The Pen Addict 31/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	31
Title:	Holiday Gift Guide
Release Date:	November 27th, 2012
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 31
Audio File:	Audio Episode 31
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 31
Length:	3636 min <br />0.6 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: Hello and welcome to episode 31 of The Pen Addict, your weekly show where we discuss pens and paper and the analogue tools that you love so dearly. My name is Myke Hurley and I am joined, as always, by the man himself. The man who wears the glittery jacket made entirely of pencil shavings.

Myke Hurley: Mr. Brad Dowdy, I had no idea. That was just... I'm tired. That was the best I could come up with. I apologise to everyone.

Brad Dowdy: It's like you've been in my closet, man. You know me.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I'm sorry for letting people know.

Brad Dowdy: I have a glittery pencil shavings jacket hanging in my closet. It's amazing that you knew that.

Myke Hurley: It is kind of crazy, really.

Brad Dowdy: How are you, sir?

Myke Hurley: I'm good. I'm good.

Brad Dowdy: Good, good. Well, I'm properly stuffed and recovering and recuperating from our holiday last week. It was a good week for me. I had some time off from work, some family time, family coming in town. So I actually didn't get as much pen addict work in last week as I wanted to. So this is kind of a... Doing this podcast today is kind of a kickstart to my week. You know, I posted a review this morning on a pretty cool pen and pencil case that I've been test driving for a few weeks now. And got this podcast going, so I'm ready to get my weeks... This was really the kickoff of my week. I need to get some things going on some reviews and other pen goodies.

Myke Hurley: That case looks pretty fancy.

Pen Case Review

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so we can talk about that real quick. We'll link to the review if anyone hasn't seen it yet. It's on penaddict.com. I review... There's a small manufacturer. I mean, it's probably like a two- or three-person shop in Atlanta called Alter Manufacturing. And one of the guys that works for them hit me up on Twitter. Or actually, he told his boss, one of the Alter guys, that, hey, if you're making this pencil case, you ought to look up this pen addict guy. And he's into pencil cases, and he might want to review it, and he's into things like that. So we had a conversation. We hit it off, and they sent me one to test out. And like I said in the review... Excuse me.

Brad Dowdy: You know, I got the... They sent me the case. I was like... I opened the envelope. I was like, huh, this is, you know, okay. Seems fine. You know, looked interesting, but didn't look like anything special. You know, it's just, you know, canvas and, you know, Velcro and, you know, a nice sewn border. But once I started loading it up with pens and carrying it with me every day, I found that I really liked it. It's a really sturdy pencil case. I carry it in my backpack. It folds pretty flat for all the pens I have in there. It's real solid. There's no movement of any of the pens or pencils I have loaded out in there. So it's just one of those products that while when I first laid eyes on it, it didn't impress me. The more I used it, the more I realized how good of quality and how functional it is and how strong it is. And it actually replaced my nomadic roller case that I carry in my backpack with me every day. So that's a pretty big deal. Cool.

Myke Hurley: For the guy who's been loading it up over everyone because he has one of those. Because you can't get it anymore, right? Right. Nomadic roller. Cool. Must be good.

Brad Dowdy: So yeah, it basically takes the rollout part of the nomadic roller and just kind of morphs it into one folding pen case. Which there's a nomadic that is a folding, you know, like an envelope style pen case. Like it's very similar to this Mod 2 from Alter. And it's a little bit looser. And I don't like the pen storage as much. There's like two layers of pockets on top of each other. It doesn't work as well as this Alter pen case. So I'm real happy with it. So y'all check out the interview. There's some pictures on there. And just for all the people asking me, I've had a bunch of questions on my pictures on that review. There's an orange pen in that pen case that everyone wants to know what it is. It's a Render K.

Brad Dowdy: It's one of the special colors edition that they did. They made about ten colors of them. We've talked about them on the podcast before. And I've covered it on the blog before. So for everyone asking what that orange pen in my pen case is, it's a Render K. So maybe we'll talk about that here in a moment.

Gift Guide

Myke Hurley: Yes, maybe we will. So what have we got coming up on today's show? What's going to be our main topic for the show today?

Brad Dowdy: Well, we thought, and I hadn't really considered this, doing something like this. And you mentioned it a few weeks ago just when we were talking off the record. And you said we ought to do like a gift guide, a pen addict podcast gift guide show. Just give some of our favorite items. Everyone knows all the normal products we talk about. But we just thought we'd give some other ideas for gifts for yourself, gifts for others. There's maybe some things that people haven't thought about or we haven't spoken about specifically for different types of users, for different types of gifts for the upcoming holidays. So I think we'll do a little gift guide show today.

