Editing The Pen Addict 243/transcript (section)

== Harry's ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' All right, we're done. Let's take a final break and we'll talk about our friends over at Harry's. And then I think we have some Ask TPA to do today. Thank you so much to our friends at Harry's for supporting this week's show. For decades, the big razor companies have increased their profits, but kept their prices the same or even increased their prices at the expense of their customers. So Jeff and Andy started Harry's to fix all of this. They knew there was only one way to ensure quality. So they went and bought their own factory. And by selling directly online, Harry's is able to offer their blades at half the price of big brands that you're used to. And with Harry's, you'll pay just $2 a blade compared to the $4 that you're used to paying at the drugstore. Harry's razors include everything that you need for a close, comfortable shave. They have a weighted ergonomic handle, five precision engineered blades of a lubricating strip and trimmer. They also have a travel blade cover as well. Harry's also have all of the extras that you need, like amazing shave gel or cream. All of Harry's products are built with a great sense of design. They're comfortable to hold and they're easy on the eye. They're smooth to use on the face. They're great to use in the shower now that they have a grippy handle, which is awesome. It's all great value for money. It's an easy shopping experience. Harry's is the place that you need if you need to shave. Harry's is so confident in the quality of their blades that they want you to try out their shave set for free. Just go to harrys.com right now and enter the code PENADDICT at checkout and you'll claim your free trial set. And because you're a listener of this show, you'll also get a bonus post-shave balm added to your order for free. All you need to do is pay the shipping. That's H-A-R-R-Y-S.com, code PENADDICT, to get your free trial set and free post-shave balm. Thank you so much to Harry's for their support of this show and RelayFM.

'''Jared:''' All right. So this first email is amazing for lots of reasons. It packs a big punch in a short time frame here. So this is from Kurt. The subject of the mail is pocket clips. And the message is, I'd like to see a podcast devoted to pocket clips. Personally, I hate them. Their usefulness long have passed. Do either of you guys even own a pocket protector? I can see pen cases, sleeves, etc. I use them all the time, but I don't carry my pen clipped to my breast pocket even when I'm wearing a shirt with a breast pocket. Pocket clips are the vestigal organ of pens.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Kurt's email greatly confuses me. Like, at a level that I can't even get my head around? Does he want to hate listen to this pen clip podcast? I'm not sure.

'''Jared:''' That's an awesome email. So I'll take it point by point. I'd like to see a podcast devoted to pocket clips. No. Do either of you guys even own a pocket protector? Yes. You didn't ask if I used them. See how you see that? Yeah, I own them. I don't use them, but I own them. I own a pocket protector. Karis Customs did some killer pocket protectors a few years ago. And I made sure to get some. And then people have sent me other pocket protectors in the past that I have sitting around. I can see pen cases, sleeves. I use them all the time, but I don't carry my pen clip to my breast pocket. Pocket clips. Is it vestigial? How do you say vestigial? But I know what it means. But yeah, whatever. So anyway, Kurt, I'm with you. I can't argue against this. Like I have pens I absolutely don't want pocket clips on. Like some of my fountain pens. I really, really love designs without clips. I still clip pins to my shirt.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And also I like it that clips stop my pens from rolling away.

'''Jared:''' Yeah. I mean, you know, there's a case to be made for no pocket clips. And some pens fulfill that. You're not going to find those on the regular, the mass market pens. They're all going to have clips because apparently their market research says that people don't want to chase their pens all over creation when they roll. More so than they want to clip them to anything. But I mean, I understand not having to want a clip. Like my TI2 Techliner has a clip option. I don't use it. My Kawekos. I'll have clips options. I don't use them. I love not having a clip on some pens. For some, it's mandatory. And I quite enjoy the pocket clip. But there's lots of options if you don't want a pocket clip. But, you know, I don't know how much support we're going to get for the full-on hatred of pocket clips.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I judge it on a pen-by-pen basis, personally. Yeah.

'''Jared:''' Yeah. Yeah. So I thought that was a great email, Kurt. We're just giving you a hard time. But it was hilarious. Yeah. I really enjoyed this. I said I'm totally reading this on the show because it's hilarious.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I'm all for people and their passions.

'''Jared:''' Kurt is very passionate about this. Commit to your beliefs. Uh-huh. I like it. I like it. All right. So this last one. And then we'll get out of here today. This is from Carl. And Carl is a bartender, as we will find out during this mail. He says, I'm a long-time listener. I don't really know how I found you, but I've loved the show for years. See? That's how we get our listeners, Myke. I have no clue, but I just listen. Just by random happenstance.

