegal whatsoever.

Brad Dowdy: So it falls into that category of the gray market for some of their pen products. So this is referring to how they get in a major brand, say Lamy, Pelican. They just recently had a diplomat sale. And they sell pens for prices that U.S. retailers, and I'm just saying U.S. retailers because that's what I'm most familiar with in Massdrop's a U.S. company. They are not legally allowed to compete with. By the sales agreements that they sign with Lamy, Pelican, and Diplomat. There's only so much these retailers can discount. Massdrop goes through different markets to acquire certain numbers of pens.

Brad Dowdy: Like, for example, Pelican says they don't deal directly with Massdrop. Somehow Massdrop is getting the quantities they have to be able to sell these at a very, very cheap price. Cheaper than you can get them from any of the U.S. pen companies that we all shop with.

Myke Hurley: So where are they coming from?

Brad Dowdy: No one knows. That's the biggest question. Retailers, I obviously have a massive issue with this. And I have a massive issue with this. Because the retailers are not allowed to compete with that by sales agreements that they sign. Massdrop goes around that by not dealing directly with the brands. Is able to get the quantities they need.

Myke Hurley: Could they be using a retailer? Like, there is a retailer that is kind of feeding them? Absolutely. I mean, it's got to be, right? Like, to get them in retailer quantities. Not from this distributor or supplier. Then there's got to be a hole somewhere.

Brad Dowdy: Right. So this brings up kind of two questions for me. You know, number one, who am I to tell someone else to not buy Alami 2000 for $100?

Myke Hurley: I agree.

Brad Dowdy: Right? Who am I to say, no, you should not go purchase that wonderful deal on Alami 2000? Perfectly legally. Perfectly legally. Perfectly fine. On the other hand, it's damaging my friends to a degree. Now, not everyone on Massdrop would have necessarily been a customer of Pen Chalet, Goulet, Van Ness, Anderson's Jetpens, Gold Spot. All of our friends in the industry. And I call them friends because I talk to them about this all the time. They will lose their product line if they discount on the level that Massdrop does. They will get pulled.

Myke Hurley: So you mean that, like, Alami would say, you're not allowed to sell our products for that cheap. You're no longer a store that we work with.

Brad Dowdy: You're no longer an authorized Alami dealer. Right. Please remove all your products from the site. You've broken our sales agreement. It doesn't apply to Massdrop because they're not dealing directly with those companies. Like a backdoor. So while I don't purchase the Alamis and Pelicans from them or the Diplomats, you know, because it's actually taking money away from my friends. And it's taking away, you know, sales from a market I want to support and I want to thrive that I'm in the business of myself. Right.

Myke Hurley: Mm-hmm.

Brad Dowdy: So I hate seeing that when you have those type of deals. Now, one thing Massdrop does on the positive side, I don't want to kill them completely. Again, gray market. It's legal. Right. It's just unintended. But one thing Massdrop does do is they will launch Massdrop only products. Like they will work with manufacturers, create a product that's a Massdrop exclusive and then sell them. Franklin Kristoff has done it. Karis Customs has done it. I think that's where I bought my first EDK. They launched it through Massdrop. That's great. They're working to promote companies within our industry. You know, working directly with the companies for the product, doing something exclusive. So it's just when you see things like the Lamy 2000, the Pelican 405. They've had Pelican 1000s before. They actually sent me one to review. You know, Diplomat Arrows. Things like that. When you see them for prices that severely undercut my friends, it upsets me. So I take that a little bit personally. But when they do other cool things where they are actually building something unique and fun and, hey, it's Massdrop only, that's great.

Myke Hurley: But that was advocate, though, right? If they can do this, why wouldn't they do this? Like, if someone is willing to sell it to them, then, like, they're not stealing them.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm. So it's the trade of a commodity through distribution channels that are legal but unintended by the original manufacturer. Okay. Yeah. Why shouldn't they? That doesn't mean I have to agree with it. Sure. But they're also not doing anything illegal. They're giving people a bad look and a bad name. They're making their name a curse word to some of these retailers. And is that the type of business you want to run? I mean, that's up to you.

Brad Dowdy: For me, I wouldn't be comfortable doing that. So, and there's a second part, which I don't think is quite as big a deal as the Massdrop thing. And that's essentially Japanese arbitrage. Where you can buy the same pin on the Japanese market for quite a bit lower than the American market because of all kinds of import fees, duties, taxes, and things that go on to add on to the price for American retailers to carry it. Now, I've certainly bought things on the Japanese market that were cheaper, but they were all, I'm trying to think of any that were available on the U.S. market. I think everything I've bought wasn't available. I bought my A23 from Japan because Pilot chooses not to sell the color I wanted in the U.S. So, that's an issue. Like, why doesn't Pilot give everybody everything? And then I would spend, I think, like $40 more at a U.S. retailer than having to go to Japan.

