This transcript was generated from an audio file by AI, and may contain inaccuracies.
Transcript
Johnny, you should start a. You should start djing and have your dj name be dj. Dr. Fraser crane.
Hello and welcome to episode 116 of the Erasable Podcast. It's been a few weeks since the three of us were together, but we're back and we're seasonal AF if you live in this hemisphere. I'm Johnny Gamber with hosting duties this week and I'm joined by my two favorite rays of sunshine, Andy Welfle and Tim Wasem. How are you guys tonight?
Very good.
Doing awesome.
What does AF mean? Johnny, what does AF mean?
Funk. Okay.
Okay, Funko.
I understand. Yeah. I need you to break it down for me, Johnny. Yeah.
D.J.
Dr. Fraser Crane.
Plug my bass in. Get a drum machine going.
Oh, yeah.
DJ Fraij.
So tonight we're going to talk about riding outside. Because it seems like for a lot of us, especially in the United States and most parts of Europe, this starts to be the time of year that we can ride outside without, you know, going numb or dying of heat exhaustion. So to that end, until we can't
do it anymore in about 12 years. Is that what they said?
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, God, yeah. 10B tombs. Doomsday.
Tim, let's make the most of these 12 years. Choose the right time, choose wisely, because
we're all going to die. So we're going to talk about our favorite outdoor writing places, maybe some specific tools we use for writing outside, some tips, and if we have time, we're going to take a look at what we would take on a proverbial desert island camping trip where you can only take a day pack and that has to include all your shit. Family friendly. Now we start saying FF or family friendly whenever we want to say a bad word.
All of your ff.
What? The ff. So before we go outside, why don't we jump into our tools of the trade? Who goes first? This week I'm looking at the doc.
Andy. Yay. Oh, man. What is. So I just spent a week in Minneapolis going to the big conference that I do every year. I made some pencils for it again. I had some evenings free, so I watched a lot of shows that usually Katie doesn't want to watch. I hardly ever watch television on my own, so I just kind of finished up on Star Trek Discovery Season 2, and I actually have a couple more episodes to watch. But it's a really good show. It's really fast paced and kind of frenetic, which is kind of hard to reconcile. But I love the characters, I love the plot. It's really good. What's really funny is they try to take all of these really because it's a prequel of the original series of Star Trek like with Kirk and Spock and they, they try to like take all These really super cheesy 60s science fiction tropes and turn them into like something more modern. So there was this, this alien species called the Telosians which had these like big giant brainy heads and like a little throbbing vein and they were just really cheesy looking from like 1966 or whatever it was. And they tried to modernize them. They look so dumb. I'm just like, like when you put this in High Fidelity, it's just terrible. But yeah, it's a really, it's a really good show otherwise other than that. Katie and I watched Shrill before he left. It's a six episode show on Hulu based on this book of the same name by Lindy west and A.D. bryant from Saturday Night Live is the star. She's really good show. It's a really good show.
I've been watched yet.
Yeah, Watched. Reading a few books again. Went to this conference which is a content stretch, like a UX content strategy conference and there were a lot of interesting books written by people who were there next year. Hopefully that's me. But there's a book called Everyday Information Architecture where if that sounds interesting to you, you will like it. If it does not sound interesting to you, you'll be super bored by it. So it's a really good book. There's a book that's a little bit broader that's also really interesting called Ruined by Design. There's a designer in San Francisco named Mike Montero who, it's kind of like your grumpy old design man. He yells a lot about like, you know, big tech companies that are kind of ruining the world and how designers are complicit in that. So it's, it's a really good. Just sort of like books about ethics and design. I think it would be interesting even to people who are not designers or in like UX design, I was about to say.
So your description of it makes it sound good to me now. Oh yeah. Before. So don't go by the title. That's. I sound like I want to read that.
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
Like if that sounds good, like I
don't even know what it means. Well, that was Everyday Information Architecture. Yeah. This the second book. Ruined by Design, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Two different books. Yeah. No, it's all right. And I am writing with the. It's funny last time we were all together. We were just talking to Alexander Poirier, and this time around, he was introducing the Blackwing 811. And by this. By the time you're hearing this, it sold out. So it shows you just how A, how popular this pencil has been and B, how long it's been since we recorded together. Um, but my. I'm writing with my sold out Black
Wing 8 11, otherwise known as the Slick Wing.
The Slick Wing. The glowy. The glowy Slick Wing. It is so slippery.
Yeah, it's very pretty.
Yeah. Yeah. Tim, how.
I was really excited to give it to the librarian at our school, and he was very excited to get it.
Yeah.
He's like, I have to wear, like, rubber gloves to use it. Yeah. Yeah. How about you, Tim?
Well, I have. So the first thing I'll mention, I have been listening. I don't do this very often, but I've been listening to a song on repeat for a few days. And Bruce Springsteen just came out with his first new song in like five years. And I've talked about him before how I'm not like a super fan, but just kind of over the years I've kind of grown to appreciate him. But he has a new song out called hello Sunshine that everybody needs to listen to. It's an amazing song. It's really good. He's got a new album coming out that I think has. If you guys Google it, the album is called Western Stars that's coming out. And this might be one of my favorite album covers in recent years because it is just like such a perfect picture. It's just a photograph. It's like really simple. But look it up. I think it's pretty great. But it's a really good song. And he kind of modeled it. He said the. The album is.
Oh, yeah, look at that. That one's beautiful. With the horse.
Yeah, yeah.
That should be in a field notes cover.
Yeah. For real. That's true. Horses edition. That'd be awesome. It's. He said he modeled it after, like, 60s and 70s kind of singer songwriter stuff, which you kind of hear kind of like a Burt Baccarat, if, you know Burke Baccarat was Bruce Springsteen.
Oh, man.
But.
But you know how he's. He had like two. He did. What was it, Nebraska? Which. An album. He did like, right after, like, another big album. I think it was right after Born in the USA or something like that. And then he had the Ghost of Tom Joad. So it's like every, like, third album, he would just say, screw it. I'VE been in these stadiums. I'm going to do this solo album and just like do character driven songs that are like a little more simple. And that's what he's doing apparently now. And anyways, that song is really great and I've been listening to it pretty much on a loop several times a day, so check that out. I been listening to two new podcasts and the first one I was afraid that I talked about it, but I don't think I did because I tried to look in their show notes and I didn't find it. But have I ever talked about mobituaries?
I don't think so.
It's Mo Rocca's new podcast, came out in the last like, I don't know, three months or something. But it is just he has the. And he has a book coming out now that's by the same title, but it's just about these kind of people or stories or concepts that have just kind of fallen by the wayside in history. And he like resurrects them. So he talks about like there's one about the first Siamese twins that lived in like the town that Mayberry was based on from Andy Griffith, you know, like that. And there's one, he does one about Sammy Davis Jr. Kind of like the unheard story of Sammy Davis Jr. And just these like huge figures. And one of them, my favorite one was it's about the guy and I'm going to forget his name, but he was the world famous JFK impersonator who made that comedy album back in the 60s when JFK was in office, like one Grammys and it was like the number one selling album in the world or something. But then JFK was assassinated and he just like disappeared from the base of the earth and like his career was over and so he like tells his story. So it's really good. It's a really well produced, like really cool podcast. He goes everywhere. He does one about Audrey Hepburn too, that's really excellent. And then the other one I've been listening to that's newer is called against the Rules. And it's a podcast by Michael Lewis, the guy who wrote Moneyball, Blindside, Big Short or what is it? Is it the Big Short?
Yeah, like mortgages and stuff? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
He was on the COVID of a Writer's Digest recently.
Oh yeah? Yeah. So he has that crazy sort of my like favorite bits of trivia. But the last four movies of his that were made, four books of his that were made in the movies all won best adapted screenplay at the Oscars, which I thought was just like, like sort of mind blowing. You know, it's like over and over again, like these books he writes turn into these best screenplays. But the concept of the podcast is that he's going into all these different examp in American culture of how we are starting to buck against the referee in like, not just in sports, but in like, everything. Like any sort of part of our culture that's telling us we can't do something or is trying to limit how certain people do certain things that, like our culture is just, just completely rejecting that in some really aggressive ways. And it's really interesting. So there's one about the student loans. There's one about. There's one about basketball where he talks about how the reason refs get in fights with players so much these days is because refs are better than they've ever been. And like, the good. The good, like the Steph Curries. And these good players aren't able to get away with what Michael Jordan and Larry Bird used to get away with back in the day because the refs are just better. And so it's causing all this friction in the league because they're just better at their job, which is. That was fascinating. So it's excellent. It's from Pushkin Industries, which is Malcolm Gladwell's new podcast network that he's started.
Interesting.
So that is also excellent. You know, there's like four or five episodes. This is a short series. I think it's only gonna be seven for that one. And then as far as reading, I have been rereading. It's like the fourth time now, but rereading Brothers K by David James Duncan. And I've talked about that at length before, but this book just kind of changes my life every time I read it. It's by far my favorite book I've ever read, so I'll continue to reread it regularly. And I just saw an interview with him and his first new book in like 12 years or something is supposed to come out later this year. So that's super exciting. And I am writing with an mmx, my special MMX with the black banded feral hack winged on to it and a gray eraser. It's like my tuxedo pencil. Nice.
And just, just for context, for if we have any new listeners since we last talked about it, mmx. That is what we call the classic Palomino Blackwing, the first one that Palomino came up with that's black and the softest and we call it MMX because it came out in 2010. And we're trying very hard to get Blackwing to call it the mmx.
Oh, my God.
Gained so much direction.
I wonder, like, the closest is. We got. We got Charles to call it an MMX when he was on the show one time. So, like, we feel pretty confident that we're getting into the canon direction. Yeah.
Maybe I could walk out there from here and like, they'd have to do it. That's 3,000 miles.
