#4464 A Masculine Idea Of Truckery

Summary

Podcast Summary: TBTL #4464 - A Masculine Idea Of Truckery

Episode Information:

• Title: A Masculine Idea Of Truckery
• Episode: #4464
• Release Date: May 12, 2025
• Hosts: Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh
• Description: TBTL is a daily show hosted by two longtime friends navigating the world with humor and camaraderie. In this episode, they delve into nostalgic movie discussions, reflect on sports fandom, share personal updates, and honor their supportive community.

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1. Opening Remarks and Personal Updates (00:00 - 04:00)

The episode kicks off with Luke playfully chiding Andrew for arriving late, setting a lighthearted tone. They transition into discussing recent personal experiences, including Luke attending an Elvis-themed vow renewal wedding chapel in Las Vegas and Andrew preparing for a colonoscopy.

Notable Quote:

• Luke Burbank (01:30): "Hello, good morning, and welcome, everyone, to a Monday edition of TBTL, the show that just might be too beautiful to live."

---

2. Nostalgic Movie Conversations (04:00 - 15:37)

Luke and Andrew engage in a humorous and somewhat confused discussion about classic films and actors. They attempt to differentiate between characters and actors from movies like "Gone with the Wind," "It Happened One Night," and "The African Queen," leading to amusing tangents about movie references and personal anecdotes related to favorite films from their youth.

Notable Quotes:

• Andrew Walsh (05:04): "I bought a balloon."
• Luke Burbank (07:35): "I love those kinds. I think it is like I was a big fan. It's not so much a comedy, but I was a big fan of 'The African Queen.'"

---

3. Reflections on Sports Fandom and Cultural Impact (15:37 - 35:07)

The hosts dive into a thoughtful discussion about sports teams, specifically focusing on the Seattle Seahawks. They explore the intersection of sports fandom with cultural and political identities, pondering how symbols like team logos and fan behaviors can carry deeper societal meanings. This segment includes anecdotes about seeing a truck adorned with "Go Hawks" stickers and reflections on how sports teams can both unite and divide communities.

Notable Quotes:

• Luke Burbank (33:15): "It's like, if you were like, here I am. I'm in New York City. If you were in the Midwest somewhere and I ran into that guy driving that lifted truck somewhere near the Orillia Road exit south of South Center, I would immediately feel bonded with him over our shared love of the Seahawks."
• Andrew Walsh (35:07): "I do think maybe I'm drawn more towards...I think I am more attracted to a baseball fan personality writ large than probably your average football fan's personality."

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4. Donor Acknowledgements and Listener Messages (27:04 - 33:53)

A heartfelt segment where Luke and Andrew express gratitude to their donors, Tracy Phillips and Marissa Martinez. They share Tracy's poignant message honoring her late mother and highlight the supportive community that TBTL has cultivated over the years. This part underscores the importance of listener contributions in sustaining the show and fostering a sense of belonging among the audience.

Notable Quotes:

• Tracy Phillips' Message (27:09): "I have experienced many milestones with TBTL. Only 17 years with you. That's the almost complete collection, right? Are we at 17 years, man?"
• Luke Burbank (27:35): "Tracy says, 'You've built an amazing community and I reached out to them for support. They came through, as they always do, with kind words and wisdom as I began grieving.'"

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5. Colonoscopy Prep and Dietary Challenges (33:53 - 65:05)

Andrew shares his journey preparing for a colonoscopy, detailing the stringent dietary restrictions he must follow. The conversation covers the challenges of adhering to a low-fiber diet, the emotional toll of the prep process, and humorous mishaps like breaking a coffee pot. Luke offers support and shares his own experiences with coffee-making, adding levity to the discussion.

Notable Quotes:

• Andrew Walsh (46:41): "Turns out I love souffle, and I've already been drinking and ordering more of the special formula that they sent me."
• Luke Burbank (54:55): "And I'm no longer going [to the problematic coffee shop], knowing that I did."

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6. Community and Personal Stories (65:05 - 82:49)

The hosts continue to weave personal anecdotes with broader reflections on community engagement. Andrew discusses the emotional support he receives from TBTL listeners during his mother's illness, while Luke reminisces about finding a quality coffee shop amidst challenges. They touch on the complexities of navigating local businesses influenced by political affiliations, highlighting the impact of community values on personal choices.

Notable Quotes:

• Andrew Walsh (68:21): "I was bummed out to see that... I am not going to that particular coffee shop anymore."
• Luke Burbank (75:04): "It's such a bummer to me to hear that story because otherwise... I have plenty of crunchy friends who happen to be people of faith and who don't have bad takes."

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7. Closing Remarks and Upcoming Topics (82:49 - End)

As the episode wraps up, Luke and Andrew reflect on their shared experiences and the support of their community. They tease future episodes, including updates on their little league team, and encourage listeners to tune in for more engaging conversations.

Notable Quote:

• Luke Burbank (82:49): "We are gonna be back here tomorrow with more imaginary radio for you all, including an update on your junior sluggers. So please do tune in for that."

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Key Takeaways:

• Nostalgia and Pop Culture: The hosts fondly reminisce about classic films and their impact on their personal lives.
• Sports and Identity: An exploration of how sports fandom intersects with cultural and political identities, emphasizing the unifying and divisive aspects of team loyalty.
• Community Support: Highlighting the importance of listener contributions and shared experiences in building a supportive podcast community.
• Personal Challenges: Andrew’s candid discussion about preparing for a medical procedure adds a personal and relatable dimension to the episode.
• Navigating Local Dynamics: Conversations about local businesses reflect broader societal issues and personal values.

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Overall, Episode #4464 of TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live offers a blend of humor, personal storytelling, and thoughtful reflections, showcasing the deep camaraderie between Luke and Andrew and the strong bond with their listener community.

Transcript

[Moira Rose]

In the lee of a picturesque ridge lies a small, unpretentious winery, one that pampers its fruit like its own babies. Hi, I'm Moira Rose, and if you love fruit wine as much as I do, then you'll appreciate the craftsmanship and quality of a local vintner who brings the muskmelon goodness to. To his oak Chardonnay and the dazzling peach crowbatpol to his Riesling Rioja. Come taste the difference good fruit can make in your wine. You'll remember the experience, and you'll remember the name. Herb Ervlinger. Bert Herngeif. Irv Hermlinger. Bing. Live Hunger. Live Link. Bert Herkern. Bingo Ling.

[Andrew Walsh]

TBTL.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, oh, look who decided to come in tardy. Now, don't think it's okay to just roll in here at 100 kilometers per hour like you're Joel Otto at the Calgary Flames. Okay, this Canadian rapped Jumpman. Jump. Man, them boys up to something. I think I need some Robitussin.

[Andrew Walsh]

Do you believe that? I do if you do, but it's absurd. Get the. Get out.

[Luke Burbank]

Are you gonna get out there? On. You're gonna get out there for what? Like, just. Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Actions speak louder than demonstrations.

[Luke Burbank]

Let's get to some of the action right now. Well, all right. Hello, good morning, and welcome, everyone, to a Monday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live. That's a terrific title. It jumps out at you like a.

[Andrew Walsh]

Rat in your underwear drawer.

[Luke Burbank]

My name is Luke Burbank. I am your host. The vibes will be the illest and the jams narrative coming to you from New York City, tucked between Hell's Kitchen and Columbus Circle. My friends, it's New York City. It's an absolutely beautiful day. There is. There's very little that compares to a beautiful May day here in New York City. When the sun is shining, there's a gentle breeze, and it's just a very special, special part of the world. We've got a. A special number here. Well, is it really? I don't know. I consider every episode of TBTL to be special. Okay, so this is based on that framework. This is a special episode of TBTL. It's episode 4464 in a collector series.

[Andrew Walsh]

Let the fun begin.

[Luke Burbank]

I went to something special this weekend in Las Vegas. I went to an Elvis wedding chapel. Wedding.

[Andrew Walsh]

Marriage.

[Luke Burbank]

Marriage is what brings us together today. I mean, it was actually a vow renewal, but it was pretty cool, actually. We'll talk about that. Also, we'll get an update on the TBTL Junior Sluggers, our little league team in the Parkside Little League of East Portland Kids and fantasy. Oh, and speaking of updates, my friend Andrew has entered. He has entered the preparatory phase for his upcoming colonoscopy involving changing his diet and doing a lot of things differently. And never do anything out of hunger, not even eating. We're gonna hear how that's going. Speaking of my good friend Andrew Walsh, he is the longest running cobra of the show, maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ships. And he'd like to clear something up right here at the beginning of the week here on this Monday morning.

[Andrew Walsh]

I bought a balloon.

[Luke Burbank]

And it doesn't mean I think I'm.

[Andrew Walsh]

Better than everybody else.

[Luke Burbank]

He's joining me right now. Good morning, my friend.

[Andrew Walsh]

Good morning, Luke. It sounds like your voice is starting to get a little crispy around the edges. You got a little Angie Mentink on Friday night baseball sound right there. She was struggling with something this weekend, too. I heard you had to leave the broadcast mid broadcast. Are you gonna have to leave the broadcast?

[Luke Burbank]

I hope not. But I definitely. I don't know if it's funny. I was just texting with Becca. I was comparing notes on how she's feeling this morning because we were in Vegas this weekend for this big to do, and I can't tell if it's the dry desert air of Las Vegas or if it's that I was in Chicago and then Las Vegas and now I'm back here in New York. So it's some amount of, I don't know, jet lag. Maybe it's the dry desert air on the airplane. I don't know what it is. We have got a little bit of a. I feel okay. The good news is I feel fine, but I sound a little. I sound a little wrung out.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, I'm glad you're feeling okay. It's not a problem on my end. I want to be very clear, honestly.

[Luke Burbank]

I think it's kind of sexy and I think we should lean into it somehow. Like maybe try to monetize this kind of my Lauren Bacall phase?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, we could do that. I'm going to need you to go hitchhiking. And is it Lauren Bacall who sticks out her leg with. Oh, Luke, you can't save me on this one, can you? This one I'm out on my own.

