Brian, your authenticity and commitment to provide free content to the community is the main reason I shop with Goulet exclusively. You and your videos helped me so much when I first got into fountain pens and I know you have done the same for so many others out there. Keep up the great work!
So glad someone asked the last question. I didn't ever think about that, but it was good to hear your answer. I have to say, I appreciate the effort you, Rachel, and your entire staff put into your company. It genuinely feels like buying my favorite products from good friends. We feel like we get to know you guys through the personal nature of the video (yes, even learning about your diet, family life, etc. is interesting) and are happy to support you by buying from Goulet when possible. Thanks for being more than just retailers.
Brian should do a Top 5 Inks for Students and exclusively use Mead notebook paper for the reviews because I can afford ink or paper, and inks more important (not that high quality paper isn't important, but you can write on anything, but without ink you can't write anything)
Derek Douglas great idea. He has touched on the subject in previous Q&A and student oriented videos. I know you didn't ask for my suggestion but since I'm a student as well, so I thought I should give some suggestions. One of the most important thing is actually the nib, a fine or if you like it an extra fine helps a lot. Noodler's ink like black and x-feather works well on cheap paper and also lamy inks (they are very similar, I have great experience with black and turquoise), diamine is also usually a safe bet (I pretty much use imperial blue exclusively), also if you can get it the pelikan 4001 is also quite good (I used the blue black) but I heard that it's really easy to find in places like USA. Diamine, lamy and pelikan are pretty affordable so it is good for students.
Bence Vörös No, I appreciate you taking time out of your day to give your suggestions. When Googling the topic, I've heard Parker Quink and Pelican 4001 come up quite a bit. I considered ordering samples, but shipping is a flat rate $6.95 (I think) plus the ~$1.25 for the sample, I could just buy a bottle. I still have a few cartridges left from when I first bought my pen so I'm not in a rush to get anything, but I'd like to know how the ink functions on Mead or sugar cane paper first.
Pelikan 4001 Royal blue is a great performer on lousy paper. Noodler's black and x-feather are good too. Any colours you're looking for specifically? I look for this sort of performance too, so I might have some more suggestions based on the colour you'd like.
canth100 I'm specifically going for black right now. One day I'll expand my collection to weirder colors, but I'd like a black to start with. Would it be too much ask for you to write on cheap notebook paper with your suggestions and send pictures of the feathering/bleed through? You certainly don't have to if you don't want
Just had to let you know how delightful it was to see the children with you. Y’all certainly have raised some lovely, sweet kids. Be proud. Bring them to work to show off again.
Had to pause the video to find out what the dialog doohickey does. (Special thanks to Lamy Germany for not punishing that kind of impatience by demanding I buy the pen first) It's so you can still operate the gate mechanism after removing the nib unit, if you want to clean the cap.
QOTW - Nothing crazy, when they were suggested red flags popped up, and later the "diet" was debunked usually. Plus, if it's a crazy or hassle diet I'm less likely to stick with it. Last year the best thing that happened was my doctor sending me to a nutritionist. I learned how to balance the regular foods I eat. Moderation is key. Cutting back on the junk food is important, but cutting them out altogether isn't necessary, just use them as a reward. Exercise! I try to get 240-300 minutes a week. It doesn't have to be major sweat breaker either. Sleep is important. Dietitians have known that for a while now. There's something about your body slowing down for a lengthy period of time that actually helps increase metabolism. Basically, unless you have an abnormal physical condition you don't need a weird diet. Increase the good stuff, cut back on the bad, and exercise.
I was cutting weight for a tournament and from Sunday before weign in, on Friday, I would only eat 100g of unsalted cashew almond mix, about 100g of rice crackers with hummus, a bowl consisting of 2 cans of tuna 1 whole avocado and a handful of leafy greens, and lastly an ice cream cone to keep me sane. I would brake fast at 12:00 and start my last meal at 15:00. The other 20 hours of the day were only water. It worked extremely well
The opening with the Gou-littles was fantastic, may I suggest a WN with them (I know do not put kids in front of a camera):-) Brian, one thing I appreciate about GPC is the openness and transparency, the information provided in WN and Q&A is often useful, and yes it makes sense to review / showcase the products that are being sold by GPC, one of the reasons I keep coming back here. No crazy diet here, but I do tend to have a salad and toast for dinner, and the main meal is at lunch. Plus my wife and I are doing a half hour of exercise each day.
QOTW: Paleo, gluten-lactose free. I was in competition, trained 3 hrs per day 6 days per week and was in the best shape of my life for a full season (9 months, 10% body fat). I have since retired (3+yrs now), on a relatively healthy diet but certainly not as restrictive. Good luck on your nutritional journey, Brian. Sound body = sound mind.
