The Pen Addict 217/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	217
Title:	Complete Systems Failure
Release Date:	August 10th, 2016
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 217
Audio File:	Audio Episode 217
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 217
Length:	5959 min <br />0.983 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 217. Today's show is brought to you by our friends over at Harry's and Casper. My name is Myke Hurley and I am joined by Mr. Brad Dowdy.

Brad Dowdy: Hello, Myke Hurley. How are you doing, sir?

Myke Hurley: I am very well, sir. How are you?

Brad Dowdy: I'm good. I'm good. Not only am I feeling good, I think I'm sounding pretty good, too. What do you think?

Myke Hurley: Oh, yeah, baby. You're sounding amazing.

Brad Dowdy: So, this is super interesting. I've been really busy. I've been at the DC Pen Show. I've got so many things to talk about. And Myke took the torch for this episode in writing the show notes. And just because I've been so busy, I was telling him, Oh, I haven't had time to put down all my thoughts to get some notes done. So, I pop into the document last night and Myke started the show notes. And with all this awesome stuff to talk about, what's the first thing we're going to talk about today, Myke?

Audio Gear

Myke Hurley: Your new audio gear. So, you can tell I wrote it. So, we're peeling back the curtain in the first half of the show. Not only are we talking about the fact that I wrote the notes. Because usually Brad writes the notes and then I go in and I add stuff and I read stuff. But this time, I opened up my document this morning and there was nothing in there. And when there's nothing in there in the morning, it means Brad's having some kind of crisis. So, I sat down and put in what I thought the notes could be and then Brad added to them. We're a good team like that. But the other part is that, yes, we're going to talk about Brad's new audio gear. We have been recording this show for like four years or something. And Brad, for that whole time, has been using a microphone called the Blue Yeti. It was the microphone that I used to use back in the day. It's a really great USB microphone. It has a bunch of great settings. You can record multiple people with it if they're close to it. And it tends to run between $75 and $150. It's on deals on Amazon a lot. Right now, it's $124 as we talk today. And so, I will just start off this discussion by saying that if you are interested in podcasting, this is the microphone that I recommend. Everything else that we're about to talk about right now, I don't recommend if you're beginning. But if you are doing podcasting and you're interested in it and you're looking to get an upgrade, this set of equipment that we have got for Brad is a really great second step. And this comes just from the fact that we have been doing this at RelayFM for long enough that we have this kind of standard set of equipment that we think is the pretty good next step. And it's the equipment that we're going to talk about today. I have a set of all of it myself for mobile recording.

Brad Dowdy: What I was going to say is what's funny is last week we talked about this after the show and like everyone wanted to know what we were using. So, we figured we'd just plug it into the beginning of this podcast real quick now that it's live and different and hopefully better. It's got to be better, right? It is better. Blue Yeti served us well for years and years and years. So, why don't you take us through what this setup is like. And, you know, I'm going to go ahead and give myself big props. I had this all set up for Myke this morning. We didn't have to tweak very much.

Myke Hurley: No, I couldn't believe it. I was setting out this morning to do some serious work with Brad to set this stuff up because it's not easy stuff to set up if you've never done it before. But that old Dowdy, he's a smart cookie. So, you have the microphone now that you're using is the Shure Beta 58A. There are a bunch of different microphones like this that Shure make. We may get you a different one in the future after we see because the 58A can be a little bit bassy. But I think that sounds pretty good for your voice. But we're going to see how we go with that over time. These are the microphones that we have used on all of the live recordings. So, the last live episode in Atlanta, we used these microphones. The three of us did. Because this is part of the Relay FM traveling kit as well as the fact that I also now have my own traveling kit. Because it's so good and relatively small for what you're getting. So, the Beta 58A, it is a pretty good microphone. It's kind of a staple of this stuff. It is a super cardioid dynamic microphone. So, it's pretty good at not picking up background lights and stuff like that, which we really wanted. But there are a bunch of different things that you need to do with a microphone like this. Then what you need to do is something like the Blue Yeti. The Blue Yeti is like an all-in-one piece of kit. It has a stand. You know, it's built into it. It has mute switch built into it. It has everything. And then all you need to do is just plug the sucker in and you're good to go. But that's not what we have here. You know, with the Beta 58A, you'd need to have an audio interface to plug it into, which is a USB audio interface. So, you have an XLR connection coming from the microphone, which is an audio cable, which plugs into the audio interface. And then we set up the audio interface with volume. And that's where Brad plugs his headphones in so he can hear himself talk and stuff like that. And then that plugs via USB into Brad's computer. And the Tascam US 2x2 is the audio interface that we're using. It's pretty small and it's pretty good for what you get. And you don't need to have any software installed to use it, which is a really good thing. I like not having to worry about that. And so, this is a really good piece of kit. And it's relatively small for what it gets. These things can be pretty huge. And also, it's not too expensive. So, I use something called the USB Pre 2, which is the same kind of thing that this Tascam is. It's an audio interface, but it's like three times more expensive. And it's just it has a few little features that I like. So, it's like with a lot of my equipment. So, I have like stages above Brad because I've used the kind of middle ground stuff like we have him using now. And because you're the boss. Yeah. I mean, this is all I do, right? Like he's talking into this stuff. So, like what we've done for you is, I mean, this stuff, maybe the entire thing. We also got you an arm, like a boom arm to rest it all on. So, this is one of the other things you need with this type of microphone. You need a boom arm and a shock mount and all that stuff because a lot of that stuff is built into the Yeti. It has its own stand. So, maybe this whole thing probably cost about $300 or $400, I think. Right?

Brad Dowdy: That seems pretty good for all this stuff. I would have thought it would have cost him more because I don't know anything about this stuff. I just, I trust you implicitly on this. Obviously, you want the best output that you can. So, you're going to do that accordingly. So, that seems pretty fair, quite honestly.

Myke Hurley: Exactly. I think so. This is about $300 or $400. And I mean, so, you know, you start off with $100 and then you're about $300 or $400. And in my equipment, I mean, okay, so this has been built up over a long time, et cetera, et cetera. We're looking over $2,000 for the stuff that I have. Sure, sure, sure.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that's a different animal.