[Luke Burbank]

Is this. Is this that movie that Genevieve hates you making her watch starring George Seagal?

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, no, no, no, no, no. I am thinking of the movie with.

[Luke Burbank]

It's not about Thelma and Louise, are you?

[Andrew Walsh]

I am not. I'm talking about the movie with the fella whose name I'm forgetting, but he was in the famous. Oh, my gosh. This is a. This is an amazing. Just absolute meltdown on a Monday. Okay, Gone with the Wind is the movie. The main actor is Rhett Butler. Rhett Butler. I had to. Well, this is how I'm believing.

[Luke Burbank]

That's the character's name, right? Or is that the guy's name?

[Andrew Walsh]

Let's see here.

[Luke Burbank]

No, Rhett Butler was the actor.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay. Okay, so what is that?

[Luke Burbank]

Rhett Butler's the actor.

[Andrew Walsh]

And isn't Lauren Bacall and Rhett Butler. Aren't they in a movie together where they are on, like, a road trip and they have to share a room, but they build a wall of blankets for privacy and they call, like, the Wall of Jericho. And at one point, she stick out her leg, show a little leg on the side of the road to pick up a car to help them get somewhere.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, I feel like that's a pretty classic scene. In fact, when you and I were hitchhiking up and down the Mississippi, I kept asking you to show some leg.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

And you. And you steadfastly refused. You did make a cool sign once. I think we were trying to get to Memphis or something. And I feel like you wrote musical notes on the sign.

[Andrew Walsh]

I didn't. I drew a microphone and a speaker. But everybody thought that it meant we were. Or you thought it meant we were musicians. And I tell you, no.

[Luke Burbank]

We're going down to, like, play some tunes with the Wrecking Crew or something. But we were trying to indicate. We're. We're podcasters. We come in peace.

[Andrew Walsh]

So Rhett Butler, of course, is. You're right. The character, not the actor. So that is why I'm having trouble finding this. So Clark Gable is the word. I was Clark Gable there. So Clark Gable. Boy, some people were really upset with me there. I can feel it through the. Okay, so It Happened One Night is the movie. I'm thinking of One Night. Is it? Nope. All for. Not Claudette Colbert, my friend. Claudette Colbert. Not Lauren Bacall. We did all of this for. Because of a mistake on my part. It went nowhere.

[Luke Burbank]

But we also honestly don't know what Claudette Colbert's voice sounded like after she flew from Chicago to Vegas, went to an Elvis wedding, and then flew to New York. It might have sounded just like this. So we may have been more in the ballpark than we thought.

[Andrew Walsh]

That was it happened one week and I believe was as a different. That was a different movie.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm unfamiliar with that movie. It sounds like something I would like, though. I love those kinds. I think it is like I was a big fan. It's not so much a comedy, but I was a big fan of the African Queen. That's Humphrey Bogart and. And Katharine Hepburn. I did like those kinds of films of that era where it was just basically two people going through it.

[Andrew Walsh]

It is. It was not a Capra film, but he co produced it, I believe. Y so and that's good. It was pre code, so it might even be real sexy, I don't know. But yeah. 1934. You remember like before. Like I don't know much about this, but it's my understanding that movies before they implemented sort of kind of voluntarily, but I believe with some outside.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, like the Motion Picture rating system.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly. I think the movie. I think there was a period of like Hollywood movies in the 19th, early 1930s that were actually raunchier than you'd expect because it was before they started regulating it.

[Luke Burbank]

And then we end up one day with the cleavers famously sleeping in twin beds.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right, exactly. Although I got the. What did they remember in the. In the early 2000s there was a big trend to like, like release some film that was for like kind of horny teens and then later on release on dvd. Like was it the unrated version that they would release or the uncut version or something? And then everybody ran for the. Ran for the Blockbuster Video to grab.

[Luke Burbank]

It because you could see the stuff that they. They couldn't get in. They couldn't get through the mpaa. Well, of course there was that. I think the guy was named. Is it. Oh, boy. Why does it matter the name of the guy who made this? But there was a guy who made that, you know, the movie about the rating system. His name was like Colby Dick or something. And it's a really interesting documentary. I think I've brought it up on the show before, but it's just. I think it's called this film is not yet rated or something.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, yeah, that does ring a bell. Yeah. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And it's really. I mean, just. Although we now live in a world where the level of bullshit that we're dealing with on like a federal level, it just, it. It sort of dwarfs and renders so inconsequential things like what are we rating these movies but in a simpler time, back when everything wasn't constantly curdling around us at all. Times it was a very interesting question of, like, who does decide if a movie is rated R or X or PG or PG 13? And you know, how did this come about? And it turns out it's like very actually unregulated. And like most things, it's some kind of a business thing going on where like a kind of shadowy group of people have somehow. It's almost in the way that like Yelp has cornered the market on. We're going to write a review. We're going to allow people to write negative reviews of your plays and to be a real shame if something happened to your. Your beautiful reputation so you can pay us so that we'll take down the bad comments. And you're like, yeah, but they wouldn't even be there if you didn't exist. It's sort of one of those things. It's just like this totally ridiculous thing that was created at some point that has no oversight. And I mean, again, to me, the rating of a movie kind of probably doesn't really matter. I can't remember the last time I thought, although that's not true. If there was a comedy that looked funny to me and it was rated pg, I might actually. I might actually wonder if I actually wanted to see it because maybe I would worry that the jokes were going to be a little too tame for me.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, you are edgy. You only like your comedy famously. You like it. You like it to be very.

[Luke Burbank]

Needs to be a cherry pie and a teenager having a sexual experience a la American Pie. The dvd, unreleased.

[Andrew Walsh]

Unreleased, yes. Yeah, that's the version that I kind.

[Luke Burbank]

Of wanted to go for.

[Andrew Walsh]

And it has to be on Blu Ray, if I understand it correct. It has to be very, very dirty, I think. Well, I mean, I don't have kids. I would think that the ratings would be important to me if I had kids. But I also, like, I grew up in a really strict house when it came to that stuff. I think even strict by the standards of the time, which was the 80s. And I don't know if, like, parents are even less concerned. Maybe they. I guarantee you that 90 of parents in America, then and now, were less concerned with what their kids were seeing on TV and movies than my parents. They were very, very strict. I know you grew up in a strict household when it came to.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, my parents would probably be the only ones giving the Walshes a run for their money.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, it was something I remember we weren't allowed to watch ships that was too adult themed. I mean, that, that scene, I just remember that Dukes of Hazzard was too adult. Yeah, those are. Those are just.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, the irony is that we should not have been allowed to watch Dukes of Hazard because it glorified the Confederacy.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right, right. Well, I mean, that's a good reason. Yeah, the. God, I haven't seen that in so long. I was like, wait, it was the can. I mean, Boss Hogg is obviously a fool, but.

[Luke Burbank]

Hold on a sec. Yeah, this is the good news, Andrew. I've completely obliterated the people being mad about us not knowing who Lauren Bacall was and replaced it with me not remembering which were. Who were the. There was. You had. You had the Union. Right. That was. Those were the good guys.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, you're talking about Civil War here. I thought we were talking about the TV show.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I'm talking about the General Lee.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, the general lead a Confederate flag on the road. Confederate flag.

[Luke Burbank]

That's why I had a moment of. Moment of not being able to remember if the Confederacy was the good one or the bad one.

[Andrew Walsh]

All I know is those tiny little shorts are called Claudette Colbert's. That's all. That's the only thing that I can say. Confident.

[Luke Burbank]

And I have to say, like. And every time we talk about something that is pop culture from our childhood, I'm forced to confront the fact that. That it is ancient history, Andrew. I mean, it's quite literally ancient history. Something from the 1980s is 40 plus years ago. But I will say this. The phenomenon of the shorts that the actor who played Daisy Duke, whose name may or may not have been Clark.

[Andrew Walsh]

Gable, I think it was.

[Luke Burbank]

That was. I would say that was. It was a formative experience for more young people in America than almost anything else I can think of. If you grew up. When we grew up, it was. And then it lived on because it became the name of short shorts.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's the only reason. I know that. I gotta be honest with you. I mean, like I said, we weren't allowed to watch that show, but, I mean, I remember seeing bits of it. I think my dad just maybe grumbled about. I don't really know. But the thing is, I'm realizing now, even when I kind of stuttered there, when you kind of said, well, it glorifies the Confederacy, I was trying to remember. Wait, does it. Or I. For a second, I thought maybe that it just makes the cops look buffoonish and they're the ones who represent. That car is called your general lead. No, no, you don't have to explain it to me again. I just. Yeah, I Just it took me a second to kind of remember all the cultural indicators of that show. And like, literally, I was so young. Like, I was not. I was not clocking the length of anybody's shorts at that point. Right. I only knew later that those shorts would become, you know, called Daisy Dukes. Right.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. No, I mean, I was. I was not having any kind of urges in those days, but it just was this weird thing where it was like. Again, now I'm just belaboring it, but it's like a TV show where, like, the. The guys are driving a car that celebrates essentially insurrection and the attempt to tear down. You can tell that all of this stuff has taken on weird new importance in my mind based on current events. But it's like the. The big takeaway from the Dukes of Hazzard with all the other things that were probably problematic about it or dumb or who knows what, is just that one lady had on them short shorts.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And Here we are 40 years later talking about that. And if you. If you said Daisy Dukes to most people in America, at least of our age, they would know exactly what you were talking about. You never know what's going to stick to the cultural wall, I guess, is my point.

[Andrew Walsh]

That raises a good question, too. Do younger generations still call them Daisy Dukes? Probably not. Do you think that ends with, I.

[Luke Burbank]

Think they call them shorts.

[Andrew Walsh]

They just call them shorts? Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

I was outside getting coffee this morning, Andrew, and I feel like I saw. I saw shorts on college students at the John Jay College of Criminal justice on a. Now, maybe these folks were coming from a workout. I'm not sure, but I think I saw. I saw shorts that would have scandalized Daisy Duke.

[Andrew Walsh]

Would you say that they were criminally short?