Brad Dowdy: The same thing happened in the U.K. You'll remember that white, the Stormtrooper Vanishing Point I bought from Colt Pens. You know, and I paid a premium for that because no one else carried it. Well, now, two years later, well, pilots decided to carry it in the U.S. Well, these U.S. vendors lost that purchase from me, even though I'm glad to support Colt Pens. You get my point, though. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: I don't have quite as big an issue with this.

Brad Dowdy: It's basically an arbitrage decision. You're able to play one vendor against another, use the advantages of geographic location to help you find something cheaper. However, you know, there are reasons why it's cheaper. The, like I was saying, you know, all the import duties, taxes, shipping, all that has to be built into the product when it comes to the U.S. So, that's a harder one. You know, if I could find the same pin for the U.S. And as the Japanese pin and the same pin in the U.S., and the U.S. pin was more expensive and it was from one of the retailers that I normally use, I would easily buy it from the U.S. retailer. Like, it's not a question for me.

Brad Dowdy: I've gone to Japan when I can't find what I want, even though I feel that I should with U.S. retailers. So, you know, I don't have, it, Pilot's getting a little bit better. They brought over the 912 line, but they don't bring over the PO nib. The PO nib's the one I use, right? Yeah. They have the 823 in amber. They don't have the 823 in clear, which is what I use. Maybe eventually they'll start, at least give everyone an even playing field from product selection. You're not going to be able to ever give them an even playing field for price, but I certainly would have supported my geographic location retailers as opposed to someone else's geographic location retailers because that's the community that's more important to me.

Myke Hurley: This is tough.

Brad Dowdy: It is. It's not, like, I was saying, I was replying in Slack that this is not an easy answer. I mean, it's called gray for a reason. Like, it's the total gray area. And there's, and like I said about the mass drop thing, who am I to say, don't buy a Lamy 2000 for $100? Right. I mean, good grief. What are you supposed to do, right? So, we each have to make our own decisions as far as that goes.

Myke Hurley: And also, you know, like, it struggles because, like, you know, you're saying, like, it affects people, like, it affects their businesses. But these purchases affect our own wallets as well, right? Right. And if you're able to get the thing that you're really keen to get and you can get it for cheaper, as you say, like, who are you to say to someone, no, think of the Andersons instead and pay more money? Right. Like, it's difficult. It's a really difficult thing to try and balance for that reason.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it's hard. It is. It's very difficult. There is definitely no black and white in the gray market.

Brad Dowdy: I just came up with that.

Myke Hurley: That was pretty good. Very good. Very good.

Brad Dowdy: All right. Let's talk about this next sponsor because this is one of those rambly things where I am going to keep talking but not really say anything. So, let's switch gears, talk about one of the most awesome companies on the planet. Tom Bin Time.

Myke Hurley: Tom Bin Time. And you only think I can get everything I want in my iPad bag, my Ristretto. I think I could fit it all in there. Yeah. Cool. Because these things, they're like, I don't know how they do it, but they're kind of like, they're TARDIS-like. You know, they're bigger on the inside. They really are.

Brad Dowdy: It's weird.

Myke Hurley: And also, I know that everything's going to be good because the zips are so strong. The clips are so good. Like, everything's taken care of. It's all well organized. Like, Tom Bin's products are amazing. And they have, they have, like, a huge range of bags for different uses. They have tons of different cable organizers and packing cubes. Like, you can get, like, a whole packing system from Tom Bin. All of their stuff is made in the USA. They give a lifetime guarantee, superior construction, and thoughtful design. Just go to tombin.com, T-O-M-B-I-H-N.com. You can find out more about the products that they make there. I'm almost certain you're going to find something that you like. They have great colors as well. Like, it really is just a fantastic company and make fantastic products. Thanks so much to Tom Bin for their support of this show on RelayFM.

Brad Dowdy: You know, their colors are so amazing. I actually didn't pick an orange bag. Like, how good is that? Wow. Yeah. Like, my aeronaut that I use to travel with is actually navy blue because I can get that sweet wasabi green check on the inside. I was like, oh, that is just too good. Yeah, that's good. That is good. Tom Bin, you know, I've found on them before. I look up to and respect that company. As a soft goods manufacturer, they're the one I hold in the highest regard. They're the top of the mountain, best of the best. Absolutely love Tom Bin. Everything they do is gold and the quality is, it's unbeatable. It really is. So, definitely check them out this holiday season. It's perfect for you or perfect for a gift.