Myke Hurley: Excellent. Before we do that, though, should I give thanks to our sponsor for the week before we kick off?

Brad Dowdy: That would be great.

Myke Hurley: We need to pay the bills so we can afford to buy our own gifts.

Brad Dowdy: That's right. Get the wallets open.

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Brad Dowdy: Thank you, Squarespace.

Brad Dowdy: All right, so you ready to get into this gift guide?

Myke Hurley: I have been born ready.

Brad Dowdy: So I've got just some general topics or suggestions for people if they're looking for someone who's new to pens or someone who's experienced with pens or someone, something that they can get easily at the store or something that they would have to get only online. So we'll just run through a few topics, and we'll just kind of fill in the blanks as we go. And this was kind of a list that I put together, so definitely chime in with what – if there's anything that you want to add to that list or anything like that. Retro 51. I know. I know. So Retro 51 and Pilot Vanishing Point.

Brad Dowdy: Boom.

Myke Hurley: That was amazing. We just threw down the mic.

Brad Dowdy: We're done.

Myke Hurley: Hang on. Wow. Brad, I am so proud of you right now. That is what they call boom.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, man. We wouldn't do that to you guys. I know that's what everyone's expecting us to say.

Myke Hurley: Look, basically, I know I said I wasn't going to mention this, but I feel that this needs to happen. So I mentioned last week that we were doing something called the Golden Headphone Awards, which is our awards of the year, and people can suggest their favorite moments. I really want that moment right there to win an award. So if you haven't, for some reason, gone and voted for your favorite moments and shows and hosts, there's another link in the show notes where you can go to 70db.net forward slash golden headphones. Please vote episode 31 of the pen addict, Brad Bangs' desk. I really want to award Brad for that moment. That was pure comedy. I did not see it coming. Well done.

Brad Dowdy: I had no intention of doing that either. It just came out. As soon as you said Retro 51, I was like, oh, I'm going to do this.

Myke Hurley: Oh, man. Anyway.

Myke Hurley: So item one.

Brad Dowdy: I purposely didn't include either of those pens in my list just for reasons we all know too well by this point. Yeah. But I did in the very first topic that I did put down. It is a fountain pen related topic because I always get asked, you know, I want to start in fountain pens. I've never used a fountain pen. Which one do I buy?

Myke Hurley: And I guess this is good for a gift guide because you could be buying it for somebody who doesn't use them as well.

Fountain Pens

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So the one I always recommend to people to start out with either for themselves or as a low barrier to entry fountain pen to give as a gift to someone who they think might want to try fountain pens is the Lamy Safari.

Myke Hurley: Joe, I was literally typing Lamy Safari into the JetPen search engine because I knew that that was what you were going to say because I cannot agree with that recommendation enough.

Brad Dowdy: I know. It's one of those pens that is very easy for a beginner to use. It's beautifully designed. It's extremely well made. It's super cost effective. There's so many color combinations you can buy. There's different nib sizes. It's highly modifiable in that you can use it just straight with the ink cartridges and keep it simple. Or you can add a converter and, you know, a bottle of ink, you know, for, you know, another, like the Lamy Safari's run, you know, say $25 to $30. Add another $5 for a converter and $10 for a bottle of ink. And for $40, you have someone set up, like, for a long time with their first fountain pen. And I've never had a bad experience with one of these pens, right? There's some pens we, you know, that we use. And, like, there's some pens that I like that I would never recommend to people just because I know that they're a little bit more touchy, a little bit more finicky to use. I've never had any type of issue with the Safari. It just, it flat out works, and it works all the time. And it's a wonderful writing experience. And it's a pen that, you know, can grow with you as you get more into fountain pens, you know, talking about adding the converters and using the different inks. And if you really get into it, you can switch out. It's one of the easiest nibs to switch out. Like if, you know, you bought a fine nib and it turned out you wanted an italic nib. Well, you can switch that out with the Safari. It's one of those pens that beginners and experts all swear by. I mean, it's that good.

Myke Hurley: I have to go one extra on that as well. So remember last week I spoke about that new UK shop that I found, Bureau Direct. Right, right. They do a Lame Safari gift box. Okay. And you get the Safari fountain pen, medium nib, Safari ballpoint, and Safari mechanical pencil. And it comes in a gift box and a Lame gift bag. And you match the colors. So they do yellow, black, black with the black sort of clip, blue, white, and red. So you can choose and then they're all matching.