[Luke Burbank]

You know what? I have to say this, Andrew. It was, first of all, I already said this at the top of the show, but, man, a nice spring day in New York City is just. It is second to none. And I'm staying over in this kind of slightly odd part of town. I don't usually stay here. It had to do with just the hotel that I could find that was available, that was within the CBS per diem. But I'm kind of tucked down on this little side street. And this morning I went out to find some coffee, and there's just. I'm staying right next to this, the John Jay College, and just tons of students everywhere. And as I was crossing the street, I got kind of caught up walking behind this group of students. And they were. I know it was like four or five of Them and they were, you know, boys and girls and they were different ethnicities. And they were having this very spirited conversation about what they would, what their approach would be if they were Walter White's defense attorney from Breaking Bad. And it was the most life affirming thing. It was just these young people that just have everything in front of them and they're leaving a college class and they're kind of still buzzing from the question that was posed presumably by the professor or the ta and they're just having this great. In New York City on a sunny day in May, a sunny morning in May. I was just like, this is, this is what this whole place is about, man.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that sounds, that sounds pretty sweet. I have weird feelings about college. I hear stuff like that. And I remember I have fond memories of college, but I don't ever feel a pull to relive it because I just remembered also being kind of very difficult. Not like, not emotionally or lifestyle wise, just school was, you know, tough for me. I think I did, I did fine in college. I don't have to tell you again that I. Magna cum laude. I mean, yeah, I've made you touch the rope.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, the, the credentials speak for themselves. The speaks for itself. Kent State broadcast program hall of fame.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right? I forgot about those peer. Peer writing tutor, that peer writing assistant. Absolutely. No. Anyway, I did fine in school. I didn't want to make myself sound like, like I, like I, like I really, really struggled. I just, I'm not a school guy, you know what I mean? I just remember feeling a lot of stress, like first day of school. Here's a syllabus. And this is everything that you're going to need to do in the next, like few months. And you know, it always culminates in some sort of big project or paper or test or something. And that's just the first class you went to on your. David. You're just collecting these syllabi throughout your first week of classes and you're just like, how will I ever get this done? Like, I just, I don't know, like, I think fondly on those days. But I tell you what, if I had to go into a situation now where people were giving me syllabi, I would say, bye. Bye. I just came up with that. I mean, hey, really quickly, if, you know, I was going to go on. So I was going to talk about coffee. Let's not talk about coffee. So how was this wedding situation? I'm sorry.

[Luke Burbank]

It was surprisingly. Well, it's very fun. And it was also surprisingly, like I, you know, it felt emotional to me in a good way. Like. So Becca's brother Jeff and his wife Darcy were having their 10 year anniversary and they had wanted to do like, renewing their vows at one of those, like little Elvis chapels because they had, you know, like a traditional wedding with a bunch of people and all that when they got married. And so it also happened to be Darcy's birthday. And so there were, you know, few different things we were celebrating. And so we, on Saturday, we all kind of piled into different limos and we head down to the chapel and they're playing, they're playing Elvis music in the limo and stuff. I mean, it's very like in a certain way it's kind of, kind of exactly what you expect. But then we get into the chapel and first of all, first of all, the guy, the Elvis who was performing the ceremony was great. Not just because he looked, he looked passably like Elvis, but he was just, it was amazing to watch a master apply their trade. Someone who knows exactly what they're doing, like the way that he. Because, you know, I don't know what they do. Maybe four to five of these ceremonies an hour, maybe ten of these ceremonies. I mean, there's a line outside, they bring you in. I know we probably had like eight or 10 people in our group. He gets set up. They, they like, you know, the, the Elvis is kind of directing the, the bride and groom where to stand and the audience what to do and everything. But he did this in this way that it was like so efficient. But also it would be so easy if you were an Elvis impersonator slash chaplain or whatever they call, you know, this person minister. And you did this 50 to 100 times a day all week long. It could be so easy to be totally checked out and, or to just like, I don't know, just kind of like read some kind of laminated thing that had just no emotional kind of, I don't know, oomph to it. But this guy was somehow both funny and, but, but he was taking it seriously. He was like basically saying from behind his jumpsuit and wrap around Elvis shades. You know, this is a cool thing that two people love each other so much that they want to keep this thing going, you know, and they want to get together in front of you and affirm that and, and just somehow this guy. There was one point where they were doing the vows, you know, the vows kind of Elvisy, you know, and he, he said he was, he was sort of saying a line and then and then Darcy finished the line for him, you know, because she knew the next lyric of whatever the Elvis song was. And then he just kind of pauses and he just goes, well, you stepped on my joke there. And we all kind of goes, but it was a pretty bad joke anyway. And then, like, he just had this really, really nice kind of way about him that I was very impressed by. Then there was one point where he was posing Jeff, and he was like, hold your hand up like it's in a karate pose. And there was something about the realism of him saying karate the same dumb way that Elvis probably said it. I feel like Elvis was definitely a guy who probably called it karate, even with no business over pronouncing the word. So it was just. It was just really a fun little afternoon thing that I, you know, I'm probably not going to be signing up for that service if I ever do get married again. But I thought it was cool that I got to see it there once. And I get it why people actually want to do that for their wedding.

[Andrew Walsh]

So it was really quick, though, sort of in and out.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, oh, man, I'm saying 10 minutes. If anything, like, it was.

[Andrew Walsh]

How many people were there, aside from the couple themselves?

[Luke Burbank]

Maybe 8 of the rest of us or something.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. Because you can't have too big of a crew. Because if you're. No, if you need to turn on a dime like that.

[Luke Burbank]

No, you could. I mean, honestly, like, we pretty much filled up the chapel. I tend to think this is the kind of thing that you might do oftentimes without a lot of planning and. Or inviting of friends and family, if you know what I mean. So, like, I think the fact that the chapel holds 15 people is usually kind of fine for folks. But. But no, it was really. It was. It was really fun. And. And like, at, you know, it's funny too, because, like, it's also where my friend Elena from Livewire got married. She got married at this place. Becca knew somebody, actually, you know, somebody. Andrew. Coach Ben renewed his vows.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, interesting.

[Luke Burbank]

At this place we were at, my.

[Andrew Walsh]

Friend Monica also got married. I know she got married in Vegas with sort of a thing theme, a theme wedding where it was just. I believe it was just her and her then fiance, you know, husband. And I'm wondering if it could be the same place, but I cannot remember if it was Elvis themed. For some reason, I'm thinking it wasn't Elvis themed, but it sounds very. Some parts of what you're talking about sound very familiar to me as far as, like, the sort of size of the thing. And also, like, the professional is like, for real, like the professionalism. And so it sounds like it didn't. You know, I think there's a tendency to assume there's a cheapness to it, but you're sort of indicating that that wasn't necessarily the case.

[Luke Burbank]

It certainly didn't feel emotionally cheap to me, which is hilarious, considering it's like the guy looks like Elvis is talking like Elvis and is like, you know. You know, interspersing the ceremony with songs with Elvis songs. Like. I think part of it is because if you've never been to one of these, which of course I hadn't, it only comes up in movies where two people have gotten very drunk and made a very questionable decision. That's. You know, it's always played for this thing of just like, what a. Kind of like, you know, like somebody made a rash decision and. Or it's like you're kind of. You're on fumes, maybe in your life or in your. I don't know, whatever. You're just sort of. It seems to often be played for a certain kind of joke in movies. And again, it was comedic. The whole thing is kind of a joke. But again, what I was surprised by was that I was tearing up when we got to the point where these two people were affirming their love going forward for each other. Like, maybe I'm just some kind of a softy, but. But I thought it was kind of. I. It exceeded my expectations, let's say, based on the pop culture that I've consumed around the topic.

[Andrew Walsh]

Just imagine for just a second, just imagine if Jimmy Pardo had just put like one tenth of the effort into our promo read on. Never not funny that it sounds. This Elvis put into these vow renewals.

[Luke Burbank]

I feel like everyone could learn from this Elvis, but mostly Jimmy Par.

[Andrew Walsh]

I mean, we were all. I mean, I had to say it because everybody was thinking it.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. No, this idea. I mean, we're at a good place now to thank some donors. So let me extend this unnecessarily. I do think that there was a slight lesson here for. For the Jimmy Paros of the world and for the mes of the world, which is anything that you're doing, any kind of work you're doing, there's probably a way to. To. To sort of over deliver with it. And then there's always the temptation to kind of slide into mediocrity or to just kind of like, do the min. Do the minimum. And like, this was a guy Who. I could have absolutely seen it. Just him doing the minimum because of just the. How many times a day he did this, and somehow he managed to not make it feel that way. And I was like, that's actually pretty cool. Like, that's a good thing for me to remember when I'm doing this show with you or I'm hustling to a live wire thing or even tomorrow interviewing sneaker heads who love their Jordan sneakers. Like, whatever I'm doing, if I can kind of. If I can try to just click it up one notch above. Above the minimum, by the way, what a story of excellence. Here I am interviewing people about, like, Michael Jordan, who is, you know, the sort of picture of accomplishment. And what I'm really taking away from the last seven days of my life is if I can at least exceed the absolute minimum by one click, I've really done something. We was hoping for some razzle dazzle. Razzle dazzle. That's right, man. Razzle dazzle. On your mark. On your mark.

[Andrew Walsh]

Get set. Get set now.

[Moira Rose]

Ready, Ready.

[Andrew Walsh]

Go. Everybody rattle dazzle.

[Luke Burbank]

Hey, let's thank some dazzling donors. These fine folks are dazzling us with their donation of dough.

[Andrew Walsh]

This is how we're able to do.

[Luke Burbank]

The program five days a week. We want to thank Tracy Phillips, who's in Des Moines, Washington. It's our friend Tracy.

[Andrew Walsh]

Tracy, what up?

[Luke Burbank]

Hey, Tracy. Tracy says, hey, dummies. Here we go once again with the dazzling donor message. I've said it before, and I'm saying it again. I've experienced many milestones with TBTL. Only 17 years with you. That's. That's the almost. That's the complete collection, right? Are we at 17 years, man?