I've learned so much from your videos and I only started messing around with fountain pens about a week ago. I typically use Amazon to get my stuff, partly price, partly instant delivery. However, after watching so many of your videos every time I have a question on youtube, I'm going to buy ink samples and nibs when your site comes back up.
QOTW: I had 2 friends who were trying to diet/exercise together so when we all got together, they'd talk about nutrition. Protein, carbs, calorie counting, weighing out foods, portion control, etc. I was very lost in conversation, so I decided to join their diet/exercise journey: For research. Ran 2 (sometimes 4) miles a day Walked 2+ miles a day (up to 6+ miles on weekends sometimes) Maintained a 1500 calorie diet (I'd eat back what my exercise burned. So if I wanted that 200 calorie snack, I had to go run another 2 miles first.) Watched the fats/sugar/carbs too Casual body weight exercises- pull ups, push ups, planks, etc. I didn't need to lose weight, but I definitely did. I went from ~130 to around 123-125 in ~3 months. The hardest thing was to build that running/walking/exercise routine. I always think that I don't have time or I'm too busy, but 2 miles was only ~20 min for me after I built up to it. If I take it slow, a mile walk is 20 min. If I dedicated 1 hour a day to exercise, that was enough to get everything out of the way. It was a lot easier since I had another person who went through this with me...at least for the first month, but that's all it took to make it routine.
Your kids are adorable!!! Thanks for the writing prompts, always fun to have a reason to use pen & paper 🤓🌻✒️📚🖋 Love the transition from diet to dessert....Tiramisu is what came to my mind. Good luck on website transition!
Wow, y’all sure have some beautiful kids! Joseph is the image of Rachel, but gauging by his Pokémon Master comments, his personality is all Brian! 😊Ellie is a lovely young lady! 🙂💕
QOTW: I was on an extremely restrictive diet for a few months (and it wasn't actually the first time I've done an elimination diet). The most recent was Paleo Autoimmune Protocol, usually abbreviated to AIP. It's an elimination diet - so you take everything out, and then you carefully and slowly reintroduce one at a time, noting symptoms, and not adding back anything you react to. And you've got the record if you react to anything you add back, so you can take it back out later. Yeah. So for that, it was no grains, no dairy (not even butter or ghee), no soy, no legumes, no corn, limited fruit, nothing artificial at all, limited sweeteners (in the form of honey or maple syrup only), no sugar, no coffee, no nightshades ... with a real focus on nutrient density, to heal the body. It's intense, and difficult. But it helped.
I'm currently on a ketogenic diet, starting a year ago. I'm down 60 lbs but have sort of plateaued because my current work/commute situation makes it difficult to get back into intermittent fasting. When I can do intermittent fasting, my weight tends to drop by about 0.5-2 lbs a week.
QOTW, due to allergies I rotate my protein source every 5 days to avoid getting allergic to meat. I also avoid dairy with some slips, cinnamon I avoid diligently( it is so not worth it to eat this spice). After 2-3 years of avoiding other foods, I have been able to gradually resume eating, with care, oats, potatoes, lettece, fruit, refined grains and more that I cannot remember at this point. I lost so much weight after a few months, I had to figure out how to increase my calorie intake. My allergies were not life threatening. I had chronic sinus congestion to the point where every cold led to infections , and inablity to sleep, this was all the time. Yes it worked, I sleep well most of the time unless molds and pollens are too high ( also an issue, even after shots). I can cheat in the winter when molds and pollen is non-existant. This might not be the case in Virgina, but in Northern Maine, where our winters are long and severe, it is. Cheating usually involves dairy of some form or another. Perhaps you have been told that any food you crave you are probably allergic to. I will always crave dairy. Best desert, on a vacation in Italy for a luncheon desert, I ordered and ate tiramisu. It was not on my good-for-me list of foods. I did not realize that the black specs were exresso. I got NO sleep that night. I can still remember it. Second place was the cream puffs my father used to make. Or was it his Chocolate souffle. Hard to choose.
Thank you, Brian and the Goulittles. Excellent comments on nibbery. Mike Masuyama does excellent "needle point" nibs from all accounts. I would always choose a broad if I were intending to customize it through a nibmeister. (The Vanishing Point EF assembly that I got through Goulet Pens already what I could call a needle point though and am delighted with and would recommend to anyone.)
I bought the same Dialog 3 model with a fine nib from the Bottom Shelf last month. Mine did not come with the cleaning sleeve dohicky, and I've been searching for a place to buy one to no avail. Can you guys order get them separately from Lamy?
I'm not sure if they're available from LAMY, but we can reach out! Definitely get in contact with our Customer Care team (info@gouletpens.com ) and they can see what's available. - Colin
I can second on the Twsbi mini. I have one and within a year. It's almost a medium. (It's a gushy fine) from an EF. I don't write with much pressure and inks I use ranges from dry (pelikan) to iroshizuku (wow. With that. It's WET)
Nice that you enjoy your kids. Family comes first. I was experimenting with an ink and some water based home made scents to create a perfumed or scented ink. But the smell runs out fast . Is there a comercial brand that you know that I Can experiment with? Without damageing my feeder or nib ?
