Leadhead's Tread: 2013 Baltimore Pen Show

This was the second year Janet and I made the trip to the Baltimore Pen Show. It was quite the whirlwind trip, driving out on Friday and back on Sunday, with a whole lot ‘o fun in between.

We were off early on Friday morning, since a few stops along the way are usually on the agenda. Of course, as with all of our road trips heading east, our first stop was that great Denny’s diner-style restaurant east of Zanesville:

Here's Janet, very pleased with her pancakes!   

To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 2, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.

Leadhead's Tread: Philadelphia Pen Show

"You should go to Philly."

This was the year I decided I’d heard this just too many times, from just too many people, who all have said this in the same tone you’d use to lecture someone on the virtues of going to visit your mother. I finally made the pilgrimage this past weekend, and of course I found that all those people who lectured me that I should be there were right. . .

To learn more, the full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 2, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.

Leadhead's Tread: The Ohio Pen Show

It feels good to be home.

As it is every year, I’ve been running around across pretty big chunks of the country all year long, meeting people, talking pencils and even buying one or two . . . give or take a few. Each November, when I walk in the door at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Dublin, Ohio, it feels like crossing a finish line after a long, long journey home.

There’s more to that statement than it might sound. Yes, I live a mere forty minutes or so from the hotel – close enough that I usually commute back and forth for a couple days – so of course I’m home. But the more people I talk to at this show, the luckier I feel that I live here, because I think most of us that come to this show agree that it wouldn’t matter in what city this show is held. No matter how far away you live, this show feels like home.

People usually start trickling into Columbus on Wednesday afternoon. I picked up Michael Little at the hotel on Wednesday. We said hello to a few people in the hotel bar, but since we didn’t see any trading going on in the trading room, we scooted on home to Newark where, as Janet described it, we looked like a couple kids playing with baseball cards. By the time it was over, in the wee hours of Thursday morning, Michael and I each had a big pile of things we’d pulled out of each other’s stuff. The next morning, we started trying to figure out who owed money to whom, but after we horsed around with the math for awhile we decided we both felt like we’d gotten a good deal so we called it even. . .

NOTE:  This article is now included in the print version of The Leadhead's Pencil Blog, available anywhere you buy books, or also from The Legendary Lead Company.

To order, here's the link:  Volume 1 at Legendary Lead Company

Leadhead's Tread: Michigan Pen Show

"Why do you want to go there?"

When I heard that in response to my comment that I was going to the Michigan Pen Show, I knew that I was going to start my report off with a heartfelt apology, on behalf of my people, for the way many of my fellow Ohioans behave around this time of the year when it comes to our northern neighbors.

See, I’m used to people asking me why I’d want to make a road trip to spend a weekend playing with pens and pencils. But that’s not what this guy was getting at. He wanted to know why I would choose to go to Michigan, home state of the Michigan Wolverines, since I am both an Ohioan and an Ohio State alumnus – after all, what right-thinking Buckeye would do such a thing?

Yeah. And I’m the one that needs to get a life, right?

So before I get started with my show report proper, I’ve got a neat story about the Ohio-Michigan rivalry that’s largely forgotten: how it started.  It had nothing to do with a gridiron battle, but it did involve a battle of another sort. Ever hear of the Toledo War?

In 1787, Congress (that’s the Congress under the Articles of Confederation – the current United States Constitution was enacted that year but had not yet been ratified) enacted the Northwest Ordinance, which defined a large area of land called the Northwest Territory and provided that no less than three and no more than five states would be created out of it. Ohio, along with Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and part of Minnesota, were all carved out of the Northwest Territory.

Part of the Northwest Ordinance provided that the north-south border of three of these states – what are now Ohio, Michigan and Indiana – would be an east-west line intersecting the southern tip of Lake Michigan. Ohio was the first state admitted out of the Northwest Territory, joining the Union in 1803, and included within its boundaries from the earliest days was the Port of Miami, an important commercial port on the western edge of Lake Erie which is today known as Toledo.

Now it’s time to get out your map and take a close look at it. Is Toledo south of the southern tip of Lake Michigan? No, it absolutely is not. By all rights, under the Northwest Ordinance, it should be Toledo, Michigan.

It’s easy to understand how the mistake happened. Not only was it extremely difficult at the time to draw a straight line a couple hundred miles long through dense woods, no one was really sure in 1803 exactly where the southern tip of Lake Michigan was.

Whether it was an honest mistake or not, it didn’t help matters that in 1816, when the United States Government sought to clarify Ohio’s northern boundary, the U.S. Surveyor General was Edward Tiffin, a former governor of Ohio (and the man for whom Tiffin, Ohio is named), and the resulting survey found – surprise, surprise – that Toledo is in Ohio.