Johnny's on a quest.
You walk all the way there and you walk up to the door and say, I'm here. Finally. You must call at the mmx. And they're just like, okay. And they're like, now what do I do?
I've got to be really theatrical about it, like, rip my shirt open and like, I'm totally shaved and have a big giant MMX tattoo, like, right on my belly.
Johnny, you should. You should walk exactly 20, 10 miles, which is probably close ish to that.
That could be like from Chicago.
Yeah. Yeah.
I'm bringing Larry with me. Larry, I have to talk to you about something.
Yeah, sorry about your life.
We got to talk, man.
Yeah, you might have a little more free time in the summer being a teacher. So we'll talk.
Yeah. So that's what I'm writing with that in the yellow mile marker field notes.
Oh, I just finished that one.
Yeah. This is the second mile marker I've gone through, so I love it.
Awesome.
How about you, Johnny?
So I just read a book by our good friend Mark Kurlansky, who wrote the book about paper, what, two years ago. So his newest book was called Milk.
Yes.
The subtitle A 10,000 Year Food Fracas, I think.
Yeah.
So the book is about, like, milk and like, milk history, milk products, and like, I learned a lot about yogurt. So now I'm on a big yogurt kick, which is cool because it's.
Do you know, Good for you.
Do you eat milk?
You're. Yeah. Although I guess you're not.
You're not a vegan, right? You're a vegetarian.
I got a vegan for. For an episode title, though. Do you eat milk?
I do, in fact eat milk with a spoon every day. So, you know, it's his usual, like, really good readability. But there were some things that, like, he left out, and I don't remember what they were, but I was surprised by. Oh, so they. They talked about, like, yogurt at length, like Greek yogurt, Icelandic yogurt. But coffee culture was like a paragraph. Like, I wanted to read about lattes.
I want to see him write something about coffee. Like Mark Kurlansky's take on the history of coffee. Like common grounds is a really, really. Or uncommon grounds. Is that what it's called? So it's a book about the history of coffee. It's really good. But I think Kurlensky could really dig into it.
Oh, man, that would be good. I'd like to have coffee with him one day.
He probably thinks that, like, writing about coffee is like too mainstream. Like, he's like, no, no, I'm going to write about like salt. Yeah. Cod.
It's like super basic. He would just write about sugar. Yeah, actually that'd be cool.
That would be a great book too.
Yeah. So I followed that up with Birdsong by Sebastian Fox, which is a very sad book set during World War I. But he write it, he read it in the 90s because he felt like people in the UK didn't have a lot of awareness of what happened in World War I and what people went through that people just focused on World War II. So, like, there were parts where he was kind of heavy handed, like, yeah, this is how bad their lives sucked. But it was really good.
Yeah.
And was it hbo? Somebody made a miniseries of it. There was like two episodes with Eddie Redmayne that was really good. And then I read a book called the Worry Trick, which is about anxiety. And that speaks for itself. It's pretty good. And I finished Endeavor. I have watched the season hasn't aired yet because I'm awesome. And. Have you guys watched that? It's about like a young Inspector Morse. Uh, it's like the best show on Masterpiece possibly that's currently still on, or at least it's definitely the best Masterpiece mystery show right now.
It's like a prequel to Inspector Morse.
Yeah. So like, you know, they have the same song and format, but you know, the production quality is a lot more interesting. And on Morse, like, he's the only interesting character on Endeavor, there are a lot of interesting characters. So it's really. And you know, it's a 60s, which is cool.
Yeah.
They started playing Led Zeppelin in the latest season, like, dig. That's cool. And then that made me want to get a subscription to Britbox to watch Inspector Morse, which led to the next thing on my list, the last thing on my list, which is called Toons in Common, about the discovery of the tomb with Sam Neill and Max Irons, among other folks, which was really good. It Was one of those, like four parts of 45 minutes binge.
Yeah.
Yeah. But it was. It wasn't, you know, just intrigue and curses. It was really interesting. It's kind of. It was very English Patient. Yeah. In a good way. Not a lot of stationary porn, though. That's disappointing.
Yeah.
But I changed what I was writing with since we made the doc. I'm using the erasable pencil community Blackwing, which we never talk about and you never see pop up in the group because I think everyone's kind of hoarded away.
Yeah.
And I'm using a pocket moleskin for reasons that we'll talk about later. So before we talk about that stuff again, we can jump into freshpoint. Fresh points, because we've got some cool stuff we haven't been on here in a while.
Yeah. Oh, man. I guess I'm starting. So I was in Minneapolis for this conference and Michael Metz and I went to this little store. We got a recommendation from a few Minneapolis Place listeners, community members, and they talked about this place called Russell and Hazel. And it was kind of your like basic hipster boutique. But they had some really interesting things in it. They had a whole line of cool like accessory holders and portfolios and things made out of vegan leather. So it was like this really supple. I don't even know what is made out of like maybe cardboard, but it felt and looked like leather.
Oh, is it that stuff they call like tree leather?
Yeah, I think that was it.
It's surprisingly durable.
Yeah. Yeah, they do. I'm trying to see if their website says what it is, but it doesn't. They also had. I picked up this really interesting set of pencils made by a. The brand is called Katie Lehman L E A M O N. And they're just these really gorgeous like pencils and assorted colors. They remind me of something Hester and Cook would make. But they have like assorted printing on them and they just says real big made in England on them. And that's really interesting to me because I didn't realize that like there are still British made pencils of this variety. Because it really feels like a Musgrave pencil or looks like a Musgrave pencil. Just like fancy. And they're also kind of like crappy quality a little bit. Like some of the cores were off center. It was really scratchy. Um, but yeah, I. Have you. Have you encountered these pencils at all?
I seen pictures on the Internet. They look really pretty.
Yeah. Here's a. Put a link in. In show notes. So you can check them out. But yeah, they're. They are really pretty. And there's, like, so many different varieties that you can get. I just picked up, like, a random variety, but they're gorgeous. I just wish. They just wish they were better quality. Yeah, but it was. That was a. That was a really cool story. They had a lot of interesting things. They had a lot of interesting pens, but we don't talk about that here. Yeah. Yeah, that was really fun. I also. I mean, speaking of things we don't talk about, I shouldn't. Like, Johnny will probably get mad, but I bought. I bought a new. I bought a new iPad Pro because I wanted something that was a little bit smaller than my computer.
Hey, read. Read this. Read the show notes right now.
I don't. Let me actually reload this page.
Sorry, I don't see it either.
Awkward pause.
See?
Andy, go back.
Oh, I see.
Go back to the pen. Talk about the pen trader.
I'm not an Apple trader. I've been using Apple since. Since I was in soft pants.
So the traitor refers to the pencil.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, anywho, I've been using this iPad Pro, which is a new one, and it comes with. It's called The Apple Pencil 2. It's very nice. The old Apple Pencil, if ever you've demoed this thing, had a little bit of a lag. Just like many digital, like, styluses, styli, just a little bit of a leg. And this one has no visible leg. Like, it looks and like, just simulates just drawing on paper. It doesn't feel like you're drawing on paper. It feels like you're drawing on a glass screen with a plastic tip.
But you're not selling this one.
Yeah.
Is the. Is the Apple Pencil 2 that makes the difference, or is the iPad Pro?
That's a good question. I'm not sure that the pencil itself, I don't. I mean, it's a much different hardware than the Apple Pencil one, but I think it's just the processor within the iPad itself that's reducing.
I got a new iPad. It's not Pro, but it's like the newest of just the normal one. I was wondering if it would work just as well with that if I got one.
Yeah, they're all. There's a big speed bump among all of them, but, yeah, this is really great. I was skeptical about getting a new iPad, but then my creative partner Michael, when we were in Singapore doing our workshop, he ran the entire, like, 250 slide slide deck for the workshop. Off of his iPad and I was so impressed. So I picked up one of these and it's very nice. It's like, I mean it's an Apple product. It's a little expensive, but it like, it's a really good piece of hardware. Just like a little like it's like your Chromebooks, I think. It's just small and small and portable and does like most of the things that a regular laptop does.
Yeah.
So sorry, Johnny, you can start listening again.
I'm teasing. Moleskine has that one that I like secretly want.
I need to try that out. The, the one where you digitized the.
Look at that cool pen.
Yeah, yeah.
Sexy looking thing.
I need to play with that. That was apparently some. There was some partnership between them and like I want to say like Adobe Creative Cloud or some, some Adobe app. Like it dumps into some. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know anything about it, but yeah, I should play around with it. Last thing I'll mention. Yes. So we're recording this on Monday. Yesterday, on Sunday I went to the Mule Gallery which, you know, turning this back around is the agency that's owned by Mike Montero who wrote that book Ruined by Design that I was talking about. He owns a gallery in San Francisco like in front of his, like the big front room of his agency and he's friends with Aaron Draplin. So every once in a while Draplin comes to San Francisco and sets up a pop up shop there. So of course I walk in and immediately I hear Andy Wilfley and he like gets up and comes and gives me a big hug and he's so, so great. He just like, he's so nice and genuine and just a really nice guy. I bought this really beautiful thick lines poster of San Francisco from him. He always, whenever he goes and does a pop up shop, I think he tries to do a, to do like a new poster offering. So I'll post a picture in the group. But it's a really lovely like big, thick, thick lines poster with the Golden Gate Bridge on it. Trying to think if there's anything new. He sells some jumbo pencils now, which I think they're like mini jumbos, which I'm guessing are probably Musgrave ones. I don't know that for a fact, but yeah, they're, they're really nice looking. And yeah, he just has a million lapel pins. You can get a field notes enamel lapel pin, which is cool.
That's awesome.
Yeah. So he's a. He Was great. Anytime I go hang out with Aaron Draplin, I have to talk about it here. So there's a few other people in the group.