[Andrew Walsh]

We just had an anniversary in January. Right. And I've started to do this weird.

[Luke Burbank]

Thing where I'm sort of rounding up now. Like, I used to underestimate how many years we've been doing tbtl. Like, I used to say, I don't know, it's been like 10. People kept saying, you know, it's been 15 or 16 years. Now I'm starting to just tell people it's been 20 years because it sounds more impressive.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. Somebody asked me how old I was yesterday. Rude, by the way. No, I don't care. But I really struggled. They're like, you're 49, right? I'm like, yeah. I'm like, no, I'm not. I'm 40. You're not. You're 48. 48. I'm just in one of those. I'm in one of those. Half decades here where it all sort of blurs together a little bit. And I'm rounding up, too.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, it'll be easy for me next year once I'm 50. That's a. That's a big round number that's easy to remember, but. But I'll probably call myself 48 or 51 in the next, you know, between now and my birthday. Tracy says you I've had many milestones with tbtl, good and bad. Most recently with the unexpected death of my mama. Oh, Tracy, I'm so sorry about that. Your voices provided me with some normalcy that I badly needed. As I said in the email I sent, and a chance to laugh at your shenanigans. You've built an amazing community and I reached out to them for. Well, for support. They came through, as they always do, with kind words and wisdom as I began grieving. Everyone keeps reminding me to practice self care while TBTL is self care for me. This year, in honor of my mama, I'd like to ask that people consider a donation to Washington Special Olympics or volunteering their time with them. My family spent countless years at my sister's side while she competed with my mom as her biggest cheerleader. She still competes year round. By the way, thanks for all the laughs, the tears and the countless stories. Love you guys. Power out. Signed Tracy. I think I have a. I think I have a Seahawks necklace that Tracy sister made me that I am keeping around Andrew totemically. I'm keeping this thing around for when we really need it. When we used to be sending Kamaru Kev out to do a Hawk bomb at the Pine Pinehurst Pub. I don't know if any of us can handle that anymore. So now I've got this necklace still that I'm ready to break out when the Seahawks really need some kind of extra energy.

[Andrew Walsh]

I saw a truck today. Some just, I don't know, some pickup truck kind of jacked up a little bit. And as it passed me, I saw that it had a big like Go Hawks sticker on the back of it and it kind of sent me on this weird sort of journey in my head. By the way, thank you, Tracy, and sorry again to hear about your mom. Hope you and Amy are doing okay. But it sent me on this weird journey because I haven't been thinking about football really much at all. I know the draft kind of happened, so we were sort of talking about it, but I'm pretty bad at following, you know, like, I just, I have very little interest in football when it's not happening on the field, sort of. So the off seasons don't mean a lot to me. And I saw this thing that said Go Hawks, and this very aggressive sort of like, font on this back window sticker that was. Took up the whole window.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, you were also down in the south sound.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right.

[Luke Burbank]

Which I feel like further south you get. The more aggressive the Seahawk branding is.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, probably.

[Luke Burbank]

I saw, like, a plumbing company. The last time I was driving. I was, like, somewhere near, like, Central, not Centralia. I was somewhere kind of approaching Tacoma. I saw a plumbing truck that. Clearly, the entire branding of the company is Seahawks, but they're not paying for it. So it's like, kind of the same green. It's called, like, Hawk Plumbing or something. And it's like, it's so clearly Seahawk coded. But they. But they're not paying the Seahawks for it. And they're also not technically infringing. They're not calling it Seahawk Plumbing. It's just like. You know what I mean? Yeah, it's like. It's like they've got a mascot named Rush, and they're probably like, who's, like, a falcon? Who's like a buff falcon named Rush? The. You know, the. Whatever. The Hawk plumbing thing, you know, it was just like, oh, this is meant for Seahawk fans. But anyway, back to your truck.

[Andrew Walsh]

You saw their slogan is stop being concerned. Call Burns.

[Luke Burbank]

They're both ripping. They're ripping off Beacon Plumbing. Ripping off the Seahawks.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's what it sounds like. Because I think, you know. Yeah, I guess Beacon Plumbing also doesn't have an agreement with the Seahawks. They just have some Seahawks players wherever.

[Luke Burbank]

They got Marshawn lynch to sign. Yeah, I bet he regrets that.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't know if he does. I bet you he enjoys doing it. I don't know why. I think.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I just don't think he's doing them anymore. I think he's still doing the same commercial that. Where.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, how old is the ice hockey one? Because I remember when that.

[Luke Burbank]

That's the one I see during the base.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. And is that like over a year old now? I guess it is. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

I guess you're right. I guess that's a re. That's a relatively new one, which means he's feeling good about whatever they're paying him for that. I don't think they're doing the. The quit freaking call Beacon where somebody gets tackled. One that was the original one he did. And then when he left for a while, then it was like Bobby Wagner, right?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, it was Bobby for a while. But. Well, anyway, I don't know what it was about this truck. I was sort of. I was also, like, kind of sleep and caffeine deprived, so I think my mind was sort of wandering. By the way, it took me. Took me 45 minutes to drive to Tacoma today, 90 minutes to drive back, literally twice as long. You just get stuck in that traffic. So I'm just sitting there in traffic, and this truck passes me. It was just like this combination of when the truck is sort of passing me, it's sort of jacked up a little bit. So I. Without even really thinking about it, I just always have sort of a negative reaction to, like, this. I don't know what this. This sort of, like, masculine idea of truckery or something. That's the show title. Masculine. The. The masculine idea of trucker.

[Luke Burbank]

Truck around and find out, right?

[Andrew Walsh]

And so then it passed me. I'm like, oh. And then I see the Seahawks thing, and I'm kind of like, oh, I guess we're on the same side. And then I'm like, what does that mean? I was like, well, I guess it means I'm having this conversation with myself. I'm like, well, I guess if that said, like, like, go Packers, I'd then be even more, like, feeling negative about that truck. But they're just people who like football and like the Seahawks and decided to put that in the back of their truck. And there's nothing wrong with that. Like, I might enjoy watching a game with these people. Like, this is like, just the conversation that just, like, happened in probably about five seconds in my brain, but just sort of, like, implanted there, you know?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. Like, if you were in. Imagine this. Let's keep this thought experiment going. It's. This is one of Tracy's favorite conversational kind of roads we can go down is decontextualized Seahawk fans, or can we separate the art from the artist? Can we separate the fan from the gun fanatic? Because if you were like, here I am. I'm in New York City. In fact, I remember when I used to live here, and there was a bar that would kind of. It was known as the place where Seahawk fans could gather. Now, where this thought experiment breaks down is, let's be honest, the Seahawk fans that I was watching the Seahawks with in New York City were not driving lifted trucks. They were living in New York City. So there's a decent chance that we're already kind of selecting for a certain kind of worldview and personality. But if you're Just somewhere in the world and you encounter someone who likes your team that you really like, you feel an immediate strong connection with them. Like, if I was in the Midwest somewhere and I ran into that guy driving that lifted truck somewhere near the Orillia Road exit south of South Center, I would immediately feel bonded with him over our shared love of the Seahawks, even though that might be the only thing that we have in common.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. Now, do you feel that a little. Now we're really. We're really going off the rails here. I'm taking us off the rails. I shouldn't. I shouldn't blame both of us on this, but I don't know if it's just because of me changing and being a little bit less into football than I used to be or also, like, you know, fairly or most likely unfairly attaching too many, maybe cultural and political indicators to. To the sport of football. But, like, I got to say, I am. If I'm on vacation somewhere, let's say. Where am I? I'm in Aruba. Luke. I'm in Aruba. No, I'm in Jamaica. Wait, I want to take you. Let's see. Where am I? Okay. No, but let's say that these and I. I don't know, sometimes we. Let's say we're in Hawaii or Mexico or someplace, you know, like kind of resort kind of area, vacation kind of area, and I see some dude wearing, like, a Seahawk shirt, I'm going to feel much less bonding towards that person than if I see somebody wearing a Mariner's cap or something like that. Like, there's something. Yeah. And that might just be.

[Luke Burbank]

But it's also because. Because you're stepping away from football a little bit emotionally now, you can kind of see it for what it is more. And it's like, it's. It's got a lot of problems. And it's got a lot of problems. People that like it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. I do think maybe I'm drawn more towards. I don't want to be rude about it. And I still like football. I want to say, like, I'm not. I'm not trying to be either a hypocrite here or slandered people who enjoy football. I enjoy football, too. But as far as some of your.

[Luke Burbank]

Favorite co hosts, namely me, really enjoy football.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right. No, and I do as well. But I think that I am more attracted to a baseball fan personality writ large than probably your average football fan's personality.

[Luke Burbank]

Melody, I could see. I mean, yes, it is it growing up in the greater Seattle area and being obsessed with the three big sports there at the time. The, the Seahawks, the Mariners, and the Sonics, honestly. Well, debatably, the most. I would say debatably the most erudite fans would have been the Sonics fans. Honestly. I don't know why I say that, but just personal experience with it, like, I mean, for one thing, the NBA remains. I'm not saying the NBA is perfect, but it does seem like a more player focused league where there's certainly. I don't know, I'm. I'm really broadly generalizing here, but I just feel like it's. It's sort of like. Well, I don't.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, it is a power. I mean, don't, don't. I wouldn't equivocate on the idea of it being like the most player driven league and most like kind of.

[Luke Burbank]

And by player driven league, I mean. I mean also a league where the vast majority of the players are black men, but who are, generally speaking, I believe, sort of like in the way that the NFL is also, you know, involves many, many players of color. I think that, you know, there's a huge racism issue around the perception of quarterbacks. I mean, there's a million things. I don't know. I'll just say it this way. I think the NBA, to the degree that any of these leagues are woke, I would say the NBA is probably the most woke league.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. I mean, a lot of the players will stand up on what I believe to be the right side of history of issues. They'll wear, you know, warm jersey like.

[Luke Burbank]

Kyrie Irvin and the flat earth thing. Right.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's the first.

[Luke Burbank]

That's the number one thing. John Morant.

