#4333 Not To Breg

Summary

Podcast Summary: TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live – Episode #4333 "Not To Breg"

Release Date: November 8, 2024
Hosts: Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh

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1. Introduction & Monkey News (00:00 – 02:41)

The episode kicks off with Luke and Andrew engaging in their trademark playful banter, setting a lighthearted tone for the show. Luke humorously remarks on the brevity of their small talk, listing quirky topics such as "what constitutes a grain" and "the birth of the transistor" (00:00). This segues into their main discussion points for the day, including intriguing news about monkeys.

Notable Quote:

• Luke Burbank (00:00): “We better keep it impersonal. Acceptable topics include what constitutes a grain, the Hubble Space Telescope, orchid varietals, the birth of the transistor.”

2. Great Junk Hunt Plans (03:10 – 07:09)

Andrew shares his plans to attend the Great Junk Hunt at the Washington State Fairgrounds, describing it as a massive rummage sale event (03:46). He discusses the logistics of the event, including coordinating with friends and dealing with household issues like furnace repairs. The conversation highlights the camaraderie and the chaotic nature of organizing weekend activities.

Notable Quote:

• Andrew Walsh (03:46): “It's something that is going down at the Washington State Fairgrounds, AKA do the Puyallup, only it's not the Puyallup Fair, but it's the Great Junk Hunt. I guess it's huge.”

3. Furnace and Thermostat Troubles (07:10 – 24:34)

A significant portion of the episode delves into Andrew’s frustrating experiences with his home furnace and thermostat. He recounts persistent issues with maintaining a comfortable temperature, leading to sleepless nights and disrupted routines.

• Thermostat Hassles: Andrew details his struggles with modern thermostats, particularly ones by Honeywell and Google Nest. He expresses frustration with their interfaces and reliability, contemplating replacing them for better efficiency (07:00 – 15:11).

  Notable Quote:

  • Andrew Walsh (07:00): “It's clunky and just difficult, difficult, difficult, lemon difficult.”

• Furnace Failures: The discussion moves to the furnace’s intermittent functionality, causing Andrew distress as he juggles between attempting quick fixes and scheduling professional repairs (08:00 – 11:27).

  Notable Quote:

  • Andrew Walsh (08:00): “We've been dealing with this for weeks and now suddenly it's working. Literally hours before somebody shows up.”

• Interaction with Repair Services: Andrew shares his interactions with furnace repair companies, highlighting delays, added frustrations, and the psychological toll of dealing with malfunctioning home systems (11:27 – 24:34).

  Notable Quote:

  • Andrew Walsh (24:14): “I have already scheduled the repair. It knew dad was coming home.”

4. Debt Collection Woes (24:35 – 38:47)

Andrew transitions to a more personal and intense topic: debt collection. He narrates his ordeal with an elusive company named "Brag," which began billing him for medical supplies he had paid for but which led to subsequent calls from debt collectors.

• Initial Confusion: Andrew describes receiving unexpected bills despite having settled them, leading to multiple calls and voicemails from debt collectors (24:35 – 27:10).

  Notable Quote:

  • Andrew Walsh (24:35): “I owe you money. How about an itemized bill? Brag. So I finally, out of frustration in August, I call them.”

• Escalation and Frustration: Frustration mounts as Andrew deals with unresponsive customer service and duplicated accounts, exacerbating the situation and threatening his credit score (27:10 – 38:47).

  Notable Quote:

  • Andrew Walsh (35:20): “Nobody's calling me back. They're like, this guy's rude.”

5. Donor Appreciation and Light Banter (38:48 – 42:31)

Despite the heavy topics, Luke and Andrew take a moment to appreciate their donors, acknowledging the financial support that keeps the show running. They inject humor into the conversation, particularly when discussing debt collection experiences.

Notable Quote:

• Luke Burbank (36:43): “These folks just stepped up and said, yeah, I'm gonna donate some of my hard-earned money to TBTL so that this thing can keep happening.”

6. Political and Media Discussion (42:31 – 52:05)

The conversation shifts to the aftermath of the 2024 election, with both hosts expressing their mixed emotions about the results. Luke reflects on insights from Chris Hayes’s show, finding hope in the close election outcome. They discuss the implications of a divided nation and the personal feelings of threat arising from visible political symbols in everyday settings.

• Election Reflections: Luke shares a clip from Chris Hayes, emphasizing that despite the disappointing results, the close election provides a foundation for future movements (42:31 – 44:08).

  Notable Quote:

  • Chris Hayes (Played by Luke, 44:08): “We are not looking at Reagan in 1980 or Nixon in '72… it's a toss-up race in a bad environment for incumbents.”

• Personal Impact: Both hosts discuss how the election results have made political symbols around them feel more threatening, affecting their emotional well-being (44:08 – 52:05).

  Notable Quote:

  • Luke Burbank (51:14): “I feel totally dislocated from life. This really is going to suck for the next four years.”

7. Social Media Migration and BlueSky (52:06 – 62:31)

Luke and Andrew explore the shift from traditional social media platforms like Twitter to alternatives such as BlueSky. They discuss the benefits and challenges of these new platforms, including user engagement and community building. Both express excitement about BlueSky’s potential and share tips on navigating its early stages.

• BlueSky Adoption: Andrew shares his experiences with BlueSky, noting a recent influx of new users and increased engagement related to shared interests, such as Mariners fandom (56:30 – 58:40).

  Notable Quote:

  • Andrew Walsh (56:30): “I'm seeing new names. I'm seeing people from the LeBatard show saying, okay, I'm back here now.”

• Platform Features: They discuss the functionalities of BlueSky compared to Threads and Mastodon, debating the future of social media interactions (58:05 – 62:31).

  Notable Quote:

  • Luke Burbank (58:40): “I have not gotten that update yet, but I will follow you back as soon as.”

8. Closing Remarks (62:02 – 63:10)

As the episode wraps up, Luke and Andrew reflect on the week’s challenges and express gratitude for their friendship and support from donors. They tease future content and encourage listeners to take care of themselves amid ongoing personal and societal stressors.

Notable Quote:

• Luke Burbank (62:31): “We feel really lucky to get to be here this week, even when things are really shitty.”

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Conclusion:

In Episode #4333 "Not To Breg," Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh balance humor with candid discussions about personal struggles, from home maintenance woes and debt collection nightmares to navigating post-election anxieties and evolving social media landscapes. Their authentic conversations provide listeners with both relatable content and insightful commentary, maintaining the essence of TBTL's mission to "goof their way through the world the best they can."

Transcript

[Luke Burbank]

We only have to make small talk for 8 minutes and 45 seconds. We better keep it impersonal. Acceptable topics include what constitutes a grain, the Hubble Space Telescope, orchid varietals, the birth of the transistor. We only have to fill eight minutes. Sure, but think about it as 480 seconds and you'll see why I'm concerned.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, my God. TBTL Guess what day it is. Guess what day it is. It's Friday. Gonna get down on Friday? Everybody's looking forward to the weekend. Jalapeno. She's buying, right? Because I will be ordering a bowl of soup as an appetizer, not a cup. Chuck, I know people say, I'll fill up, but you have no idea how my body processes soup. Too much. One man's too much information is another man's too little information. T LI and one other man's J E I just. Enough information.

[Luke Burbank]

Hi.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm sorry.

[Luke Burbank]

I didn't see you there.

[Andrew Walsh]

I was too busy blocking out the hangers.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, all right. Hello, good morning, and welcome, everyone, to a Friday edition of tbtl, the show which this might be too beautiful to live. That's a tuna, bro. My name is Luke Burbank. I am your host.

[Andrew Walsh]

Gimme that.