Yeah, definitely tracking him down later this month.
Yeah, yeah, he's coming to Knoxville. Are you familiar with the. With James Spears?
No.
It's funny because James Spears, he's like co presenting a workshop or a talk or something with him. He's also a graphic designer. And so James Spears looks like so much like Draplin, except he's African American. So they just like, are. They look so much like each other, it's incredible. And Draplin always introduces him as his like, older brother, apparently. But those of you in the field Nuts group, if you. James Post posts a lot in there because he's. He's a big notebook fanatic too. So check, check him out.
They.
They had a. He had a whole bunch of old editions for sale, like those field notes and coal partnerships where it's just like with the American flag. He had a bunch of those for sale. He had some nice. He had a pack of traveling salesmen. He had a pack of the point O's. Those like pink and yellow ones. Yeah, he. He has, he has a good selection. He has some more of those. Oh, I don't know what they're called. The Everything else enhancement kit packs where it has that black cover.
Oh, the eeks.
Yeah, the bright orange paper. So if you want any interesting vintage field notes editions, he has them for sale at his pop up.
So does he charge like market prices?
He charges like kind of the going rate for them, but I think they're. It's a little bit less. Like, he had the pack of the Kohl's for like, I want to say $40. And I bet that they're like $60.
Oh, yeah.
In the group. So they're. They're more than like what you would pay retail, but. So if anybody's going to Knoxville. When is that, Tim? That's next month. Late next month.
24th.
Yeah.
If anybody's May 24th, I think if
anybody's in Knoxville for that, go a. Say hi to Tim Wasem. Maybe you can set up a pop up shot too.
Yeah. It'll be a big time rivalry.
Yeah. Yeah. And go. Go say hi to Tim Wasem and go say hi to Aaron Draplin.
So if that happens, would Aaron Draplin be the first person that's met all three of us? Probably.
Yeah.
I get a good think. Anyone else? Have you wait. Oh, Brad.
Yeah.
Tim, have you met Brad?
Yeah. Yes. I met Brad.
Okay, so Brad has met all three of us. And Johnny. Johnny, of course, Johnny Gamber has met himself. But Brad Dowdy and Johnny Gambo. Only people who have met us. Met all three of us.
Yeah.
Is that true?
Yeah. That's Ana Reinert. Was she, did you, have you both met Anna?
No, she wasn't there. Okay. When we were in D.C. yeah.
Oh, yeah. I can't think of anybody else.
I mean, I guess like when, when you met them were like Van Espins.
Like, were those people like Lisa Van Ness and.
Yeah, like we've met them. So that was. But yeah, so there's, there's probably a few more overlaps of people that we bumped into and stuff, but we should
give Brad a price. Like a ton of pencils.
Yeah.
He's already teetered on the edge, right?
Yeah, I mean he's, he's already half a pencil podcast.
Yeah.
Those are all my fresh points. Tim, how about you?
I don't think we've talked since the last Field Notes edition came out. The Mile marker. Yeah. So, yeah, we, I know we. In our private text, we were comparing, you know, pictures and stuff when they were coming in and stamp today on that because we were all pretty pumped up about it. And so I definitely want to hear what you all have to say about the mile marker. This is, I was, I was thrilled to. This is the first time I've subscribed to Field Notes ever actually. And so that was my first one that I've gotten. I've always just bought them kind of a la carte as I've gone. Actually. No, that's not true. I've subscribed once before, but it's. It was back when like Shenandoah.
Oh yeah.
It was like in that period. Yeah. Somewhere. Somewhere in there. I did one round, like one year of subscription. So. But yeah. What do you guys think of that edition?
I like it a lot. No, see, this one is. It's been really polarizing. Like I've, I've heard a lot of different opinions and it, I mean, we're all, you know, subjective about it, but I really like how they use that sort of like holographic accent marks to like accent features to make it look.
That was cool.
A sign. Yeah. Yeah, I, I think it's a fun, really fun, like kind of tribute to something that is so very much on brand for Field notes.
Mm.
Yeah. So I. And I also love that map.
Yeah.
That fold up map that it came with. So I'm a big fan of it. I. It Sounds Johnny, it sounds like maybe you're not.
So I feel like it was so close.
Yeah.
Like the red, white and blue. And if no one told me what it was, I would have no idea what the hell it was supposed to look like. And the green one is pretty obvious. I feel like if it was called mile marker they should have. One of them should have looked like a mile marker. Like it would. It would have been easy to just picky, picky. Well, actually done. Three green notebooks that were a mile marker would have saved money and like. So I really hate when people use OCD as an adjective. But like, you know, I got. I can say this. I have a diagnosis. Like the fact that they rounded half the corners and half. Not. But that's not what the real science looks like. Drives me fucking crazy, man.
Johnny, you are spicy today.
Like the deer one is so awesome. But that's not what that sign looks like. But it's so close but still so off that every time I look at
it I'm like, I will throw this out there. That. I mean the green one, that does look like a mile marker. I mean that's what a mile marker sign looks like.
Well, that's like. That's an exit sign.
Well, the fact that they. So that's what they ran into a problem because like the green like a mile. At least what I think of a mile marker sign, I think it's. It's green with a white border. It says mile at the top. That has a number. It probably just like weird for them to put a. Like a random number on there. But they could have put the addition number. Yeah.
Or even just like 2019, which is
also Jackie Robinson's number. So that would have been cool. But. But I don't know.
Yeah, I mean, I like them. I used a whole set of them already. Like these actually got really busted up in a pleasant way in your pocket. Like the ink comes off pretty easily. But like design wise I'm just like picking up the corner of my mouth like every time I look at them. But I mean I like them very much and I appreciate them, but there's still something about them that just bugs the hell out of me.
Yeah, I, my. I like the addition a lot. Overall, I think the, the foil. The reflective foil stamping thing is really cool and I, I really enjoyed the one of the three that was my. Is my least favorite is this yellow one. Because I just have a tendency to like dislike brightly colored things like oranges and yellows and kind of like. So I Feel like red, white, and blue doesn't count. But I tend to, like, gravitate towards the. Yeah, more like neutral, like earth tone kind of stuff. Like that green one is just right on the money for me. I love it.
The yellow was my favorite. And the pack I opened, like, the COVID was ripped like half an inch, but it was in the pack so you couldn't see it. It's like, ah. The one I like is messed up. I mean, you know, I busted it all up by the time I finished it, so it wasn't a huge deal. But like, you know, those signs have four rounded corners. I feel like they could have rounded all the corners or none of the corners. Like, it's like, I feel like I should, like, take these to therapy and be like, these are bugging the shit out of me. Like, let's talk about this.
Let's talk about this. He's like, let's not.
I do have John if you. It's round corner. Rounders are very cheap. If you just want to buy them and like, corner round your own for yourself.
You know what? I still have one set that's not used. I might send them to you and ask you to round them. Happy to do that because it's doable. There. There are notebooks that have four rounded corners.
Yeah.
It doesn't interfere with the binding too much.
Yeah. I think they staple far enough in where they wouldn't encounter that.
Yeah. I mean, I appreciate they stick to their form, their form factor. And these were totally usable notebooks, which I appreciate it. And I love dot grid. So that was a plus. And they changed the paper up too, on this one. It was a different brand. It was a little toothier.
Yeah, it was good paper. And I like the staples too. They did the black and the white staples.
Oh, yeah, it's true. That was good. That was nice touch.
That's cool touch. So I love, love those white staples. And the black is kind of a good. Yeah, just a good design choice, I think, with going with the black staples on the. On the yellow one.
Oh, you know what? If you look at the. The belly band, it says FNC42. That would have been perfect to just put on the notebook.
Yeah. Yeah.
You know, they probably had like five meetings about this. Like, we should just do that. It makes sense. No, like, we want to do the deer, which is cool.
Yeah, yeah. Now I, My, my main beef is that I really wish that the. The subscriber freebie would have been the reflective field notes.
Oh, God, that would be awesome.
That was a really fun video. That would be incredible.
I like the map.
We could find each other.
Yeah, I love. I love the map too. But when I saw the video and it's got the guy with like, reflective roadwork vest that says field notes on the back, like, oh, gosh.
Yeah. I can't imagine the work that went into that map right now. I know folks were pissed that, you know, they seemed to hint that there was going to be an exclusive for subscribers and it wasn't an exclusive, but, you know, that map wasn't free.
Yeah.
Like eight bucks plus shipping. I'm happy to save that much money.
Yeah.
Because I totally would have bought one.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I probably would have bought two. So this saved me money twice.
There you go. Yeah. So I just thought. I think it was a really good addition. I'm excited for the next next three. And so I'm coming off of like a. I worked through two of the Obama. Obama.org field notes, and then now I'm on my second of the mile marker and I've really been enjoying my field notes.
Nice.
Next, I was going to bring up the Baron Fig fortress, which. Did both of you guys get a Baron Fig fortress?
I did, yep.
Yes. So this is. If you don't know what this is, Baron Fig has the Squire, which is. They're a kind of twist pen that has that sort of reverse. What do you call that, like, conical shape.
Yeah, like a torpedo shape or something.
I don't know.
Yeah, yeah.
And then this is the new. So they also have a click, which is a ballpoint, which uses the Schmidt ballpoint refill, which is. I want my. As far as pens go, that's my favorite, like, insertable refill for pens. And so they had come out with the Squire click a while ago.
Yeah, like last year, I think.
Yeah, it's been out for a while. And that was a cool little pen. I really like it. But now the Baron Fig fortress came out, which is their first limited edition click pen. So the. It's purple. It's very purple.
Extremely purple.
Yeah. And so it's modeled on like a fortress or like a castle. You know, like a large structure. And one thing that's really cool detail about this is it's the first Baron Fig pen that has these. The. The design that they've given it going all the way around, like wrapping 360 degrees around the pen, which is a really cool design.