'''Jared:''' He says, I have two questions. First, after years of hearing about Fountain Pen from y'all's show, I just purchased my first. Hell yeah. Alami Safari. Good job. But I'm worried about one thing. I have not bad, but awful, abysmal, no good, downright, barely legible handwriting. Not important. Thank you. That was very good advice. Part of the goal in buying a fountain pen is to take the time to improve, but it's very difficult to know where to start. Are there any good tools you can endorse aside for just consistent practice so I can use, so I can improve? So, he has a second question. We'll get to that, but let's handle this first. There are several resources. It depends on how you write. Number one, like Myke said, it's okay if you have terrible handwriting.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, like only look to improve here if that is a goal that you want. Don't think that because you have a nice pen, you have to have nice handwriting. Like those two things, they don't go together, right? Right. I don't, I've never bothered to really practice my handwriting. It is what it is. I can read it. It's not great, but it's fine. And I use my pens because it feels nice when I write them and I like to look at them and I get great performance out of them. But it's not like I feel like I have to, you know, like if you, say you're going out for a nice meal, right? A good restaurant. You dress up. So, you know, you're kind of making yourself fit in with the establishment. It's not like that. You don't have to like dress up your handwriting because the pen's fancy. You don't have to worry about it. Like you don't have to learn calligraphy because you want to buy a flex nib. Just buy a flex nib and just do silly shapes of it like I do. Like these things, you can totally practice with it, learn calligraphy, take like cursive logic book courses and stuff like that if you really want to. But you don't have to. I'm all for like being the leader of bad handwriting club. I'm well up for that task.

'''Jared:''' Yeah, I love that. Yeah, own your bad handwriting. I'm totally for that. If you want to improve, Myke mentioned a few things. If you're a cursive writer, definitely look at cursive logic. It is so useful, so helpful. If you want to improve your print writing, look at some of the architectural videos on YouTube. There's videos for architectural handwriting. You won't end up with that style, but you'll learn movement and shape to clean up some of your lettering, if you will. That's what I do. So I'm a printer. So I look at that style. My handwriting has never been worse than it is right now. I actually need to go practice these videos and improve my handwriting. And it is just consistent practice once you will find that style that fits your need. Right? Like I go through changing letters every now and then, how I write letters, but it takes pages and pages and weeks of motions and repetitive work to get that. So number one, find something that matches your style. And then number two, it is going to take the consistent practice after that. Once you've nailed down, I think my handwriting would work this way. Then it's just going to be practice. So a second question. I work in a field, that's bartending, where the cheap ballpoint is king. He says, I am a bartender. Also, you know how many pens we buy in a year at an average bar. You probably don't. It's a lot. Being that I deal with the low end of the market a lot, is there an inexpensive pen that you would recommend for my bar and our guests? I would like to show the quality of our establishment with a great pen, along with the service and the drinks, of course. And I know that these pens walk out the door at an alarming rate.

'''Jared:''' The Uniball Jetstream Sport is what you should target. You can buy them in quantity for cheap. They're the most inexpensive Jetstream. They're going to write on that terrible credit card machine paper. They're waterproof. So anything that gets wet or damp, the ink's going to stay put. It definitely has to be something in the ballpoint range. The Jetstream is the best choice for that. The Jetstream Sport is the cheapest and most available in bulk option of the Jetstream. But I promise you, it's going to be way more expensive than any of the cheap stuff you get from whatever those services are now these days that are providing pens. Corporate Express, I think, is what most people use in the U.S. now. And it's just garbagio. So, yeah. Fight for the Jetstream. Bring your own. And tie a string to them, you know, to your belt loop so they don't run away. So, awesome. From Carl. Carl signs off his email. Friend, human, bartender. I like that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Big three.

'''Jared:''' Yeah, the big three. So, yeah. That's a good email from someone that's just getting kind of started in this and from finding us randomly, apparently. So, all right. I think that's it this week, Michael.

'''Myke Hurley:''' All right. If you want to catch us online, there's a few places you can do that. You can go to relay.fm slash penaddict slash 243 to get our show notes for this week. Brad is at Dowdy. He is on Twitter, D-O-W-D-Y-I-S-M. And he's over at penaddict.com and knock.co. And he is penaddict on Instagram. I am at imike, I-M-Y-K-E. Thanks to our sponsors this week for helping support the show. They're the fine folk over at Harry's, Squarespace, and Mack Weldon. But as always, and most importantly this time, thanks to you for listening. And we'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad.

'''Jared:''' Goodbye, Brad. Five years. Whoop, whoop.

[[Category:Podcast Transcripts]]
[[Category:The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript]]