Editing The Pen Addict 278/transcript (section)

== Midori Weekly Calendar ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, the week's layout is the best layout for me. But I don't like exactly how they made this one. I, I prefer the Midori weekly calendar better. Okay. This is good. This is a really, really great layout.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, yeah, I'll bring them. I'll bring them.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I need to see them. I feel like I never really, yeah, I feel like I've never really gotten the full grasp of the way that the notebooks are, that these books are laid out. So, yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' The Techos and the Cousins are the, the really impressive ones. The weeks is kind of stuff, something you've probably seen before, but with nicer made and better paper.

'''Myke Hurley:''' But that's all I want though. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But check this out. I saw in the Panadix Slack today, there was a Space Invaders weeks version.

'''Myke Hurley:''' No, I know what one I want. And it was, I know what one I want.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And it was kind of rad.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I want the Earthbound one. Okay. The Mother Earthbound one. My gosh. They, they do them every now and then. This, this 2018 one is simply stupendous. Like, it is a work of art. It is. It's the best looking one. That's the one I want.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. They're not expensive. They're not expensive.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, we'll see. This is going to be, this is, this is one of those, this is the, one of those challenges, right? And I'm terrible at challenges of this magnitude. It's not my thing. I'm a, I'm a prime example of failure when it comes to the consistency and commitment challenge. So, not my thing. But what I am not a failure at, Myke, is spending money. I bought three pens that I wanted to talk about.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yep.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' On this show. I was ready to talk about them last week and we just got so overwhelmed and we knew we were having a quick turnaround. And this first one is one you've had quite a long time before I received mine. And that's the Franklin Christophe Model 20 with the Tabaldi finial that our good friend Thomas Hall and Franklin Christophe worked on together. It was a charity project that they collaborated on and they raised over $10,000 for various charities. How cool is that?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Very cool. And I'm using mine today and I absolutely love this pen. I love it. It's fantastic. I think I got a bold nib and it's glorious to use.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, like you, I absolutely adore this pen. And it's like one of those things that's hard to put your finger on, right? Because it's, you know, it's the clear demonstrator look, which I like. And it's kind of gray tinted, would you say? Yeah. And it's the Model 20 Franklin Christophe, which I very much enjoy. I like that shape. And it's a slip cap and I've eyedroppered mine and mine has a clip and just everything about this pen is right. And one of the comments I wanted to make is I ordered it with the fine Myke Masuyama steel Curse of Italic nib. That may be my favorite stock nib out of any company on the market. And it's a little bit unfair because it's kind of specialized, but it's a stock item for them. And, you know, it's a standard size nib that I can fit into all kinds of other things. If I could just order one nib online, even though it's expensive, that's the one. I mean, I just freaking love how this nib is and writes. It's perfect for my handwriting. Just perfect. And to go along with the look of this pen and the Tabaldi, you know, I took a terrible picture of it on Instagram. I had some really bad lighting. I was like, I'm gonna make this as bad as possible and it still looked good. Yeah, I can't say enough about this pen. Super enjoying it. I already have people wanting to buy it off me. They're like, if you ever get tired, if you ever get tired of that one, let me know.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I've been using this as a surprising amount, like more than I expected I would be. Yeah, I absolutely love this pen. I'm really, really, really happy with it. Oh, but you got the full size though, right? I did. Yeah, see, I got the pocket because it's the first one that I've had.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So people are still waiting on the pocket size, I was told. So I think they should be ready soon. No, no, they're all, you know, going through the workflow.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So mine was like the demo pen, right? So it's been handled, it's been pictured, like, you know, they spent a lot of time with mine, but I'm very happy with it. I absolutely, absolutely adore it. So thank you to everybody involved.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, so that's great. So that one came in last week, two weeks ago, and it's definitely been my most used pen ever since.