Brad Dowdy: Right, so like your fountain pen, your ballpoint, your pencil all would be like red, all red barrels or whichever color. Yeah, that's a really good idea. I've never used one of their pencils, so I'm not sure how the mechanics of those work. I have used the rollerball and have used the ballpoint before. And they're very good, as you can imagine. But the Safari for – if you're looking just to surprise someone and take just a wild shot at something that you're not sure that they're going to like, I promise you that the Safari is a real eye-opener to people when they use it for the first time. So aside from that, one of the other items that is more of a stocking stuffer type thing, a last-minute purchase at the store kind of thing. People forget that, hey, most of the stuff we talk about, we talk about buying online. But I get lots of questions about, hey, what can I go down to the store? Or any big box retailer, any office supply retailer, pick up that is not just your regular standard Bic pen or whatever. That's going to be a really good quality pen that I'm going to have fun with and I'm going to enjoy. And I recommend nine times out of ten in that case, depending on the use, is the Sharpie pen.

Brad Dowdy: That's perfect for kids. It's perfect as a stocking stuffer, you can buy two packs, four packs, different color packs. I put a link in our show notes for a 12-pack. I didn't even realize that Sharpie made so many colors in just the Sharpie pen. They make a 12-pack of all different colors now. That's something you may not be able to find that particular set at like a Walmart or Target, but usually like OfficeMax, Staples, they'll have those type of things. And that's a really good just add-on, especially like my daughter would love that. Kids love all those different colors and all those different color markers. But if you're buying it for someone that does have an affinity for pens, they're going to be impressed with the quality of the Sharpie pen and the wide color range that it gets into. You know, buying from the store for pen addicts like us is pretty tough, and I think the Sharpie pen kind of fits the bill if you just want to go pick something up at your local big box brick-and-mortar stores. Excuse me. One pencil that you and I have talked about a bunch and that we recommend pretty much bar none in relation to any other pencil is the Uniball Kuru Toga. And for gift purposes, this has to be in pretty much any gift guide I've ever done. And I think I've probably recommended this every Christmas since it's come out just because it's that unique of a pen and pencil. Excuse me. And shockingly, no one has come up with a competitor to this pencil. If you're not familiar with the Kuru Toga, it's a lead pencil with an auto-lead rotation mechanism in the tip. So when you write, you know, with a normal lead pencil, you write, or a mechanical pencil you write, and you kind of flatten out the tip and you rotate the pencil in your hand to get to the sharp point. Well, the Kuru Toga takes care of that itself. And there's a model called the roulette model, which is just kind of a fancier upgrade barrel. It's only about $15 or $16. You know, if you have any kids that are into, like, gadgets, like, you know, boys that are into Legos or something like that, this is kind of a real gadgety type of pencil that, you know, kids can take to school or you can take to the office and just kind of show off and like, hey, check out this pencil. You know, I'm a super nerd.

Brad Dowdy: Do you have a Kuru Toga? You have that, right?

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I do. Yeah, I have one.

Kuru Toga

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it just works. I've had mine for years. I think this is probably about the third year in a row that I've recommended. You know, I don't think I'm going to do a gift guide on the blog this year, but I know in the past I've made some suggestions. And I think the Kuru Toga has been on every list I've ever done for the holidays. It's just a real unique item to give as a gift. And a lot of people still haven't seen it, despite the fact it's been out for probably three or four years now.

Myke Hurley: It's just a great little stocking stuffer, that one, I think.

Brad Dowdy: Exactly. Exactly. You know, on that same lines, for someone who hasn't gotten into pens and you don't think is – they're probably not a fountain pen person. So, you know, they wouldn't go for something like the Lamy Safari. You know, they just want, you know, a good writing experience. And you want to, I guess, share things that you're familiar with. Like from my perspective, like, you know, I'm familiar with a lot of pens. You know, a lot of people that read the blog are familiar with a lot of things. But, you know, some of the stuff we talk about just isn't available to other people. But – or, you know, they don't know where to look for these type of things. And, you know, it's always – my blog started basically surrounding micro-tip gel ink pens. That's really kind of always been the underlying thing of the pen addict. That's just kind of my niche that I like. And people always want to know what's the best one that I can get to start with. I've never used a Japanese pen before. I've never used a sub 0.7 millimeter tip pen before. You know, I've never used things like that before. And I always recommend the Uniball Sino DX 0.38 millimeter. That pen is as rock solid as they come. When I've sent them to people to try out, they're like, wow, I didn't know a pen could write this fine and be this smooth and look this good.

