Hello and welcome to episode 88 of The Panatic. Your weekly show where we discuss pens, paper and the analog tools that we love so dearly. This is number 88 as I said and you can find the show notes for today's episode at 5by5.tv/panatic/88. My name is Mike Hurley and I am joined by The Nobleman of Notebooks, Mr. Brad Dowdy. Oh, thank you sir, how are you today? I'm very good. I would start right off with the show notes today because I fear that some people don't know where they are and I'm going to make sure that people are new. Yeah, especially since we talk about so many things that people may not be familiar with, it's good to have a place to go and get them. Yeah, and you kind of need to see some of the stuff too because some of the fun is to see what this stuff looks like so, so that people got it if they want it. Really? What are we getting into today? We got a loaded up show notes list today. Yeah. I'm pretty excited about it actually. We want to talk about our resolutions and our wish lists and all kinds of stuff but we got some bunch of things to touch base on before we even get to that. Yeah, let's do some quick follow-up, that's what I think I should do. You remember on last week's episode, I spoke about the Twisbee and the fact that I had broken the cap of my 540ROC and I had a few people who had a couple of emails and a couple of tweets like within like an hour of posting the show from our amazing listeners telling me to contact Twisbee directly and I know that Brad, you'd also been contacting people as you'd been seeing pictures on Instagram of people saying they'd had replaced Twisbee at once. So I emailed the guys and gals over at Twisbee and they're going to mail me a new cap. It's on the way. That's awesome. I'm super, super impressed because that's real customer service. They do not need to do this but no charge to me as well. That's fantastic. That's really good to see a company like that that'll support even some older products and this is a product they admitted when it came out that there were problems with. It's good to see them just standing behind it and sending me out some new parts and hopefully it'll be as good as new. I have no doubt about it. Yep. So when you get that new cap are you going to be super careful with it, are you still going to follow it away? Do you think it might get back into the heavy rotation? No, it'll go back into daily use. Awesome. I don't believe in just molly cuddling at least. These things are made to be used at the end of the day. It's important to me that if I have a pen that I enjoy, then I want to be able to use it. There are so few pens that I really love and I would hate to not be able to use one through fear of breaking it. Right, and that's actually, we'll talk about that a little bit more in the resolutions coming up because I think that's a good thing to talk about and I've got some comments on what'd you say, molly coddling? Yeah, did I say that? Yeah. Yeah, I had not heard that one. That basically means to care about it too much, like to sort of treat it like a baby. Yep. Yep. I know what you meant. I just hadn't heard that one before. I like it. Molly coddlinger. Molly coddlinger. Speaking of a pen that doesn't have to be molly coddled, do you see the reviews on the new Twisbee classic that came out? I know we talked about it for a couple of weeks. I haven't seen any, but, I mean, because I saw it there in the show notes and pretty early on, so I thought, "Wait, you could give me the rundown." Yes, I don't have one yet, and I'm not honestly, I mean, it looks good and I will totally end up buying one and it'll be a good pen and I just haven't, it hasn't, like, struck me like, you know, the 580, the diamond ROC, just in the looks department, it's a very classic pen as the name dictates. It's a very basic looking design for Twisbee, and what caught me off guard is, you know, I saw the individual pictures of the Twisbee classic, and then once I saw people seeing people doing the reviews, it's a smaller pen than I thought, just size-wise. It's definitely smaller than the 580 in length and diameter, and in one of the pictures I saw, it's about the length of the Twisbee mini when the mini's posted, so, you know, I've kind of got that pen from Twisbee, so I'm not in a hurry to get one. I will definitely pick one up eventually, and they look pretty good, and I'll probably get the blue, and they have, what, blue, black, burgundy, I think so far, and I don't know, the reviews, as you expect, are pretty positive so far, and we've got links to the show notes for anyone that's interested in the Twisbee classic, we got a couple reviews, one from fpquest.com and another one from fpgeeks.com, and, like I said, it's, we're fans of Twisbee, and it's a good, you know, it's going to be a good pen, and these guys all, you know, did some good reviews on them, and I don't know, I'd be anxious to hear if anyone else gets the Twisbee classic, I think Mike Dudeick got one, I don't know if he's reviewed it yet or not, he got the blue one. I'm starting to worry about the dude. Huh? I'm starting to worry about the dude. Yeah, why? Well, he's, you know, he spends more money than both of us combined these days. Yeah, you should see the text I get. Oh yeah? Yeah, it's just like, oh, just bought this, oh, just won this auction. I'm like, Dude, simmer down, simmer down over there. So yeah, we will, yeah, and we have more, more to blame doodock for here coming up in this, in this episode. The last week after, I think it was right after last week's episode, I was trolling around on Instagram, Instagram is one of my favorite things these days, Mike. After deleting my account a year or two ago, now I can't get enough of Instagram. I don't know what it is, so I've definitely turned the corner on that. I'm just discovering all kinds of neat stuff on there, and this was a discovery that of a product I'd never heard of before at all, and it just came across in one of my searches or hashtag feeds or something that I look at. I look at Instagram a lot for new products, a new products idea. It's this product called John's JAWNS, and we'll have the link to the product page in the show notes. And what caught me, what caught my eye about the product is it looked like, it just looked like another notebook, like another pocket size notebook, just like, you know, on the field notes, dome paper thing style, but what it has, it has, it's kind of like a combination notebook slash wallet, but not like you would think of like a leather wallet holder for your notebook that holds, you know, credit cards and has these slots. It's actually got the pockets integrated into the notebook cover. They use that Yupo plastic paper, like the field notes expedition edition, you know, that harder plastic, more durable paper cover, and then they've built in these slots just in the paper notebook itself for they built in credit cards, two credit card slots in the front, and I think one like folder slot in the back and then just the notebook pages in the middle, and I thought that was a pretty neat idea. So I just happened to follow them on Instagram and follow them on Twitter and they reached out to me, and I think they're going to be in production later this month, and they said they'd send me a sample to check out, so I look forward to getting that. What do you, what do you think about this idea? Have you, have you, have you taken a look in this link? It looks