[Andrew Walsh]

What is it? John Morant and John Morant and Kyrie Irving. Yeah, Those are the people that I'm picking on. No, no, but we all knew it. We all knew who you were talking about, but. No, I think that's right. Yeah. And they tend to stand up for the right issues. And because of that, you're right. It is a player empowerment league. More than any league has been before and more than it has ever been before.

[Luke Burbank]

You look at like what happened to Colin Kaepernick in the NFL versus what might happen to an NBA who decided that they wanted to kneel during the national anthem. I think there were very different outcomes.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly. That's exactly it.

[Luke Burbank]

You're welcome, Tracy. And thank you, maestro. On your mark. On your mark. Get set, get set.

[Andrew Walsh]

Now. Ready, ready, go.

[Luke Burbank]

Everybody rattle, Settle. Oh, hey. It's Marissa Martinez in Boston, Massachusetts.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hey, Marissa.

[Luke Burbank]

What up, Marissa? Marissa says long time, first time. I'm guessing that means long time listener, first time dazzler.

[Andrew Walsh]

I guess so.

[Luke Burbank]

Or some people. Maybe that's just.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, sorry, go ahead.

[Luke Burbank]

No, I'd say some people also. Maybe that's just the talk radio salutation. Long time, first time.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, maybe. I'm gonna go on a very, very small tangent here that Marissa is going to love. That is one thing that I have enjoyed on the LeBatard Show. I actually didn't listen to it last week, but when I was listening very, very frequently, which I have been recently, they've opened up the voicemail line again where people are calling in to. I don't know, I think there's some strictures to it, but it's. It's been way too long because it. Not unlike this show. The best part of the Levitard show, I think maybe is the listenership and people are calling in, leaving very, very funny voicemails. I think the bit is you're supposed to leave your hottest take on whatever. And I don't have any examples here, but people are very, very clever about it. Very funny. And one thing that somehow emerged is, and I don't know if just one person did that, but when they called in, they said, I'm calling from my car phone. And it was like such a. Like an old school, like call in radio thing. And now everybody's. Not everybody, but a big chunk of the voicemails.

[Luke Burbank]

If you're in on the joke, I'm.

[Andrew Walsh]

Calling from my car phone or I'm calling from my truck phone. And then it's getting a little. It's spinning out of control a little bit. As far as what phones people are calling from, it's a really good bit and not unlike the things that you found sort of, I think, charming about TikTok in the glory days of TikTok is that it doesn't seem like anybody told anybody to do this. It just happened organically and now it's evolving, you know?

[Luke Burbank]

Yes. I love, I love it when there is like an iterative process that nobody's really in charge of, but it's just this fun kind of community, creative thing where somebody takes something and then they just. That's actually really changed about Tick Tock in my experience, which is probably part of why I'm a little less intrigued with it these days. Like that phase of the creative cycle, like that was one of my favorite things. Someone would do a joke and then eventually people would kind of Tire of that joke. So someone would do a new joke that changed one part of the existing joke, and then it became a new funny joke, and then we just keep kind of evolving that way.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

Marissa says, this is actually really interesting, Andrew, if we read further into this message. I've been A fan of TBTL since 2009. I was early to podcasts, and I kept seeing it in the iTunes top five podcasts. Can you believe that there was a time when we were charting that high on itunes? I mean, that's a. That's a stunner.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. Did that also. Did it also help that you had that sort of inside line at itunes.

[Luke Burbank]

Or is that very much so? Well, I don't know if the. I don't know if the charts were. How do I put this? I don't know if the rankings were affected by that, but, yeah, we did have, like, a hookup where we would. I could email some person at itunes and say, hey, could we put us on the kind of top of the page as an advertisement or, you know, like a. A billboard, if you will. The actual rankings, I think that had to do with somehow we were helped by the fact that there. And I think we were never top five in podcast podcasts, maybe comedy podcasts. And it helped that there was probably 30 podcasts in existence and that we were doing it five days a week already, which was totally insane. So just, like, the sheer amount of hours that even our kind of tiny fan base was consuming was probably. You know, was probably pretty extreme at the time. But you had to think about a time when there was someone, our friend Marissa in Boston, who's just kind of going through the top rankings of podcasts and keeps seeing this thing tbtl and decides to give it a try.

[Andrew Walsh]

You know what else helped? Not that we have to revisit this or dig into the numbers even more. It helped that when you were a radio show, you didn't combine. I don't think you guys combined all three files into one big file, then podcasted it. I think you podcasted hour one, hour two, and hour three, which probably another was. So you were actually posting three podcasts a day.

[Luke Burbank]

We should do that again.

[Andrew Walsh]

We should, honestly. I know I keep referencing it, but that's literally what the Le Batard show has been doing for years now, is they've chopped it up into all these million different hours, and, you know, kind of like they literally release five podcasts a day because it's like hour one hour to the post game show, like, whatever it is, and the only reason they do it that way, I believe, is because it juices the numbers.

[Luke Burbank]

I would suggest we do that, except I feel like we already put these listeners through enough.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, right. And also we don't the whole thing. We're reading Marissa's thing here. We don't need fake numbers to sell to advertisers.

[Luke Burbank]

No, exactly. We have real numbers. It's not a large number, but it's enough of people like Marissa and Tracy who are dazzling us with their donation of dough. Here's what Marissa's take on the early days of TBTL was. The first several times I listened, I was wildly confused at a as to how this obscure group of people making prison food or constantly referencing Little House on the Prairie was as possible as this American Life.

[Andrew Walsh]

As popular as T A L. Yeah, as popular.

[Luke Burbank]

Not as possible. As popular as this American Life. But the more I listened, the more I was hooked. You guys have been with me through three states, four relationships, five jobs and two cats. More cat talk, please. Thank you for the excellent audio quality, Andrew. That's on you, my guy. It really is 10 out of 10. Quantity, 9 out of 10 and content, 11 out of 10. Ah, Marissa, you sweet talker. That is exactly. Do you understand how complimentary that that metric is right there?

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

What Marissa is saying is the audio quality is perfect. The amount that we do is 9 out of 10, meaning I believe Marissa wants more of the show.

[Andrew Walsh]

It would be funny if it meant there's too much like it points to Marissa for that. For that.

[Luke Burbank]

A really, really well crafted burn. And I would totally support that. I'm taking it to mean the only one where we got below a 10 was in the how much of the show we're doing, and I'm gonna assume based on Marissa spending her own hard earned money on the program, that we're only getting a demerit there because there's not enough show. And then the content, an 11 out of 10, which is incredible. I think all the tens will agree with me when I say thank you so much for always being there when I need you. What you do is so important. Well, Marissa, what you are doing is so important because we couldn't do this show without you. So thank you. Thank you very, very much. And we'll commit to more cat talk if that's going to keep you around for another. Whatever it is. 17 years.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hello and welcome to Top Story.

[Luke Burbank]

All right, we are probably going to have to prioritize here if we want to talk children's baseball or adult colonoscopies and I think we should go with door number two. So we'll get the sluggers update tomorrow. So in the meantime, Andrew, here we are. It's Monday. If I understand right, if I'm remembering from last week, yesterday Sunday was your last day of normal, uncomplicated food and drink consumption. You're now entering the part of your colonoscopy prep where you guys are thinking about this stuff.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, this is an interesting turn of events. Turns out I love souffle, and I've already been drinking and ordering more of the special formula that they sent me. Yeah, this stuff is a.

[Luke Burbank]

And not even holding your nose.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, not at all. Just chugging it. I mean, this is a wild ride. This has been a wild ride so far. No, it has been very strange now. Everything has been a little bit strange, like the past couple, kind of couple of days. I have a very weird schedule. Today. I mentioned to you that I drove down to Tacoma. I was dropping off Professor Bananas. It's her big surgery day. This is for Marissa, who wanted more cat talk. Our cat.

[Luke Burbank]

Promises made, promises kept.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right. I had mentioned, and maybe, you know, we were quite convinced based on our doctors, on conversation with our doctors, that Bananas has cancer in her jaw and had a very limited time with us. But she's been hanging in there, which is good news. She's been eating like, very soft foods, but she has been eating and remains hungry and is showing even more signs of sort of strength in life. So we decided, well, we're gonna do it. We're gonna go ahead with this kind of big kind of dental surgery and get another biopsy. And apparently the place to do this is down in Tacoma. So this has been on my kind of radar for, I don' Know, a couple of days now. And so I already knew that like everything yesterday was going to be weird on a Sunday night. Usually I'll come home, maybe I'll like, cook a meal anyway. And again, yesterday I did not have to follow any special dietary rules. It really kicked in like today's, but I've just been like, sort of like trying to hold both ideas in my head. I had to get up at like 6 in the morning today to, you know, get down to Tacoma back and everything. And I just have a really, really busy day anyway. And then. And then like last night, I like, go to the grocery store after my volunteer gig, as I always do. But like, I kind of have this list. I'm sitting in my car and putting together a shopping list on one app. While I keep on googling various foods and various, like, sort of like low fiber diet guides. Because for folks who haven't been following this as closely as, well, I have been. You basically have to do two days of this low fiber diet and then one day of fasting and then. And then you go in for your procedure after like, yeah, 24 hours of fasting, I think. Right. And so anyway, like, they gave me some paperwork and kind of a do's and don'ts as far as what you can eat list. But I've been like, it sounds like you did this too, Luke. I've been going online and kind of finding more. More. I don't know if thorough is the right word, but kind of longer lists. Because I'm like, well, what about this? Like, you kept on saying that you can eat meat and like. But I'm like, what about like, I eat a lot of like kind of deli turkey, you know, like sliced turkey. I'm like, well, what about that? And they're like, no, you really.

[Luke Burbank]

You're mostly nitrates at this point.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right? Exactly. And that's why I was like, that doesn't sound. And they're like, yeah, I'd probably stay away from that. Like any kind of meat. And you kept saying steak. And people like, no, don't eat steak.

[Luke Burbank]

Really?