Uniball Sino

Brad Dowdy: You know, and you just can't get this at the store. They make the Uniball Sino RT 0.38 that you can get at the store. It's not the same. It doesn't write as nice as this. You know, Pilot G2s make a 0.38 that you can buy at the store. It's not as good as this pen. This is the pen that people wanting to get into micro-gel ink pens, this is the pen they should buy. Now, you would think I would say the Hi-Tech C because I rave about that pen. I've mentioned it before. For someone's first pen, I never, ever, ever recommend the Pilot Hi-Tech C. It's so uncomfortable. Huh?

Myke Hurley: The barrel is so uncomfortable.

Brad Dowdy: The barrel is uncomfortable. And the writing experience can be spotty sometimes. It takes a little bit of priming to get going. So I always recommend the Sino DX. And our friend Sean Blanc just put out his Tools and Toys Holiday Gift Guide. The Sino DX 0.38 is on that list. So he is a fan. It's one of the most well-made, low-cost gel ink pens there is. It's a fantastic, fantastic pen. I don't know anyone who doesn't like the DX unless they don't like that fine of a line. So, you know, that's something to keep in mind.

Myke Hurley: I think that might have been one of Stephen's contributions.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. Was he part of that list? What's the list?

Myke Hurley: Stephen writes Tools and Toys now. Okay. I didn't realize that. With Sean. Yeah. It's not been very long. But they do it together now. So if my memory serves, he uses that after your recommendation.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. He uses that. And he uses the Zebra Saracic clip. Yeah. He loves the Saracic clip. Point formula. Yep. I know he's a big fan of that one. Well, cool. I didn't realize that. Because I know Sean has used the DX in the past too. So that's awesome.

Myke Hurley: He's a Vanishing Point user now.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, that's right. I remember that. I remember that. Man, I don't want to get sidetracked here. But I've been thinking about that EF nib again on that Vanishing Point that I didn't like the first time. Now I've kind of got a hankering to try it again. But that's for another episode.

Brad Dowdy: I don't know what's making me get into that. I guess they released a new barrel color here not too long ago. So it's kind of got my wheels spinning.

Myke Hurley: Of the Vanishing Point?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. What color? Gunmetal gray with black trim.

Brad Dowdy: You haven't seen that one?

Myke Hurley: No.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. We'll stop. We'll cover that another time.

Myke Hurley: Yep.

Brad Dowdy: One of my readers bought one. I'm trying to get him to do a review on it. So hopefully we can do that soon.

Retro 51

Brad Dowdy: All right. So back to the list. So we don't get sidetracked on our Vanishing Point. Next thing you know, I'll be recommending a Retro 51.

Brad Dowdy: So I talked about the high-tech C. Now, this is something that I add to the gift list for people who are very familiar with pens. They know this is probably more of a self-gift, something that you want to buy for yourself as opposed to springing on someone who you don't really know their tastes.

Brad Dowdy: Because, number one, the high-tech C can be a little bit finicky to write with. And it can throw a lot of people off until you get used to it. And once you get used to it, it's probably, in my case, it's probably one of my favorite writing pens ever. But, you know, ever since Kickstarter kind of got into the popular culture, some of these manufacturers started building barrels to fit this pilot high-tech C just because it was so popular around designers. You know, these people who are, you know, making designs for Kickstarter using pilot high-tech Cs in their office. And they're like, well, hey, why can't I make a nicer barrel for this to go in? Because, like you said, the high-tech C barrel is honestly pretty much crap. You know, I don't mind it so much. But it's pretty weak compared to most barrels. So, like we talked in the beginning of the show, my favorite upgraded barrel for the pilot high-tech C is the Render K from Keras Customs. They've done a couple Kickstarter projects. I've got two of their Render K barrels for the high-tech C. I've bought probably five or six different Kickstarter projects. This is the only one that I carry with me. It's in my pen case all the time. I use it all the time. I get more comments on that pen than you can imagine. Just like that orange really pops. And that's one of my favorite pen barrel colors.

