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The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode: 648
Title: There's This Sailor I Used to Love
Release Date: January 15th, 2025
Hosts: Brad Dowdy

Myke Hurley

Guests: No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page: Episode 648
Audio File: Audio Episode 648
Podcast page: The Pen Addict 648
Length: 4747 min <br />0.783 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript Next Transcript


  • From Relay, this is The Pen Addict, episode 648. Today's show is brought to you by Pen Chalet and Factor. I am the new and improved Myke Hurley and I am joined by the broken down Brad Dowdy. Hi Brad. Man, I was not going to cough this entire stream and then you got me giggling and apparently that is. Look at you, stream. He thinks these podcasts are streams now. We've got big Twitch boy in the house. You know, you think you know someone, you know?

Twitch Partnership and Upcoming Carousel Feature

  • Hey, I'm a Twitch partner, man. Don't mess with me. Oh, wow, wow. Look at you. Look at you. Hey, oh, speaking of which, I'm going to be on the front page, in the front page carousel next week. What? Why? Yeah, on Tuesday, I applied for it and I got it. So, like, I'm going to be in the front page carousel next Tuesday. Amazing. I forgot all about that. Yeah, so since we won't be podcasting before then, we'll put a link into my Twitch channel. But I'll be posting it when I... Are you mentally prepared? No, no. That's going to be? No, like, all the mods were like, oh, no. This is a bad idea. Because it's people are going to be like, what is this? Yeah. You know? Yeah. So, what are you going to do on your stream? Do you know? Yeah. So, when I applied for it, you got to put in, like, the topic that you're going to do. And it's going to be the Philadelphia Penn Show recap. So, I should have, like, all my stuff to show. Oh, that's good. A haul. You got to... Yeah. So, it'll be a haul. Yeah. It'll be a haul. This is, like, a good reason to buy lots of stuff at the Philly Penn Show. I know. I'm doing it for the content, you know? Yeah. So, we're going to talk about that later, the Philly Penn Show. But, yeah, I'm doing it for the content. But, yeah. Very cool. It should be funny. The only thing that's weird about it is it's a broad window, right? So, I should just kind of be, like, live during this window. And they'll put you in at some point in time during this window. Like, 11 to 4. I think we've been on the front page during the podcast, I thought, once or twice.
  • Yep. So, should be fun. Anyway, where were we going with this? Oh, I said stream. Yeah. Instead of podcast. Yeah. My bad. I'm medicated. I'm feeling very good today. Compared to how I've felt the past few weeks. But, I think I just caught it from you on last podcast. And ever since then, I've just been kind of junky. But, like, not super sick. Just annoying sick, right? Yep. Like, I've never, like, taken a day off. Or, like, you know, I never could not go into work or anything like that. It's just been an annoyance. So, if I sound funny today, more funny than normal, it's Myke's fault. Yep. All right. So, speaking of Twitch, I feel like I should give Twitch a shout out for this link that I got this week. Because I did not see it. Because I did not see it come through on Mitsubishi, Uni Mitsubishi's press page. They have released, or will be releasing, the Lamy Safari ballpoint pen using the Jetstream refill. Okay. And this is a big deal, because this is what I was personally hoping for, and I think a lot of people were hoping for, when Mitsubishi bought out Lamy last year, which was a shock to everyone, I think. A thing that I had forgotten. Like, it just left my brain. And then I saw this today. At first, I was like, oh, it's a collab. And I was like, oh, no, wait, hang on. They own them now. It was a weird enough thing that it is not embedded in me. Right. So, the weirdness being, Japanese company buys German pen company. Like, that is, it is like a Romeo and Juliet kind of thing. Right. Totally. Totally. Like, this was so out of my brain, I don't know, back in the fall, that we did an entire podcast episode where I pretended like it didn't happen. And it was, I think I called it like the worst podcast ever, because I made so many mistakes on, during the podcast. And one of them was not realizing that Mitsubishi now owned Lamy. And I was talking like they weren't a thing. I'm currently, in my mind, trying to think of some kind of punny Montague and Capulets. And like, the best I have is like Mont Blanc, Cague, and Pen Capulets. That's where I am. That's where I am. I didn't say I was done yet, you know, but that's what, like, that's what my brain will be working on for about the next nine hours. Okay. You know, sometimes it's unfortunate that we don't edit for content on this podcast. Rough. I'm just going to say that. I'm just going to say that right now. Yeah. Yeah. Let's see how the rest of the episode goes. I'll pull you up. I know. I know. I know. Anyway, so what's happening is the Lamy Safari Ballpoint is a personal favorite of mine, but I get like it's not everyone's kind of cup of tea, if you will. It's an interesting, interesting pen.