[Andrew Walsh]

That's too. Yeah. Which is fine. Like, I'm not. I don't eat that much steak. You know, every now and then as a treat, I'll buy a couple and grill them up in the summertime.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, that's just funny because I think this shows you how, like, when I was struggling with this, I was like, well, this is because I don't eat meat. So I just assumed meat was the answer, but I clearly did zero research on the topic.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, I also remembered you saying you couldn't eat rice and I guess you just couldn't eat white rice. Was that just. You just didn't want to mess around with white rice? Because I was seeing things on the list that I thought you said you couldn't eat, but I thought, I don't.

[Luke Burbank]

Remember that one or the other. But I just, I remember being surprised. Mostly I think it was the seeds. It was like I didn't realize how many things I was eating that had seeds in them.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, honestly, you can't eat any raw fruit or raw vegetables. And this makes me sound. This is going to make it sound like I'm living a healthier lifestyle than I am. And I promise you people, I'm not living a healthy Lifestyle. Okay. I'm not.

[Luke Burbank]

This is the Walsh promise.

[Andrew Walsh]

This is the Walsh promise. I've never lived a healthy lifestyle. Having said that, it really underscores how many raw fruit and vegetable I eat. Vegetables I eat. Like. Like, you can't eat any apples, any oranges, anything that has a skin on it, I think is the apples. Anything that, like, I think the oranges is because of, like, the. The rind. Like the little fragments of, like, white. Right. Like, they just don't want anything in you that is gonna maybe like, hang up in there. Right. Like. And so they're like, if you want fruit, you can eat canned peaches. I'm like, well, it was like a bunch of canned stuff. I'm like, I don't like any of this. I'm like, actually, I could see myself. So I went into the grocery store yesterday with a very kind of strange mentality, which was, first of all, I got to go to bed pretty early tonight and also can't get up to my usual, you know, late night pizza party or whatever is going to happen. Who knows? But, like, I'm kind of like.

[Luke Burbank]

Because your Sunday night is kind of your last gasp of the weekend. You've kind of got your volunteer gig behind you. You've got your rituals, and it's part of your unwinding and enjoyment process. And this one's completely, totally messed up.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. In fact, I sort of misspoke there. I wouldn't. It would be very unusual for me to, like, eat what we call freezer feast on a Sunday night. Usually Sunday night is me cooking something or grilling something or like, kind of doing that. But I didn't really feel like, you know, like, for me, I cook stuff, I put her around and I clean up. You know, it can end up being several hours because I kind of move slowly and it's like, I just didn't want to get into that last night. So I was kind of looking for things I could eat. And it was like. I was like, it would be easier for me just to shift into this mentality now, sort of. I think that you can maybe even associate with that. Like, it was like I was just trying to hold too many ideas in my head at the same time. Just like this kind of weird week I have and then this diet thing, like, all. So I. So I went to the store last night. I am kind of excited about my cans of peaches. I can't remember the last time I had canned peaches. But they're upstairs in the refrigerator. They come from a can that's where they come from. That's really. Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

Who. Who were they put there by?

[Andrew Walsh]

Wait, what are you going for here.

[Luke Burbank]

In a factory down south? That's the Presidents of the USA song.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Peaches come from a can. They were put there by a man.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, I don't know the lyrics of that. I see. Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

If I had my little way, I'd eat peaches every day.

[Andrew Walsh]

Ah, well, I am looking forward to that as a little treat. And, like, you can't even eat your. Like, I'm not a big cereal eater, but I like it like, you know, I like to have it around, but that's always Cheerios, and Cheerios is out. So they're like, get corn flakes. So I got some corn flakes, and so far today, that's all I ate. When I got back here, I poured myself a bowl of cornflakes, and I was starting to get really hungry, and so that was good. I think protein is mostly just gonna be eggs. That's the easiest sort of thing to navigate. I might slow cook some chicken thighs, but everything that they talk about is just make sure it's cooked very, very, very tender. And even vegetables. I often eat celery and carrots as well. And it's like, carrots, make sure they' slow cooked so that they're nice and soft, like they're there. There are more exceptions than I thought they were going to be when you start really getting down to brass tacks. But what I'm trying to do is, like, sort of just think of this. There is not a lot of junk food that sort of fits the bill either. It's like, I can't even kind of like, tell myself, well, this is good. I can eat all these other junk foods that I'm going to really enjoy and do it under the banner of. Of responsible colonoscopy prep, because there's not that much fun stuff. I mean, the best thing that I got at the store, not that you asked it this way, but the best thing I got was I got myself a thing of Hawaiian rolls, because I love those things. But it's so. Yeah, I mean, it's so rare that I would go in for something like that. But it's like, they're like, if you're going to, you know, if you're gonna eat bread, just make sure that it's like, basically the most unnutritious bread possible. Just like as white, you know, you know, floured bread as possible. So I'm like, well, King's rolls sound sort of good. Maybe later I can put some peanut butter on that, because peanut butter is another, like, that's a protein that I can eat that won't mess me up too badly.

[Luke Burbank]

It's got to be. Does it have to be smooth?

[Andrew Walsh]

It does have to be smooth. Yep. Which is fine because I don't like chunky peanut butter. I don't like that texture. Do you?

[Luke Burbank]

I do. That's probably more what I would go for in my. In my old age. What I've gotten into that. That Becca's got me just buying the, like, un. Like salted, unsweetened, straight up crunchy peanut butter from Trader Joe's, which is like, hearkens back to my childhood, which I hated. We'd always have that Adams peanut butter around, which is the whole top third of the thing would just be oil.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Settle and separate. I like that now.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, that's what all like the foodie. I mean, that's what all like the. You know, I remember getting into public radio, and I've always just been a jiff guy. Right. Or is it gets a gif. I know, but, you know, I remember going into, like, you know, my first public radio job after college and like, in the morning meeting, you know, all the. All the crunchy producers, literally and figuratively in this way, you know, like putting their crunch, like mixing up their oily peanut butter and putting it on.

[Luke Burbank]

On an apple slice.

[Andrew Walsh]

An apple slice, exactly it. Right. Here's the deal, though, like, in all seriousness, like, we are still. We're still a Jif family here. But I. That's one of those foods where, because I eat a lot of peanut butter, probably based on most people my age, I don't really know. I haven't taken the poll, but I think that that would be one where I could get used to a more healthy peanut butter. I think over time, in the same way, like, we don't buy pork sausages anymore. And now on the occasion that I have a pork sausage, it seems way too greasy compared to, like, the chicken sausages that we get. And I, you know, that was just something that sort of happened naturally with Genevieve's decision to not eat pork anymore. And now I'm like, oh, going back to the old stuff. I'll bet you I could do that with peanut butter. But weirdly, it's Genevieve who, like, she. One time I brought home, like, some sort of, like, a healthy peanut butter situation, and she's like, get that out of my house. I'm like, well, we can still buy Jif for You. Because I appreciate that. Because I. Again, I like it on. I like it on my celery. I don't really put it on apples that much. But anyway, back to the colonoscopy. I don't know what I'm going to do the next couple of days, but I'm not really freaking out about it too much because it's only two days. And then I got to eat nothing, which. That's what I hear.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, that's the thing. I was weirdly relieved when I got to the eat nothing phase, because it's simple. It's just simple. And I. I think what I hear you saying is you're surrendering to the process versus trying to hack the process instead of. Of trying to figure out what is the. What are the best things that I can get away with and somehow still be within the rules of this so that this isn't bad. You're just kind of, like, surrendering to the fact that it's going to be kind of boring and kind of suck a little bit. But it's easier to just go with the. Like, follow the rules, follow them carefully, and not try to get clever with, like, what you can and can't do, because that just, like, will drive you crazy. And every time you think you've found some exception, some little asterisk, you'll go on a different website where someone has said, no, no, no, you can't do that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. You know what I'm remembering now, though, too, is I can. I think you can just have pasta when you eat pasta. Sorry, can't say pasta without doing my Portland.

[Luke Burbank]

I thought we were giving up all pasta.

[Andrew Walsh]

No. Or, wait, does he say okay, or does he say no? I can't remember. But I don't know.

[Luke Burbank]

I wish we wouldn't have just played that, like, three weeks ago, because it'd be great for tomorrow's show.

[Andrew Walsh]

I know. Actually, I think we played it last week. But I. You know, like, the thing is, like, I can't put marinara sauce on it. Like, that's gonna have all kinds of seeds and weird stuff.

[Luke Burbank]

Butter and noodles you could just do.

[Andrew Walsh]

Or just, like, olive oil, which is what I might do anyway. You know what I mean? So, like, there are things there. I can make up some white rice. Like, I just. I think I spent a lot of time kind of. I don't know about worrying is the wrong word, because I didn't spend a lot of time kind of. Of prepping or planning. I was just, like, getting all this information. I had it in the back of my head that the day was going to be approaching. Your experience didn't seem super bad, which, you know, kind of made me say, I'll worry about this when I actually have to worry about it. And I did print out, like I said, like, not just what the doctor gave me, but I went to, I think, as we. A lot of people do these days, is the Mayo Clinic. I'll bet you a million. Oh, no, it was actually Kaiser Permanente had a nice guide online, so I printed that out.

[Luke Burbank]

Ironic that you don't eat mayo, but you trust them with all of your. That's right.

[Andrew Walsh]

But you, I believe, believe you can. I believe I could if I were to want to. So I printed this all out. I'm going to eat simply for a couple of days, and then. Yeah, just kind of. Yeah, just be done with it. I can have white rice if I want. I almost wonder again, I'm not trying to go bananas here, but I guess you can eat bananas. But I don't. I don't like bananas. I guess I could have, like, teriyaki, right? Like, that's rice, and that's relatively rice and chicken.

[Luke Burbank]

And I'm assuming that that sauce is maybe okay again, I guess somebody.

[Andrew Walsh]

One thing online. It's like. If you ask the Internet, the answer is. It's like.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, that's what I was gonna say.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

And you have. You have. You have a bunch of people that I guess are trying to be helpful, but you have so many different groups of people that have decided to create websites that list the rules of what you can and can't do. And if you. If you overlay them all over each other, it turns out you can't do anything because each one of them has identified a different small thing that you're not supposed to do. Now. Now, what's the science behind it? Questionable is, you know, will it ruin the colonoscopy and the results? Who knows? But if you. The longer you spend reading the rules of this, the more things you're going to see that you're not supposed to do based on somebody kind of just taking a swing somewhere.

