The Pen Addict 288/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	288
Title:	It's Called Chaos
Release Date:	December 20th, 2017
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 288
Audio File:	Audio Episode 288
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 288
Length:	8282 min <br />1.367 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Pen Addict Podcast

Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 288. Today's show is brought to you by Pen Chalet, Squarespace, and Harry's. My name is Myke Hurley, and today I'm joined by, as always, by Mr. Brad Dowdy. Hi, Brad Dowdy.

Brad Dowdy: Hi, I'm Myke Hurley. Merry Christmas, happy holidays. Hope you're ready for some enjoyable time off. I hope you're going to get some time off in these next week or two.

Myke Hurley: Yep, I do. This is our last show of the year, and I've got all of next week off, which is great.

Brad Dowdy: Good, good. So yeah, being our last show of the year, the show document is gigantic, especially on the Ask TPA front. I've even separated them into two sections, depending on how long we run. So it might be two more weeks before some of you get your Ask TPA questions. But the first question I have to ask, Myke, which wasn't on the list, is what did you think about the new Star Wars film?

Myke Hurley: I mean, I really liked it. I didn't love it. I don't have any hate for it. I just preferred Force Awakens, but I really enjoyed it.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, and I was just joking about the question. We did get asked that for Ask TPA, and I thought it was a fun diversion. I saw it. My kids and wife had lots of questions at the end, which I think means it was a good movie, right? Like, we're not going to spoil anything. Don't worry. But I enjoyed it when I came out. I was not, you know, it's not the greatest movie of all time, but it's Star Wars, right? I mean, it's awesome. So it's fun. Go see it. We enjoyed it. And, you know, I am now in the open spoiler zone on Twitter. I've removed all my mutes and muffles from The Last Jedi, so I could finally get that in. So, yeah, it's real good. But we have other things to talk about than Star Wars, even though the entire universe seems to be talking about Star Wars. We're going to talk about pens and paper and our feedback from last week's episode. Myke, what did you think about how the feedback went from us having, I guess we'll call it serious conversation on the podcast last week?

Myke Hurley: I think it was fine. I didn't get a ton because I think people observed my you can't argue with this stance that I had. So I didn't you seem to get as it tends to be with these things. Most of the stuff gets directed at you. I think a lot of plus I get the email. Yeah, because I don't get the email. You get the email. So, yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Overall, it was awesome. Like people enjoyed the conversation, appreciated the candor, understood some of the challenges. And the one thing that was a little bit negative in the feedback or not negative, but it was like I really most of the the comments and I got several comments was like, I really hope you don't stop being hard on these companies. And you have my word that that's not going to happen. That's not what the point we were trying to make. Right. We're going to tell it like it is on, you know, companies and products. People were worried that I wasn't going to say if a product was bad and that couldn't be further from the truth. Like I have a feeling like if we didn't do last week's episode, but made it just a change on our part, no one would notice right on how we conducted the conducted the show or how I spoke about products or, you know, showed, you know, you know, buyer beware type stuff. You know, none of that's going to change at all.

Myke Hurley: You know, just felt like we needed to put a stake in the ground.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. Yep. So, you know, there's a what we're talking about kind of at a different level of stuff, which no one enjoys. It's not fun for anybody. But as far as like me changing how I treat products and brands and goods that we buy and recommendations that we make, 0% of that's going to change. So no worries at all there. And to follow up on last week's conversation, I got to sit down with less from the RSVP stationary podcast. We had a really excellent conversation where I was able to elaborate on some details a little bit more, go a little bit more in depth on just kind of, you know, what's been going on in the past couple of weeks in the stationary stationary social media world and, you know, clear some things up. And I thought it was an excellent conversation. I went and read back, re re listen to that because you never know what you say, especially when it could be, you know, controversial, which I try to avoid, but I'm good at sticking my foot in my mouth. And, uh, I went back and I thought the conversation was perfect. Like it was, it came out really, really well.

Brad Dowdy: So if you have any, you know, any more questions on what we talked about last week, shoot them my way, shoot them Myke's way, but there's really almost nothing's going to change here. The very, very small piece of what we talk about. And unfortunately, sometimes that small piece gets blown up into a large piece and that's what we're trying to avoid. But in general, no change here, no change on the blog, no change on social media, any of that stuff. Um, just, you know, some of the, uh, off the, uh, off the reservation type stuff is, was, uh, mostly what the conversation was aimed around. So I think we're all good.

Anniversary Shirt

Myke Hurley: All right. So Brad, you have your 10th anniversary shirt. And my understanding is we're just a few days away from the pre-orders stopping. So people need to jump on that.

Brad Dowdy: This month. I don't know if it's Thanksgiving was so early. I mean, I know December 25th never changes, but this month seems like it went by in an insanely fast fashion. So I've had this pre-order for the pen addict 10th anniversary shirt up. I had a three week window and there's like three, four days left now. So if you're interested in that, we'll have a link in the show notes. I need to put another blog post up just to remind everyone, if you're interested in getting a cool t-shirt and supporting the site, you know, the 10th anniversary shirt designed by friend of the show, Ben Kwok. Um, it's, it's something to check out. So, uh, I I'm really excited to get these on order and get these shipped. So it shouldn't be too, too long for that, that turnaround to get these going, but, uh, I'm ready for mine. I need one. I need more than one actually. So I'll be ordering them up soon. Speaking of ordering up Myke, the retro 51 NYC skyline. This looks like a Myke Hurley pen. Yeah. Is this a Myke Hurley pen? Yeah, I ordered one. So I don't know if our listeners have seen this because it is a very specific pen. It's a gold spot collaboration with retro 51 and exclusive design just for them. 333 pens. What did you think when you saw this pen?

Myke Hurley: I loved it. Like just immediately fell in love with it. I mean, they knocked it out of the park,

Brad Dowdy: right? Glow in the dark. Come on. Yeah. I mean, but the skyline, the way the skyline, uh, breaks up through, I guess the night sky, if you will, you know, it's a dark, dark Navy, uh, sky with some, all the, uh, some of the famous buildings in, in New York city, just the scene it sets is extraordinary, extraordinarily well done. I'm going to pass. Like I'm not, I mean, I would only buy this pen to collect it and I'm trying not to make those purchases. So I would not use this pen if I bought it. So I don't need to buy it. That doesn't mean I'm like fascinated by it. It's a really, really well done. I'm kind of surprised they only did 333, to be perfectly honest. I imagine they're going to sell out in about them pretty quickly.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I don't think they're sold out yet. Cause it's still available for pre-order, but I mean, I don't know. I figure you, you just try and limit it. So people buy, keep buying the next ones. You do too many of them and people will stop buying them.

Brad Dowdy: Exactly. Exactly. That's why I try to do one once a year, you know,

Myke Hurley: I still, uh, still got these, I still collect them. This is my collection, my collection moving my collection. If I see one, I don't buy all of them, but if I see one that I like, I will get it. And this one immediately jumped out to me.

Brad Dowdy: So I pre-ordered it naturally. Yeah. I still need to figure out if I can get, there was one last year and I'm totally ruining the show right now because I don't know the official name of it and don't have a link of it, but there was one that they did for a store. I don't know if it was in Canada or France last year would have kind of this shielded like Victorian swirly pattern on it. And it was a store exclusive and I did not get that one. And I actually kind of regret that not ordering it. So hopefully I won't regret ordering, not ordering this one, but I'm good

Myke Hurley: with that decision. It's an awesome pen. I would like to apologize to everybody because I have literally no way of finding that pen based upon Brad's. Um, yeah, I can find it. Ana's got it.