Discussion on Mont Blanc Refills and Pen Design

  • You know, I won't say plagued by Mont Blanc's poor ballpoint refills. I actually like them. They're not bad. But what it is, is they use this kind of proprietary-ish refill called the Lamy M16 refill. And if you look at this refill individually, it like kind of looks like a Parker style refill, but it's got these extra moving parts on there. And it's really weird. Monteverde's made like a copy of this refill is your only option, but they're not really, the Lamy Safari Ballpoint is not really a hackable pen to put in like your favorite refills in, right? Because they use this weird little refill. But now, this weird little refill, they're making a model called the M17, and the M17 will contain Jetstream ink. It even says Jetstream on the refill, like I'm looking at an image from their page. So is it essentially the same physical body, but they're putting new ink in it? Is that what's going on? Yep. Same physical pen barrel, same physical ink refill shape and design. But it's just going to have different ink on the inside. What I did find interesting is Lamy tends to run like 1.0 millimeter ballpoints. They're going to do a 0.7 millimeter Jetstream tip, and that's going to ship with the pen. And then they're going to offer this in a 0.5 refill as a separate purchase, right? Is this the Japanese influence? Everything's getting finer? Is that what's going on here? 100% I'm so here for it, right? Like I saw that. I was like, wait, what? Like people don't realize how fine a 0.7 millimeter ballpoint pen line is. It's extraordinarily fine. It's not like you can't compare that to like a gel ink pen. Like it's around like a 0.5 millimeter gel ink pen line. It's really, really fine. So a 0.5 Jetstream is crazy fine. Like that is not, that is a little bit out of line as far as like product popularity. Yeah. And I just, I'm stoked, right? I think this is the perfect pen to start this kind of cross-pollination with because it is an underrated pen because the refill is not good enough. But the design and function of it, this should be more popular than it is. This should be as popular as the Safari fountain pen is in my opinion. But it has always been underserved by the performance of the pen itself. Yeah. I'm a massive fan of just this pen barrel and shape and feel. But, you know, the refill is just mid, which I'm okay with mid ballpoint refills. Like that's fine. But I just really love this barrel. So it's going to come in five stock colors. As best as I can tell, and this is the translated PR document. As best as I can tell, there's going to be five stock colors like your traditional Lamy colors, red, blue, yellow, gray, and then the clear Vista. And then to coordinate with this launch, they're going to do two limited edition barrel colors, dark dusk and sunset. And it's kind of one's a blue and one's kind of a, I don't know, corally pink. I don't think it's super pink. It seems like a coral.
  • You know, like not crazy inspired barrel choices, but I don't think it even matters for this. They just need to get these out there. And that just makes me curious. You know, this, I guess, came about pretty quick. Maybe. Like, I don't know how these things work. You know, can they just, you know, switch out this ink formulation wherever they're making the refills? And it was pretty easy to get this into the market, you know, after, you know, not a very long time since they bought the company. What else is coming next? And I don't know. What I would love, if I could wish cast for a second on what would I like to see out of this collaboration, which we probably did back when the announcement first came down that the buyout was happening. I want Uniball to have a fountain pen, even if it's just an entry level platinum preppy-esque fountain pen. Yeah. And it reminded me. The brand is so strong, right? That like people bought into that brand in the same way that people buy into Lamy and that other products in the range can be good stepping stones. So I'm like, maybe you really love a Uniball Jetstream and then they're like, well, here's the Jetstream fountain pen, which I know that doesn't make any sense, but it's probably what they would call it. And then, you know, and then it'd be like, oh, let me go get that, you know? Yeah. Yeah. So like, I think like, I would like to see Uniball just start with like, you're almost like the disposable style fountain pen. And I found this old link. There's this Sailor that I used to love called the Ink Bar. Um, and Sailor no longer makes it, but it was basically like a pilot preppy imitation, not imitation, but like in that same price point, like $4.
  • Technically it's supposed to be a disposable fountain pen, you know, like the pilot, uh, V pen, pilot makes one, you know, I've told this story before, but I wrote like my entire, uh, GCSE, which is, I don't know what to call it. Like kind of like SATs, maybe my, my English, uh, like coursework, all of my reports and all that kind of stuff. I wrote with a pink V pen and, uh, to submit it, my teacher had to photocopy the pages. So I remember you telling the story. That's amazing. Some, that's some teenage rebellion, right? Yeah. So I like, I'm not asking for much on like the fountain pen front. I think they should start in like in that realm, you know, that's where pilot pilot does a really good job in the very inexpensive. Stuff, you know, from the V pen on up into cocoon and metropolitans and things like that. Um, the other thing I would like to see is if they're going to put the jet stream ink in Lamy pens, I want to see a signo gel option just for the variety of colors that you can get. And the Lamy Tipo is probably the platform for that. It's another inexpensive