BEST OF GL: THE CHRISTMAS LIGHT RIVALRY IN IT"S ENTIRETY!!

Summary

Podcast Summary: Garage Logic – "BEST OF GL: THE CHRISTMAS LIGHT RIVALRY IN ITS ENTIRETY!!"
Host: Joe Soucheray (and GL crew)
Date: December 24, 2025

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Episode Overview

This "Best Of" Garage Logic episode centers around one of the show's most beloved tales: the legendary Christmas Light Rivalry prank. Starting as a neighborly prank in rural Minnesota, it spun into a saga of elaborate practical jokes involving miles of electrical wire, remote switches, dimmers, and more—all orchestrated by dedicated GL listener "Greg" (sometimes referred to as Tom). Through series of call-ins over multiple years, listeners are treated to escalating hijinks, neighborly rivalry, and heartwarming holiday shenanigans. The episode maintains the classic Garage Logic tone: laid-back, witty, and full of small-town spirit.

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Key Segments & Discussion Points

Introduction & Holiday Greetings

• [01:22] Chris Reivers ("Flashlight King") opens with GL’s thanks to listeners, marking nearly eight years as a podcast, wishing everyone Merry Christmas.
• Sets up the episode: "It's that annual time of the year... it's the Christmas Light rivalry in its entirety." (01:53)

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The Beginning of the Prank: Wiring the Neighbor

Greg relates the prank (02:57–10:17):

• Living in the country, Greg ran nearly 2,500 feet of electrical wire to secretly control his neighbor’s Christmas barn lights.
• Installed a hidden switch on his patio, allowing him to turn some of the neighbor’s lights off and on remotely, all for laughs – not to steal electricity.
• Stories of his neighbor, baffled and frustrated as the lights flickered, and Greg observing from his deck.

"I've been laughing so hard this weekend, my stomach hurts." – Greg (04:50)

Joe’s suggestions:

• Joe proposes taking the prank further by swapping out light strings for colored bulbs without the neighbor's knowledge (09:06), illustrating the show’s playful spirit.

"You know what would really blow his mind? If somehow you could get over there without him knowing it and exchange a whole string of white lights for colored ones." – Joe Soucheray (09:06)

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Escalation: The Rheostat and Dimming

• Ramping up the joke: Greg adds a rheostat (dimmer switch) to bring new confusion, slowly dimming and brightening the lights when the neighbor is outside. (12:30–16:08)
• The neighbor, increasingly bewildered, calls Greg for help. They replace sets of lights, suspect socket problems, and at one point the neighbor nearly calls an electrician.

"I slowly, slowly pushed [the lights] back up so they were on full bright again. He walked over to the barn and he's just shaking stuff... shaking the lights like crazy with a stick." – Greg (18:18)

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The Climax: Electrician Called, Prank Discovered

The highest tension (16:29–26:53):

• The neighbor decides to call in a professional electrician.
• Greg sneakily unhooks all the wiring at 2:00 AM so the prank can't be discovered.
• Electrician inspects, finds nothing; Greg then resumes the prank after the coast is clear.
• Joe is delighted by the deviousness of the plan, promising Greg all the Garage Logic merch upon completion of the prank.

"Sunday when he goes to church, I'll sneak back over, hook it back up." – Greg (24:04)

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Finale: Rivalry Becomes Tradition

• The prank’s aftermath and the plan to repeat it next year; consideration of making it an annual GL event. (26:44)
• Listeners are updated on the ongoing saga, teasing the possibility of Greg getting his neighbor on-air in the future.

"This could be an annual GL event. Greg drives neighbor crazy. Tuesday, buddy." – Joe Soucheray (27:07)

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Postscript: Years Later—Prankster’s Update

Years later, Greg/“Tom” calls in from Nebraska (37:08–44:40):

• Life events: Had to leave Minnesota due to family obligations, not as a consequence of the prank.
• The rivalry’s legacy: His neighbor Dougie once got revenge with an elaborate green food coloring prank that permanently stained Greg’s pool, showing the friendly, escalating nature of their hijinks.
• Final confession: Greg eventually fessed up about his remote-control light manipulation and even about "stealing" electricity in a Christmas card.
• Joe reminisces about the "all-timer" nature of the prank, considering it Garage Logic legend.

“I sent him a Christmas card with all that information in it. So I'm assuming sometime around the first of the year, I'll probably get a phone call.” – Greg (43:02)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Remote-Control Mischief
  "I've been laughing so hard this weekend, my stomach hurts. Every time he would walk out of the barn... I hit the switch." (Greg, 04:50)
• Neighbor’s Puzzlement "I'm telling you, these Christmas lights go on and off and they dim slow, and then they come up fast... My wife saw it, my neighbor saw it. And you can't fight the problem." (Greg, 34:14)
• Prank Escalation "We got the rheostat in... climb up on the barn... As soon as I see him outside and the lights go on, we're gonna just slowly turn them..." (Greg, 14:05)
• Joe’s Delight "Oh, I wish I knew where you guys were. I'd come out there and park just to watch this. This is pretty good." (Joe Soucheray, 08:28)
• Lasting Friendship "Oh, yeah, we're really good buddies." (Greg, 07:06)
• Leaving a Legacy "It was the all timer and we're gonna replay it at 4:00 clock. We're gonna play some of the original calls on this rivalry and they were fantastic." (Joe Soucheray, 43:21)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Introduction and setup: 01:22–02:57
• Prank revealed & first call: 02:57–10:17
• Upgrading with rheostat/dimming: 12:30–16:08
• Electrician called, prank adjusted: 16:29–26:53
• Prank aftermath & future plotting: 26:44–34:14
• Years later, “Greg/Tom” calls in from Nebraska: 37:08–44:40
• Reflection and close: 44:25–46:56

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Tone & Style

The conversation is light-hearted, mischievous, and friendly—punctuated by laughs and the easy banter of long-time friends and community members. Joe Soucheray’s good-natured guidance and delight in the prank, along with Greg’s gleeful storytelling, make this a classic slice of Garage Logic: irreverent, neighborly, and full of gumption.