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That's a great picture, you know, the one that you took of the Tuvaldi with the shadow and stuff. Oh, yeah. Very moody. I like it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, it was super awful, but it came out good. You know, it was one of those things I was sitting at the hair salon, actually, while my daughter was getting her hair done. And so I brought something to write with and the sunlight was over my shoulder through the blinds. And I was like, well, I got to do something with this because it looks terrible and it's going to be, it's going to not come out well. And that's right up my alley. That's on brand for me. So I went for it. But the next pen I got in about probably been more than a month ago, and it's taken me forever to ink it up because I wasn't sure what ink I wanted to put it in. But now that I did, I love this pen. I've kept it on my desktop uninked just to handle and look at. It's the Woodshed Pen Company Cracked Ice that I backed on Kickstarter. So he's a small maker in South Carolina, you know, does different pen turning, uses different materials. I ordered, I backed on Kickstarter one called Rubies and Violets, Myke.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Beautiful, Brad. It's stunning. It came out so good. Yeah. So I remember us talking about these when it came out because I liked the Nebula one.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, because I didn't know what to expect. I'd never heard of Woodshed. I had a couple people send me the link and I was just compelled by his Kickstarter offering. It was like his third Kickstarter. I felt pretty good about it. And the style of the pen, style and shape of it came out really well. It's kind of long section. So your fingers stay clear of the threading. Mine has a black nib. So it actually looks really good with the black undertones between all the, all the coloration in the barrel. I'm just enamored with it. It's a really, really good pen and it was a really fair price. I want to say it was like 125, 140, you know, right in that steel nib acrylic ballpark area that you can get a lot of pens at. Just really good work. The finishing is good. The threading is good. Like I said before the section, I'm really happy with the length of it. So it fits my hand good. And it's just really pretty to look at. And I inked it up with Bung Box Imperial Purple. And that fine, that was, I didn't want to put a pink in it as much pink ink as I use. I was like, I can't put a pink ink in it. And I wasn't sure it's hard to get something else in there. Other things that I use like orange, like I wouldn't put an orange ink in here. Blue didn't feel right. Blue, black, green didn't feel right. And it finally hit me the Bung Box Imperial Purple. You know, I'm not gonna lie. I nailed that one. So that's kind of the perfect matchup for me. Yeah, that's a good match. Good match. So the last pin I ordered was another Kickstarter project, you know, and we talked about it last week or a couple weeks ago. And we said we'd table the full discussion till this week. It's the shown design clip pin. You know, I love Ian's work. I know you love Ian's work. I was concerned. That's not really the right word. I was not really sure I wanted his pin with a clip. Would that work? You know, because I carry his regular shown design 01 aluminum pin in my pocket. Unclipped, you know, it doesn't have a clip. He, I mean, he nailed it. This is a, like a shorty type clip. It's so good looking, so strong, fits everything, fits the size and shape of the pin. I'm actually really happy I got this because I was hesitating because of the clip and I'm so not used to using his pin with a clip, but this is super great for, you know, other types of carry, you know, putting it in a bag or backpack, you know, clipping it to a shirt or a pants pocket. You know, I always just carry mine loose in the pocket and I'm fine with that, but this is, uh, I'm really happy with it. You know, his fit and finish is always right on the money and he did something cool with this. I didn't necessarily follow the Kickstarter. So my apologies if all this information was available to the Kickstarter backers and I just ignored it. He did some really nice packaging with this. And I have a picture on Instagram where I showed the inside of the packaging. You open it up and the pins like attached to this cardboard insert and it's pre-printed with shown design as logo. Then it has all these boxes that Ian wrote in, like it's pre-printed boxes, say customer model, date of purchase and retailer. So like he wrote in customer, Brad Dowdy, the pin addict, and then the model O2BL and the date of purchase and retailer, you know, Kickstarter. So I thought that was a really neat touch. It was all handwritten in these little boxes. And then what I didn't expect when I picked up the pin off this card, there was a notebook under it and it wasn't just any notebook. It was a shown design, right notepads collaboration with in black and silver. And it's just fancy. It's awesome. And the right side of the page is line and the left side of the page is dot grid. Like the, uh, Baron Fig did the work play edition, which is probably the best edition they've ever done. I think with lines, I think it was, was it blank on the right and dots on the left? I think it was blank, but this one's lined on the right dots on the left. It was just a nice added touch. I did. I'd forgotten that that was going to happen. So when you don't see it, when you open up the box to check out the pin, then you lift up the little card and I was like, Oh, there's a notebook in there. So like all the packaging was made to work around this. And then I lifted up the notebook and there was even more, he'd written me a note in the back and the bottom of the box, which, uh, that was, uh, that was Ian. He's a cool dude. So really happy with how this pin turned out. Um, I think it will be making the trip to Chicago with me. So I got, I got to figure out what pins and paper I'm carrying