The Pen Addict 681/transcript

Introduction and Catch-up

• From Relay, this is The Pen Addict, episode 681.
• Today's show is brought to you by Squarespace and Enigma Stationery.
• My name is Myke Hurley.
• I'm joined by Brad Dowdy.
• Hi, Brad.
• Hello, Myke.
• How are you?
• I'm good.
• How are you?
• I am okay.
• I think we're both deciding what day it is.
• Discombobulated.
• Right.
• Discombobulated.
• Yeah.
• I wrote in my schedule this week that I publish, I have a little status page that I publish on, I wrote Discombobulation Station was my thought process this week, and that has lived up to the hype.
• In case this means nothing to you, because you're like, what are they talking about?
• This episode was published on Thursday, which is the first, I guess, schedule change we've had in like over 10 years, I think, of the show, maybe.
• It's been a while.
• And so, yeah, we're publishing on Thursdays now.
• I've said the whole thing now, it's Connected's fault, and Brad has helped out.
• So we appreciate that for Brad.
• Just so we're clear where the problem lies.
• Yeah.
• Yeah.
• Yeah.
• Yeah.
• It came from Connected, and I do these shows both on one day.
• So if we were going to make a change to that show, I also had to make a change to this show.
• And thankfully, Brad said yes.
• I was telling Brad before the show, I went to see my personal trainer this morning, which feels super weird to do on a day where I'm recording a podcast.
• I don't know why, but it just feels weird to me.
• Yep.
• And it feels weird to me because in the US, we had a Monday holiday, so I'm still actively on Wednesday workday.
• So I'm all kind of messed up in the head on what is actually happening.
• And I know it can be strange when something you're used to changes schedule, and you kind of have to adjust to that.
• We'll adjust into that, I guess.
• And thank you for bearing with us.
• Yep.
• Yep.
• And it's easy.
• Like I was explaining to you, Myke, beforehand, I don't have a rigid schedule, but I know what happens every day.
• Right?
• Yeah.

The New Pilot Vanishing Point

• And working on the podcast notes always happened on Tuesday.
• And I'm like, huh?
• Like, do I keep it on Tuesday, even though like recording is a way out, you know, a ways out?
• I track notes like all throughout the week and whatever, so it's not a big deal.
• But I was like, I'm going to forget to do the podcast notes because if I move it a day later, it's just not what I do on that day.
• And then I'm going to forget, and then we're going to have a show, and I don't know what to talk about.
• But here we are.
• I did it.
• Well, talking about schedule.
• Yep.
• It's that time again, Brad.
• Let's go.
• It's September.
• And you know what September means.
• September means around these parts, we take an eye to Memphis and to the beacon of hope that is St.
• Jude Children's Research Hospital.
• Because September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and it is an opportunity for us to come together in the fight against childhood cancer.
• For the seventh year, the relay community is rallying to support the cause and work of St.
• Jude because together we can make a big impact.
• I'm going to give some history, Brad.
• Please.
• I would hope that some of our listeners will be familiar with this history, but I'm going to remind you anyway.
• Before St.
• Jude opened in 1962, childhood cancer was largely considered incurable.
• Today, thanks in part to better therapies that St.
• Jude has helped to develop, more than 80% of U.S.
• childhood cancer patients survive.
• St.
• Jude cares for some of the world's sickest children, regardless of their race, ethnicity, beliefs, or ability to pay.
• It doesn't matter to them.
• You know, they just want kids to be healthy, which is quite an incredible thing.
• St.
• Jude's patients receive the customized care they need to treat their childhood cancers and other life-threatening diseases, no matter what barriers they face.
• And it's because of its supporters that St.
• Jude can provide children with cutting-edge treatments not covered by insurance at no cost to families.
• No cost at all to families.
• If you become a patient at St.
• Jude, you do not pay for anything.
• And if you have to travel, they'll take care of it.
• If you need to stay there, they'll take care of it.
• Brad, we're going to be together in a couple of weeks.
• One of the things that we're going to be doing, I don't know if you know this yet, is going to see something called Domino's Village, which is some new housing facilities that are actually built on the campus of St.
• Jude.
• So for the families that need to be very close to their children, they will have everything there.
• I'm really looking forward to that, to taking a look at just how, honestly, how great these families are taken care of when their kids are needing treatment.
• Yeah, from my trip there earlier this year, we didn't get to go over there, but we got to hear all about it.
• And it's kind of an amazing facility that they take care of, like, not just the patients, but also the families who are nearby, who obviously want to make sure their child is supported.
• So St.
• Jude not only takes care of the kids, but they take care of the families, which is a very, very important part of the mission.
• The care is holistic, right?
• Like, for the child to get better, they need their families to be with them and for everyone to be happy.
• Like, I believe that that's an important part of it, and I'm sure that that's part of the reason that they do it.
• Right.
• They want to keep the families together.
• The kids, some of these kids, unfortunately, are in treatment for a long time, and they require a lot of help.
• And that is all done without any cost.
• I mean, you know, I can't even imagine the bills.
• Yeah.
• Millions and millions of dollars for some children with some of the complex things that they're dealing with.
• But St.
• Jude, take care of it.
• But the only way they can do that is with donations from generous people, people like the listeners of this show.
• So I want to invite you to continue to give the incredible support that you've done over the last seven years.
• We've raised over $4 million together as a community in that time.
• So I'm asking you again to make a donation to support the life-saving mission of St.
• Jude, because no child should die in the dawn of life.
• And that's exactly what they believed.
• That was the motto of the founder, Danny Thomas, and it rings true to this day.
• If you make an individual gift of $60 or more, you'll be eligible to redeem a digital bundle of campaign-themed wallpapers and a screensaver.
• Donors making a gift of $100 or more can redeem the 2025 sticker pack featuring six all-new host stickers.
• We ask people to go to stjude.org slash relay.
• This is where you can find out information and make a donation.
• I'm also going to put a link in the show notes to Brad's fundraising campaign, which we'll talk about in a second.
• So if you listen to this show, go to that one, I'm going to say.
• There's a bunch of other things.

Weekly Ink Overview

• I just mentioned Brad's fundraiser.
• You can set up a fundraising, a fundraiser of your own, a community fundraiser, we call them.
• So this is a way that you can extend the reach that you have in your life to help support St.
• Jude.
• So you can sign up.
• It's very easy to do this.
• And then you can go out to your friends, your family, your co-workers, your community, and say, hey, give some money to St.