Lamy. It's probably, it's definitely cheaper than the Safari, uh, ballpoint. It's more like 12 ish dollars. The Tipo and the ballpoints maybe around 18. I don't know. I'm just pulling these out of thin air, but the Tipo is a barrel that's already compatible with pilot G2 refill. So it's got the size and shape and diameter. They would have to change the internal, like the nose cone a little bit to fit a signo, a classic signo refill. But unless like this, they just use their current, um, refill base and put signo ink in it. Oh, come on. Like those are, those are the two things that I want. I want, I want the inexpensive stuff. Like I don't need, you know, the high end, you know, uni Lamy fountain pen collaboration. I want the, uh, I want the Tipo with signo ink and I want an entry level, uh, on the other side of the, the, the business. I want a uni ball entry level fountain pen. I just think uni ball can really get into the playing with ink colors. Like Lamy plays with barrel colors a lot, but it's always black ink, blue ink. And, you know, they'll do their limited edition, special editions and one-off stuff. And that's great. But uni balls like gel ink colors, even their jet streaming colors, they do in many, many different colors. So I'd like to see more of that if you will. So, um, basically it's happening and I'm excited for all of this. Like this is kind of like my dream scenario. Um, like two of probably my favorite stationery companies coming together and, you know, kind of collaborating correctly. It seems like so far. So, you know, time will tell. And I'm obviously, you know, like wish casting all of this, like in a very like hyped up kind of way, just because I'm a super fan. But, uh, yeah, I, I like what I'm seeing so far and it's honestly probably quicker than I thought it would be. All right. This episode is brought to you by Penn Chalet. They have the products that you're looking for from the brands that you love, whether you want to buy something new from Lamy or maybe Pilot, Namiki, Sailor, Cafeco, Monteverdo, Pelican, Retro 51. No matter what brand you want to look for, I bet you can find it on Penn Chalet. They're adding new products every couple of weeks over at Penn Chalet. New fountain pens, new roller balls, new pencils, new inks, new accessories. Every time you go to the Penn Chalet website, which you should be going often because you can get the wonderful deals and also see what new products that they have available. They also do lots of collaborations too for exclusive products. You can always find something new over at Penn Chalet. They believe in getting you the fastest and most reliable customer service possible and shipping your products out with great shipping rates internationally and free shipping on orders of over $75 in the US. Penn Chalet offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee and has the lowest prices on the highest quality products. So take yourself to PennChalet.com slash PennAddict. That's P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T dot com slash PennAddict. You'll be able to there get a code to save 10% on anything at Penn Chalet. And to see some exclusive offers for listeners of this show for this week. What do we got, Brad? So given our ballpoint talk, there's actually a lot of ballpoint options on Penn Chalet today, including this wild Conklin durograph with this kind of oil slick anodized rainbow, which just looks really, really awesome at a really good price. They also have some Lamy All-Star special editions ballpoints, which are way, way, way cheap. If you want to get in, you can get, what you can do is you get these barrels from the All-Star. Yes. And they have the current Lamy refill. And then, oh, what I was going to say, the date on the Lamy's in the previous segment looks like end of January timeframe. So you're going to have these refills come out and you can have these cool pink and sage, like limited edition All-Star barrels. And you'll be ready to swap out the refills into your jet stream refills. And this price is... The yellow one. Yeah. And this price is like cheaper than like normal Safari ballpoints, which is crazy. It also has one of my all-time favorite products on here, the Caran d'Ache Fix Pencil, which you rarely... Caran d'Aches are expensive products, relatively speaking. And they never go on sale. And the Fix Pencil is just one of my like S-tier all-time stationery products. And it's here for... You know, just even if it's just a few bucks off, like that's a lot for a Caran d'Ache Fix Pencil. It's not a very expensive product anyway, but they rarely, rarely go on sale. And this is a good opportunity to pick one up, one of my all-time favorite stationery products. Oh, last thing. They had some new inks in here, which they don't do too often. Three Oysters and Kyoto no Oto, both of which are ink brand lineups that you don't see on sale very much and are very well received. So check those out. By going to penshalay.com slash penaddict. Our thanks to Penshalay for their continued support of this show and Relay. All right, Myke. We got our shout out of the week. Shout out of the week.
  • What do you think of that one? I don't know what's going on. I think it was terrible. I thought it was awful. Thanks. Honestly. You were just doing it in case I sang along with you. You really think I got you sick, don't you? Because you are out to get me today. It actually wasn't related to me. I just want you to know that. All right.
  • All right. Shout out. I took it a different route this week on the shout out of the week. Our friend Rob Knight. You know Rob. I do know Rob.
  • Rob pretends. He's like this big digital guy. You know, oh, look at me and my programming. Look at me. Big digital boy over here.