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Summary for New Listeners

If you’ve never heard the Christmas Light Rivalry saga, this "Best Of" episode is a perfect showcase of Garage Logic's humor, community spirit, and love of a good-natured prank. It’s a tale about how a bit of wire and a lot of mischief turned holiday lights into a multi-year neighborhood legend, complete with escalating schemes, befuddled electricians, and unwavering holiday cheer.

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Garage Logic: Where common sense and pranks are always in season.

Transcript

[Joe Soucheray]

Mishke here, joining the GL world to pitch my new podcast, which now comes out twice a week, Wednesdays and Fridays. The show features an extraordinary array of exotic circus performers, forgotten Hollywood starlets, reclusive Fortune 500 CEOs, professional taxidermists. Oh, wait a minute. That's a different promo. Where's the promo for GL ers? Here it is. Let's try this again. Mishke here pitching my new podcast. We're out of time. Could I do it again?

[Greg]

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[Joe Soucheray]

You this Garage Logic episode. Call Josh at 952-925-5608 for a free 48 minute consultation.

[Chris Reivers]

Hail the flashlight king.

[Joe Soucheray]

And now, from the mayor's office above the boathouse on the east shore of Spoon Lake, it's Garage Logic. With Chris Reavers manning technology corner, Kenny Olson from the crabby coffee shop, John Height in the newsroom, and of course the rookie here is your Flashlight King.

[Chris Reivers]

Fireworks commissioner and the keeper of common.

[Joe Soucheray]

Sense, your mayor, Joe Sushere.

[Chris Reivers]

Nope. I hate disappoint you. You're stuck with Reavers here in the GL Podcast studios. First and foremost, merry Christmas, G elers, and thank you for all of your continued support of the GL Podcast. We are now. It's hard to believe we are entering eight years now as a podcast. And we really do thank each and every single one of you. So I know it's coming. You know it's coming. It's Christmas Eve. It's Christmas Day. And how could we not put together a show that featured the Christmas Light rivalry? And you know what? I've heard this 700 trillion times. And guess what? I still love it each and every single time that I hear it. And I know that you do too. So here's what you all have been waiting for. It's that annual time of the year. It's not the most fraudulent time of the year, which by the way, you will hear later in the show, but it's the Christmas Light rivalry in its entirety. All of it here on the Best of Garagelogic.

[Greg]

Say, I've been working on this little scheme that I wanted to pull on my neighbor for almost a year, since I had heard some of the stories that people had called in with Christmas lights and things that they. Practical jokes that they pulled on their neighbors. So here's what I did. I live out in the country, and I'm quite a ways away from my neighbor. So I had to figure out how to connect into my neighbor's electrical outlets in his barn that he used for his Christmas lights. So what we did was we went to the local establishment and we bought about 2,500ft of electrical wire. We ran the electrical wire while he was at church one weekend over to the one side of his barn and back, mounted a switch right outside my patio door where I could see his house and his lights. The next Sunday, while he was at church, I went over, got into his barn and hooked up to the electrical outlet that he uses for his Christmas lights. The wires that I ran. Well, Sunday night comes and he's outside and turns on his lights. And I waited for a little bit. He's kind of standing there admiring his thing. And I reached out my patio door and flicked the switch, and his lights went off. And I did it, hooked it up so that it would only shut off part of them, but they're the ones that are the highest up on his barn. So he stands there for a little bit. He runs in the barn and flicks a few switches, and I turned the switch back on when he come back out so it looked like they were on.

[Joe Soucheray]

You're not. You didn't do this.

[Greg]

Now.

[Joe Soucheray]

You did not set this up to rob him of electrical power. You did it to just drive him.

[Greg]

Nuts, just to drive him crazy, you know? I'm telling you, I've been laughing so hard this weekend, my stomach hurts. Every time he would walk out of the barn, he'd get about halfway over and he'd stop and turn, you know, to admire his work.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yep.

[Greg]

And I hit the switch. So last 9:30, he's up on the bar taking his lights down, and he's fiddling with them and messing with them. Thought, okay, I'm gonna drive over there.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah. Hey, what are you doing up there?

[Greg]

I turned the switch on so the power's right.

[Joe Soucheray]

Mm.

[Greg]

Jump in the car and drive over, man. I just wanted to come and compliment you on your light. Oh. He says, yeah, but, God, I don't know what's wrong. He says, I Got this one group up here. It comes on and goes off, and I don't know, I must have something wrong. And so I'm checking them out. Well, geez, I don't know. I said, did you put, like, one of them flasher? No, no, I got them. So they're on all the time. Well, plug them in. Let's see what happens. So he plugs in. Of course they work. I said, well, looks like you got your problem fixed. I'm gonna head home. I went home. And in the meantime, you know, he's putting his ladder away and everything else.

[Joe Soucheray]

Getting ready to be proud again.