Myke Hurley: All right. Should we do some last TPA to round out today's show?

Brad Dowdy: Yes, we should. So, we've been slacking a little bit on our Twitter Ask TPA. So, I rounded up a few of those questions. They might be a few weeks old for some of you that have sent those in and we've missed them. Hopefully, I'm going to catch some up right now. And this first one is a good one for you, Myke. Well, Myke, this is from Sebastian Morissette. He says, will Myke be getting a fountain pen themed tattoo? If so, will it be before or after getting a wrestling themed one? How about Brad?

Myke Hurley: I have no tattoos in mind that are either of these themes and I can't imagine doing that. I do have one tattoo in mind and it's based on a comic book character. It's a Scott Pilgrim themed tattoo. It's what I have in my mind. It's one of my favorite comics. It's one of my favorite movies. And I have an idea there. A very basic tattoo. I have no plans to get either a fountain pen or anything wrestling related tattooed on my body. Especially, I would never ever get anything wrestling related tattooed on me. I love it. It's one of my favorite forms of entertainment. But mainly because it just moves so quickly and things change so much. Like, it wouldn't last. It wouldn't spend the rest of time.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so I have had like a fountain pen themed tattoo idea for years. And I just haven't pulled the trigger yet. I want to get it done. I've gone as far as like really talking to the tattoo artist. Yeah. But I haven't like totally laid it out. What kind of design are you looking at? Well, I mean, I don't really want to share that necessarily.

Myke Hurley: I just kind of.

Brad Dowdy: You gave it something secret. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, because I may never do it. Even though I actually want to do it. You know, I actually have two designs I would like for two different areas of the body. So, yeah. I will. I have no tattoos. I have a feeling I will end up with. The problem is I am definitely going to go down a path if I get one.

Myke Hurley: Well, this is my problem now. Right? Like I now really want another one. And it's probably just going to keep going forever.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, you know, I have ideas. I've sketched them out.

Brad Dowdy: You know, and I've kind of want to do it. So hopefully I will do it one day. So we'll see. All right. So turnip princess or yeah, that's a pretty cool name. Can either you take a jab at which golden ink Santa would be using? He has a very diverse ink cabinet. So I have no clue. So. I.

Brad Dowdy: It's got to be a sparkle ink, right?

Myke Hurley: We both went sparkle.

Diamine Shimmer Red Luster

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it's got to be. And it's got to be red. So I went with with the the Diamine Shimmer Red Luster. It's it's got a lot of gold in it, which I thought was pretty cool.

Brad Dowdy: You know, I like it. You know, the the the Rouge Hematite was definitely on the list, too, which is what you picked. And you kind of can't go wrong with that. That's the J. A. Bum. Oh, yeah. J. Bum. Rouge Hematite. Emerald Chavor is kind of a good, unique choice, though, don't you think?

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I went with everyone to Chavor as well because there's two colors for Christmas is red and green. So I figured my thought was that Santa had like one of those crazy two nib pens, right? Like one on either side. And, you know, he just chooses which color he wants to go for. Or he has like what's that Noodler's Heart of Darkness, the black one, right? Yeah. So he has Noodler's Heart of Darkness for the bad kids. Oh, nice. Right. And Rouge Hematite for the good kids.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: That's what I think is going on here.

Brad Dowdy: That's cool. I can get behind that. And of course, he would. He probably has that that revolver looking pen, you know, with all the ink cartridges that you just swap out. Yeah. That rotates around there. It works. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So Evelyn wanted to know. The boy wants to know what pen you'd recommend for the zombie apocalypse, both for self-defense and memoirs. So it was a harder question than I thought.

Brad Dowdy: You know, these tactical pens are very tactical looking. I don't know how tactical functioning they are. Like, do you want to kill the zombie? Right. You need some self-defense. The Tough Rider Frontline has the one with, like, the huge stabby end. It's like a seven-inch long pen because the business end of the pen is long enough to, like, stab in someone's neck or chest, I'm sure. Great. While it can still write. But there's none that, you know, you can get some with, like, glass breakers. None, I don't think, are any more stabby. But if you just want to, like, have, like, an indestructible pen.

Myke Hurley: I mean, all you need to do is just go to the EDC blogs and you'll find a hundred different pens that could take out an army of zombies. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Just look at, you know, zombie pens or, you know, just look at tactical pens. Benchmade makes some really cool tactical pens. If you're into the tactical pen thing, they're like 200 bucks each. But they're kind of cool if you're into that kind of stuff. They have some really neat designs. So I didn't put that on there. So you put a very interesting link in this section and I'm going to have to ask you why.

