Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton

Summary

Podcast Summary: Cleared Hot – "Flintlock Friday" with Vaughn Stumpf and Michael Shelton

Episode Information:

• Title: Cleared Hot – Flintlock Friday
• Host: Andy Stumpf
• Guests: Michael Stumpf (Andy’s father) and Connor Stumpf (Andy’s son)
• Release Date: March 7, 2025

---

1. Introduction to Flintlock Friday

Andy Stumpf introduces a special segment, Flintlock Friday, which brings together three generations of the Stumpf family: Andy himself, his father Michael, and his son Connor. This unique format facilitates a dynamic conversation that spans nearly a century of experiences and perspectives, highlighting the generational collision of ideas and beliefs.

Notable Quote:

"It's a three generational generation collision of ideas and beliefs."
— Andy Stumpf [00:30]

2. Navigating Generational Differences

The discussion kicks off with Andy reflecting on the audience's positive response to featuring multiple generations. He humorously mentions his father's remarkable age—claiming he is "167 years old"—to emphasize the vast differences in experiences between the generations.

Notable Quote:

"My dad is 167 years old, so he's seen some things. He experienced life before light really."
— Andy Stumpf [00:55]

3. Challenges with Modern Technology

A significant portion of the episode delves into the challenges older generations face with modern technology. Michael shares his frustrating experience with Hulu customer support, highlighting generational gaps in tech-savviness.

Notable Quote:

"I told him I couldn't understand him and I had to go find another one."
— Michael Stumpf [05:57]

Andy humorously criticizes Hulu's support system, suggesting it felt inefficient and unhelpful.

Notable Quote:

"Shockingly enough, the support ended at that point."
— Andy Stumpf [06:02]

4. Aging and Personal Loss

Michael opens up about the emotional toll of aging, sharing heartfelt stories about losing long-time friends and reflecting on life’s fleeting nature. He speaks candidly about his friend diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and another who lost his son in a car accident.

Notable Quote:

"Losing people like that... takes you back to just how lucky you are."
— Michael Stumpf [16:49]

5. Struggles with Alcoholism

The trio addresses a listener's question about alcoholism, with Andy sharing his own experiences of using whiskey to cope with insomnia post-military service. Michael provides insights into recognizing and addressing alcohol dependency, emphasizing self-reflection and honest conversations.

Notable Quote:

"Am I really craving it? Do I have an issue?"
— Andy Stumpf [23:27]

6. Conspiracy Theories and Distrust in Authority

The conversation shifts to the prevalence of conspiracy theories in modern society. Andy and Michael discuss why some individuals are drawn to unfounded theories, such as flat Earth beliefs and chemtrails, linking these to a broader distrust in governmental and authoritative institutions.

Notable Quote:

"Why do some people feel the need to turn absolutely everything into a conspiracy?"
— Andy Stumpf [37:50]

Michael reflects on historical events like the McCarthy era to draw parallels with current skepticism toward authority.

Notable Quote:

"There's a lot of honesty needed... tell us how it's working, what's the end result going to be."
— Michael Stumpf [51:35]

7. Political Discourse and Government Efficiency

Connor shares his frustrations with government inefficiency and the influence of organizations like AIPAC on Congress. The discussion highlights the generational divide in political trust and the impact of lobbying on governmental transparency.

Notable Quote:

"We have a one-party system and it's all about greed."
— Michael Stumpf [53:23]

Andy underscores the need for transparency and accountability in government to rebuild trust among younger generations.

Notable Quote:

"People not trusting those in positions of authority is because they're fucking tired of being lied to."
— Andy Stumpf [51:23]

8. Interpersonal Relationships Across Generations

The episode also touches on familial relationships, particularly the bond between Andy, Michael, and Connor. They share humorous anecdotes about navigating modern technology and the complexities of supporting each other through different life stages.

Notable Quote:

"You're the patriarch, believe it or not. I carry the scepter."
— Michael Stumpf [15:19]

9. Future Outlook and Closing Thoughts

As the conversation winds down, the family reflects on the future, acknowledging uncertainties but expressing hope in their ability to adapt and support one another. They discuss plans, personal goals, and the importance of maintaining open communication.

Notable Quote:

"I worry for my grandchildren desperately, but I have enough faith in their family that whatever would come across, we'll figure a way of negotiating it."
— Michael Stumpf [70:00]

10. Conclusion

Andy wraps up the episode by emphasizing the value of multi-generational dialogue in understanding and bridging differences. He expresses appreciation for Michael and Connor's participation, underscoring the importance of empathy and mutual support in navigating life's challenges.

Notable Quote:

"It's better perspective than just me."
— Michael Stumpf [77:06]

---

Key Takeaways:

• Generational Bridges: Facilitating conversations across generations can illuminate differing perspectives and foster understanding.
• Technology Gaps: Older generations may struggle with modern technology, leading to frustration and inefficiency.
• Emotional Resilience: Addressing personal losses and struggles, such as alcoholism, is crucial for emotional well-being.
• Distrust in Authority: Historical and contemporary factors contribute to skepticism toward governmental institutions, exacerbated by conspiracy theories.
• Political Polarization: Transparency and accountability in government are essential to rebuilding trust among younger generations.
• Family Support: Strong familial bonds and open communication are vital in overcoming generational and personal challenges.

This episode of Cleared Hot offers a rich, honest exploration of the interplay between generational experiences, personal struggles, and societal issues, providing listeners with valuable insights and relatable discussions.

Transcript

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[Andy Stumpf]

What's up everybody? Welcome back. It happened a three generational generation collision of ideas and beliefs. So a little while ago I started having Michael join me for Friday Q and A and I found it to be interesting and the response from the audience is they found it to be interesting as well because about 20 years separates us and a few people reached out and said bring your dad in too. Because then there's another 30 years on top of that, spanning damn near a century. My dad is 167 years old, so he's seen some things. He experienced life before light really. You know, learning to read and write the English language with a piece of coal, riding on a chalkboard by candlelight, horse drawn wagon throw, things like that. I'm not sure if any of that's true. I feel like that's how old he is though. So what do we call it becomes the question of the day. The best suggestion that I got from the audience given the technology that my father was using when he was a younger man. We had full auto Friday for when it's just myself. Even though I've talked many times about only actors and assholes use fully automatic unless it's an automatic weapon but a different purpose. It's an area weapon, not a point weapon. Michael was negligent discharge Friday for reasons that anybody listened could probably tell you. And then for my dad, if we're going to bring him in, it's going to be Flintlock Friday, the peak of technology at the time. My dad was Michael's age, so that's what we're going to have, three generations. I meant to cover more questions but damn, the conversation floated a little bit. Hopefully you enjoy. We'll do this again in the future. If it's enjoyed by the audience. I enjoy doing it. So you know what? We're going to do it again anyway. But before we get into it real quick, you know the deal. Let's pay the bills. Today's episode Is brought to you by AG1. For those of you on a fitness journey into 2025. Now that we're into March, coming up to the end of Q1, I hope that you are still on that journey. I get it. The struggle is real. It's pretty easy to get off of those things, especially when real life gets in your way. Efficiency is what I am going for. Ever since my stomach surgery, I've been looking at things and trying to pare away stuff that doesn't help, that isn't efficient. AG1 for me sits in the wheelhouse of things that I can do one time. That satisfies really a lot that I'm looking for. So I'm gonna read this real quick. Vitamins, minerals, prebiotics, probiotics, greens and superfoods, antioxidants, stress adaptogens, digestive enzymes. There's a whole lot. I didn't fill one up today. Cause I actually had one earlier today. Today. But we'll get. And we'll get to this cup here in a second or vessel, if you will. This is an easy one. Usually I take this in the morning because I'm working on my hydration as soon as I wake up. So it allows me to kill multiple birds with one stone and fits, like I said, directly into the wheelhouse of efficiency. People ask me what it tastes like. Hard to say. I'm going to describe it as earthy and not in a bad way. I enjoy the taste of it. But you're going to need to try it for yourself. Which is going to lead me to the offer for the Listener. Should you be interested, you can try AG1 for yourself. It's the perfect time to start a new healthy habit. And that's why they have this offer for you, the Listener. For new subscribers, a free $76 gift. When you sign up, you're going to get a welcome kit. Here's some stuff that comes in that. A bottle of D3K2, which is this here, easy to travel with. And a lot of this I'll talk about traveling. Five free travel packs in the first box. Now this box, the one I have on me is 30. But check this out. Instead of carrying around that big pouch with the scoop and the cool container that it comes with, or you could put it all into that. Throw this in your backpack, you're ready to travel. It's gonna come with this as well too. The vessel that I drink it out of, shake it up. It's already got the measurements in milliliters or ounces, depending on how you fly there. So that's gonna be in your first box for new subscribers. Make sure you check out drinkag1.com ClearedHot to get that offer. That is Drink AG1 alphagolfthenumber1.com ClearedHot to start your new year on a healthier note. Let's get back to the show.

[Michael Stumpf]

Okay, got the red smoke. Sun runs north or south west of the smoke? West of the smoke. Okay, copy.

[Connor Stumpf]

West of the smoke.

[Michael Stumpf]

I'm looking at danger close now.

[Connor Stumpf]

Give it to me. I need it.

[Michael Stumpf]

Get clean Hot campaign cleared hot.

[Andy Stumpf]

Okay, let me turn that off. That's good. I got some questions for us.

[Connor Stumpf]

Good.

[Andy Stumpf]

You gonna talk into the mic or stay a foot away from it again? What? So what is this? Connor told me today that you feel like you can no longer reach out for help because I have shamed you so much. Let's open with that.

[Michael Stumpf]

What's that? Oh, that's just.

[Andy Stumpf]

Now we're going to play like we can't hear.

[Michael Stumpf]

Oh no, I can hear perfectly.

[Connor Stumpf]

Sounds familiar.

[Andy Stumpf]

You've been shamed.

[Michael Stumpf]

When have I been shamed?

[Andy Stumpf]

I don't know. You told Connor?

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah. You do the same thing I used to do to my dad. I gave him a ration of shit. I love it. I would probably wonder why if you didn't do what you did.

[Andy Stumpf]

You love it. So you're going to clarify this?

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Michael Stumpf]

Well, I wouldn't say I love it, but I expect it. And it's.