Brad Dowdy: So if, if Ana shows up this morning, she'll text it to me. You know, it was a, it was a store brand pen. There were two colors. It's fantastic looking. And, uh, I'll, I'll post it on Twitter later because I know you're no help. Um, it wasn't wonder pens. It was a store I'd never heard. You're no help. I mean, yeah, no, I set you up to be no help. Okay. There you go. That's better. Like, ah, you're rubbish. Yeah. Speaking of no help, the remarkable tablet review is in from Ars Technica. So this is, uh, Technica. Um, this is the tablet we talked about in the past couple of weeks for our friend, Tony wanting to write his notes on a tablet or some kind of easy transfer device. It's pretty much what we thought it was going to be, which is not worth the money. Um, at least coming from, you know, Ars, uh, Technica's point of view, this interview just went up two days ago. And I mean, the subtitle of the article is it's hard to make the case for a 500, $99 e-ink tablet in 2017. Right. I mean, that's pretty much what we said. So people that have wanting us to test this, try this, do anything with this, that's just not going to happen. Like there's no way I would not pay $199 for what this tablet offers, much less $599. Right. It's just, it's, it doesn't have a place in the grand scheme of things. In my opinion, I don't know how the makers are selling this and in the price bracket that they're in. How is, you know, what's their selling point in this price bracket to someone like us, right? Who would be interested in this product? Right. Like this is, we're not totally the market for this, but we're somewhat the market for this. And there's zero about this product that makes me want it. And on top of that, it's $600. So I think this kind of, uh, hopefully that's going to be a wrap on, on the remarkable. I mean, I don't mean anything, you know, derogatory towards them, but I just don't get it. Like there's no, there's no way this would be a good choice for anybody to do anything. Like I see so many better products for a quarter of the price or something far superior for a fraction more expensive. So it's a, it's in this no man's land of products and, um, yeah, it's, I don't get it, Myke. I don't get it. How do you get, how do you get backing to make this in 2017? I don't, these are the things that keep me up at night. Yeah. I have no idea. No idea. Yeah. All right. So, you know, it's, uh, I think we'll, we'll stick a fork in the remarkable, but I am not ready to do that with some of the Moleskine products. I'm getting a little bit tempted there. You know, that's maybe we'll, something we'll talk about as the, as 2018 goes on. Nothing, uh, I'm, I'm, um, like anxious to get, but that's a market I'm going to be watching a little bit closer. Cause I think we're getting there, Myke. I think we're getting into some really good, uh, really good kind of crossover products for our world and the digital world.

Pen Chalet Sponsorship

Myke Hurley: All right. Today's episode is brought to you in part by our friends over at Penn Chalet. They sell all of the products that you're looking for from all of your favorite brands. They have fast and reliable customer service. They're always doing great discounts. Every two weeks they have closeout specials. They have, they run special discounts as well. At the same time, they're always adding new styles of pens. They have limited edition stuff every now and then, you know, Penn Chalet, run up Penn Chalet does his best to get his hands on whatever is hot and cool out there in the pen world and offers great discounts to you in the process. They sell as well as like pens and pencils and that kind of stuff. They sell carrying cases and pen holders and refills and converters, all of the little extra accoutrement that you're looking for with your new pen purchase. They sell internationally with great shipping rates and I've bought from them a bunch of times and I'm always happy, especially with the speed as well. I've been very happy with that, how quickly they get stuff to me. And they do free shipping on orders of over $50 in the United States, which is, I mean, come on, over $50. I mean, we can all do that pretty easily at the Penn Chalet. They have low prices on a high quality pens that are 100% satisfaction guarantee. Go to PennChalet.com. That's P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T.com. Click the podcast link at the top of the website and enter the password PennAddict. This is where you will get the code that you need to save 10% on anything at Penn Chalet and get access to this week's special offer, which is, as Ron referred to me, a Pelican sale.

Myke Hurley: But this, this is dumb. I can't, you can't talk about prices or products. There is stuff.

Brad Dowdy: Y'all know my, y'all know my stance when I pull up Penn Chalet and go, this is dumb. That's the highest level of praise I can give to what's in this offer page right now. Okay. Because it doesn't make sense.

Myke Hurley: Ron just said to me, there's, there's some stuff I want to sell. And because I want to, I want to clear out the decks. And I know that the Penn Addict listeners are the best people who would sell this stuff too, because he knows you, you're all alike. And he's got some stupendous deals right now over on some Pelican stuff. And I'm talking a lot of Pelican stuff. And it's good stuff. Like he's not just getting rid of the bargain basement barrel stuff. We're talking serious. Like if you want a Pelican pen, he probably got it. Yeah. Top level stuff. Like the goods. He's good. As a new tagline for Penn Chalet, Ron's got the goods. Yeah. Just, just seriously, just go there. Pennchalet.com, P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T.com. Password Penn Addict to get your hands on some special offers. Thank you so much to Penn Chalet for the support of this show and RelayFM.

Brad Dowdy: All right. So the Retro 51 that I was looking for that I couldn't come up with, it's from a shop called Scriptura. So I'm trying to find a good picture of it. The old one is cached by Google and it's not coming up with a really good picture. They have a fountain pen that you can see the, what the image kind of looks like, but the real image, we'll have to, we'll have to find one, but it's just a beautiful, classic, stunning Retro 51 that is actually one I wish I owned. Okay. So this page finally came up and I'm going to drop this here in the chat room. It's a Google cash link, but this is the pen. So if anyone wants to get me that pen for Christmas, you have a couple of days left. So there you go. It's a stunner. It's, it's, I think I didn't even know it existed until it was already sold out.

Myke Hurley: I've never seen this and oh my God, I want it so bad.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. It's, uh, it's outstanding. Yeah. Outstanding. So yeah. So if you see that and are considering the NYC skyline from gold spot and you might have a tend to regret if you don't go grab one of the few that they, they had made because I regret that's one I do regret by. All right. Kind of back on the pen chalet front here. I want to talk about the new Lamy Ion. So the first thing I want to know is how to pronounce it. How would you pronounce it?

Myke Hurley: I would say Ion. Not Aon? No, because it's got the I there. Like that, that would make me say Ion. Like I wouldn't call it Aon if it was A-O-N, but like,

Brad Dowdy: yeah, it does Ion to me. Yeah. I think I, I think I have Ion pretty well said, but it could be really, really wrong knowing us. Right. So I got this pen. We've been talking about this pen most, at least half the year because Lamy announced it way back in the summer or late spring, early summer. And we're like, Oh, this looks interesting. You know, it's kind of plain, which is what Lamy does, you know, black barrel, silver barrel, not a lot of accoutrement and just kind of there. So I was like, okay, well, it looks cool. It looks like it's going to be in a good price point. We'll see how it goes when it comes out. Fast forward to the San Francisco pen show this year. And a gentleman had just returned from Europe where they had launched and none of the U.S. vendors have it. And he brought it over to me because he heard us talking about on the podcast. And he handed me the, handed me the Aon, Ion, that's going to bother me to try. And he handed it over to me and I go, wow, this is heavy. Like, confusingly so. I was like, hmm. And then, you know, I opened up and looked at it and I was like, oh, the nib's a little bit different. It's got this curve thing. I'm not sure I like the aesthetic of the barrel design and the section termination nib connection area. Like, you know, it's fine. But it's like, well, you know, seems kind of weird. But, you know, I felt it. I held it. And I was like, okay, great. Thanks for showing me that. You know, I was not impressed. I didn't dislike it or anything, but I was like, hmm, kind of unsure, confused, didn't really know what to think about it. And then in the months since, all I could remember from using it in San Francisco was, boy, it's a heavy pen. So they finally made it over to the U.S. And you can see it from Ron at Pen Chalet. I got mine from Van Ness Pens, full disclosure. And I wanted to see if my initial thoughts from that San Francisco pen show held up to actually getting it in hand, getting it in use, and seeing what it's all about. And I got to say, Myke, like my first impulses, I don't want to say they were wrong, but now that I have one of my own, my tune has completely changed. And this is a legitimately not just good pen. I think it's borderlines into the great pen territory. There's something about the build of this pen that I really enjoy. It feels great in my hand. I thought it was going to be too large and too heavy. It's neither. So all the weight is really contained in the cap of this pen. And when you uncap it, it's still got a little bit of weight to it, but you can feel a little bit of the airiness of the pen as opposed to the density of the pen. If you posted the cap, you would hate it. Like I don't recommend anyone posting this pen. If you're a cap poster, you probably won't enjoy this pen because it makes it very long and unbalanced. Uncapped, it just fits my hand and feels so good. It's just really well made. I don't notice the new nib style as much as I thought I would, where it would bother me. It's a little bit of a curve.