• Jude.
• The more money you raise, the more access you have to some incredible incentives that are available at different amounts raised.
• Starting at just a dollar, we're talking challenge coins.
• Maybe you want a challenge coin with Brad's face on it.
• You can get that.
• We have desk mats.
• There's even a backpack available.
• All of this information and more is available at stjude.org slash relay.
• Help give them more tomorrows.
• Go to stjude.org slash relay to donate or start your own fundraiser today.
• Thank you for listening.
• And Brad, let's talk about your campaign.
• Yeah.
• So I'm doing things a little different this year.
• In the past, I've done the giveaways where I would just, you could donate to St.
• Jude anytime during the month of September.
• Send me your receipt.
• And I just built out a bunch of giveaways, collected a bunch of products from great friends in the community who wanted to help support this cause and help raise money.
• So since I'm going to Memphis this year and going to be there for almost a week, it's going to be good.
• I don't tell anyone.
• They're not listening.
• I can't remember the last time I was so excited for a podcast.
• Yeah.
• Maybe like the one where I came back, you know, like after COVID.
• But like this one, I'm just, I'm so excited to see you and you're going to get to be a part of this.
• Like I'm just, I can't wait.
• Yeah.
• I'm just excited.
• I've gone from, when y'all asked me to do it, I was nervous.
• I was like pretty kind of tentative.
• I was like, oh, can I do this?
• Am I going to be good?
• Now I'm only hyped.
• Like I have zero nerves.
• I'm only excited.
• So yeah, it's going to be fun.
• So one of the reasons why I'm doing things differently this year is I'm going to be gone for about a week.
• And, you know, even though I'll be online and could do things as I used to do, I wanted to switch over to using our fundraising partner in Tiltify and how Relay allows us as community members to build our own campaign.
• So I did this a little differently this year to where I have a more traditional fundraising campaign.
• And I'll have this, we'll have a link in the show notes.
• And I need to make it more prominent on my blog, even though I'm writing about it a lot.
• I'm doing kind of like art incentives, right?
• For donors who donate through the pen attic.
• You can get all the same incentives, you know, that Relay offers, but then you can get...
• All those things I mentioned, you can add those if you make a donation of that level.
• But Brad is adding more.
• Additional stuff.
• Yeah.
• So like for $25, I do line art on postcards.
• Like that's one of the things that I do.
• So I will create a postcard and mail it to you.
• You know, for $100, I will paint you an ink pony.
• So it's just one of these fun things that I do on stream or even not on stream.
• Just for, you know, just fun enjoyment of my stationary products.
• I just added at the behest of my Twitch channel to create a product, a YouTube review of a product of someone's choosing, of a donor's choosing.
• So I've never done that before.
• Oh Brad, this should be for more than $150.
• You're going to be in trouble.
• That's okay.
• There should be more.
• I kind of did that on purpose.
• Okay.
• Like I kind of want to do it.
• It's kind of like maybe like a kick in the butt for me to get onto YouTube.
• So it's a little bit self-serving as well.
• Sure, sure.
• So, yeah.
• So, you know, fun incentives like that.
• So go check out the campaign.
• In addition, the way that we've had a bunch of products donated in the past to the pen addict to help raise money.
• This one, I'm just doing milestones.
• So there's no direct way to say, hey, you know, I'd like to win a pen or something like that.
• But as my campaign reaches different milestones, right now my initial goal was $5,000.
• We'll probably blow past that today.
• So I didn't know what to do.
• You're crushing it.
• You know that, right?
• Yeah.
• We're trying.
• You have raised so much money.
• Like I'm so proud of you.
• Yeah.
• It's fun.
• It's been fun and exciting.
• And it's great to see the community rally around this.
• So I have to adjust now, right?
• I only kind of thought about like the first, can I raise $5,000?
• Like was my goal.
• And so we're going to do that pretty easily.
• But I made just general giveaways for anyone.
• You don't have to be a donor.
• You don't have to, you know, do anything.
• But I have these great, you know, pen friends in the community that send me products.
• And for every one of those milestones, I just started throwing out giveaways publicly on the blog.
• Just, hey, someone donated this pen.
• By the way, this is why I'm doing it for St.
• Jude.
• And it allows me to promote that and to just continue on raising money.
• So now I've already passed like my initial plans for this.
• So now we're already calling in the reinforcements.
• I have more pens and products coming this way.
• So look for more milestone giveaways that are open to the public.
• And, you know, even if you can't donate, like I totally get it right now.
• Like it's tough to find a dollar to donate.
• If you can just share the link, that's like really all we need.
• Share the link.
• That's the most we need from anyone.
• Sign up for yourself, right?
• And start your own fundraiser.
• Like people are able to get like $100 together from friends and family, coworkers, that kind of stuff.
• That's incredible.
• Or just watch the podcast a ton.
• Like just hang out with us.
• Like have a good time.
• Like just get involved however you can.
• We're asking for money, right?
• We're asking for money from the people that can give us money.
• And we know we have people in our audience who can give us money.
• We raised a million dollars last year, right?
• There are people out there.
• But if you can't, that's no problem, right?
• Like it's no issue.
• Like listen to this.
• Understand what we're talking about.
• Get involved.
• Learn.
• At some point in your life, you may be in a position where you can.
• Maybe you'll hit us up next year.
• You know what I mean?
• Like we're not going to stop doing this.
• So don't worry if you can't do it this year.
• But there are other ways you can get involved, right?
• You can share the links to fundraisers.
• Start one of your own.
• Read, post things on social media.
• Yeah.
• Tune into the podcast at home, which will be on September the 19th.
• We'll talk about that in the coming weeks.
• But September the 19th, 12 p.m.
• to 12 a.m.
• Eastern time.
• I hope we told you it was 12 hours, Brad.
• I hope this is not the first time.
• Yeah, I'm in.
• I'm in.
• I got this.
• So one last thing.
• You know, we're talking about sharing.
• You know, I'm doing giveaways.
• Like I have pins up from Hello Tello and from River City Pen Co.
• Like literally tell your friend to go enter the giveaway.
• Then they'll maybe wonder, oh, why is Brad doing these giveaways?
• It's like, oh, he's raising money for St.
• Jude.
• Cool.
• It's like, I'm just going to go enter the giveaway.
• But at least they know now like why this is happening.
• So yeah, it's going good so far.
• I got a lot of work ahead of me to figure out what comes next in the milestones.
• But it's a fun, fun thing to do.
• And it's great to be part of raising money for St.