interesting, um, hmm, it looks, it's probably not going to replace your wallet. No, and then I think to myself, I would want something with a bit of character to it. So like something like a leather case to hold a field notes, it's definitely an interesting idea, and they've, they've chosen the right material for sure, chosen the right material. The video is weird. I don't know why he throws the cards down so hard on the table, I was just watching it now. Yeah, I mean, it certainly looks like an interesting product, like it's definitely a pretty cool idea. Like it's one of those things that I think you buy a bunch of those and get them out as gifts and people would really dig them. Yeah. Yeah, it's probably nothing that's going to break my everyday carry rotation, but I think it's something I want to try just to see as an option to see if, if I could figure out something used for it. Just because I think it's, um, it's kind of neat, you know, it's just like, um, you know, not, I try to stay out of like bulky items, um, like big leather wallets and things like that. I was just about to say like the problem with those levels, with the leather cases and stuff, is it, it adds a significant amount of bulk to, uh, your pocket, right? Yep. Yep. But this one, obviously that, that doesn't happen. It's really thin because it's just the weight of the notebook itself. So right. Right. So it's, I mean, it's a very simple idea. So we'll see how it's executed and hopefully I'll get a sample to review here in a month or so and we'll see, uh, um, if it's worth pursuing further, but, um, I thought it was just, uh, kind of a neat, neat little thing and, um, you know, looks, it's one of those things where I can appreciate like in this, a simple idea being, you know, made into something new and different like that. So I think that looks pretty cool. Um, also something else I stumbled on yesterday as a matter of fact, um, Lee Reyes who, um, is one of my personal favorite pin bloggers out there, she, she's one to did a few weeks ago, maybe a month ago around the time of the Philippines, uh, uh, the hurricane and the Philippines. She did the, all the auction stuff for all these great pins and you know, lots of people participated. She had a great auction, um, going on her website. Um, she posted her 2014 fountain pen wallpaper for people, um, to use and share. These are all pictures of her pens and her artwork and things like that. She did an amazing job where anyone that went to, uh, fountain pen or pen and ink related images for their desktop for the upcoming year, you have got to check these pictures out. These are amazing. Didn't she do a great job? I loved the, uh, the diamond flower ink thing. Isn't that cool? I think she, she actually mentioned in one of her tweets, she's like, boy, that one came out really good. I think that was one of her favorites as well. These inks that have got splashes in them like that, they're already different colors. I know. I don't know. It's just the way they're lit. It's probably just the way it's lit, isn't it? It's probably the way they're lit and probably the way she's, you know, splashed them down on the page and, you know, there's this whole range of colors in there that, that was my favorite one. Um, I think probably the one you're talking about is called ink splashes. Um, that was my favorite one that I saw, um, but man, she's gotten nakayas all over it all over the page. And we're definitely going to talk about that later. Um, feel like nakayas, something I don't know enough about. Yeah. Yeah. Well, hide your wallets. All right. Well, you know what happens when we do these things these days, I end up spending stupid amounts of money. God, it's terrible. It was an expensive week for me. It was expensive week for me. That's for sure. Cause I, I, uh, I did get some new pens this week, which I did. I didn't think I was going to have them in time for the episode. So I wasn't really, um, wasn't really focused on them to talk about this week, but I got two new pens this week. I, uh, I'm, uh, helping the economy out this week. Mike, um, first one I got was from my enabler, Thomas. He always my inbox gets filled with just, uh, links from Thomas. Hey, you might want to check this one out. You know, he's looking at the fountain pen network classifieds or he'll see something out there. That's a good deal. He knows my tastes pretty well after all this time spent talking to him. He knows what I like and what I dislike. So if he sees something he thinks I like, he sends me this link in the email like, man, I guess I got to go check this out. So he sent me a link earlier or late last week. It was for the pilot custom heritage nine, 12, which is the same pen I have, that PO nib, you know, that, that kind of like hook nib that's really fine and really firm. You know, which one I'm talking about. Uh, yes. The one that looks like it's broken. Yeah. Yeah. It looks like it's broken. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it's, um, that's very same pin style pin barrel with a stub nib, um, which I hadn't actually seen. It's not one of the standard nibs, just like the PO nib isn't one of the standard nibs that it comes with, you know, like fine, extra fine, medium, broad, et cetera. Um, it's got a stock stub nib on it. And it's really great. And I bought it used off a fountain pen network, um, pins in pristine shape. So I will definitely have more about this pen, um, in the coming days. What did you say it was called? Sorry. Is it the custom heritage? Yeah. Custom heritage nine, one, two nine, one, two, okay. Uh huh. And this is with a stub nib, which they call the S U nib. I don't know exactly why the S U, but stub something. Yeah. ST U B, but, um, it's really nice. It's very expressive, uh, very expressive nib, very smooth. I loaded it up with a Pelican Edelstein tow pads, which is a real bright blue ink, you know, kind of like the compaki ink, um, already had a pen inked up with compaki. So I wanted to try something else bright and blue, but, um, suffice it to say you will be reading more about this pin in the coming days and months on pan addict.com. Now, my other enabling friends and your enabling friends as well, Mr. Mike Dudek and Mr. Ed jelly have been on this road train kick, right? These guys, I hate these, I've decided I hate these guys. I know, right? I just, I just feel like we can't be friends with them anymore. And now I've just realized that we just became the listeners of this show. That's right. Oh, no, no, I feel guilty for the, for the last 88 episodes. Maybe it's, it's the Mike and Ed, Mike and Dudek and Ed jelly podcast. And we're just, uh, we're just living in their world. Oh, it's like one of those alternate reality type deals. That's right. That's right. We got into your wallet last week, couple of weeks ago for a road train, 600 lava fountain pin and, um, Oh, you got one, didn't you? Yeah. What nipsize did you get medium? And it's interesting. I got an email from, and I think you might have been copied on the initial email from our friend Keegan at one star leather goods. He bought a set like a roller ball fountain pen set or I don't know if it was a roller ball fountain pen and pencil set. I didn't get into all the details, but he's not, um, he wasn't really interested in keeping the fountain pen. So he offered, uh, offer to sell it and him and I consummated a deal last week and it showed up in my mailbox yesterday. And I got