Myke Hurley: But I know I don't have 2x sound quality than you do. Like, I don't sound two times better than you do, especially not now. Before I did, easily. And that was one of the reasons that we've done this, is I was personally getting fed up of editing the show and hearing me sound good. And then you weren't at the level that I wanted you to be, which is why we've done this. And we've been promising to do this forever. And I finally pulled my finger out and pulled the trigger. And it's because I love this show. And I think this show is very important. And I want to make sure that we give it the best audio quality that we can. So we've decided that we wanted to put the money into it and do it because it's needed now, I think, because we continue to push forward. Yeah, yes. Especially because for reasons unknown to me, we're picking up more and more people now. And I don't know where they're coming from. So hello, everybody.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so while this isn't an on-topic thing, we're pointing this out because we're able to do this because of you guys. And we know that the listenership's out there. We know that the listenership's growing. And we want to put out the best product that we can in doing these things, like upgrading my side of the audio spectrum, is just going to make the show better. And, you know, we wanted to – people like to, you know, dig into these things a little bit. We're not going to spend much time on it. You won't hear us talking about it again, probably. But there were a lot of people that wanted to know what the new rig was going to be. So I think that kind of covers it, right?

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I think so. If people have any questions about this, hit me up. I don't know everything, but I know what I know, if that makes sense. And it's just stuff that I've accumulated over time.

Brad Dowdy: Don't hit me up because I have no clue. You should have heard me moving around the boom arm while me and Myke were trying to set this up. But we got it going. I knew enough – I know enough to plug things in the right place and get the knobs spun up after that. Yeah, I got nothing.

Myke Hurley: And I hope as a listener out there, you appreciate it because that's what we care about the most. I hope that it sounds better to you. So whilst we're talking about equipment, maybe we should get a bit more on topic and talk about the stationary we're using today. Okay.

Brad Dowdy: So I had no plans. Like I was setting up all the hardware and forgot to bring anything into the room where I'm setting up because I didn't know where we're going to go from setup to recording. So I told Myke, well, hang on. Let me just go grab – I need to go grab a couple things before we start recording because I'm actually in a new room because this setup's a little bigger than my other setup. I'm actually in the old room I used to record in, Myke, when we were starting, which is known as the kids' playroom recording studio as opposed to the guest bedroom recording studio because it fits the boom arm better. But anyway, I had to run out and grab a couple things. I wanted to grab some of the pens that we're going to talk about later that I picked up in D.C. and I'm using one of them and it's the Aurora Optima Demonstrator. It's a beautiful, beautiful pen. We're going to talk about it more in a minute. It's filled with a lovely orange ink, which we will also talk about in a minute. And the first thing I grabbed was the Field Notes Byline Edition notebook because, number one, I could see it on my desk, which is not everything right now on my desk. You can see, as in like the top of my desk, you can't really see that. So this was still sitting on to the top, to the side. So that was the first thing I grabbed, knowing that it would work well with these fountain pens. And it continues to impress.

Myke Hurley: Interesting. All right, we're going to talk about that a little bit later on, that pen. Yeah, I'm using Byline 2 because I freaking love it. I've actually, this book, I flipped it over and started using the backs of the pages now. Nice. Trying to extend these things for as long as possible. Cool. And I, today, am using the Baron Fig Squire as my pen for the day.

Brad Dowdy: That's such a good little pen.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, and I bought some refills, Retro 51 refills, and I bought a blue one, which I'd not used before. And it's just a nice change.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that's actually what I chose to ship. You could actually choose blue or black when I ordered it from the Kickstarter. Oh, okay, cool. So that's what's in mine.

Myke Hurley: I think I chose black and then just changed it. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: One thing on the Byline Edition, friend of the show, and you've met him, and friend of you and I, Anthony Weller, who lives in Atlanta, and he travels. He was out helping out at WWDC. He came to the DC Pen Show, and he informed me that I think the number, if I have it correct, was he just ordered 14 more packs of the Byline Edition.

Myke Hurley: I did get another three.

Brad Dowdy: So I don't want any more grief on the five Nixons I bought last week, okay?

Myke Hurley: Well, this was what Thomas did with the Night Sky, and then he sent them all to me when they brought the black ones in. Because he just liked the black, but didn't really like the reticle grid. But he wanted black field notes, so then I ended up with them all, which was great. Talking about field notes, I want to provide a little bit of Myke Was Right follow-up from last week. Remember we were talking, I was talking about the Everything, the EEK, the Everything Extended Kit Edition Draplin field notes? And I mentioned the texture of the cover reminding me of Raven's Wing. Well, the good old Ginny at Three Staples has proven me right here, and she took some close-up photos of Raven's Wing and the special editions next to each other. And whilst they're not the same paper exactly, they've clearly been picked up as a way to hark back to it, because it's the same style of paper, made by the same company, but just not the same model. But when you look at them next to each other, you can see that there is that texture.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it looks almost identical, and it could be the exact same paper, it just could be variances and dye lots. You know, sometimes that happens with paper and fabric, as I learned. That's spot on. You're exactly 100% right. Yes. Yes.

Myke Hurley: I see. I knew it. The problem was, it was just something that felt right in my brain, right? But I hadn't checked it, because I know I have Raven's Wing, but they're in a box somewhere.

Myke Hurley: So, yeah. Yep. And I'm very happy. I'm very happy. Perfect, perfect. That's a great addition. I had a funny thing yesterday. I was calling with an insurance person. My life has become just full of boring adult things now, talking to different agents, talking to different solicitors and stuff. And it's, you know, that's just how it is, unfortunately, right now. And I needed to take some notes. And I picked up my field notes, and the field notes book that I had on my desk was full. And I opened my cupboard while I'm on the phone with this guy to try and pick a field notes out. And I couldn't do it. Like, I couldn't decide which one to pick. So then I just picked, like, some random book that I was on my desk and just started writing. And now I had the paralysis of choice while I was on the phone. But then after the phone call, I decided that I picked up one of the Extended Kit Everything editions, the Pretty Much Everything editions which we've been talking about. And that is now on my desk. So I'm going to be using one of these bad boys, because that's the type of person I am.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that was the exact question I was holding out for. Are you going to use these? And the answer is yes. And I love you very much for that.

Myke Hurley: Yep. I've just picked on. I've got two packs. One can stay in there. And I have three books to use. Sure, sure, sure. Why else? I mean, you know, I am hoarding these things. But I'm hoarding them with the intention to use. Like, I don't hoard for the sake of hoarding. Like, there is, you know, I will use these books. But I know I'll never use them all.

Brad Dowdy: Right.