As an opera singer I had to do a show once, performing with out a shirt. I found this out 3 weeks before the first performance, so I starved myself and exercised as much as I could for 3 weeks and lost about 25 pounds... and then of course put it straight back on again afterwards. i would not recommend that to even my worst enemy. Much better to spend ones energy fussing over fountain pens.
Brian, you need a pen cam, for pen closeups. Pun intended, but seriously, look at pen cameras you’ll love it, and(more importantly) you can make a cheesey pun 4/5 times a week.
Yeah I was wondering what you meant by heart-breakers? I mean, not that I really care that much lol just, if it means what I think it means it is a rather odd thing to say
It's an expression used in the United States that means the children are beautiful and will obviously be in the future. It's a compliment so please butt out. Enclusion, I don't give a damn whether you like that expression or not, I was commenting to Brian Goulet, not anyone else. :-)
Can you recommend pens that are heavy in the hand? I like the monteverde invincia and jinhao 450s or 750s with goulet nibs. One of the Goulet CSRs recently recommended the faber-castell e-motion and the conklin herringbone which are great additions but I'd love more recommendations. Why have 3 or 4 favorite pens when you can have more?!
Chris Oravetz haha well said ;) the e-motion is heavy, yes! Karas Kustoms tops the list with their Copper Ink Pen, at 120g! Visconti Opera Master is a beast too. Jinhao 159. You can actually check the weights of all our pens in the technical specs. -brian
Keto is the diet I’m on now and it’s working for me (23 pounds down so far 👍🏽) but the craziest would probably have to be the tomato soup diet where you had to make a soup and had specific foods you would eat depending on what day it was in the diet.
Fort the QOTW, I don't know that I'd say it's particularly crazy, but the only diet that I've ever tried is the Whole30. I need to lose 60 pounds, so to jump start that, I did the Whole30 back in April. I lost 25 pounds (15 during the actual month, the remaining 10 over the next month).
I knew several people who had tremendous success with the Atkins diet (no carbs). I needed to drop a few pounds so I gave it a try - it lasted less than 6 hours. One cup of black coffee and I knew it wasn’t for me.
Noodler's Zhivago is my all-time favorite ink. I use it all the time. I'm wondering, is this included in the "Russian" series, and if so, is this a higher-maintenance ink? I've had no problems so far but now I'm curious.
UmbralWaffle yes...but it would be a challenge. They’re reinforced with some pretty customized metal inserts that might make it difficult to turn your own. Might be worth a try tho! -brian
QOTW: Back in the 80's I used Herbalife when the company was still in its early days. Basically you were supposed to take these supplements, drink a nasty-tasting shake for breakfast and lunch, then have a "sensible" dinner. Who are we kidding? By the time dinner rolled around, I was ready to eat anything that didn't walk out of my way. Yes, I lost weight, but the accompanying digestive issues were not worth it.
QOTW: I think the craziest diet that I experienced was called Dr. Stillman's Quick Weight Loss program. I think it was popular back in the late 60s or early 70s. I was just a fad and I did lose weight; but, at what cost? While I didn't get really sick, I did experience other health issues. The diet consisted of high protein foods: meat, fish, poultry, eggs, and one piece of bread a day. My doctor told me to get off that diet. He said it was more important to eat a variety of foods and gave me a food pyramid chart to use as a guide. Then I went in the other direction and chose to eat plant foods only. Most people do okay with plant-based diets. I discovered that I'm not one of them. The little Goulets are adorable. When you need a co-star for Write Now, your son could fill the role.
Donna G Dr Stillman? Hmm. I think you mean Dr Scarborough. I did great on his diet. It included mainly low carb vegetables (every dinner had leafy green salad), lean protein, and one slice of high protein, low carb bread a day. No simple carbs allowed. Still a healthy diet. He was murdered by a woman he was having an affair with.
D D, I don't mean Dr. Scarborough. I mean Dr. Stillman. Back when Phil Donahue had his local show in Dayton, Ohio, he had Dr. Stillman on his show at least once. Dr. Stillman's diet was similar to Dr. Atkin's diet; but, it was published 5 years earlier in 1967.
QoTW: hmmm ... The fact that I put myself on a diet is the crazy thing I'd ever do ... But I learned a lot, so now I stay away from certain preparations and food .. Do not touch that stuff .. Fewer and fewer cheat days ... And have moved to a "portion & proportion" eating style ... Key is to balance how much I eat and the balance between carbs/protein/ fats in each meal ...