[Luke Burbank]

Coming to you from the Madrona Hill studio, perched high above the mighty Columbia, where it's an absolutely beautiful day, I am, unfortunately, still a bit under the weather. My recent symptoms include I get dizzy spells, nausea, cold sweats, hot sweats, involuntary trembling, dead hands, numb lips, fingernail sensitivity, pelvic discomfort, all of the above. So we'll see how, how long we go today here on episode 4333 in a collector's series, Let the fun begin. If I can tough it out, we do have a lot of news to talk about with you. I've got lots of news in the monkey department. You've been living in the monkey house, including escaped monkeys in South Carolina and questions as to if those monkeys and many other could write the works of Shakespeare or not. It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times. All that plus this guy, longest running cobra of the show. Maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ships. He shared something very personal with me right before the show. You know, I'm like part psychic, and by part, I mean whole thing. He's Andrew Walsh and he's joining me right now. Good morning, my friend.

[Andrew Walsh]

Good morning. First of all, I'm sorry that you are playing Hurt today to bring a little sports. I'm trying to be more sporty to bring some sports talk into it.

[Luke Burbank]

Not all heroes wear capes, Andrew. Some of them wear Patagonia. I do like that. I. You And I usually try to dress reasonably well for this thing that's mostly just audio. But I am not feeling great today. And I thought, well, I'm going to treat myself to wearing this. Zip up Patagonia.

[Andrew Walsh]

Looks cozy. Looks cozy. I got. I'm just for the listeners. I'm wearing what Madonna. Something similar, not the actual thing, to what Madonna wore in the Vogue video. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't know if you're familiar with a human chair, but that's kind of the vibe that Andrew is going for today.

[Andrew Walsh]

I am. Do you know what I'm doing later today? You might be interested in this. I want to tell you this because I couldn't remember exactly where it was or what it was. And I was googling around frantically and I got to the answer right as you introduced me. Have you ever heard of the Great Junk Hunt? And as I say that out loud, I realize where you're going to take that. Oh, no, I killed him.

[Luke Burbank]

I run. Well, please don't say Great Junk Hunt.

[Andrew Walsh]

I did not. You know what? You know what? I literally did not even think about how that. You can go around talking about the Great Junk Hunt all you want. It never occurs to you until you say it to Luke Burbank.

[Luke Burbank]

I used to play Great Junk Hunt when I was a kid, and I would hold the gun right up against the screen and I would get, like, high score.

[Andrew Walsh]

Anyway, I'm taking it you haven't heard of it. I have not heard of it either. It's something that is going down at the Washington State Fairgrounds, AKA do the Puyallup, only it's not the Puyallup Fair, but it's the Great Junk Hunt. I guess it's huge. Huge, like, rummage sale situation. I'm supposed to head down there later today if I can get all my work done in time. Yeah. And I also, presumably me and Veeves and a friend who. Here's the truth. Genevieve told me about this on, like, Monday. And she said, do you think, you know, do you think you'd be able to join us? Because we're going to. We're supposed to leave in, like, the late afternoon. I'm like, it really depends how my Friday goes. But she's. She said, I'm going down there with somebody and I can't remember who it is. I don't know if it's somebody who listens to this show. Or not. But it might either way. Genevieve is going with a friend and I may or may not tag along, depending how something else goes in my life, which is what happens when the furnace repair person gets here later today because I have been having a situation. How do you like the thermostats in your house, Luke? Do you have a good relationship?

[Luke Burbank]

I don't have any thermostats.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, yeah, right.

[Luke Burbank]

The. This house, when I bought it, had no like decent H Vac.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

To speak of. It had like a little built in wall heater in a couple of different rooms that were both a fire hazard and relatively ineffective. So I've put a mini split, a heat pump, as they call it, in the living room and I'm going to put smaller versions of that in other places in the house. But.

[Andrew Walsh]

And then how do you.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't have a furnace.

[Andrew Walsh]

How do you control them?

[Luke Burbank]

Well, there's a remote control and, and they're quite efficient.

[Andrew Walsh]

You just like choose a. You just choose a temperature and you can do that or you can probably set it for different times of day to do automated. Automated things you can do.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, you can set it, you can automate it. You can choose if you want it to make the house cooler or warmer. What's really interesting is the way that it works is let's say it's a hot day. It actually is pulling the heat out of the house and replacing it with cold air. And if it's a cold day, it's. It's pulling cold air out of the house and replacing it with warm air. So when you walk by. So the actual unit is outside, it's under the deck. And if. When I'm running the heat and you walk by this thing, it's blowing freezing cold air outside because it's pulling the cold air out and replacing it with warm air and vice versa in the summertime.

[Andrew Walsh]

So when you say the unit itself is under the deck, so what are you aiming the remote control at? What is the unit that you're using inside?

[Luke Burbank]

It's kind of a large rectangular thing that has little vents on it and it's. It's basically like where the, you know, warm or cold air is coming into the house. So that thing is mounted on the wall.

[Andrew Walsh]

I see. So.

[Luke Burbank]

And then the thing that's actually doing the heating and cooling is like screwed into a cement little platform outside.

[Andrew Walsh]

Gotcha. Gotcha.

[Luke Burbank]

We all have a furnace.

[Andrew Walsh]

We just have a furnace. Yeah. And here, here's the thing. A little, little BG on me is the last two places I've lived. So this place here in my previous apartment, I've had a very, I'm going to say, I don't know, tough relationship with my thermostats. I don't remember the thermostats that came before. And that is kind of to their credit. Like, you know, like I don't remember having issues with thermostats because they weren't a problem. Because they weren't a problem. It's just like, I don't know, you just put whatever temperature in. But these, I think both of these are probably either somewhat anti or maybe just somewhat low quality but modern like Honeywell brand little thermostats that you can like program for. It's not even that complicated. It's not like different zones of the house. We're talking about a small house and before that a smallish apartment. But just like, hey, you got to set it so that at 6am for your wake up time, you know, you want it to, you know, be at 68 degrees, but then when you go to bed at night you can knock it down to 65. You gotta pre program all this stuff which is like, that stuff is not beyond me. Like I could read the instructions and do it, which I've done many times. But like there's something about the interface that is just so clunky and just difficult, difficult, difficult, lemon difficult. And I've just, I hate both of them. And so I've had a long running plan to replace the thermostat upstairs with a, I think a Google home brand, like you know, smart home thermostat. My dad sent me one that is like gently used because he had upgraded his system or something. I've had it in the drawer all I think for like a year now. I was nervous to do it last year when it was cold to install it. Something like what? I don't know what I'm doing here. If I break the whole system, I don't want it to be in the middle of winter. I was going to do it this summer. The summer sort of passed me by. And now here it is, wintertime again and we're using our old thermostat. But worse than that is it took me a long time because of, because of what I think of as the jankiness of this thermostat. I think the furnace has probably been broken for a week or two. It just has not been working right. But I've been chalking it up to me not knowing how to use this stupid thermostat right and so I've been sort of like. I keep on setting it to 70, but it's only, like, staying up to 65 or 66 at some times. Like, I just.

[Luke Burbank]

It's.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I. You know how you just know the sounds of your house? Like, you wouldn't even realize it until they change. But, like, the furnace itself, when it kicks on, it's making a slightly different sound. It sounds like it's struggling a little bit. And, like, I've just been like, I don't know, sort of thinking, like, yeah, I got to get to the bottom of this. But then in the past couple of days, I've realized, like, we woke up freezing yesterday, and we're like, there is something wrong with this. Like, I know I have everything set right. Like, there is something wrong probably with the furnace. I called one company. They said, we can have somebody out there in two weeks. They were very, very nice. But I was like, two weeks seems like a long time to be this cold. So then I found another place that was, like, only for a little bit more money. Said, oh, well, we'll be out there by noon tomorrow. And I'm like, well, that is fan. That is fantastic. And so somebody is coming out. But here's where it got a little bit psychological for me is Genevieve was out with a friend last night. I don't know what they were doing. I don't ask questions, but I was home alone, and it was cold here. I kept turning up the thermostat, but the furnace wouldn't go on. I would turn it off and on again. It would turn on for a second before dying out again. I'm using Genevieve space heater while I'm playing my stupid video game, and I'm even texting Genevieve. I'm like, just so you know, it's really cold in the house when you get home. I got the space heater going on downstairs, but then around, I don't know, 10 o'clock at night or something, I just kept messing around with the thermostat. And I don't know what I did at 10 o'clock. Maybe I just turned it up to, like, 77 and just said, let's. Let's thermostat around and find out. Like, I don't know what happened, but all of a sudden, last night, it just seemed to start working again. Like, the house got warm. It seemed to be reading the proper temperature in the room and responding correctly. And so I sense that you had.