Myke Hurley: Do you think this is going to remain like just the ions style?

Brad Dowdy: Why would they do that? The nib? I don't know. Like if I, yes, that's a great question because I don't know why they would make that choice. Why does this nib have to be on this pen when it's the same fit and function as the Safari All-Star?

Myke Hurley: So could you take a Safari nib and put it on the ion? Yeah. And you could take the ions nib and put it on a Safari? Yeah. Why did they do this? I'm not sure. I mean, it does look nice. So maybe that was why. Like they just wanted to add something else to it, I guess. Because the pen design is largely unassuming. It's a pretty clean. But I mean, honestly, like, I mean, you can answer this for me, but at least in the way that it looks, this feels closer to the 2000 than the Safari. Oh, without a doubt. But like, not just it's in the middle, like this just, this looks like an executive pen for a non-executive price, I guess. I mean, they're at $70 on Pencholet, which is not nothing, but, you know, it's not $200.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. For what this pen is, it's an awesome price. And Tony's saying in the chat room that Brian Goulet said that he asked, he just came back from Lamy a visit like two weeks ago. And they said the designer just wanted something different for this pen.

Myke Hurley: I mean, yeah, sure.

Lamy Ion

Brad Dowdy: Like I'll go with that. So this could be their new flagship pen, in my opinion. It's that good. You know, they're going to have to get out of this black and silver world that they're in with some of their base offerings, right? You know, this, I mean, could you imagine this pen in orange or purple or something wild? I mean, it's a metal barrel anodized pen.

Myke Hurley: I think this is definitely the right way to start, though. Like to just do it black and silver. Like cater to the more traditional crowd. See if it sticks.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. The Lamy crowd, right? Yeah. So, and they take some design features from some of the other pens. Like the clip is like a mashup of the, like the 2000 and the dialogue clip. It's like a little bit of each, you know? And I took a picture. I keep meaning to post this on Instagram. I shared it in the, in my members newsletter. But it's not that much bigger than the 2000, shockingly enough. It's wider. But, and it's heavier. But size-wise, like silhouette-wise, it's not as big as I thought it was. You know, it fits right in with the studio and the AL Star and Safari realm. I think this pen's going to do extremely well in a price point that doesn't have like a massive winner. You know, the Twisby 580 in this price point we recommend a lot. Then I recommend Kaweco, you know, AL Sports, which are a completely different pen.

Brad Dowdy: I'm really impressed. Much more so than I thought I would be. It feels great. Works great. You know, Lamy's design is Lamy's design. You may love it. You may hate it.

Brad Dowdy: This is, I mean, I don't know if it'll take over the studio because the studio has a chrome section and they do the bright colors. But, I mean, I think this, this could be the start of like a long lineage of pens for the Ion. Just because it's, just because they did a good job. It's really good. So, I don't know what more to say about it other than I'm surprised how much I like it because I had some reservations about it. And as it turns out, it's really, really good.

Myke Hurley: I can't help but look at this pen though and ask myself why.

Myke Hurley: Right. Like, why did they make this pen? Like, I can't, I can't work it out. Like, I feel like Lamy already have pens that fulfill the need for this pen. That are like, not ugly. Right. Like, that are interesting, good looking pens that they sell in similar materials and similar styles. Right. Like, I can't help but look at it and be like, why did you do this, Lamy? Like, I don't, I don't think I fully understand where they think it fits in the market. I guess they just want more offerings in the same bracket as the studio. But, yeah, it, I guess they want like, I mean, my assumption would be that they want more jumps up. Right. So, like, they have a couple in the cheaper realm. Right. They have like the Safari and the L-Star or whatever. And they have one more, right? They have one more plasticky one, I think.

Brad Dowdy: I think. Well, they have the, they have the LX and they have, I mean, they do, they dabble in a few different things around that area. You know, they have the Joy, which is the calligraphy model.

Brad Dowdy: So, yeah, something I'm probably, oh, and they have like the, I don't know if they still make like the CP1, some of the cylindrical barrel skinny pins, like in that realm. But I don't, I don't know that those ever stuck. Like, they've tried a lot of things in the $50 to $80 price range that you don't see anymore.

Lamy ION

Brad Dowdy: So, I'm with you. I think that was our consternation when we first saw the marketing on it. It was like, okay, why? Like you said, it's like, okay, I mean, yeah, it's like a.

Myke Hurley: Vista was what I was thinking of. Okay, the Vista. Right, it's just a, it just looks like, it's just a clear Safari, right? But they market it separately. Yeah. And they have the necks. I'm looking at their page now. Oh, yeah. Yes, you're right. They have a bunch of the round barrel ones, which I never see anywhere except the logo. So, the logo, then they have the studio. There's something called the Accent, which I've never seen before. It's got a bit of wood on it or something. Yep. But, yeah, it's just surprising to me to see the ION.

Myke Hurley: On the lobby's website right now, it's just quite funny that, like, the ION sits at the very top, right? And it just has the word innovation underneath it.

Myke Hurley: That's all it says. It just says, and there's no other words under any other pens except special edition where something special edition. But this one is called an innovation pen.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that's where the marketing department, this is like who drives the product, right? Yeah. The design department or the marketing department. So, that came out of the marketing meeting, I'm sure. Yeah, it's the innovation pen. It's like, I don't look at this pen and go, wow. How innovative. They did something really innovative here, right? It's a metal brushed barrel with a little bit of a curvier nib than their straight triangular style nib. I mean, there's nothing innovative about this pen except for the fact that it's a really good pen.

Myke Hurley: What I like is, like, I'm on the Lamy ION product page and they don't mention innovation, like, on the actual product page. Like, there is no, they don't, they just talk about, like, kind of quality and stuff like that, which I get. So, I don't know why they felt the need to write innovation, which is, it's just kind of funny to me.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Innovation.

Brad Dowdy: So, now that these are out in the wild a little bit more, I'm interested to see what other people think. So, let me know your feedback on the Lamy ION. I have a guest post coming up on the ION, which is why I wrote my review for the Pen Addict members. And you're going to be hearing a lot about this pen, I think, in the next few months. And hopefully, Lamy does something with the ION that it does with a lot of their other pens, Myke, and that's add them into the special edition rotation. And we actually have 2018 Lamy special edition news. Did you see this, Myke?

Myke Hurley: Only from the document, but yes.

AL Star Color

Brad Dowdy: So, big news always is what Lamy color is going to end up in the AL Star and the Safari lineups for 2018.

Brad Dowdy: The AL Star is called Vibrant Pink, and it's kind of amazing. It's really, really bright in a magenta-y kind of way. I love it.

Brad Dowdy: This could convert me into an AL Star fan. I don't know. Everything about this pen is perfect, really. I mean, this is what these special editions should be.

Myke Hurley: Well, there's one thing wrong with it. It's not Safari.

Brad Dowdy: It's not a Safari, right? So, the section is, you know, the clear, the smoked clear gray. It doesn't have the full barrel Safari. You know, you're going to get dings and dents on the aluminum barrel.

Myke Hurley: I'm very interested to see the ink.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that would be great. Yeah. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: So, matching fountain pen ink and cartridges are coming in. Lamy doesn't already have a pink, so we don't already know the color. Like, what was it? Pacific Blue last year?

Myke Hurley: Yeah, it's just a remix.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Not even a remix. It was just a repackaging.

Myke Hurley: Mm-hmm.

Brad Dowdy: The Safari 2018 limited edition has shown up on a couple of sites, but not Fanta Pluma. So, I have this link from Fanta Pluma. So, Frank wrote about the Vibrant Pink, and in the questions or comments on his post, they asked him about the 2018 Safari limited edition, and he says, I don't have confirmation on that yet, so I'm not posting. Other sites have put it up, Myke?