[Andy Stumpf]

How many hours did you spend on the phone with Hulu customer support yesterday?

[Michael Stumpf]

Oh boy. All friggin day.

[Andy Stumpf]

Legitimately. How many hours do you think it was?

[Michael Stumpf]

Oh gosh, probably four hours.

[Andy Stumpf]

How many different people did you talk to?

[Michael Stumpf]

Two.

[Andy Stumpf]

Okay. Did they seem one guy hung up.

[Michael Stumpf]

Because I told him I couldn't understand him and I had to go to find another one. I just, you know, I just, I said do you have a banana in your mouth or I. Or can I just not understand you? Go.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. Shockingly enough, the support ended at that point.

[Michael Stumpf]

Well, you know, it was quite a journey into.

[Andy Stumpf]

Oh, here we go.

[Michael Stumpf]

Into. Because, you know, I, I probably should pay more attention to this stuff. But I didn't. I'm going to change this.

[Andy Stumpf]

Hold on. When you say this stuff. Let's talk about this catastrophe.

[Michael Stumpf]

Streaming, you know where. Who, what my phone bill is.

[Andy Stumpf]

I know.

[Michael Stumpf]

Where does my. What is streaming?

[Andy Stumpf]

Oh my God. No, the issue was you couldn't log into your Hulu account.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

So I come over to his house after he has spent, I'm going to say probably Six.

[Michael Stumpf]

See, here's what I'm talking about. You're shaming me.

[Andy Stumpf]

I'm not shaming you.

[Connor Stumpf]

I am a neutral third party.

[Andy Stumpf]

I am going to paint an accurate portrait for the listener. You. Your wife aired you out six hours on customer support from Hulu. Why? Because he couldn't log in. Mind you, he doesn't even have his own goddamn account. He's sharing mine. So it was a password issue. Did he call and ask? No, he didn't. He went to Hulu customer support. I go over to their house. The TV is, like, off the wall. He's telling me about the serial number he was able to find on the iPhone.

[Michael Stumpf]

I didn't even know they had such a thing as a black box. What the hell's a black box?

[Andy Stumpf]

Why were you looking at it, is the question.

[Michael Stumpf]

She wanted the serial number off of it. She was telling me. The problem was the black box was. Wasn't working properly, and I had to find. We had some tert words for that conversation. You know what it was? It was a good. It was good entertainment. It's like going to the senior center. You know, you're not the only one there painting the rocks.

[Andy Stumpf]

What did you learn from yesterday and your journey into.

[Michael Stumpf]

Well, I learned what my. What do you call that place over there? Spectrum Bill is. I learned where the billing is for my servers, for the streaming, for the television.

[Andy Stumpf]

Servers.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah. Well, whatever they are.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Michael Stumpf]

I kind of wander through this stuff. I found out that Clear had just charged me $308 for something I never had bought.

[Andy Stumpf]

How. How did that happen?

[Michael Stumpf]

I. I've yet to have them give me an answer. I just.

[Andy Stumpf]

Do you know what Clear is?

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, that's when you go to the airport and you can. You know, they just. Okay, they look through the thing, they identify your eyeball, and they let you in early. So, I mean, it was crazy. I said, $308. Well, it actually went a little farther than that, but, you know, I was able to cancel it because I asked Casey, I said. I said, do you have a service that allows you. She says, yeah, it cost me $100, and it's much better than Clear. And I said, good, I'll get the information from you.

[Andy Stumpf]

Global Entry.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, that's it.

[Andy Stumpf]

Do you travel internationally often?

[Michael Stumpf]

No, but I'm supposed to start.

[Andy Stumpf]

The only international trip I'm aware of is 2027 for you in Australia.

[Michael Stumpf]

Well, we're actually starting to plan a trip to Spain.

[Andy Stumpf]

When?

[Michael Stumpf]

Probably next year to 2026.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, you can probably hold off on the global entry.

[Michael Stumpf]

Okay.

[Andy Stumpf]

I mean, 48 chance you're not going to be around.

[Michael Stumpf]

There again. There, again, I'm being shamed. I mean, there it is, audience.

[Andy Stumpf]

I mean, this is the tip watching the decline of a TV off the wall.

[Michael Stumpf]

Well, I got to tell you, his.

[Andy Stumpf]

Wife is sitting there. Give us your email address and password. I'm like, absolutely not. Am I giving you my email address and password?

[Michael Stumpf]

I. I gotta tell you. I gotta tell you, I had a dream last night, and you were in it.

[Andy Stumpf]

Oh, great.

[Michael Stumpf]

And it kind of spurs off the conversation. You talked about possibly, you know, in a year or so, buying a house. I'm going, jesus, I wonder if we could buy one with a granny unit, you know, and instead of paying rent here, I'll just give him three or four grand a month.

[Andy Stumpf]

And Casey and I've already talked about that. You're gonna do that at her house?

[Michael Stumpf]

Not saying, I'm not going back to California.

[Andy Stumpf]

You'll be like a walking vegetable at that point. You wouldn't know if you were in California or Montana.

[Michael Stumpf]

So I'm gonna end up being a grapefruit or something?

[Andy Stumpf]

You are gonna end up.

[Michael Stumpf]

I actually think I'm pretty damn sure for my age.

[Andy Stumpf]

You're gonna end up getting put where we put you.

[Michael Stumpf]

Well, you're not gonna get my password anymore.

[Andy Stumpf]

I'm not sharing any of your accounts. So he's on tech support for six hours. The only thing he needed was my password for Hulu. So he's back there getting serial numbers behind his tv, exploring new technology that he didn't even know existed.

[Michael Stumpf]

I even had to get that little flashlight out that you gave me, that powerful one. Okay, yeah, that worked really well. So I get. Oh, it was. It was an exercise.

[Andy Stumpf]

Why didn't you just call me?

[Michael Stumpf]

To get so upset with phone calls and use language that a lot of people find inappropriate. But so you know. You know. You know me. My favorite saying is, just go yourself. And they don't like that.

[Andy Stumpf]

It's broad usage. It has a really broad usage.

[Michael Stumpf]

But it was through the process, I learned a lot about my billing, how the system works. The. With. With the. The one service here. I just need a new phone. Found out what might. What they were charging me every month in California. Going to California. That was a whole nother trip. Oh, Jesus.

[Andy Stumpf]

Anyway, why didn't you just call me?

[Michael Stumpf]

I didn't want to be. What did he say it was called?

[Andy Stumpf]

Shamed.

[Michael Stumpf]

I didn't want to be shamed again.

[Andy Stumpf]

So you would rather spend six hours with Darpindo I had nothing else to do.

[Michael Stumpf]

I mean, that was kind of the bottom line.

[Andy Stumpf]

True story.

[Michael Stumpf]

I had a whole list of things there. I'm sitting in my sweats, and I'm going, oh, this is going to be a while.

[Andy Stumpf]

I'm plugging in my password on Hulu, and Debbie's just staring at me. What's your password? And once you just looked at her like, no.

[Michael Stumpf]

And once you brought it up on the phone to me, I said, oh, okay, I got it. Yeah. You know, because he had a legal.

[Andy Stumpf]

An 8 1/2 by 11 yellow legal notebook, talking me about the things that he had learned. He needed the IP address, the username. All he needed was the Hulu password.

[Michael Stumpf]

But, see, I didn't know that all my other. My Spectrum. Not my Spectrum, Netflix prime, all of those were working fine. And all of a sudden, I'd go to Hulu and a pinwheel would come up and just spin. And I. I had no idea that you were on the account until they said, you know, who's that? Who's Andrew Stumpf? And I said, that's my son. We need that pass. That password. That's five hours into it.

[Andy Stumpf]

I was gonna say, I don't know what type of tech support Hulu has that. It sounds like dog.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah, I think that should have been, like. The first question is like, yeah, Are you logged in?

[Michael Stumpf]

Well, I usually don't do well with those conversations. I did pretty good yesterday.

[Andy Stumpf]

Six hours. I was at your house for five minutes. And I fixed it.

[Michael Stumpf]

Shame. I'm being shamed again.

[Andy Stumpf]

I don't know. I'm not shaming you. Why would you invest that much of your time?

[Michael Stumpf]

I have a lot of time to invest.

[Andy Stumpf]

Is that how you want to spend it?

[Michael Stumpf]

Some days.

[Andy Stumpf]

All right, Teachers can't argue that.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, no, I. It was. It was.

[Andy Stumpf]

Meanwhile, Daddy's like, I've been hiding in the back room all day. He's been using colorful language.

[Michael Stumpf]

Poor Buster's sitting there on his bed, watching me just fixated by what's going on.

[Andy Stumpf]

You know, calls from. Give me your IP address.

[Michael Stumpf]

What?

[Andy Stumpf]

All right, you guys ready?

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah. All right.

[Andy Stumpf]

So Michael and I have been doing some full auto Friday. He's 23.

[Connor Stumpf]

25.

[Andy Stumpf]

Whatever.

[Connor Stumpf]

25.

[Andy Stumpf]

I'm two decades ahead of him. You're two decades ahead of me. And some of the feedback I got from people was, bring in the old man. Yes. However, now we have another naming problem.

[Connor Stumpf]

Oh, yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

A lot of people have suggested Flintlock Friday, given your age.

[Connor Stumpf]

Oh, that's. I like that. 1.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. And honestly, your grasp of technologies fits well with that.

[Michael Stumpf]

Oh, no, it's.

[Andy Stumpf]

You know, the bullshit. He tried to pull him yesterday. He goes, you've had more time to do stuff like this than me. I said, we've had exactly the same amount of time exposed to the Internet.

[Connor Stumpf]

That is true.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. It really.

[Michael Stumpf]

I just never. Yeah, I thought it was relevant at the time, but, like, a lot of things, like a lot of balloons I put out here to crash right away, but I don't care, you know, it's so much of life now is a comedy, you know, and thank God I'm still part of it.

[Connor Stumpf]

You're still along for the ride.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah. Well, that's neat. I feel very honored to.

[Andy Stumpf]

Are you the oldest member of the family now?

[Michael Stumpf]

I'm the patriarch, believe it or not. I carry the scepter.

[Connor Stumpf]

Nice.