I bet that's really hard to do. Like, I didn't really see any good. Any seams right on Mine.
No, same here. And it's really, it's, yeah, really well done. Like all the other ones, when they do a design, they'll do it like, right down one edge of it, like along where it says Baron Fig, and there'll be like, some words going down the side or whatever. And so this time they stepped it up a notch in a really cool way. I mean, the purple is very purple, but I like it.
I like. Sorry, go ahead. I was going to say I really, really like the. The click. It's a very satisfying click. It's like. Yes, you can feel it. And it's like real quiet. This is the first Squire click that I've used too. But I, I guess the thing that I don't like about it is that, like, it's a different color than the, like, little twist knob on a regular square, but at the same time, like, that barely matters. Like it. It's a really nice pen.
Yeah. Well, this, it passed the, the spouse test on my end where she puts up with me, like, you know, all these pens and pencils and all this in the podcast and everything. And she does. I mean, she appreciates a good pen, good pencil, but she doesn't really care. But she asked for a pen to do something and I handed her that and gave it to her and she clicked it and wrote with it. And like, maybe the. Yeah, maybe the second time ever she was like, that's a really nice pen. I like, just get to use that.
Should be a testimonial on their website. It's a. It's a very nice pen. Jane wants them.
Yeah, exactly. So I will definitely put that in her hands. She deserves to use the. The Baron Fig fortress. So. It's really cool, Ben.
And yeah, it was surprisingly small. I'd never held one before.
Yeah, it's. It reminds me. Yeah, Yeah, I think I said it when the last one came out when we talked about them briefly. But like, it reminds me of like a cross ballpoint pen. Like those. Really? Yeah, good call. Like, cross pens that like our. All of our grandpas had in their. Their shirt. Shirt pocket. So really well done. And so a really big thanks to Baron Fig for providing those because they. They sent. Sent a review copy and it let us play around with those and use them and we really. I speak French house. I really enjoyed it. They also. I was able to get my hands on the sheath to put it in. Oh yeah, the leather sheath that they make. And that is a perfect companion because we've, I mean, we've talked about The Baron fig pen before that. It's just like kind of annoying that they don't have the clip, but it's like a design choice and they're going to stick with it. And I appreciate that. But pairing it with that sheath and just shoving in my pocket is perfect. So I have, have that and I've been carrying it almost every day. So just, I got the gray one, whatever the color is called, slate or gray or whatever.
Oh, I like to see a picture of that if you get a chance.
The sheath.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. The, this, the, the gray with the purple.
Yeah, yeah.
It's really, really pretty and it works really well.
Yeah. Frozie wants mine because her favorite color is purple. Yeah. I'm not giving you a metal pencil.
So if anybody wants to know why we're talking about pen so much, it's because they sent it to us for free. So we are sellouts. Just so you know.
We love some Baron figs.
Yeah.
So, yeah, go check that out. If you haven't. I mean, the, the regular click, if the purple's too purple for you, the regular click is really, really great too. It just comes in like a flat gray color, I think comes in a silver too. Can't remember, but yeah. And my last fresh point, and this is a big one and I'm not gonna, I'm gonna try not to Talk for like 45 minutes about this, but
go ahead, you deserve it.
If you're listening to this on the release day, this is gonna be Wednesday May 1st. And my students at my school, we've. I'm teaching 11th grade now and we're. I'm co teaching with a US history class. So it's 11th grade English with US history and we're doing project based learning. And so for this semester, what I tried to do with my teaching partner was to use podcasting as our, our venue for how they're going to do their big project. And so we gave them these local history stories that they were going to research. They were going to interview as many people as they possibly could, and then they were going to record interviews and they were going to edit their own podcasts and they were going to enter them. And the NPR student Podcast Challenge, the first ever one that's happening this year. And so we asked challenge, there were about 6,000 entries total, which comes out like 10 to 15,000 kids who were involved in this project. And we had, yes, we had 10 groups that entered in it. And last Thursday, but the Thursday before, I got an email from npr and the first Ever winner of the NPR Student Podcast Challenge was a group from Elizabethan High School, where I teach. They were two out of about 6,000 podcasts that were entered in this competition. One high school and one middle school, one.
That's amazing.
Yeah, it is. That's unbelievable.
Such a cool thing.
Yeah, they did an amazing job. These kids had the group that one did their story about murderous Mary, who was the name of a famous elephant here in Elizabethan, who 100 years ago at a circus, used its trunk to pull its owner off its back, throw him on the ground, and stomp them to death.
Oh, my Lord. In front of a bunch of people.
Yep. And so the town then hired a local, another local town called Irwin, to hang the elephant because they didn't have a gun big enough to shoot it. And so they. So they used a crane and the chain broke the first time. It was. This is like a crazy story.
I have. I've heard this story before and like a. Ripley's Believe it or not or
something like that, like 25 minutes from my house. And so they did the story about that. But the cool thing about their story is that it started with that, but then they ended up telling the story about how the town of Irwin has grown from that and is now using that story to raise, like, money for animal elephant sanctuaries here in Tennessee. There's. There's one in. In Nashville. And they're just doing some really cool things with it. And so they. I think they worked from about four hours of interview material that they recorded and edited it down to about 11 and a half minutes. Wow. That. When we got to the end of it, I was like, guys, I've told you that I have a podcast, but yours is so much more complicated than mine.
They're clearly better at editing than I am. I don't edit anything down.
It's unbelievable. So, I mean, I gave them like, simple instructions, you know, but let them figure it out and just like, assisted along the way. But they planned it, they recorded, they edited, they. It was. It was unbelievable. That's amazing. We won. And so next week, NPR is sending two producers or a reporter and a producer to come interview people at our school. And it's going to their podcast, and the interview segment is going to be featured on All Things Considered sometime in like, May or June. Wow. So.
So that's so cool.
Stay tuned for that. Is super proud. It's like my proudest teaching moment in the seven years I've been teaching.
So.
Huh. Thank you, npr.
I get.
I get to Say stuff like, oh, I was just on the phone with npr.
Yeah. You know,
so that's me. That is my end. How about you, Johnny?
Well, I'll open up with Baron Fig. Did you guys get a copy of Grow, their sort of daily practice journal?
I did not get it, but it looked really great.
Yeah. So it's basically a journal that's designed to get you into the habit of journal writing, which is a cool idea because there are a lot of those weird. Like, just different enough from bullet journaling, but it's still just bullet journaling. Journals floating around Instagram, you know, they want to send out to bloggers all the time. Like, hey, look, it's a book with an elastic. But, you know, Banfig does a really good job with almost all the stuff they do. The designs are really good. It's like a nice gray with gold trim. They were really thoughtful about what sort of prompts they put into there. And, you know, it's Baron Fig book, so the construction is nice and the paper is good.
What I want to know is. Sorry, go on, Tim.
No, you go.
I want to know why I can't get this style of notebook in their blank versions, like, with the elastic band and all the cool colors. Like, I. I just don't have, like, a lot of personal interest or use in, like, those structured content notebooks, which I totally understand, like, that they're a thing and why they're a thing. But just for me personally, it's not a thing.
But.
But I love the look of them. Like. Like the. They do the elastic band and they do all those great colors.
Yeah. Come later, once they work through their stock. I feel like that's going to become.
Yeah.
Become a normal thing once they work through all the stuff they've had.
Yeah.
Yeah. They tend to, you know, change stuff according to what people want.
Yeah.
I love it. I'm. I'm like. I've done, I think, 15 entries or something in that, so I've really. I've really enjoyed. Because it's. I. It's just the right amount of structure that doesn't feel suffocating for me.
Yeah.
So for those of you who don't know we're talking about. It has just basically a big block for writing in the middle. Like, just. Just lines, you know, nothing. There's. It's not telling you to do any certain things or list anything. It's just you've got these lines, and then you choose from a list of six different types of entries that it is. And so one's like recording what's happening. One's musings, one's about accomplishments, one's about goals or, I don't know, whatever. And so you. You pull it up. You. Or you open up to the page, you put the date, the day, the location, the time, the weather, your mood. It gives you a place to record all that. And then you circle what kind of an entry it is, and then you write it. And then you can kind of write keywords at the top. So it gives you a lot of freedom to do whatever you want. And I feel. It does feel like a good. Kind of a good amount of space to do a meaningful entry, but not like get long winded.
So. Yeah. And two of them would last you a year. Like, I go through way more journals than that in a year, so if this was a good format for you, it wouldn't take up a lot of space on your shelf.
Yeah, it's really cool. Looks good too, the imprint on the front and everything.
Yeah, yeah. If they. If they did one that was like, you know, twice as thick, that had 366 days in it, in case it was a leap year, that would be the only way I could think to make it a little better. But I can just, you know, that would be a big cash layout for people. They might not want to have wear down on such a big book.
Have we talked about that other new one? Have we talked about that other new one?
Yeah, the review of the gathering of reviews. Yeah, that book is gorgeous.
Yeah, I love that green. Yeah. It looks like it's the same sort of thing. It's only it's specifically for capturing reviews of movies, music, books, television, video games, sports, board games, art performance, editorial podcast, food place product. Yeah, Just reading through them.
Yeah, yeah, that would be useful.
Yeah, they're just. Just SEO, but for notebooks. Yeah, yeah.
It would be cool if they started putting out confidence in these colors. Like, here's the new edition. Wait a month and you can get a blank one. Like, we have like a thousand of them. Get one. That's it.
Yeah,
but I mean, I guess if they're making these, they must be very successful.
Yeah.
And I have this one and the Dream Journal. They're both like so gorgeous. They make you want to use them.
Yeah. Cool.