Harry's

Myke Hurley: All right, we should talk about the DC Pen Show, which you've just come back from. And before we do that, let's thank Harry's for sponsoring this week's episode. Now, I know that out there in the world, anybody that buys razors is more than used to the fact of, hey, we have this new feature. Now the razor is an extra dollar more. It's double the price. We have all this amazing stuff. This is something that we're used to seeing from razor companies. Not from Harry's. Harry's will make their razors and their blades better. And they will charge you the exact same price. Because that's the cool kind of company that they are. Harry's five-blade razors now include a softer flex hinge for a more comfortable glide. A trimmer blade for hard-to-reach places. A lubricating strip. And they also have a new textured razor handle for more grip and control when your hands are wet and soapy. Harry's believes in the quality of these new razors as much as the last ones, if not more. They will give you a full refund if you're not happy. There are still just $2 a blade. No price change. And this is why an everyday shaver will continue to save, on average, $150 each year on blades when they use Harry's. Now, Brad, I know that last week I excited you with the news of the trimmer blade that is on the razor that you have. Have you been using the trimmer blade over the last week to keep yourself looking nice and sharp?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I have. You do a little extra trimming around the beard there. So, yeah, the trimmer blade works out well for that. I tell you what, that's good for it.

Myke Hurley: It's good for, like, cheeks and stuff. You know, you get a little bit of hair on the cheek above the beard. Like, you can use those blades. It's on the back, right? You just flip it over and you can use that extra little bit of trimming.

Brad Dowdy: Get that angle. So, one quick Harry story. So, I had a roommate at the DC Pen Show. The world-famous Father Kyle was my roommate. And lo and behold, sitting on our shared sink was the olive green Harry's handle. So, Father Kyle is all about the Harry's.

Myke Hurley: Yes! I love that guy. Oh, man. It was so sad for me to see pictures of you guys. And I wanted to be there with you.

Brad Dowdy: And just to say, just, you know, one quick thing about Father Kyle. He takes the best pictures ever. Like, every picture with him in it is amazing. So, there's that.

Myke Hurley: Harry's Start Set. We are still talking about Harry's. I guess this episode is also brought to you by Father Kyle. I guess. I don't know. This Harry's Start Set is an amazing deal. For just $15, you can grab yourself a weighted razor handle, maestrizing shave cream, and three precision-engineered five-blade cartridges. And you also get a travel cover, too. What an incredible deal that is for $15. What about if I told you you can get it for $10? If you go to harrys.com right now and use the coupon code PENADDICT to check out with your first purchase, you'll get $5 off. That's H-A-R-R-Y-S.com. Coupon code PENADDICT to check out for a special $5 off. Thank you so much to Harry's for their support of this show and RelayFM.

Brad Dowdy: Holy cow, the DC Pen Show.

Myke Hurley: Oh, man. I've got to say, so I was talking. Me and Tiff Arment were having a conversation the other day, and we were just sharing with each other how jealous we were of everybody at DC, which has launched, in my mind, a plan. And I've shared this with you. I have a plan to do DC next year.

Brad Dowdy: Okay.

Myke Hurley: I have a plan. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: It's, um... This was the best PEN show I've been to, I think.

Myke Hurley: Why?

Show Experience

Brad Dowdy: I don't know. Like, I can't put a direct finger on it, but the vibe was so positive. It was just such a good environment. Everything went off without a hitch. I mean, you know, I worked most of the time. But even then, you know, just getting to meet and talk to the people that were just so amped up to be there, it was just... It was just... From a big picture standpoint, it was just super cool. Really fun. And just really, you know, worth making the trip. And I'm glad so many people came. It was just... It was... Like I said, it's hard to pin down, like, one exact thing. But just the overall experience was fantastic. And... But, I mean, it's the people that caused that, right? I mean, it's the people who came and traveled and, you know, stopped by to say hi. And, you know, it was just an all-around really, really great, comfortable, fun show. It was epic.

Myke Hurley: All right. So, I want to know a little bit about it. So, just your whole experience that I hope will end up adding up and giving an idea of why it was such a fun show, right? So, as we go through it. There was something that we spoke about last week. I think it was on the show about the fact that you were taking a checked bag, right? Which you usually don't do. Could you tell everybody how heavy that bag was?

Brad Dowdy: Well, so this is the kicker. So, on the way out, I had to bring a bunch of... There were some knock orders that I needed to bring and a bunch of other things I needed to bring for giveaways for the Kinro party. Like, they asked me for some stuff for swag bags and things like that. So, I just had a bunch of extra stuff other than clothes. And when I checked the bag, it was 33 pounds on the scale out there. I thought, like, it didn't feel, like, stupid to me, you know, wheeling it around. But it was pretty heavy. What really caught me off guard was the bag on the return trip was 36 pounds.

Myke Hurley: What? So, it was heavier?

Brad Dowdy: So, it was heavier. And you'll find out why as we go into this.

Myke Hurley: So, you left at 33 pounds and came back at 36. Yup. Interesting. So, you had to pay both times, I assume.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, yeah. I mean, it wasn't an overage. They don't go over until 45 or 50, I think, on Delta. But I had to pay to check regardless. Well, I didn't pay to check on the way back, but that's a whole different story because I flew a different airline, which we will also get to that.

Myke Hurley: Oh, yeah. We're going to get to that later on.

Brad Dowdy: But, yeah. Yeah. So, three pounds heavier on the way back. And the more I thought about it, the more it made sense.

Brad Dowdy: So, we'll figure it out. But, yeah. I packed a lot. And it also made me realize that, you know, I'm not going to carry on going to San Francisco either. If the way I packed when I came home from D.C. is going to be anything, if San Francisco is anything like that, I am super, super in trouble. So, I'll probably just go ahead and check for San Francisco. But we'll see.

Myke Hurley: All right. So, obviously, you're working the whole time that you're there. You're working at Venice.

Brad Dowdy: Yep.

Myke Hurley: This was the second time you've done D.C. with Venice. And maybe the third or fourth show that you've worked with, with Venice Pens in total, right? On their booths? Yeah. How did it go working there? And how was it compared to last year?