Myke Hurley: Mm-hmm.

Brad Dowdy: As black.

Brad Dowdy: I hope that's not for real. Sounds a bit boring.

Myke Hurley: Surely they already make a black one.

Brad Dowdy: Surely they make a black one. Well, they have a stock black with a silver clip as part of their stock lineup. With the blackout. They've sold a charcoal matte black, you know, a non-glossy barrel with a black nib. So, is this going to be glossy barrel, black clip, black nib Safari? If so, that's a terrible idea. I mean, as good as the pen will look, that's just not right. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: The one you're thinking of, they did one called the Umber, which is like a gray with a black nib. Like, that's kind of all it would be. Like, I don't... Yeah. I'm not so sure about that. I'm not so sure about that.

Brad Dowdy: So, I... I mean, a couple of sites are saying, like, the sites... There was one site... I forget the exact shop. But it had, like, the Pico being lime green, you know, for its limited edition. The Lamy... But then, it had the Lamy Joy limited edition being white. Well, they already have a white Lamy Joy. And they already have a black Lamy Safari. So, I'm gonna hold off on Safari commentary. But I know if it's black, it's gonna be a long year for Team Safari. It just is. We're gonna have to live with the AL Star Vibrant Pink versus Safari Black all year. That's not a life I wanna live, Myke. Yeah. That will be a bad year for Team Safari if we're going this route. And just for those asking, and I know a bunch of you have asked Anna already, we're gonna make new buttons for this year for Team Safari and Team AL Star. But we're gonna wait until the colors are finalized and we'll make them the colors of the special editions. And we hand those out at pen shows and, you know, just have a fun... It's a fun conversation with that. So, I'm concerned, though, for Team Safari in 2018 if this proves to be the case. It's gonna be a huge letdown. What kind of limited edition ink are we gonna get?

Myke Hurley: The blackest black or the non-blacker than, like, it'll be, I don't know, like, the hot black Desiato or something. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Vanta Black. Yeah, Vanta Black.

Myke Hurley: Now, see, that would be cool, right? Now... But they're not allowed to use it. If they found a way to do that, like, invisible black stuff, I would go for that. Right? That you can't even see the logo, but you can feel it. You know? That I would go for. Lamy, if that's what you've done, I'll buy a hundred of them.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm.

Brad Dowdy: So, we'll hold judgment. I guess we'll probably know pretty soon, because those usually come out in the spring, so... We'll wait for confirmation on the Safari. Okay. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Um... I am a little bit concerned. I'm not gonna lie. A little concerned. Gonna be a long year, if that's the case, but, you know...

Myke Hurley: Yeah, but one special edition does not a better pen make.

Brad Dowdy: I agree with that. It doesn't change, but... I'm gonna have to hear it all year. Mm-hmm. So, I'll just need... Along with the buttons, I'm gonna have to get, like, a laminated card printout on why the Safari's better. Yeah. Just so I can hand out, like, a business card. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: All right. I'm gonna switch it up a little bit, because we have a lot more to get to, Myke. And, um... We'll see how much we can actually get to. And this one, we can keep pretty short and sweet. But I wanted your thoughts on desk pens. And the reason I'm asking is I've noticed in the past year, this has become more of a thing in our community. Now, it's... Desk pens are really probably one of the most traditional writing setups, you know, in the history of writing. You know, you have a... You have a desk. You have an inkwell. And you have a pen holder. And you dip your pen in there. And, you know, the desk sets, you know, morph from there through times. You know, you end up with eyedropper pens and cartridge pens, you know, through the years and decades. And all have this desk set up. Mm-hmm. Well, as we got more mobile in our lifestyles, you know, the desk pen kind of went away. No one has the one necessarily just a spot where they sit and write and grab that pen. That is in a base on their desk and is essentially uncapped, right? It's a capless pen that uses the desk base as a cap. So, last year, Retro 51 started doing them. They've probably done them before. They've probably done them for years. And I've missed it. Last year was the first time I noticed they did a lot of colors in them. And then that kind of piqued my interest. I never got one. But I kind of always wanted one. I was like, well, I don't need more stuff on my desk. I have a lot of stuff on my desk. And then Y Studio came out with one. And, you know, I love their pens, the Brassing Fountain Pens. They have a Brassing desk set or a Brassing Fountain Pen desk pen with a nice base and the beautiful pen. You know, their pens are kind of a work of art. So, it shows off really well on a desk. And then you have a product called the Penwell that's come out to rave reviews, which will turn mostly any pen into a desk pen. So, are desk pens a thing, Myke? Is this something that you can buy into as a thing? And it's something we're going to continue to see going forward?

Penwell

Myke Hurley: Well, I mean, I know the Penwell interests me. Although, I have been thinking, like, one potential problem with that is a lot of my favorite pens. Because you screw them. And that becomes a little bit more tricky, which is the way to put it down.

Myke Hurley: But I can see it in limited cases. Like, I think whenever you have one of these, you have it for the novelty. You know, I don't really know if people are, like, super requiring the need to be able to pick up and put down their fountain pen all the time. You know, like, I don't know how much of a thing that is. But I like the novelty of it. But I can't see it becoming an extremely widespread thing. I think you would always, if you ever want to make one, you just make one because you like it. It's a fun thing or whatever, you know.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And just to clarify on the Penwell, you can use a screw cap because the base is affixed to your desk or your writing mat or anything. Yeah. And the insert into the Penwell is soft but firm enough to allow you to twist that pen. I mean, that's what I use. I don't think I'm going to like it.

Myke Hurley: I know, but like what I mean, I don't, some pens that I have, I don't know how much I would want to be like putting it down and like spinning it and then spinning it back out and picking it up again. You know, I'd be more inclined to put something in, which I have a lot of pens that are a pull, you know. But I'm just saying like not everything would work, I don't think.

Brad Dowdy: So I'm anxious to try this Y Studio. That's going to be, like, I've used the Penwell and, but it's always been, you know, a pen with a cap that I can use in other ways. This Y Studio is just a desk fountain pen.

Myke Hurley: The fact that it is made to do that is like very intriguing. Like you would, because this is a new brand, right? Y Studio really? Like, are they new? They are relatively new, right?

Brad Dowdy: Relatively new. Yeah. Maybe a couple of years. Yeah. I mean, they just kind of came on my radar in the past year or two.

Retro 51 Pens

Myke Hurley: So like the fact that they've decided to make this pen is an interesting and maybe kind of peculiar thing. Mm-hmm. So yeah, I'm keen to see how it performs and if people actually want to use it.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. So and then that'll make me want to maybe consider one of the Retro 51s, which I always wanted last year, but I never got around to it because I thought, well, I have so many other Retro 51 pens I just use as pens. Why do I need an additional thing to live on my desk that is a Retro 51? So I don't know. I think it's interesting that we're starting to see that. And, you know, all of us analog users, you know, we definitely like to see some of this old stuff brought back and like these old, you know, aesthetic of a desk pen is just kind of cool, like in my mind. So, but is it functional in the way that I work at my desk? I don't know. We'll see. So I have the Y Studio. I want to try that out. It's pretty cool. It's extraordinarily well made. And I know I'm going to like the pen, but am I going to like the desk pen setup? Is that going to work for me? So we'll see.

Myke Hurley: Today's show is brought to you by Harry's. Harry's are all about giving you a great shave at a fair price. And that is why 3 million people have switched to Harry's. Their founders, Jeff and Andy, decided to create Harry's because they were fed up of overpriced razors. So they bought a German factory with over 100 years of blade making experience to ensure the highest quality for their blades, which they sell, and half the price of the leading 5 blade razor directly to you over the internet. And all of Harry's products are backed by a 100% quality guarantee. Harry's is so confident you're going to love their blades. They want to give you their trial set for free. You just need to cover shipping. The trial set includes a weighted ergonomic razor handle, 5 precision engineered blades with a lubricating strip and trimmer blade, their rich lathering shave gel, and a travel blade cover, which is $13 of value for you to try out. Now, Mr. Brad Dowdy, would you say that it is worth getting a Harry's trial set? Do you believe in the Harry's product?