[Greg]

Yeah, he thinks he's got it fixed, right? So as I watched him, he gets to the house and he turns around and gives it one more look, and I hit the switch. Next thing, he's got him and his wife out in the yard. And I'm standing at the house, and I turn them on and turn them on. I turn them on and turn them off. He hasn't figured out yet what I've done. Oh, what if he's gonna be able to figure it out? I actually ran it into his box in the barn, right. So there's no way. And he can't see the wires. I made sure I got them up in the rafters and everything.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, this is fantastic.

[Greg]

So he calls me.

[Joe Soucheray]

Is this guy a good friend of yours?

[Greg]

Oh, yeah, we're really good buddy.

[Joe Soucheray]

All right. Yeah.

[Greg]

Yeah, we're really good buddies. He calls me up, he says, greg, I got the dang this thing going on. I. I can't figure out what's going on with my lights. He said just a few minutes ago, he said they were going on and off and on and off. He said, I even went out to the barn after you left and tore apart the socket to see if maybe there was a short in there. But everything's perfect. I don't understand what's going on.

[Joe Soucheray]

This is pretty good.

[Greg]

Well, so to tell you what, when I get home Monday night, we'll take a look at it and see what we could figure out. Yeah, I'll come help you. Oh, geez, that's great. He said, why don't you bring your ladder and we'll, you know, go up. So tonight I'm gonna go up, we're gonna check everything out. Obviously, everything's gonna work, and you'll just be. It'll be perfect. Yep. And I'm gonna go home, and I'm gonna let him savor it for one night that it hurts. And tomorrow night, he always Goes out to feed the animals. And as soon as I see him walking towards the barn and turn the lights on, he steps outside and waits. The switch again.

[Joe Soucheray]

What if the guy's listening to the show?

[Greg]

Well, he. He's a paramedic. He could very easily be listening to the show. I'm not sure if he never did think about asking that, even. Even if he is listening, Joe, it's already been well worth it.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, I wish I knew where you guys were. I'd come out there and park just to watch this. This is pretty good. See, what I like about it is you spun off. Remember last year, the guy called and he. He was running his lights off his neighbor's electricity.

[Greg]

I thought about that.

[Joe Soucheray]

No, but you. You've taken it to a new level. You're merely having fun, but you're not draining this guy's electricity. You've just run a switch to your house so you can drive the guy nuts.

[Greg]

Yeah, see?

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, this is more fun. This is more fun.

[Greg]

The hardest sell was, you know, obviously to the wife. Well, what do we need all this wire for?

[Joe Soucheray]

You know. You know what would really blow his mind? If somehow you could get over there without him knowing it and exchange a whole string of white lights for colored ones.

[Greg]

Oh, that's a good idea.

[Joe Soucheray]

And then all of a sudden, when.

[Greg]

He goes to church, right?

[Joe Soucheray]

And then all of a sudden, they're running fine. They go off, they come back on, they're red. The guy will go nuts.

[Greg]

You say to the guy, what the heck did you put color bulbs in there for? I thought you had all white. Yeah.

[Joe Soucheray]

Hey, buddy. You know, Dwayne, when we checked these, you were all white. What's going on?

[Greg]

I've got a. I've got a group of red lights that I haven't put up yet this year.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, the image that I like here is this Greg standing on his deck watching this. See? What suburb are you in?

[Greg]

I live off towards Young America.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah, Norwood, Young America. Well, you gotta. You gotta keep us tuned in now for chapter two.

[Greg]

Oh, yeah.

[Joe Soucheray]

If you do anything else, you gotta let us know.

[Greg]

Oh, I definitely will. All right. I definitely will. All right. If I don't drive him insane first. All right, goodbye. Thanks, Joe. Bye.

[Joe Soucheray]

The guy really was pleased with himself.

[Greg]

Oh, he was.

[Joe Soucheray]

I don't blame him. That's pretty good. See, because you're over there. Just flick and you just. Oh, it's a little flick and the guy's gonna go nuts.

[Greg]

And he turns it on and starts scratching his head. What the heck?

[Joe Soucheray]

Especially if the guy, if the neighbor is handy with elect with electrical work, to me, it wouldn't. Wouldn't even be funny because I would have assumed that it wouldn't work. So I just let it go. Well, they come on once in a while.

[Chris Reivers]

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[Greg]

And two McDonald's favorito.

[Chris Reivers]

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[Joe Soucheray]

Yes, free.

[Chris Reivers]

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[Joe Soucheray]

Chris Reivers is a paid endorser. Joe, how careful do we have to be?

[Greg]

We're okay, buddy.

[Joe Soucheray]

He hasn't figured it out yet.

[Greg]

We're okay.

[Joe Soucheray]

Did you go rheostat?

[Greg]

Here's here. Here's what happened last night.

[Joe Soucheray]

All right?

[Greg]

Got home, put the rheostat in. Now, he had called me and we talked about fixing what he thought was a problem.

[Joe Soucheray]

Right.

[Greg]

Let me, let me, let me, let.

[Joe Soucheray]

Me, let me interrupt you. Let me set this up again for people just tuning in who didn't hear. Greg has run about, what, 2000ft?

[Greg]

Pretty close to about 2300.

[Joe Soucheray]

2300Ft of electrical wire to his neighbor and ran it back to his house so he can really fool with the neighbor's Christmas tree lights. Okay.

[Greg]

Pick up the story and. And let's make sure that everybody understands. I'm not stealing any electricity or anything.