Brad Dowdy: So that's something that, you know, if you're looking for a self-gift or you happen to be friends with another, like, serious hardcore pen geek, you know, that's something you might want to look at from a GIF perspective. I didn't look up how much they cost. I think they're around the $45 range. So it's not a cheap pen, but it's well worth it. I've been more than happy with mine.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, the Render K is $45. Okay. And they do a brass version as well. I'm just checking if that's any different.

Brad Dowdy: That's $65, the brass. They do. I'll tell you right now, I have the brass version, and I have the aluminum colors version in orange. The aluminum is a much better pen. It's much more enjoyable to write with. It's a little bit lighter. The brass pen is very heavy. I mean, it's got some weight to it. I like it fine. It sits at home, you know. I don't need to carry two of them around.

Myke Hurley: The Render K is so interesting looking, isn't it? It's very interesting.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, and it's really well done. One of the hardest things I've found with individual manufacturers of pens, like on Kickstarter, is it takes some work to get the balance right as far as weight goes. Weight and balance, it's a big deal. And this one's very comfortable to write with. So you don't want any kind of awkward weight shifts. You don't want the weight to be too far in the front of the pen or too far in the back of the pen. And this one does a nice job. Like I said, it's my favorite kind of everyday use pen that I've gotten from Kickstarter. Most everything else just sits at my desk. You know, I use them from time to time. But the Render K, the orange one, comes with me wherever I go. It's a cool pen. Big fan. Now, I want to get into something that might tweak your buttons a little bit, Mr. Hurley. This is a pen that I've looked at. And this is, you know, I add this to the gift guide. This is for like the hardcore, serious fountain pen users, you know, for a large gift. You know, it's an expensive pen. It's for someone who really knows what they're doing and has friends that would like something really nice that, you know, has become a very popular and well-known pen. And it's actually kind of something that's, you know, it's been on my wish list for a long time. And not necessarily this particular model, but although I think this particular model is the best-looking pen, it's the Edison Collier Fountain Pen. And in the show notes, I link to the Persimmon Swirl model. I don't know if you've been able to look at this.

Brad Dowdy: But, you know, Goulet Pens Online sells these.

Brad Dowdy: And this, I don't know a lot about the history of Edison, and I believe it's Brian Edison that makes these pens. But these are literally, you know, just a guy making these pens. And, you know, he's got a big shop. Oh, Brad. And he's kind of growing and growing and growing. Whoa.

Brad Dowdy: You pulled it up.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, look. That's a beauty. They are beautiful.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. This is the kind of pen that's kind of the epitome of a gift guide. I mean, this is like a really wow kind of gift. But, you know, if someone's wanting to try a fountain pen for the first time, there's not in a million years would I ever recommend this pen, right? And this is, I think, the one pen on the list and the one product on the list that I have not used personally. But this is something that I would want as a gift as a hardcore pen user. You know, this is a really special, special item. And I think it's beautifully made. The design is wonderful. It just looks amazing, amazing. I'll have to see, I think, our friend Mary from the pen cup. I think she might have reviewed. It might be this exact pen. She's reviewed one Edison pen, like, in the past month or two. I'll see if I can find you the link. And we can include that in the show notes just so people can read more about this. Since I've never reviewed it personally, this is one of those pens that I kind of keep on my short list. You know, when I'm ever wanting to spend $150 on a pen or whatever it is, I think it's around there.

Gift Ideas

Brad Dowdy: You know, maybe in the next year or so, that's something that I'm really keeping an eye on. And like I said, if anyone's buying gifts for Myke Hurley, you might want to click on this link.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I would agree. This is a real stunner.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, and in fountain pen circles, Edison is, like, really top-notch, really well-respected. But, you know, in, I guess, in my circles, just in the Pen Addict blog where I'm just kind of expanding into fountain pens, a lot of readers have probably never heard of this brand Edison before. So I just, I wanted to share that because I think they're really beautiful. And, you know, that's something I'm going to, one of these, that's on my one of these days list. I mean, it's super, super nice looking.