Analog Tools and Bullet Journaling in a Digital World

  • But every now and then, and he's done this a couple of times, he'll sneak in some analog stuff. And he's talking about working on bullet journaling. And it's really interesting to follow people who are really operating the digital space when they're working on analog tools. And Rob's just good people. And it's interesting. It may be something for you to follow, Myke, because he also has a young child and tracking things, bullet journaling, figuring out how the analog works with the digital. So anyway, shout out to Rob for sharing his journaling adventures. Yeah. So I follow Rob on a bunch of social networks. Rob is a personal friend of both of ours. But I felt bad for him, honestly, when I saw him posting about this. Because, I mean, bullet journaling is just a minefield at this point, right? Because he's like, I've heard about this and I think I want to try it. But I have no idea where to start. And it is just absolutely overwhelming. And I thought about sending him just the website. But I didn't do it in the end because I didn't want to add to the overwhelm. Because the problem is there is bullet journaling. And then there's Bujo. Now, the problem is... Hashtag Bujo. Yes. The problem is Bujo is now a registered trademark of bullet journaling, which we spoke about at the time. I do still think that... I think that is fine. I think Ryder was well in his rights to do that. But the problem is Bujo is like, hey, we're going to get Pinterest with this. Yes. Where bullet journaling is a system. A simple system. And so, like, it's very complicated. I mean, from my perspective, I think he found this on his own in the end anyway. I think the best way to get started with bullet journaling is to go to the website and buy the official book. Like the official journal that they make. 100%. Because it's just... You're just going to get the simplest form rather than, like, getting your paintbrushes and starting the week. Which is, like, that is incredibly valid. And I love that people do it. But that is... That sets such a high bar for people. Like, you can only bullet journal if you're also an illustrator. It's like a really high bar. Yeah. Unfortunately, over time, that is kind of what it's become, which makes it super daunting to people, I think. Yeah. It's the starting in not having...
  • It would be nice if people could... The first thing they ever saw about bullet journaling was the original layout and idea and concept behind the process instead of, like, what it's become. Which I'm totally on board with what it's become. That original website still existed.
  • Yeah. Where it just, like, paged through. I don't know what you... Just because it was such an incredible way of distilling something down. Like, it was before it was a product. Yeah. You know, this is so long ago. We had Ryder on the show, right? Like, and we've had Ryder on a couple of times now. But, like, there was no product. It was just a thing he was doing. Right. And that website was just so good. Like, yeah. I'm not saying anything about the new one. But it was just, like, very distilled, you know? Yeah. So, anyway, if you want to start bullet journaling, it's great. But look at the, like, classic bullet journal setup. Like, from an organization and a starting point on getting your kind of notebook set up. And then you just go to town. Like, it's a really great system. It's a really great system. So, related to that, since we're on the digital side of things here for a second, I want to give a shout out to MacPower users, our good friends, David Sparky and Stephen Hackett.
  • So, a lot of people that listen to the Pinnock also know that Sparky is a big Stationery fan. Yes. And he hits you and I up several, often in the Slack about when he asks questions on Stationery. And one of his recent dalliances is Plotter. He loves Plotter. My man is in. I visited him at the beginning of last month when we were out in LA. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He showed me his Plotter and the man's got it. Plural, plural. Yeah. Plotters. Yes. Plural. He's really got it set. But it was funny, I think during that, I think it was probably during the recording of that episode, Stephen texted me and he's like, with a link to the Plotter, and he's like, do I want one of these? And I said, no. Because he's such a Field Notes fan, right? Yeah. And I said to him, like, what you like about Field Notes, I don't think you will get the same feeling from this product. Yeah. Yeah. And we can talk about that. Like, I actually will specifically talk about that. But I did want to say David's comment on the Plotter. This is MacPower Users, episode 778. We'll put a link in the show notes if you haven't listened to it. It's a great episode on just, like, planning and analog tools and mostly, obviously, you know, 90% digital conversation. And David collects project management and task