So, yeah, the other blip on the big stationary scene last week was that Blackwing had a subscriber day, which was on Charles Belsheimer's birthday, which I thought was kind of cool. Also, my college roommate and Marcus Aurelius. Yeah. Roman Emperor and philosopher. But so help me remember this, right, last time they did it, it was basically if you were a subscriber, you got like a 15% off discount on the website that day you were let go. Okay, like that's not a big deal. But this time you got 20% off of apparel and accessories and you got a free exclusive PIN that looks like they're pencil pins, but it was just bronze. So like, I wondered if they were, you know, looking around for a pin for the natural, because they don't have one yet. It's a permanent thing. But yeah, I mean, they're like. From what I understand, like I did, I ordered mine in the morning and there was no pin on the website. But apparently the pin was listed later so you could buy it if you remember, without taking advantage of the apparel stuff if you didn't want to buy like a T shirt or something. But anyway, it wasn't on. I wasn't the fun with Nick Seisei from Blackwing, who was. I can't imagine what his day was like. Like, I feel like I should come out to California, like buy you a beer or coffee or something. But yeah, it's. It's so pretty. And the card mentions it being an exclusive, which I thought was really cool. Yeah, Yeah, I feel very special, but I kind of feel like a jerk that I'd get you guys one, but I swear I didn't. I didn't know I could.
Well, I thought. I thought I was gonna get one too, but I've kind of forgot it was just one day and I happened to be like on a plane going to Minneapolis that day, so I missed out important things. No, is it, Is it though? Is it? Yeah.
Well, your flight was probably more important.
Oh, I guess maybe. Yeah.
So speaking of fat books and moleskins, this year there are two. You know, Moleskine always has new colors and special editions. I know, I don't really pay attention to those. But they have two new sizes this year, which is cool. They have what's called the expanded edition, which is their large notebook, but it's 400 pages long. So it's like the dimensions of a large daily planner, which is like, like such a nice thing to hold in your hand.
That's like. How thick is it at 400 pages?
It's pretty freakin thick because you got
like the, you know, like the Seven Seas writers, like those Tomoe river paper ones. Those are 400 pages, but they're like. That paper is so thin it's almost still the size Of a. Like a regular. No, but like a book.
Yeah. The page count would be like, a little more than twice as thick as the page. Kind of a pocket Moleskine.
Okay.
So they're. They're pretty big. They're heavy. They retail for 30.
Yeah.
How do you. How do I find this?
Oh, they're on. They don't have. It's called the Expand it. You just go into Classic collection. They don't have, like, a separate page for them. If you just go to Classic, that's a size you can pick. So they have. They use dot grid for everything now. You know, bullet journaling. So I had. I don't remember why I had store credit on Moleskins website, but I picked one up pretty cheap. And then last week was last week.
I find that funny that you had store credit on a. On a Moleskin website. Of course you would.
Yeah, of course.
Because of course I love it.
Yeah. I found a note that was expiring, like, I don't know why I have this, but. Shit. Okay, so for Charlotte's 9th birthday two weeks ago, we took her to Washington, and she wanted to go to the National Gallery. She wanted to go to Jenny Bick, which is basically a journal store. And then she wanted to hit some bookstores and cafes.
Like, your daughter's so great. She didn't want to go to the American Girl doll store. She didn't want to go to Disney World. She wanted to go to, like, the National Gallery and to, like, a bookstore. Yeah.
She likes the food there. And that, you know that star tunnel that connects it with the East Wing.
Yeah.
Which is really cool. But Jenny Bick has, like, you know, every moleskin you can buy. So the other new size for Moleskin is medium, which is perfect. Did you guys ever see, we think, was it called the To Go? They were like, blank. Blank on one side and lined on the other, and they were covered in fabric. And then also there was the brown Voyager travel notebook. Now it also comes in blue, so everybody liked that size. And now you can just buy that size in blue, red, black, and, like, all of the page insights.
Nice. What?
So I picked up a medium one, which is cool. It has a page count of a pocket notebook.
The last Baron Fig. Oh, excuse, not Baron Fig. Moleskine. That I got was back when I was using Paper planners, the Diary plus planner, which had a week on one side and a line page on the other side.
Oh, those were nice.
Yeah, those were great.
This is like something around the size of a dime novel.
Okay.
From Field Notes.
Yeah, I don't.
I don't have it in front of me to look at it.
That is a good size.
Yeah. And my last fresh point still on the Moleskine kick. So apparently two years ago, Moleskine released, like, a special edition of the song Lines by Bruce Chatwin. Because if you read in. Was it the Revenge of Analog where he talks to the lady who founded Moleskin or, like, basically invented it, that she came up with it when she read the song Lines because he talks about in such detail. So they released the song Lines as a Moleskine in conjunction with. Who was it? Vintage Classics. So they didn't release it here, so you have to buy it on, like, ebay. But I found it on book depository via Amazon. So I figured, you know, if there's a problem, it's Amazon. They'll, you know, get my back. So it showed up, and I didn't know why it was so big and so expensive. It's the size of a large moleskin, and it comes with a large moleskin. So it's like this hunk of, like, book with a wrap around it. I'm like, are you kidding me? Because my. The first thing I ever knew I wanted as a tattoo, I read in the song Lines. And then, you know, Moleskins got me interested in Bruce Chapman because I'd never heard of him before that. So it's cool.
I haven't.
I actually haven't ripped the plastic off yet because it's so damn pretty, but it's like a beautiful, fat book. And then a soft cover, large Moleskine for your own notes. Oh, my God. But I don't know if I want to put the show note link or the link in the show notes, because I might buy the rest of them and have them. But how much was it?
Can I ask? Can I ask that?
I don't remember what it retailed for, but you can get them on ebay for, like, 25 bucks with free shipping. I think I paid a couple bucks more than that, but probably less than 30. Like, 28, 29 bucks.
Cool.
So you figure if you're just buying a new copy of the book, because mine is pretty messed up, that was already a sweet deal and didn't take that long to come. So. Yeah, I have a tattoo on my ankle that says Solvator Ambulando, which is. It is solved by walking. That comes from the section of that book in the back where he's, you know, listing things from his notebooks because he knows he's gonna Die.
That's a great.
Yeah. On that note, where we jump into our main topic, which is linguini alfresco,
rioting outside, fettuccine al fresco. Yeah.
So I mean, I don't do a lot of writing in fountain pen, which is to say I don't use fountain pens or own fountain pens, but I imagine they're not ideal for outside writing. But especially if you're going to take into account things like temperature and moisture. Pencil is perfect. So we thought we'd go through our favorite places to write outside. Any sort of like special tools that we use when we write outside, some tips, and then at the end, really quick what we throw into a day pack with our survival gear to go camping for a weekend. I like that idea. That was Tim's idea.
Yeah. I'm actually interested, Johnny, before we even talk about, like, what tools to write outside, like why, why be right outside? Like, why do you. Oh, that's a good point. When you're outside, you like, you know, like Tina Koyama is always doing a lot of like urban sketching, so she's sitting around watching people at the park or doing something like that and sketching out. Is there like a writing version of that that we do?
Good question. How about you? You want to go first?
Yeah, I feel like I read outside just for the same reason I do anything outside, which is just to not be inside to the outside.
Yeah.
Yeah, but that, that sounded like overly simplistic. But like, I think, I think there's a, there's a reason why you, you read biographies of writers and stuff and you find out a lot about them going for long walks and them sitting in parks in New York City or wherever they're living, you know, and, and having these notebooks, you know, the Walt Whitman's who are carrying these notebooks and sitting down in parks and sitting outside and writing out there because I think it's just, it seems more natural to do that than to hole up in a, in a coffee shop somewhere and, you know, it's almost more, more anonymous or something. I like that feeling of being able to, of writing outside because that's the beauty of writing analog, is that you can really write anywhere no matter what.
Yeah. Yeah, that's a really good point.
Yeah. How about, how about you, Andy? Oh, man.
I think, I mean, I like to like sometimes if I'm at home and like, we'll talk about like places to write outside later, but I will get some coffee and you know, sit on my balcony and even before I, you know, Try to check my email and to get ready for the day and kind of plan what I'm doing. I like to just do a little bit of just free journaling. Just some morning pages, I guess, is the word that we've used before. So that's a. That's a good spot. It's. I like. I like morning. Morning outside a lot. Um. I don't know.
I also.
This isn't exactly outside, but I have occasionally, if I've just been, like, my brain has been muddled at work, I'll just go get on public transportation. Just like write that around and. And write something. It's. I think that's a good idea. Yeah. I think it's not too different from. Because you can kind of like, look outside. You can see what's going on, but you can all. You're also kind of inside too. So I've done that a few times. I live on. I. I work on the east side of the city of San Francisco, and the west side of the city, which is about seven miles away, is right on the ocean. So occasionally I'll just take a. Take like a light rail all the way to. To Ocean beach and just, you know, get off and then go sit on the sand dune and, like, think about my life. Um.
Yeah, that sounds incredible.
Which is. Is fun. But then you have a really long kind of like, train ride on the way there. And it's also sounds incredible. Yeah. It's just. Yeah. Come out to visit Tim. We can right up right on the train out there together. It's just a good kind of like, meditative experience. There's a lot of people, like, a lot of. It's kind of like, right in a coffee shop. It's a lot of stuff happening around you, but then also not exactly related to you. Right. Like, yeah. But occasionally, of course, being public transportation, there's sometimes like some weirdos who sit down beside you and, like, can't. You can't concentrate. Yeah. What about you, Jenny? I don't know.
It's sort of like a reset button. Now I'm somewhere new. And also, I guess this relates more to cafes later, but I've always lived in cities, except for when I didn't. And when I didn't, I really hated it. So there's a certain amount of noise that is just like, quiet for me.
Yeah.