[Luke Burbank]

Already scheduled the repair.

[Andrew Walsh]

It knew dad was coming home. It really did and so I honestly had a bunch of sort of half baked, bad stress dreams last night about trying to explain how the furnace wasn't working before. But it is working now, but I still think it's broken. And I don't know if it's the thermostat, but it's probably the furnace. And like, I have just been at. Well, you just heard my internal dialogue about this, which was much longer than it needed to be. But I really was psychologically effed in the head all last night because I was just like, how is this. How have I been dealing with this for weeks and now suddenly it's working. Literally hours before somebody shows up. I was kind of thankful today, therefore, when I woke up and I saw that it's acting janky again. And so I think it's. I think it's good and broken again. And so somebody's going to come over here and tell me how many thousands upon thousands of dollars I need to pay to fix it.

[Luke Burbank]

Is he also going to walk you through putting the Google product on your. Because you haven't set that up yet, right?

[Andrew Walsh]

No. How do you know it's a he?

[Luke Burbank]

That's, you know what? The doctor was a woman.

[Andrew Walsh]

It is a he. His name is Michael. But still, how did you know I shouldn't.

[Luke Burbank]

Based on various commercials starring Marshaw Lynch. I've noticed he's mostly tackling dudes. Yeah, he is in these commercials that relate to furnaces.

[Andrew Walsh]

What if Michael the furnace the furnace repairman comes over here and just pulls. Reaches in my furnace and pulls whatever that. Is it a. Is it a purple squeaky ball that Marshawn pulls out of a sink or something that converts?

[Luke Burbank]

It would be a really different thing if Marshawn tackled a female technician. That would be a.

[Andrew Walsh]

Or a child. Or a child. But anyway, your question is a good one and thank you. And this is another thing where it's just like, I don't know why I get, I get like, I get like, quite honestly, like, socially anxious about this stuff because I have been rehearsing in my head what I'm going to say and clearly based on the conversation and just the absolute dump of minute detail I just gave you, I'm still not fully ready for this conversation because I keep telling myself, like, describe what has been happening with this. Don't jump ahead to the fact that you plan on replacing the thermostat, but at some point bring that into the conversation. Like I've been trying to. Because I do want to sort of know, like, what is the lay of the land here. And if any of these issues have to do with the thermostat, well, then definitely, like, I have one right here in the drawer. Let's. If you're going to be installing anything like that, I have. I have one that I would like to use, but my guess is this is actually furnace related. So that's going to be a whole thing in and of itself. Now if it's a. If it's something that is fixable today and it's like, oh, yeah, I have the part in my van and we can do this, I would like to then say, okay, by the. There's another little project that I've been working on. Is it like, is it within your scope and how much it would have cost us to have you install this properly? Because honestly, the thing with the thermostat that I want to install, it's not even the wiring. Like, weirdly, I'm nervous about that, but I feel I can figure it out. I don't know how to mount things on walls. Like Genevieve all. I'm so. I'm so infantilized on that because Genevieve does all of that. Like whether it's, you know, like hanging a clock or, you know, a painting or whatever. Like she does all of the wall moun around here. And I'm just sort of like nervous about that part of it as well. So if I could just end up like kind of sliding this into the work order, that would be awesome.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm sure that they do this a lot, by the way. Yeah, like, I mean, lots of homes are probably switching over to this smart technology. Do you. Does this Google product it seem like you have to actually like hook wires into the back of it or does it just like somehow sit atop your preexisting system?

[Andrew Walsh]

No, it's a wall unit that would replace the thermostat wall. Un. If you can picture, I got like something about the size of, I don't know, slightly bigger than a deck of cars.

[Luke Burbank]

Is it a Google Nest thermostat?

[Andrew Walsh]

It's a Google Nest, but it's not like whatever the newest generation is because I think my dad had this in his home. Maybe. I don't know. He sent it to me last year. He probably used it for five years or something. So, you know, it's probably a five or six year old piece of technology, but it should still be workable. But yeah, I need to like replace again. It probably is not that big of a deal. I know there I started watching a YouTube video on how to do it, it's probably just, you know, like remove these wires, then re. Hook them up MacGyver style.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I'm watching a video right now on YouTube.

[Andrew Walsh]

Can we hear it?

[Luke Burbank]

I'm sure we're going to show you how to install and set up your nest. Learning thermostat. Everything you need is in the box.

[Andrew Walsh]

Nice.

[Luke Burbank]

The installation guide. Screwdriver, screws and a trim kit to cover. Do you have all of those things?

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm looking for the trim kit. Where's.

[Luke Burbank]

Did Bob send all of those things?

[Andrew Walsh]

You know what, dude? Like in all seriousness, like, yes, I don't have the box in front of me right now. But you will never.

[Luke Burbank]

Somehow I intuited that Bob would send you all of the things, including the trim kit.

[Andrew Walsh]

Whatever you. Whatever meticulousness you think I bring to certain aspects of my life, obviously not my personal appearance. But putting that aside, like, my dad.

[Luke Burbank]

Actually over the apple did not fall.

[Andrew Walsh]

Far from the tree I think I have here. So he sends me a box. He sent me a. But like in the original box which he. When he gets a piece of equipment like this, he puts it in storage somewhere, you know, like. And like keeps. It's like clean. So he sent me this thing that unless there were cellophane on it, that's the only way it could have looked more like factory direct. Like he sent me this thing, packaged up every little thing. And what I'm holding right here are emails that he sent back and forth. He's got a Nest support number. This is an email printout I have here from November 15, 2021.

[Luke Burbank]

Have you considered having your dad talk to the furnace guy today? He comes to your house.

[Andrew Walsh]

He has printed out an email he got from somebody named Kevin at the Google Nest customer care team in 2021. Thanks for reaching out to the Go Nest customer care team to verify. So anyway, like he, he took the email from Kevin and printed it out in case I need that to install this. He's got his own handwritten. He's got awesome handwriting, he's got immaculate notes and he saves all of this stuff. So yes, trust me, like, somehow he sent me more than I need probably in that. In that Google Nest kit, including the.

[Luke Burbank]

There must. There must be some sort of dad DNA that involves saving the manuals for things. I mean, I am technically speaking a father, but I didn't get this, you know, passed down to me. My dad is like obsessed with reading the directions for everything. And you know, we've been. Speaking of which, like the mini Split the heat pump thing that I have in my house when he helped me install that, like, I just throw the directions out as soon as I get them, because I figure I'll just.

[Andrew Walsh]

I burn them. Yeah, I just take them and I burn them.

[Luke Burbank]

I burn them. I drive the ashes somewhere outside the city and scatter them to the wind. I just figure the Internet will tell me how to do this. The idea of a printed instruction guide or user's manual is so antiquated to me, and yet there have been so many times at this house and with this project that I've been doing with my dad, where we hit some sort of confusion, and he goes, well, where's the manual for it? Or whatever, and he digs it out of the box, and then he reads it front to back, and then he somehow knows how to fix whatever is, like, whatever's not working about it. Like, that's a real dad move.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's weird. Like, I guess maybe I'm somewhere between you and your dad on that, because my instinct is exactly yours. I hate instruction manuals. I always have. It's almost like a. It's almost like a feral instinct. But clearly, you know me. I'm also a troubleshooter. So when it comes to, like, computer stuff, like, I get frustrated about something and I will go. I'll go digging and digging and digging. But the thing is, like, I am more likely to go digging and do, like, you know, like, search for a certain word in a long Reddit thread of somebody who has an issue with something before actually sitting down to read the instruction manual that Honeywell or Google has sent along with it. Like, there's something in my brain that is sort of broken about manuals. I will say this, and this is something I've stated on other podcasts, so this is unfortunately not a TBTL experience.

[Luke Burbank]

You've been seeing other podcasts?