[Andy Stumpf]

It's more like a shillelagh, but.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, and I realized that about six months ago, and I don't know what significance it has to do about anything. You don't come and kiss the ring or any of that, but it just. It really identified for me, my age, you know, and how many of my family that I love dearly that are now gone. Yeah, it was a real shock for me.

[Andy Stumpf]

How does it feel to be at an age where a lot of your friends that you grew up with, like, the most vital years or vitality wise years in your life are passing? I mean, even in me growing up, a lot of your friends that I knew and growing up have passed.

[Michael Stumpf]

There's a lot of emotions to that. I've got one or two now that are on the edge of checking out. I feel privileged to have had as long to spend with a lot of people. I talked to Weasel today, making for our fishing trip in July. And I mean, him and I have been friends for, God, 60 years, and I have a lot of friends like that. But losing them, especially rugby players. What is really shocking for me now is the amount of rugby players that I coached when they were Michael's age that are now dying. What are they dying of? I just had a very close friend. He's diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease.

[Andy Stumpf]

Is that a genetic thing? That's unexpected.

[Michael Stumpf]

No, it's. What do you call it? Ms.

[Andy Stumpf]

Multiple sclerosis.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah. And I made time to have a lunch with him. Two of my old rugby friends, we got together with him and. And losing people like that, I mean, obviously I've lost a lot of friends to alcoholism and stupidity. But another hard one was my buddy Tommy Salem who played for me for years. His 21 year old son was killed in a car accident about six months ago. That stuff really shakes me because it's real easy to be cavalier when you're at this age. But when stuff like that happens, it really takes you back to just how lucky you are. And a lot of times you just don't acknowledge that every morning.

[Andy Stumpf]

Do you have a will written up?

[Michael Stumpf]

I gotta trust. Okay, Do I have a will? No, I'm trying to learn how to deal with you.

[Andy Stumpf]

You've been dealing with me my entire fucking life.

[Michael Stumpf]

I set up a lot of my own. Shame. I got it.

[Andy Stumpf]

No, a trust is one thing. Yeah, here's the reason I ask. It's one of your last chances to fuck with people. I had the most fucked up will when I was on the east coast. Yeah, like I want to be cremated, but I need six people to carry me to the top of Everest without oxygen type shit. Because fuck it, you're already gone. You know, take $100,000 out of the $400,000 SGLI and you guys have to spend it at one bar in one sitting. No one's allowed to leave. And like just up.

[Michael Stumpf]

I've got cash. I mean, I've already got saved. I'm either giving to you or Casey. And when I go, that money you're going to take to the bar and we invite all the friends, we'll have a list, all right? No one gets to leave until that money's exhausted.

[Andy Stumpf]

Here's the thing. Don't give Casey anything until you put this list of just ridiculous she had. This is your chance to with her while you're gone. Like Casey, I know you want the cash, but first you have to do eight book reports on some obscure fucking topic. Or, you know, it's just your last chance.

[Michael Stumpf]

No, no, I hear you.

[Andy Stumpf]

Don't let it slip through your fingers, you know? Michael, do you have a will?

[Connor Stumpf]

No.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, the aging process at this age is. The numbers just don't correlate with me. I just can't imagine 78 years old, you know, it's just the numbers don't make sense. I mean, I talked to an old Marine corps buddy yesterday. He's 80 and we were talking about it and I said, how you doing? He says, the biggest thing that I have, I've had to learn to deal with is just pain. I said, I'm the same way. I hurt all the time. He says, yeah, I still do the same stuff, which I do as best I can, but it's just that sometimes I can't get out of a chair, you know, and I.

[Andy Stumpf]

Did you start your testosterone?

[Michael Stumpf]

I started to until my daughter yesterday told me where I had to rub it, you know, and.

[Andy Stumpf]

Oh, would that be the first time you've ever done that?

[Michael Stumpf]

It just caught me by surprise, you know? I mean, you know, what'd you think.

[Andy Stumpf]

It was gonna be?

[Michael Stumpf]

Well, she always told me it had to be a place where there wasn't any hair. So I thought, you know, I'll put it on the bottom of my foot or something like that, you know, I just don't waste a lot of time thinking about shit like.

[Andy Stumpf]

Think it will help? I think it will.

[Michael Stumpf]

That's what I'm hoping.

[Andy Stumpf]

It's not magic. Yeah, but I think it'll help.

[Michael Stumpf]

The energy level is what I'm looking for. I miss doing more things.

[Andy Stumpf]

You're doing pretty good for your.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, I miss doing more things, you know, with you and your family. It's like this year when you went on a hunting trip, and I was supposed to go. I got really sideways and went way too deep, and I just. I backed out. And I shouldn't have, because I just wasn't dealing with myself. Because now at this age, you start. You start looking at parts of yourself and you go. And I got to catch myself and say, stop. You know, let's deal with today, not yesterday. You can't. Well, that's kind of where I'm at.

[Andy Stumpf]

Hunting season is right around the corner.

[Michael Stumpf]

Oh, yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

Another chance for you to say you're going to come and then change your mind last night.

[Michael Stumpf]

I won't do that again. I've already told myself that.

[Andy Stumpf]

Well, the lies we tell ourselves can be interesting.

[Michael Stumpf]

I understand.

[Andy Stumpf]

You guys ready?

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah. Vaughn, pull that mic a little closer. Yeah, there you go.

[Michael Stumpf]

Okay.

[Andy Stumpf]

You got, like, full relaxation mode right now. Do we need to get a recliner in here for you for these episodes?

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, I'd like one little drink stand. You know, it's just like.

[Andy Stumpf]

Hold on, guys.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, I'll be right with you.

[Andy Stumpf]

Can you guys hear me? I'll just sit back here like this.

[Michael Stumpf]

Well, that's one of the things I find myself doing now. I don't care what the pose is, but I do get myself in a position that I'm comfortable.

[Andy Stumpf]

You know, let's just say other people carry about the pose.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, well, you know what I feel about what other people think.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, well, you don't wear underwear, so be careful with the pose.

[Michael Stumpf]

Nobody wants to See, I've always thought it pays to advertise, so I mean, you know, just run it out there.

[Andy Stumpf]

I guess I'll attach the turn. Attach the Playgirl cinephone to this portion of the episode.

[Michael Stumpf]

Just make sure that's noted that it was a cold day.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. I tell you what, the. The shower scenes after that were powerfully gay.

[Michael Stumpf]

All rugby teams are gay.

[Andy Stumpf]

Oh, no, no. But I mean, that particular photo shoot, it was weird to see you guys all out there in your cleats. But then they went deep into the shower scene and it was just a lot of dudes.

[Michael Stumpf]

You notice I wasn't in any of those.

[Andy Stumpf]

I'm sitting there looking at that thinking, that's gay.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah, I'm glad I missed that one.

[Andy Stumpf]

And there's nothing wrong with being gay, but I thought Playgirl was actually. I guess Playgirl would be a magazine that could target both audiences.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Michael Stumpf]

Oh, for sure.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

All right, so if we make it to three questions, we got three questions. This one, alcoholism. Dear Andy, I'm not sure how to start this question, so I'll just say that my wife calls me an alcoholic. Ever since I got out of the military, I've had a hard time sleeping at night. The VA has sent me more sleeping pills than Heinz has ketchup. So every night I have two or three glasses of whiskey and I sleep like a baby. I get up every day and I go to work and I don't. I get work and I don't grave it during the day. Oh, I don't crave it during the day. Spelled that with a G. I don't even drink during the day except for when I'm on the golf course. You would know about that. What do you think about this? I would love to know. Keep doing what you're doing. Michael, the younger generation, what's your guys demographic? Think about drinking. You're of legal drinking age. Do you ever go out and get after it?

[Connor Stumpf]

Not really. But I'm also, I don't think the right person to ask because I'm not just not a huge drinker.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, you're more likely to be found.

[Michael Stumpf]

But what's your generation feel about it? You must be content.

[Andy Stumpf]

I don't think the generations change that much. I think if you get around drinking age, you go pretty hard usually.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah, I mean, I've. Yeah, I've especially like. I've gone to Bozeman with a couple buddies before.

[Andy Stumpf]

I know. I bought you a bottle of rose there.

[Michael Stumpf]

That one.

[Connor Stumpf]

Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. Yeah.

[Michael Stumpf]

You Mean, you haven't let it loose here in Kalispell.

[Connor Stumpf]

I mean, I have, but not like.

[Michael Stumpf]

I mean, let's set a date then.

[Connor Stumpf]

Not crazy. Yeah. We can go out.

[Michael Stumpf]

Vaughn, I'll get my Santa outfit on, and we'll get you a.

[Andy Stumpf]

You know, the last time old Santa got it on was out at the lake house, and he stood up and fell over onto the concrete.

[Michael Stumpf]

It's balance. I'm old. It's just balance.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, yeah, that was. Leave the rest of that story.

[Connor Stumpf]

No, I mean, I would say it's probably pretty much the same as every other generation of, like. Well, we're gonna start, you know, probably in, like, no. Sophomore, junior year of high school and go hard until out of college. And some people stay going hard.

[Andy Stumpf]

Well, I think it's because it's new, too.

[T-Mobile Representative]

Yeah, it's.

[Andy Stumpf]

It. And especially if you're underage, there's that enticement. I'm doing something I'm not.

[Michael Stumpf]

And a lot of peer pressure at that age, too.

[Andy Stumpf]

There is a lot of peer pressure, too.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

What are your thoughts on the tail end of life? I mean, you've.

[Michael Stumpf]

I think there's such. So many ways you can interpret alcoholism. I sympathize with your. Your caller's question. I've backed way, way off my alcohol just simply because it affects my body differently.

[Andy Stumpf]

Like gout.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah. Well, Jesus. But it just. I don't like waking up and because I don't drink a lot. So when I do put the party hat on, I usually charge pretty hard. But then the next day and I. I realize at this age, I don't want days like that. But for especially veterans and what have you.

[Andy Stumpf]

What do you think about somebody who doesn't feel like there's an alcohol issue, but somebody they care about is telling them that there is one? I think that's the crux of this question.

[Michael Stumpf]

I think you got to stop, pay attention, and sit down and talk with them and look at yourself. You really. And that's the hardest part for so many people is just looking at themselves. Am I really? Cause we all know. And I personally know. Oh, yeah. I'm not drinking too much. And, you know, I'm the kind of guy, if I've had one drink, I said, let's finish the bottle, you know, And a lot of people aren't that way.