[Joe Soucheray]

No, you're just turning on, on and off his lights.

[Greg]

We're just messing with his mind a little bit.

[Joe Soucheray]

Right.

[Greg]

So anyway, we got the rheostat in, throw the ladder on the truck, and we run over, climb up on the barn, and we're looking and talking and says, you know, I don't. I don't know. And I said, well, you know what I think it is? I've been thinking about it. I think what happens is, because when the wind blows, maybe it's got a little bit of a short in it, I think, let's just take this section down, go into town, buy a new set of lights and put them up. Yeah, great idea, he said. So away we went. Get back, we put them up. Put all the lights up and everything. And turns them on, of course they work. Everything looks great. Last night, we didn't mess with him. We wanted him to, you know, revel a little bit in his glory.

[Joe Soucheray]

Absolutely.

[Greg]

But now, tonight.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah.

[Greg]

As soon as I see him outside and the lights go on.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yep.

[Greg]

We're gonna just slowly turn them. I know you gotta get going to Patrick, but I could have told you some stories. Storage, he was in. He was just meant to be tied last night.

[Joe Soucheray]

No, Patrick's not going to be on today. So I got. I got another minute here. We can talk.

[Greg]

Well, he said, man, I drugged my wife out here. I couldn't figure out what's going on. The lights go on, lights go off.

[Joe Soucheray]

Right.

[Greg]

I checked all the connections, all the plugins. Thought I blew a fuse. I walked back outside, I look at the lights. They're off.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, this is unbelievable.

[Greg]

All of a sudden, the lights come on.

[Joe Soucheray]

Way to lay dim on the guy.

[Greg]

What's going on? Yeah, so I let somebody else that lives out by me in on the little secret. And he says, well, here's what you got to do. You dim him. And after you mess with him tonight and he calls you back up and wants to, you know, have you come and. And help him again, since you want to make sure that you don't get too far, because if he calls an electrician out to see what's going on, obviously you're gonna get busted. So he says, maybe what you want to do is mess with him again tonight and then leave him on for a couple of nights. Best him again on the weekend. So we're gonna mess with him tonight a little bit, see what happens. I'm sure I'll get a phone call from him. And we tried to set up the video camera last night from the deck to see if we could actually, you know, see anything or focus on anything, and it's just. It's too dark.

[Joe Soucheray]

How far away is he?

[Greg]

Oh, he's probably, in city terms, probably two blocks, maybe somewhere in that neighborhood.

[Joe Soucheray]

But you can clearly see when he comes outside.

[Greg]

Oh, yeah.

[Joe Soucheray]

From your deck.

[Greg]

Yeah, yeah.

[Joe Soucheray]

Now, now, tonight you'll try the. The rheostat.

[Greg]

Is it. And is it ready to go yet?

[Joe Soucheray]

All right, you got to call us tomorrow.

[Greg]

Oh, yeah, we will.

[Joe Soucheray]

All right. Call tomorrow.

[Greg]

I will.

[Joe Soucheray]

All right. Thank you.

[Greg]

Have a good day. All right, bye.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, it's going to be wild. The guy will be out tonight, warm, really proud of his work. And the dimming will start. All right, now for the third day in a row, the update from Norwood. Young America on the Christmas tree light prank. Greg.

[Greg]

Hey, Joe, how you doing?

[Joe Soucheray]

Is everything still all right?

[Greg]

God, life is fun.

[Joe Soucheray]

Is he. Is he still unsuspecting?

[Greg]

He's got an electrician coming out today. Yeah, but, dad. But you gotta understand, Joe, it has cost me something. Because upon hearing this last night, I knew it was gonna be caught if the electrician showed up.

[Joe Soucheray]

Right. Did you sneak over?

[Greg]

I sat my alarm last night for 2 o' clock in the morning. Took my little flashlight and went over and took everything out and pulled it back far enough away that there's no way in the world he's ever gonna fight into the electrician.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, this is too good to be true.

[Greg]

Oh, man.

[Joe Soucheray]

Now, now, did you ever try the rheostat on him?

[Greg]

Yeah, Joe, we did the rheostat.

[Joe Soucheray]

That's why he called the electrician last night. Yeah.

[Greg]

Oh, you have to bear with me. I've been laughing for 24 hours. Last night he gets home and. The lights rotted. He came out of the barn and I tried it and it worked perfect, but he didn't see it because he was walking the opposite direction. So I waited for a little while and he came back out of the house. And as he was walking back towards the barn, I just took him really slowly, dimmed him all the way down. They were just barely on.

[Joe Soucheray]

Then he stopped in his tracks.

[Greg]

Stop dead in his tracks. Then I slowly, slowly pushed him back up so they were on full bright again. He walked over to the barn and he's just shaking stuff. Shaking the Lights like crazy with the stick. I slowly dimmed him again. Then I brought him back up, did a quick set him off. He disappeared in the barn for a little bit. He come back outside his ladder and he sat his ladder up and climbed up there. He's checking his plugs. While he's checking his plugs. I had it on when he got to the last one, when he connected it back up and I saw it come on. Then I slowly dimmed him again. Guy's gonna shoot you. So he gets off the ladder, he gets down on the ground. I turn it back on again and he takes his ladder and he throws it on the ground. It goes stomping off into the house. And my phone rings. It's him. It's him. And I sat on the caller id, but I was laughing so hard I couldn't answer the phone. When I looked the answering machine. Soon as you get this message, call me. I don't know what's going on with my lights. You're not going to believe what they're doing now. And then, you know, a few choice squares hung up.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, my God.