Brad Dowdy: Oh, I believe in Harry's almost more than any other products I use, including a lot of pens I use. It's my daily driver of shaving awesomeness for, what, the past several years? Once I found out about them through this show, actually, and started using them, I realized that they were different than what I was using previously. Number one, the quality was superior to anything I could buy at the grocery store. And number two, it was a fraction of the cost. I mean, it's the no-brainer of all no-brainers as far as shaving goes. So, yeah, I'm all in on Harry's, and I don't see that changing for a long, long time.

Myke Hurley: So, look, stop messing around and get started shaving with Harry's today by claiming your free trial set. Just go to harrys.com slash penaddict right now and get started. You just need to cover the shipping. Thank you so much to Harry's for the continued support of this show and RelayFM.

Brad Dowdy: I actually need to go place a new Harry's order. I just realized after this last trip I took, I order the two different size shave cream, shaving lotion. They have the large kind of, you know, keep-it-home size with a bigger capacity, and they have a smaller size that fits in my travel set. And getting ready to start traveling back up here in another month or two. It's getting close, so I need to refill that for the year. So, look for another order coming soon, Harry's. All right. Speaking of next year in travel, I want to talk about planners for a second. We're not going to get into the weeds on this. But you've said something in the past. A little bit. We've both said things in the past several months that made me want to put this in as a show topic, just to kind of hit the high points.

Brad Dowdy: I've mentioned that I'm going to move into a Hobonichi Cousin for 2018, which is their large A5 size planner. And it's big, and it's intimidating, and I'm a little bit scared to commit to it. But I'm going to do it because I have some things I want to do, some projects I want to have kind of all in one place, some projects I want to do with the Hobonichi for, you know, like Instagram or Panatic members, things like that. And I also get to use a new NOC product that everyone's waiting for and yelling at me about, that I get to use it and they don't, but you will get to use it soon.

Brad Dowdy: But it's a little intimidating, like I said. So I'm going to take the tact, which isn't... Like if you go to, you know, like Tim Ferriss would probably have a conniption about what I'm about to say, but I'm going to go into this with kind of no plan.

Brad Dowdy: Because anytime I've done, tried to do any type of structured plan, I've failed because I don't do good with structure. You know, bullet journals, GTD, any kind of check box, you know, move things around system. None of that has ever stuck with me. You know, I write things down to do, then I check them off. And then I have planning, and then I have notes, and then I'll have things like I want to do next year in my cousin. I want to do like one pen a day review in the cousin, you know, like a Twitter length review of one pen or pencil or ink for 365 days. You know, I want to keep... The goal for me is not to figure out the most amazing system to perfect my productivity. The goal for me is to keep this notebook in my hands for 365 days. That's all I need. If I could do that, then the other stuff's easy. But keeping that notebook active for a full year is going to be my challenge, and that's what I'm going to work on. So I have lots of things we can talk about later as we start going through the year, what I'm putting in the notebook. But I'm definitely going in with no system other than that notebook has to be the core of my day every day all year long. Then everything else will fall into place. Like, I'm not concerned about that.

Brad Dowdy: You, on the other hand... No. You've never... Well, you've never been a planner person. I don't expect you to ever be a planner person. But you've mentioned that maybe bullet journaling could be for me. Have you thought any more about that? Are you going to do anything about that? Or just kind of go with... I mean, if you don't need it, you don't need it, right? You should never force anything.

Myke Hurley: I have a bullet journal. I have it all set up. I've read the system. I understand the system. And, like, I would like to start doing it, but there is something getting in my way, and I don't know what it is. I think you kind of hit the nail on the head a little bit about, like, needing to have it in my hands all the time, and I think this book is... It just feels too big for that. Like, what I really want is something which is, like... What is it? Travel notebook size? Yeah. I mean, what I want... Okay. What I believe I want is the travel notebook seed thing that you're making. Yeah. This is in my mind, right? Like, in my mind right now, the only thing that is stopping me is the fact that I don't have the right equipment. Right? Sure. That's all it is. The only thing that's stopping me is that I don't have the right notebook and notebook case to... Because I think what it is is, like, I looked at bullet journal and I thought, oh, this is a really good idea, and then I kind of realized that I don't actually want that. So, then... What is it that I want? And the thing that appealed to me about bullet journaling, as appeals to me about some types of journaling, is the idea of taking time to reflect and write something down every day. But, like, I just don't know if I'm going to do it, and if I'm going to do it, then I kind of want the right notebook for it, and I don't think that I have that right now. I think I want something small and not something Moleskine-sized or, like, term-sized. So, that's kind of where I am with it right now. I like the idea of taking some time to reflect on something every day. I like this 365 project that you are working on. Like, I know people do this. Like, Stephen takes a picture on Instagram every single day. I would like to do something like that. I just don't know what mine would necessarily be. But, again, it's like the bullet journal system, I could kind of understand it, and I got my head around it. I was like, this seems really good. But then I've kind of shied away from it because I don't want to replace or supplant my to-do system.

Brad Dowdy: Right.

Myke Hurley: Because that's kind of a big part of it. And I was like, at first I was thinking, this is a good idea, and then kind of realized to myself that I don't like the idea of, like, taking my to-do system, writing everything out, and then at the end of the day checking back in my to-do system. This is how for myself to get lost. Right? Yeah, absolutely not. This is how stuff gets lost. I think, for me, I'm going to pick one or the other, and I'm not moving away from Todoist. Like, that's wild.

Brad Dowdy: Sure, sure, sure, sure.

Myke Hurley: So I like the idea of the journaling aspect, maybe trying to write something down every day. That seems nice because, again, more uses for my stuff. But I don't feel like I have the right thing for it. And honestly, like, I know it's silly, but, like, I do want to have that, like, that little system. And I was looking at Hobonichi's, and I've been looking at, like, the Midori stuff. But I want to wait for your thing because I actually do really like it, and I do want it. So this would give me a reason to buy it. So you just need to make it, and then I can buy it.

Brad Dowdy: Well, it's in the queue, and the reason why... I know, I'm pulling, you know. I know. But no, the reason why I actually like that system, and that's what I've used for a while, because it's not... It's completely open, right? There's no rigidity to the Traveler system. Even if you get their calendar system, well, you can fill in the days and dates. You can do what you want to do, right? So the one thing I want to make out of a planner is I want to make it more of a journal. I want to make it more personal than... Personal-driven than task-driven, I think is one of the ways I'm going to look at it. So, you know, we'll see. This has always been a struggle for me. It's always been a failure in using these types of things for me. I'm trying to come up with the things that work for me to keep that notebook in my hands for a year. I like the idea of going this path. I think it's going to be fun. So I'm using the Cousin, the Hobonichi Cousin. There's lots of other things. Like, I love seeing other people's products. Like, I put a few... Or how other people use their planners going through the year without getting into the full hashtag Bujo stuff that you see, where it's really intense artwork in these setups. I like to just see the regular use. And so I put in, like, other links for people who are looking to do something with a planner, you know. Hobonichi, we talk about that a lot. The Traveler System's great. I also put in the Stalogy, which that's another word I don't know how to say, Myke, because it's spelled in a way that I don't know how to say it. The Jiban Techo, which is another hugely popular Japanese planner. It's made by Kukuyo, which they do... They make wonderful products. If you're looking for something really, really simple, like the word standard memorandum, it's just like a day jotter, almost like the Field Notes Resolution Edition or the word larger to-do list edition. And then my sister just emailed me the other day a thing called Year Compass, which isn't necessarily a planner, but it helps you close out one year and start a new year by asking, like, leading questions, like, how did your year go and, you know, the plans for next year. It's like this little... It's a free thing that you just, like, print out and answer the questions. So that's something I want to check out a little bit more. It's kind of a guidance type of thing as opposed to a, you know, a system or any type of planner, you know, and it's like a free download. But that's something I want to check out. So I hope that we're talking about this 12 months from now because that means I did pretty good. Like, this is my task for this year. Like, we've talked about how we don't really do resolutions and things like that before, but I do like giving myself tasks and projects, right? That's fun. Like, I'm looking... One of the things I wrote down in these show notes, what I'm going to use this for is knock production planning. So I've talked about how we manufacture a lot at knock and how it's kind of one product at a time, one color at a time, and then the line's always going so things have to slot in in different places and to get them made. Like, I could lay out probably the entirety of 2018, you know, in this notebook today. Like, that's how far out I have to know some of this stuff. So there's a lot that can go there. And if I keep it more personal, I think I will use it, you know, a little bit more than having it just totally task-driven. So that's the plan. We'll see how it works.