• Jude.
• Look, we spend a lot of time talking about this in every episode through September.
• It's like the most important thing.
• That I'm a part of.
• Yeah.
• Every year.
• For sure.
• And I definitely get the impression.
• And I see this in our Discord especially.
• And it makes sense because, you know, the people who are members are inherently like they really care.
• Right?
• Which is why they're a member in the first place.
• Right?
• Like why would you pay for a podcast?
• Because you care about it.
• They get so excited and involved.
• And I do believe that there is an element of that that comes out to everyone.
• And I think that's why we're able to raise the kind of money that we are.
• Because listeners of our shows understand that we're not just asking you to give to a charity.
• Right?
• We're not just asking you to a or any charity.
• We're asking for you to give money to a charity that saved Josiah's life.
• Josiah being Stephen's son.
• Stephen who is my best friend, co-founder.
• One of your best friends.
• Right?
• Like we have seen the impact of this institution on someone we love and care about.
• That's why we do this.
• And our hope and our expectation, and I think this is true, that has a similar effect on our audience.
• Like you love Stephen and the stuff that he makes.
• You love us and what we make.
• Like so you understand why this place is so important.
• Because of what, you know, these things hit so much harder when it's an individual that you know.
• Maybe our brain shouldn't work that way, but it's how they work.
• So what we can do is when we're in that situation is work with that.
• Right?
• And that's what we're doing.
• You know, it's like people say to me every now and then.
• Like, why don't you do a different charity?
• It's like, no, you don't understand.
• Yeah.
• This is our charity.
• Like, we will always be raising money for St.
• Jude.
• Very specific reason.
• Yes.
• And then over time, my connection to the hospital has grown and grown.
• And it's more than Josiah now.
• It's all of the families that I've met, right, over the years.
• Like, all of the children that I've seen on the campus.
• Like, it's now for all of them.
• We have people in our lives from there now.
• Like, it's, yeah, it's important.
• And I expect that is going to become a thing for you now.
• Because I know you've been once, right?
• Yeah, once.
• And so that's, you're going to keep, that's going to, the more that you visit the place, the more kind of like.
• Yeah.
• I actually, like, I know we will wrap this in a second.
• But I literally got an email from someone there just directly to me just saying, hey, this is great.
• I hope to see you on campus when, someone I had never met before.
• Like, found it and like say, hey, I can't wait to see y'all in a couple weeks.
• I was like, oh, wow.
• That's pretty cool.
• I've established you're the popular one.
• All right.
• St.
• Jude.org slash Relay.
• Go check it out.
• Before we move, actually, not before, this is the next part.
• I have a couple of pieces of follow-up from people who took it upon themselves to give us the one single recommendation.
• That's right.
• Kat wrote in and said, I want to put my support behind the Uniball Signo DX.
• I get the energy choice, Brad.
• It's a pleasure to write with, but there's just too much going on.
• I love the simple, narrow feel of the Signo.
• So, I am in agreement with Kat.
• My personal choice is the Uniball Signo DX for myself.
• Is it Sino?
• No, it's Signo.
• We've had, this is like, this is like an episode 100 conversation.
• Maybe even before that.
• Yeah.
• It's Signo.
• I want it to be Sino.
• I've gotten, though, right?
• I've gotten way past that.
• I'm so far beyond that.
• It's only Signo now.
• Like, I have drilled that into my head.
• So, yeah.
• It is officially Signo.
• But yeah, the Signo DX is my personal favorite.
• I think the recommendation, though, is where the differentiation comes.
• And I think for more people, the Energel is the choice.
• But Kat brings up a good point.
• And like, I know this just inherently about the Energel.
• But the way Kat put it in words, there's just too much going on with the Energel.
• It's kind of a busy pen.
• It really is.
• It's kind of large and ostentatious and out there.
• And which is another reason why I love it, right?
• They'll match that wild style with the wild colors.
• And, you know, if you're using purple ink, like, it'll match the purple on there.
• And it is kind of out there.
• But I get that.
• It is kind of a hey, look at me pen, which I didn't even think about in the beginning.
• So, yeah.
• Good point by Kat.
• But we're in full agreement, Kat, on my personal pen choice is always going to be the Signo DX for quite a while now.
• And Fox wrote in and said, I love your picks.
• But I wanted to share a spicy pick for a ballpoint pen that I really like for unique texture, muted colors, fantastic feel, and the click experience.
• The Pentel Calme?
• I'm going with Calme.
• I'm not as confident in this one as Signo, as Calme.
• But it could just be the calm.
• If it's Signo, not Sino, maybe this is Calme.
• Calme.
• C-A-L-M-E.
• This could honestly just be calm.
• Like, whatever.
• Yeah.
• I suppose the name is perfect because this pen is maybe the most relaxing and reliable ballpoint.
• And I don't usually go for ballpoints, says Fox.
• So, I pulled up my review of the Calme.
• I call it the Calme.
• We'll see if we get an official pronunciation guide from Pentel soon.
• I'm not going to hold my breath.
• But this is an interesting pen.
• And I like Fox's idea here.
• And I kind of don't think about the Calme very much in relation to, like, the Jetstream and even Pilot's Acroball sometimes.
• But the Calme uses Pentel's hybrid ballpoint ink, like the Jetstream and, like, the Acroball from Pilot.
• It's their Vicunia ink.
• And it's really, really nice.
• This is a good shout-out.
• It is an interesting pen that, even, like, thinking about it, I remember when I did this review, and it's literally right there in the first sentence of my review.
• Like, it took me a minute to come around to this pen because it is a half-barrel rubberized grip section and a clip knock as opposed to, like, a button knock right on the back.
• So you engage the refill via the clip and push it down.
• And then you have this really large rubberized grip section that extends way past where it needs to be.
• And I was like, does all this add up to a pen that I enjoy using?
• And it turns out that it did.
• Like, I will sign on for support of the Calme.
• I'm not going to change.
• It's not.
• Jetstream is the biggest outlier, I think, in just about any category.
• Right?
• I think it has the furthest separation from number one pen in the category to number two pen in the category.
• So it's really, really hard to knock them off their pedestal.
• But pens like the Calme are really, really nice, and I do recommend it.
• And it's got some fun styles and colors.
• Like, I use this pink one.
• It's really good.
• So good shout-out.
• I don't account for that one.
• We got that coming soon.
• So yeah, that's a good pen.
• I do like it.
• And more people should probably try that pen.
• I definitely agree with that.