[Andy Stumpf]

But that's what you're signing up for. Michael, by the way, for the night on the town.

[Connor Stumpf]

Perfect.

[Michael Stumpf]

But what's the. I mean, I was just went to Santa Cruz and with Again with another friend I've had for 60 years. And he is an alcoholic and he knows it.

[Andy Stumpf]

And how long has he been. And how long has he known it?

[Michael Stumpf]

50 years. I mean, you know, he. You know, Jack Daniels wine.

[Andy Stumpf]

Did he ever try to stop?

[Michael Stumpf]

I don't think he can.

[Andy Stumpf]

50 years is a long time to live with something that I understand. A lot of people think that, hey, just put the bottle down. There's physiological and psychological complications of that over enough time. But did he ever try to go to treatment or.

[Michael Stumpf]

I don't know about that. But for a lot. A lot of people don't understand that just because you stop drinking doesn't mean you stop being an alcoholic.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Michael Stumpf]

And that's what I often share with my buddy there, which, I mean, which is great, is he's an old UCSC rugby player. Jack Otis showed up. Turquoise Dave was there. And we've been drinking together for years. So we talk about this stuff together, recognizing. And of the four of us, there's a different definition or not a definition, an application of how we handle our alcohol. But you gotta sit down with the person. You've gotta be brave enough to listen to someone who's telling you that and then talk to yourself and work it out with them. Bottom line is you got to deal with it yourself. A lot of people, you know, I had a father that stopped drinking when he was 22, and he was an alcoholic. Very, very. He was a beast of a man. And he almost killed somebody in a bar fight. When he was 22, he stopped drinking. But he had all of the habits of a drunk. You know, he. And it's, you know, it's called a dry drunk. And that's what I'm saying. There's different. Different definitions, different applications.

[Andy Stumpf]

When you were. I don't know if this is true or not. This would probably be more about your parents than your generation. Movies in the 50s and black and whites, where it was cocktail hour. It was just part of the social scene. You'd come home, there'd be a cocktail waiting for you. It just seemed like it was a more casual relationship with alcohol. Today's episode is brought to you by Timeline. For the listeners out there. Is any of this true for you? Are you trying to feel stronger in the workouts that you do? Are you trying to recover faster from the workouts that you enjoy participating in? Do you want to feel like you have more energy? And actually, that's not the right way to say it. Do you want to feel like you have more energy? Do you want to have more energy? Do you want to proactively preserve your health, your mobility, your strength, et cetera as you get older? And do you want to support cellular health? If you answered yes to any of those questions, or all of them like I would, then you need to check out Timeline's mitopure. Now I'm going to read this off of the page that they gave me because it's important and I want to make sure that I'm being precise. When you think of mitopure, what you're thinking about is encouraging cellular renewal. Mitopure is a precise dose of the rare postbiotic Urolithin A and it works by promoting an essential cellular cleanup process that clears out dysfunctional mitochondria, which if you went to high school science, you're going to remember as the powerhouse of the cell. And probably nothing else about mitochondria. I'm talking about me when I say that Mitopure is the only urolithin a supplement on the market that is clinically proven to target the effects of age related cellular decline. It is shown to deliver double digit increases in muscle strength and endurance without a change in exercise, which I'm gonna call that a win win. My up here is research backed innovation that unlocks the fullest potential and it can help you awaken the strength, power and resilience already in you with the first and only supplement clinically proven to rejuvenate health at the cellular level. Now the first AD I did in the show was for AG1. Let me tell you what I'm taking while drinking the AG1. It's two capsules in the morning. It goes with that water. So again, targeting efficiency in my health and wellness journey as I go through age and the calendars seem to be just flipping at a rapid velocity as I get older. Super easy. Two capsules in the morning and I'm good to go. I have absolutely felt the difference in the workouts that I do, specifically my recovery from Jiu Jitsu. The offer for the listener, should you be interested, timeline is offering 33% off your order of Mitopure while supplies last. Go to timeline.com Cleared Hot 33 Go to timeline.com Cleared hot 33. That is timeline. T I M E L I N E.com Cleared Hot 33 and you can check it out for yourself Back to the show. Was that your experience with the gener that would have been your parents generation?

[Michael Stumpf]

Many of them my parents didn't drink. You know, my grandparents didn't drink.

[Andy Stumpf]

Mom's parents made up for that, huh?

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah. But then on the other flip side, I go to mom's house and I didn't really start drinking until. Oh, God, I guess I was a junior in high school. And I was always so shy. I mean, I was. Believe it or not, I'm a very shy person. But the alcohol brought out another demon in me. I didn't know that was there, you know, and I couldn't wait to put the party hat on, you know, and. And, you know, my generation, alcohol was preached as going to the O club, going to the E club, you know.

[Andy Stumpf]

Oh, you mean in the military?

[Michael Stumpf]

Military. Oh, man.

[Andy Stumpf]

It was not that different when I was in. But you would never find that in Doctrine. It was the. If the river looked flat on top, there was that current that was underneath.

[Michael Stumpf]

It's one of the biggest disappointments for me. I don't know if I've ever talked to you about it. Of. I wish I had been more in control when you were young because I was the guy. Mom would have a, you know, gin and grapefruit juice sitting there for me and it wasn't like I was staggering drunk or anything. I just wish I was a little more balanced with the picture that I showed you.

[Andy Stumpf]

I don't remember. Honestly, it didn't hit my radar.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, well, I'm glad to hear that.

[Andy Stumpf]

I do remember how pissed mom was when I came home from Buds with my friends and you had all that beer sitting out.

[Michael Stumpf]

Well, that was, you know, I think.

[Andy Stumpf]

I was 18 at the time.

[Michael Stumpf]

He's 18. You know, Andy's. Andy's coming home with. It's like Memorial Day weekend, I think, something like that. And I got beer stacked out there. And she says, what's all this beer for? I said, andy's coming home. He's not.

[Andy Stumpf]

I said, Andy's 18 at the time.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Michael Stumpf]

I said, we're gonna have this conversation and have it once. I said, you son has earned the right to do whatever the friggin heck he wants. I said, as long as they stay here, I don't care. I said, it's important that he have a safe place to come and it's going to be where we are. And God bless her, she understood that.

[Andy Stumpf]

She did not go to the store to refresh though.

[Michael Stumpf]

Oh, no. I mean, I got some luck last night. I mean, you know, I think I slept by myself for about a week. Well, it happened to be that weekend he showed up. We also moved.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Michael Stumpf]

Oh my God, that was a rough one. Oh, but no. Yeah, that's a tough thing. You know, I've seen so many friends in, in the rugby community. It's such a male dominated thing. I mean, we had songs, we traveled together. Yeah, the classic saying, what goes on tour, stays on tour. You know, just. But we had so damn much fun. I mean, it was fun about a year and a half before mom died when we went on six week tour of France. And she was the matriarch of this tour. I mean, she was running a book. She put some money out there and got made some interest, but they would come to her. I mean, there was half a dozen gals traveling, but when we got there, we found out that cognac was cheaper than the beer.

[Andy Stumpf]

Is that a whiskey?

[Michael Stumpf]

It's a. I've only ever.

[Andy Stumpf]

I've never. I don't think I've ever had.

[Michael Stumpf]

You know, I don't know how you qualify.

[Andy Stumpf]

It's offered with dessert, usually. Is it a sweeter drink?

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, but it's. It's really high powered.

[Connor Stumpf]

So I just told the boys, Michael, it's really good.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

I said, boys, do you drink cognac?

[Connor Stumpf]

I got a free one at a bar because my buddy was the bartender.

[Michael Stumpf]

Oh, well, now we know where to start.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Michael Stumpf]

Okay. But, yeah, it's just there's. It's the real. I mean, I've had friends, guys that have played for me that I've taken to rehab more than once. Yep. Be there 30 days. I go pick them up and before I could get them home, they'd have me stop at a liquor store. And you go all the way to the line, like this gentleman that commented, you know, I do this. I do. My feeling is, if you're taking care of business, you're taking care of your family. It takes a couple pops. I mean, there was years I needed a couple pops to sleep.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. But I think you need to ask why. So. And this is.

[Michael Stumpf]

I knew why.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. And that's the problem. Well, it's not the problem. Your choice was not to deal with the why.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, exactly.

[Andy Stumpf]

So I would say to this person, maybe ask your wife to be a little bit more specific about why. She says, exactly.

[Michael Stumpf]

Talk about it.

[Andy Stumpf]

He is framing this through I sleep like a baby. I would actually go more scientific with this and allow this person to explore with tools that are really accessible, like this watch. The reason I got this is it measures my sleep. If the guy's married, he can get a ring that does them. Now, they're called oura rings. What else is out there? You know what I'M talking about health measures.

[Connor Stumpf]

The little band you can put, that's.

[Andy Stumpf]

More for a heart rate monitor for when you're exercising, stuff like that. If you get something that manages, it doesn't manage your sleep, but it'll tell you how the quality of your sleep is. Do an experiment. Go for a week and have your two to three glasses of whiskey a night and go to bed, and then do a week without that. And the first few days are not going to be reflective of what your sleep is going to be, because it's probably you're going to struggle. But what you're going to find is that the metrics are undeniable. Yes, you are asleep when you've had the two or three drinks, but you're not sleeping and recovering.

[Michael Stumpf]

Sleep apnea, you know, well, again, but.

[Andy Stumpf]

It allows you, though, if this guy is saying, hey, I sleep fine, and I get up and I can do my job, well, maybe you're functioning at a fraction of your potential. So you can actually look at it scientifically and then realize, okay, I'm lying to myself.

[Michael Stumpf]

Well, it's one thing for him to say he's sleeping like a baby. What's his wife's impression of that? You know, your diagnostic stuff is very valid. I completely agree with it. But let's, you know, am I really sleeping this good? Am I still tossing and turning or.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yep.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, No, I. That's a tough one. Alcoholism. I mean, we talk about drug abuse, and you got nicotine and alcohol that are advertised on every airwave and magazine. And I mean, if we just look at the amount of people that die every day from, you know, those two right there, it's. It's. It's a shocker.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yep.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

All right, we're totally change gears. Are you into any conspiracies? I don't know if I've ever asked you about this.