Your son is a "mini-me" of you! So cute! And clearly a future archaeologist in Little Girl Goulet, who shall now forever be known as LGG because of that effervescent personality. And yep, intermittent fasting (I'm 8 PM to 12 PM) changed my life. Don't miss artificial sweeteners (they kill gut health) and Get. More. Sleep. Lack of sleep has impact on your brain health. I SUCK at this, but in the end I wanted to keep my brain working and find meditation has helped me get my insomniac butt to bed at 10 PM. We're rooting for you Brian and hope to see "less of you" over the coming weeks. ;)
Lazy Accent ... I have a model from early 2000s... Very cool design ... Especially mechanism to take the nib-section-convertor out from the body ... They could have supported this model a bit more
Okay, as for the Noodlers question, I have Noodlers black and to be honest, I do not use it not because it smears, but in every pen I put it in (Lamy 2000, safari, twsbi, pilot VP) and it is Sooo unsaturated. I have shook the ink and it didn't make much of a difference. it is more of a dark grey color and I hate it. I want a true true black. like that commenter, I also want to love Noodlers
Brian, since you are talking about it, what is the underlying cause of your nutritional issues? Because you quit the Contigo because of high levels of metals? And you know, it has been said you should not make "movies" with children or pets- they will upstage you! And your children are so especially charming!
Yan Doroshenko more or less...it’s not baby proofed, but our kids are old enough to manage their way around an office. We don’t have forklifts or anything, it’s pretty safe. -brian
Maybe my Custom 823 (FA nib) is very picky to the ink, but nothing else I've tried worked as good for me. Pelikan 4001 works quite OK too, but not as good, and Lamy, Diamine, Noodler's, Sailor are noticeably worse. Granted, I haven't tried Iroshizuku , but I'm only in a process of convincing my wife to allow me to get a $40 bottle of ink. Maybe I need to buy her a couple more 3776s.
The best dessert I have ever had is called... MontBlanc! It is a mix of cream , sweet chestnuts and chocolate. I was served this by my godsons mum- oh over twenty years ago, and it is still in my dreams.... Worst diet? Hmm, the one I had to break after one day I suppose. It involved fasting and only allowed carrot and tomato juice- YUCK! So stop dieting and eat normally with food from all groups in the food pyramid. Only eating before 8 in the morning and after 10 in the evening seems really, really crazy. No proper dietist should order something like that! Even so I hope you enjoy it..;-)!
Brian, your authenticity and commitment to provide free content to the community is the main reason I shop with Goulet exclusively. You and your videos helped me so much when I first got into fountain pens and I know you have done the same for so many others out there. Keep up the great work!
"Just letting you all know I'm a Pokemon master." 😂
It's like seeing myself at that age.
I absolutely see the resemblance between Goulet Sr. to Goulet Jr.! Beautiful family!
Joseph is SUCH a mini Brian!! His little eyebrow emotions and his enthusiastic confidence is definitely from Brian hahaha
I just want to say thank you for not excluding shimmering inks in the sample inks I really like trying them all out.
So glad someone asked the last question. I didn't ever think about that, but it was good to hear your answer. I have to say, I appreciate the effort you, Rachel, and your entire staff put into your company. It genuinely feels like buying my favorite products from good friends. We feel like we get to know you guys through the personal nature of the video (yes, even learning about your diet, family life, etc. is interesting) and are happy to support you by buying from Goulet when possible. Thanks for being more than just retailers.
Brian should do a Top 5 Inks for Students and exclusively use Mead notebook paper for the reviews because I can afford ink or paper, and inks more important (not that high quality paper isn't important, but you can write on anything, but without ink you can't write anything)
Derek Douglas great idea. He has touched on the subject in previous Q&A and student oriented videos. I know you didn't ask for my suggestion but since I'm a student as well, so I thought I should give some suggestions. One of the most important thing is actually the nib, a fine or if you like it an extra fine helps a lot. Noodler's ink like black and x-feather works well on cheap paper and also lamy inks (they are very similar, I have great experience with black and turquoise), diamine is also usually a safe bet (I pretty much use imperial blue exclusively), also if you can get it the pelikan 4001 is also quite good (I used the blue black) but I heard that it's really easy to find in places like USA.
Diamine, lamy and pelikan are pretty affordable so it is good for students.
Bence Vörös No, I appreciate you taking time out of your day to give your suggestions. When Googling the topic, I've heard Parker Quink and Pelican 4001 come up quite a bit. I considered ordering samples, but shipping is a flat rate $6.95 (I think) plus the ~$1.25 for the sample, I could just buy a bottle. I still have a few cartridges left from when I first bought my pen so I'm not in a rush to get anything, but I'd like to know how the ink functions on Mead or sugar cane paper first.