[Andrew Walsh]

I have been, yeah. This is not an exclusive. This is a little bit of reheated content for you. But. But I honestly think. I don't know if you know this. The Internet changed a lot of things about how the world works. The thing that I think I am most grateful for is the fact that we don't have to save our manuals anymore. So even if you use your manual, like, when you first get it, there was I, for years and years in my adult life, had about two or three manila folders that were overflowing with old instruction manuals, from toenail clippers to dishwashing dishwashers, you know, just like. And they're never the same size. They're falling and you're just like. But I can't throw this away because someday I'm going to need to know how to fix this thing. First of all, I never use those anyway. And now they are all online. Like almost literally any appliance that you are still using in this day and age, you can find the PDF for it somewhere online. And so you don't need those folders anymore. And that, my friend, is the blessing of the Internet.

[Luke Burbank]

Or if you're a slow learner like I am, you can find somebody who made a video in lieu of the manual better, which is that's how I tend to absorb the information.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

I want to say one quick thing. I think you should lead with the Google Nest, okay. Because listening, because I feel like let's, let's imagine that you go, you, you sort of unspool this information for the technician in the way you have planned. In other words, he shows up and you say furnace is being weird, et cetera, et cetera. And, and then he says, oh well, it's this wiring to the whatever. And then later you go, oh, by the way, I would like to put an entire new interface on this. Don't you think you should start with the new interface? Because then he'll say, oh well, if I'm unplugging that or whatever, that might just fix the problem. I feel like introducing The Google nest 70% of the way into the troubleshooting. It seems like a weird time to introduce it. It feels to me like it should be the primary thing.

[Andrew Walsh]

Definitely shouldn't be the primary thing because I don't think the primary thing is getting heat back in the house. And I truly do think it has to do with the thermostat. And I mean, I think, you know, this, the furnace itself out. I don't think the pilot light is out, but I think there might because I did just the tiniest, tiniest bit of Google. I mean like literally asked Google why would my furnace stop working? Like while I was walking up and down the stairs with laundry or something and read like the top people also.

[Luke Burbank]

Searched for did Joe Biden drop out?

[Andrew Walsh]

Right. Exactly. Why is everybody so sad? But anyway, but I did see that for like a G powered furnaces or something, there can be some buildup, there can be stuff that like prevents the gas from flowing properly. And based on what I'm hearing, I'm hearing the furnace start to kick on and then it tries, and then it kind of kicks back off again. It kind of like, I can't explain it. There are different sounds that I never separated out before they started changing on me. But there's definitely some sort of a fan system that's working in there. But then when I hear it, like, I'll hear a pilot light go click, click, click. This sort of like almost like gassy sort of sound, which I'm competing with the furnace on. But. But usually it just kind of goes. And then it stays on for a while and the house gets warm and then it cuts off. I'm hearing the furnace go click, click, click, and then shut down again, and then click, click, click, and then shut down again. And so I think it's trying something three times in a row and then failing. And so just to be clear, like, our furnace is a whole unit that is down in the basement kind of behind these sliding doors. Yeah. It's like a gas pilot light type of situation. And. Yeah. And then the thermostat itself is just a little device that is upstairs in the living room that talks to it. So you. Unless he immediately.

[Luke Burbank]

Is that, like, it's not. It sounds like it's not pumping enough. It's. It's cutting off the gas. For some reason.

[Andrew Walsh]

Some. For some reason it's not getting what it needs. And I think the little guy is trying and trying and giving up. And so anyway, I do think you're right. Maybe I'm not going to spring it on him like, as he's like, loading up the van at the end and just say, excuse me, sir, one last thing. I don't know why I'm getting sexy here on Michael, but what I'll do is I'll just tell him what the problem is because he's out here specifically for a diagnostic. You know, check in to see, like, why my. Why my furnace isn't working. But I will maybe say in my introductory remarks, which I'm now rearranging as we speak. Also, side note, I have been planning on installing this, you know, gently used new thermostat. So if there's an issue with the thermostat, I have another one here that we can maybe look into replacing. So I'll definitely.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. At the very least have him install the new one because I'm sure, again, this is something that he does constantly and he'll do it right.

[Andrew Walsh]

Does he need this email from Kevin, do you think?

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, it can't hurt. Definitely make sure you're holding the Kevin email when he shows up.

[Andrew Walsh]

Let's see here.

[Luke Burbank]

Google, is Genevieve happy by the Way. That big gas one in our state, by the way.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I don't want to. I'll answer that in a question. I'm not avoiding it. I really don't. Because I have mad respect for my dad for having all these meticulous notes and stuff. But he wrote on this is his handwritten note. Spoke to Kevin. Big help. Good guy. I'm just looking at it. I love it. I know that. I have made similar notes like that before in my life, too. Did I tell you a creditor, a debit, a debt collector is on my ass. Did I tell you about this? Oh, I'm in all kinds.

[Luke Burbank]

Are you telling me this phone call is an attempt to recover a debt and is being recorded? I know how those work.

[Andrew Walsh]

I. Yeah. No, I am furious. I've been fighting all kinds of people this week. No, I got this. Sorry. I'm all over the place. I got a bill.

[Luke Burbank]

You're being strong for both of us.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that's right.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm a little under the weather today.

[Andrew Walsh]

We're supposed to be wrapping up. I said that before the show. I'm like, you're sick. We should just do a half hour now. I will not even let you talk. I'm just like, I put a quarter in you. I'm just kind of like, what do you want to talk about? The great junk hunt or my furnace, whatever. But let me tell you about this. So I started getting a lot of bills earlier this summer as I was going to the doctor a lot. As I was trying to diagnose what was going on with me. Not on my broken furnace. I'm carrying around a broken body.

[Luke Burbank]

Can you get Kevin emails that you brought to the doctor?

[Andrew Walsh]

And I was getting medical services from all different. Kevin's a good guy. What do you think? Why are my wrists swollen? Kevin, Will I be like this forever? You know, I was seeing various people from. Who are associated with various, you know, medical outfits, right? Like, I go to see my doctor. I get a bill for that. I go downstairs in the same doctor's office, get blood drawn. I get a different bill from a different company from that, because that's a different company. You know, I had tests. I. All kind of. So I. Whatever. There's like a handful of probably five or six different, like, bills coming in. And I get this bill this summer that says I owe $60 to some company named Breg. But it doesn't say what for. And I'm just like, I don't know what this is for. So I sort of ignored it. For a little bit. Then I get, like, my second one or third one. I finally call him. I'm like, who are you? Like, it doesn't. It doesn't say, like, brag Medical Equipment. It just says, brag, Inc. You owe us $60. I'm just like, how about an itemized bill? Brag. So I finally, out of frustration in August, I call them. I'm just like, who are you?

[Luke Burbank]

Not to Brag A show title. Yeah, My only contribution to the program.

[Andrew Walsh]

Today, I literally said, like, who are you guys, and why do you say I owe you money? Because I was just sort of irritated by, like, just the whole thing. And they said, oh, we're a medical supply company. You know, your doctor gave you two. You know, remember those wrist guards or wrist kind of splints or whatever that I'm supposed to wear at night? I've kind of stopped wearing those, but I got those when I was first just diagnosed with carpal tunnel, when we thought it was just that. So anyway, I got these things. I'm like, oh, okay, that makes sense. I think I have had a sense of that. Anyway, I was just irritated with these people. And so I'm like, fine, I'll pay it now on the phone. And so I paid it using my, you know, HSA debit card or whatever. And then I got another bill for. From Bragg for about the same amount. And I'm like, oh, okay. Well, I paid by phone. This was probably just in the mail. You know, probably our wires just crossed. And so anything that I got from Breg after that, I started ignoring until I got one from a goddamn collection agency in New Hampshire. Thanks, Danny. Yesterday or a couple of days ago, saying, I own.

[Luke Burbank]

What's the use of having 11 lawyers named Danny when.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

Greg is sending you the collections.