[Michael Stumpf]

I can't tell you.

[Andy Stumpf]

That's actually not.

[Michael Stumpf]

I don't know what that means. Am I. Oh, do I believe any of those things?

[Andy Stumpf]

Are you into it? Like, do you believe it, or do you, like, wrap your head around Bigfoot or aliens or anything like that?

[Michael Stumpf]

No.

[Andy Stumpf]

Okay, Michael, you're gonna enjoy this question.

[Connor Stumpf]

Oh, boy, here we go.

[Andy Stumpf]

Okay. It's not that crazy. Andy, longtime listener. I recently discovered that one of my co workers is a flat earther and a denier of gravity. His theory, as idiotic as it sounds, is that the Earth is shaped like a donut and gravity is fake. And all of this stemming from total distrust of anybody that would speak From a point of authority or understanding, this is actually the crux of this question. So I'll say this. I can spoil. I can sport a tinfoil hat as well as the next gu. Why do some people feel the need to turn absolutely everything into a conspiracy?

[Michael Stumpf]

God, I wish I had an answer for that. I always ask the flat people. Well, when we have a. The flat people, they believe the world's flat, flat earth. So I just say, what the hell do you see when you see an eclipse? I mean, there it is. There's the roundness of the earth. That's the reflection.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, but it's a two dimension.

[Michael Stumpf]

They're looking at it, but it's not like this. It's like this. It's. You know, it's. It's half of a ball or a third of a ball, or it gets down to the very end.

[Andy Stumpf]

Their theory is that's just a mag. That's just a light up there, though. So they would just be covering up a portion of that light.

[Michael Stumpf]

That'd be your theory. But theory and seeing are two different things. I know you would argue with that. Well, I understand, because I used to go pillar to post with Debbie son Che. He was. He was a. You know, I'm going, no, he wasn't. Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

What was his favorite theory? Was he a flat earther?

[Michael Stumpf]

He had two. A flat earther. And all the airplanes up were flying were putting out chemtrails.

[Andy Stumpf]

Let me ask you this. Do you think he legitimately believed that the earth was flat or did he just enjoy the conversations around it?

[Michael Stumpf]

No, he was very legitimate about things. He said, no, this is it. I mean, that was just a trail of a lot of different things.

[Andy Stumpf]

And then chemtrails.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

What did he believe, if you can remember? That the purpose of the chemtrails, was it like mind control from the CIA? They were sprinkling.

[Michael Stumpf]

You know, I honestly can't definitively, definitively remember. I was just so taken back. He says, yo, look at him up there. They're doing this and this and this. And I'm. I just. I'd never been exposed to something like that. I've read about it, I've heard about it. I just say, look at the freaking, you know, the. Yeah, those are the people that says, you know, we never went to the moon. You know, all of that, you know, is all done in a studio. My generation, when that was happening in the 60s, so much of everything was really unsophisticated. You know, seeing 1968, seeing him land on the moon, And I was just awed by it all. It just, you know, just this.

[Andy Stumpf]

Let me ask you this. Do you think that we. I do believe we went to the moon. Do you think though that we did everything that we claimed that we did? That seems to be the most prevalent argument now.

[Michael Stumpf]

Such as?

[Andy Stumpf]

Well, it was a race between us and Russia. Right. So economically we were. We were competing and physically getting there, but also we were kind of economically breaking them. So one of the theories is yes, we did go to the moon, but we also ad libbed a little bit or said we were doing more in the process of that to try to.

[Michael Stumpf]

Make out it at all.

[Andy Stumpf]

That would surprise me either.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, yeah, I don't doubt it at all. You know, it's just not only were we in a race economically, we were in a race militarily. I mean, they had developed their inner whatever, whatever missiles you call those ICBM ICMs and stuff like that.

[Andy Stumpf]

ICBM Intercontinental Ballistic Missile.

[Michael Stumpf]

And we were way behind them. And that was really was a whole part of our, our security system. And we. It was a race with many things that was going on. So did they fudge a little bit? Why not? You know, it's gosh, who knows.

[Andy Stumpf]

What interests me about this question actually, Michael, your generation conspiracy theories. Is there any that are super sticky?

[Connor Stumpf]

MLK and JFK are like, what is the conspiracy there? The CMA killed them.

[Andy Stumpf]

I thought that was pretty well.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

Established at this point and yeah.

[Connor Stumpf]

And that's basically what my generation is like. Yeah, that.

[Andy Stumpf]

You got any flat Earther friends?

[Connor Stumpf]

I know people who are flat Earthers, but I would not call them friends.

[Andy Stumpf]

Okay, yeah. So they exist in your former co workers.

[Michael Stumpf]

So what was the one now about jfk? That's the answer. That's my wheelhouse. That's my age.

[Andy Stumpf]

I was sitting in the agency was involved in it.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah. All right. Someone was. And to me the big reason very.

[Andy Stumpf]

Clear that he did not act completely.

[Connor Stumpf]

There is more than one shooter. Is the big.

[Michael Stumpf]

Oh, there's no. How do you have the shooter? And the back of his head goes this way. That was definitely around from the front.

[Andy Stumpf]

I mean, how about the magic bullet theory where it's taken left.

[Connor Stumpf]

Oh, I know the ballistics of it.

[Michael Stumpf]

Are just, you know, my feeling on all of that was, is that it probably had something to do with those agencies. But why were those agents. They were being pushed, I believe so hard by the extreme right, which was even more bizarre than it is today because Kennedy had just sent our representatives to Vietnam to see what we were doing there, and we even had any business being there, could we change it? And they came back and told him, no, we have no and so quote, unquote, the military industrial complex. I saw this as a gold mine and he was gone.

[Andy Stumpf]

How do you think the world would be different had he taken an armored limo with a roof that day? You think they would have come after him afterwards?

[Michael Stumpf]

I don't know.

[Andy Stumpf]

Let's say he had survived and finished his term. What do you think that would look like differently?

[Michael Stumpf]

I think more things from a humanity standpoint, he would have went after civil rights. He created aid around the world. He created youth programs to go out and work in different parts of the world. He had a really a visionary mind for what we needed to do to make a footprint, a print out there that the rest of the world will watch us and want to emulate us. He was very, very successful at that. I mean, his whole thing, ask not what your country can do for you, but what can you do for your country? That was his whole. His whole platform.

[Andy Stumpf]

Is that how he got the women to line up to come to visit?

[Michael Stumpf]

You know, we talk about Trump. I mean, this guy had the CIA bringing the ladies in the back door.

[Andy Stumpf]

I don't know if he was going to have time for all that policy, to be honest.

[Michael Stumpf]

I don't know. I had enough energy. But I mean, what most people don't realize, he was spun out all the time on amphetamine. He. After.

[Connor Stumpf]

Really.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, after World War II. And when his PT boat got ran over by a Japanese destroyer and he saved his crewmates, it almost broke his back, the back pain that he. That's why he was always in a rocking chair. He was. It was just, you know, what you did to keep people going and the schedule that he was at. I mean, again, you look at his dad, he was a fucking mobster. They were bootleggers. And they basically bought their way into that election. It was. I can remember sitting in English class and the question of the day was, can he govern the United States and be a Catholic, you know, have a higher power that's dictated to by the Pope and still be a definitive person as a political.

[Andy Stumpf]

Interesting.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, those years right there were so. I mean, it's why I look at a lot of the stuff that happens today and, you know, I just. I just so now prefer not to watch almost all of it.

[Andy Stumpf]

Well, it goes into the total distrust of anybody that speak from a point of authority and understanding. I think that's a place that we're finding ourselves in now.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

People. If it's a news organization that you align with or tells you what you want to hear, it seems as if there's devout belief. If it's on the other side and they're saying things that you don't agree with, charlatan, shill, whatever it is. And so people are. I don't know. Do you see this at all in your generation, Michael, where figures of authority, people are essentially just either unable or unwilling to determine who is lying to them. So they don't want to hear anything that experts have to say often.

[Michael Stumpf]

Do you have. Could you have anybody your generation? Do you have anybody that you trust in the government?

[Andy Stumpf]

No, not a single person.

[Connor Stumpf]

Maybe that's. Maybe Tulsi Gabbard.

[Michael Stumpf]

That's how far we've come from you.

[Connor Stumpf]

To me, I mean, I. I have, especially at the federal level, pretty much zero faith.

[Michael Stumpf]

Because a lot of where this comes from, I understand, is before Vietnam and after Vietnam, the conflicts that we were in and basically created ourselves were completely hidden from the public. And all of that is coming out now. And they can go, you know, So I understand and respect their fear and disrespect, but how do we fix it? Matt, the question of the day, you know, so you get the Doge stuff. I don't even understand that. What is that?

[Andy Stumpf]

Technically, it's the Department of Government Efficiency. I don't know by what medium that they are using to analyze, assess, and then cut budgets in employees. And that's a super broad description that may be imprecise. I believe Elon Musk has been tasked with the head of it. I only know one other person who he's working with. His name is Big Balls. Because he was doxed. You didn't hear this?

[Connor Stumpf]

What? No, no.

[Michael Stumpf]

I heard something about that type in.

[Andy Stumpf]

Big B, a double L, Z. Doge. It's like some 19 year old kid.

[Michael Stumpf]

Well, my. My question with all of that is. I mean, I have no, you're welcome.

[Andy Stumpf]

Michael's mind is just fucking blown right now.

[Connor Stumpf]

What the hell is this?

[Michael Stumpf]

I'm in complete agreement that the government is completely bloated. It needs to be cut. But is there any guideline? What's the criteria? I mean, my theory has been you don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. I mean, just the numbers they were talking about today of what if both.

[Andy Stumpf]

The baby and the bathwater are tainted?

[Michael Stumpf]

That's gotta be evaluated each time. I understand. Yeah, your point's very valid.

[Andy Stumpf]

I. At a. At A, over.

[Michael Stumpf]

Just look at us here. The Forest Service, they fired everybody.

[Andy Stumpf]

They did not fire everybody.

[Michael Stumpf]

Well, almost the majority of them, they did not fire.

[Andy Stumpf]

Almost the majority they fired. My understanding is people who had not completed their two year probational status, which was the vast majority of them, but not everybody, because that's where they were starting. The reason for that is, is it's much harder to get rid of a federal employee once they get past their probationary time period. So they started with those that hadn't been through the probationary period. And I'm not arguing for them to be.