Noodler's bulletproof black and a Japanese EF nib pen... Cheap paper will absorb the ink quickly, and EF nib with cut down on feathering
Pelikan 4001 Royal blue is a great performer on lousy paper. Noodler's black and x-feather are good too. Any colours you're looking for specifically? I look for this sort of performance too, so I might have some more suggestions based on the colour you'd like.
canth100 I'm specifically going for black right now. One day I'll expand my collection to weirder colors, but I'd like a black to start with. Would it be too much ask for you to write on cheap notebook paper with your suggestions and send pictures of the feathering/bleed through? You certainly don't have to if you don't want
The Gou-littles are the best haha
Just had to let you know how delightful it was to see the children with you. Y’all certainly have raised some lovely, sweet kids. Be proud. Bring them to work to show off again.
Joseph looks so much like Rachel, even his mannerisms! And Ellie looks like a perfect combination of the two of you :)
Had to pause the video to find out what the dialog doohickey does. (Special thanks to Lamy Germany for not punishing that kind of impatience by demanding I buy the pen first)
It's so you can still operate the gate mechanism after removing the nib unit, if you want to clean the cap.
QOTW - Nothing crazy, when they were suggested red flags popped up, and later the "diet" was debunked usually. Plus, if it's a crazy or hassle diet I'm less likely to stick with it. Last year the best thing that happened was my doctor sending me to a nutritionist. I learned how to balance the regular foods I eat. Moderation is key. Cutting back on the junk food is important, but cutting them out altogether isn't necessary, just use them as a reward. Exercise! I try to get 240-300 minutes a week. It doesn't have to be major sweat breaker either. Sleep is important. Dietitians have known that for a while now. There's something about your body slowing down for a lengthy period of time that actually helps increase metabolism. Basically, unless you have an abnormal physical condition you don't need a weird diet. Increase the good stuff, cut back on the bad, and exercise.
Joseph is definitely bound for acting.Camera comfort, good looks and the ability to improvise and emulate. He will be the nest star Super Hero.
Can't handle the cuteness of your kids! 😍
Scheissgeist... As a german speaker, this gave me a chuckle, and the confidence that Brian said it with too.
I was cutting weight for a tournament and from Sunday before weign in, on Friday, I would only eat 100g of unsalted cashew almond mix, about 100g of rice crackers with hummus, a bowl consisting of 2 cans of tuna 1 whole avocado and a handful of leafy greens, and lastly an ice cream cone to keep me sane. I would brake fast at 12:00 and start my last meal at 15:00. The other 20 hours of the day were only water. It worked extremely well
The opening with the Gou-littles was fantastic, may I suggest a WN with them (I know do not put kids in front of a camera):-)
Brian, one thing I appreciate about GPC is the openness and transparency, the information provided in WN and Q&A is often useful, and yes it makes sense to review / showcase the products that are being sold by GPC, one of the reasons I keep coming back here.
No crazy diet here, but I do tend to have a salad and toast for dinner, and the main meal is at lunch. Plus my wife and I are doing a half hour of exercise each day.
My kid just heard Pokemon talk, came running to my laptop, and now she has a crush.
Stephanie Walters hahaha! Oh my, that is adorable :) -brian
QOTW: Paleo, gluten-lactose free. I was in competition, trained 3 hrs per day 6 days per week and was in the best shape of my life for a full season (9 months, 10% body fat). I have since retired (3+yrs now), on a relatively healthy diet but certainly not as restrictive. Good luck on your nutritional journey, Brian. Sound body = sound mind.
I've learned so much from your videos and I only started messing around with fountain pens about a week ago. I typically use Amazon to get my stuff, partly price, partly instant delivery. However, after watching so many of your videos every time I have a question on youtube, I'm going to buy ink samples and nibs when your site comes back up.
Should be in an hour or so! Let us know what you think. :) - Colin
I have a problem with your website. My wallet is not big enough to buy everything I want. First purchase down, the obsession has officially begun.
QOTW: I had 2 friends who were trying to diet/exercise together so when we all got together, they'd talk about nutrition. Protein, carbs, calorie counting, weighing out foods, portion control, etc. I was very lost in conversation, so I decided to join their diet/exercise journey: For research.
Ran 2 (sometimes 4) miles a day
Walked 2+ miles a day (up to 6+ miles on weekends sometimes)
Maintained a 1500 calorie diet (I'd eat back what my exercise burned. So if I wanted that 200 calorie snack, I had to go run another 2 miles first.)
Watched the fats/sugar/carbs too
Casual body weight exercises- pull ups, push ups, planks, etc.
I didn't need to lose weight, but I definitely did. I went from ~130 to around 123-125 in ~3 months. The hardest thing was to build that running/walking/exercise routine. I always think that I don't have time or I'm too busy, but 2 miles was only ~20 min for me after I built up to it. If I take it slow, a mile walk is 20 min. If I dedicated 1 hour a day to exercise, that was enough to get everything out of the way. It was a lot easier since I had another person who went through this with me...at least for the first month, but that's all it took to make it routine.