By 1835, when Michigan applied for statehood, improved knowledge of geography made it perfectly clear that the bustling port of Toledo was in Michigan, and of course Michigan wanted it – Ohio’s "dibs" notwithstanding. Both Ohio and Michigan raised militias in preparation for a border war, and both Ohio and Michigan passed laws making it treasonous to pledge allegiance to the other. The conflict was only averted in 1836 when Congress made Michigan a deal: give up Toledo, and we’ll give you (1) statehood and (2) the Upper Peninsula.

So whenever Buckeyes and Wolverines prepare to settle their differences, whether it be on the football field, a basketball court, or in a misguided display of "school spirit" between fans of opposing teams in a bar, just remember that no matter what happens, it will never be Toledo, Michigan if Ohio loses, and if we play double or nothing and Ohio wins, it still won’t be Sault Ste Marie, Ohio.

And yes, I did willingly venture across the once-disputed "Toledo strip," bearing nothing but a truckload of pens and pencils and the usual desire to reconnect with old friends and make a few new ones!

The Michigan show is different from the other ones I’ve attended this year. It is truly a club show, organized and put on by volunteers on a not-for-profit (in fact, little-bit-of-a-loss) basis. The ringleader of the bunch (show organizer) is Lih-Tah Wong, shown here multitasking as gatekeeper, communications director and possible ebay surfer . . .

NOTE:  This article is now included in the print version of The Leadhead's Pencil Blog, available anywhere you buy books, or also from The Legendary Lead Company.

To order, here's the link:  Volume 1 at Legendary Lead Company

Leadhead's Tread: DC Supershow Report

As I’m sitting here, at 6:00 in the morning getting ready to make the long drive back to Ohio, I’m suddenly finding it difficult to describe this year’s DC Supershow in Washington. Maybe it’s because so much is going on in my head about the show that I don’t know where to start. Maybe it’s the sheer exhaustion.

But I think mostly it’s because for me, the DC Supershow is the high water mark of the year. I spend most of the year looking forward to it, and it’s kind of hard to admit it when it’s over.

As far as the hotel goes, I was pretty sure going into this show what I was going to say about the Sheraton Premiere at Tysons Corner, the same venue for the show as long as I’ve been attending, but I am pleased to report that everything I thought I was going to say about the hotel I’ve had to take back. The hotel, long overdue for a renovation, has finally received the updates that it has sorely needed in the past – a nicer bar and restaurant area, an updated registration area, and the rooms have been updated and redone.

Nicer still is that all the positive changes have also carried over to the staff’s attitudes. This is the first time in years that I’ve actually felt like a guest here rather than an annoyance to the help! Well, ok . . . mostly. The manager and his rent-a-cop were pretty annoyed with those of us enjoying our traditional evening of scotch and cigars on Friday night. We did receive quite a lecture on Virginia liquor laws, which left me imagining the cover of The Pennant Magazine with a shot of us all being loaded into a paddy wagon and hauled off to jail (being the hardened criminals we all are).

While each of the shows I go to in the course of a year has its own flavor, what makes the DC show different from all the others isn’t surprising. Since it’s the biggest, and more of my friends come here than attend any of the other shows. And this year was a little bigger yet than any of the others. Here’s a shot of the main ballroom from my table on Saturday, way back in the back corner next to Roger Cromwell’s traditional place (he was there as always this year) . . .

NOTE:  This article is now included in the print version of The Leadhead's Pencil Blog, available anywhere you buy books, or also from The Legendary Lead Company.

To order, here's the link:  Volume 1 at Legendary Lead Company

Eastward Ho!

Yesterday, Janet and I loaded up the car with all things pen and pencil and made our annual pilgrimage to the "DC Supershow" in Washington, DC. Normally I’d just do a show report when we got back, but since getting there really is half the fun for us, here’s the fun we had . . .

Our first stop is a great 1950s-style Denny’s diner just on the other side of Zanesville . . .

NOTE:  This article is now included in the print version of The Leadhead's Pencil Blog, available anywhere you buy books, or also from The Legendary Lead Company.

To order, here's the link:  Volume 1 at Legendary Lead Company

Leadhead's Tread: 2012 Raleigh Pen Show

I asked Terry Mawhorter if the weather is always this nice in Raleigh or if they just turned it on because there's a pen show in town.  He says it's always that nice, and I suppose that's the more likely explanation.

Terry runs two shows, the Ohio Show in November and this one.  He's been asking me about coming to Raleigh for a couple of years now, but this is the first time my schedule worked out such that I was able to go.  This year was also the first that Terry had help running the show from Jim Rouse.  I asked Jim if he could stop doing the "chicken dance" for a minute so I could get his picture . . .

NOTE:  This article is now included in the print version of The Leadhead's Pencil Blog, available anywhere you buy books, or also from The Legendary Lead Company.