[Greg]

I get my composure. I call him back. I can't really say what he said, but he's telling me that he fights to do it. I said, well, I'm looking outside right now. They look fine to me. He says, yeah, but every single time I seem to go outside now, last night they weren't fine after we, you know, we went overworked on them. I thought we had it fixed.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah.

[Greg]

But when I go out now, now they're doing the damnedest thing. They dam all the way down, then they slowly come back up.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, my God, this is the greatest.

[Greg]

I said, well, I don't. I don't know what the problem is, but I got another call. I'll call you back after bed. As I was starting to laugh, I couldn't stand. So went back outside and he's watching and I'm just doing it back and forth.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, my God.

[Greg]

And it pushes it up. I got it. The rheostat I got is a little slide switch. It's just perfect.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah.

[Greg]

So I pushed the switch on and saw him on the yard. So I quick jumped to my car and I drove over to see him. I said, what's going on? So he begins to tell me and he. Cussing across the. Swearing at the barn, swearing at the light. His wife's outside, his kids are outside.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh.

[Greg]

He'S trying to explain what's going on. He's throwing his arms here and There, finally, him and his wife decide, okay, that's it. I'm calling my buddy electrician and have him come out tomorrow, take a look.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, God.

[Greg]

Figure out what's wrong.

[Joe Soucheray]

Of course, nothing. Nothing will be wrong.

[Greg]

I'm in trouble now.

[Chris Reivers]

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[Greg]

Last night I got up, went over, unhooked everything, pulled it all back through out of the barn, right? Pulled it back over into that kind of a low spot about 200ft from the barn, right? Coiled it all up and laid it down so now's electricity comes out. When he starts to test everything, it's all going to be fine.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, God help us. Oh. Now then you'll re hook it up.

[Greg]

And then Sunday when he goes to church, I'll sneak back over, hook it back up.

[Joe Soucheray]

And no one, he's got to know that everyone who listens to the radio is in on the prank now because other people have got to Know you two. And yet they're. They're playing along and no one's telling him.

[Greg]

He doesn't know yet.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, my God.

[Greg]

If he does, though, he's sure acting great.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, this is. This is the best. This is the best. So. So things are dormant till Sunday.

[Greg]

I'm not gonna.

[Joe Soucheray]

You can't.

[Greg]

I don't want to have to wake up and go, no, no, no, no.

[Joe Soucheray]

Sunday will be fine.

[Greg]

So Sunday I'm gonna go hook it up, and then I think what I'm gonna do is after I get re hooked up on Sunday, I'm gonna do it just, like, one time the next week, and then the next Sunday, if he's gone or if I notice that they're gone for any period of time, see if maybe they're gonna go Christmas shopping, and I might sneak over there and put a different color in place of one of the colors that he has up on the house. I don't want to get caught because it's so much fun. I want to try and do it again next year.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, God. This is. This is. This is. This is just too good. This is too good. Now here's the deal. Our next update from you. Our next update from you. Let's let a few days go, but can you call me Tuesday?

[Greg]

Tuesday I won't be.

[Joe Soucheray]

I won't be here Monday. Yeah, you call me Tuesday. And because all. With all that's really going to happen between now and Sunday, the electrician's going to come over, he's going to pronounce everything fit. You're going to let the guy ride for a few days, he's going to go to church Sunday, you'll re hook up your stuff. And then Tuesday, give us your fourth update. And then when this is all over, you get the map, the cd, the hat, the shirt. You get it all. You get everything we got in the catalog. For your buddy, too. We'll do the same thing. We'll make a GLP pack for him once he finds out, because he'll shoot you once he finds out.

[Greg]

I want to do this again next year.

[Joe Soucheray]

All right, well, okay, then you. You get the GL pack when this is done next Tuesday. You got that?

[Greg]

Yep.

[Joe Soucheray]

Mom's the word. Mom's the word.

[Greg]

You know what?

[Joe Soucheray]

We.

[Greg]

We can't do this, though.

[Joe Soucheray]

What do you mean?

[Greg]

He can't milk it and then do it again next year. We need to have this guy on. On the air, though, and we need to have the other guy on there with, as Greg says.

[Joe Soucheray]

Hey, if Greg Wants.

[Greg]

I nailed you, buddy.

[Joe Soucheray]

No, if Greg wants to pull this off again, I think that's fantastic. This could be an annual GL event. Greg drives neighbor crazy. Tuesday, buddy.

[Greg]

Talk to you then, Joe.

[Joe Soucheray]

Tuesday.

[Greg]

What? Poor guy's going to be in therapy.

[Joe Soucheray]

Beautiful.

[Greg]

Hello, Joe, how are you?

[Joe Soucheray]

Everyone's waiting for the third installment in the update.

[Greg]

Well, hang on. Here we go.

[Joe Soucheray]

All right.

[Greg]

So the electrician comes out, right? And I went over and saw him later and talked to him and he.

[Joe Soucheray]

Said, yeah, well, you had disconnected all your stuff, right?

[Greg]

Oh, yeah, yeah. I went over. I went over and took it all out as soon as I heard he was coming. I went over in the evening, right? About 2:30 in the morning. Morning. And unhooked everything, right? Pulled it all out. So I go talk to him and he says, well, yeah, electrician come out and we took the box apart and we dug through just here for like an hour. Couldn't figure out what it was. Checked everything out. Everything seems to be okay. Said, well, I, you know, I don't know what to tell you. I said, I looked at it, everything seemed to be fine, and it seemed to be working. I don't know what's going on.