Your kids are adorable!!! Thanks for the writing prompts, always fun to have a reason to use pen & paper 🤓🌻✒️📚🖋 Love the transition from diet to dessert....Tiramisu is what came to my mind. Good luck on website transition!
Cute kiddos Brian,
Glad to see they look like you
And Rachel both too!
Wow, y’all sure have some beautiful kids! Joseph is the image of Rachel, but gauging by his Pokémon Master comments, his personality is all Brian! 😊Ellie is a lovely young lady! 🙂💕
QOTW: I was on an extremely restrictive diet for a few months (and it wasn't actually the first time I've done an elimination diet). The most recent was Paleo Autoimmune Protocol, usually abbreviated to AIP. It's an elimination diet - so you take everything out, and then you carefully and slowly reintroduce one at a time, noting symptoms, and not adding back anything you react to. And you've got the record if you react to anything you add back, so you can take it back out later. Yeah. So for that, it was no grains, no dairy (not even butter or ghee), no soy, no legumes, no corn, limited fruit, nothing artificial at all, limited sweeteners (in the form of honey or maple syrup only), no sugar, no coffee, no nightshades ... with a real focus on nutrient density, to heal the body. It's intense, and difficult. But it helped.
Perhaps the random exclusions could be sold as a "restricted random" or "advanced random" and include a note about why they're normally excluded.
I'm currently on a ketogenic diet, starting a year ago. I'm down 60 lbs but have sort of plateaued because my current work/commute situation makes it difficult to get back into intermittent fasting. When I can do intermittent fasting, my weight tends to drop by about 0.5-2 lbs a week.
QOTW, due to allergies I rotate my protein source every 5 days to avoid getting allergic to meat. I also avoid dairy with some slips, cinnamon I avoid diligently( it is so not worth it to eat this spice). After 2-3 years of avoiding other foods, I have been able to gradually resume eating, with care, oats, potatoes, lettece, fruit, refined grains and more that I cannot remember at this point. I lost so much weight after a few months, I had to figure out how to increase my calorie intake. My allergies were not life threatening. I had chronic sinus congestion to the point where every cold led to infections , and inablity to sleep, this was all the time. Yes it worked, I sleep well most of the time unless molds and pollens are too high ( also an issue, even after shots). I can cheat in the winter when molds and pollen is non-existant. This might not be the case in Virgina, but in Northern Maine, where our winters are long and severe, it is. Cheating usually involves dairy of some form or another. Perhaps you have been told that any food you crave you are probably allergic to. I will always crave dairy.
Best desert, on a vacation in Italy for a luncheon desert, I ordered and ate tiramisu. It was not on my good-for-me list of foods. I did not realize that the black specs were exresso. I got NO sleep that night. I can still remember it. Second place was the cream puffs my father used to make. Or was it his Chocolate souffle. Hard to choose.
Thank you, Brian and the Goulittles. Excellent comments on nibbery. Mike Masuyama does excellent "needle point" nibs from all accounts. I would always choose a broad if I were intending to customize it through a nibmeister. (The Vanishing Point EF assembly that I got through Goulet Pens already what I could call a needle point though and am delighted with and would recommend to anyone.)
I bought the same Dialog 3 model with a fine nib from the Bottom Shelf last month. Mine did not come with the cleaning sleeve dohicky, and I've been searching for a place to buy one to no avail. Can you guys order get them separately from Lamy?
I'm not sure if they're available from LAMY, but we can reach out! Definitely get in contact with our Customer Care team (info@gouletpens.com ) and they can see what's available. - Colin
Oh my! Joseph looks so much like Rachel!! And Ellie is soooo adorable!!
Truly cute! Nice to see your babies.
The craziest diet I ever did was the anti-seizure ketogenic diet. It helped, but I was so done with heavy cream and oils.
I wish the pilot vanishing point clip retracted when it was opened.
OMG they're exactly like their mom. So cute. Bless.
I can second on the Twsbi mini. I have one and within a year. It's almost a medium. (It's a gushy fine) from an EF. I don't write with much pressure and inks I use ranges from dry (pelikan) to iroshizuku (wow. With that. It's WET)
OMG your kids are adorable, and your son looks so much like Rachel!
Nice that you enjoy your kids. Family comes first.
I was experimenting with an ink and some water based home made scents to create a perfumed or scented ink. But the smell runs out fast . Is there a comercial brand that you know that I Can experiment with? Without damageing my feeder or nib ?
As an opera singer I had to do a show once, performing with out a shirt. I found this out 3 weeks before the first performance, so I starved myself and exercised as much as I could for 3 weeks and lost about 25 pounds... and then of course put it straight back on again afterwards. i would not recommend that to even my worst enemy. Much better to spend ones energy fussing over fountain pens.