[Michael Stumpf]

No, no, no. You're privy obviously to much more, More clarity than I am. But my whole thing is, yeah, if we got. But where. What is the criteria? Is, Is there any. We just winging this?

[Andy Stumpf]

Well, and that's what speaks to how I feel about it at a baseline level. I, I have no issue with very aggressive investigation and auditing our government. It should fucking happen. There's this video of Jon Stewart talking from a woman. I think she's from the Pentagon, somebody. The dod. The DOD is not passing audits. This woman is sitting there arguing with Jon Stewart, essentially saying, like, no, no, no, it's not that we didn't pass an audit. We just don't know where the money is. He's like, yeah, that's same thing, isn't it? And she's like, no, no, but it's fine. And eventually it was a very short clip. So I'm sure they had a much larger conversation. So I'm just taking a snippet of that. I. My concern is one, is it scaring the out of people? Which is. Okay, I don't have a problem with that. I actually don't have a problem with the status quo being shooken up and being scared.

[Michael Stumpf]

It's time.

[Andy Stumpf]

But we need to have a country that functions at the end of this as well too. And I think that the transparency in communicating what's going on. It's one of the biggest things I heard about COVID and the complaints of how Covid was handled is that people, the guidance was shifting back and forth. We're going in this direction now. We're going in this direction. Instead of just being honest and saying, this is where we're at, this is what we're doing. This is the best information we have at the time. I think if they. And maybe they can't because of the pace that they're moving or because of the sensitivity, maybe they can't be as transparent and honest. But I think two things need to be true at once. I think that they, we need that aggressive investigation into our own government, but the transparency needs to be there as well too.

[Michael Stumpf]

I, I rubber stamp everything you said and it's not. That's, it's.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, well, I think people not trusting those in positions of authority is because they're fucking tired of being lied to by people in positions of authority.

[Michael Stumpf]

It all gets back to honesty, you know, I don't have any problem. It's just be honest to us, tell us, you know, how it's working, you know, what's the end result going to be?

[Andy Stumpf]

Well, how do we get your generation? Not that I have an immense amount of trust in our government, but Michael, how the fuck do we get your generation bought back in or in any semblance of trust and faith.

[Connor Stumpf]

You have to somehow show that the government is actually working for the interests.

[Andy Stumpf]

So how would that, so walk me through as a thought exercise, what would need to happen for that to be true for you? What would you want to see? Where your tax dollars are going? Well, yeah, decisions are made.

[Connor Stumpf]

A detailed breakdown of where my tax dollars are going would be great because as of right now, I don't feel that especially at the federal level, it's being used efficiently at all, unfortunately, I think it's being sent off to other countries indiscriminately and it's like, hey, we have problems here. So I think focus inward at least for a couple of terms needs to happen because we're building on such a shoddy foundation, like we're so top heavy, it just doesn't seem like it's sustainable at this point.

[Andy Stumpf]

Can you think of a member of the government that you feel represents your generation?

[Connor Stumpf]

Well, no, I mean I, again, I think Tulsi probably comes the closest just with her being more open to transparency and also caring about like the common person. Because it seems like a lot of Congress and just the government in general doesn't really care. They just care about getting their next paycheck.

[Michael Stumpf]

It's called greed. Yeah, we don't agree party system anymore. We have a one party system and it's about greedy.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah, well, it's like this is kind of a tangent, but I'm on the AIPAC website right now and what do you see? I see that almost every member of Congress in the House is backed by aipac, a foreign government organization.

[Andy Stumpf]

From a donation perspective, you mean?

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah, from a donation and like endorsed by aipac. It's like, I mean I'm not, I don't hate Israel or anything but to me when I See that all of the members of Congress are involved with an organization from outside of the country. That seems like a huge conflict of interest to me.

[Michael Stumpf]

That's a good point.

[Connor Stumpf]

And other facts like that, like for example, the lobbying. I don't understand how you can have the best interests of Americans and the people who voted UN at mind while at the same time turning the other face and taking a multi million dollar check from a lobbyist.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, I don't think you can.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah, it's just like I.

[Michael Stumpf]

What do they have three times as many lobbyists now in Washington then? We have Congress members.

[Andy Stumpf]

Do they really? Is that a true stat?

[Michael Stumpf]

It's it that might be a little extreme. It might actually be not extreme. It is. You go to K Street. I think it is in Washington. I mean you just look at the time that our politicians go out of the White House because they can't do it there and go to phone banks just to raise money. It's all about money. It's all about this.

[Andy Stumpf]

I've heard they spend about 60% of their time actually doing that.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, I think you're correct. Yeah, I mean it's, we have lost so much. I mean you just look at the news organizations and I don't care whether they're msnbc, CBS or Fox or any of them, none of them anymore really give you the news. It's opinions and the story. I mean what was really an eye opener for me was driving across from here to California out in the middle of Podunk nowhere where there was nothing but extreme right wing news. And I listened to them forever.

[Andy Stumpf]

What were they talking about? Oh, you like AM radio in it?

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, yeah. Because Dangerous. Well I, I put on FM and I got tired of listening to Hispanic music, you know.

[Andy Stumpf]

Or did you try changing the channel?

[Michael Stumpf]

Oh I did, I went, I would scan, you know, but it, it's, you know, it's every, every news link now. It's a propaganda. Oh, it's, you know, they're all, you know, my wife loves however you say it. And I tell her, I said we're watching the Fox News of the left.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah, you know, it's no different.

[Michael Stumpf]

And I said they're just friggin opinions, they're out selling product. I mean you look at the shit Disney's doing now. I mean they're in and out of hot water. Yeah, it's, you know, you really fascinated when you graciously asked me to come on here because I started thinking about and I didn't realize how many.

[Andy Stumpf]

Let's not forget You're a supporter of Disney, at Disney.

[Michael Stumpf]

Why is that? Oh, well, Hulu.

[Andy Stumpf]

There you go.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, you're directly.

[Michael Stumpf]

But it's the only. It's the only network I get that gives me the news. But, yeah, it was. It was that. Listening to that news. I mean, I thought Rush Limbaugh was out there when he was very popular. I mean, these guys, you can just see them spitting and blowing snot bubbles that they're.

[Andy Stumpf]

Have you ever turned tuned into Alex Jones?

[Michael Stumpf]

Oh, I could. I'd love to listen to him. Yeah, he would. How about Bannon? Holy Jesus. These guys are. They're out there. I mean, do you think that they.

[Andy Stumpf]

Think they're out there, or do they think that we're out there?

[Michael Stumpf]

I think it's both. I think it's both. I mean, so much of what's going on today has gone all the way back to the Tea Party when they started. And what was his name? Who was the leader of it? I forget. But he shut the government down. He lost his job. Gingrich. Gingrich was his name Gingrich? Yeah. And these. I mean, you look at the Cheneys and the Rumsfeld, they were all from this very. I've read a good deal of Project 2025. That scares the holy dog shit out of me.

[Andy Stumpf]

Where'd you find it?

[Michael Stumpf]

It was online.

[Andy Stumpf]

I'm shocked you were able to find it, if I'm being honest.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, well, I've got, you know, six hours I put into it. I can.

[Andy Stumpf]

What. What browser do you use to surf the Internet?

[Michael Stumpf]

What's. What's a browser?

[Andy Stumpf]

Jesus Christ. When you log on to your computer, on the bottom which. What's the icon look like?

[Michael Stumpf]

I just check in. I said, Project 2025.

[Andy Stumpf]

Okay, Michael, how do I get him.

[Connor Stumpf]

So probably Safari. What do you use?

[Andy Stumpf]

Does it look like this?

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, Safari. That's it?

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah. Okay.

[Michael Stumpf]

Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I got you.

[Andy Stumpf]

So a browser is the portal that you use to access the information.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, Safari.

[Andy Stumpf]

Okay. I just check in and I look for.

[Michael Stumpf]

So, I mean, historically, I can look back and see where a lot of these steps have come from. Yeah, I mean, it's. You ask. I don't know how we get out of this. I do not know how we fix this. It's so passionate and it's. I was talking to my old Marine Corps buddy yesterday, and he says, you know, I've been putting in the Social Security for 68 years. He says, they want to cut my Social Security. I just said, excuse me, just give Me my money back. I put it in there. Since then, you know, I'll just, you know, just give it all back to me. It's mine. You don't have to give me the. I just want what I put in the system. You can have the rest of it. Yeah. It's fascinating. I have conversations with a range of people, people my age that I go, oh, my God, you know, what tea have you been drinking? And then I have people that I align myself.

[Andy Stumpf]

Do you remember it being like that early in your life at all?

[Michael Stumpf]

No, before. Before I had any capability of really recognizing it is when we went through the McCarthy years after Korea and McCarthy was a congressman, that it was a witch hunt to label everybody communist to get him run out of the country. And he was finally, Nazis are the.

[Andy Stumpf]

New buzzword of the day.

[Michael Stumpf]

Well, boy. I mean, it's. If you read a lot about Hitler and how he did stuff, the playbook doesn't vary very much. You know, it's.

[Andy Stumpf]

You're saying the playbook is similar? Yeah. I think we should be real careful calling people Nazis.

[Michael Stumpf]

I don't want to call people Nazis. I'm not saying it's a line of thought. It's a thought. You know, when you have the President of the United States who is attempting to make sure that any attorney that supported or defended Trump or the people.

[Andy Stumpf]

You mean Biden.

[Michael Stumpf]

Biden. Excuse me. Yeah. Make sure that their firms can no longer be Work for the government.

[Andy Stumpf]

You should do a little research into how that happens every electoral cycle.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah. Okay. I'm not saying. I'm not saying there's a lot I don't understand about it, but I. That I just. Because I'm curious and having my browser now.

[Andy Stumpf]

There's some historical precedents that.

[Michael Stumpf]

And what you gotta. When you do this, you can't just read one site. I mean, you know, you got to look at three or four of them because, I mean, some of them are just. And it's an agenda. Some of them are just, here's the bare information. Make your own conclusions.

[Andy Stumpf]

Are you searching for any of this information on your phone?

[Michael Stumpf]

No.