[Andrew Walsh]

Now, here's the thing that I'm most interested in now, this is where I am in my prep. And I guess I'm going to. I think I'm going to try this. So, you know, I was. I wasn't being very articulate before, but, like, sometimes when you have to deal with something like this or if you're sick, you can be like, well, I'm sick. That's not great. But you know, we're conditioned to say, but that means I get to drink a lot of ginger ale and jello. Or you just sort of lay around on the couch.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, just kind of really self care.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, the one thing that often gets me through these things, especially like because when I have to go to my regular doctor's appointments now and they always have to take blood from me and they're not especially good at it, I kind of get in my head about that too. But I'm always like, oh, they always say stay, get really, really hydrated and drink Gatorade. That's going to help too. Well, I love Gatorade. I don't know if you know that about me. It's like really sugary. I know it's not good for you, but like, I love Gatorade. I haven't really been open about that up until this point. But that is so something that I will like, sort of really look forward to because I don't keep it, you know, I don't keep Gatorade in the fridge at all times because I drink it. If it's there, I'll probably drink it, you know. And so it's like a special treat after I've like busted my ass working in the yard, like trimming hedges or something like that, like go to the corner market and get like two things of Gatorade and just like punish them, just like destroy them. Right. And so like you're one of those.

[Luke Burbank]

Athletes in the Gatorade commercial. I like to hooked up to some kind of a, you know, treadmill with like a, you know, whatever you want to call it. Pulse oximeter going. And you're just running, but you're just sweating out. Pure Gatorade.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, the sweat. The sweat of Gatorade. Now I have to be careful with colors. Like you definitely don't want to get purple or red or anything. But you know, I still like the yellow Gatorade. I, again, it sounds like orange would be okay, but I'm just erring on the side of caution for all of this. You know, it's like, is, is there some red dye to make it orange? I don't know, I'm just going to go with the, go with the lemon stuff. Lemon, lime or whatever it's called. But the thing is, a listener also said don't just use it to get hydrated, but make your, your Miralax. It's not Miralax, it's like souffle. But whatever. I don't know. I'm saying that, right. But you know, the stuff that you have to drink that everybody says tastes really bad to bluff, somebody said you can just mix that with Gatorade and that will instead of water and that will help the flavor a little bit. And so I'm sort of interested in trying that. But I keep on going online to see is this, is this okay? I mean, I'm sure this listener wouldn't lie to me and it sounds like their thing went well, but I'm just trying to be super, super careful about this. And I kind of keep getting different answers about whether or not it's okay to mix this with Gatorade. But that's one thing that I'm sort of. Look, I have like, I literally think I have like eight of those bigger bottles of Gatorade in the refrigerator right now. Just saying.

[Luke Burbank]

And it's a good boy.

[Andrew Walsh]

You can drink it.

[Luke Burbank]

You can look a little bit forward to it, you know, kind of like, all right, well, this is a Gatorade time now. So this answers my other big question for you today, which was if you were going to try to see about getting the pills instead of drinking the volume of liquid, and it sounds like you're pretty committed to the, the liquid volume drinking.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, like, it's already. They made such a big deal about like getting it to me and delivering it. And I don't, I don't think it was that expensive with insurance or whatever, but I've already got it here. I'm hearing from all kinds of people who say, like, listen, that she. So my journey with this, if people didn't hear Friday's episode, was I was pretty chill about it and said, well, I'll deal with this when the time comes and I'll do all the reading, you know, when I absolutely need to. And then I started doing the reading on, I think, think Thursday night. And I told you on Friday show that I was starting to get freaked out because, like, there's this list of things to prepare for. And what I realize is it's all worst case scenario stuff, right? Like, and I've been hearing from a lot of listeners. It's actually been really, really nice to hear from folks because I need to kind of keep remembering that, like, this is something that almost everybody my age has gone through or is going to go through. And everybody's like, it was a pretty much a breeze. Like, you're going to get through this. The drinking of the stuff, stuff of the solution is the worst part. And then of course, you know, you're you know, the after effects will put you in the bathroom for a long time. But, like, you got this. And also just like, mix it with Gatorade. It's not that big of a deal. So I was really glad to hear from a lot of people over the weekend saying, yeah, that gin in there.

[Luke Burbank]

And you've actually got a party going.

[Andrew Walsh]

I mean, it's clear, it's a liquid. I don't see why not.

[Luke Burbank]

I did know. I do think that that is. On one of the many instructions I was reading, there was something. Literally, it was like, you know, know, like, no alcohol. They were just listing all the clear stuff you could and couldn't drink in that last day.

[Andrew Walsh]

The last day. Yeah, I know that they.

[Luke Burbank]

And they're like, no alcohol or something. Or I think there was one where it was like, you cannot drink anything. The morning of the. Like, no alcohol. The morning of the procedure. I thought, I don't want to get into moralizing, but if you got to tell people that we may be dealing with some other kind of stuff going on or somebody has to. If somebody wouldn't realize that a nice. A nice mimosa or a nice Bloody Mary on the morning of your colonoscopy is probably frowned upon.

[Andrew Walsh]

Wow. Yeah. Well, the bloody.

[Luke Burbank]

Tell people that.

[Andrew Walsh]

The Bloody Mary itself, I mean, that just seems like there's a lot of.

[Luke Burbank]

It'd be like everything you're not supposed to do.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, it's red seeds, all kinds of seeds. You got celery, you got olives, all kinds of stuff. So anyway, I am. I'm soldiering on. Oh, you know, one thing I was going to mention was like, I just kind of also said, I'm just in such a weird place, too. Another thing that happened last night, and I'm so mad at myself, Luke, is I busted my coffee pot for like, literally, I think, the fourth time. So we have one. I think it's smeg brand. We've talked about this before. We have a cute little coffee maker that is now getting kind of old. We had it definitely more than five years. It might even be 10 years old now, but it's still working really well. But, like, over the years, you know, the carafe, the pot itself has broken. Like once I put it in the dishwasher once, it kind of got a chip in it or something, so we bought a replacement. And then, I don't know, I think.

[Luke Burbank]

Clear glass, kind of like the typical.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, just a clear glass, classic looking. It's a little bit smaller than I think. Maybe if you got Like a krups or a Mr. Coffee, but it's like a 10 cupper and it's Mr. Coffee.

[Luke Burbank]

Was my father just call me coffee.

[Andrew Walsh]

Call me Mr. Crop. But anyway, I. It was just. I had made a whole bunch of coffee for pop up yesterday, and then I left her pop up and I left it kind of, kind of the pot upside down on a towel. And I usually do this thing where like, if I'm leaving something that is like a cup or a bowl that doesn't have. That doesn't have a way for air to get through it, if I'm putting it upside down, I'll set it like on a fork sort of or something to let air in there, to let it dry more. Well, I must have like, because I just do that a million times a day. I must have put the coffee pot up a tiny bit on this pot that was also drying. So this is not in a rack. It's just sitting on a towel. And I don't know why I'm giving you so much detail on this, but anyway, yesterday I was already kind of in a weird mood. I'm home from the grocery store and then I go and I pick up this pot and it just makes the. I pick up like this like saucepan, I should say, like a pot like that. And it makes the coffee carafe, which was sitting on it a tiny bit, just like up end and tumble like a somersault right into the sink. And we have one of those old fashioned, like really hard saran ceramic sinks, you know, has no give like that. You can break anything just by show. Just by showing it to the sink. And it might crack like that. That sink has no give. I really need one of those little like metal racks on the bottom like.

[Luke Burbank]

I think you have, that'll create some spring.

[Andrew Walsh]

I know, but this thing, it was just like, it was freaking slow motion. And also I've busted like three or four of these already. So, like it crashes. I yell, I swear. Genevieve comes running in from the other room. Are you okay? I'm like, yes. I broke another one. And I'm like, what are we gonna do for tomorrow? Like, you know, again, I had to get up around 6 today. I'm like, there's not gonna be any coffee in the morning. I got out the French press, but I knew I wouldn't have time to deal with that. And I was just kind of like, I don't know, just like with today's little morning road trip down south and back, and then no coffee. I didn't even know where to get coffee today. It's been so long since I just have been to a coffee shop. There are no good ones in our neighborhood. Except for the one Christian one that I saw was listed on that MAGA site. You know that MAGA site you can go to and to see like, like they made it so that, so that you can support MAGA businesses. But now it's just like a really good guide for businesses to avoid because you have to apply to be on this list. I can't remember what it is. And you.

[Luke Burbank]

Are you kidding me? They're on that list.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that Pilgrim coffee or whatever is near my sanctuary, whatever. So everybody can know to not go.

[Luke Burbank]

That's just because I don't want to. Listen, I don't mean to get bogged down in this, but like usually those kinds of like a coffee shop and a church, which again you weren't even. And the first time you went there, I think it was unclear to you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Or maybe when you were driving there like that this was in a church and stuff. And then it's like, okay, fine. Well, not, you know, not. Thankfully, not every person who's identifies as Christian, like including my parents, they very strongly identify as Christian. They do not identify as maga.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

So like it's not a given. And it feels like that church in Seattle, if they're trying to have a hip coffee shop, maybe they could be some of those Christians who are like kind of, you know, not MAGA Christian. So to hear that they actively had to register as pro MAGA is just, it's. I don't know why that's bumming me out on a Monday now.