I think the list of inks you do not include in random samples is just fine. Shows good decisions.
Brian, you need a pen cam, for pen closeups. Pun intended, but seriously, look at pen cameras you’ll love it, and(more importantly) you can make a cheesey pun 4/5 times a week.
Oh my goodness, what a couple of future heart-breakers!!
Enclusion just say it’s cuz they won’t use fps
Yeah I was wondering what you meant by heart-breakers? I mean, not that I really care that much lol just, if it means what I think it means it is a rather odd thing to say
It's an expression used in the United States that means the children are beautiful and will obviously be in the future. It's a compliment so please butt out. Enclusion, I don't give a damn whether you like that expression or not, I was commenting to Brian Goulet, not anyone else. :-)
Ahh, understood. My apologies =)
Dori that is true because we use that saying here in the UK as well it's as you put it a person who will break hearts one day because of their beauty.
Omg this intro was hilarious. I loved Pokémon when I was your sons age. I was bummed my son was never interested in Pokémon.
Huh these are really good questions. You'd think people would run out of them after so many Q&As
Can you recommend pens that are heavy in the hand? I like the monteverde invincia and jinhao 450s or 750s with goulet nibs. One of the Goulet CSRs recently recommended the faber-castell e-motion and the conklin herringbone which are great additions but I'd love more recommendations. Why have 3 or 4 favorite pens when you can have more?!
Chris Oravetz haha well said ;) the e-motion is heavy, yes! Karas Kustoms tops the list with their Copper Ink Pen, at 120g! Visconti Opera Master is a beast too. Jinhao 159. You can actually check the weights of all our pens in the technical specs. -brian
Keto is the diet I’m on now and it’s working for me (23 pounds down so far 👍🏽) but the craziest would probably have to be the tomato soup diet where you had to make a soup and had specific foods you would eat depending on what day it was in the diet.
Tomato soup diet? Were any of those days 'Grilled Cheese' days? If so, I could get on board with that... ;) - Colin
Fort the QOTW, I don't know that I'd say it's particularly crazy, but the only diet that I've ever tried is the Whole30. I need to lose 60 pounds, so to jump start that, I did the Whole30 back in April. I lost 25 pounds (15 during the actual month, the remaining 10 over the next month).
I knew several people who had tremendous success with the Atkins diet (no carbs). I needed to drop a few pounds so I gave it a try - it lasted less than 6 hours. One cup of black coffee and I knew it wasn’t for me.
Noodler's Zhivago is my all-time favorite ink. I use it all the time. I'm wondering, is this included in the "Russian" series, and if so, is this a higher-maintenance ink? I've had no problems so far but now I'm curious.
No, that's not included in the Russian inks we carry (Rachmaninoff/Dostoyevsky/Tchaikovsky). Zhivago is a really well-behaved ink. - Colin
Would it be possible to turn your own grips for the Lamy Accent?
UmbralWaffle yes...but it would be a challenge. They’re reinforced with some pretty customized metal inserts that might make it difficult to turn your own. Might be worth a try tho! -brian
Craziest diet I ever tried? Easy, the cabbage diet. It is boiled cabbage soup essentially.
QOTW: Back in the 80's I used Herbalife when the company was still in its early days. Basically you were supposed to take these supplements, drink a nasty-tasting shake for breakfast and lunch, then have a "sensible" dinner. Who are we kidding? By the time dinner rolled around, I was ready to eat anything that didn't walk out of my way. Yes, I lost weight, but the accompanying digestive issues were not worth it.
I was gifted Indian ink for my fountain pen, I know it can clog up pens so is it possible to dilute the ink with water to use it on my pen?
SeaOtter no. India ink contains ingredients that will dry hard in your pen, like shellac.
D D thanks, that's was really helpful
SeaOtter you're welcome!
SeaOtter use your ink with a dip pen.
It's 5-7-5
Yes, a very nice haiku
Good job Karl, well done!
QOTW: I think the craziest diet that I experienced was called Dr. Stillman's Quick Weight Loss program. I think it was popular back in the late 60s or early 70s. I was just a fad and I did lose weight; but, at what cost? While I didn't get really sick, I did experience other health issues. The diet consisted of high protein foods: meat, fish, poultry, eggs, and one piece of bread a day.
My doctor told me to get off that diet. He said it was more important to eat a variety of foods and gave me a food pyramid chart to use as a guide. Then I went in the other direction and chose to eat plant foods only. Most people do okay with plant-based diets. I discovered that I'm not one of them.
The little Goulets are adorable. When you need a co-star for Write Now, your son could fill the role.
Donna G Dr Stillman? Hmm. I think you mean Dr Scarborough. I did great on his diet. It included mainly low carb vegetables (every dinner had leafy green salad), lean protein, and one slice of high protein, low carb bread a day. No simple carbs allowed.