Brad Dowdy: So, year over year, Friday was way busier. So, I think a lot of people came in earlier, bought the weekend trader pass, got in on Friday, and were just there, you know, to be involved in the atmosphere. So, Friday was way busier. Saturday was just as busy as far as sales go as the previous year, but less busy as far as the crowd pacing went. So, I think we're all trying to figure it out, and we'll have to ask the show promoter directly. So, in years past, he's lined everyone up out the hotel door, down around the block, to let them in at 10 o'clock, or whenever the doors open on Saturday. This year, I think,

Brad Dowdy: the, number one, there were more weekend pass holders. So, that lowered that line. And number two, I think he just started anytime, like, after nine o'clock, when these people came up to pay, he just let them in. So, we didn't have that bum rush of people, where you felt overwhelmed, like we did last year. Like, over, last year, like, the aisleways would get so packed. Like, you would have a hard time walking through. This year, we could have been two or three deep at the table, and that's fine. And it was manageable. It was never to a point where people couldn't get to the Van Espen's table. So, while it didn't appear to be busier, I think it was appearances only. I think the same amount of people came through. It was just much better paced because of the way they let people in. There was never a line. You know, like, the longest line at the registration desk was maybe like 10 or 20 people, where in the past, it's been hundreds of people, and all those flood in at the same time, and you just kind of get overwhelmed for a couple of hours. This was just like completely paced throughout the whole day, and it worked exceptionally well, we thought, especially for us trying to sell. So, it was me, Lisa, Anna, Father Kyle, and Lisa's daughter, Cassie. So, there were five of us working the table, and, you know, we would all be going at the same time, but it was never like we were leaving people hanging. Yeah. Right. So, it was, whatever they did to alleviate that initial pressure worked, and whether it was, you know, something done on purpose, or just a result of more people coming on Friday, it didn't matter, like, as far as sales went. Like, sales were better this year than last year. Sunday was kind of exactly the same. Sunday's just a slow day at the show. You know, a lot of people are getting out, you know, early afternoon Sunday, so they're not around much on Sunday, and it just, Sunday was pretty much the exact same, but overall, better crowds as far as manageability, better sales as far as dollars, I'm thinking. Right. It just, big picture, just everything was better.

Brad Dowdy: Smoother isn't the right word, because it's not like last year went bad, but there were some moments last year where we're like, oh my gosh, I can't help all these people, and this year, it wasn't that way. It was just right, so it was perfect.

Myke Hurley: That's probably a combination of improved crowd control in some unknown way, and also the fact that, I guess, you're settled into knowing how to do this stuff. You're a bit of a veteran now when it comes to signing at Pen Shows.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, yeah, that does help too. Like, the second time, it just makes a huge difference, even if you're just attending a Pen Show for the second time. It's 100% different experience.

Myke Hurley: Did you see any difference in the people? I know we've spoken about this before, but like, did you see any difference in age range? Was there like, different kind of like, social media and blogger interest than there was maybe at the last show, or is that just kind of like, trumbling along?

Brad Dowdy: No, I think it was, I think there was more of our age group, our demographic, people that are into like, the Pen Addict stuff, or, you know, read all these other bloggers, like, you know, Well Appointed Desk and Pen Habit. There were so many bloggers there to meet. There were so many just readers, and, you know, people I've talked to online for years and years, you know, make a point to come to this show, and I still had tons of people coming up to me at night saying how different this crowd was, and how much it still, like, trips out these, you know, veterans who've been doing these show circuits for decades. Still, to this show, it confuses them.

Myke Hurley: So did, was there no change there on that end? It seemed like people were still just not really understanding what was going on.

Brad Dowdy: No, I think it's getting better. Like, there's way more understanding, there's way more acceptance, there's way more communication, and the ones who haven't grasped onto that, you know, in the past couple years, they're starting to figure it out more this year. Like, every year, every year, or every show, there's a few more, okay, this isn't going away. I should figure out what's going on. And, I mean, I've got some, you know, some anecdotes, you know, some of them I can't even share just because I don't want to call any people out, but it was positive. I just don't want to put anyone's name on it. But, it was like, wow, this is like, I should be involved in this, you know, I should go to the meetup, you know, that they have at night and look at this crowd that's in here and things like that. It was, still to this day, Lisa's getting it from people she's known for years and years and years. I'm getting it from people who were here last year, talking about the differences in this year. And last year, last year was amazing. Last year was really, really great. It was better in every way this year. It just was.

Myke Hurley: How were the parties?

Brad Dowdy: They were excellent.

Brad Dowdy: Carrie and I put on a meetup with the help of Van S and Well Appointed Desk and Anna and Lisa, you know, helped us out just gob tons and Matt helped us out a ton from Pen Habit the whole weekend. The, you know, we blew out the capacity of this room. It's a 50 person capacity room. There are way more people than that. We, we overloaded the air conditioner. At least it was on this year as opposed to last year where it was a sauna because there, it wasn't, flat out wasn't running. If we had that this year, this thing wouldn't have lasted 20 minutes. But, this was a great, great event. And it's, the way Carrie and I set it up is that it's literally just a meetup. Like, we're not doing anything. You know, there's, you know, me and Carrie said, you know, a couple of words thanking the sponsors that helped us do it. And then we did door prizes and we just let everyone hang out. You know, people, you know, bring their beers from the bar, bring their pens and paper, talk to people that they haven't had a chance to at the show yet because so many people come to the, come to the party. Our good friends, the Olens, Sergeant Stretch here in the, in the chat room, Phil and Ashley, they brought, they, she made some beer bread that was amazing. We had all kinds of, you know, sweets and snacks. Phil brought some growlers of beer that we broke out a little bit later. We ended up just like staying so late in that room just because it was just a good, good event. The vibe is just really, really good. Everyone just wants to be there to hang out, right? It's like, we don't have to do anything. Just get like-minded folks together and hang out. You know, nothing more than that. We don't, you know, we try not to oversell it, you know, that it's going to be something mind-blowing, but we just want to get together and hang out. You know, people want to be together, do something nice for the community. You know, giving a few things back and my goodness, we must have had 20, 20 things to give away. It was, it was never ending. Lots of people won lots of stuff just for door prizes, just for coming and hanging out with us and chit-chatting for a while. It was amazing. It was, it was really, really wonderful.