applications like we collect notebooks. Yes. So it's a lot. But David, he said on the Plotter, and I wrote this down, he said, it's finicky, overdesigned, and overpriced, which is exactly the thing that gets me going. I mean, this is why. This is like, we can relate. A hundred percent why this is a popular product. Right. Yeah. This is the reason. Like. Yeah. Which is a great reason to have this product. But it just ends up being a thing where it's like, for Stephen, who just loves having a Field Notes in his back pocket, and then putting it on a shelf of rubber band around it. But the Plotter is not a replacement for that. Right. In my opinion. So the specific product is called the Plotter Mini 5 that David was referring. That is like the Field Notes size Plotter. Yeah. And I don't think that, I agree that I don't think that would work for Stephen. I think his Field Notes system, he has pretty locked down, and it's like a decade into this now. I don't know that it's going to buy him anything different. Correct. I just think. In the way Stephen uses these products. It's really nice. And I love. It's great. I love everything about it for all of the reasons that Brad, that David mentioned, right, that you read. But like, I'm not sure how good Plotter is as a replacement for something than a I'm starting from scratch. Yeah. That's kind of how I view it. But like, I don't, like the crossover between Plotter usage and Field Notes usage is, it's not as much as you think. Yeah. In just like the concept of how I use things. As a fan of both and someone who uses both side by side a lot, it's a mental, like I see those products differently. Same. Even though they're like, you know, silhouettes may be identical type of thing. So anyway, it was a great discussion. Also, like if you're into like digital stuff, like Myke and I are very much into digital planning. Myke more than myself. We're both Todoist users. They go through, David and Stephen had a really good conversation on all of that stuff, and I enjoyed that. I am identical to Stephen. Sorry, I'm completely distracted. I just really enjoyed this episode. Good. In particular, Stephen and I are exactly the same in that we both use Todoist, and then we both try to give it up for months at a time for reminders. And we always go back to Todoist. You know, it might be one month. It might be six months. But there's something, you know, we keep wanting reminders to be all the full Todoist setup, but it never quite gets there. There's a little bit of friction that Todoist doesn't have, which is why I keep paying the annual fee for Todoist and not switching over to reminders. But it was hilarious listening to Stephen talk about that because that's exactly what I say. I know that Stephen doesn't listen to the show, so I'll say it. Yeah. Yeah. He's using reminders at the moment, and he's like trying good tasks out, but I know he's going to be on Todoist again by the end of March would be my expectation. Yeah. Yeah. I've made, like, sometimes I've made it a month. I think I made it probably, like, four to five months. I was like, you know, I'm spending, you know, $40, $50. Tudos is not cheap. You know, it's $40 a year or something. It's funny. People think, because of Cortex, people think that I, like, try every system all the time. Like, people have that impression. I have been using Todoist for years now. Like, years. And I have not moved for anything. Yeah. I've tried to quit it for reminders, and it's not going to happen. I just, I don't see the value anymore of moving. Yep.
  • Who knows, right? Here's what I'll say. I think that the landscape of Todoist managers is going to change significantly over the next couple of years, so I'll wait to see on the other side of that, like, what the system is. Like, I just saw today that JGBT has added tasks.
  • Yeah. I don't even know what to say about that. Which is just like, that is an interesting thing. Like, I'm sure all task managers are going to try and implement some kind of AI.
  • That hurts my brain. Yeah.
  • It was, the example that they showed in their post about it, which I thought was interesting, it was like, remind me every morning at 9.30 to exercise and give me a speech that will pump me up. I was like, see, that's cool, right? Because, like, Todoist can't do that for you. It can't, because the thing of, like, you could say, for example, remind me every day at 4 p.m. to journal and give me three prompts.
  • Right? And, like, a to-do manager, as they stand today, cannot do that second part. And so, like, putting LLMs behind these things is, like, an interesting thought of, like, it could also give you something new along with your task, which I think is an interesting idea, at least, I think. Yeah, maybe that's, like, I can see, like, maybe that's a concept we explore, like, later in the year, because I always like to talk about journaling and prompts and ideas and how do we capture this stuff.