And especially, you know, with three kids. The noise of the city, it's like nothing.
Give me the noise.
You know, one or more of the children will usually follow me around, but if I go outside they tend to not always follow me. So that's, that's. That's a strategy.
You're escaping. You're running away from your kids is what you're doing.
Tomato, tomato.
That reminds me of something. I've thought about this recently with. I think one of the. And I thought about it for a different reason, but on this subject, I think one of the reasons why we like to be outside while we write, I think whether we realize it or not, is I think our body enjoys not being in perfect comfort all the time. You know, like, I think there's something to be said about being out and being on a sand dune somewhere or sitting in a park where it might not be, like, the exact temperature that you've set the thermostat to, and everything might not be, like, exactly as it is, but you just feel like I'm in it. Like, I'm actually, like, out in the world and I'm. And I'm going to work on this thing and I'm just going to, like. Because as I think, like, being out and reacting to the temperature and reacting to the surroundings and the noises that are going on can kind of be invigorating as far as how it changes the stuff that you're actually writing or the attitude you have while you write it. Because our whole world, I feel like in the next 10 years, we're going to have a national emerg health emergency called for cell phone usage. Because all we all. We just think all the time about what would make me happy and what would entertain me in this moment right now, whether it's podcast or music or Netflix or whatever. And. And so we don't notice stuff and we don't see what's going on when we're out, you know, outside writing, because it's all got to pierce through our, you know, earbuds and our screens that are in front of our faces. And so getting outside and writing, like, really just. I think we have just like, a really elemental, pleasing feeling that comes from that. Just because you're not trying to control your environment all the time.
Ladies and gentlemen, listen to Tim's other podcast called the Membership about Wendell Berry.
Yeah, that's true.
No, I mean, I agree in that, like, you know, it is super easy to use your phone outside to do that stuff, but if you're, like, outside trying to write, it does make it harder to, like, you know, use a laptop and connect it to the Internet and plug it in and even see the screen in the sunlight. So I think if you're trying to write outside. Pencil and paper really does lend itself better toward. Toward that.
Yeah. You take weather into effect.
Totally. So totally. Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah. I don't mind getting this pocket notebook a little wet, but. Yeah, not my laptop.
Not your iPad Pro.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah. Awesome. So what are some of you guys favorite spots or even situations for riding outside?
So I talked about this a little earlier, but. So I live. I live near the top of a really big hill, one of the, one of the bigger hills in San Francisco. And my balcony kind of looks out over the, like the valley of, of the hill that I'm. I'm on. So I get a really, really good view. And if I look to the east, I can kind of see the bay and see a bunch of like, ships in the bay. And it's usually too windy up there because it's. It's a very windy city, but when it's not, it's really great. It's really fantastic to sit out there. And we have a little table and a couple chairs set up just to have enough room for that. So I love just going out to my balcony, especially in the morning and drinking coffee and, and writing. So. Yeah. And then also, like, when I can like coffee shop tables outside. But it's kind of hard, especially if it's in like a busy part of town. Like, you don't really just want to sit right on, like on the sidewalk in a couple neighborhoods because you're just really close to everything and.
Exhaust fumes.
Yeah, exhaust fumes and like homeless people and just people walking by in general. Like, it gets like you're just right there in it. So. Yeah, I guess I feel like you're
sitting in the middle of a sidewalk.
Yeah. Yeah. And sometimes like, some of the sidewalks are so small. Like, you literally are like the, the tables and chairs, like, extend right out to the sidewalk. There's like hardly any room. Although some parts of the city is much different than that. But. And then also I really love. There's a lot of really good patios. Like a couple good coffee shops have good. Have good semi covered patios up back. Love that. Yeah.
Yeah.
Tim, I think yours is definitely more outdoorsy than I am. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I. Yeah. So when I think of writing outside the one situation that I. And I tried to keep it to times when I like to things that I actually do, you know, not like just trying to make it sound like, oh, you know, this is when it would be cool to write outside, but like things I actually Do. And one thing is that I have, have. I make. We have a, like a little fire pit out back and in our backyard.
Yeah.
Got a backyard that's probably the size of like, I don't know, like a half a basketball court or something like that. Like a little fenced in area. Yeah, it's pretty nice. A nice size area. And then right in the middle of this fire pit. And one of the great joys of my life these days in the busyness of teaching and having kids and all the chaos is that like a couple times a month I'll put some music on out back, like usually, like set up a speaker and put my music on, put my phone away and I'll make a fire and I'll sit next to the fire with like a field notes and just kind of jot down what's in my head. And it's almost like a really slow, casual morning pages kind of style thing where it's just kind of like whatever's crossing my mind. Just. I don't have the urgency of like morning pages, but it's just kind of like thinking about this. I'm going to write down. Oh yeah, thinking about that. I'm gonna write that down. Like not any organization, just kind of like follow my thoughts and just really enjoy that. And every once in a while something clicks and I'll get a few sentences of something that I. That I like and I really enjoy those moments.
Yeah, that sounds lovely.
And then like attached to that is also just backpacking, which I haven't done a whole lot of in the last couple years, just with how busy we've been with kids and getting out to do that. But backpacking, I really love pulling a notebook out of a back out of a hiking pack when you finally got into the end of a day and have a little fire built up and just kind of leaning up against your pac back and jotting down just seemingly mundane things that have happened throughout the day, throughout the hike that seemed just normal, but is a really nice way to kind of balance your brain out. And then you look back at it a few weeks later and you're like, oh, that was cool. That was way more interesting than I thought it was, you know?
Yeah.
So that's, that's one. And then the other is I thought of the last time Henry and I camped in the backyard. I set up a tent in the backyard and he was all pumped up. We had a fire and all that, and, and set up a tent and once he fell asleep, which, I mean he's Little. He falls asleep early. It's like 8:30 or something and he's asleep out back. And I just got into the tent with him at like 8:30, which was like actually super awesome because it was a relief to just be resting at that point and not like doing dishes and stuff. And I just literally had a flashlight in my teeth and pulled out a notebook, which was some kind of moleskin. Ish notebook, and just started writing poetry, which is something I don't usually do, but that just felt really natural. And it was very like, you know, took me back to my high school days of reading Whitman and writing on the. On our road trip my friends and I did after we graduated. And so writing with a flashlight, it kind of. It's like what I was saying earlier about how it's just fun to write in an inconvenient situation. Kind of like I really want to write. I'm not in a comfortable situation, but that's okay. And so I'm going to make it happen. It kind of makes you feel like a real writer because you're like, I don't. I'm not concerned about the exact right. Exactly right circumstances to. To do this. And then you end up writing things that surprise you later on. You're like, wow, that was way better than I thought. And look, I was in a super uncomfortable situation with a toddler kicking me in the crotch and, you know, mosquitoes biting me and.
Yeah. Yeah, that's cool.
How about you, Johnny?
So like Andy, I have a balcony with a nice view, which is probably my favorite place to ride outside, which is fun.
But we don't have a yard.
Yeah, but I don't have to cut grass.
That's true.
I really, really hate cutting grass. I like smelling other people doing it. I don't like to actually do it.
So BS to have to cut grass. Like, come on, this is ridiculous. Why do I have to do this?
Sorry. So we live in this building that's like 100 years old and it's brick and heavy. And Roland park has a water tower which is one of the few remaining ones in the country where it just looks like this bizarre medieval tower. Inside there's a metal tank, but they don't use it. It was only hooked up to the system for a few years, but it's still there. And there's a family of peregrine falcons that live in there. And we live in a really high part of the city and really close to the river valley. So it's really cool to see sit out there and Watch the falcons and stuff, as long as they're not, like, you know, you don't see what they're killing because, like, we don't have any other birds in the vicinity because the falcons eat them or scare them away. But falcons are cool. So, yeah, I like to sit out there. And as I mentioned, busy cafe, like, my favorite coffee shop actually doesn't have super good coffee. But they know us and they really love Rosie. And it's just the right amount of noisy where, like, you want to put your headphones on because you don't like the crappy music they're playing or the people talking. And it's like you can zone everything out. It's really cool. And also, I live really close to Johns Hopkins University, so I like to sit on a bench in a college or university campus because there's such a cool energy there. And, you know, they always put the benches in a good space. I just like to go back to my old. My alma mater and sit by the pond, which is pretty, but really is there because of a drainage problem with a parking lot.
How romantic.
They put in a rip right with there. They're like, oh, the pond's pretty. Like, yeah, don't get into that pond. And so my other one is I keep something to write with in the stroller because I spend, like, at least two hours every day pushing a stroller. And it's a fun. You know, you think of a lot of stuff while you're walking. So we pop the brake on and let Rosie look at some flowers and write some stuff down. Leaning on the stroller handle, which is kind of cool. That'd be a cool memory one day when my children do not sit in a stroller.
Yeah.
So when you are in your special favorite writing places, what are some special writing tools that you find useful?
I don't know if I have any special, special specific tools, but I always like, if I know I'm going to be out, be going outside. I usually try to get, like, a harder pencil. I've been liking some of my various Indian pencils for this just because I feel like it. Like, I just don't have the opportunity to, like, sharpen as much as if I'm at my desk or if I'm inside. Although I could just sharpen right under the ground and that would be just like.
I was gonna say, it's like peeing in the woods.
Yeah.
Yeah. It's like a pig in its own slop. You're just, like, sharpening everywhere, like, throwing them to the side. Blowing them off your way. Like lap.
Like somebody who accuses me of littering. I'll just, I'll just be like, I'm just, just giving back to the environment. Is this biodegradable, man?
It's all natural, man.
Tell them about the cedar shortage. Be like, I'm helping.
Yeah, just plant a tree over here, sir.
Plant trees, dude.
They grow into a pencil tree.
Yeah, exactly.
For the children.