to say, this is a really awesome pen. I'm, I'm very happy with it. Um, it looks like Keegan purchased, um, it's like, you know, probably like yours, like a new old stock pen. I mean, it looks brand new, um, fresh out the box. Yeah. It was fresh. Like it had never been used. I don't know if it had, but if it, if it has been used, it was impeccably cleaned. Yeah. Exactly. I mean, this one's like no dings, no scratches. It's beautiful. Um, it's sparklier than I thought it would be looking at the pictures. You know, the, uh, the lava finish, it's got, um, it's got a little bit more shine into it than I actually thought it would, but I actually, I think it looks good. I mean, the finish is great. It's like a really fine grit sandpaper, almost it's, which it's actually a little bit smoother than that. So that, that surprised me the, the shine of it. And then second, I thought the section was narrower than I kind of assumed it would be, but it's a really good feeling and good fitting pen, a great writing pen. I'm real happy with the nib, um, the nib's very firm and it's a medium, but it doesn't write overly wide. it reminds me a lot of how twispy nibs feel. They're very firm and they're not overly inky. Um, there's not a lot of ink coming out on the page, which is something that I tend to prefer. Um, so I'm overall, I'm super happy with this pen. Have you been, you've been using yours still? So all I've used for the last week and, um, I'm, I'm willing to say that it's, it's one of the best pens I've ever owned. I, I'm in, I'm in love with it. At first, I thought I thought it was too heavy, um, but the moral more I've used there, it's just a dream to write with. I love this. I really love this pen. I think like the last couple of weeks, I've received two of the best pens I've ever owned. Like the Pelican M two one five. And then the, the rotary 600. Like they're just incredible, incredible pens. I've had a, yeah, I'm very, very happy with what, with what I've got at the moment. Like German, German engineering will get you apparently, right? Yeah. I mean, apparently so. Yeah. But, um, having used the, the rotary 600, the roller ball, which actually, uh, Mr. Dudek told me it was probably a Newton, the one that I had before it that the roller ball was actually way heavier than this pen is. Um, I actually prefer the weight of this, of the fountain pen, this lava 600 fountain pen. Then I did the roller ball. The roller ball was almost too heavy and this, this is, this one's right on the money. Tell me, did the cap get you what do you mean? Trying to put the cap onto the pen. Yeah, for sure. But I mean, I, I, since I had had the other one before, I knew about the, uh, the push and twist kind of deal. Yeah. So it'll, so it'll line up correctly. I'm used to it. Um, so yeah, it actually got me, uh, taking it off at first. I was like, was this a screw cap, but no, it takes some force. I mean, I'm used to it now. And I kind of like it, uh, but I was a bit like, uh, I'm going to break this even putting it on. I'm not taking it off. Like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was actually told that when I bought the roller ball a couple of years ago, actually that was the, the guy I bought it from actually made a point to say, here's how you should take the cap off. Yeah. You got it's, uh, I think people get stuck on it for a, for a second, the first time they try to open it up. Yep. All right. So we got, we got lots more to cover here. We got lots of, uh, lots of lists to go through here for our, our 2014 stationary resolutions and our, our wish list. So you wanted to, uh, talk about our friends at Squarespace real quick and we'll get into that. Yeah. That sounds like, uh, sounds like a really good idea. By the way, Brad, happy to hear you. Hey, happy new year to you. That was, it was, it was weird because we recorded right before the new year, rang in last year. So it's been like a week to, to, before we get into this new year stuff. It feels like the new year's already come and gone, even though we're only a few days into it. So happy new year to you two, sir. So happy new year to all of our listeners as well, of course, of course. Of course. Let's take a quick moment to thank our sponsor for this week. And that is, of course, the fine folks over at Squarespace, they are the all in one platform that makes it easy to create your own website for a free trial and 10% off, go to squarespace.com and use the offer code tallyhoe1. Squarespace is constantly updating their platform with new features, designs, and more support. They're beautiful templates you to start with and tons of other style options for you to adjust. So you can really create craft and make your own space online. Squarespace takes care of hosting SEO and even makes your site look fantastic on any device featuring responsive web design. It's really easy to use, but they have over 70 employees dedicated to customer support and their customer care team if you need any help at all. Squarespace truly cares about design and this show out shows throughout their entire product. It's on their website. So if you've got to squarespace.com, you're going to see a fantastic looking site with beautiful videos and it looks really great throughout their templates, which are award winning. So you're going to have an award winning layout on your site from one of the templates that you choose and adapt. But it also shows in their iOS apps, which I've spoken about in weeks past, like Squarespace Blog and Squarespace Metric which allow you to post to your blog and to see all of your stats and stuff that come onto your site using those. They also really care about the way that their backend system looks. So when you're posting to your site, it looks fantastic there, too. I want to take a quick moment to just note something. And Squarespace haven't asked me to do this, but I wanted to just take a quick second to congratulate them, because Brad, believe it or not, yesterday marked 10 years for Squarespace. Yes. I saw that. I saw that they did a blog post and I was shocked. I had no idea. Indeed. If you go to blog.squarespace.com, you're going to see it right up there at the moment. They've also redesigned their blog, which is one of the first announcements that they're going to have. They're going to have 10 announcements throughout all of January, which I'm really excited to see what they're going to be. I'm looking forward to some cool stuff coming from them. But it just shows they've been around for 10 years. These guys really know what they're doing. They've got it down. They've got all the hosting down. Squarespace sites look fantastic. They just react fantastically. They scale brilliantly. I've been using them for about five or six years myself personally. And even back then, they were incredible as they were up to today. So congratulations to Squarespace for making 10 years. And I think you should go and try them out to see what all the fuss is about. Go to squarespace.com. You can sign up for a free trial. There's no credit card needed to do this. You should give them your name, your email address, and you can sign up for an account. And then if you decide to purchase a Squarespace plan, they start at just $8 a month and include a free domain name if you sign up for a year. And make sure that you get 10% off and support this show by using the code "TallyHo1" as T-A-L-L-Y-H-O and the number one. So thank you so much to