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• Our thanks to Squarespace for their support of the penaddict and Relay.
• Shout out of the week, Myke.
• Shout out of the week.
• Nice.
• Man, you were a workout.
• You sound like a workout boy this morning in that little shout out.
• I worked on my vocal cords this morning.
• There you go.
• So I want to give a shout out to Matthew Chen from Matthew's Nibworks.
• The website?
• Yeah.
• I rarely shout out the nib grinders, but I need to give them more shout outs.
• I think I've shouted out a few over the past.
• Confirmed.
• Brad hates nib grinders.
• Confirmed.
• Confirmed.
• Put that.
• Drama.
• Put that on your YouTubes.
• Drama.
• So I was looking at the follow-up from the San Francisco pen show, which looked like absolute madness in the best way possible.
• It looked really, really intense and really busy, and everyone seemed to have had a good time.
• And one of the things that Matthew does is takes great photography in the show and outside of the show.
• So he travels as much as any nib grinder that I know of, both in the U.S.
• He's U.S.-based, but he travels internationally like several times.
• I got to talk with him at the D.C.
• show.
• No, I got to talk to him at Chicago at Atlas Stationers.
• Talking about all his trips this year, it's unbelievable how much he travels, and he loves what he does, and he does great nib work.
• So if you're at a pen show or you need nib work done, check out Matthew.
• He's verifiably awesome, and I have several of his grinds and love them.
• And yeah, and also just go check out his photography over there on Instagram.
• It's great.
• All right, Myke.
• I get email, and this one costs me money, Myke.
• Uh-oh.
• This is something that somehow flew under the radar from the company that should hire me.
• This is a thing that I would do.
• Did you know that the Lamy Balloon, a much maligned product that I've discussed on this podcast before in its rollerball capacity, comes in a fountain pen?
• Did not know that.
• I did not know that either.
• Apparently, in recent years, this was an Asia-only release, and I was unaware of it.
• I didn't know this was a thing.
• And apparently it is.
• So Frank over at Fantaplumo does a good job at sourcing some of the more limited products, not just Lamy products, but the Pokemon stuff like Frank would have, and then some Kawekos, some random Kawekos Frank will have.
• So I got sent this link, and I was like, okay, this is what I want from Lamy.
• This is what I want to see, because the Lamy Balloon is a great design.
• It's one of my favorite pen designs ever, but it has a proprietary rollerball refill.
• That was terrible.
• And, you know, they've kind of done a couple different versions of the balloon over the years where they kind of promote it and bring it forward and do some, you know, different things with it.
• And then I've tried it twice now, and it's failed every time, but I love the barrel so much.
• So now I can get one with a fountain pen nib on it.
• Sign me up.
• So I did sign up.
• I bought each of the three colors.
• So there's a blue, a pink, and a green.
• One of each, please, Myke, with the intention of, you know, keeping one and giving away the others.
• So 19 euro, which is what, maybe $22?
• I didn't do that translation, that conversion.
• But yeah, like low $20 fountain pen.
• So cheaper than a Safari and really, really cool looking.
• I wish they would have wider access to these, right?
• This is a great, great pen.
• Or, well, I say that I don't have it yet.
• But this is kind of like some of the easy creativity is what I want from Lamy.
• I'm not expecting them to change the world.
• I'm expecting them to take the Lamy Vista and make it purple and sell it.
• Like, I'm not asking for difficult things here, right?
• So this is kind of on that line of thinking to where they take kind of the existing theory of a pen in the balloon.
• They keep the unique clip and shape of the pen and then modify it to the fountain pen and have these fun colors.
• This is a fun pen.
• It's a fun product.
• And I just want this to be more of a thing in their product lineup.
• So those are on the way to me.
• I have ordered them, Myke.
• But that's not all.
• There's more.
• But wait.
• But wait, there's more.
• Let's talk tariffs, Myke.
• Yay.
• Yay.
• Woo-hoo.
• Pew, pew, pew.
• Pew, pew, pew.
• So I ordered these pens because they were, like, relatively inexpensive.
• And I think they're fun.
• And I wanted to have something to give away to people so other people can share in this.
• That was my impetus behind it.
• And then I added a bottle of ink from Fontapluma.
• They have their own orange sailor ink.
• I mean, hello.
• So, yeah.
• So I ordered those three pens, one of each color.
• Completed the mandate of having to buy every orange ink, which you obviously have.
• Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• For sure.
• For sure.
• You'd actually be committing a crime.
• Speaking of crimes, can we talk about tariffs, Myke?
• I don't know.
• I don't know.
• Okay.
• Where is this going?
• So I spent my cart, if you will, was 103 euro, right?
• So it was, like, $122, something like that.
• Super reasonable.
• Three pens, bottle of ink.
• Great.
• Like, I'm not spending too much.
• I didn't.
• I'll be honest.
• I didn't even think about the tariffs when I bought it.
• Because this wasn't, I wasn't spending, like, $1,000 and thinking about international shipping and just how am I going to get hammered by this.
• It didn't, just straight up, it didn't cross my mind because I haven't experienced this yet, right?
• It's new.
• So this is a good time to talk about it because it just kind of, it did catch, it caught me off guard just from me not thinking.
• It's going to catch so many people off guard in this way because Americans haven't really had to consider tariffs for regular purchases for a really, really long time, which is not necessarily the case for other countries.
• Like, you know, I've opened this show many times about customs charges and stuff for items coming through, pens and things like that.
• So let's call my order $122, okay?
• Um, I can't remember if that includes shipping.
• So shipping's expensive.
• Like, the shipping I account for, like, I ship internationally and I receive products internationally.
• Shipping's expensive.
• Shipping was $30.
• Totally fine.
• Like, I'm going into this knowing these things, right?
• I'm not surprised by that.
• So, but we'll just talk about, like, the cost of my goods.
• Say it was $122.
• So I get an email from UPS and I'm like, oh, this is weird.
• I've never had, oh, I see what's happening here.
• What do they want from me?
• Um, do you want to guess?
• Do you want to play a game?
• Hmm.
• All right.
• Let me think about this.
• My order was 100, say, $122 USD.
• So, you know, in these games, you never want to go too far, right?
• You never want to be like, oh, it was four grand because I know it's not that, right?
• So let me start with this.
• So I know that you should be looking at a baseline tariff of probably about 15%.
• That's where I'm going to start.
• So let's say I'm going to start at $15, we'll say, just to round that around.
• So we'll start at $15.