to that, uh, to this here little event we got going. So yeah, I'm really happy with all three of these pins that I've been using kind of just religiously in the past couple of weeks. You know, I use a lot of pins on a daily basis and these worked out well. And these were all projects I backed or, or, you know, purchases that I, I paid for myself. So I'm really happy when, uh, it works out that way that, Hey, I paid for something good. And so this was a no, no, three, no doubters all worked out really well for me. The last item I added to this little section, Myke was a big surprise that I got from jet pins and just one of my standard jet pins, you know, boxes of awesomeness. I got this more on spiral notebook and it's just your basic craft cover. Looks like a school notebook, kind of what I would call a school notebook. It looks like a, something a student would use. And I saw how thick it was and I saw it was a Mormon and I was like, Oh, this looks great. I definitely want it. I would have no clue what it's going to cost. Cause a lot of times I don't see the price on these things when I get them in advance. The Mormon paper is some of my favorite. I don't know if they're using the same paper they use in their larger, um, notebook lines, but this notebook is less than $6 and it's 80 pages and the paper is amazing as well. It's like, did they make a mistake? Like this doesn't seem like a Moramon thing. You know, I'm glad it's so inexpensive relative, you know, granted it's not your going school supply shopping standard spiral bound notebook that you pay less than a dollar for, but six bucks for this quality of paper kind of boggles my mind. And as I checked, when I was putting the links in the show notes, they're completely sold out at jet pins, which makes sense because it's kind of unreal pricing on this thing. So I appreciate that they did this. I'm going to get a lot of use out of this notebook. It's just kind of one of those notebooks you take. That's just kind of like a beater notebook, you know, throw it in a backpack and go and just takes notes as you need. And for six bucks, man, I've got zero complaints and I don't understand how they did it. And it kind of, it doesn't really hurt their other products because they have, you know, better covers and better binding, but man, this is an impressive, impressive product. This is a small entry point. Yes. So I get asked always during the summer, I am a student. I want a nice paper notebook, but I can't break the bank. Well, I just got that answer where I've never really had a definitive answer before. Other companies have done this, but they're usually like 30 sheets. This is like a full size 80 sheet notebook. It's, it's fantastic, just fantastic. So you should all buy it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Today's show is also brought to you by our friends over at Blue Apron. They are the number one recipe delivery service with the freshest ingredients. Blue Apron's mission is to make incredible home cooking accessible to everyone while supporting a more sustainable food system at the same time. They set the highest standards for their ingredients whilst building a community of home chefs as well. For less than $10 a meal, Blue Apron will deliver to you seasonal recipes with fresh, high quality ingredients to help you make delicious home cooked meals in 14 minutes or less. Every single meal comes with a step-by-step, easy to follow recipe card and pre-portioned ingredients. And by shipping the exact amount of each ingredient required for a recipe, Blue Apron is reducing food waste as well. They have a freshness guarantee, which promises that every single ingredient in your delivery will arrive ready to cook or they're going to make it right for you. It's way too close to dinner time for me, Brad. I hear you. What are you cooking? I'm just really concerned about having to read these meals next because like they're so good and I want to eat them right now and my stomach's already rumbling. Like I just, how do we get away from me talking about their incredible new recipes? Okay. Right now you could cook food like cheesy chicken and black bean enchiladas with salsa verde. I'm done. I'm done. I gotta go. Spiced cauliflower and pepper with jasmine rice and cilantro yogurt sauce. I have developed a real taste for cilantro. It's what we call coriander here in the UK. I know it's one of those things that people are not too sure about. Like some, like Idina hates it. She can't go near it. Oh, I love it. She just can't go near it. But like I have developed like a real flavor for it. So I'm a big fan. And maple gravy smothered, oh my God, pork chops with steward collared greens and sweet potatoes. My word. There's no weekly commitment for Blue Apron. You get deliveries when you want them. Check out this week's menu and get three meals for free with your first purchase with free shipping as well just by going to blueapron.com slash penaddict. You're going to love how good it feels and tasty creating incredible home-cooked meals at Blue Apron. So get started today with blueapron.com slash penaddict. We'd like to thank Blue Apron for their continued support of this show. Blue Apron, a better way to cook.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You know, as you were talking about it, I just want to make one thing clear. You don't have to add anything to these meals. They give you literally everything down to the exact spices to cook it with. You're not pulling things from your cabinet or having to go to the store to get any of these. They're not like sending you the protein and telling you what to cook around it. Absolutely everything.