[Andrew Walsh]

The good thing about Danny being our listener in New Hampshire, I don't know. I think we have more than just Danny, but I think of Danny is Danny. The good news is you get all the credit for anything good coming out of New Hampshire, but you also get all the blame for any, like, errant bill collectors coming my way. And so I call them up and I leave them a voicemail. I'm like, I don't know what this is about, but I paid this. Whatever. Of course, I did not see back in the day, I would have been exactly like Bob Walsh. I would have had some sort of a printout. I would have had the bill from Brag with a confirmation number written down and who I had spoken to. And I might have Even written Kevin Good Guy. Like, seriously, I would have had that back in the day, and I'd have it in the manila folder. But I've gotten so used to thinking, like, all this stuff is done online. Like, nobody's challenging me on what I've paid and haven't anymore. Like, there's a digital record for everything. So I must have thrown the paperwork away. That is my only proof that I paid this thing by phone. Right. But I go to my old HSA account, which is now closed down. I shut it down because I had used up all the money, but luckily my records were still there and I saw an itemized thing. Breg $6.20. August 7, 2024. Talk to Kevin Good Guy. It didn't say that part. And so. But. But that's not enough proof. Right? So anyway, so I'm like, I'm calling the debit place. They don't answer, which is so weird. Like, debit place. Like, I get so many calls from debt collectors trying to reach somebody who is not me on my phone over the years. Like, how are they not picking up the phone? They should be, like, just holding. Just like, fish are jumping in your bucket. Just like, geez Louise. So they don't, like, you should be.

[Luke Burbank]

So stoked somebody called you. Most people are ducking you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

This is a person who's trying to settle this up with you. You need to pick it up on the first ring.

[Andrew Walsh]

So I leave a voicemail and then saying, I don't know what this is. And then I actually call Breg themselves. And I talked. I have that. Really? Sometimes I get a bit shirty with customer service people who probably don't deserve it. This guy's just doing his thing. I didn't yell at him or it wasn't nasty, but I definitely was not anxious to cover up the awkwardnesses in the awkward moments in the conversation. Like, he was just like, on a muffled line, not the best communicator. I couldn't hear him that well. Like, the whole thing, I'm just like, I paid this bill. And he's.

[Luke Burbank]

Not to mention that this isn't your fault. Like, usually when a debt collector calls me, it's because I did something. Yeah, you actually, like, this is undeserved. So I can't even tell you how surety I would be if I ever got a call from a debt collector about something I had already paid.

[Andrew Walsh]

And now keep in mind, this is me. I've called the debt collector. I've left a voicemail. Now I'm calling brag themselves the actual company that I paid that then sicced this debt collector on me. I'm furious at Bread, which, by the.

[Luke Burbank]

Way, could be bad for your credit report.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's what I mean. Like, credit rating every over $60. Right. So if I need to buy a new furniture, I might need to borrow money from you, Lou.

[Luke Burbank]

And finance. Yeah, I've recently come into an inheritance, so I'd be happy to set you up.

[Andrew Walsh]

Do I have to send. Do I have to send you a little bit of money to unlock it, though, in order for you to send?

[Luke Burbank]

Well, yeah, because that's sort of the deal. I didn't realize this, but there is a Nigerian prince who's taking an interest in me.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay. This is. Yeah, this is how it usually works. That's good. That's. That's all a good sign. Thank you.

[Luke Burbank]

So I could borrow a little money from you so I can unlock that money. Then I'll have the money, then I can share it with you for the furnace repair.

[Andrew Walsh]

Honestly, I would be less trustful if that weren't the process. So thank you for this. But anyway, so I'm on the phone with the, you know, the actual supplier, the actual medical supplier, and, like, the guy gets my birthday wrong. It just feels like everything is. I'm already furious because I paid this by phone to somebody who was also, like, kind of just sounded like, kind of disinterested in doing their job, which I kind of can't blame them. I'm sure it's not the most fulfilling work in the world, but, you know, back in August, now I'm like, they've just messed this up from day one. They're sending me bills without explaining what it's for. I'm just, like, furious at this company. So I'm on the phone with this guy forever, and then he's like, yeah, no, you're not. It's not paid. I'm like, it's paid. I paid it by phone. Oh, you paid it on phone. I'll put you back on hold. And the. I almost want to call brag right now on the. On the show so you can hear the hold music. Like, I know we've talked about this before, but they are doing. They're trying to get to me. They're trying to break me. It literally was maybe a 15 second loop that just ended in the middle of a note. And it kind of. And like, not even soothing music. It was very. It was just like this loop that was not a clean loop of music that would Just end in an awkward spot. I don't understand what these companies are doing. Are they trying to make us as angry as possible before we talk to a human? That's not good for the humans. So anyway, after like, a half hour on the phone with this guy who is not, like, winning any Mensa awards is. He's finally like, oh, we've created a duplicate account for you. And that's essentially, like, what the problem is. Apparently they created two accounts and I paid one of them, but they keep on saying that this other one is unpaid, but, like, that's not my fault. And so he says, okay, I'm going to send this to our escalation team. Because, of course, an escalation team is like, what? The. What? You know, the billing department. They send stuff to the escalation team, and then The Escalation Team 6, the debit or the debt collectors on you. So I'm like. He's like, I'm going to escalate this to the escalation team and we'll put a. We'll tell the agency to put a hold on this for now. I'm like, don't tell them. I said, don't tell them to put a hold on it. I said, tell them to stop it. Tell them that I paid you. He said, well, we're going to tell them to put a. To hold on. I'm like, just. Just to be very clear about something, because I think I understand this, none of this was my fault, correct? That's correct. There are two duplicate accounts, and that was something that you guys made a mistake of. So then you should call the debit agency and tell them that you made a mistake and to take my name off of their list now. Well, we're going to tell them to put a hold on it until the escalation team can investigate, like, investigate this dude. So anyway, that's where we've left things.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm writing you down, Randy. Not good guy.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. And then. So then I get a call back the next morning. They leave me a voicemail from this, you know, this New Hampshire debt collection agency. And. And they're like, hey, this is like, what was her name? Dj this is DJ or something with blah, blah, blah. Give me a call back later. Or one of my. One of my, you know, colleagues or whatever we're going to. She didn't even say what it was about. She just said, give me a call back. Right. So I call this number back for the debt agency, and the person picks up the phone and says, hi, I'M calling for Andrew Walsh from a debt agency. And I'm like, no, I'm calling you. That was the. Literally, the first thing I had to say to this guy is he must be in a phone bank somewhere and he doesn't know if the phone calls are incoming or outgoing. And so, like, all this time I'm trying to, like, just. It was $60 that I paid, and I'm just. I just feel. I'm. I'm so indignant. I'm indignant and just like, kind of angry at everybody. I'm like, if you're coming. If you're ruining my credit and coming after me from a bunch of mistakes that other people made, you better know whether or not I'm calling you or you're calling me. There's incompetence all the way down.

[Luke Burbank]

That is so frustrating. I mean, so what's the latest?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, no, nobody's calling me back. They're like, this guy's rude. Throw down Andrew. Not a good guy. No, I wasn't. I wasn't, like, outwardly. I want to be clear. The rage you're hearing from me right now is not the rage that I.

[Luke Burbank]

Me. I've done nothing to you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, Luke, absorb it in that polar fleece. No, I don't know. Like, I. Honestly, for what it's worth, I'm not somebody who yells or berates or dresses down people on the phone, and that's obviously disgusting behavior. I will say for the guy at Bragg, I was not going out of my way to offer niceties or to meet him in the middle as well. I did not meet him in the middle. I was just mostly quiet and very succinct with my answers as we tried to get to the bottom of this. But now nobody's. Nobody's calling me back. So I don't know, maybe it's all fixed or maybe the. Maybe I'm going to be in debtors jail by the end of the weekend. Thank you for being a tam.

[Luke Burbank]

Hey, let's thank some donors. These fine folks are donating voluntarily. We didn't have to have brag call them or Andrew not good guy or any of that. These folks just stepped up and said, yeah, I'm gonna donate some of my hard earned money to TBTL so that this thing can keep happening.

[Andrew Walsh]

Although. And okay, I am willing to take on the role of debt collector if anybody decides that they want to withdraw their donations to the show after today's episode.