Myke Hurley: And so we're talking about like the, kind of the blogger interest and stuff like that. Whilst you were there, Instagram stories launched. I know Instagram's a big thing in the pen community. So Instagram stories, in theory, should add on to that. Did you use it? Were you seeing other people use it? Was there any talk about it at the pen show?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, there actually was some pretty good talk about it and it launched, I think the day or the day before I was traveling. So I use it on my little travel adventures and I've always thought that was kind of the neatest thing about Snapchat, which I've never really gotten into because I think it's a kind of a clutchy interface. It's not very intuitive. Well, I'm so ingrained into Instagram. It felt like second nature for me to do and I've loved seeing all the stories that people are putting together. I've seen some really cool ones so far. I think it's going to be a pretty good thing. Not too many people were using it there and again, we always talk about it at shows like this when you're actually face-to-face talking with people. It's really hard to remember to take pictures, which is good. Like, not everyone has their phone out, you know, all the time. Like, I'll take some pictures, you know, sparingly, put my phone back in my pocket and then get back to talking to people, which is the way I think most people handle it. And so, there weren't, I didn't notice a bunch of stories necessarily from the show, but I think in general, like the Instagram stories is going to be a really good thing.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I've been using it and I enjoy it a lot. I agree with you. Like, I know people get Snapchat, I don't get it, but I use Instagram already. So, the addition of this feature onto something is easier for me than trying to learn to use another app and start a new social network with people. Like, everybody that I know and like to follow is on Instagram. So, like, my kind of friend network is there. So, I get what I want from it already because everybody's already built in and now they've just added these tools on top which have allowed me to do funny little things like I was chronicling a big day that we had and we're going all over London and all over England doing random things and then another one like I was doing a little mini review of a keyboard case that I got. Like, stuff that I wouldn't put anywhere else, but, like, it gives me somewhere to throw it for 24 hours and it's just this ephemeral nonsense and I can be silly with it and it's gone. So, I like it. I think it's fun.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, and Glenn brought up a good point which we didn't realize until Sunday when we were finally talking about it. Almost no periscoping this year. Periscope had just come out for last year's show so people were periscoping left and right. I didn't take one and I don't recall getting a single alert from anyone taking one that I needed to see at the show. Maybe that's not. I think we all realized it on Sunday. Like, we all started, kind of looked at each other like, did you periscope anything? And we're like, no, it didn't even come up even once.

Myke Hurley: I feel like this would have more of a chance of sticking because everyone's still Instagramming, you know?

Instagram Use

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, there's no reason for me. I'm in Instagram a bunch already, right? So, I'm never in periscope unless I get an alert.

Myke Hurley: And then, we mentioned this. This is kind of just tangentially related. You were stuck in like a disaster. Delta had a complete systems failure, right? So, what happened to you?

Brad Dowdy: So, I didn't realize. So, I woke up in the morning. This happened in the middle of the night. So, you don't know these things when you wake up. And luckily, my wife was the first one to tell me when she texted. She said, hey, my parents just called and you're on Delta, right? And I said, yeah, I'm on Delta. She's like, they're having a big systems outage. You should check and see if it affects you. And I was like, okay. And so, once I started digging in, it was a monstrous, monstrous outage that they had. Right when I was reading all this, they, this was like 730, 730, 830 in the morning, they released, they instituted the waiver policy, which allows you to get refunds on your flights, which unless you buy the insurance or whatever packages, you can't get a refund if your flight's canceled or you just use that money for something else. So, once they instituted the refund policy, I booked, I went and booked immediately on another flight and I was able to get on Southwest only a couple hours later than I was originally scheduled to fly out. So, I was super lucky.

Myke Hurley: That is not bad, man.

Brad Dowdy: I don't think anyone, yeah, I was way lucky. So, I got home by eight o'clock that night, really only like two or three hours later than I was supposed to. So, I was super lucky, but just because I did it quickly that morning and I didn't really hear of anyone getting stuck in DC, but I did have friends that got stuck in other parts of the country.

Myke Hurley: So,

Brad Dowdy: it's stunk and they're probably still, I wouldn't imagine, I would imagine they're still behind today. It was my flight. The problem, the biggest problem was you go look at your flight. Like, if I didn't look at the news, which I hardly did all weekend, but I look at my flight status, you go onto the Delta app and it shows your flight on time. That was one of the issues. That's so bad. Yeah. Yeah. They couldn't update, they couldn't update any of their software, so everything looked normal. And, you know, if my wife didn't tell me, I would have probably just waited for that flight and found out later that it was canceled, which it eventually did. My flight didn't go that day.

Myke Hurley: They had a problem with a new system they were putting in or something, right?

Brad Dowdy: I don't even know. Last I heard, it was like a power. Oh, okay. Who knows?

Myke Hurley: I mean, I hope they're good. I'm flying with them next week, so they better have it all fixed. That's what I say.

Myke Hurley: Get that stuff together. So, we're going to talk about the actual pens that you may or may not have purchased at the show, but kind of to wrap up, you had a great time, it sounds like. You're really kind of making me feel like this is a no-brainer for me to do this next year. It really seems like it. Should we just say what I'm thinking about doing? Just might as well. Yeah, yeah, that's fine.

Brad Dowdy: Go ahead and throw it out there.

Myke Hurley: Next year, we're thinking of the Kickstarter being for to get me to both shows. So, the money that we raise will be proceeds towards me being at both shows, so Atlanta and DC, and we will definitely be doing the Atlanta live show as always, and we are looking at the possibility of doing a live show with an audience for DC. We're going to have to see how that goes. We'll definitely be recording in person. There will most likely not be video of the DC show, but we will definitely be recording in person, but we may, we're unsure whether we'll have an audience yet, but so basically that would be for us to be together twice to do two live shows next year, one in DC, one in Atlanta. Atlanta will be bigger and better, right? And DC, it will be like the first Atlanta one where we're trying to work out how we do it. So right now, it's most likely going to be, well, definitely just audio, and we might be able to see if we can try and get a venue to have a small audience. That pots up in the air, but that's the plan. And, you know, I think it's possible we always have money left over for Atlanta that we do things with, but we could just use it this time to get me to both shows, which would be amazing.

Brad Dowdy: Yes, it would.

Myke Hurley: So you can look out for that, I don't know, maybe early next year, but that's the plan. So I figure there's no point being cagey about it. That's what we're looking to do, and I think everyone will be excited about that.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, yeah, definitely something we have to work on planning-wise, but that's the thought.

