Category: Business of the Day

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Pen Guy on Air with Brent Farris and Debbie Abrams on KZST 100.1

Brent Farris and Debbie Abrams wearing the Pen Guy’s Hat at KZST
Brent Farris and Debbie Abrams wearing the Pen Guy's Hat at KZST 100.1

Today I had the pleasure of being on air at KZST 100.1 with famous radio personalities Brent Farris and Debbie Abrams first thing this morning. I met Debbie at the Pick of the Litter Silent Auction event last June and after seeing the Mercedes Pens she asked me if I would like to be on the air. The answer of course was a big yes, and what time? I had the opportunity to share a little bit about my Mercedes Pens art car and my next big project to collect a million pens to make giant murals called “pen-tings”. Being on air was a lot of fun and if you missed it you will have another opportunity to hear my interview with Debbie on her Sunday morning show called “Sonoma County’s Talking”, 6am to 6:30am Sundays. Thanks Brent and Debbie for having me over this morning to spread the word about the Pen Guy and the next big pen collection project, it was a blast:)

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O’Reilly Media Recycling Pens for the Pen Guy

O’Reilly Media Tarsier Sculpture by Patrick Amiot

Photo by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid

O’Reilly Media just agreed to collect old pens for me the Pen Guy for my million pen project that I will be working on in the next 5-10 years. My plan is to collect millions of pens to create works of art that will then go on display at various locations around the country, and that’s just to start with. My other big goal is to begin exploring other pen possibilities in solving future problems such as affordable energy efficient housing. Would it be possible to build an entire house from recycled pens and markers or at least a big part of it??? Who knows what is possible right now, but we will never know unless someone starts asking questions.

Having O’Reilly Media on board with such big project is a big deal to me and an example to other business who might want to join in the Green Pen Revolution and help keep a few million pens out of the dump in the coming years. They collect old batteries and have a Goodwill donation drop off, why not pens? My contact within O’Reilly told me that she sent out a company wide email letting everyone know that old pens are now a wanted commodity by yours truly. I can’t wait to pickup my first batch of recycled pens. To all of you at O’Reilly Media thank you for dreaming big with me, because without dreamers the world would be a boring place.

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Frame of Mind Pen from Forestville

Frame of Mind Pen from Forestville on the trunk of the Mercedes Pens
Frame of Mind Pen from Forestville on the trunk of the Mercedes Pens
I run into Leslie Zumwalt owner of Frame of Mind in Forestville Ca Today. She is this years Forestville Parade organizer and asked me if I was going to be in the parade tomorrow. I don’t think I can make it since last week was Maker and next weekend I am going the Harmony Festival 2009 in Santa Rosa Ca. Anyways Frame of Mind is local frame shop and art gallery right down town and features some of the most interesting local art you can imagine. Actually one year they entered a motorized couch with a frame around it to promote their business, and that same year the parade was so small they went around twice.

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Pen Guy wearing the NOKIA Lanyard at Maker Faire

Pen Guy wearing the NOKIA Lanyard
During maker faire I also met some of the folks from NOKIA one of the sponsors of the event. I met DuCharme who works at the Nokia Research Center (NRC) in Palo Alto “chartered with exploring new frontiers for mobility, solving scientific challenges to transform the converging Internet and communications industries.” Sound like fun and a mouthful to explain so I quoted what they do directly from their site. DuCharme took this picture of me wearing the NOKIA Lanyard that all the Makers had to hang their badges from. DuCharme also sent me a picture of her ’79 Volvo station wagon dashboard Moose Art Car nice work.
Moose Art Car

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PenAgain™ Inventor Colin Roche Shows up at Maker Faire

Colin Roche and The Pen Guy with the ErgoSleek
PenAgain™ Inventor Colin Roche presents The Pen Guy with an ErgoSleek PenAgain
Maker Faire 2009 was fantastic, and there are lots of things I will be sharing in the coming days, but first I wanted to talk about Colin Roche, the inventor of an amazing pen called PenAgain™. In my four years as the Pen Guy I have never met an inventor of a pen- so this was a first for me. Colin invented a pen that has a comfortable “No Grip” design that reduces stress on the hands and fingers. The full PenAgain story can be read here. Colin came up to me and said he also is a “pen guy” and then after telling me his story, I knew he was the real deal. He also presented me with the ErgoSleek PenAgain one the coolest looking pens ever- it looks like a retro space rocket in its box with two refills and a snazzy pen stand. One of these days I am going to have to make a trip down to the PenAgain store. Thank you Colin, it was a pleasure to meet you and your lovely family. Here is is also the documentary video.