Squarespace for supporting 5x5 and the Panadict and losing my voice. You are. You are. I was wondering if you're catching the plague that I had these past few weeks. A little bit. A little bit. Hey, one thing I forgot to mention when I was talking about these new pens that I got the rotoring I've got from Keegan and One Star Leather, he sent me a package. He sent me my wife's coming in from the mailbox yesterday and I see her looking down at this white envelope and she's just got this quizzical look on her face and I'm just like staring at her. I don't know what she's doing and she's just looking and kind of looking cross-eyed at it. And I get, she hands me the package and the label of the package in the ship to address. It says Brad, the enabler, Dowdy, Prince of Pins, Night of Notco, the man of Macon on my shipping label. What a dude. So he brought his A game on that one, so that was awesome. So thank you, Keegan, for doing that and thank you for confusing the heck out of my wife and me having to explain to her what's going on. So this is the thing that I do every week. Those are always uncomfortable conversations with people who don't, I mean, she obviously knows pretty much everything, you know, I've got going on with pens and paper and everything. But when, you know, there's like these little inside jokes and things and you have to explain them to a person like in real words and not in reality life, not on internet life. It kind of falls flat sometimes. All right, so let's get into this. Last year we did our 2013 stationary resolutions and it kind of stuck as a good episode. People like to hear about that and hear, you know, what we wanted, what we were planning on for the pen and paper world and in the new year and we followed up on it, you know, halfway three quarters through the year last year to see how we did. And so we wanted to do that again this year with our 2014 stationary resolutions and wishlist. And it's good to, you know, to talk about these publicly so people can hold you accountable, Mike. Are you nervous about that? That's sad. I know, it's always, but that's why you do it. So I don't normally do resolutions just, you know, in New Year's resolutions, but I do like having these pen and paper resolutions that try to, I try to stick to throughout the year. So one of my, one of my biggest, my biggest one this year is to really work with the Hobonichi planner that I have and really make that kind of my go to capturing device and, you know, really just use, use the planner as a planner, you know, live in the Hobonichi planner. I've never been a planner person to where I've been able to stick with a planner for its intended use for a full year. So that's, it's actually kind of a scary thing for me. It was, I was very hesitant to even order the Hobonichi planner, but I enjoy writing in it so much that I, you know, I'm carrying it with me everywhere I go. And I'm trying to really focus on using it and I'm not, I'm, I'm not focusing on how I'm using it, you know, I'm focusing on just using it, writing things down to remember, you know, writing to do lists, writing plans, you know, I'm trying to do, I'm trying to add in like some little sketches and things. I'm trying to, one of the, one of the things other things just in general I want to do this year is try to explore my creative side a little bit more. Always, that's kind of a, a repressed gene in me, if you will, like I don't explore like my artistic side very much, even though I know I've got it in me because I'm too nervous and I have that hesitancy, so I'm going to try to break through on that this year. We'll see. I'm going to use the Hobonichi for that because there's room in the planner just for, you know, sketches and doodles and drawings and things like that and try to, try to, you know, free me up a little bit mentally. So that's going to be my biggest, biggest thing I'm going to work on this year is to use that planner throughout the entire year and stick with it because I've never been a planner person and so that's, it's actually going to be pretty hard for me and I forget sometimes like I've already forgotten to like on the weekends when I'm not necessarily carrying around with me is I would like all through the week through work and things like that, I forget to like, you know, jot things down that I wanted to remember or need to do and things like that. So I'm working on that and that's going to be, so y'all hold me to that and hopefully towards the end of the year, we'll follow back up on this and see how I did and hopefully I've done well. That's a noble goal, man. Yeah, it's a hard one because it's not my style. Not my style at all. Usually just, you know, just a blank field notes list and jotting things down, scribbles and things like that. So yeah, using that's going to be a goal of mine and you know, I've got this fancy cover that, that Mr. Bruck wiki made for me. So I've got that going for me, which is nice and so yeah, we're going to do it to it. So one of the, one of the other things I want to do this year is to use more vintage pins. My tendencies lean to the modern, obviously, like I've just bought these new very nice pins, even you know, I wouldn't consider the rotering, you know, a vintage pin at all. I consider it kind of a classic modern design. But like last year at the pin show, I bought that vacumatic, right? And it's still one of my favorite looking pens, but I never use it. And this goes back to what you were talking about in the beginning of the show with your Twizby is like, you know, I buy these pins to use not to sit here and look pretty, you know, on a desk, you know, what good is that? And I've got to force myself to use them more often. And I don't know why I'm molly coddling these pens because there's no need for that. I mean, it's a, it's a, it's a mental block, I think, um, for me. And I don't want to necessarily add much to my vintage collection, you know, like I might buy one or two more pens, but I want to use the vintage pens that I have. Like I have some really nice pens sitting here, I have a Parker 51 and I have an Estherbrook and I have a vacumatic and they just sit here in my pen case and I never ink them up and I don't know why. So I want to get into using those more because those pens deserve to be used and they're just, they're great writers, they're great looking. And I don't know what my hesitancy is to, um, to ink those up and use them over some of the more, um, current pens that I own. And my, my last resolution is I want to write more and write better or I guess I should say I want to write more better and, uh, I guess with that, I mean, I've had, you know, since we've been, since I've started the not co, um, company, I think I've, I've, and I knew it was coming and that's why I've kind of planned around it. Um, I haven't been writing quite as much as I like to for the pen addict and I want to get back to doing, you know, some longer, some longer reviews, some longer articles, some more general writing. Um, I've never thought my writing quality was very good. So I want to improve on my, my blogging and my writing style and my writing quantity and quality. So, um, that's going to be a challenge. I don't know that I necessarily have, uh, some quantifiable measure for that. But I feel that I feel creatively challenged, I guess, I guess, um, I want to be a little bit more creative this year and do some different things. And when, when, what