Mattress Delivery

Myke Hurley: I'm kind of saying it now, so it commits us. Right, I know, right? So now everybody knows about it, we have to do it. All right, this week's episode is brought to you as well by a new sponsor, and that is Casper. Let me tell you about Casper. Casper is a company that is focused on giving you a better night's sleep. They have created the perfect mattress, that it sells directly to consumers, eliminating commission-driven inflated prices. Casper has revolutionized the mattress industry by cutting the cost of dealing with resellers and showrooms, and they pass their savings directly to you. You don't need to go to somewhere and sit on a bed and work out if it's going to be the right bed for you for the next 20 years. This is not a way that you should do things. This is the way everybody has been doing things in the past, right? You go to a showroom and you just sit on a bed with your shoes on, but that's kind of crazy. Wouldn't it be better if you could have a mattress at home that you sleep on for like 30 days before you're sure if you want to buy it? Well, that's what Casper's all about. You go online, you take a look at their mattresses, you find the one you want, they will send it out to you, and you get a 100-night home trial. I mentioned that a perfect world might be 30, right? But Casper, they give you 100 nights. In the US and Canada, they'll do free delivery and free returns. If you're not happy, they will come and take it away. But I know you're going to love it, and this is why. Their in-house team of engineers spent thousands of hours developing the Casper mattress. It's obsessively engineered at a shockingly fair price. It combines springy latex and supportive memory foam to create a mattress that has just the right sink and just the right bounce. Plus, its breathable design helps to regulate your temperature throughout the night. Their mattresses start at $500 for a twin size, $600 for a twin XL, $750 for a four, $850 for a queen, and $950 for a king, and they're made in America. Fantastic prices. And as well as their mattresses, Casper now also offers an adaptive pillow and soft, breathable sheets. Now, Brad, I believe you have a Casper mattress.

Brad Dowdy: I do. I do. Just got it recently. It is so cool. Just, not only just the way it's delivered, but the amazement of how it unfurls and then becomes, like, this legitimately awesome mattress.

Myke Hurley: They bring it to you in a small box, which is insane,

Brad Dowdy: right? I wouldn't call it small. When the FedEx guy delivered it, I actually went out there and helped him lift it.

Myke Hurley: When I say small, I mean, it's like smaller than a mattress, right?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, yeah. I was walking out, he was taking it for a drag at the moment, so I went out there, helped him bring it in, bring it into the house and then, you know, I had to figure out where I was going to put it and we put it in our guest bedroom and it feels great. It feels different than any other mattress I've ever bought before because I've done it the old way, which is just torturous. Like, it's really torturous buying a mattress in a traditional sense, going to one of those stores and having to deal with the salesmanship and everything involved and this completely allows you to skip all that and gives you a better mattress to boot. So, it's wonderful to sleep in. It's so comfortable. It's hard to explain because it's soft but it's firm. It's like fully supportive and, you know, reading through the documentation, it can lay like straight on a floor without any box springs or anything like that. It's that supportive and it's just very comfortable, really nice. I can definitely recommend this mattress. It's very cool.

Myke Hurley: As I mentioned before, 100 Night Home Trial, if you don't love it, they'll pick it up and refund you everything. You can get $50 towards any mattress purchase by visiting casper.com slash penaddict and using the code penaddict to check out. Terms and conditions apply. Thank you so much to Casper for their support of this show. I didn't know that about the fact you could put it straight on the floor. That's really cool, actually. So, you could be like, you know, if you have like a cool loft somewhere, you know.

Brad Dowdy: It's like if you just sit on it, it's like sit on the edge, you're like feeling it, like, oh, this is squishy and like comfortable and like it supports you well, but then you lay down on it and you're like, wow, this is like really, really supportive, but it's still soft at the same time. It's kind of cool that way.

Myke Hurley: Pretty nice. Pretty nice. Yeah. Pretty nice. All right. So, you were at a pen show. What did you buy?

Brad Dowdy: So, kind of the recurring theme of the weekend for me was, you know, I always ask people, you know, that are at the show and I'm working behind the table, what'd you get? You know, did you get, all right, have you gotten any trouble yet? You know, meaning did you spend a bunch of money and we always talk about all the pens and things that everyone's buying and people were asking me the same thing, what'd you get? And on Friday, the only thing I bought was some Kobe inks. So, the shop, Nagasawa Kobe, attended the show for the first time in years. I don't know if they have ever been to the show, but I think they've been in years past. They brought a bunch of their inks, which are sailor inks, which I love. So, I bought three bottles of ink from them. For the record, I bought number 25, which is Torumi Apricot, which is a bright orange. Number 26, which is, I'm going to butcher, Wadamisaki Blue, which is a very bright blue. It's a very turquoise. It reminds me a lot of Omas Turquoise. And then, Kobe number 41, which is Sumo Riku Rose, which is a hot pink, which is one of my new favorite colors that I'm using. It's kind of, the pinks have taken over the purples in my shopping list here recently. So, that seems to be a thing. So, for two days, all I had bought was this ink.

Myke Hurley: But, Where can you buy this ink, by the way? Like, I'm Googling to try and put them in the show notes and I can't find them.

Brad Dowdy: Just from their shop. I don't, I'll get the URL for you afterwards. It might just be nagasawa-kobi.co.jp would be my guess, but I could be way, way wrong on that.

Myke Hurley: Okay.

Brad Dowdy: So, anyway, they blew out all, most of their colors throughout the show and they brought some pens and things, a bunch of Sailor, Japan only exclusives, but they were way overpriced so I didn't buy any of those. I didn't, I didn't feel the prices. Yeah,

Myke Hurley: I found the website, it's in Japanese. I'll put it in the show notes and I wish you all the very best of luck. Yeah, yeah. Good luck with that. Is it Kobe Nagasawa or Nagasawa Kobe? Oh, I think, I don't know. Who knows? Who knows? Could be anything.

Brad Dowdy: I just call it Kobe, but I know that, anyway, the one pen that had caught my eye before the show that I knew I was going to be able to check out during the show was an Aurora Optima. So, they have some really good, I like the shape and design of this pen and they have some really nice colors. They even have some with gold trim that I like, which, you know, I actually hemmed and hawed on a few of these models, but they had two demonstrator models. One was a fully clear from head to toe demonstrator and one was a mostly demonstrator model with red red finial and red end cap with this really beautiful acrylic. So, that's the one I ended up purchasing. I really, really love how this pen feels on my hand. I was able to get it with an extra fine steel nib, which is fan-freaking-tastic. It's just kind of a pen that's been on my radar for maybe the past few months as something that I would really enjoy and once I got to use them and test them out of the pen show, which we always say, you know, that's kind of a deciding factor for a lot of people when you finally get it in your hand and are able to test it out. How does it fit your hand? How does it feel when you're riding? This is perfect. I love the shape, the feel, the weight, the balance, the nib. It's a piston filler. It's fantastic. It's also clear, so I can see my ink sloshing around in there. I have the Tarumi Apricot.

Myke Hurley: Is there any reason that I've never heard of this pen before?