Paper

Brad Dowdy: So we've talked about pens plenty. We've talked about pencils. And, well, you need something to, you need some paper to write on, don't you, Mr. Hurley? You do. It's important. It is important. And I could go a lot of ways with the paper, and there's lots of different products you can buy. Anyone can go to Barnes & Noble and pick up a Moleskine and, you know, stick it in as a stocking stuffer. You know, Myke and I would certainly never turn down a Star Wars Moleskine. But, you know, just for something a little bit different, and it's something that we talk about all the time, but I think it's worthy of a gift guide addition. And that's the Field Notes Color Subscription. For someone that you know is into stationery, you notice someone that uses not their normal products. You know, they're not buying the Mead notebooks from Staples, and that's not what they're carrying around. You know, they carry around a Moleskine, or you know that they have, they at least have a little bit of thought process going into what they're writing with and writing on. Something like the Field Notes Color Subscription, it's a quarterly subscription service where, you know, Field Notes manufactures a new notebook or a new memo book every three months, either around the theme, around the season, around some, you know, different historic products, things like that. And they do a fantastic, fantastic job of refreshing this line every quarter. And buying this subscription gives the person you're giving it to something in the mail, you know, every three months for the next year. And it's always really cool. I don't think Field Notes is disappointed yet in any of their offerings since they started this, I think, in about 2008 or so. They do a really good job.

Brad Dowdy: Most people who buy the Field Notes, they'll carry them around, you know, just in their pocket or in their backpack. And the last item I put on my gift list, even though Field Notes has recently come out with a leather cover, to keep their Field Notes in, to keep it in your pocket or in your backpack or in your car or wherever to help protect the memo books, I swear by the Dome Paper Utility Notebook Cover. It's one of the coolest products I personally own and that I paid for with my hard-earned cash. It's not a cheap product to purchase, but this is, you know, one of those products that a lot of people may not buy for themselves like I did, but that would make an awesome gift for someone who is a regular user of the memo style books, you know, be it, you know, Moleskine, Doan, Field Notes, any of those 3x5, excuse me, 3.5x5.5 memo books. This leather cover, it's super, super thick leather, but it is so soft and pliable. You know, it's like carrying like a thin wallet in my back pocket and my favorite feature about it is it's got the blue stitching on it. You know, y'all go look at the pictures on it and I've reviewed it on the blog. It's got some really cool stitching elements around it and it's extremely well made and I can't recommend it highly enough. That's one of those really good gift items. You know, it's not something traditional like a pen or a notebook or anything like that. It's like a one step above what you already have. So I really recommend that product and it's something I carry with me every day. And like I said, it fits, you know, other notebooks too. You know, just that standard memo size notebook size is what it fits. So that's one of my personal favorite products. So I think that's mostly it. I could go on and on about different kind of gifts, different kind of pens, different kind of pencils and paper for anyone to get. You know, I'm obviously biased towards pens and paper. I love everything. So everything is a pretty good gift to me. But I wanted to highlight a few different things. A lot of these pens and pencils and paper we've talked about before. Some of them we haven't. And I just wanted to kind of throw some ideas out there. And, you know, I'm always, you know, willing. I take people ask me for suggestions all the time. This is kind of a culmination of some of the answers that I've given to people over the years for, you know, the more common questions. What they want to give as a gift or what do they suggest to you. So I hope everyone finds it helpful.

Myke Hurley: I certainly have.

Brad Dowdy: So is that Edison Collier now at the top of your list?

Myke Hurley: I've literally just added it to my list of pens in clear.

Brad Dowdy: Cool, cool.

Brad Dowdy: Well, that's all I've got for today. Myke, do you have any you want to add? What would you like as a pen nerd for Christmas? Is there anything you've been eyeing that we haven't talked about?

Myke Hurley: Well, other than the things, we've definitely spoke about these things before. But I would like a new Kaweco. And I would like one of the, you know, the new shiny silvery ones. Yeah. And I want to try out a couple of different Pentol Treadios. Because I'm still using it, Brad.

Brad Dowdy: Good. Every day. Yeah, that's pretty cool. I'm glad you like it. And you ought to look at the refillable models. You know, they're like full cartridge, like, refills. I think you replace the tip and everything. But, like, you keep the barrel and just kind of screw out the refill. You can swap them in and out, the red, blue, and black ink. So if you like them that much, you ought to look at that one.

Myke Hurley: I'm going to. I'm going to. I think that could be a new favorite.

Brad Dowdy: Cool. That's awesome.

Myke Hurley: It's been interesting. I guess I've really been enjoying it.

Brad Dowdy: Good deal.

Myke Hurley: Indeed. So, Brad, you can be found online. People can find you on Twitter. You are at Dowdyism, which is D-O-W-D-Y-I-S-M. You are at Dowdy, D-O-W-D-Y on app.net. I am iMike, I-M-Y-K-E on both services. Brad can also be found at penaddict.com. Thank you very much for listening to episode 31 of the Pen Addict Podcast. Go and buy your loved ones some presents. Bye-bye. Bye.