Myke Hurley: Today's show is also brought to you by our friends over at Squarespace. Use the offer code INK at checkout. That is I-N-K. And you will get 10% of your first purchase. Make your next move with Squarespace so that you easily create the website that you have for your next idea or project. And with the ability to grab a unique domain name, take advantage of beautiful award-winning templates and have everything backed up by 24-7 customer support, they have everything that you're going to need. There's nothing to install. There are no patches to worry about. No upgrades needed. They are the all-in-one platform. They have everything you're going to need, nothing more, nothing less. You don't have to worry about anything with Squarespace. They've got you covered. No matter what type of website you want to build, they have the beautiful templates and tools and setup to help you create it. You can add store functionality if you want. You can have a blog. You can have galleries. You can have maps. You can have music players. So you can just think about some of the incredible things that you can work on and make with Squarespace. Their plans start at just $12 a month and you can sign up for a trial with no credit card required just by going to squarespace.com. Then when you decide to sign up, use the offer code INK at checkout as INK to get yourself 10% off your first purchase and show your support for The Pen Addict. We thank Squarespace for the continued support of this show. Squarespace, make your next move, make your next website.

Squarespace Websites

Brad Dowdy: So I actually have a Squarespace website where I can write some of this down about how my planner, plannering is going for 2018. It's at penaddict.com. Never heard of it. It's a Squarespace site I started. So we'll check that out sometime. All right. Slew. I said slew of Ask TPA this week, Myke. So much of a slew, I've separated them into two sections in case we can't get to them all. So we got a lot of good questions that it might be two weeks before you get an answer to because we're not recording next week. So let's see what we got, Myke. We might can get them all. We'll just see how it goes. First one is an awesome question from Ben Crumback on Twitter.

Gold Nibs

Brad Dowdy: If one of the main advantages of a gold nib is softness springiness compared to steel, what's the attraction to rigid gold nibs? What are some examples of excellent rigid gold nibs? What are some examples of excellent springier gold nibs? So I like this question because there is a lot of variance in gold nibs. There's even some variance in steel nibs. And I talk about how I like a firm nib, a firm fine nib, whether it's steel or gold. They have a bit of a different feel on the page. So even though the gold, a rigid gold nib doesn't give you that kind of flex or springiness that you mentioned, it does have a little bit of a smoothness advantage on the paper compared to a steel nib unless you've had the steel nib really worked on. There's some awesome smooth, fine, firm steel nibs. You can get a little bit smoother and better with a gold nib. But as far as examples go, in the rigid category, Sailor makes, categorizes some of their nibs as hard. So that's their firm gold nib. So like I use a hard, fine nib from Sailor. That means I don't get much spreading of the tines when I write. I get a nice, clean, consistent, sharp line.

Brad Dowdy: Aurora has a very thick gold nib, which eliminates some of the springiness. So it's a very firm nib. You're not going to get a lot of cushion when you're writing. Some people say it's like, you know, writing with a nail or something like that. I happen to prefer that. That's the style of nib I like. Or Myke, on the other hand, has tried my Aurora's and absolutely despises them. And it's because of the nib. It doesn't have anything to do with the pen, but the nib is not what he enjoys in a writing experience. I've also found that in the more wide-ranging or generic areas that Bach's gold nibs tend to be firm, at least the ones that I've tried. I haven't tried a whole bunch of them, but I've tried the Yovo gold nibs are softer compared to Bach in my experience, but I don't have tons of different nibs of each size, maybe a couple of each to play with, but I find that a Bach nib, gold nib, is firmer than Yovo for a lot of other manufacturers like Edison, Franklin Kristoff, on and on and on, whoever uses secondary market nibs. On the soft side of the gold nib ledger, Pelican's the superstar there, right? Pretty much every size of every nib they make is softer than any comparable nib in other brands' size of nib. They're really, really known for that feel. I personally don't like it, but I love Pelican pens, so I'll get those nibs adjusted into a cursive italic to where I will enjoy that pen more, or an extra fine, which helps with the springiness. I'm not pressing very hard when I'm using a Pelican extra fine nib, so those are always soft, and then Platinum does a really good soft fine, soft medium nib, so you get a little bit of that springiness you're talking about there. So, that's one of those things where it's very personal. If you haven't experienced it before, you may not know. That's why pen shows are good. That's why we talk about that, but yeah, it's a hard definition to put down like in black and white terms because we all have different hand pressure, right? We write differently. We have to hold the pen at a different angle, so that's going to change things. So, you know, those are some generalities. I wouldn't say they're law by any stretch of the imagination, but that's somewhere to get you started.

Brad Dowdy: Travis has a tough question, and I thought I would have an easier answer, but I don't. I might have an answer, but we'll see. So, Travis goes through pink highlighters like they're going out of style as I use them to second check drawing changes and revisions after I draft them. I was considering trying to use a pilot parallel. That's the big, wide, bulky calligraphy pilot pen. It says, but I haven't been able to find an ink which I think will work. I will be highlighting over the top of red, green, and blue pencil and pen markups as well as standard black laser printing. The ink must not be so saturated or vibrant that I can't read what was written underneath and, of course, not smudge what is always there, what is already there. Any suggestions on some ink to try?

Brad Dowdy: It's almost an impossible question to answer because there's so many variables in just the types of pens and pencils you're using, the printer you're using, the paper that all these things are written on. Even if you do find a singular fountain pen ink, it's probably not going to work well with all of these things.

Brad Dowdy: Paper being the biggest variable in the whole setup. The first ink that I thought of when I thought pink highlighter ink was Diamine's Hope Pink, which is a really bright pink and it's not too deeply saturated. But, if you put that on a copier paper, I mean, it's going to look like just a hot pink and I don't know how much of your color is going to show through. I mean, the water-based fountain pen inks are just going to eat up that paper. So, you know, that's the first one that came to mind and I wasn't really sure because I don't have a lot of experience with light pink inks. As I was browsing through some inks, Monteverde Rose Pink looks like it might be a good choice. It's lighter than even the Hope Pink. The Hope Pink's a little brighter. Rose Pink is a little softer. But, honestly, Travis, and you may not like this answer, you might want to look at highlighter pencils. I think that might be what you need. Or, highlighter gel pens, which they actually make. They're a little bit weird, but they're going to work for what you need. I'm really concerned about what paper you're using and the ability of the ink to stay, to keep the words and lines written under it legible because the ink is going to soak right into the paper. Like, if you were using drawing on Rhodia paper and wanted to highlight it, Diamine Hope Pink would be fine. But, I think the paper is going to be your biggest challenge and I think you might even need to consider trying something like a highlighter pencil or a highlighter gel pen. So, maybe not the answer you wanted to hear. Try Diamine Hope Pink or Monteverde Rose Pink, but you may not like either of those. Alright, this is a much easier question for me, Myke.

Brad Dowdy: Seattle Sparky wants to know, Pilot 823 or a first Pelican or Sailor. What say you?

Myke Hurley: Well, I mean, I don't have a Pilot 823 and I kind of, with the Pelican and Sailor, right, now, I mean, I can only speak to myself, but I would say to go, and I think this is weird maybe, but I would say to go Pelican first because you can get to really enjoy the Pelican because once you go to Sailor, you're kind of at the end.