[Andy Stumpf]

Do you remember why I ask?

[Michael Stumpf]

Can't say I do.

[Andy Stumpf]

Remember the last time Connor got a look at your phone and you had 500 browser tabs open?

[Michael Stumpf]

Oh, yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

I'm not sure.

[Michael Stumpf]

She says, why are they there? I said I didn't feel like calling them back.

[Andy Stumpf]

Connor, coffee shop manager, was helping tech support, went to on his iPhone and hit Safari and there were 500 tabs open. Meaning since you've gotten Your phone. I don't think you've closed one, which is impressive, actually.

[Michael Stumpf]

How do you close them exactly? Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

Are you pumped to get the new iPhone?

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah. Are you? No. I want to be better alert, better be able to be more responsive.

[Andy Stumpf]

Leah and I would like to put an app on your and Debbie's phone called Life360, which. And you'll share a circle with us.

[Michael Stumpf]

What does that provide for me?

[Andy Stumpf]

For you? Nothing.

[Michael Stumpf]

For Leah, what I'm doing every day.

[Andy Stumpf]

No, it doesn't know what you're doing. It'll let us know where you are.

[Michael Stumpf]

Oh. Oh, that's probably good.

[Andy Stumpf]

So when you guys have senior moments and you drive off and get lost, we can come find you.

[Michael Stumpf]

Hey, that's fine. All right. Your mom wanted one of those with me.

[Andy Stumpf]

She probably had good reason for that.

[Michael Stumpf]

You know, I want to say something to you. I. I was so thrilled and I was so proud of you for the Instagram that you put on with you and your mom.

[Andy Stumpf]

How did you get Instagram? I know for a fact you don't have an Instagram.

[Michael Stumpf]

I don't know how I get half. Almost anything I get. I didn't. Connor said, look, if he's senior, okay? And I go, what's that? What's.

[Andy Stumpf]

Jesus.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, but I. I must. I must compliment you that I thought it was very touching, and I was glad to see it. I thought it was really. It was great seeing you. And that bald head that graduated from high school.

[Andy Stumpf]

The haircut I had for high school.

[Michael Stumpf]

I know. I understand.

[Andy Stumpf]

People don't believe me when I weighed 150lbs getting out of high school.

[Michael Stumpf]

Oh, shit. I think you barely weighed that.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, I gained weight in buds, which is actually a feat in and of itself because fucking hell. The caloric requirement of that course is relatively high.

[Michael Stumpf]

Oh, yeah. Yeah. But I was. I. And I know it's not an easy issue for you and. But to seeing you put it out there and seeing a picture, two pictures with you and your mom, it's not difficult. It was. Well, maybe I used the wrong word, but it was very touching for me.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah. I just wish that I had been in a better headspace or a different headspace, which wasn't. Was not possible at that time. During that time. There's just no way.

[Michael Stumpf]

There's no way. And there's no. And I. And I. You know, that was a horrible part for me is knowing that. I mean, just coming from overseas, I mean, literally in 24 hours and just all kinds of shit that was going on. It Was. Yeah, that was. God.

[Andy Stumpf]

You think the country will survive the next four years?

[Michael Stumpf]

If you look at it, I don't know what it's gonna. What it's gonna look like.

[Andy Stumpf]

I think that's okay.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, I do, too.

[Andy Stumpf]

The checks and balances are not working perfectly, but they are working.

[Michael Stumpf]

That's what I said when Trump and I told everybody. I said, the Democrats got exactly what they deserved. They deserved it sooner. You know, we need somebody to take the government apart.

[Andy Stumpf]

I just said I do not support the vast majority of the things they believe in, but if they don't change their approach in their messaging, they are going to keep getting their dick kicked in at every election until they fucking change.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, I agree 100% with you. And I tell my older friends that. Exactly. Because so many of them are just so hard out there to the left. And I'm going, you're missing a bigger picture.

[Andy Stumpf]

They're focusing on things that the vast majority of people don't give a fuck about, and they make it their primary issue. I mean, Michael, not to put you on the spot, but if you had to register for, like, what? Is there a political party in the US that represents you?

[Connor Stumpf]

Well, no, but if I had to register, I would register for the Republican Party.

[Andy Stumpf]

Okay.

[Michael Stumpf]

And why.

[Connor Stumpf]

What's that?

[Michael Stumpf]

Why?

[Connor Stumpf]

The values I align with slightly more. But I'll be completely honest, I. I'm not really political anyways.

[Andy Stumpf]

You strike me as more of a libertarian anyway.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah, I'm very libertarian. Yeah, I. I really.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah. The Libertarians, I love them. They even protest to a stop sign. They're great. I love them. Yeah, they're great. But addressing your point. Yeah, there's changes that have to be made and on both sides. But I said when the election happened.

[Andy Stumpf]

Did you see last night, though?

[Michael Stumpf]

I didn't watch it.

[Andy Stumpf]

I didn't watch it either, but I watched just because I was busy. There's Democrats in there, like, holding up paddles.

[Michael Stumpf]

Oh, my Jesus. Childish shit.

[Andy Stumpf]

But these are our elected representatives that are supposed to be running our country. You guys need to change the way you do business or you're going to keep getting waffle stomped every time.

[Michael Stumpf]

I want to see our election procedures stop where you get. Everyone gets the same budget. You got two weeks to get it done. Yeah, and that might not be, but I want to see a step back more to what the English do in Europe.

[Andy Stumpf]

And powdered wigs.

[Michael Stumpf]

Hey, I like that. That tight silk pants. Oh, baby. Yeah.

[Connor Stumpf]

Buckle shoes.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, I'm getting excited, but it's my whole Thing was, as long as we follow the Constitution, the checks and balance systems, and there is no one person above the law will survive anything. But it's being pushed and it right now probably needs to be pushed to recenter some of that stuff. Do I think we will survive? Yeah. I just don't know what. In what form are you hopeful?

[Andy Stumpf]

Michael, when you and your friends get together, what do you guys chat about?

[Connor Stumpf]

I actually. This is interesting. So I have a really, really good friend, he lives in New York and we've actually been chatting back and forth just kind of about current events. He's pretty, I would say pretty liberal. Like I said, I'm not. I'm just pretty middle of the road. I try to take every issue as it comes.

[Andy Stumpf]

You just want to play chess and be left alone.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah, that's pretty much exactly it.

[Michael Stumpf]

You just ought to come out and be able to play on both sides of the plate. It's okay.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah, yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

You live your life how you want to.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Michael Stumpf]

I will go in the dugout and grab whatever bat you want.

[Andy Stumpf]

Struggling to understand that metaphor, but it.

[Connor Stumpf]

Seems like that can be taken as a sexual innuendo. No, but we ever actually have really good conversation because we're both very capable of entertaining an idea without accepting it.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, you can have. You can try to understand an idea.

[Michael Stumpf]

Without acceptance that, that very good point. That's what's missing from our country that has left since I.

[Andy Stumpf]

From some people.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah. We can't talk. We can't agree to disagree and find some common ground.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah. And so that's why I like talking to this friend is because we're both able to say, yeah, yeah, this is what I think of this, and not get mad at each other for having a difference of opinion.

[Michael Stumpf]

People can't sit down a table to have a Christmas dinner without throwing the drumstick at somebody, you know.

[Connor Stumpf]

Well, and that's the thing is like, aside from like some political beliefs, everything else we have is in common. Like, but it's just the political beliefs that set us apart in some ways. But it's really not that big of a deal.

[Michael Stumpf]

But even as radical as either side can be, we still have to have some center ground.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Michael Stumpf]

And you know, that's what is left is the ability for the two parties to come and be able to negotiate. They are so in their own camps, both extreme. And I've never seen anything like this, you know, like standing up, getting thrown out, you know, making a disparaging remark about the president and whatever.

[Andy Stumpf]

It accomplishes nothing.

[Michael Stumpf]

It does Nothing. And it makes it look so bad. And you're talking about issues. I mean, let's look at the Alphabet soup, sexual shit and the transgender. What do they. Not even 1% of the issue. And so much of it is. Rolls off of that, you know.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Michael Stumpf]

Thankfully, I'm seeing. Glad to see that. More and more athletic divisions or leagues or what have you are just saying if you're a guy, you're not going to compete against the gals. You know, why do we need to discuss that?

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah, the fact that that's even.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, that is so.

[Connor Stumpf]

It's just.

[Michael Stumpf]

But it can become the beginning and end of discussions with people and we have so many other things that are.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah, well, yeah, I mean, it's. It's kind of.

[Michael Stumpf]

When I was your age, you couldn't go out into the community and declare that you were a homosexual.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah, that's my.

[Andy Stumpf]

What would happen if you did?

[Michael Stumpf]

Oh, the discrimination, being shunned. Like I told you, my, you know, Tony Anderson, my. Basically, my brother, his older brother was gay. I didn't even know what the word meant. I'd go over to his house and they were in the farmer's grange or they. Dad dances and what. I'd go over there in the morning, he'd be in his mom's dress dancing and what have you just. He went in the military, tried to change who he was. He got married to try to change who he was, and then he killed himself because he could not fit in. I hope we're not in that situation today. But it's like I used to tell my rugby players, you're fighting the wrong frigging war here. It doesn't matter what your pronoun is. It's how you treat people. You know, why do we. Why are we getting hung up on. No, I'm not going to call you a guy. You know, that's not why we're here. Yeah, it was some of the stuff I went through later on in life. I just kind of really stopped me in my tracks and I'm glad it did, you know, it's. But like you said, I do believe we'll survive it. I do not know what. I don't. I told somebody the other day, I don't think I'll see really see what we're going to settle at in my lifetime. It's going to take years to just. I don't know what the hell's going to go on with China or Russia or these places.

[Andy Stumpf]

It took years to get to this point. It's Reasonable, for sure. It'll take years to get to this point.

[Michael Stumpf]

That's my point. I just don't think this is going to be settled in my lifetime. I worry for my grandchildren desperately, but I have enough faith in their family that whatever would come across, we'll figure a way of negotiating it. But one of the biggest issues I see is the disparity between those that have and those that don't. You know, working people trying to find a place to buy a home where they can. You know, it's just. It's. That's scary for me, it was a whole different thing when I was growing up. You know, the. We can get a talk about that at a different time.