[Luke Burbank]

Absolutely the worst at that job. And I mean that as a high compliment. Again, I can't even tell you how many, many debt collectors I have dealt with in my life. Fortunately fewer, like let's say in the last 10 to 15 years because I finally learned my lesson, which is just pay the stupid parking ticket or gas bill or whatever it is because it's only going to get worse, you know. But in my younger days I just dealt with so many people that worked in collections. And I have to say this, and maybe we have listeners that work in collections. I've. Obviously everyone's got to make a living, but I do think that is the one job where you are allowed to be surety with them. Because I do think it's predatory in a way, you know, like the way that like sort of debt is bought and passed around and sort of, I don't know if commoditized is the word, but like it's a gross corner of finance, you know, in this country. And I think it disproportionately hits people of color and people who are sort of marginalized economically. It's a very predatory thing. I think if you are going to be maybe not the brag person because they just work at some place, but I do think you're allowed to be rude to a debt collector. Although I, that's my personal opinion.

[Andrew Walsh]

The weird thing is I'm more. Well, I don't think this is the weird thing. This is just sort of a counterpoint, I guess, because I really love debate radio. But like I'm more angry at Bragg. Like it's the debt collector, the debt agency or whatever you want to call them right now are just doing their job. They were hired by somebody who says this person owes us money. And you're service that you provide is to get money from people who don't pay. And so these people are like, they didn't make any mistakes. They're just doing their job based on the information they have from their client. It's their client who are absolute, and I use this word very advisedly, absolute bozos. Just absolute bozos over there, Greg, that put me in this position in the first place.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, that's. I mean that's, that's absolutely maddening. But the other side of the coin is that people like Robin Schmidt in Fall City, Washington. Washington are supporting TV tl. Andrew. So as frustrated as you are with that whole situation, I would say you're probably equally chuffed about folks like Robin, folks like Josh Thompson, who's in Amherst. Oh, nice, Massachusetts.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes indeed. Thank you both.

[Luke Burbank]

How about a check in from my close Personal friend Amelia Ireland in Bellingham, Washington.

[Andrew Walsh]

The Bay City couple of Bellinghamsters cutting it up.

[Luke Burbank]

The city of subdued excitement or whatever it's called. Amelia is the one who once gave me tickets to see Built to Spill at the Wild Buffalo.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, nice. How was it?

[Luke Burbank]

What a night. Oh, so good it'd be weird if you said terrible.

[Andrew Walsh]

Terrible evening holograph.

[Luke Burbank]

Thanks, Amelia. I really appreciate it. So nice to see your name here. Hope you're doing well up there. Hope you're still visiting my old swimming pool with your children because that was a fun summer hang that we did. Alexander, hey, it's our buddy Alex strawn of Seattle, Washington. Alex is an OG10.

[Andrew Walsh]

Thank you, Alex talking.

[Luke Burbank]

Alex, we did some sort of TBTL event in the basement of Cairo once. This had to be before your time because we would still be at Cairo. I can't even remember.

[Andrew Walsh]

Or was it that outside little area that had a little half shell where musicians would play sometimes?

[Luke Burbank]

No, it was the basement. And I don't what we were doing down there because you know that basement is very soulless.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, very.

[Luke Burbank]

Just like very, very. Just kind of like unremarkable. And then you have like Zach's engineering office where he's just.

[Andrew Walsh]

Vaporium.

[Luke Burbank]

Exactly. I was going to say he's just disassembling telos and vaping like his life dependent working on his rig.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh my God.

[Luke Burbank]

But I remember, remember hanging out with Alex in the basement of Cairo. Alex, get at me if you remember what the context of that was. I have a very vivid memory of standing in the basement of Cairo with Alex. Or I was parallel parking in front of Jake from State Farm. One of the two things was happening. Thanks, Alex. Also thanks to Jonathan Clark who's in Chicago, Illinois.

[Andrew Walsh]

Love that city.

[Luke Burbank]

One of my favorite places to dress up like Guy Fieri. Yes, absolute top of the list for me. Thanks, Jonathan. And then Amalia Tali is in Del Mar, New York. We've got an Amelia, we've got an Amal. Amalia, we've got an Emoluments. We probably do have emoluments violations on the horizon.

[Andrew Walsh]

Gosh.

[Luke Burbank]

Anyway, thanks Amalia. Really appreciate you. Thanks to all of our donors today for making TBTL possible. We couldn't do this without you. Hello and welcome to Top Story. Can I play something real quick for you, Andrew, from our friend television, Chris Hayes's televisions Chris Hayes program last night? Yes, I said yesterday on the show that I had been kind of taking a step back from just like mainlining political news. Because obviously the Outcome of the election is very depressing. But it just so happens that I did dip back into Chris's show last night and I was really happy. I did because he said something that I think was very. It was heartening to me and it had to do with like the future of this country and this feeling that I think a lot of us have, which is like the bad guys won and they have like such thorough control of things now. Although, by the way, Marie Glues and Camp Perez, that is that Given victorious down here in Southern Washington. I was part of it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Congratulations, Given here, look, I've got my sign. There it is.

[Luke Burbank]

I knocked. I knocked my headphones off so I can't hear anything. Hold up.

[Andrew Walsh]

We all thanked you for. We all thanked you for being the hero that you are. I am going to. I would say that I'm very surprised that the way everything else went that that particular seat stayed with Perez, with Glues and Camp Perez. Like that is that. That really speaks well, I guess to her campaign.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I think, I mean, again, and you know, there are people that have their, their sort of problems with her because she's a very. She's sort of the Joe Mansion down here. And in fact, like wouldn't actually even, I think officially confirm if she was voting for Kamala Harris or not, which is, you know.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Pretty troubling.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, definitely from a Democrat. But also her campaign ads were dissing Biden when Biden was still the candidate, saying I took on the Biden administration on.

[Luke Burbank]

But again, I would take her over Joe Kent and somehow she's managed to. But anyway, so the question of like, is America screwed? You know, like permanently and forever. And what Chris basically said was, no, like this was actually a very close election. Like what we basically had was a hundred thousand people or maybe a couple hundred thousand people decided something like they decided that they wanted. They thought that they had figured out the way to have lower gas prices or whatever. But that does not mean that like America is a 90% Donald Trump supporters now. Anyway, let me just play this tape from Chris.

[C]

It was not a landslide. It wasn't a walkover.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay?

[C]

We've had those in American history. We are not looking at Reagan in 1980 or Nixon in 72 or even Barack Obama in 2008. It was a toss up race in a bad environment for incumbents in a 5050 nation that was previously ruled with a narrow but durable pro Democratic majority. I think it still has a pro Democratic majority in which a certain sliver of those folks just voted on other Stuff America didn't give itself over to Trumpism. We got this outcome because 3 out of 100 people switched their votes in a nation that weathered a global pandemic and global inflation pretty well, but not well enough. And it's disappointing as hell, but it's plenty to build a movement on going forward.

[Luke Burbank]

So there you go. That was heartening to me.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I saw you guys texting last night. Of course, I don't have cable here, and so I saw you and Chris texting about his show last night, and I heard you say something about it being heartening, but I didn't know what it was. And I wanted to go on the gray web this morning to see if I could get some, you know, some sort of that illegal leaked content to figure out what it was.

[Luke Burbank]

My boy.

[Andrew Walsh]

Or TBTL maybe. Like, this is how I mainstream you. Just filter what I need to hear from Katie, cable news, including Chris's show, and just share it with all of us here.

[Luke Burbank]

I did take comfort in that because there is this. It's also. Man, it's been so weird. Like, where I live, like, I went to the grocery store yesterday, and it. I just feel. I. I feel personally violated by everyone who has either pulling giant American flags on their truck, which is a big thing out here, or they're like, a guy had a Trump hat on in Safeway. And I just, like, I was like, I have to. I have to figure out how I'm going to relate to this information for the next four years. And by information, I mean people just having, like, Trump shit on their cars. Because when we were still in the election cycle, I thought, you guys don't even know you're dead. You don't even know it. You've been dead the whole movie. That was how. So it didn't bother me because I was like, you morons. Like, you got all this Trump stuff going on, but it's going to be. We're all going to have a good laugh when he's going to jail. And now it's like. So I was able to just kind of, like, compartmentalize it and not take it very seriously. And now it's like, oh, my God, like, you won. Like. And it just feels so much more threatening to me now. Like, I didn't think. In a weird way, I didn't think that all this Trump stuff, this MAGA stuff could be more threatening to me, but it is now much more threatening. And I live in an area where it's everywhere.