those things are, I'm not sure, but, um, you know, writing and drawing and doing, you know, far enough, those creative brain cells in my head, um, those are the things I want to work on this year. So that's, that's kind of my list. Um, you know, I think it's, uh, I think it's definitely doable, doable type stuff and, you know, things that kind of get lost, lost in the shuffle, like my vintage pens, you know, they're sitting there. I need to use them because I love looking at them. So might as well put them in the rotation, Mike, it's the way to go, man. Yeah. Yeah. So what are your plans for the year? So I've got a few, um, like you, um, I want to help people, more people in my life find the right pen. Um, I was showing off my pen collection, uh, to the lady, um, over, over the weekend. And, uh, it was, she was very interested, um, by the more and, uh, was like sort of enjoying using each of them and it's all coming from an art background and stuff. It was something that she was very, um, very intrigued with. So, you know, she was testing them all out and was showing very sort of similar thoughts and feelings to me about how they feel and stuff like that. And of everything, um, she really liked the Twisbee stub nib and the, she liked the park of Accumatic quite a lot. Just the way that they were the, yeah, smooth they were. So, and she's always been, she's, you know, she's always been the sort of person that is like, um, I want to have one pen. So she used to have this one pen that she loved, but she lost it. And then since then it's just been a kind of whatever, you know, this fancy. And she's, she, she uses, um, I think it was like some pilot, like, uh, art pens. So, you know, I'm, I'm going to, I'm going to show her the Sakura Pikmin Micron and the, um, well, see how one I'm thinking of, um, no, there's a bunch, uni pen, pilot drawing pen. Yeah. So stuff like that. Copic. Do you think about the Copic? I figured a Copic Multiliner. Yep. Yeah. Um, I'll put those in the show notes. Uh, so, yeah. So just trying to help people in my life find the pens that are right for them. Um, as opposed to necessarily just being, this is the one that I think you should have. Got you. And that's how I think that might be an interesting task this year to see how I get, get along with that. Yeah. That's a very noble, noble, uh, goal. I like that. It could be interesting. It could be interesting for sure. I was going to try that out. Um, I want to go to the pen show again in October, uh, but with more money this time. That's a, a bigger budget, uh, so I can start, start, start saving now. Yeah. Exactly. I want to be able to allow for some surprise purchases, um, and also have a couple of things that I definitely want to get. Um, I want to buy a couple more retro 51s. I really feel like I've done that too much in 2013 and maybe my collection is waning a little bit, uh, because of it. And I want to back a minimum of five really cool panel paper related kick starters this year. I like that. I like that. There's some interesting things out on Kickstarter. It kind of about six or eight months ago, I thought there was kind of a lull in, uh, the cool pen and paper kick starter stuff. And then, you know, probably back around the summertime, it seemed like its car started ramping up again. I ended up back in several things and, and, um, yeah, I think that's really cool. Is any, anything on your radar recently on there? I, I don't know that I've noticed anything. I know the ink, obviously, um, here recently, but, um, yeah, I'm not, uh, I need to check and see if there's anything cool on Kickstarter here recently, but I think that's a, that's a really good idea. I haven't seen anything and I think that's part of it is I need to maybe spend some time looking there myself as opposed to having people show me, you know, yeah. I think that's good. I've actually found some things browsing around on my own, um, and not even necessarily pen and paper stuff, but just some really neat projects that have funded here recently just for me browsing and finding some things that, um, you know, you can find things that, um, you know, fit your style or your needs or things like that. So that's a, that's a very good one. I think, uh, I think we'll keep a, we'll keep good tabs on that list and, and see what's out there. No doubt. All right. All right, so my wish list, now this was fun to put together because I'd been thinking about this anyway, um, but I'd never put it down on paper and I've already scratched one off and we're early in the year, Mike, the, the rotoring lava 600 fountain pen that was on the wish list, regardless. And you know, we're still in single digits on January, um, and I've got one scratched off the list. So I'm happy about that. All on my way up my wish list. Now the rest of the list is going to be a challenge. Um, there's two pins, um, that I really want to buy this year. One of them, I think is probably coming sooner than later. The other one is going to take some, gosh, what's the words I'm looking for coming so, coming to terms mentally, and that's with the Nikaya, um, for years, or at least since I've been into fountain pens for the past couple of years, I've always just been fascinated with the Nikaya brand, the style of the pen, the history of the pen, the quality of the pen. Um, they're just the most beautiful pens I've ever seen, um, and I think I'm getting to that phase where I want to add one in my collection. Like previously, you know, like when I was getting started with fountain pens, I always looked at them and, and drooled over them and thought, mmm, not now, or, you know, it's not my time for one because they're very expensive. I mean, it's going to be six or $700 just a, even can consider one and, you know, that will be two or three times more than the most expensive pen I own, um, as of right now. So that's one challenge behind it. And two, the second challenge is back to kind of how I was talking about the vintage pens. I don't want to spend that kind of money and not use the pen, right? So there's like this pull, like this back and forth kind of, you know, do you spend this kind of money to let the pens sit there and look pretty and it's like, that's not something I want to do, right? It's, if I'm going to spend that kind of money on a pen, I still want to use it and I want to use it every day and actually I want to be, you know, carry it with me at all times because I've committed so much money to it. So that's kind of the biggest hang up I have on the kaya, not, I'm not opposed to paying the money. I'm more nervous about paying the money and not using the product because I'm scared of breaking or damaging it or something like that. So that's something I have to get over mentally. I don't think that's not a pen. You just go to the website and add it to your shopping cart and hit purchase. So there's going to be a lot more thought put into this purchase. And if I do make it, I imagine it will be towards, you know, the middle or second half of the year, I'm not ready to pull the trigger yet. I'm sure I'll wake up one day and say, okay, today's the day that we're going to buy the nakaya, except I need to give myself two or three months lead time if I want something special on it because they, if you don't buy one from someone in stock like at nibs.com, they do take a while to manufacture. So we'll see, we'll see if I cross that one off the list this year. It's a maybe it's a definitely maybe I've got some more, some more brain cells to wrap around the whole nakaya thing. But I will eventually own one. It's just going to take some thinking to actually pull that trigger. I think I might be a little bit out price range right now. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, I can definitely understand that the other problem is it's, you know, the delays potato chip problem. No one can eat just one, you know, once I get the first one, then I'm really sunk. You know, because there's always there's going to be a second one. And then that's when you start running into, into issues. And that's a, that's an expensive habit there. So well, there's some more thinking to be done. It's on my wish list. It's permanent. It's got a permanent home on my wish list and we'll see if I scratch it off sometime this year. I'm thinking yes, but I'm thinking not soon, if that makes sense. One I am thinking soon though is Edison Menlo. It's the, like the, the pump filler that Brian Gray made for Edison Pens last year. It's not, it's a very expensive pen too. It's like, it's 350, I think, to just get in the base model one. But I'm more, I don't know, for some reason I've used several Edison Pens. I love how they're made. I love how they fit my hand. The quality is top notch and I'm not afraid to use those for some reason. I guess it's because I've got experience with them, unlike the Nikaya, where I treat like a museum piece, you know, the Edison, I'm, which is equally as museum quality. I'm just, you know, put it in my pocket and go to town and I love using them. So I want to get this, this pump filler that Brian has made. And I think that one will probably be a sooner rather than later pen. It's not immediate, it's not forthcoming, since I've just spent, I've just spent a lot on this pilot custom heritage and rotoring lava here in, in the first week of the month of the year. But I bet, I don't know, probably in a couple of months, I'll get that pen because that's a really cool pen and it's just some, ever since he announced it, it's been on my shopping list and I think this is the year I break down and get that one. Another pen, which, what kind of surprised me that I wanted and, I don't know, do I need it? No. But I kind of want it is, I want another vanishing point. They've come out with some cool ones here in the past year. There's a gun metal and gray one that, uh, Ed Jelly keeps posting and he did, he did just a picture post. I think it was just like directed at me just to taunt me because now I want that pen. And then they, that's when they came out with last year, then this year they're coming out with a white and black one that I think looks pretty sexy. Um, I've got the link in the show notes, cult pens has that one already. I have a feeling I'll, I use my vanishing point, vanishing points, what I keep in my, um, hope I need you planner. That's what I use, um, in there constantly. So it's a pen I use all day, every day, um, it's a perfect pen for that. And I kind of, I don't know, I've just kind of, kind of got the hankering for another one. So that's on the list. Um, a couple other smaller items is the Sailor Pro Gear. I keep, that's been on the wishlist since last year and I've never come through and got one. Um, it's very similar to the pilot custom heritage nine 12s that I enjoy so much. So I want to get, I want to pick up a pro gear this year. Um, it's just a nice solid workhorse type pen. You know, it's probably cost me in the $150 $200 range. Um, the sailor nibs are some of the best in the world and I want to add more to my collection. I also want to get another Franklin Kristoff model 40 pocket. Um, the pen that I love so much and it's probably my current favorite pen. Um, the smoke and ice Franklin Kristoff. I want to get a solid barrel color one, like they have a dark green one that looks, looks pretty neat and I want to get it with a needle tip instead of the, uh, um, curse of a talent nib. And lastly, I'm putting a call out to the listeners. I stumbled across an ink that I missed that came out in a limited edition two years ago. It's the roaring Klingner blouse shorts. It was a limited edition blue black. They made a thousand bottles of it. So one of my goals this year is to somehow manage a bottle of that ink. So I need the listeners to come through on that one. So if anyone has any bottles, partial bottles, samples, they want to sell, get in touch. Cause I want to, I missed out on this and being the blue black ink fan that I am, I want to add this to the collection of my blue black ink. So, um, that's, that's going to be a tough one to fulfill. So, uh, that's why we're going to, we're going to put a call out to the listeners on that one. Do you have any you can, you can sell me, Mike. Um, not hidden away. Okay. I'll check the vault. Okay. Just checking. Just checking. I wasn't sure. I've really struggled putting together a wish list, um, because a lot of the stuff that I've had on my wish list for a while, I've actually been able to knock off recently. And there wasn't really too much that jumped out of me. I mean, this is, these first two, they were on my wish list when we spoke about the gift guide. Yeah. Um, so the Franklin, Franklin Christoff model full T fire and I so really want one. The only reason that I haven't bought one yet is because if I get one, I want to do it the way that you did it with the silicon grease and stuff, but I'm kind of a bit apprehensive of doing that. Yeah. Don't be. I actually had someone on Twitter asked me about that. I was totally apprehensive to that, Mike. I mean, like really freaked out by that it's, it's, it's been one of the simplest, easiest things that I've ever done and it works flawlessly. It's, it's seriously, it's a non consideration. Okay. That's how easy it is. Okay. Um, and I also want to go wake up at sport, but my understanding is they're getting even harder to get hold of. Yes. So you need to, uh, get on that one sooner. I want to, I can let this one go though. Yeah. Because I own kawecos. I mean, it's just another one that looks nice. I, I don't have a kawaco that I love so much that I would use it every day. And that's kind of becoming a thing for me now, Brad. I'm trying to buy pens that I think I would use every day because I have truly excellent pens. Now. Right. So there's been many, the twizz to be 540, the Pelican M215, the, um, rotary and lava 600 and the retro 51, right? Mm hmm. Those I think there's five there. Yeah. They are like there is as good as it gets. Yeah. That's a great lineup. Like, I really think that those pens are just for me that they're, they're like, they're so great. Why would I want to buy something that is just going to sit in a pen cup now? Right. I really am trying to try and buy pens that I think could be amazing. So I know that what that means is I will be spending more money on pens when I do buy them. Mm hmm. Because in theory, those pens, those really, truly excellent pens are going to be more expensive with the exception of the retro 51, but I don't actually consider that in the same class as the other four, just because it's just such a good pen for the value of money. Um, so, you know, for me, it's like, yeah, that makes sense to do that to get that. But, um, the others they're just, for me, they're, they're kind of as good as good as it gets. Right. Yeah, I can understand that completely. So when I'm thinking about buying something