AI Integration in Task Management Tools

  • So, yeah, interesting. Good stuff. I haven't seen that. I'm obviously not as dialed in as you guys on that. But could be interesting. Could be interesting. We'll see. Yeah. All right. Let's reel this back in, Myke, and talk about sticker residue. Yes, so Justin wrote in to say, in regards to the issue of, I think it was pilot pens with their stickers on, right? Yeah. Justin says, I used the sticker itself to remove any adhesive residue left on the pen. Resticking the sticker over remaining residue while still holding onto the edge and pulling up again several times will remove every last trace of remaining residue safely. In my experience, the adhesive from the sticker wants to stick to itself more than anything else, no chemicals required.
  • 100%. Interesting. This is the way. This is what I do. Oh, okay. So, yeah, I peel the sticker. You were getting at them from us, weren't you, last week? You didn't tell us this last week. No, I'm just not that smart. Man, there is an energy on this show today, and I blame you for it, but we are having it anyway. I think it's because I'm honestly just finally feeling good for the first time in a week, even though I don't sound like I feel good, like I'm actually feeling good. So, yeah, this is how I remove stickers. You remove the sticker. If you have a pretty good sticker, it'll come all the way off. If you have a decent sticker, it'll come all the way off except for like that last corner bit leaves a little bit of sticky bit on there, and you use the sticker to just like, you know, stick and stick and stick until it comes off, and that's the way to go. So, one reminder from our Goo Gone Goof Off shoutouts last week. I did get an email.
  • Like, they are very – I apologize. I don't have the email up, and I forget who sent it to me, but they're like, be really careful because one of them is for like acrylic paint removal, and one of them is for like sticker residue. So, like, you know, don't listen to us on that. Honestly, I was awaiting the feedback, which was like I used Goo Gone and my pen disappeared. Like, I knew something. I knew it was going to be something, but I just didn't know which one or how. Just one email. So, they were like, be careful. Like, they're not the same thing. They don't remove the same material. So, one of them will be extraordinarily bad for your pens, and I'm sure the other one is probably not all that great either. Like, I don't really like putting chemicals on my pens, even like my standard little cheap pens. So, we got some feedback also on the top five beginner pens from Steven, and I really appreciated his input on this, and I asked him if I could kind of share his thoughts on my conversation last week on how to figure out the, you know, rethinking the top five pens list and if there's any changes that need to be made.
  • And let me read this, and just kind of we'll talk about it. It says, I live in the space of the list you spoke of with my stationery, and this was the beginner found pens list. I think a beginner's list is currently doing two jobs. Pens for people just getting into fountain pens. Cheap and cheerful fountain pens. There's a natural overlap between these two categories, but they are not the same. The Pelican Twist is cheap and cheerful, but it is not something the average beginner will look at and go, that seems simple. That seems sensible. Maybe you could have something like a top five of the cheap and cheerful fountain pens, and this is Steven's list. You know, number one, Pilot Kakuno. Number two, Platinum Preppy. Pelican Twist. Pilot Pettit One. And Lamy ABC. And then he went on to say, like, and then your beginner pens list is perfect, like, just as it is. And it made me think that Steven's right in the idea of, you know, not everyone's looking to get into the fountain pen usage because they have this grand scheme of, you know, maybe I'll, you know, want to, you know, learn about fountain pens. You know, a lot of us do, you know, and maybe have, like, a further knowledge they're looking to acquire. Some people just want to have fun with the pens that they buy. And this is the price bracket where you can have this fun. And this is where some of the companies do a really good job of marketing that Pilot Platinum and Pelican to begin with.
  • And, yeah, like, you know, maybe it's worthwhile to have, like, a fun list. Like, the Pilot Pettit is never going to be, or Petit. I don't actually know how they call it, but Petit, like, small. It's a, it is one of the smallest fountain pens you'll ever see. It's got to be Petit. It's got to be Petit, but I know. Surely it's not Petit. I know, I know. I just read it and it's terrible.
  • But it's, it's, it will absolutely never make my top five beginner pens list because it's too particular. Is it more fun than most of the pens on this list? Is it cheap and is it cheerful? Yeah. Like, and sometimes that's what you're going for, right? Yeah. Like, I thought this was a cool perspective to have. So, I appreciated Stephen throwing this in there. It's certainly something I'll think about. So, I enjoyed that very much. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I guess this, and I always say it, but I do think it's true. I think, like, the Safari is what really straddles the line. Yeah. And I think it does it so well. And it's what makes that pen so popular. And it's why you see it in stationery stores wherever there are people working. Because you go into the, like, oh, like you see it in all kinds of stores, not even just stationery stores, right? You go into, like, a Walmart and you're probably going to find the Lamy Safari or something akin to that. But, because it is fun and interesting looking, but also it isn't intimidating in the way it looks, like the Pelican twist would be. Yeah. Yeah. So, I want to stand up for myself on the Pilot Petit. It doesn't have an E on the end of the name. So, like, you know, there's a question. Yeah. But isn't the French version without an E?
  • Oh, yeah. I don't know. This Pilot's not a French company. Okay. Maybe it isn't actually. Maybe it is of an E on the end. But I still, no, it has an E on the end. I'm still convinced it's Petit and not Petit. Probably. I'm convinced of this. I think the lack of the E just bothers me and it makes me say it differently. So, I just wanted to stand up for myself and not have to have, like, a mea culpa next week and apologize, you know, for all of this. Yeah. Hey, look. Petit slander. Don't count it out. You know? You never know. You never know what's coming for you, you know? This episode is brought to you by Factor. Are you feeling ready to optimize your nutrition for this year? Factor has chef-made gourmet meals that make eating, well, easy. They're dietician approved and ready to heat and eat in two minutes so you can feel right and feel great no matter what life throws at you. Like, for example, having a baby. Like, these meals would be so perfect for me in that time and I don't want to have to think about cooking dinner. Factor arrives fresh and fully prepared, perfect for any active, busy lifestyle. And Factor Keto meals mean you can meet your weight loss goals. They've conducted a randomized controlled clinical trial with Factor Keto, though it's worth noting results will vary depending on diet and exercise. And with 40 options across eight dietary preferences on the menu every week, it's easy to pick meals tailored to your goals. You can choose from preferences like calorie smart, protein plus, or keto. Factor can help you feel your best all day long with wholesome smoothies, breakfasts, grab-and-go snacks, and more add-ons. So reach your goals this year of ingredients you can trust and convenience that can't be beat. Isn't that right, Brad? That is right. I love Factor. Just crushed a box of Factor here in the last couple of weeks, Myke. Has some great meals. Again, I've said it a thousand times before. My son Tyler loves those meals. We have to fight and pick and choose who gets what meal because we each have different favorites that we like out of what they do. So, yeah, it's just super convenient, which is what I need, you know, working for myself, working from home. You know, I might have lunch and dinner by myself. You know, my family's on the go. You know, my wife might be working. My son's always busy. My daughter's out of the house now for the most part. So having a meal I can cook in two minutes is so helpful for me. And then on top of that, to be spectacularly good. Like, I just, that's why I love them so much. Can't be beat. Can't be beat.
  • Eat smart with Factor. Get started. This is a new code and a new URL. Okay, so listen up. FactorMeals.com slash PenAddict50off. So use the code PenAddict50off. That's PenAddict, one word, 50-O-F-F, to get 50% off your first box plus free shipping. That's the code PenAddict50off at FactorMeals.com slash PenAddict50off to get 50% off plus free shipping on your first box. You can also find all the info in the show notes. So thanks to Factor for their support of this show and Relay.