Still a healthy diet.
He was murdered by a woman he was having an affair with.
D D, I don't mean Dr. Scarborough. I mean Dr. Stillman. Back when Phil Donahue had his local show in Dayton, Ohio, he had Dr. Stillman on his show at least once. Dr. Stillman's diet was similar to Dr. Atkin's diet; but, it was published 5 years earlier in 1967.
QoTW: hmmm ... The fact that I put myself on a diet is the crazy thing I'd ever do ... But I learned a lot, so now I stay away from certain preparations and food .. Do not touch that stuff .. Fewer and fewer cheat days ... And have moved to a "portion & proportion" eating style ... Key is to balance how much I eat and the balance between carbs/protein/ fats in each meal ...
crazy diet: a hot dog for b/l/d everyday for two weeks. Lost enuf weight but had terrible skin blemishes! hahahah the things we try!!!
Wow, would not expect hot dogs to be a part of any diet, but there ya go! - Colin
Oh my goodness; how cute are they!
Speaking of "good inks" and subjectivity, Baystate Blue :D
DI..... NO....SOOOOOOR!!!!
ADAAAAMMMMM!
The Goulittles are adorable! =)
Oooo! The kids! Fun video!
Pokemon is lit fam
Your son is a "mini-me" of you! So cute! And clearly a future archaeologist in Little Girl Goulet, who shall now forever be known as LGG because of that effervescent personality. And yep, intermittent fasting (I'm 8 PM to 12 PM) changed my life. Don't miss artificial sweeteners (they kill gut health) and Get. More. Sleep. Lack of sleep has impact on your brain health. I SUCK at this, but in the end I wanted to keep my brain working and find meditation has helped me get my insomniac butt to bed at 10 PM. We're rooting for you Brian and hope to see "less of you" over the coming weeks. ;)
He is VERY serious about his Pokémon :D
QQTW: Keto diet, works like crazy. 230lb -> 170lb in about 5 months
What? No website launch during Q4, the busiest time of year? ;)
Aww you guys. Your kids are so cute x
Lazy Accent ... I have a model from early 2000s... Very cool design ... Especially mechanism to take the nib-section-convertor out from the body ... They could have supported this model a bit more
Adorable kiddos! Little carbon copies of Brian and Rachel!
J. S. Matlock :) -brian
The Nemosyne EF is quite finer than Lamy or even TWSBI.
Okay, as for the Noodlers question, I have Noodlers black and to be honest, I do not use it not because it smears, but in every pen I put it in (Lamy 2000, safari, twsbi, pilot VP) and it is Sooo unsaturated. I have shook the ink and it didn't make much of a difference. it is more of a dark grey color and I hate it. I want a true true black. like that commenter, I also want to love Noodlers
Brian, since you are talking about it, what is the underlying cause of your nutritional issues? Because you quit the Contigo because of high levels of metals? And you know, it has been said you should not make "movies" with children or pets- they will upstage you! And your children are so especially charming!
Your kiddos are super cute!
QOTW: Diet and exercise. A WHOLE LOT OF WALKING.
And not to toot my own horn but I was a DREAM TO BEHOLD in my Red Dress👠
Is your office kid-friendly?
Yan Doroshenko more or less...it’s not baby proofed, but our kids are old enough to manage their way around an office. We don’t have forklifts or anything, it’s pretty safe. -brian
Pelikan Edelstein Topaz is the definition of a good quality ink. You're welcome.
Maybe my Custom 823 (FA nib) is very picky to the ink, but nothing else I've tried worked as good for me. Pelikan 4001 works quite OK too, but not as good, and Lamy, Diamine, Noodler's, Sailor are noticeably worse. Granted, I haven't tried Iroshizuku , but I'm only in a process of convincing my wife to allow me to get a $40 bottle of ink. Maybe I need to buy her a couple more 3776s.
Beautiful family!
Lovely offspring Brian and Rachel💕
Your kids are adorable.
The best dessert I have ever had is called... MontBlanc! It is a mix of cream , sweet chestnuts and chocolate. I was served this by my godsons mum- oh over twenty years ago, and it is still in my dreams....
Worst diet? Hmm, the one I had to break after one day I suppose. It involved fasting and only allowed carrot and tomato juice- YUCK! So stop dieting and eat normally with food from all groups in the food pyramid. Only eating before 8 in the morning and after 10 in the evening seems really, really crazy. No proper dietist should order something like that! Even so I hope you enjoy it..;-)!
Your kids are so cute!
Kid's got good taste.
Noodler's Bottle = TARDIS
Wait.... He said "freakin" right?
QOTW: Joined the Army and went through basic training....
Yeesss a Tardis!
🦕🦖❣️
Wow you are a gluten for punishment. You'll be wanting all the deserts listed and be unable to eat them yet.