Myke Hurley: Well, I think Sailor King of Pen would do the job.

Myke Hurley: Where did this come from? Because you could just bludgeon. Thing is insanely huge. It's not that huge. Yeah, they're massive. Or the nib. You're talking about, like, a long nib. You could stand a foot away and still get someone.

Brad Dowdy: I guess that nib is pretty sizable.

Myke Hurley: King of Pen is hilarious. It's hilarious. It's huge. Is the King of the Pen the really big one or do they have a bigger one? Sailor?

Brad Dowdy: No, that's the really big one. But there's some that are shorter than, like, mine's a shorter King of Pen than, like, the standard Urushi Ebonite King of Pens. Yeah. So mine's a little bit smaller than them. But they both have the same huge nib.

Myke Hurley: Like, I've seen Sailor Pens, like, from the King of Pens line that look like a movie prop. Yeah. You know, like, they're so big. Like, it looks like it's from, like, a Honey, I Shrunk the Kids kind of movie. You know? Or, like, they're trying to make somebody look smaller than they are. Like, yeah. So I think you could just one crack around the head and you'd be able to take them down with a King of Pen.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. All right. This next one's up your alley. And it seems like we've seen this or talked about it before. For some reason it rang a bell.

SpaceX Notebooks

Brad Dowdy: Jeffner A says, have either of you checked out the SpaceX notebooks? They look pretty cool. So what do you think about these?

Myke Hurley: So I've seen this artwork before. And I've seen it because of the posters that they made. But the thing that I'm not sure about on this page is I can't see anything that kind of indicates that SpaceX are allowing these notebooks to be made. And that seems kind of weird to me. I mean, they may well be, but, like, I don't know. Like, these are posters that SpaceX made and they're on these notebooks. And I can't seem to understand whether that's something that is cool.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And I don't know either. And the...

Myke Hurley: Plus, frankly, like, whilst the artwork's nice, they don't really look like the most inspiring notebooks in the world, to be honest. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: We'll see. So the person who asked the question has ordered them. So I said, let us know how they are. Yeah. We'll see.

Myke Hurley: Let us know, Jeff.

Brad Dowdy: This next one is kind of timely. It's from KordomsXYZ. Are there any notebooks similar to the Field Notes brand Ambition Planner? Three and a half by five and a half. Undated weekly planner for a Midori-like system. So you remember how the Ambition edition had three different formats, right, Myke? So that was a cool little notebook. I thought Field Notes might do that planner as a regular thing, but they went for a bigger planner, which I'm using. So I can recommend the Field Notes 56-week planner. It's a bigger format than what you're looking for. But it's very cool. It has a nice weekly planner set up. The other ones that are good are the Hobonichi Weeks, which is not easy to get. It's also in Japanese. That may be a no-go, but it's taller and skinnier than the three and a half by five and a half. The one you might like the most, if you're doing, if you mean Midori-like system, either like the Traveler's Notebook system. I don't know if you're talking about the large or the small, but Traveler's Refill number 19 for the large regular size is probably exactly what you need. It has like a week planner on the left side, blank page on the right side. And that's kind of probably my top pick and the easiest to get for this type of planner type question. None I can really come up with are the three and a half by five and a half. There's always the standard memorandum. I just find that to be too small. It's actually smaller than three and a half by five and a half. There's not much room to write. It's very cool. Maybe look at that as well. Do you have anything else that I'm missing?

Myke Hurley: Well, I don't have anything in that style, but considering that you mentioned the Field Notes 56, I will mention the Baron Fig 2017 planner, the confidant. It arrived and it is really cool and it fits everything that Adina was looking for. It's a really, really, really nicely made product by Baron Fig. Cool, yeah. And I wanted to mention it because we've been a bit tough on Baron Fig recently. Oh, yeah. I mean, this is a good product for sure.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I don't think we've, we've been fair. I think, at least in my mind, we've been fair.

Myke Hurley: We've been fair, but fair is tough.

Brad Dowdy: Fair is tough.

Myke Hurley: Because I now will say that the other, that the black box edition doesn't, doesn't float my boat.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I mean, it's the, it's better than the first one. It's at least something new. The first one, you're going to make me go down this path again, aren't you?

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I am.

Brad Dowdy: The first one was a reprint. Yep, the work play. That's dumb. I'm sorry, it just is. The second one is at least, okay, they did some full stamping and have some cool colors and some nice logos. I can get behind that. Plus, it's the format that I like the most. So, but it's still, at some point, they're going to have to do something more. Yeah. So, which is fine. Which is, they're promising. So, we're keeping all right on it. They're promising. Yes. So, they said they knew I'd like this one. Yes, I like the new black box. It's still just a stamp on the outside, but it's better than the first one. So, back to your bear and fig planner. We're going to have a review of that on the blog soon. Jeff is working on that before the year's out.