• Now, there's no way that UPS isn't taking a slice here.
• That's for sure.
• So I'm going to add another five.
• We'll get to 17.
• And then I'm going to throw, I'm going to say $23.
• Total?
• Yeah.
• How about 48?
• Would that work for you?
• Oh, gross.
• Disgusting.
• What?
• I don't get it.
• Why?
• There must be a breakdown on the, they must have given you a breakdown, right?
• There is.
• So there's more.
• There's more to this story.
• So I get a mail.
• In the mail, it says $48.63.
• So $120 and they asked you for $48.
• Yes.
• Correct.
• So that is 40%.
• Yeah.
• Gross.
• So, you know, there's a couple options.
• You can click to pay UPS or you can pay the driver.
• It's like the last thing I'm going to do is like pay the driver when they get here.
• Like there's no way that's going to be convenient for anybody.
• Oh, okay.
• I thought you were going to be like pay or don't pay.
• It's like, no, you're going to pay us.
• Yeah.
• I mean, like they don't pay being like return it or whatever.
• And it's just like, what do you give the driver cash?
• Like, what do you do?
• I don't know.
• They have a little stripe machine.
• Put like a 50 spot in his hand and like, thanks, bud.
• So I clicked the link.
• I was like, well, I'm already, you know, over the barrel.
• Let's just go.
• Let's just go over the falls now.
• So I go to click.
• I click to pay.
• Go to the UPS site.
• Now they want $36.63.
• Sweet.
• So I don't know if like the tariffs were made illegal.
• Like that's the thing that's.
• So again, the whole story, why we don't talk about it too much is because it's a moving target.
• Like I have no clue what is going on at any time.
• It wasn't like cheaper because you decided to pay early.
• No.
• Or whatever.
• It's just now the price has changed.
• Yes.
• Okay.
• So now the price from 48 is now 36.
• And then the 36, they do break it down.
• So the tariff was $15 and the brokerage.
• I was about right.
• Was 21.
• Yeah.
• So the brokerage was $21.
• $21.
• That's the rip off part.
• Get out of town.
• Come on.
• This is stupid.
• Look, this whole situation is bad.
• And then we're getting a bunch of leeches in the middle of it all.
• Yeah.
• How can it be $21?
• Yep.
• I mean, part of it might be that just like the system isn't capable.
• And so the brokerage fees have to be high because they're dealing with an influx of packages coming to the system.
• But like this is why these things should be thoroughly thought out before they're put into place.
• Yeah.
• And that's what makes me not want to pay this at all or just wait because, you know, whatever tariff was on one day is off the next day.
• And it just keeps moving.
• Well, your brokerage fee isn't going to change.
• Yeah.
• That's an admin fee.
• Yeah.
• So, you know, the tariff part might go up and down, but I bet you that $20 ain't changing.
• Yeah.
• So that was my experience.
• Just thought I would break that down now that I've had an official experience.
• Yeah.
• It's going to happen a lot, man.
• With that.
• I mean, well, what you're going to see is what you're already seeing, which is from you're not really, no one's going to ship from outside of America into America.
• Yep.
• Yep.
• For this kind of value.
• And nor am I going to order.
• Like, this is not something I can get in the US, right?
• This is something I wanted to order because it's cool and it's part of my hobby and I like it.
• But like, now I'm going to hesitate to spend money with my friends over there at Fontaplumo, right?
• And this is not a Fontaplumo thing, right?
• This is an us thing.
• Why'd you do this, Fontaplumo?
• Why'd you do this to us?
• No, you see, but here's your problem, Brad.
• Japan.
• It's like your whole problem.
• Yeah, exactly.
• So basically my $20 pens...
• I'm fascinated to know what a company like JetPens is doing.
• Yeah.
• Joosh.
• Right?
• Yeah.
• I don't get it.
• Yeah.
• I have no idea.
• So to sum it up, my $20 pens ended up being about $40 pens each.
• So yay.
• I love to see it.
• You love to see it.
• You really do.
• It's like amazing.
• So this was a good little breakdown of it actually me going through the process for honestly a very small dollar amount purchase, international purchase.
• Yeah.
• It's a lot and it's a huge turnoff.
• If you would have spent like $300.
• I mean, here's the thing that I don't know.
• That brokerage fee, is that percentage based or is that a fixed cost?
• That might be a fixed cost.
• Yeah.
• And so like the more money you spend...
• That would be the same.
• It will work out for you so just buy more.
• I don't know.
• But those kinds of fees might be pretty fixed or fixed at a certain point, right?
• Like they might change.
• Yeah.
• Thresholds.
• Because this is the thing that I always complained about that like the Royal Mail fee was like a fixed fee, right?
• And it was like 15 pounds or something.
• But it was still random, wasn't it?
• Like you didn't know.
• You didn't know if something was going to be picked up for customs.
• That's for sure.
• But like this is the thing that I say that like since a bunch of this stuff got put into place after Brexit, there is at least a certainty now, which I appreciate.
• Which is you know the amount in full at purchase.
• It doesn't get hit anymore.
• And so like this is what's going to happen for you, right?
• And so because it seems like, you know, like there's a lot of chatter from British businesses of like Royal Mail who said they're going to have a solution, but they just don't have it yet, right?
• And so it will be like working out up front what is going to be the fee for all this stuff.
• And you know it before you press buy.
• So it turns a lot of people off because they see the price.
• But I think it's way better this way because you're paying what you quote unquote should be paying.
• And you know what you're paying before the product arrives.
• Because the worst thing, I think, is products arriving and you've got this massive bill on them.
• It sucks.
• Yeah, totally.
• At least want to know the full cost of something before I hit the buy button.
• Yep, the surprise factor is the annoyance.
• It's annoying because it feels like they're kind of like holding your thing ransom or whatever.
• Right, right.
• It's like, well, I wasn't going to not pay it.
• I mean, I guess technically I could not pay it and it would eventually go back, but still.
• Yeah, but like for you, the reason to do it still remains the same no matter kind of what the price was.
• Like if this product was an extra $40 total, you probably would have bought it anyway because you were interested in it from like a work perspective.
• Right, right, right.
• So anyway, that was a, I don't want to say a good experience, but it was an interesting experience to actually go through this on a, yeah, eye opening.
• Especially like, like I said, smaller dollar amounts.
• Yeah, to tie it back, I think we spoke about this last time or episode before.
• This is because the De Minimis exemption is why this happened.
• Was removed, yeah.