[Andrew Walsh]

Would you say that you took them literally? But not seriously. That would be supporters around you.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I think that accurately describes it. But I'm going to have to, like. Like, for real, like, you were talking the other day on the show about, like, our media consumption, you know, for the next four years and how we're going to do all of it. And again, I think what. What I'm going to try to do is make sure that I'm aware of the stuff I need to be aware of, but also not just obsessively monitor it in a way that's not good for me. Like, you know, know enough that if I need to mobilize, I can. But not like, you know, not in a way that's unhealthy for me. But really what I'm gonna have to figure out out here is, like, how am I gonna manage my emotions around all the, like, Trump shit that's everywhere that now feels really threatening to me in a way it didn't before the election.

[Andrew Walsh]

I. I've seen a lot of other people kind of sharing this sentiment on, like, the Seattle subreddit, and I had something. I feel like I've really kind of taken the show in a lot of weird turns today, and I don't mean to dominate it, so. But I was just going to say.

[Luke Burbank]

I can't believe that you've made it impossible for us to discuss Monkey News.

[Andrew Walsh]

Actually, the way when you put it that way, I do have a lot of regrets about that, but I've just been seeing a lot of people saying I'm just. The one thing I'm very happy about right now is that at least I live in Seattle and, like, these are my people. And like, you know, there's all this negative talk about living in a bubble. But honestly, I am so grateful for my bubble. I am so grateful, you know, like, I went to grab lunch on Wednesday and of course I was, you know, feeling a lot of feelings and feeling low. And I went to this, like, restaurant that's kind of near my house. Like, usually if I'm going out to grab food on a weekday for lunch or whatever, I'm almost always going to like a teriyaki joint or some pho place that is like, you know, you can sit down in there, but it's kind of a colder sort of sometimes literally colder, and just like, you know, not a super, like, kind of nice environment. And I was just like, I just want to go someplace that is a restaurant where a certain server will come over to me and give me a bowl of soup as a warm up to My main course, like, I just need to sit someplace where I don't have to wear my jacket the whole time. And somebody is going to come up to me and serve me warm food. This is what I need today. This is my self care. So I go to this restaurant near my house that I'd never been to before. Ironically, they were having issues with their H vac and I did have to keep my jacket on the whole time. But aside from that, it was mostly what I wanted.

[Luke Burbank]

Sir, can I refer you to Kevin Good guy.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

For all your H Vac needs.

[Andrew Walsh]

But I was surprised that it was a. This is a restaurant, but it's got a bar. It's got a big bar area. And I sat down in it, and the server came over to me and I was kind of surprised. It was very busy. It was all busy with people. Like, I was like the youngest person there, so I don't know what the clientele of this place usually is, but on a Wednesday for lunch, it was like, pretty busy with a bunch of people my age or older. And I mentioned to the server, I'm like, wow, you guys are really busy. I had never been to this place before, so I was kind of surprised. And she said, said, yeah. And then she kind of said it quietly. It's kind of soto vote show to me. She's like, everybody's, you know, drinking their feelings or whatever or something like that as a way of sort of saying, like, yeah, we're all sort of in this together. And I had a thought. I'm like, you don't know where I stand on this stuff. You got to. Got to be careful, don't you? Like, I didn't say this to her, but I'm just sort of thinking like, you assume that. Then I'm like, oh, I'm wearing a Castro hat. Like, you can probably figure this out. But anyway, there's something about yesterday. I saw a neighbor who has done work on our house before. I've mentioned him, Seth, and he was doing some work at a neighbor's house. Yesterday, I went over to say hello to him, and it occurred to me, I have no idea what his politics are. I know in citywide stuff, I bet you a million bucks he's a little bit more conservative than me and stuff. And so he said, how are you doing? I said, you know, pretty good. And then I was like, oh, do I even bring up that we're all feeling shitty? Do I know that he's feeling shitty? And then he kind of brought up the election thing. And of course, we are in the. We are on the same page with Trump stuff because I live in my bubble and you know what? I fucking love my bubble. Yeah, don't pop.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm really jealous of your bubble.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, sorry, I keep on. I'm babbling so much today. I'm sorry.

[Luke Burbank]

No, no, no.

[Andrew Walsh]

But yeah, yeah, I've been thinking about this a lot.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, even when I was looking at. I was reading the Seattle Times and it was the breakdown of the various Washington state races and it was. It was related to the Marie Glusen Camp Perez race and they were showing the places where she was getting the most votes and the least votes. And one of the place she's getting the least votes is where I live.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, really? How?

[Luke Burbank]

Litz County. Yeah, she got all her votes in Clark county, the big city of Vancouver, Washington. Right, Ma, I'm going to go down to the big city and make something of myself. Vancouver, yes, but the gateway to Ridgefield. But anyway, she's getting all her votes down there and like there was something about seeing the county I live in and that it's deeply red.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And I just felt totally dislocated from life. I mean, again, we're all fragile this week. Yeah. But it just was like. Yeah, was. I was like, huh, this, this really is going to suck for the next four years. Because. Because again, it. It feels threatening to me in a way that, that it wasn't before. And it's. I didn't notice how everywhere it was out here until. Until I became. Until I started feeling threatened by it.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's like, I don't know if you have. Do you use Google Maps? You use Waze, right? For a mapping. For driving. Yeah. I don't know what the color schema is like on Waze these days, but on Google Maps, like, you know, if there's no traffic, I think the line is just blue or green or something like that. And then when there's a lot of traffic, especially like on a highway, you'll see that it turns red. Right. To indicate that there's going to be a slowdown ahead or if you're right in the middle of it. But then sometimes, I don't know if you've ever seen this, there are slowdowns that are like ox blood red. Like it's just like the deep red of vampire hell or something like that. It looks like that's when you just know, like, you need to just get out of your car and just start walking like in that, in that French movie that I'M blanking on, but Green Card. What's that?

[Luke Burbank]

I think of the worst French movie. That's a gerard Depardo Andy McDowell vehicle. I believe.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's driving me bananas, though. And I don't know if you can help me with this. And you've bailed me out of so much.

[Luke Burbank]

There is a movie where. There's a French movie. Is it old? Is it banned about something?

[Andrew Walsh]

It is not Band of Outsiders, but it is. So do you remember the. There's an REM video based on the opening scene of this movie where it's all black and white and people are in. People are in their cars and you can see what they're thinking. You can see what everybody is thinking. And then I believe the REM video, Everybody Hurts is based on this movie. It's a very, very famous. I'm not that much into French cinema. I always think one of these days I'm going to be. If I ever break a leg or anything, I'm just going to lay in bed and watch a bunch of French movies that I. If never. That I should have seen.

[Luke Burbank]

But I'm trying to Google this and figure out what the video Everybody Hurts is based on. Yes, It's Fellini. It's eight and a half.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's eight and a half dot that's right. That's right. It's eight and a half, right. Oh. Oh, you're right. I'm sorry. I've been saying French. Well, that didn't really help, did it? It was. It's. It's.

[Luke Burbank]

I was still going to say Green Card even if you said Italian movie.