[Chris Reivers]

Mm.

[Greg]

And at first I thought, okay, maybe, you know, maybe he's caught on. Maybe somebody might have let him in on the secret that listens to the radio. And I thought, well, he's not really acting like he knows anything's going on. So I thought, what the hell? I'm gonna do it if I get caught. Big deal. Who cares? You know, I've had a good time up till now. So go back home and swindon it. Hooked it back up, right? And I wait till Sunday night. He walks out of the house heading towards the barn. And I hurry up and ran out and got a hold of the switch and shut the lights off so I could see better. And as he was walking towards the barn, I started to dim him. Joey stopped dead in his track, and I could hear him from my house.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, my God. God.

[Greg]

Just nothing. And swear like you can't believe. I mean, it was not. He was having a cat just screaming, ran in the house. Did he call you? Next thing I see, he's running out of the house dragging his wife, pointing, screaming and hollering at the bard. So I just slowly moved him back up to the airbright again. Then I slowly turned them all the way down and set him off. I hear him yelling at his wife, I have an electrician come out. The guy checks it out. He tells me there's Nothing wrong. Now, tell me there's something wrong with this, or am I going nuts? I could hear it from the house. He's screaming so loud. I pulled it out real slow again, pushed it back up again, off, right? Oh, his wife just turns around, she walks in the house. He walks over to the barn, just grabs the cord, just yanks and swings across the thing in the yard, stomps into the barn. That was it. But never plugged him in again rest of the night. So I waited and went back over and talked to him. The next morning before I went into work, I saw him get the kids ready for school bus. Got to ask to talk to him. I said, so, how's everything going? Wait till the kids get on the bus, Katie. And I was like, yeah, okay. Kids get on the bus. Get from the passenger side train. Couldn't believe this. Electrician comes out, checks the thing. Last night, I'm walking outside and the lights are going dim and back up to bright and dim and back up. He goes, greg, I've just given up. I sit. I'm done.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah.

[Greg]

I said, what do you mean plugging them back in again? I don't care. I'm not going to turn them back on anymore this year.

[Joe Soucheray]

Is that where it's.

[Greg]

I said, well, you know, maybe. Maybe, you know, I. I can't answer that for you. I don't have any idea why lights would dim. I said, they're Christmas lights. You got like a setting where they dim or what, you know, playing stupid. And he says, well, no, there's no setting like that. They just. They're on. I said, well, I don't know what to tell you. I said, what? The electrician. Did you call electrician and ask him about it? He goes, yeah, I'm going to call the electrician. He goes, I'm not going to pay for that. He said, doing the same thing it was when he got here. And he said he didn't find anything wrong. Something's got to be wrong. So I said, well, okay. So I come home that night.

[Joe Soucheray]

Wait, can you. Can you. Can you pick up the story after the news? Can you. Can you stay on hold?

[Greg]

Sure.

[Joe Soucheray]

Huh? Is Randy Meyer all right?

[Greg]

Yeah, let him go.

[Joe Soucheray]

All right, keep. Keep going, Greg.

[Greg]

Okay. So anyway, so he calls me over and he says, all right, electricity's coming out first thing tomorrow morning. We're gonna get this checked out once and for all.

[Joe Soucheray]

Mm.

[Greg]

So I said, okay, that's it. I've had my fun. I'm gonna go get the stuff, and I'm gonna get it completely out of the yard. I'm gonna pull it all the way back over to the house. But I went over and I got it. Pulled it all back over to the house, unhooked it. Took me like an hour and a half. Pulled it all back over to the house. Next morning, I see the electrician there. I wanted to wait before I went into work. So I wait. I see electrical. So I drive over there. I said, yeah, I don't know what's going on. I said, these lights go down, off, down off. Electrician goes in. He's pulled the box off. He's looking all over, checks all the outlets, pulls everything apart again. He goes, I'm telling you, there's nothing wrong. My neighbors start yelling. He goes, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm telling you, these Christmas lights go on and off and they dim slow, and then they come up fast till they're all the way on or until they're all the way off. My wife saw it, my neighbor saw it. And you can't fight the problem. I'm not paying the bill. So him and the electrician get into a big screw. Imagine the electrician leaves. He looks at me, he goes, you know, what the hell is it? I'm not going to turn them on. I don't care if they're working now. I'm shutting them off. That's it for the year. Oh, God. So, Joe.

[Chris Reivers]

Yeah.

[Greg]

I got the whole thing for next year and I'm going to do it again. Got a buddy that's an electrician that's got an idea that he wants to try that. He thinks we could actually make the lights pulse. Like, it's kind of like a chasing pattern between now and next Christmas. We're going to work on that and see if we can't pull that off. I wish that was maybe what we would do next year. I know it doesn't get dark till after you're off the air, but we do next year. Is it? Maybe you and Ricky wanted to come out one night and watch. We'd do it when you guys could come out and watch.

[Joe Soucheray]

We'll definitely do it.

[Greg]

Joe. I'm telling you. I thought he'd do what I was up to. Yeah, no clue.

[Joe Soucheray]

Stay in touch, Greg.

[Greg]

I will.

[Joe Soucheray]

Thank you.

[Greg]

Have a great Christmas, Jerry.

[Joe Soucheray]

Same to you. Thank you.

[Greg]

Bye Bye.