• Previously, yeah, it's been removed.
• Previously, products under $800 just didn't go through this process.
• But now they either will or may.
• Allegedly.
• Yeah.
• All right.
• So a couple bits of news, Myke.
• First up, Yoseka's 2026 Stationery Fest has been announced.
• I know people have been asking since I was there in 2024.
• They took 2025 off and are back planning on a 2026 event.
• This is something if you're interested in, like I highly recommended.
• Like there was, you know, difficulties with crowds and management of the crowds and things like that.
• So like it was kind of a, it was a good learning experience.
• And Yoseka is doing everything they can, including having what looks like a pretty epic space for the next event.
• So follow along with everything Yoseka is doing.
• If you're interested in going to that, you know, I don't, will I go?
• Who knows?
• Like I can't plan that far ahead.
• I mean, I'll tell you, I want to go.
• It was a, it looks, it sounded great.
• And this one looks like it's going to be even better.
• And it's still one of the most memorable events I've ever been to.
• It still changes to this day.
• It's only been what, a year and a half?
• No, a year, a little over a year.
• It's changed what I think about what I want from stationery and community and things like that.
• So it was, it was, I'm not going to say it's life changing, like it's stationery for goodness sake.
• But it was very, again, eye opening in a very positive way and has put like some different perspectives on some, some of the, the way I think about things.
• So it was, it was a very important event to me.
• So, yeah, it was really cool.
• So check that out.
• And, you know, they have that going on.
• So related, related to our previous talk, they also have a link in there about their open EG shipment being delayed.
• They had this whole event planned.
• Like they were doing like a- In-person event.
• Come and see the Hobonichis and like choose what you want and make your orders.
• And like they had like a special box of stuff being sent over is what I understand.
• And it got held in customs.
• I felt so bad for them.
• Yeah, I did too.
• So, and that also happened to some people in San Francisco that traveled from the pen show, for the pen show from, you know, outside of the US or products were coming from outside of the US.
• Things were delayed, showing up late.
• So, yeah, it's, we're, we're, we're all in the blender right now.
• Like it's just for our purposes as stationary lovers, the amount of stationary that's made worldwide is huge.
• It's, that's what we like about this, this big, beautiful hobby that we're all in is, you know, we get representation from all over the world.
• But given the current climate, it's tough to, to have any certainty in products and arrivals and things like that.
• So it's a mess.
• But Myke, if you do want some certainty on your products, where can you go purchase some really, really cool stationary from?
• And go to our friends at Enigma Stationary who offer unique items made from in-house designs along with top brands and hard to find imports.
• Sales are currently paused.

Welcome. Hello. We love Enigma Stationary.

• Welcome.
• Hello.
• We love Enigma Stationary.
• Brad, that couldn't have been the more perfect segue to what we're saying here.
• But this is a good message.
• This is great.
• It's paused because Enigma is working on a brand new enigmastationary.com website.
• Right.
• Members of their mailing list will be the first to receive a notification when they relaunch in mid-September.
• The website relaunch will include pre-orders for Enigma InkVent 2025.
• So we're telling you to go sign up for their mailing list right now at enigmastationary.com.
• You go there, sign up for the mailing list, which is a great thing anyway, because then you find out about all the new stuff they're doing.
• But also you'll be the first to know about InkVent.
• Can I tell you about their InkVent?
• Yeah.
• They do a curated InkVent and it's limited, right?
• So they will actually, the team there will actually source what bottles of ink samples they want to build out for this set.
• So like each year it's just, you know, it's like a, basically like a brand sampler of different inks from different brands.
• And they put it all together and it's usually like a really cool setup.
• And so, yeah, this is definitely one of the cooler InkVents going.
• So, yeah, you want to go check it out because you want to know when it's happening because it will sell out, right?
• Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.
• They don't, but since they're hand making, like they're hand curating, like the inks, they're limited.
• I don't know what the number is, but like it's not a ton.
• It's not like they're buying, getting like thousands of ink samples in for these things.
• Like it's, you know, they're a small business, which is why they're closed now because they were just at the San Francisco pen show too.
• So they're busy.
• While you wait for Enigma to return, the amazing folks over there want us to remind you and the pen addict audience about St.
• Jude.
• So go to stjude.org slash relay.
• Once again, you can sign up for the Enigma Stationery mailing list and be the first to know about InkVent 2025 at enigmastationery.com.
• As always, you can support Relay for St.
• Jude by going to stjude.org slash relay.
• Our thanks to Enigma Stationery for their incredible support of this show and our community here at Relay.
• All right.
• I just signed up for the mailing list.
• I'm not on mini mailing list, but that one I want to be on.
• So, yeah, I shop with them a lot.
• So really love what they're doing over at Enigma.
• All right.
• A couple more small notes and then maybe a small topic and then we'll see if we can do some Ask TPA.
• We need to catch up on some Ask TPA one of these weeks.
• People have over the years of the show, people have always asked, can you use fountain pen ink as a highlighter situation?
• And there's there's some things that you can.
• I don't know that this is the answer, but Octopus Fluids is now making highlighter ink, what they're calling highlighter ink.
• It might just be like a pigmented ink.
• I don't know if you're going to write over stuff, but these are super neon-y fun inks.
• This would actually match my Esther Brook Funky Town orange pen pretty well with the different neon colors, but they have your classic highlighter colors.
• Again, this is a pigmented ink.
• I don't know that it's like technically like use it as a highlight to highlight over text.
• Right.
• But it's that neon fluorescent orange, pink, green, violet.
• And what am I missing?
• Yellow.
• So, yeah, it looks it looks pretty cool.
• If you like these bright inks, I have had really good success with Octopus inks in the past.
• They've been really, really good performers.
• I've used some of their pigmented inks regularly.
• And yeah, that's a that's a good good looking set of inks for those who are interested in that type of shade.
• Pelican Hubs.
• Myke, we talked about them earlier this year when the signups happened.
• They broke the registration record for Pelican Hubs.
• 10,850 people worldwide have registered for the Hubs.
• I do not mean this in a bad way.
• Yes.
• I don't understand why.
• Don't understand why that many people.
• Oh, why this year?
• Okay.
• I didn't know what year exactly.
• Like what's going on that they've like.
• Do they break it every year?
• I would imagine so.
• But like it's good.
• It's just continued good marketing and good like public relations for Pelican to get people together and have people want to be part of this.
• You know, we see like again in the big picture, like the things we do are very, very tiny, like to like in numbers.