Brad Dowdy: I can't disagree with that necessarily. I mean, not really, but I see what you're saying. Like, right,

Myke Hurley: Sailor pens are so good every time. Yeah. And there is something to really enjoy in Pelican pens. I have a Pelican pen. What one do I have? Is it 205? Is it 205?

Brad Dowdy: 205 with a gold nib swapped into it.

Myke Hurley: Which for me is the only option. I really didn't like the regular nib. It didn't work for me. I don't know why. But the gold nib is wonderful and I love that pen.

Myke Hurley: But the Sailor is better. Right? So I just struggle with it. It's like, if this is not the only pen, right? Like, if you have budget in your life for more pens later, I would say to go Pelican then Sailor. If this is like you don't know when you'll buy another pen, go Sailor. This is it. Like, this might be it, go Sailor. Because that, for me, is like the ultimate in this price range. But I haven't tried the Pilot 823 and I assume that's what Brad's going to say.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I mean, it's not a real question for me. The 823 is such a superior pen if you're looking to spend that kind of money. You can do, you can get a Pelican or Sailor, like a really nice Pelican or Sailor, for cheaper than you can get an 823.

Brad Dowdy: But I don't think anything really compares to the 823 in that, in that ballpark price range. So, I mean, if those are my choices, without even a doubt, it's 823. I could see the argument for Sailor. I don't see the argument for Pelican in my book. So, you can, if you're considering 823, you can get the full-size Pro Gear, I have no issue with that.

Brad Dowdy: Pelican, you're in the 400s, the model territory, and I don't like Pelicans until you start getting to 600s, which are in a different price bracket.

Myke Hurley: Which is another mark for the Sailor, though, because at 200, you get the best

Brad Dowdy: Sailor can get in the low 200s. I totally agree. I'd still, if 823's on the list, that's the one I'm picking.

Brad Dowdy: I'm interested about this next question from our good friend Claire. She wants to know if you could write with Bix for the rest of your life, or the Chaos Pen for the rest of your life, which would you choose and why?

Myke Hurley: I'm very interested to see what you say on this one. For me, it's the Chaos Pen because if I'm going to write with something, right, and it's like the only thing I have to write with, I may as well write with something that has some personality to it. Even if it's a personality that I don't have or agree with, I can at least look at this pen and see something, right? Also, knowing as well that like, okay, it's the only pen I will have forever, but it costs $6,000. So like, you know, somebody at least had to give that to me, rather than $6,000 worth of Bic pens. I figured that, you know, I may as well go for this one, then just use Bic forever, because, because, at least it's a fountain pen. I can use whatever ink I want, if it's the Bic, all I get is just the plain regular Bics, right? I think the Chaos pen wins this one. I don't even know who you are anymore. So you would just use a standard Bic forever? You just get like a blue Bic and then that's it for the rest of your life?

Brad Dowdy: They have colors, but I'm fine with the blue one. Like, I could use the Bic crystal as my only pen for the rest of life, because it has, you can do a lot of things with it. Plus, you know, it's a very good spitball, barrel. If you need to have a spitball fight, you can use it as a straw in an extreme situation. If you ever

Myke Hurley: tried to shoot a spitball from the Chaos pen, you don't know.

Brad Dowdy: That's true, but it would need some modification, I feel. You could shoot ink out of it though, and blind somebody. But yeah, it's not a survival thing, it's about writing experience, and the Bic crystal gives me the clarity that I need when writing all of my important words down on the page. You haven't tried the chaos. You haven't tried it, it might be wonderful. I mean, it's called chaos. My life has enough chaos in it, I don't need a chaos pen to add more chaos to my chaos.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, but what

Brad Dowdy: if the chaos pen controls, like it sucks in all the chaos in your life, you know? I've seen the outside of that pen, there is nothing going inward. Wow. It is all projecting outward. It's outward projection of chaos. Yeah, but like

Myke Hurley: think of that, think of that metaphor, right? The chaos is all on the outside, it's not on the inside.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I like my chances with the Bic. I could not bring myself to write in public with the chaos pen for the looks I would get. It would be chaotic.

Brad Dowdy: I don't even see how this is a question. I think that's simple.

Myke Hurley: I couldn't bring myself to have to use a Bic all the time. I would prefer to use the chaos.

Ink Properties

Brad Dowdy: All right, so I guess we're going to fight about this for a while, so let's move on to the next question. So Rajesh says the ink hangs in the top of his converter on his tactile turn gist. Any ideas? So that's a normal thing. It's just somehow, sometimes the ink stays in the top of converters just the way the ink's made and the different chemical compositions of the ink and plastic. You can just shake it down. It's real easy. You can buy standard international converters with agitators inside them. It's really a non-issue unless you're saying it's getting behind the plunger and then you can unscrew the back of the pen when you're cleaning it to make sure you retighten it very well. If it's just hanging in the top it doesn't take anything but a shake or a tap to get it down and you can actually get some agitator converters if that really bothers you and you want to try to avoid that.

Brad Dowdy: I like this question from Critter Myke and I snuck this one in there so I'm not sure if you got a chance to think about it. She says you and I Myke each have to convert one relay host to fountain pens. Who would it be and what pen would you each choose? Do you want me to take this one first?

Myke Hurley: Yep.

Brad Dowdy: I didn't actually have to think too much about it but I chose Brianna Wu because she is very obsessive about the things she likes. Like when she gets into something she's all the way in. And I could see her getting into fountain pens. We've actually talked on our Relay of Film Slack about her love for the Alvin Draftmatic mechanical pencil. So I know she has like a stationary bent in there. I know she likes it. So looking at the other things she likes like motorcycles and fast cars, the Pilot Vanishing Point and Matt Black, I think I could convert Brianna into a fountain pen user just with that pen alone.

Myke Hurley: I would give Casey List a chaos pen just because he's been frustrating me today. So I feel like he needs something in his life that would cause him undue attention.

Brad Dowdy: That would be pretty amazing. I would actually donate to that fund, but he'd have to use it for like a year straight. That would be awesome.

Brad Dowdy: That's where I would go with that.

Brad Dowdy: You know, Casey was on my short list, but I could never figure out anything. But yeah, I think I could get Brianna into a Pilot Vanishing Point. I think she would appreciate that pen for what it is. That's a good

Myke Hurley: option. I think a lot of people can really like that pen, like if you care about design and mechanics, which she does, it is very intriguing for that reason.

Brad Dowdy: It's outside the realm of what you would normally consider a fountain pen, which is kind of where you want to go. So, all right, Doc Ketchup, we've kind of answered this question earlier, but I want to revisit it. I just purchased a Sailor Pro Gear Slim and I'm looking for another gold nib pen in the $200 to $300 range. That will be a variation from the Sailor in writing and look. I usually prefer fine nibs. What am I going to say, Myke? I mean, it's easy for me.

Brad Dowdy: It's the Pilot 823.

Brad Dowdy: I mean, I hate banging that drum constantly, but it's such a different pen in that price range. And it's better. It just is. It's better than so many things in that price range. It's hard to get off that recommendation in that price range. If you're giving me that price range and say you want something different than the Pro Gear Slim, I don't have another answer.

Myke Hurley: Regular Pro Gear, I guess.

Brad Dowdy: That's no variation. No variation, just bigger. So, yeah. So, to me, it's the 823. I mean, what else are you going to do in that price range that's not a Sailor?

Myke Hurley: Yeah. For gold nib, 200 to 300, there really aren't a lot of people that do that.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I mean, chat room says the Platinum 3776, but you can get that for like 150.

Brad Dowdy: That's an awesome pen.

Brad Dowdy: But it's not in that price range. I mean, give me something, $200 to $300 that's not a Sailor. I'm all ears.

Myke Hurley: I would maybe say go for the 3776. I don't think it has to be 200. Like, if you can get a good pen that's

Brad Dowdy: 150, I think it still counts. Yeah. I mean, then you're saying the Lamy 2000. I like the Pilot 912 in there, even though it's just black and silver. It's an awesome pen. Yeah, you can get into all the custom pens. Lamy 2000 is good. You get a Franklin Kristoff or an Edison. For like 170. Those are awesome.