[Chris Reivers]

Man, oh, man. Hoferman Water is here for you and your family because they want to upgrade you to the best quality water known to man. They have done that with Me, they will do that for you. And you know what? Here's the beauty of this relationship I did. I started out as a customer of Hofferman Water and Connecticut years and years ago. In fact, when we bought our new home, that was the very first thing that my wife said. You're getting that water treatment system for this place too, right? I said, yup. And they were there on day one. In fact, it was just a couple of hours after we closed on the home that they were there to install the brand new water treatment system. And you know what? It's made an amazing difference in the quality of my water. And they are fantastic people to work with and I have appreciated that relationship over these past couple of years. So here's the thing. The first step, though, is you have to get on that schedule and have them come out for that free water analysis. And you can do that one of two ways. You can call them directly at 612-895-2440 or you can also book your appointment online at hoffermanwater.com either way, you get on that schedule, you have them come up for that free water analysis and then they will give you this thing that's called a water score. And then based upon that water score, they will give you recommendations on how they can upgrade the quality of the water inside your. They have done that for me. They will do that for you. Because bad water can affect almost every single aspect of your home. It's going to protect your appliances. It's also going to make your laundry better, your showers are going to be better, and so is your drinking water. So get on that schedule. 612-895-2440 or visit hoffermanwater.com and that's because Hofferman Water has been proudly serving the state of Minnesota for over 50 years. Please do me a favor, though, and mention that you heard it right here on the Garage Logic podcast.

[Joe Soucheray]

Is this our guy on four?

[Greg]

Yes.

[Joe Soucheray]

You gotta be kidding me. Tom.

[Greg]

Joe.

[Joe Soucheray]

You don't know how many people have asked about you. This is Tom, the Christmas Light Prankster.

[Greg]

Yeah, it is. A lot of things have happened since I talked to you last.

[Joe Soucheray]

Did. Did you have to move out of state?

[Greg]

Yes, sir, I did. I. I now live down in Kimball Nebras.

[Joe Soucheray]

Did you have to move as a result of the prank?

[Greg]

No. If you remember, I had some problems with my father and my father passed away and I came down and took over the business.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.

[Greg]

Before your father passed, though, did he get did you let him in on the Christmas light rivalry bit? Oh, yeah. He knew all along.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah.

[Greg]

Okay, good.

[Joe Soucheray]

Hey, are you pulling it on somebody down in Nebraska?

[Greg]

Not yet, Joe. I don't know my neighbors that well. I just moved out here in October.

[Joe Soucheray]

But you're, you're scouting, aren't you?

[Greg]

Well, I'm working on it, but I. But I had to call and tell you that it'll give you a quick little update. This doesn't really have anything to do with Christmas lights, but Doug, my neighbor, ended up moving away up in Minnesota there. He ended up moving up to Deering, North Dakota in June.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, he had been driven crazy.

[Greg]

Well, I don't know if you know, but we used to get each other quite often. Well, I have one of these, had one of these round swimming pool things that you have. They're above ground. They're like a three or four foot pool. And I don't know, the one I had I think was probably 36 or 40ft across, but it was a circular swimming pool. You know, the above ground that they have in Minnesota there you see them a lot. Well, a couple of years back I'd had a problem with algae in the thing and I couldn't figure out how to get rid of it or what was going on. It turned the water green. Well, right about the time he left, my water was just green as could be in my pool. And I couldn't figure out what was going on with it. So I went into my swimming pool place and told them what was going on and they gave me the chemicals I'd need to get rid of the algae. And I put the chemicals in and opened, pulled the COVID part off of it a couple days later and it was still green and the sides were green and everything else. I couldn't figure out what was going on. So I took the water in and gave it to the people to test. And they said, well, you know, this doesn't make any sense. I mean, it's really green. But all the chemicals are testing that it should be killing all this stuff out. I don't understand what's going on. Well, let's try it again. So we hit it with some more stuff. Well, after about $300 worth of chemicals in my pool, I finally took another sample in and they sent it into a big laboratory out in New York. And we got the thing back about three weeks later and with a very nice little note at the bottom that said, we're not exactly sure what the idea was here, but somebody put green food coloring in your swimming pool. Well, I found out who it was.

[Joe Soucheray]

And, boy, nobody deserved it more than you.

[Greg]

The dirty dog put green food coloring in my swimming pool, and it made the sides of my pool permanently gre. So now, even though I do have new water in this thing, when I got ready to leave, we decided to just pitch the liner and bring the other part with us. We'll buy a new liner this next year when we put it up.

[Joe Soucheray]

When we last talked to you, probably around this time last year. Right. You were still in town last year, weren't you?

[Greg]

I was kind of going back and forth at that time.

[Joe Soucheray]

But you were running the prank last year, I think.

[Greg]

No, I don't think I. I don't think I was, Joe, because I was gonna do. I was gonna do it, and then, you know, things happened with my father. I wasn't around. I mean, I had everything laid out to do it.

[Joe Soucheray]

Right. So it would have been two years ago. Right. Well, the way I remember it is.

[Greg]

I did it two years in a row and was gonna do it a third and actually try and figure out a way for you guys to come out and watch it.

[Joe Soucheray]

I could have sworn you did it in 98. Then you had. Then you disappeared in 99, and I thought you were back last year, so maybe I got it wrong. Maybe you did it in 97, disappeared in 98, and did it again in 99. Because I know we had two years of reporting from you with a year in between.