Myke Hurley: Also, after the Christmas episode, the gift guide episode, I bought for Adina. Don't tell her.

Myke Hurley: Don't tell her. I bought her the one that was a Kickstarter project. I'm going to find it now. Wow.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, it starts with an S. The Slice.

Myke Hurley: No. Slice?

Brad Dowdy: Nope. No, not Slice.

Myke Hurley: Nope. Oh, my God. I'm looking in the show notes. Why can't I find out I'm the worst person? Where is it? It's going to be in it. The Write Your Own Adventure. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool. I think that was a really cute, nicely designed. I like the video of it. So, I bought that for her. Hopefully, it will arrive before Christmas. I'll see if she likes it or not. If she doesn't, it's a product that I wouldn't mind owning. I could probably try and do something with. But I appreciate everything that the lady, Kate, was trying to do with it. So, I think that I was happy to buy the product because I felt like I was supporting a good maker.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, agreed. I thought that was kind of cool. Yeah, it's a nice product. If Adina likes it, tell her she needs to come on the show to review it.

Myke Hurley: All right. I can make that happen.

Brad Dowdy: All right. Let's wrap up these last couple real quick, even though this next one I'll probably not be quick on. So, Kim herself, and this is an older question, so I hope she's listening and catches this on here. But I wanted to ask it because it's good. Sometimes it seems to me that ink reviews are Peninnitus World's equivalent of snobbish wine reviews. Can they be more useful? Number one, I need a little bit more clarity on that. I said this never crossed my mind. Like, I've never thought ink reviews were like snobbish wine reviews because the purpose of an ink review is to explain the features, the benefits, the negatives about each ink. You know, there's chromatography in these reviews to show you the palette of colors that you might expect. You know, there's water tests because people want to know the waterproofnesses of the ink. There's permanence properties that people want to know. There's feathering and bleeding. There's dry time. These all seem like quality things to tell someone about an ink, don't you think?

Myke Hurley: Yeah, the problem is, I mean, I don't know why you would pick just necessarily ink as a problem. I think pens are a similar issue. Yeah. It's that this stuff is difficult to explain because your mileage may vary. Like, 20 minutes ago, me and Brad were arguing about how the Field Notes paper feels. Like, it's a difficult thing to describe in the first place, and it gets even more difficult as you try and describe the nuances of something in written word or in audio that you can't experience for yourself. It's tough.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And like, with wine, everyone's palette's different.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: I mean, you know, what I like, Myke doesn't like, and vice versa, and we'll find some similarities in common ground, but there's going to be some really particular things that I like or dislike, and same with Myke. So, it's weird. You know, I'd love to hear some more elaboration on the question. Maybe there's something we can pin down, but I'll go ahead and tell Myke, so I'm on record. We're going to have a guest next week. Thanks for letting me know. Yeah, yeah, no problem. That can probably shed some light on this very inky topic. So, I will leave it at that, and no pressure on our guest next week. But we will ask him this question, because that's all he does is inquiries.

Myke Hurley: Okay. Good teaser.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. All right. Last one. Nathan SH says, my favorite pin is the Muji .38 gel. Want to try a fountain pen, though? Is there a nib that fine for the Pilot Metropolitan? The fine, Pilot Metropolitan's ballpark-y close. It's the easiest, closest thing you can get. Otherwise, I would do the Platinum Preppy O2, which is finer than that. That's going to get you around your Muji .38 gel. So, that's kind of where I'd go with that. So, easy enough. And that's an ass TPA wrap.

Myke Hurley: If you want to find our show notes for this week, head on over to relay.fm.com. Penaddict slash 233. Thanks again to our lovely sponsors of this week's episode. The five-fold over at Harry's Foot Cardigan and Tom Bin. I hope that we've helped with some of your holiday shopping on today's episode of our sponsors, as well as the pens we've been speaking about. If you want to find Brad online, head on over to penaddict.com and become a member of the Penaddict, because you should. Or go to knock.co and buy some of their products as well. Buy, buy, buy, everybody. You can do it. We believe in you. Brad is also at Dowdyism on Twitter, and he is penaddict on Instagram. I am at imike, I-M-Y-K-E. If you're interested in seeing the progress of my new home, I published a YouTube video about it yesterday. I'll put a link in the show notes in case you want to go and watch it. We'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.