• Right.
• But like we're getting people having smaller gatherings in areas that haven't had it before, you know, five or ten people.
• And then you're getting some of like the bigger clubs and cities having like massive, you know, like 100 people events.
• So that adds up quickly when you're looking worldwide.
• And it's great.
• And honestly, I wanted to put this in here because it's great to see this, that Pelican sharing these numbers and that it continues to grow because we obviously love what we do.
• And we couldn't do it without all of these brands and these these in taking, you know, interest in our community and helping just grow the community and these these passion projects that they have.
• So I don't know.
• I think it's just kind of a pretty neat thing to see continue to grow.
• And people enjoy participating in that every year.
• Back in the day, if you're new to the podcast, when this started, they were really, really small.
• And what Pelican would do was they would literally if you had eight people at your hub, they would send eight bottle of inks, like full bottles of their Edelstein, like ink of the year.
• That that ship sailed a few years ago when the numbers were too high.
• How many bottles of ink?
• 11,000 bottles of ink.
• I've got a business.
• But I remember some some people will say, you know, back in my day, they used to send bottles of ink to the thing.
• Now it's really just an opportunity for people to meet up and talk about stationery.
• And it's pretty cool.
• So I love it.
• Do they send anything?
• They send like just some basic like banners, flyers, some paper goods they sent last year, some like pads and things.
• And then they'll send like like the hub masters will get like the ink and that so the ink they can like parcel it out in samples and things like that.
• And so like they they do provide some things to for people to share.
• And then, you know, different communities will have like different people bring different things and share with the, you know, do donations, door prizes, things like that.
• Each individual hub is does it a little bit differently.
• But Pelican does send them like a care package.
• And like you'll see pictures with like the banner that they do for the year that the club gets and things like that.
• So it's just kind of fun.
• All right.
• I put a topic in here, Myke, on how to finish a notebook.
• I would like to skip that.
• Okay.
• And do that next week.
• Like I have the whole it's all written down literally in my notebook.
• So I have a topic called how to finish a notebook.
• I'm ready to talk about it.
• I really want to do some ask TPA.
• Okay.
• Instead of spending 10 minutes on this.
• And we can move this part till next week as just like a general topic.
• So if anyone has any notebook questions on like, hey, how do you write so much or how do you use your notebooks?
• That's the topic I want to hit.
• But I genuinely want to hit some of these ask TPAs because we're getting a little bit.
• I feel like I'm getting a little bit behind on these.
• So this is we've spent a good amount of time talking about stuff.
• So let's hit some people's questions.
• And we'll talk about my notebooking next week.
• Elliot asks, I'm going to be in Japan soon flying out of Tokyo at the start of November.
• I've seen that the Tokyo Pen Show will be in town while I'm there.
• Is it a bad idea for my first pen show?
• Will I find it difficult as primarily an English speaker?
• Is it too big as a first show?
• This is a really, really good question.
• And just as a point I want to make on the front, I have not personally been to the Tokyo International Pen Show.
• So understand that anything I say, I have not actually been there.
• But I've had a lot of friends there have gone and have told me about their experiences.
• So I'm speaking a little bit secondhand here.
• I think it would be a bad idea if you didn't go because you would have regrets.
• No matter the size and scope of the show.
• Because you're not in Tokyo all the time, I'm assuming.
• The way this is worded is like, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity that happens to line up with a thing.
• You go to the thing.
• You will regret not going to the thing.
• I don't actually think it's going to be too big.
• It'll be big and crowded.
• But I believe, and I will have to double check this.
• But in the past, they have segmented the ticketing to like half days, right?
• So you're assigned like a morning Friday or an afternoon Friday.
• Or a morning Saturday or an afternoon Saturday.
• And you can go to multiple events.
• But that's how your ticketing breakdown is.
• So you can just pick one of those times that's the most convenient to you.
• And just go with no expectations, right?
• Walk in there saying, this is a real treat that I happen to luck into this timing.
• And just take it all in, right?
• Just from an observational perspective.
• Don't overthink, is this too big?
• You know, should I be here?
• Can I communicate with everyone?
• On that front, on the English speaking front, again, I can't speak directly.
• But I think you would be surprised at the opportunities you will have to easily communicate.
• Now, I'm sure definitely not everyone, every vendor is going to speak English.
• But knowing a lot of the vendors that are there and knowing a lot of the people that travel to the show from other countries, I don't think you're going to have a major issue.
• Like, yes, there's going to be some times where there's going to be a communication barrier.
• I think in the general sense of the term, you're not going to have much of an issue, at least, you know, based on the things that my friends have told me that have been to the show.
• So, you should go to the show, you should go for a half a day, and you should just go to take it in.
• No plans, you know, if you buy something great, if you don't, great.
• But you should be there and have that experience, given the opportunity that you have, without any of the barriers that you should be worried about, the size or the communication.
• I agree.
• You don't have to talk to anyone.
• You know what I mean?
• Yeah.
• You could just go and just, like, look.
• No one's going to, like, get all up in your business or anything.
• Yeah.
• If you feel uncomfortable or you feel like you maybe, it's not a scenario where you can communicate with somebody, you just don't have to.
• Yeah.
• But I agree with Brad.
• Like, you would regret this.
• Even if you just spent an hour at the show, like, that would be, I think that would be a regret.
• Like, if you were there at that time and you listened to this show, right, which means you obviously care.
• Like, you've got to take that opportunity.
• Yeah.
• I mean, literally, one of the people that runs the show is an American, right?
• Yeah.
• Like, so, Bruce from Bungu Box, you know.
• Like, you're going to have a great time.
• Yeah.
• Like, I fully expect that you go, wow, I can't believe I didn't think, I didn't, I thought about not coming to this.
• Oh, like, I can't believe I thought this was going to be a problem.
• Right.
• Yeah.
• So, you're good to go, Elliot.
• Do it.
• Endorsed.
• Endorsed.
• Gina asks, I don't know if it's possible, but I would love to combine two of my passions, fountain pens and the Elder Scrolls V Skyrim.
• Yeah.
• So far, I haven't found any overlap in the two.
• Are there any pens you know that could fit in this category?
• I love this question.
• So, I'm very familiar with Elder Scrolls and that whole series.
• I don't, I haven't played it in years, but I play a lot of video games and Myke's also a video gamer.
• And we often talk about some of the video games in stationary collaborations that we like, whether it's paper or, you know, like Kuretoga pencils or, you know, Tactile Turn making the Nintendo theme stuff.