[Greg]

I don't remember exactly what the days are.

[Joe Soucheray]

Staff, could you help me?

[Greg]

I'm too old.

[Joe Soucheray]

Could you get the show notes?

[Greg]

Yes.

[Joe Soucheray]

Didn't we have two years of reporting from Tom with a year in between? The prank you called last year.

[Greg]

I called you last year?

[Joe Soucheray]

Yep. The Christmas of 2000.

[Greg]

But wasn't my father in the hospital then?

[Joe Soucheray]

I don't know.

[Greg]

I think you said you had some.

[Joe Soucheray]

Issues of some sort. Yeah, but you called us. I think you were pulling the rivalry last year, but you were in and out of town.

[Greg]

Right? Okay, we had some stuff set up, but we didn't do anything elaborate like we did the years gone by.

[Joe Soucheray]

Right. Where you drove the guy crazy.

[Greg]

Yeah, we just stole some electricity from him that year.

[Joe Soucheray]

Right, right. But the original prank was you had it arranged where, by remote control, you could sit on your deck and run his lights.

[Greg]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Joe Soucheray]

And he went nuts and could do.

[Greg]

Many things with his lights.

[Joe Soucheray]

Right. And he'd come out and scratch his chin and stare at him, and you'd turn him on and off. And now this poor guy is living in North Dakota. That's how desperate he got.

[Greg]

Well, what, what, what reminded me to call you actually was I was, I was sitting down and doing some Christmas cards and I had sent one last night to him and I had decided in the Christmas card last night to let the cat out of the bag because I don't think he. I still don't think he knows it was me that gave him about a. I don't know, I think it was about a six or seven hundred dollar electric bill over the years. And so I sent him a Christmas card with all that information in it. So I'm assuming sometime around the first of the year, I'll probably get a phone call.

[Joe Soucheray]

You might get a bill.

[Greg]

Well, he can deduct a $400 liner right off the bat and then say.

[Joe Soucheray]

Okay, I owe you 200 bucks. Yeah, yeah, whatever the cost of the liner is, you could put that up against the electric bill.

[Greg]

Joe, I'm guessing over the years we've probably cost each other a couple thousand dollars.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, it was the all timer and we're gonna replay it at 4:00'. Clock. We're gonna play some of the original calls on this rivalry and they were fantastic.

[Greg]

I just wanted to give you an update and if I ever do find a neighbo here that I'd feel comfortable doing the same things with, I might give a call back to you.

[Chris Reivers]

All right.

[Joe Soucheray]

We'd appreciate it.

[Greg]

All right. Have a nice Christmas.

[Joe Soucheray]

Same to you. Yep. Bye bye. Thank you.

[Greg]

It's an award winning best of on Christmas Eve.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, I mean, you know, sitting on your deck.

[Greg]

Yeah.

[Joe Soucheray]

With binoculars and watching this guy come out in the yard and absolutely playing with his mind. Had to be, you know, do you remember he was gonna have us do the show from his deck and watch him screw the guy's mind up. But then apparently his dad got sick or something and then he began this travel schedule because remember another thing, we were always wondering about him. Did he leave town because he was in trouble as a result of this? I mean, did the neighbor show up with a shotgun or something?

[Chris Reivers]

Oh, right. We were worried about him.

[Greg]

We were worried about his.

[Joe Soucheray]

Turns out everything was fine. He had to leave town to take care of family business. You can't beat that though.

[Greg]

A good rivalry like that. He throws a little green food coloring in there.

[Chris Reivers]

And what would normally be Johnny Height's newscast in this best of Garage Logic today is brought to you by our great friends at North American banking company. Once again, find them [e-mail] to learn more. And here we conclude the Best of Garage Logic with the Most Fraudulent Time of the year, courtesy of Stephen C. Jillian and our good buddy Pat Donahue.

[Joe Soucheray]

All right, this is the Most Fraudulent Time of Year by the band.

[Greg]

The Most fraudulent time of the year with the kids rapid shooting and everyone looting to get some free gear it's the most fraudulent time of the year.

[Joe Soucheray]

Hey now.

[Greg]

It'S the cheapest Thieving is.

[Joe Soucheray]

Season of all With w denials and.

[Greg]

Fake happy smiles when thieves come to call It's a fraud frodiest season of.

[Joe Soucheray]

All There'll be parties for hosting Subpoenas.

[Greg]

For toasting and cash laying out in the snow There'll be sad budget stories.

[Joe Soucheray]

And tales of the dreams of surpluses.

[Greg]

Long long ago it's the most fraudulent.

[Joe Soucheray]

Time of the year.

[Greg]

There'll be much faint finger pointing and waltz is gaslighting.

[Joe Soucheray]

With feds coming near it's the most fraudulent time of the year. Oh that is so good.

[Greg]

That is so good.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Would you from there? Would you guys.

[Chris Reivers]

Well, I do certainly hope that you've enjoyed this Best of Garage Logic Reavers back here in the GL Podcast studios thanking each and every single one of you gillers for your contributions and your participation and your subscriptions to both the Garage logic podcast, the YouTube channel, all of the social media channels, Facebook, Instagram and Active, and all of you dedicated and die hard loyal town council members. I can't say it enough. We appreciate each and every single one of you. So Merry Christmas from the entire Garage Logic crew. And yes, so next week the Mayor will be out but we will have a couple of fill in hosts along with some more Best of Garage Logic coming your way. And we thank each and every single one of you once again. So Merry Christmas. Happy New Year.