Brad Dowdy: No, no, not in particular. I don't know how long the Optima model's been around, but it's been around for at least a little bit. I don't know the historic part behind it, but how long... Aurora's been around a while, how long the Optima's been around. You've heard of Aurora, though, right? Yeah. Yeah, so this is my first Aurora pen. So that's another reason why I wanted to get it. So this is a pen. I don't know, maybe you shouldn't try it because you probably like it, but it's very cool. It's very cool. I like it a lot. And so I bought that from Bryant at Chatterley Luxuries. And Bryant always has like the most killer setup.

Brad Dowdy: And I was browsing around his table and saw a pen that I've lusted after for years. And it was actually one of those pens that I very first saw in the Atlanta pen show before we were doing the pen addict stuff there. You know, this was back when I was like, woohoo, I just bought my first vanishing point. I saw this pen and it's an Omos pen and it's got this kind of triangular shaped barrel and this translucent material that it's made of. It comes in different colors, but this one's turquoise and this was the first one I saw it. And I was like, wow, this is back in the day. I was like, wow, that's so expensive. That's a pen I'll never own. Well, Bryant had one in his table and it's the Omos 360 in turquoise and I couldn't pass it up. It's a pen I've wanted for years and years and years. And it came home with, Bryant made me a good deal for both the pens together. you know, with the Omos, the only other Omos I have has the extra flexible nib, which is a little soft for me. This one has like a stock fine nib and it writes really, really well. It writes wonderfully. So both of these pens were expensive. So they were the only really two pens I bought. I did buy a sailor from my friend Gerald who writes at my coffee pot. This is a really cool sailor, a little small one. I'll write it up soon because it's from a little shop in Japan. I just thought it was a cool color, kind of a special edition that way.

Brad Dowdy: So these two pens were my main purchases. I bought the ink. I might have bought something for you.

Myke Hurley: What?

Brad Dowdy: That will make you say what?

Myke Hurley: What are you doing?

Brad Dowdy: When it arrives. So I'm going to be sending, I'm going to be sending a care package to Mr. Hackett's house for you to pick up.

Myke Hurley: Poor Stephen. There is so much stuff waiting at his house for me. It's kind of unreal.

Brad Dowdy: So you better bring the proper luggage to carry all this stuff back because I not only have that, I have another gift for you that someone dropped off and wanted me to give you, which is a huge surprise. And I will say, Stephen will be very jealous of.

Brad Dowdy: So this is, we're going to talk about, so your purchase, there were a lot of people involved in this purchase for you. Let's just say our good friend Thomas Hall

Myke Hurley: was involved. Now I understand what's happening here because he sent me a message. Okay. All right. I don't know what's going on here. Do you know what it is? I have an idea as to what it might be.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. Well, I think you will enjoy it when it arrives.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. If it's what I think it is, I'm very excited.

Brad Dowdy: But there'll be some surprises in there too. So I wouldn't say my shopping was light dollar wise, but I didn't end up with like a ton of pens. I bought two pens because they were very expensive and I don't have like an insane budget. But I'm ecstatic with the purchases. These are pens that I have been looking at for a while and was able to come home with them and that's, I have been using them religiously in the day and a half or two days I've been home.

Myke Hurley: So it's the Aurora and the, what was the other one? The Omos.

Brad Dowdy: Omos 360.

Myke Hurley: Omos 360.

Brad Dowdy: So you'll have to look up the Omos. I don't know if the Omos would be a pen for you the way the barrel's shaped. It's a triangular one, right? Yeah. So it fits my hand very well. I have a very traditional writing grip, so it fits my hand perfectly.

Myke Hurley: I'll tell you why it could work for me because, you know, you use those little rubber grips when you're a kid. You remember like little triangular ones? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I've used those and they were totally fine for me. The thing is, I just don't, I just, it has that band that I really don't like. Like really, really don't like. This is, of all the Omos pens, this is maybe one of the most beautiful, especially because you can get it in those bright, beautiful colors. But I'm really not a big fan of the little band that they put around it with the logo, you know, like the little, I don't even know what you call it, but like the repeating Omos logo. I really just don't like it very much.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so I think this one, this one is super subtle. I don't even know that you would notice on this when you have it. It does not stand out at all. Like what stands out on this pen is actually, I mean, number one, that's the size of it. It's not a small pen and it's all turquoise, but the clip is excellent on this pen. It's skinny and it's got this little curve up shape, but it's really, really tight and I really enjoy the clip on this. I don't think you would see that as like a standout feature like in a negative way. Like I don't think it would pop out on you.

Myke Hurley: Well, I'm looking forward to seeing some good photos of it then. I'm sure there'll be some on the pen addict soon.

Canalea Pen Company

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so one more thing on DC. I did buy something when I got home. Oh. And so there's a new company out there called Canalea Pen Company.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I saw you post them on your Instagram and I was wanting to know kind of what the deal is and what they're doing.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so they're kind of the head of the show for a lot of people. so it's a gentleman named Hugh and his wife Carol. They talked to me at last year's DC Pen Show and just wanted to say, you know, Hugh actually pulled me aside and, you know, said, I've listened to the pen and I've, you know, watched you build up knock and I want to just tell you what I'm thinking here, you know, just about, you know, whatever I'm thinking about. He didn't tell me any specifics, but about, you know, starting a pen company and doing all this. So that was a year ago.

Myke Hurley: Brad, I'm on their website right now. My word, look at some of these.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Whoa. All right. Okay. Okay. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: So I see him almost, I see him almost first thing out the gate on Thursday night when everyone's hanging out and I was like, well, we got to go see Hugh and see what these pens are all about and you walk up to their table and that's pretty much the reaction you just had.

Myke Hurley: How are they making these? Whoa.

Brad Dowdy: What is this?

Myke Hurley: How are they making these? I've never seen stuff like this before.

Brad Dowdy: So it's just this beautiful acrylic that was totally inspired by the scenes that they saw in Hawaii when they traveled to Hawaii and I have to say that they actually have images that they worked off of, these photographs. On their website,

Myke Hurley: they show the photos for like each of the pens and it's incredible. So they made the acrylic?

Brad Dowdy: I think Jonathan Brooks makes the acrylic. Oh. So your buddy Jonathan who says hey.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, well, well, now I understand what's going on here.

Brad Dowdy: But still, I don't know how they did it so well to match up. Like it looks like a photograph wrapped around a pen except it's in an acrylic block with a lot of depth to it. Like it's a stunning, stunning looking pen when you look at them.

Nibs

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I really, really, really want one of these. Well, I say one. There's maybe about four of these that I want. So what nibs are they using?