like this now, I'm kind of like, well, is it going to be, is it going to be that good? And then, and then I start to think, well, maybe not, but then you look at some of, some of the stuff that's on the, the, the list that like might, so that's why I like the, the, the, the Quaker, I'm willing to let it go because I don't actually think that it's going to be any different to the other Quakers and I have Quakers and they're not on the list. But something like the Franklin Christophe could well be because you, you really seem to love that pen. Yeah. That's just you. Um, so I want a new Twisbee. Um, originally it is said the classic, but I'm not really that excited by that pen. I would have bought one by now. Right. So I want another Twisbee. I'm hoping now I have something else this year. And this is the other bit. This is the bit that I think is quite bold, a prediction and I don't know if you'd read it before now. If you've not read it now, and I wonder what you think of this, but in 2014, I want a pen that we have never heard of before at all to blow my mind. Yeah. I want to buy a pen that we have never come across. Ideally, a pen that is new, brand new, not like the Twisbee, blah, blah, blah, right. Like I want it to be something that comes out of nowhere, like a Franklin Christoph. For me and you, at least, it's brand new to us. We've never heard of it before. And it becomes an instant favorite of mine. I like that a lot. That's what I really wish for more than anything else in my list is I want something totally new this year. And that doesn't seem out of the ordinary because of those pens that I just listed that are my favorites, maybe 75% of them I'd never heard of in 2013. Yep. That's cool. I like that. I think that would be a lot of fun, so I hope that that happens. That's cool. I like that. Now, I did reach out on Twitter with all of our followers just to see what their resolutions were for 2014, you know, around pens and paper and ink and all that stuff, and also some of their wish list items. So I collected all these. It's a huge list. I don't know if I'll get to all of them, but I want to talk about a couple of them specifically. One, which was kind of the impetus as a reminder for this show because it was a week or so ago. Brad Thornborrow, he's going first and he's going big. He said, "I just made my last pen order for 2013, planning to go cold turkey in 2014. Wish me luck." Oof. Guys, crazy. Oof. Oof. Brad. Brad, I hope you're not listening to this episode, Brad. And you know, we appreciate you being a listener of the podcast and we hope you continue to download and not listen. Don't ever come back. But good luck, because I do, I sincerely wish you luck if that's your goal for 2014. You know, and I think he's kind of getting at a point that a lot of people made, actually, and not so stringent terms, is a lot of people's resolutions for 2014 were to use the pens and paper that they have already and use them better. You know, if they're buying or subscribing to field notes, use them instead of stacking up 12 or 20 of them, you know, sitting around in cellophane, actually get things out and use them, put the pen to the paper and use the tools that you're actually spending the money on. And I think we can all get behind that. And that's a, that's a definitely a recurring theme throughout a lot of people's comments. Tim Wausom, who's, who just did a, I think he's, I'm going to miss the name of his blog. It's the daily carry blog, but I forget the name of the actual URL of the blog. I'll get it. We'll put in the show notes. His is to use more wood case pencils. And that's one of those things I mentioned last year that I wanted to try to do more, like in the middle of the year when I was reviewing some, some pencils, and I just, I can never do it. I couldn't do it. I failed on that one. I'm not going to, I'm not going to say I'm going to do that again this year because I'll probably fail again, but I mean, that would be something I would like to do. It's probably not going to happen for me. He also says also resolved to try to spend a little less money on pen stuff on, in 2014, emphasis on try and little. What's happened to all this? Huh? I don't know. I don't know. It's, hey, we all go through that even, even me. You know, it's like, okay, I've got a good, I've got a good collection here. Let's, let's simmer it down. And then all of a sudden, you know, one week into the year I've, I've blown the budget. Eric Rohn used more field notes than I buy. Last year finished four to five, bought 20. That's kind of what I was talking, talking about earlier. We all kind of have the same, same feeling. He says, same for pens. Using love, the ones I have want less. I don't know if I'll want less, but I want to use the ones I have more. That's for sure. Pinsomnia, my resolution is to conquer my fear of the blank page and actually use my pens and paper to draw something every day. That's always, that's always a good one. That's something I'm trying to kind of encompass in with the hoganichi and drawing and trying to have this whole creative vibe going on this year. I think that's a, that's a good, that's a good thing. So let's see, oh, Mary Collis is, this is something that I, I've been doing a pretty decent job on actually. She says maintain a low number of ink to pens. I used to go 10 or 12 deep in ink pens and now I'm trying to keep it like around five or six. That's working much better for me. My preference would to be about the three or so ink pens at all times, but when I get two new pens in a week and I already have a bunch of pens inked up, these new ones are getting inked up too. So right now I'm about five or six. She also says write letters to new pen pals, maintain a new gerbbing journaling habit and her wish list is a Visconti Wall Street. Well you're going to say jubbling. Jerr, jubbling. New jubbling habit. Maintenance journaling habit. You definitely don't want knee gerbbling habits. All right, Visconti Wall Street, that's on her wish list. Mike, don't go look at that pen, okay? The Visconti Wall Street. Don't go look at it. Don't Google search that pen, okay? Okay. All right. Don't do it. I'm not doing it. I promise. Okay. All right. Lindsay Hinkle. Don't mic. Don't do it. I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it right now. Lindsay Hinkle says, you didn't do it, did you? No, I didn't. Okay. I didn't put a link in the show notes either. Okay. Good. Good. Keep using a bullet journaling method and write mail, write mail, 50 pieces of personal mail, preferably with inks from the Goulay Pen's ink drop subscription. I came out a bunch, you know, this, this encompassed a bunch of a lot of people really like the bullet journaling system when we talked to, gosh, I'm blanking on this name right now. But when we had. Brian Carroll. Yes. When we had him on to talk about bullet journaling, that's stuck with a lot of people. It's been very popular and that's been a popular episode and a lot of people are keeping up with that method. And then a lot of people are also saying, you know, something about trying various inks and using like the Goulay ink drop subscription. I think that's a great idea. I really like the ink drop subscription when I subscribe to it. You know, I stopped after a while because I ended up getting more than I needed and I wasn't getting through them properly, but it's something you can stop and start at any time. That's a