Science for the children. Yeah, Just thinking about it, Thinking about our future.
You need to write a children's book.
The pencil tree. So I, so I generally I go for something like that and I kind of find and I don't know, I don't know if this is. Has to do with my left handedness or if this is like a regular thing, but I feel like it's harder for me if I don't have something to write on besides like my lap or my hand. Pocket notebooks are really hard. Like I really prefer something bigger than I kind of like rest the side of my hand against when I'm writing. So yeah, yeah, I get confidante. Good
Moleskin.
Moleskins. Just like. Yeah. My field notes are. It's. It's hard to just sort of like hold it up and write in it for me, I mean I can, I can do it, but my handwriting is just like illegible.
So I feel like I'm, I'm like either one or one or the other extreme where a field notes works fine if I have like my legs crossed because I can like prop it right on my leg and write like right. Almost fine. But I almost don't like anything in between that and like a big ass notebook because like the one I picked was. Which is like a cheaper option than like that. Remember that huge Leuchtturm notebook that I got?
Oh yeah, the master book.
Yeah, the master book. That one's a little, little over the top, but you can get it office. Office Max or Office Depot, whichever one still exists. The black and red notebooks. You've seen these?
Yep.
They're pretty inexpensive, but like they have a large hardback that's like, it's like a roughly legal pad sized. And I like that because. Yeah, just like you're saying like you can set it on your lap. It's gonna, it's hard back and so you won't have any problems writing. And I, I agree. But it's funny because I, I agree with the idea but also like I'm on either extreme, like either the small or like the super big. But not like the middle ones. Those ones are awkward for me. Like the. Yeah, the confidants or the moleskins or whatever. Like I need something either larger or something that I can.
Yeah, that's interesting. Yeah, I like confidants are about as large as I go. Like I have some like legal pads or whatever, but like almost always I hardly ever use like a really as. As you say, a big ass notebook.
Is that what I said?
Yeah, is what you said?
Yeah.
Okay.
Foul mouth 10B. Bring down foul mouth tins.
All right,
now write notepads. Makes a new size that's like 7 and change by 10 and change. It's a good size for lap writing.
Oh yeah, I haven't seen. I've. I've seen those.
I don't have one yet. Yeah, they're pretty. They're like the meeting notebook but with regular paper.
Yeah, that's really good. Yeah. Johnny, what is your. What is your special equipment of choice?
If I'm not using something hardback, like, especially if I'm going somewhere, and doubly especially if I have the stroller. I'm with you. A field notes is like the down. The downside of a field notes is they're a pain in the ass to actually use if you're not sitting at a desk. So I used to have like one of those tiny little clipboards. It's like half the size of a clipboard. It's just the right size for a field notes. But then that thing's pain. Like I was always getting my arm hair stuck in the clip. Like that's painful. Like no one needs that while they're trying to write. So a couple years ago I bought this giant like artist clipboard in an art supply store that's like, I don't know, 13 by 17 or 18 or something like that with a giant clip. And the other end has rubber band which I've had to replace a few times. But you can just buy with art shop. So it's like it'll take up most of your lap, but they're not huge. So I mean, you could fit them in a backpack, I guess. But they're really good for like sitting in a rocking chair with the field notes or a composition book. They'll go just as bad as big as a composition book. So that's my favorite outdoor writing piece of equipment. Besides just, you know, my leg or a cafe table and one that I got recently, but I haven't got to test that much. There's a company called all which. They make notebooks they're just like a little black notebook with like blue dye around the edges. And they only come in like a lined notebook and four or five sizes.
I'm looking at this right now. These are lovely.
Oh, they're so pretty.
Where did you get them?
Used to not be able to get them, but now they'll ship to the United States. So they have free shipping in the uk. They're based in Scotland, but they'll send you a quote, shipping quote on PayPal. Like, you know, is this okay or do you want us to refund your money? But they were really nice and it came really fast. I remember people recommending them when moleskins were like a thing like 15 or 16 years ago. Like, what? These things have been around forever. Check these out.
I think they didn't they talk about this in that, that black clever blog.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That was such a good blog.
But now they're easier to get, which is cool. And like, they were really nice. They said it'll take a week or two. I don't even know if it took a week. And the shipping wasn't bad. I got the smallest one with shipping. I might have paid like 14 or 15 bucks total, which I don't, I don't think that's bad. They're made in Scotland. The books themselves are so pretty, but not like, I want to touch this pretty. Like, oh, I'm going to crack this and fill this book up and get another one. Pretty.
I love that blue, that blue dye on the edges.
Yeah. The paper's like, it's opaque. It's like, it's not most skin paper, but it's not bare and fake paper. Yeah, but like, you know, I wouldn't want a pocket notebook of bare and fake paper. Too stiff.
Yeah.
If you order from them too, just on their website, it's. If you buy three of them, they'll send you a free one. So it's buy three, get one free as well.
These, these calls that these columnar books they have, the like ledgers are really cool looking. These are like super retro looking.
Yeah. I mean they, they advertise the all weather cover, which I suppose is true of a moleskin too, but there's just something about the fat little block of these. But they're still so flexible and the binding is like, you know, like gum. It's perfectly flexible and it closes perfectly that, you know, you want to tag this thing, take us around on a camping trip, bust it up a little bit. And from what I understand, the rounded corners is Sort of a recent thing, which is good because, you know, that's more practical for durability purposes.
Those are really cool. I'm totally getting one of those at some point.
Yeah.
Yeah. They sell a set of one of each. So I asked them for a shipping quote on that. It was like 20, 25 bucks to get those shipped. And the notebooks are like, I don't know how to do the conversion 40 or something, but totally worth it. They're really pretty. So someone posted recently in one of the Facebook groups where Michael Palin from Monty Python and you know, Michael Palin. Michael Palin uses. And I asked them. It's pronounced all witch. I always said owitch, but it's all witch.
And I think you win this. This episode's.
Yeah.
Because this is. This is really awesome.
These are fantastic. I don't know. I'm a little embarrassed. I've never heard of these before.
Yeah.
I've been drooling over them for like 10 years. Like, I want one, but.
And you haven't shared yet.
How dare you.
It wasn't possible. I finally just got one.
Like it's three. It's 32 pounds plus shipping for three, plus a free one. So you get four for 32 pounds. So that's like.
That's not bad.
That's basically moleskin prices. Same thing.
So. Yeah.
And they're. They're shipping. They just charge costs and they packed it really well. It came looking good. Oh, they're so pretty. I think if I discovered these a long time ago, it would. It's probably all I would use.
This would be an All Witch notebook podcast.
Yeah.
So I'm gonna dig into those and do a more detailed review on my blog.
We should do an all Witch episode. Andy and I should try to figure out how to get our hands on some of these.
Maybe we can get somebody from all which on. Maybe they can send us some free ones.
That would be cool if they came on.
If we could have them on. That would be awesome.
Yeah.
I sent them a link to our podcast and my blog and they said they had a we look around my website. I was like, oh, you said we look. But you know, maybe a bunch of us orders will pour in now. That would be good.
Yeah.
Yeah. People tend to buy. Buy things we recommend because get there, we don't recommend crap. Yeah.
Everybody go order from All Witch and tell them you heard about them from us and get their attention in.
The episode is awesome.
Hey, they're made in house. I wonder if we could, you know, get A little stamping action going. Ooh, that's the other cool thing. I mean I've never owned a book made in Scotland one before.
Oh, those, those tartan notebooks.
Oh yeah, those are pretty. I don't have many of those.
Yeah, those are really good. Shoot. What are they called? Waverly. I actually don't know where they're made. They might be made out of. Out of the country. Yeah. Anyhow.
Yeah. So. Yeah, go get it. I mean go get one. Tell them we sent you. Yeah, but like don't buy them all because like I want some more.
Yeah. But Johnny's gonna be the, gonna be the exclusive US retailer of.
So I bought the smallest size, which is the size of a field notes but a quarter of an inch smaller width and height wise. But it's really thick and it makes it look really tiny and it's really flexible. So like it's a super good pocket notebook because I love moleskins but you can't and actually carry a hardback moleskin in your jeans pocket. Yeah, I mean I guess you, you could. I don't know if you could do it very comfortably. And they're, they're soft back. The softcover moleskin is not as durable feeling as this as the all Witch.
Yeah.
And like it doesn't have anything. It doesn't have an elastic, it doesn't have a pocket, it doesn't have a bookmark. This is like put a rubber band on the stump, put it in your pocket and get rocking. I've been cussing a lot tonight.
You have?
You're spicy.
Yeah.
Tired.
So now we might have covered a little bit of this, but what are some tips for outdoor writing?
Johnny, you have both. Both of you have way more tips than I have. So I'm going to defer to you all. Yeah. Tim, do you have any first, Tim?
Well, I mean mine is actually kind of goes along with what I just said though is just that sticking to a large scale notebook, there's definitely something. Hardback is a good call. As far as writing outdoors. It seems kind of counterintuitive because you think you want something like slim and flexible, but if you're writing outside, it just gives you like a portable desk to carry around with you. So that's that. And then my other advice would be what? Andy, what you already said, which is about choosing a pencil. I think I, I'm kind of in two camps on this. Like choosing a pencil that is a little on the firmer side like a blackwing natural or something is really It's a really good fit for. For this kind of thing. But at the same time, I kind of like the idea of using a softer pencil because I just like to sharpen a lot. And then there's that whole, like, pig in its own slop kind of thing where you just kind of like, throw shavings around, blow them around, and not worry about it. So. Yeah. What about you, Johnny?