[Andy Stumpf]

Speaking of buying stuff, how's that truck treating you, Michael?

[Michael Stumpf]

Hey. Yeah. I heard you got a new truck.

[Connor Stumpf]

Well, maybe. Maybe. I'm going to. We're going to look at numbers tomorrow.

[Andy Stumpf]

He hooked you in, huh?

[Michael Stumpf]

Good for you.

[Connor Stumpf]

It's a 2018 Tacoma, right?

[Michael Stumpf]

Back to Toyota.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah, Yeah. I will never not buy Toyota.

[Michael Stumpf]

Probably.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

Way to support the American economy. Piece of shit.

[Connor Stumpf]

Well, if American companies made their trucks better than I would consider buying an American.

[Michael Stumpf]

I had mine for 23 years, you know, and the old taco. Yeah, yeah. Well, good for you.

[Andy Stumpf]

For clarity, for the listener, it's my oldest son that is swindling Michael and is trying to get my dad's wife to purchase a vehicle that she doesn't need. Actually, if he has your phone number, he's probably called you to try to get you to come in. He is starting a new career. He literally brought the truck to the coffee shop while Michael was working to facilitate a test drive.

[Connor Stumpf]

The difference is I actually. I don't need this car, but soon I will need a new vehicle, and.

[Michael Stumpf]

Again, they're going to do nothing but get more expensive.

[Andy Stumpf]

Exactly.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah. That's. That. That's the.

[Connor Stumpf]

As mine depreciates.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, yeah. And honestly, as far as dealerships in town, that one's going to take care of you the best.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Michael Stumpf]

What do they want for that thing?

[Connor Stumpf]

I think it was like 30, and then depending on what my.

[Michael Stumpf]

I bought my first house for $30,000.

[Connor Stumpf]

That's insane. Wish I could buy a house for 30.

[Michael Stumpf]

Well, as we get further into this, I'll be able to bring out.

[Andy Stumpf]

I'll go to a construction supply store. I'll buy you a porta potty.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah, yeah. That's about where it'll get me.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

30,000 for a house.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah. That sounds really nice right about now.

[Michael Stumpf]

Well, when we bought the one that I lived in for 23, 24 years, I think. We bought it for 260 and bought it with nothing down. And it wasn't a VA loan in Santa Cruz. Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

Do you remember what your interest rate was?

[Michael Stumpf]

No, I don't. But when I did sell it, because I kept using it as a checking account, and the last interest rate I had was below three.

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, that's not bad.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, it's expensive to borrow. That's the reason I did. You know, I let it build up. I take 100 grand out, you know, and I'm like, payment didn't change anything. It was just. I said, why not?

[Andy Stumpf]

Yeah, I mean, there's a few reasons to why not, but whatever. Live your life.

[Michael Stumpf]

Oh, yeah. Hell, I didn't even know what Safari was.

[Andy Stumpf]

Trust me, I know. So your Verizon appointment is tomorrow?

[Michael Stumpf]

Yep.

[Andy Stumpf]

Michael, do you work tomorrow?

[Connor Stumpf]

No.

[Andy Stumpf]

We've determined that my dad needs a chaperone of a younger generation.

[Michael Stumpf]

I'm just going in for a cell phone. I thought I was going to get a. A new network system and everything else.

[Andy Stumpf]

Okay, we're gonna practice for tomorrow. What specifically are you gonna tell these people?

[Michael Stumpf]

I want this. And how much is it going to.

[Andy Stumpf]

Cost me when you say this? What's the this going to be?

[Michael Stumpf]

I want a new cell phone. That's. They've already offered me. Actually offered me two.

[Andy Stumpf]

Okay.

[Michael Stumpf]

I said, fine. What's it going to cost me? A month to match the services I have now.

[Andy Stumpf]

And you need to make sure they take your current number and roll it over.

[Michael Stumpf]

Oh, yeah, exactly. I don't want to lose that. I'd be screwed. I'd never remember another one.

[Andy Stumpf]

Trust me, I know.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah. Shame. There's the same thing.

[Andy Stumpf]

I know. What if they try to pitch you on TV service at the house?

[Connor Stumpf]

Shut that down.

[Michael Stumpf]

No, no. Okay, Spectrum's great.

[Andy Stumpf]

Extended warranty on your phone.

[Michael Stumpf]

No good.

[Andy Stumpf]

What else would they potentially. We're doing a mock trial here, Mike. What else could they potentially throw at him?

[Connor Stumpf]

Internet.

[Michael Stumpf]

I got a good Internet.

[Connor Stumpf]

Was so say no. Basically, anything besides your phone and cellular. For your phone?

[Andy Stumpf]

Yes. That's all.

[Michael Stumpf]

That's all I want.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Michael Stumpf]

I mean, I can be nasty with salespeople.

[Andy Stumpf]

Let's not take it that far. It's just a cell phone, not World War iii.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, no, I don't mean I get like that, but I'm just going. Do you really want to sell me something here? Let's get it done. You know, I got a hundred dollar bill. I don't want to pay any more than that in a month, so that's.

[Andy Stumpf]

Not going to work because they're going to need a card. He's not going to take your hundred.

[Michael Stumpf]

Oh, I got half a dozen cards.

[Andy Stumpf]

Okay. That's probably not a good thing actually.

[Michael Stumpf]

But I only use one. Actually, I use two.

[Andy Stumpf]

Any closing thoughts, gentlemen?

[Michael Stumpf]

No. I appreciate being invited to this. It's. It's.

[Andy Stumpf]

It's better perspective than just me.

[Michael Stumpf]

No, And I. And I want to get Michael more involved in this. It's really important that.

[Andy Stumpf]

Careful what you ask for.

[Michael Stumpf]

Well, I understand, you know, we. A little light in the shoes. So we'll. We'll play, you know, we'll move on.

[Andy Stumpf]

What's your five year goal, Michael? You're still moving to Maine?

[Connor Stumpf]

No.

[Michael Stumpf]

No. You're gonna go to Maine.

[Connor Stumpf]

No, he had that goal for a long time ago. That was a long time.

[Andy Stumpf]

It's like two years ago.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah. In for my life. That's a long time.

[Andy Stumpf]

That's true. It's a fifth of your life.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Michael Stumpf]

Are you going to go to an area where there's a greater dating pool? Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

Are you actually just gonna move just so there's more chicks?

[Connor Stumpf]

No, no, I'm just gonna.

[Andy Stumpf]

What's your plan? Hermit?

[Connor Stumpf]

Honestly, I don't really know. I'm kind of just seeing what happens.

[Michael Stumpf]

Well, you will get up in five years and still be doing. You got to make yourself some goals.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah, well, trying hasn't worked out, so.

[Michael Stumpf]

Because you'll get up.

[Andy Stumpf]

Have you tried trying harder?

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah, actually, it works out worse actually. If you can imagine, I've redoubled my.

[Andy Stumpf]

Efforts and it got four times as bad.

[Connor Stumpf]

Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

So, yeah, I mean, this is a cool place, but I. I can empathize.

[Michael Stumpf]

It has its limitations.

[Andy Stumpf]

Well, we're also in different phases of our life.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

You know, all three of the kids want to leave. Riley, Tyler and Julia. They all want to go.

[Michael Stumpf]

Oh, yeah. They're gonna.

[Andy Stumpf]

They will.

[Michael Stumpf]

They'll be gone.

[Andy Stumpf]

I feel like, though, at some point they will come back.

[Michael Stumpf]

That's exactly what I feel.

[Andy Stumpf]

Whether or not you and I will be alive. Different story.

[Michael Stumpf]

But they all. I'll be alive because they'll still want something. I'm on. That is, we're out there. I get a text from Julia. Where?

[Andy Stumpf]

Out where? Calvary.

[Michael Stumpf]

We're on a trip somewhere. Yeah. Grampy, when can we go get the mask? Yeah, yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

And I said, welding mask.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I text her, I said, sweetie, I'm sorry, we're out of. Out of state. I said, I'm still game. You know, let's sit down and talk about it. I want to see what you're. You know, exactly where you're. Want to go with this. But I said, yeah, listen, I'm still in no problem.

[Andy Stumpf]

She was welding today.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

I could tell because I have her own life. 360.

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

But we're gonna add. You guys.

[Michael Stumpf]

What happens when she leaves the phone somewhere and just goes with somebody else?

[Andy Stumpf]

There's. There's ways around technology. You also don't carry your phone with you many times as well, so it actually would be useless to have on you most.

[Michael Stumpf]

It's fun watching these guys in the salesman, and they say, can I see your new phone? Your phone? I said, sure. I bring this out, and I go, what the Is this five? Yeah.

[Andy Stumpf]

Let me see. Unlock it for a second. I'm not going. I'm gonna. I'm just gonna go into your settings and. Do you even have a password on your phone?

[Michael Stumpf]

Yeah, but I've learned I only got to hit the button twice, and I don't need to put the password in.

[Connor Stumpf]

There you go.

[Andy Stumpf]

Jesus.

[Michael Stumpf]

General I'm a. I'm a student of watching.

[Andy Stumpf]

Oh, my God.

[Michael Stumpf]

What's the matter?

[Andy Stumpf]

This is an iPhone 3.

[Connor Stumpf]

Oh, wow. Nice. I didn't even know that they still.

[Andy Stumpf]

Oh, I'm sorry. Service those five, isn't it? No, this is. Your iPhone's name is iPhone3. This is an iPhone6S.

[Michael Stumpf]

All right.

[Andy Stumpf]

This is 10 years old.

[Connor Stumpf]

Yeah. It's an old phone.

[Andy Stumpf]

Wow.

[Michael Stumpf]

What happens now?

[Connor Stumpf]

Impressive.

[Michael Stumpf]

I'll get up in the morning. If I haven't plugged in tonight, it'll be, oh, I plug it in at night, and it could be completely charged. I'll unplug it, set it down, and it goes right back to red. So I plug it in again, and then it goes all the way back to charge again.

[Andy Stumpf]

That's when I started realizing those are called subtle signs.

[Michael Stumpf]

That's exactly what I was going to say, you know? No.

[Andy Stumpf]

All right, well, that's enough for today.

[Michael Stumpf]

We'll do it again.

[Andy Stumpf]

All right.

[T-Mobile Representative]

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