good way to try, try new things in 2014. Keith Weir also has, you know, to keep a bullet journal on or use a spiral decks, which is kind of like a chronic X, which we've mentioned from Patrick Ng before. He has some great, great planning tools and Keith also has a wish list items that several people have purchased a Lamy 2000, a Pelican 200 series or a vanishing point. Those are all awesome choices. And several other readers have the the Lamy vanishing point, Pelican wish list and jelly. He's in my brain. I read my notes. His wish list is Nakaya and an Edison Menlo. So him and him and I will have to commiserate on our shopping experiences for those two pins throughout the year because no one had, he will, he will definitely come up with those before too long. Here's one from Mike Dudek, decrease rotoring purchases, nah, it's just nah. You know, because I don't have to pull up my text. I think he's already bought two this year, if I'm not mistaken, if not three. I think he's already bought two different, two new rot rings, plus he bought some just rotoring display like holders. So he's off the deep end. Sorry, Mike, you're, you're losing it. Yeah. I saw those. He's, yeah, he's not doing a good job so far. He also says he wants to try at least 20 new inks and buy something vintage like a vac or a 51. And I think that's a good, that's a good move. Like the man doesn't buy enough vintage already. I know, I know, I know, um, to offer, make me an offer. His resolution is to destroy my notebooks more, not with fire. You're when he did that last year, maybe around last year, around New Year's, he took all his old notebooks that he'd filled and burnt them. I don't remember that. I feel like I would have blocked that out in my brain. Yeah. And that was his way to cleanse. He took all these old thoughts in his notebook, notebooks. I mean, it's like stacks of notebooks. He's throwing them in like a fire, like a chima Nia, like a little fire pit thing. And to start fresh, he torched them. Wow. So I mean, I thought that was good. So, um, he's, uh, he's going to work on that this year. Um, Susan Pigget, she, she has a pen and paper resolution to practice her penmanship. Mine is still horrible, she says. And I've seen hers. It is not horrible. Like yours. You need to practice yours. Yes. Yes. Yes. Whatever. No. Did you see, we saw that link, um, Tom has shared where, um, left-handed overwriters just putting us all to shame and her, her penmanship. Um, I forget the name, but it was on, on fountain pen network. Um, that was fascinating to see. Yeah. I'll find that. That was, did that today? Uh, yesterday, yesterday, we'll, we'll share that link in the show notes. Go check out this handwriting. It's pretty impressive to use a left-handed overwriter using a flex pen, um, pilot Namiki Falcon. And it's just really, really good handwriting. Um, and that's, that's pretty much it. I mean, there, you know, I got lots of other ones. Sorry if I didn't read everyone's, but, um, it's a lot of, um, common things, you know, use the things we have, use the things we have better. Um, and, um, you know, lots of, uh, you know, getting into vintage pens or getting, you know, something classic, like a Lamy 2000, things like that. So it's been awesome, awesome to read all these things and I really appreciate everyone chiming in. It was fun to see, uh, some of the extreme ones like, uh, Mr. Thornborrows and, uh, some of the other ones to, uh, some of the other wishless items that, uh, help me add to my wishless as well. So thank you all very much for, uh, helping us out with this episode. I agree. We love it when you guys get in touch with this whole stuff. So much appreciated. So have we done for this week's episode? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I was just going to say best of luck with all the, the resolutions and the, the wishless items for 2014, I know we'll, we'll be following up on it later in the year, see how we're all doing. Indeed, we will. If you want to catch up with us online, if you're ways you can do it, Brad writes over at pen addict.com, um, you can find his, uh, pen cases over at knockco.com. It's not co.com, isn't it? Yep. And those CKCO.com. Got it. Um, still waiting. I know. I know. We said it. We sent out an update this week. We're going to be a little bit delayed. Nice. Nicely written, nicely worded update, by the way. Oh, thanks. I appreciate that. It was hard. It was hard to write. It's not something you want to write, but I think, you know, that, that level of transparency is a must, in my opinion. So that's the things I believe in. So I'm going to live by that as well. And even if it's writing things that you don't want to necessarily write, um, that's, that's the way we operate. So, uh, we'll be a couple weeks, a few weeks maybe behind, um, our normal January schedule for shipping, but, um, just know that we're working hard on getting all that stuff out. So, um, you will get your cases. That's for sure. And you give people a pro tip about Kickstarter right now, while we're at the end of the show, because it seems like the kind of, uh, audience that would like this. Download the Kickstarter app and log in on the app, go to your notifications, turn on push notifications for updates, and then you can turn off email notifications in the app. It's a much better experience. You get the browse Kickstarter and put plagiarism stuff on the iPhone, and you don't need to get Kickstarter emails anymore. You should get them by push notification, it keeps the old email inbox clean. There you go pro tip. I like that. I did it myself the other day. And I just really liked that in the app's preferences, like in your preference page on the, on the app, you're able to turn off email notifications as far as pretty cool. Cool. Cause I do use the app, but I don't have it set up like that. So I like that. Very good. Pro tip. Indeed. And that's how I got your, uh, your, your, your, your update. Great. And I got one for the ink today where they said that they were thinking about doing different size nibs. I saw that. And I hope they don't give into peer pressure and go from medium to fine, just because of you panatics. If you stick with medium, I didn't say a word. Oh, I bet you didn't, but I'll be filling out the survey. I'm sure that you will. I hope that they stick with the medium nib personally, cause I think it's better for the majority of people. Probably so. They can sell them. They can sell on selection nibs. Yeah, be cool. There you go. Yep. So we call a revenue stream is it another pro tip when you're on Kickstarter and looking for Keras customs, don't type Kickstarter into the search box on Kickstarter. It's not going to get you. It's not going to get you what you want. That's a pro tip. I can get behind right there. Don't search the name of the website on the website that you're already on. It's not going to be anywhere. And you can find Brad on Twitter, his dowdyism, D-O-W-D-Y-I-S-M and I'm Mike. I am Y-K-E. We'll be back next week. I'm sorry that you've had to listen to me and him be absolutely sick this week, really. I'm croaking and he's coughing and, you know, that's what we call a great start to 2014 everyone. Happy New Year to you all. Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode and I hope that you continue to listen to us as the year progresses. We'll be back next week for another episode of the Pan addict. Until then. Bye bye. Bye. [BLANK_AUDIO]