Preparations for the Philadelphia Pen Show

  • All right, Myke. I am hitting the road tomorrow. Let's go. To the Philadelphia Pins Show. Thankfully, like, as of last night, I was very, like, worried. Like, was I going to feel well enough? Like, I'm not going to travel with, you know, being sick. And, you know, that's just the wrong thing to do. But I'm feeling good, despite how I sound. So I've started a pack. And I was thinking, I've been getting, we've been getting a lot of, like, stationery bag questions over the last couple of months. We've talked about it a little bit here.
  • You know, just in picking out a bag and things like that. To carry more stationery goods as opposed to, like, retrofitting your laptop bag, your electronics bag to also carry stationery, right? So I found this bag a couple years ago. And I've been talking about it. And I wanted to write it up a little bit. It's the Rickshaw Bonsai bag. And it's a smaller bag.
  • It's kind of boxy lunchbox shape. But it's still small enough to where, you know, it's got, like, a shoulder strap. And you can wear it on your side. You can wear it like a sling, you know, over the head, over the shoulder.
  • And it's not really big enough. You could carry, like, an iPad mini. Or maybe, like, I don't know if my standard iPad would even fit in it. But what it's designed for is kind of the width of it is the long width of an A5 notebook, you know, with a couple of inches padding on either side lengthwise. But the width of it is it's deep enough. They say it would fit an iPad Pro 11 inch. 11. Okay. This is on their website. Okay. And I think that is, like, the max. Like, I think you're going from, like, seam to seam, like, if you put that in there. Right? But it's square. It's rectangular enough to hold some bulk in the middle, which is, in my case, a notebook, a couple of pen cases. You know, I'm going to have to throw stickers, some ephemera, you know. Like, I've got my water bottle in there. Like, it fits just enough without being too big. So, in thinking about packing, I just wanted to put a link in this to the show notes. I really didn't have too much to say. I kind of laid it all out in the post. But I've gotten better at not bringing too much to pen shows. This bag will go in my suitcase to travel. Yeah. Right? This is not my airplane bag. This is not my carry-on bag. Bag at the place is a good strategy. Yes. This is the bag at the place. And so, it travels. I'll just load it up with even extra stuff, right? To use space efficiently when I'm traveling and packing in my suitcase. But this is the bag, when I arrive at the event, that will be my event bag. But it's not going to be, like, my airport travel bag.
  • And I never thought I needed that. I kind of just used my backpack, you know, that I would use for, you know, my laptop or iPad or headphones and, you know, book or notebook and pen cases, things of that nature. Get to the hotel, unload all the electronic stuff, and then carry that bag as, like, my pen show bag. Right? So, but I found just having this destination bag in the rickshaw bonsai really, really worked. And I picked it up at a pen show, right? I never thought I needed a bag this size until I was at a pen show, the Orlando pen show, a couple years ago. And they were selling. They had a bunch of these on there. And I went and looked, and I was like, hey, this size is, like, pretty good. And I left it, you know, like we always do at a pen show. If you pick up a pen more than two times, you're probably going to buy it. And I just kept coming back to this bag, and I was like, this is kind of the bag I need just for pen shows or just for stationery carry. The other thing that's good about this bag is it came up in a question about an Ask TPA about just kind of an office stationery bag. So, again, this isn't your commuter bag where if you need to have your laptop and your charger and all of that stuff plus your stationery, this is not going to handle that. But if you just want to keep your stationery in this bag and have it portable, like, I could use it around the house. Like, if I wanted to move and relocate or if I was going to a coffee shop to work or work remotely and just wanted some analog tools.
  • Maybe you move around at the office a lot, different meetings and stuff like that. Yeah, so this has that type of size and utility and function. I like talking about this bag because I've rarely been so surprised at how it kind of fit for what I wanted. And it worked. I'd love to see a bit of padding in those handles, though. That's always a bump there for me. Sure. If it didn't have handles, I would be okay. I don't think I ever use the handles. I pick it up by the shoulder strap. It's either on my shoulder or on the ground or something, right? Like, if I have to set it under a table or whatever. I'm rarely carrying it by the handles. So, yeah. But see, handle padding, you're going to get me going now. So, this bag will never be heavy enough to where handle padding is going to be an issue. So, therefore, it does not need handle padding. Okay. And as far as from a design perspective. I think if you have a handle, there should always be padding on it. That is how I feel. Because the handle is meant to be grabbed, so it should be comfortable. And I just don't think that those strips of material, I don't even know what you call it, that woven material, I just don't think it's super comfortable without any padding on it. Yeah, but you're not throwing, like, a 15 kilo weight in the bag where, like, the handle is going to be digging into your hand. You don't know what I'm doing. I feel like if you put an iPad in there and a notebook, like, that's getting up there. Like, just to hold in one hand. I mean, with my water bottle in there, it can be heavy. And that's why I have a shoulder strap.
  • Yeah.
  • Like, me, like, I get in. Yeah, I have opinions on bag design. And in this case, this particular case, the handles are correct. And I would go so far as saying if it didn't have handles, I wouldn't change my opinion on this bag whatsoever.
  • Okay.
  • All right. See if I care.
  • Be that way.
  • What else are you looking forward to with the photo? So, a couple of things. Yeah. We've talked about how this time of year is light on the release calendar. Yeah. It makes sense. Yeah, 100%, right? February is when it starts picking up to see, like, companies and their new releases. Like, we usually don't get Mitsubishi with a press release saying, hey, the Lamy is going to have the Jetstream refill coming out at the end of January. That's usually, that's pretty early to see this. And we did get to see a new Bennu release coming, which I think is interesting.
  • But it's not coming until March. And I don't know if I'm going to get to see it at this show, since it's not going to be out for a while. But it's called the Bennu Pixie.
  • And it's a short barrel Bennu. And I'm curious, right? So, like, they're beautiful. They're fun Bennu stuff. I'm 100% getting one. I have a little bit of question on the usability where the cap diameter is posted. And so, a short pin like this, the cap is going to hit, like, in that cusp of your thumb area, right? And is it going to be too wide of a diameter where it hits your hand in relation to the grip section, which is a narrower diameter into a number five size Schmidt nib, right? So, there's, like, this bulbous aspect to it. Where something like a Kaweco Classic, the barrel is straight-sided and post-straight. So, you have flat, narrower diameter sides on it. It looks really cool. Like, I'm way in on the style of it. I want to get it in hand to test the functionality of it. Because, I generally, with a smaller pin, I want it to be kind of narrow all the way through. So, I'm going to be interested to see how this feels.
  • But, I mean, right out the gate, there's, like, ten colors. Like, I don't know if you've clicked on this, but it's like a slideshow. There's, like, one color after the next. After the next. After the next. There's got to be ten of them on here. So, the price seems good. The basic colors will be 59. The wild colors will be 72.
  • We'll see. We'll see. Like, I'm compelled. I know a lot of companies are doing smaller pins now, which I, of course, love. And I love Bennu pins. I'm 100% going to try these.
  • And this is something I would love to see at the show. I just don't know that I'm going to get to. Their distributor, Luxury Brands, is going to be there. But, like, I don't know that they're going to have it if they're not even planning on launching until March. They probably don't even have their samples yet. It would be my guess.