Brad Dowdy: It's just stock Joe O steel nibs. So I will say this. They are, for an acrylic pen with a steel nib, they are crazy expensive. Right? So like, you know, if you get like a custom, you know, pen from Brooks or from Edison, that's just acrylic with a steel nib. You're probably going to pay in the $200s, $250. These are $395. But I'm wondering, like, the way the acrylic is done, you know, what, is there more involved to have these specifics the specific builds of the acrylic, right? They're not just like acrylic, just like thrown into a mold and made. They're very, they're managed, if you will. And I don't know the, I don't know the proper terminology here.

Myke Hurley: So like, my feeling on this is like, yeah, I agree, $400 for an acrylic with a steel nib is expensive. However, I've never seen stuff like this before.

Brad Dowdy: Right.

Myke Hurley: And I feel like you can charge that premium when you've got something nobody else has got.

Brad Dowdy: So I just put in the show notes the one I ordered. I ordered the Koala Sunset Fountain Pen. That's the one that took me when I held it at the show. And they just had one at the show. So they said I could buy it and then pick it up on Sunday because they wanted to show it the rest of the show. I was like, I don't want to do that. I'll just let you show it and then I'll order it when I get home. It was no big deal.

Myke Hurley: I didn't have to. Well, this is one of the three that I want to buy.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So I think the most popular, well, there's really two. I mean, there were two that were really popular. One is the Kahakai Fountain Pen, the one with the ocean and the beach setting. And then there's another with the ocean breaking on the waves, which I don't see. Where is that one?

Myke Hurley: You see, I really, I genuinely really want one of these. I want one so bad.

Brad Dowdy: When you see them in person, you will have no chance of not leaving with one. They're that good.

Myke Hurley: I'm having this problem looking at their website right now. Right? Like, let alone that.

Brad Dowdy: So, everything they did was so well thought out. Like, even like, you know, we talk about packaging and how I'm not a packaging person, but their packaging is awesome. Like, you get this walnut box, like this presentation box. So they did a lot of things that were, everything is top tier. Or, even like the paper wrapper around the outside of the box, like the belly band, has, it's like a natural pulp with seeds in it. So you can throw it in your yard and it'll grow flowers.

Myke Hurley: Oh, come on. It's like,

Brad Dowdy: everything is like, everything is so well thought out. It's crazy. All right. And, I just told Hugh and his wife over and over again how impressed I was.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. For a first showing.

Brad Dowdy: Everything that they,

Myke Hurley: you know, unbelievable.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. That's what I'm saying. So they, they took a year and it was a year well spent to get it right. So they launched at the DC Pen Show and, um. All right. You know me. I'm just seriously impressed.

Myke Hurley: You know what I like. Which one of these should I buy? I think, I, I'm looking at them, I'm thinking probably the same one that you got.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So I'm trying to pull up the site. It's not, it's running a little bit slow. I'm trying to get to the whole list.

Myke Hurley: Quite, quite honestly, I think we're, we're bringing, we're slowing it down a bit right now. People, it was fine a minute ago. Yeah. So,

Brad Dowdy: so if you, so I had a problem at checkout. Hugh, I've talked to Hugh, um, afterwards. He is having some issues with the site. I mean, I think they're just getting, you know, I ended up having to get him to send me a PayPal invoice for my pen, um, is what I ended up having to do. So the one that I think, I mean, obviously the one I ordered, I thought was my favorite. The one that took me away at the show physically and is what was the most popular, I think from everyone else was the Maui Makai fountain pen.

Myke Hurley: that's beautiful.

Brad Dowdy: That was the one that everyone I know ended up purchasing. That'll probably be my next one, but I wanted to get this, this Koala sunset with the three tiered acrylic is something I just had to have. I, I just kept going back to that one. Like, I think the Maui Makai was probably my favorite. Like if I picked them up the way the clear acrylic, it was see through.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I think I liked that one the most actually.

Brad Dowdy: The Koala sunset like impressed me more, but it's just crazy. They throw up these pictures next to these pens. I'm like, how did this happen? It's like they captured it. It was crazy. So what,

Myke Hurley: what nib should I get?

Brad Dowdy: It doesn't matter. See, that's why I just picked an EF nib knowing that I'll switch it in. You know, I'll probably have some gold, uh, Jovo nibs that I'll, I'll pop into my pen. Like I don't even, I don't care.

Myke Hurley: So what nibs could go in this? Just those?

Brad Dowdy: Um, anyone that uses Jovo, like, uh, Edison, like if, like I have an Edison gold nib, pop it straight in there. Something like that. So I don't even care what the nib is.

Myke Hurley: Oh, I've added to basket. Although my basket is empty. Yeah. I'm working on this. I'm working on this. All right. Yeah. Okay. I want, I want one.

Product Launch

Brad Dowdy: So anyway, this is, so this was the thing that excited me the most from the pen show as far as a new product launch. Um, they, they nailed everything across the board. Um, you know, they're not, obviously not sponsoring this, not paying for this. I didn't get a discount on my pen. Nothing. And I just legitimately believe in what they're doing is really, really beautiful. Um, really, really beautiful pens. And I can't wait to get mine.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I want one bad, bad, really bad, really, really bad. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: So this is going to be a thing. So, uh, I hope they're prepared. And I kept telling them that over the show, I was like, everything you did was, was you can tell how much, um, they put into it and, uh, they delivered. So no doubt, um, it's, it's going to be a thing going forward.

Myke Hurley: So I'm, I'm pleased that this is, this is kind of amazing stuff. Uh, I, I don't remember being this blown away, uh, by something like this in a long time, in all honesty. Yep. I think, I think that was the general consensus. It's done an absolutely amazing job with this. So, uh, I'm going to buy one because one, it's amazing. And two, I want to support this new company. So right. There'll be a link in the show notes. If you want to say they're not a sponsor, uh, but go, go sell, go get them sold out guys. This, this is, you know, this is so within our wheelhouse. So before we spend, uh, any more money for everybody, we should probably wrap up. If you want to find our show notes this week, head on over to relay.fm slash pen addict slash two one seven. If you want to find Brad online, he is at dowdyism, D O W D Y I S M on Twitter. And he is pen addict on Instagram and you can find him at pen addict.com. I am at I Myke. I M Y K E on Instagram and Twitter. And, uh, thanks again to all of his sponsors this week, Harry's and Casper. And, uh, we'll be back next time until then say goodbye, Brad.

Brad Dowdy: Goodbye, Brad. Just follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow follow