Brad Dowdy: But I'm answering the question posed. And no one's coming up with a better answer than the 823 between 200 and $300 that I'm seeing. That's not a Sailor program. You sound like a

Myke Hurley: politician right now.

Brad Dowdy: Well, no. I would like to have more options, I guess is what I'm saying. But once you cross over 300, then you're getting into your real custom pens like Newtons and Brooks and Canoleas, and then you're getting into Pelicans. Under 200 is a huge, huge range of awesome pens. Like, that's where the sweet spot is, right? Like 150. You can get everything you ever wanted in a pen, give or take, you know, a few bucks in that range. Between 200 and 300, that's not a Sailor Pro Gear. I mean, I'm still waiting.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, okay. All right, all right.

Brad Dowdy: You win.

Brad Dowdy: Or a second-hand pen, you know, you know, anything like that. You can get, you can find a Pelican for sale. Like, you can get a, you could maybe get like a Pelican 600 on some crazy sale for like 300 bucks, but that's just not a normal thing. Yeah, Tony's in the chat room saying the Sailor 1911. I mean, that's fair, but it's also a Sailor. It has rounded ends instead of, you know, flat ends. The Rialo, I guess, is in the same thing there, but they're still Sailor and they're still general, generally, aesthetically the same, even though the ends are different, but I just, that's a weird price bracket for me. If you're not, if you're not going Sailor Pro Gear right there, that's a weird, that's a weird price bracket. So, all right.

Formal Documents

Brad Dowdy: Parker says, all right, you guys are in charge of drafting and handwriting a formal document. Style counts and the document is at least two pages. What pen and ink would you choose?

Brad Dowdy: Do you want to tackle this one first? You want me to go?

Myke Hurley: I don't know if I have any ink that would work.

Brad Dowdy: Like, plus style counts on this and that eliminates you immediately.

Myke Hurley: I was waiting for it. I was just, I figured at some point during the answer, the reason I didn't put this question in the document today was because I knew that somewhere in there you would try and make fun of me. And it's what I do. I mean, really, I don't own many pens that I could actually do this with because I tend to go with, like, wild stuff, right? Like, silly nibs and things like that. So, like, really, honestly, like, out of what I own, I would probably use a Retro 51 because it's standard and black mostly, right? Like, because I have mostly broad nibs, mediums, and I have a bunch of stub nibs. I have some, and, like, the mediums that I have usually have orange, pink, bright blue inks in them. I have, like, half a bottle of Franklin Christophe Black that somebody just gave to me once, which is the reason that I own that. For a very long time, I think since, like, the age of 15, I've always gone for wild stuff. Like, when I wrote my English coursework in pink ink and my teacher had to photocopy it so she could submit it to the exam board, that was my way of acting out in school, really. So, I guess out of the stuff that I currently own, I would use a Retro 51 because I know that it would be accepted, which is why whenever I am traveling to the US and I have to fill out those boarding card things, make sure I have a Retro 51 with me. It's because I know I'll be accepted.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, no, I can totally see that. If you had to put out this two-page letter, I could see you using the Retro 51 for that for, like, the style purposes, right? I think that would look, you know, appropriate. I went a little bit different because I love my fine cursive italic nibs. So, my Nakaya portable fine cursive italic nib is my favorite pen and my favorite nib I own. So, I'd want, if I'm writing something that important, I want to write it with my favorite pen and nib. And I'd use the Bung Box Sapphire ink, which is a really, really bright blue. It's not really turquoise. It's kind of hard to explain. But it pops off the page. You know, I might get a little bit of side eye depending on what kind of style we're counting here. Like, if we're talking official proper style or if we're just talking like it looks nice.

Brad Dowdy: So, you know, I like writing, like, documents in some type of cursive italic nib that makes my handwriting look the best. So, and then I want a bright ink to kind of pop off the page a little bit. So, that's what I'd look at.

Brad Dowdy: All right. We're going to wrap this up on this question.

Brad Dowdy: And I gave this a little bit of thought. And then I was like, well, maybe I don't have enough information to answer it. And then I thought about it some more and I came up with a good answer. So, Bump wants to know, what is your pen of the year?

Brad Dowdy: So, this can go a lot of ways. There's no rules other than what is your pen of the year. It doesn't mean, to me, it doesn't mean it had to launch this year. To me, it means, what pen essentially moved up the charts the most for me? What pen did I use the most this year? What pen surprised me the most this year? Even though the answer I came up with wasn't introduced this year. But I think it came into its own this year. And to me, that's the shown design pen. I use that pen more than practically any other pen I own. I use it almost every day. Even though he started making them a couple years ago, they didn't really start to hit. He didn't kind of, Ian didn't hit his stride, I don't think, until earlier this year. And he started doing crazier things, you know, doing different colors. From that, a pen that I didn't use at all, to a pen that's in my pocket on a daily basis, I think, is the perfect answer to what would be my personal pen of the year. Now, if it's a pen that launched this year, I don't have an answer to that question. But my personal pen of the year is the shown design 01. And I love it. I mean, that's how I took this question, Myke. So, and I think there's lots of ways you can take it. So what did you think about this question?

Myke Hurley: I took it as pen release this year. Like, they were my personal rules for this because I was thinking if this was something that we wanted to do every year, you would want it to be pen release this year because otherwise it could be the same pen for like five years in a row. So, I mean, I do think this is maybe something we could think about doing every year. I think, honestly, it's something we probably should do every year. So I think this would be a good start. And I think it's fine for you to pick what you've picked. But I've gone with the Sailor Pro Gear Slim Purple Cosmos. It was a pen release this year and it shot up the list for me because I adore it. I adore it because of the way it looks and it's a pro gear. And I use it every day and have since I bought it. So that is my pen of the year because you can't beat a pro gear and it looks fantastic.

Brad Dowdy: Off the top of my head and I'm actually a little plug real quick. I'm going to be talking about a lot of products released in 2017 with Brian Goulet tomorrow on Instagram Live. I think we're doing it at 345 Eastern. So if you're on Instagram, set your alerts if you want to be part of that. I'm going to talk a lot about what Platinum did this year. So like the Nice Lelos would probably be my pen of the year even though I don't own one. What that did for the brand, it showed me a lot of what that brand is about and what they're going to be in the coming year. So I think that was an important release even though I don't own that pen. You know, there's, like I said, there's lots of different ways you can take this question but I thought it was fantastic. And for about the 10 other Ask TPA questions we didn't get to today, we will get to them in the new year because we are off next week, Myke. we're going to have a happy Christmas and a merry new year.

Brad Dowdy: And I hope everyone gets all the pens and stationary goods under the tree that they wished for. And I want to see pictures of them all. So hit us up.

Myke Hurley: I would say without a doubt 2017 has been the best and biggest year for the pen addict. Yep. So thank you so much as always for tuning in, for helping support us with our travels around the globe. And for everything that you do as listeners of this show, we appreciate it greatly. We are very much looking forward to 2018. We've got a lot of really exciting stuff planned, both personally and professionally. And we're very much looking forward to having you along with us. So if you want to find Brad online, you can go to penaddict.com, knock.co. He is penaddict on Instagram, dowdyism on Twitter. I am imike, I-M-Y-K-E. This show is a part of the Relay FM network. If you go to relay.fm slash shows, there's a whole list of podcasts there. I'm sure you may find something else that you like if this is the only show that you listen to. There's some good ones. Some say that all the great shows can be found there, but that is something up for debate. Thanks again to our lovely sponsors for this week's episode. We want to thank the fine people at Penn Chalet. Thank you, Ron, for another year. Same goes for Squarespace and Harry's as well. I think those sponsors have been with us throughout 2017, and they're all going to be back in 2018. They are great supporters of the penaddict, as you are. If you're a member of either Brad's penaddict membership or you support Relay FM's memberships, again, thank you for that. You can send in your questions for this show at hashtag ask EPA. We'll be back in 2018. Until then, happy holidays, happy new year. Until next time, say goodbye, Brad.

Brad Dowdy: Goodbye, Brad.