[Andrew Walsh]

Now, I do want to just say one thing to go back to what we were saying kind of about, like, you know, how we're feeling, our media consumption and all this. I have a question for you because there's a phenomenon going on in my online life that has taken me a little bit by surprise. Which is related to Luke. Yes. Your favorite topic. My Blue sky account. So when a bunch of people stopped using Twitter, they started using other Twitter. Twitter like platforms. I know a lot of people are on threads. I think you're on threads, Luke, which is kind of a Twitter, like extension of Instagram. And then there was that Mastodon. I mean, of course I signed up for all of this stuff, not knowing what was going to stick. But bluesky was the one that was the most like Twitter. It was made by one of the original Twitter dudes. And I signed up and it's the one that I kind of check in with. But Traffic There has been very, very sparse over the past couple of years. I mostly wanted it because I wanted to find more Mariners fans, because if I wasn't on Twitter anymore, I needed other people online that I could share my woes with during bad Mariners games or whatever. That's a huge part of Twitter for me. So I found a few Mariners people. It was kind of weird that Blue sky had such little traffic early on that small little communities of people who didn't know each other sort of grew a little based on like one interest, like Mariners dumb Mariners fandom. But I. Have you seen anything in the mainstream news or on your other social media sites where people are saying, I'm leaving Twitter, I'm leaving. There's a huge wave of people, and I mean a huge wave of people that I'm suddenly seeing on Blue Sky. I'm seeing new names. I'm seeing people from the LeBatard show saying, okay, I'm back here now. We're going to try this again. I got about 50 new followers just the other day because somebody did a roundup of like people on Blue sky who are like kind of Mariners gang. And I guess I'm in that now, which is awesome. So I got all like all these followers of people who want to be prepared to like talk Mariners shit. Like, and I just, I have not seen this. So have you. Have you caught any wind of this outside of the Blue sky averse?

[Luke Burbank]

No, but I'm here for it. I just, by the way, signed up for a Blue sky account. Turns out at Luke Burbank was not taken.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, nice. Fantastic. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And I think, I think it's have a Blue sky account.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think it's a happening. Like, for real. Yeah. And I don't. I just didn't like threads because the whole meta of it, maybe that's it too. Like, people are sick. Musk, obviously. Like, I left Twitter because of Musk, but maybe the, the latest with the election, it was too much for people to keep on using his platform. But then maybe you combine that with Zuckerberg too. Maybe people are just sick of the oligarch. I don't, I don't know what it is, but yeah, everybody's moving over to Blue sky and it seems like it might be. It might be becoming legit. I don't want. I feel like I say that a lot.

[Luke Burbank]

Like I'm so, you know, I'm so ready to have something fill the Twitter shaped hole in my heart. And yeah, I'm, I'm. I was all jazzed about Threads, you know, the first time I signed up for it. But yeah, it doesn't really work the same way for whatever reason. Although what I realize is every time I post something on Instagram, it auto posts it to threads.

[Andrew Walsh]

I noticed that you've been posting the threads a lot lately. But I'm not.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm posting to Instagram and it's just.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's just kind of. You must have a setting because I don't.

[Luke Burbank]

It's mirroring it to threads, but it's. I'm not intentionally going to threads. Yeah, but I would love it if something Twitter esque where there was a lot of engagement but less. What's the word? Nazism. Less open, you know, Nazism, misinformation, etc was a being allowed.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, yeah. I'm looking at it now. Like I can explain it. Like Blue sky was just sort of, you know, like when I first came. The hardest thing was what are my interests?

[Luke Burbank]

It's asking me, what did you put for your interests?

[Andrew Walsh]

Journalism. I don't think I probably filled that I probably to that software dev.

[Luke Burbank]

I see. It was a software dev.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, Nazism.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, you're on the wrong site.

[Andrew Walsh]

I am. No, I. But yeah, but like it was just sort of a trickle of things. But now I'm just seeing and I don't know if these are people who I've started following recently or if they're just like. They're just more active again. But like, you know, 10 minutes ago Drew McGarry posted something and the New York Times is posting here regularly now. And you know, just like it's just.

[Luke Burbank]

Did you notice you now have 150 followers? Because I just started following you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, is. And am I up? I don't have that many followers, do I?

[Luke Burbank]

You got the coveted Luke Burbank follow.

[Andrew Walsh]

Nice. I have not gotten that update yet, but I will follow you back as soon as. Have you uploaded a profile pic yet? I will not follow because I don't.

[Luke Burbank]

Have anything good on my computer. But I'm enjoying this already. I'm looking at you roasting Danny West. Neat.

[Andrew Walsh]

That was me tweeting. Retweeting, by the way.

[Luke Burbank]

How dare you. I see your I see your garbage post.

[Andrew Walsh]

That was an accident. I have two Blue sky accounts. One called Andrew's Garbage Anxiety where I every week post my. I post photos.

[Luke Burbank]

I heard about it in the abstract. I've never actually gotten eyes on.

[Andrew Walsh]

This one was one I accidentally posted it to my mainstream account and I. What did I write here? This is from two months ago Wednesday evening 7:20. We call non recycling days small garbage days. Happy small garbage day Eve, everyone. And there's three photos of my little bins so that if Seattle ever gives me extra charges for extra garbage pickup, I can contest it.

[Luke Burbank]

I love the Jake Browning discourse.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think that was a meme that I sent to you guys. I don't even remember what happened, but I think Jake Browning fire finally got to play in the NFL Colt or something. And didn't he, like, cook or something? This was like. This was exactly, almost exactly a year ago. And so I created my own meme from the Usual suspects. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

The controversial Kevin Spacey.

[Andrew Walsh]

Kevin Spacey.

[Luke Burbank]

Saying the greatest normalizing Kevin Spacey, sir.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I edited to say the greatest trick Jake Browning ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. Yeah. Anyway, yeah, welcome to the club, my friend.

[Luke Burbank]

Dude, I'm excited. You know what? I'm. When we're done here, I know I already did this once this week, but I am going to go get back in bed.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, you should. I'm keeping it.

[Luke Burbank]

And I'm going to like. I'm going to get a. A bitching photo for my Blue sky account and let's see how many followers I have by Monday. Will you please come follow me on Blue sky listeners?

[Andrew Walsh]

And also, Luke, one thing, the hardest thing I found about Blue sky, especially because it's sort of a, you know, it's a new platform. Platform is finding the people to follow. I don't know if it suggests things the way Twitter does, but what I would do is you can maybe start by looking at the people I follow. You'll probably be interested in some of them. And then if you're just laying in bed, maybe start just looking at the people who you like to follow, see who they're following. And then you'll figure out what your options are out there. Because it is still just. I feel like it is just beginning. But I got two follows today from Hens. So I think Nigel started following me. I think Farron started following me. So I think there's some sort of headwind. No, headwinds are bad. I don't know. I think something's going on here, though.

[Luke Burbank]

I am going to start following the Onion. I'm following two things. You and the Onion. The Onion posting today. God. Wondering how far he could throw Earth.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Solid.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

What do we call it? A blue. A solid blue sky. What do you call the act of posting on Blue sky when this thing.

[Andrew Walsh]

Was brand new like a year or two ago? They did have a word for it and everybody was like we're not using that word. Like I don't know who came up with it, but it sounded vaguely blew myself. It was. It wasn't quite. It was like yeeting or something like that. But not tweeting. It was rough. So anyway, I just. We can all just say post. We live in a social media world. Let's just call them all posts now.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm excited to jump on this blue sky thing and. And start posting nice. All right, that's going to be the rest of my Friday and the rest of my weekend. So yeah, we should probably wrap things up here. Thank you everyone for listening. Sorry I was a little spaced out today, but I'll be right as rain by Monday morning, I promise you that. And as will this nation. I think everything will be probably fixed by Monday. It just is going to take a few expert blue sky posts from me.

[Andrew Walsh]

Has this whole thing just been like a dream in side of a snow globe? And on Monday I'm going to wake up.

[Luke Burbank]

Wood. Wood that it was, my friend. All right, thanks for listening everybody. Thanks for hanging out with us this week. And you know, it's obviously been a pretty tough week but it. It has felt more survivable because of all of the tens and. And again Andrew, because of our friendship, you know, your yours and mine and everything. So I feel really lucky to get to be here this week. Even one thing are really shitty. So anyway, thanks everybody. We'll be back here on Monday with more imaginary radio for you. Please do join us for that. In the meantime, have a good weekend, take care of yourselves and please remember.

[Andrew Walsh]

No mountain too tall and good luck to all. Power out.