Nib Grinding Appointment and Pen Show Activities

  • I did book a nib grind appointment. So, I have that set for Friday with Joshua Lacks, JJ Lacks.
  • There's several nib grinders at this show. I have not gotten a grind from Joshua, despite knowing Joshua for years and years and years. So, I'm going to sit with him. Got that done. I was able to get that done online. Some of the classes are selling out. I was going to sign up for Kimberly's, who writes for the pen addict, her handwriting class. And I went, she said, like, yeah, go sign up for the class. And I went and tried to sign up, and it was sold out. So, y'all should check if you are going and you want to book classes. You always want to do that ahead of time, unlike me. So, like, I'm a professional. Do you think you could just sneak in? I'm missing that. Oh, yeah. She already told me. Just come sit. Just come sneak in. I was going to say, you're Brad Daly. You know what I'm saying? If Brad wants to go somewhere at a pen show, he's going there, all right? And no one's talking. Yeah. What I was going to do was sign up under a fake name and just appear, you know?
  • So, we'll see. So, maybe I'll just audit the class and see what's up. But no.
  • We'll see. Sit in the back, audit, and just give Kimberly a hard time. So, it's going to be fun. And I'm glad I'm feeling better and able to go to the show because I have gotten myself so anxious, like, to go, which I usually don't do, right? But it's been since August, since I've been to a pen show, you know, that getting to that first one to kind of get the year going, it's – I get pretty anxious about it. And sometimes it's maybe not until March. This time it's in January that I'm choosing to go. And, like, I was pretty amped up, pretty amped up about going. And then, like, I've been sick for these past few days. I'm like, oh, no. Am I going to have to cancel this one? And so, luckily, we're on the mend and we're in good shape. So, I'm excited. We'll report back next week. I'll let you know how it went. And, yeah, I can't wait. Very fun. Very fun.
  • All right. I look forward to hearing the report. If you want to get in touch with us before then, it's very easy to do that. You can just go to penaddictfeedback.com. That's where you can leave questions and follow-up and thoughts for next week's episode. Don't forget to go tune in to Brad on Tuesday at twitch.tv slash penaddict. That's where you can join Brad and give him a little bit of a boost and some encouragement as he hits the front page and people say what is going on for a little bit for him. So, that'll be fun. You can go to penaddict.com and spokedesign.com for Brad's work. You can find my stuff here on Relay and at cortexbrand.com as well. Thank you to Factor and Pen Chalet for their support of this week's episode. Most of all, thank you for listening. Until next time, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.
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