To order, here's the link:  Volume 1 at Legendary Lead Company

For As Long As I Can Remember

Sunbury, Ohio is a painfully cute little town very near Westerville, Ohio, where I grew up.  As a kid, back when Westerville was a sleepy, isolated village of 15,000, I used to ride my bicycle out the back roads and up to the sleepier, more isolated Sunbury -- there used to be a great little donut shop on the square for breakfast.   Most times you could make it half the way there without seeing a car on the road. 

I like to think I'm too young to sound this old, but I barely recognize much of the area anymore.  In a few short years, suburban sprawl has gobbled up my beloved Westerville.  Most of the roads around town have grown from two lanes to four (too dangerous for most cars, let alone a bicycle), and even the zip codes have grown from one to two -- in a town that had a post office no bigger than my living room when I was growing up.

But Sunbury, just a few miles up the road, has somehow managed to survive relatively unscathed.  Sure, there's been change and development, but most of it has happened outside of town, out where State Routes 3 and 37 intersect.  The town square still looks much the same as it did thirty years ago, and the houses within walking distance are mostly from the last half of the nineteenth century, with just a few built later than 1920 or so.  The only change has been some of the old houses have been impeccably renovated, doubtless to suit the tastes of Columbus refugees who slipped into town quietly, seeking a simpler life.

Three times a year, for as long as I can remember -- Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and Labor Day -- Sunbury has held an antiques show/flea market on the town square.  Rain or shine, hot or cold, the spacious lawn that surrounds the old town hall (still the tallest building in town, if you don't count the lumber mill south of the square) becomes a city of canopies, tables and showcases.  Some of it looks like the contents of someone's garage.  Lately, there's been a disturbing increase in vendors of Asian knock-off purses, clothing and sunglasses.   But there's also some pretty nice stuff, plenty to provide a day's entertainment if nothing else.

So three times a year, for as long as I can remember, I've made a pilgrimage to Sunbury.   Janet and I met almost eight years ago, and she'd never been there before we met, but from our first Memorial Day together on, she's been right there with me.  She even says, if we ever decided to move closer to Columbus for work, that Sunbury is where she'd like to live.  That says a lot, coming from someone who has lived her entire life in Newark!

Last weekend was our Memorial Day visit to Sunbury, and it was a test of endurance.  With near-record temperatures and bright sun for most of the day, getting through the show required both a snow cone and a large lemon shake-up! 

NOTE:  This article is now included in the print version of The Leadhead's Pencil Blog, available anywhere you buy books, or also from The Legendary Lead Company.

To order, here's the link:  Volume 1 at Legendary Lead Company

Leadhead's Tread: 2012 Chicago Pen Show Report

I've always had a soft spot for the Chicago Pen Show.  It was the second pen show I attended more than ten years ago (second after the Ohio Show in my own back yard, of course).   It's been at the Westin O'Hare every year I've gone, and this year was no exception. 

Since I've been pretty busy at work lately, I decided to keep things simple and just take along some copies of my book, as well as a few pens and pencils for swappin'.   Rather than fill up a whole table, Michael "Ferengi" Little and I decided to split one (as he says, so I can watch his stuff while he runs around and buys everything in the room).

Last year, I just flew out and took the hotel shuttle from the airport, and they really had things down to a science (or so it seems, to an Ohio boy landing in the big city).  I drove this year (a box of books ways waaaaay more than 50 pounds), which isn't too bad if you can adjust to the idea that a hotel is going to charge you $7 a day to park in the parking lot on site. 

The hotel itself is really impressive, with a central hallway that runs the entire length of the hotel. . .

NOTE:  This article is now included in the print version of The Leadhead's Pencil Blog, available anywhere you buy books, or also from The Legendary Lead Company.

To order, here's the link:  Volume 1 at Legendary Lead Company

Leadhead's Tread: Baltimore 2012 Show Report

Before this last weekend, neither Janet nor I had ever been to Baltimore, but we received a great introduction to the city when we decided to attend the second Baltimore Pen Show this year!   For such a new show, this one already has that warm, comfortable feeling, like attending a family reunion -- in a good way, that is -- I mean, the kind of reunion you'd have with family you like.

The Baltimore show is smaller than the other shows I regularly attend, but I don't like to use the word "small," because it sounds like a negative.  "Intimate" might be a better word to use.  I knew nearly all of the people who were in attendance, and since it was a smaller show, I didn't feel so rushed to see everything -- that meant I was able to spend much more time talking with people and catching up during the show.   I thought it was a good thing.

I should have taken shots during the show on Saturday, but I was pretty busy messing around with pencils.  Sunday morning I did take a couple pictures of the rooms in which the show was held . . .

NOTE:  This article is now included in the print version of The Leadhead's Pencil Blog, available anywhere you buy books, or also from The Legendary Lead Company.

To order, here's the link:  Volume 1 at Legendary Lead Company