'''Myke Hurley:''' All pre-portioned. Really, really nicely done. Really nicely done.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. Let's hit some Ask TPA on what has turned out to be quite the long show. I've been long-winded this episode, but these are not too long, so let's knock them out real quick. So 24 hours, 100 miles. Seems to be an interesting Twitter handle. I'll have to check that one out. Do you ever feel guilty for not using a pen or guilty you're using a non-fountain pen? Do you want to tackle this one first?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Guilty for not using a pen, definitely. If you spent a bunch of money on a pen and you feel like you maybe don't use it enough for whatever reason, either it's not your favorite or you've got an ink in it which isn't useful all the time. I get that feeling. I typically always use fountain pens, so I don't feel guilty for not using them. If I'm not using a fountain pen, I'm using a Retro 51, and I have absolutely no problem using those.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, so I'm kind of on the same page. I do feel guilty not using a pen, either one that I've purchased that I don't use, or if for somehow I've left the house and didn't have a pen on me, I will feel a little bit guilty sometimes. That is like, dude, what are you doing? You need a pen. Why didn't you bring one so you don't have to use whatever you end up with at the bank or wherever? Or guilty, you're not using a fountain pen. I never feel guilty about that because I use so many non-fountain pens. That's a non-issue for me. This isn't a fountain pen show, right? I don't run a fountain pen blog. I am into absolutely everything, so I never have guilt on using a gel pen, roller, highlighter, pencil, so no. No fountain pen guilt whatsoever. All right, the next one from, yeah. I'll let you pronounce that one. Suicism. Suicism, all right.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' What do you think of the JetPens Mini Aluminum? For a $15 starter, experience is phenomenal. Is it a generic of a different brand? I'm guessing it's a white label from somewhere. I don't know what specifically. It's a really good pen. It's a little expensive if you have to put it up against the Pilot Metropolitan. I mean, it's as simple as that. It doesn't mean it's not a good pen. It's a really good pen for what it is, but you're in the Metropolitan price range, and if you tell me, Brad, these are my two choices, I'm going to tell you Metropolitan every time.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Partly because the clip is disgusting and the logo is abhorrent on the JetPens pen.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I don't think the clip's disgusting. The clip is terrible. The clip is terrible. I don't know why it looks like that. It's a little funky. It's a little funky.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, it's not good. It's not good.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Totally fine pen. I'm sure it's white labeled from somewhere. This is an inexpensive barrel that they were just able to get their branding on.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I might have the answer for you here, Brad.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right, what you got?

'''Myke Hurley:''' From the JetPens page. It's a joint project between JetPens and Regal.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh, okay. I knew that. So Regal comes to the pen shows. Yeah, now that you say that, I totally knew that. Look at me. Silly Brad. So Regal, if you've been to pen shows, you've probably seen Regal there, and they do some other pens, and they start right around that price range. It's like a slimline pen. I'm picking the Metropolitan every time and twice on Sundays.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, me too, because the Metropolitan looks nice.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. Yep. And you know how much I love JetPens. I mean, my gosh, I used to work for them, but I'm not picking that pen over a lot of pens in that price range. It's just not happening. No way. So I'm not as mean on the clip, though, as you are, Regal. It's terrible, man. I'm just kidding. It's so bad.