• So, we're always into like, big into the theming stuff.
• But given what I know about like the Elder Scrolls story and environment, in that kind of the more medieval-y type of look and theming, you want to look at someone like Ryan Kruzak's pens.
• So, I put the website in here.
• The designs of his pens are modern in style, but classic and almost medieval-looking in like the execution and some of the artwork that he does.
• You can just have a basic, beautifully finished wooden pen, or you can have a very intricately painted or, you know, etched or different designs on the pen that would, I think, fit some of the theming from the video game series.
• Right?
• That style.
• Am I, do you feel like I'm on point with that?
• Like, do you have any thoughts on that?
• I would never have thought of Kruzak, but it's like perfect.
• Yeah.
• Yeah.
• I think that's the way to go.
• Like, you just go look at like his product pages, look at like the main pages, and you're like, oh, are these from Skyrim?
• Is this an Elder Scrolls pen?
• And then on the paper side, I've been talking with a company out of Australia named Parchment and Hyde.
• They make some insanely cool products that look like they could be like movie props, like do using the different covers, leather covers, traditional.
• Traditional styles with like the different wraps and the different hardware.
• Some of the embossing is, you know, very on theme, different themes of that.
• So that's a company to take a look at from, you know, like a paper perspective.
• You're looking for like a pen and paper products.
• So I think that's a good combination to give us that Elder Scrolls feel.
• Do you want to do another question?
• Yeah.
• Let's hit this one and then we can wrap it for today.
• Love it.
• Because this is a really good question.
• Leith asks, I have...
• No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
• I love you, but let's hit Dave.
• Leith, you're going to have to wait.
• No, they're going to have to wait.
• We can do both.
• Dave asks, I was using my Tusby Diamond 580 with an EF tip on some special hand laid paper that apparently clogged the nib with some fiber.
• I can't see it under a loop, but I'm wondering about cleaning it so it's usable again.
• Do you have any advice?
• Dave, you're in the right place.
• I have all the advice.
• This happens, even not with just the hand laid paper.
• I could take my most fanciest, smoothest paper here.
• I'm looking at my life notebook right here.
• It's a very smooth paper.
• Sometimes you write over lines, right?
• You end up getting the ink more saturated on the page.
• It pulls up paper fibers, even on a non, very fibrous paper.
• So what you want to do, if you can't see it under a loop, two things.
• One, you just want to clean it, right?
• And you can kind of spread the tines a little bit just on your thumbnail, real soft, run it under some water.
• That's usually nine times out of 10 going to solve your problem.
• The next thing, and everyone who uses fountain pens should have this.
• You should own a brass shim.
• And it's a little thin piece of brass that allows you to essentially floss the tines of your fountain pen nib.
• I keep this at my desk.
• And if I have a pen that I feel that it's very, very noticeable in extra fine type nibs like Dave's using in this Twisby, it's noticeable when your line thickness changes, right?
• Once you get paper or fiber in those tines, your extra fine line all of a sudden goes to like a fine line and it's noticeable.
• It's like, oh, this isn't as clean as it was before.
• You take the shim, even with the ink in the pen, and you just run it through the tines and it gets out the gunk.
• Like, I could not enjoy my fountain pens as much if I didn't have this brass shim literally sitting on my desk.
• I don't use it every day, but like once every week or two weeks, I might have a situation where I just grab it and run it through my pen and everything's better.
• It makes everything better, Dave.
• Brass shims make everything better.
• I would just like to say, just please be careful with them.
• Yeah, for you, not on the pens, but on your hands.
• Yes.
• Yeah, you will cut your hands if you're not paying attention.
• The worst paper cut you could have ever imagined.
• Is that right?
• Please be careful.
• They are so, like, sharp and delicate.
• Yeah.
• Just bear that in mind.
• And I'm going to do it, Brad.
• Leith asks, Yeah.
• I have a Lamy Pico, which is super useful, but the refill it came with has leaked all over the inside of the pen.
• I put a new refill in now, and that is covered in sticky ballpoint ink, and the retract slash extend mechanism isn't working smoothly.
• How on earth do I clean out all of the old ink?
• The insides look like plastic, and I don't want to damage or break them while trying to access all of the parts, or by using the wrong cleaning product.
• I'm in New Zealand, by the way, so I don't have access to US brand cleaners.
• Yeah, so this is bad.
• Yeah, not great.
• Because oil-based ballpoint inks, like, they get in places, and they don't like to leave, right?
• Unlike a fountain pen ink, which is water-based, you can generally flush that with water.
• I don't have a perfect answer, unlike Dave's question.
• Sorry, Leith.
• But what I think I would do is soak it in warm water with a dab of your dish soap, and you want to use one of those dish soaps, you know, that's like the grease and oil, like, what's the right word?
• The break, that'll break down.
• It'll, like, break down those types of things.
• Like, a little dab, make soapy warm water, and let that pen soak in there.
• And then, I don't know, probably, like, shake it up within that water.
• Just see what you can get in the crevices.
• Take the refill out.
• Engage the knock mechanism several times while it's in the water, so, like, the soapy water can get into those spots.
• Kind of engage it, toss it around in the water, then let it sit overnight, and see if that does the trick.
• That's probably kind of the best, like, over-the-counter remedy that I could have.
• Anything else, I wouldn't be confident in, you know, with, like, your cleaning alcohols and things like that.
• I have no idea.
• Like, I wouldn't do that.
• Yeah, you could start.
• Unless it was, like, an emergency situation.
• Even if the plastic didn't get harmed, you could pull some of the color off.
• Yeah, so start with, like, your traditional dish shapes that break down oils and greases and kind of rinse it and wash it through there.
• I think that will do most of the job.
• But, yeah, give that a shot.
• Let us know.
• I'm curious.
• If you would like to send in a question of your own, go to penaddictfeedback.com, and you can send yours in.
• You can also write to Brad at hallowatpenaddict.com.
• Please go to stjude.org slash relay to donate and also check the link in the show notes for Brad's fundraiser, too.
• You can find that at relay.fm slash penaddict slash 681 or in the podcast app of your choice.
• If you want to find Brad online, go to penaddict.com, twitch.tv slash penaddict and spokedesign.com.
• You can find me here at relay at theenthusiast.net and at cortexbrand.com as well.
• Thank you to Enigma Stationery and Squarespace for the support of this episode.
• But most of all, thank you for listening.
• Until next time, say goodbye, Brad.
• Goodbye, Brad.