So a lot of. We already talked about, like, bring your own riding surface. Unless you have something like a big. Right. Notepads or moleskin that's stiff on its own. One thing I do if I go out on the balcony is I'll bring a little like a. My Harry Potter pencil box has two levels, and you can sort of open it and separate it. So you basically have a tray of pencils. So I'll just, like, go outside with them all sharpened and see how many I can dull up. That's kind of fun. And the other one, I know this is a pencil podcast, but, like, take a damn Bic crystal, because there's no other pen in the world that'll write on anything. And if you lose it, you know, whatever, someone will pick it up, use it.
Honestly. Yeah, that.
That makes a lot of sense. Just bit crystals will write anywhere for any reason unless you just, like, specifically destroy it. So, yeah, if all else fails, like,
in theory, they don't write when it's cold, but, like, you know, if you hold it in your fist for a while, you can write with it for a few minutes before it starts. Globbin. Yeah, don't ask how I know this.
Did you say globbin or clobbing?
Was that they get a little globby skipping when they get cold? Yeah, but, I mean, you know, if I'm going somewhere and I'm going super minimalist, half the time I just throw a bake in my pocket and yeah, I'm good. Don't need accessories for it. Especially, like, the good.
I was like, pencils and big crystals have something in common, which is that a big crystal, you can watch the ink run out pretty quickly, you know, like it. Yeah, you can. You can see the progress of it moving. It's the same thing with a pencil how you can, like, kind of see the product, like, how productive you are based on how much ink is disappearing from it, which is. Which is nice.
Yeah. I do think that crystals are just sort of the preferred pens of pencil people. Like, they. Yeah, nothing fancy. They really reliable.
I know a guy who. With a pencil blog who calls them the pencil of pens.
Yeah, it's true. I know that guy, too.
He's cool.
Yeah, that's what I heard.
So, you know, speaking of Bruce Chatwin, like, in the song lines, he mentions when he pulls out his moleskin, like, oh, I get these in Paris. And the guy sort of rolls his eyes, like, that's really pretentious. So I buy big crystal finds from the UK because they're better than the regular crystals. Yeah, they're very smooth and they don't skip. So, like, you know, then you have a Bic, which is going to work, but it's also a little fancy.
I like the ones with the kind of like, orange translucent barrels.
Yeah. There's a box of 50 of them for 16 bucks on Amazon. I'm trying to not buy. It's like 50 of them. I could just give them to everybody I know.
I'll split one with you.
They also have green. I know you like green.
Ooh.
We can talk about this later.
Yeah, Take this offline.
Yeah.
So let's say that you are going on a backpacking trip, and for some reason someone says all you can take is a day pack. So, I mean, you know, we all know what a day pack looks like. A little Jansport or something. And in this day pack, you've got to take all your stuff for camping. So you can't just fill it with, like, notebooks and pencils or I guess if you could, if you don't want to eat. But in that situation, what would you guys take?
Oh, man, I've. Geez. I so, so often are. So seldom go camping or go daypacking. Um, but I. I would probably take. I probably take a pocket notebook just because it does take up so much less room. Like, I. I've definitely, like, walked around with a, like a confidant in my bag, and it's just like. Yeah. Like, if I just need to put something down, like, a pocket notebook probably would be fine. And I probably would take a pen, probably, like a, like a bit crystal. Just in case, like, as I said before, like, in case everything else breaks or runs out, like, bitcrystal will still go. And probably, like, my bullet pencil, too. I. That's just a nice portable thing. Feels really rugged. And you can just kind of like clip it to the pocket notebook. And then, of course, like a sharp, like a little brass bullet sharpener. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I don't have any, like, super good creative answers there, but that. That just seems like a super stripped down Utilitarian selection, right? Yeah. Yeah. Tim, what about you?
I. I went into this assuming that it would be not like just a day hike or something, but like I'd be out for a few days or something.
Okay. Yeah.
You know, maybe three or four days where I was going to be out camping somewhere. And so I started with the Notco Brasstown case which is the. From Brad and Jeff. This is the rollout case, the one that zips into like a sort of like hot dog shape roll. But then like when you unzip it, it rolls out and there are like six slots in it. And so that's where I started from. And so it's. If you've got a pencil like a black wing that's sharpened down a little bit, you can fit it in there. And so I decided to take. I would take one. I would take one kind of firmer pencil, like a 602 or a 9852 EW or something like that. Like a firmer B2B kind of pencil. One of those, one softer which is just going to be the MMX no matter what. A kum single hole long point sharpener. And I know you guys love using bit crystals, but when it comes to a ballpoint pen, I actually would prefer like nine out of ten times the Uni Ball Jetstream. The 1.0. Yeah, it's just more comfortable. I don't like the. The crystal is just a little too thin for me to use too often. I can use it to like jot down little things. But it does riding with it for a while.
It does have pretty sharp corners too. Like it can get a little uncomfortable.
Yeah, I just, I like the jet streams shape and it's also. It's a little bigger and I just have kind of chunky hands and I like the 1.0 width on that as well. I know most people like the 0.7 on that, but I like the 1.0 just because it's. It's like writing with a fountain pen or something.
Yeah.
Is that the, the stick pen style one?
It's a little rubber grip on it. Right.
The whole thing is kind of rubberish, like the whole body.
There's one that's like a stick that I really like.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. There's a stick one like 101. Sorry, I didn't know what you meant. I didn't know you meant. There is a. There is a Jetstream 1.0 that's like got a cap on it that I have, I have a few of those. And that's a really awesome pen too. So that would be even probably better than the click one that I was thinking. So, yeah, me, I'm going to send you like a. So this is. This is what I'm talking about. So. Great podcasting right now. I'm gonna send you. Oh, so the stick one. There's a stick one that's like really skinny. That's not really. I'll just send you the one that I was thinking of originally, which is. Which is this. This is the one that I would put in there. And I would probably put one or two of them in the. In the case. So one of those. And they also have one that's almost the exact same design, but it's just got a cap on it instead. So it's a little like kind of a reverse design.
Oh, yeah, these are great.
I love those pens. So one of those. In the 1.0, I would bring that large hardback notebook I talked about, and then I would bring two field notes notebooks. And the reason is that when I'm in those kind of settings and I've got freedom to think, my mind goes a lot of different places. And I would like to have the freedom to be like, oh, I'm going to. Because I'll often be like, oh, I'm going to start a field notes for this. You know, like, I'm going to have a field notes for this and then I'm going to have a field notes to just use as like a brain dump kind of thing.
So you feel like you would get a full millimeter. Like a 1 millimeter pencil
pen.
The pen, yes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the width. The actual line that it writes is not.
Sorry, I tried to do it in a pillow.
The actual line is not that thick, so it's not as wide as you think it is. But knowing you, you'd probably. The 0.7 is the one that most people like. Like, I know Brad likes those. People like those. It writes a really. It writes a really like perfectly even and consistent line. Whereas the 1.0, it can be kind of like spotty, but I just love it. So. But yeah, so that would be mine. So I feel like that would give me everything I could possibly need for. For a few days.
Man, that's thoughtful.
Yeah, definitely.
Boom.
Yeah. Yeah. Johnny, how about you?
I would just take a brand new pocket mole skin and a bit crystal and like a pencil, like a Ticonderoga or something, because, I mean, I wouldn't go camping without a knife. And like, I'm not too shabby sharpening pencil with a knife. Honestly, I cut my finger off. I'd probably use the Bic because, like, man, a crystal really sings on that moleskin paper.
Yeah. Well, pretend. Pretend you have a pocket pod. Pretend you have a pencil podcast and you need to talk about what pencil you'd bring.
Like a Ticonderoga. Yeah, it'd be hard to use more than one.
Yeah.
But you could fill a couple moleskins on one pencil.
It'd be hard not to take a forest choice, but yeah.
Oh, that's a good point.
That's true.
Okay, two forest choices and a pocket moleskin.
There you go. There you go.
Boom.
Sweet. So I'm gonna.
I'm gonna make sure that this scenario happens as many times as possible this summer. I'm gonna report back on the perfect. The empirical testing of our. Of our plans here. So.
Perfect. Yeah.
Awesome. So we. We've gone pretty long.
Yeah.
Thank you for still listening to us.
Yes.
Missed us and you know it.
We missed you. I'm gonna.
I'm gonna leave you guys.
I'm gonna leave in Johnny sneezing just so you get the authentic experience.
Oh, man. Sorry.
I know. It's all right.
I slept my face into a pillow.
Make sure you have like noise cancer headphones. It's like you're in the room with us. You can feel the spray on your face.
When you get a next another one. I'll record it and send it to Andy. Like pop this one up. Let's turn the paste up.
It's gonna be the. It's going to be the stinger at the beginning or whatever.
We're going to be driving the car. We're going to cause at least one car accident. When self driving cars come, we can all podcast on the road. Perfect. Thank you. Yeah, you could really ride around writing.
That'd be cool.
Yeah. So can you folks or you folks? You gents say where folks can find you on the Internets and the medias?
I am at Twitter and Instagram as wellfly. You can read the pencil blog that I Never update@woodclinch.com and you can see more of my information at Andy, wtf. How about you, Tim?
You can find me on Twitter timwassom and I'm on Instagram timothywassom. Awesome.
So I am Johnny. I am on pencil revolution.com and on social media ensolution and recently on Medium because I read it a lot. So I figured I should like try to write some stuff.
Yeah.
So I only have one on there, which is a reprint, a revision of an article I read about Moleskins Moleskin on the brain lately. So yeah, we are the Erasable Podcast. This is episode 116, which you could find at erasable us 116 or on your favorite podcast Catcher. You could check out our facebook group@facebook.com groups erasable, which is probably like the best place on earth for anyone that likes pencils or nice people or both. Follow our page@facebook.com erasablepodcast and on Twitter and Instagram, we are Racible Podcast. Thanks for tuning in and we'll be back again when the weather is even warmer.
Do you like our podcast? Most people like our podcast, but if you like our podcast, maybe we'll turn it off.