[Andrew Walsh]

It doesn't use the term maga. The name of the site is Public Square. It is for life, family and liberty though. And yeah, basically it's like it goes on this whole thing about like, you know, you want to support the companies that share your values and everything. It's actually not even a bad looking site, but it's all about, it's. It's made by MAGA for MAGA essentially. And even though this, the search is not working right now. I know that I was reading some article about this a few weeks ago and while I was cat sitting, I remember just like kind of like doing this was like mindless scrolling because I didn't want to leave this cat alone. But I didn't really know what to do. And so I'm like, well, let me just go look at it. And I typed the word Seattle in and now Seattle is not Giving me any. Oh, now it is. And the very first result was this coffee shop that's in my neighborhood. And it bummed me out because I had the similar feeling. I liked going there. The people there are very nice. I don't like the. And there's a there. I think it might be connected with a church that's also near my home. That I could be wrong about that connection. But there's a church very near my home that I think serves, like, a lot of various immigrant populations, a lot of, I think, African populations, people who, like, immigrated here recently. And it's like, I don't know. And I know they have a food bank. And, like, it all just gives me a generally good feeling, you know? And I'm just kinda like, yeah, this is. This is good. I've often meant to check in with that church, see if there's any canned food we can donate. They will not be getting my canned peaches. Don't even joke about that. But anyway, yeah, to see that, oh, this isn't just like, oh, we have Christian values. I don't happen to be Christian, but I can support you as a local business. It really bummed me out to see that like, this. I don't think they were just scooped up. I think that they had to say that, yes, we want to be on this list. And I'm like, well, then I am not going to. I am not going to that place anymore. It was just weird. I. Maybe I also had bananas in the car and I didn't want to extend the amount of time she was in the car. But I was like, I don't know where to get coffee anymore. Like, I don't know. And I. I'm not a Starbucks guy. Not really on principle. Although a little bit more on principle these days. I just don't do it. And so I was just like, I just drove all the way down there. And then I'm like, I'll get some when I'm in Tacoma. And then I didn't get coffee there. And then the whole way home, it's like the 90 minutes stop and go traffic. I'm like, I should have coffee. I just got intimidated by the idea of finding coffee. Like, I just don't know what to do. Yeah, I'm just in a weird place. I think I get it.

[Luke Burbank]

You got a lot going on, my friend. I totally get it. I was. On the other hand, I was very heartened today by my. New York City is a weird place for coffee, Believe it or not, because it does not. I Mean, certainly in certain enclaves there are high, you know, high end coffee shops. But it's, it's weird because New York City is the sort of center of culture, but it's not, in my opinion, the center of coffee culture. Because the general cup of coffee in New York City is famously that little, you know, like, basically we are happy to serve you that kind of Grecian, that Greek looking blue coffee cup that now they've made into. Like there's, you know, paper cup versions and there's ones that are ceramic, but they look like paper cups. You go. When I was living here years ago, you would, generally speaking, you would go to one of those little coffee carts, they would give you a cup of coffee which would be, you know, had been sitting there on the burner for however many hours, it was not high end coffee. And then they would put the cup in a bag, roll the bag up and hand it to you. So you'd carry this bag with this cup of coffee in it. And then there's Starbucks everywhere. That's sort of the vibe. Like it's either, like it's either just like a coffee that has. It's not a lot of thought going into it, it's just kind of utilitarian or it's a Starbucks, which. Something about being in New York City and going to a Starbucks feels weird to me, just I guess, being from Seattle. So today I found, down the street, a short walk from me, this really nice little French bakery. And I walked in and sure enough, they had a nice little coffee operation going. And I got a large drip coffee which was nice and hot. It was only $4. They had half and half. They had Splenda. I gussied it up. I walked back here. It was like a very. I'll give this place a shout out. It's called Paris Baguette Bakery Cafe. But there was something about the fact that I needed coffee. I only walked one block. I got a satisfactory. I'm not trying to rub this in, by the way, Andrew. I'm just saying, you know, you and I are really kind of two sides of a coffee coin today because I had the opposite experience. I was like, I don't know where to get coffee. I never stay in this neighborhood. I don't want to drink some swill from the Fairfield Inn. Oh, by the way, on tomorrow's show, more on the Fairfield Inn. I gotta update you on this hotel. It's interesting. But anyway, I got really lucky that I wandered out to a place that actually had. Because I could have Just as easily gone somewhere, bought a coffee that tasted terrible, come back to the hotel, just kind of suffered through it. That was an equally likely scenario and probably the one you were trying to avoid.

[Andrew Walsh]

I am on this Public Square site now and like, I'm just trying to get. Because it's kind of built out nicely, I expect it to be more janky. The search function isn't wonderful. I expected it to be more like the. A lot more of that font of that Seattle Seahawks truck I saw today, you know, but it all seems very, like, kind of respectable or whatever. And we click on Public Square for businesses. It's like, you know, we can help you grow your business, expand your reach. And. And then there's a payment system that this thing offers, and it's called protect your flow of funds. And when you get down there, it says, when major processors restricted firearms sales, grab a gun. Switched to our innovative and cancel proof payment solution. Achieving luke transactional sovereignty and technical peace of mind. Protect your revenue and improve your bottom line. So if you want to go the way of grab a gun and of course, Pilgrim Coffee shop here in North.

[Luke Burbank]

Seattle, this is what I'm so. Because now I'm on the boy. This is a long, long digression to in a certain way raise the visibility and profile of a place that I have never been to. By the way, I somehow missed the memo that this is in Oak Tree Village. I think I thought it was in a church.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like, I thought it literally, there's another one. There are two up here in North Seattle that are both connected to churches. And the one you're remembering, and you are remembering that one, right? There was some coffee shop. I was like, again, I think, feeding my friend's cat and sort of in this no man's land between our houses. This is a while back now, and I looked up a coffee shop and the nearest one was almost a residential area. And I was surprised by that. And I didn't realize until I pulled in that it was actually a church. And this was a little, like, space off of the church. And I kind of had similar feelings, like, oh, I didn't expect that. But also, that's kind of pleasant. You know, I don't go to church, but churches can be very nice places. So. But then there's another place which is right in my neighborhood, Oakland Tree Village, where the old Mandarin Gate used to be, where my barber is, where my SARS is, where my Vibe sports bar is like. And there's this little coffee shop. And again, it's nice. It's really nice in there, and the people are really nice in there. And that's. That's Pilgrim Coffee Shop, which I'm no longer going.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm just hoping that they got, you know, somebody auto added them to this Public Square list because I'm on their Instagram page, and by all appearances, they seem like, like the kind of chill granola Christians that I have come to love and support. And by that I mean the kind of folks that happen to have a rich spiritual life. And, and they, you know, they believe the Bible and things like that, but they also do not allow that to tip them over the edge into, you know, all of the things about the Maga movement that are, that are just, I think, so deleterious. I have no. I have no. I'm just. I'm trying to square. I'm trying to square what I'm seeing on the Instagram page with them being on that thing you were just talking about. It's just so. It's such a bummer to me.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm pretty sure you have to apply because I'm looking here, like, when you click on four businesses, you scroll all the way down, it says, are you ready to get started? Kind of get started with us, this website, Public Square. So grow your business with Public Square. Learn more. But you have to fill in your company name and your name and your email and what can Public Square do for you? So anyway, yeah, no, I'm pretty sure I wanted to think that somebody just put them on the list, but I'm pretty sure you have to seek this out as like a help for your company.

[Luke Burbank]

You know what's interesting? They're followed. Their Instagram is followed by an architecture firm that I once was considering trying to maybe retain for some work. They're in Seattle, but they can, you know, they can do work anywhere. And I think I ended up following them on Instagram and now they follow them and there's a very similar vibe. Like, there's a certain kind of, like, kind of clean scrub person in, let's say, their late 20s. And they usually have a certain kind of predictable family structure. And they're like, healthy and they have good aesthetic. Like, they take good pictures of things. I just, I'm doing, I'm having a hard time describing. There's a certain kind of Instagram vibe that this architecture firm has that the Pilgrim Coffee Company has.

[Andrew Walsh]

And they're following each other. Even Public Square itself. I'm just like, looking at these photos and it's like, it's stuff that you Would usually associate with. With like holistic food. You know what I mean? I see somebody like, kind of mixing. It's like natural health and everything.

[Luke Burbank]

It's not like, you know, it's not an attorney. It's not an attorney.

[Andrew Walsh]

Law hawks.

[Luke Burbank]

It's not an attorney using a dragon for.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

Or law hawks for men. Whatever. Like, it's like. That's what's so crazy about some of this stuff is it's like. It's like the look, the vibe, the whatever is fairly immaculate. And you just kind of. Because I take so many of my cues from just kind of the. I don't know if that would be the semiotics of it or not, but like the symbology of it. But it's like, you know, again, it's. It's. It's that. That bums me out. That bums me out to hear that story. Because otherwise, you know, based on all of this other indicators, it's like, oh, I know people like this. I got lots of. I got. Not lots, but I have plenty of crunchy friends who happen to be people of faith and who don't have bad takes.

[Andrew Walsh]

Of course we have listeners, and I want to be clear about that. I'm not just pandering here, honestly. Like, I'm thinking of some listeners who maybe, like, have not. I'm thinking of somebody who wrote in, like, years ago that didn't like some take that we had. We don't have to get into the details of it. It was totally fair. But, like, you know, I just know. I can picture our listeners who are people of faith. Like, I have no. No issues with that. And I know that it's not all swept up in the bad politics, but in this case, I just am not going to that particular coffee shop anymore, knowing that I did any coffee shops.

[Luke Burbank]

Apparently.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. Apparently while I'm drinking. Drinking. I made it out of. I hadn't made coffee out of a French press. This, you know that that's how I used to make all my coffee, like, every morning. I did too press.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, we were all caught up in that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, Well, I think in the early.

[Luke Burbank]

2000S, we all people of a certain age and a certain kind of inclination, sometime we either went to a cafe or a friend's house and someone was using a French press, and our minds exploded and we thought our, you know, Mr. Coffee, that's our dad's old burned coffee. We are French press people now. And then we all did that for, like, too many years until one day we woke up and said, this is a major hassle.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, right. And I don't even know, did I? Part of me wondered if it was because I didn't have a coffee pot or a coffee maker, like it might have. All I think was the easiest thing for me to do because I remember had a little grinder and a little French press and I don't even think I ever had a coffee pot. Maybe before this mag. Well, maybe I'm wrong about.

[Luke Burbank]

I feel like, like Ikea and Wilco. It was a phase that a lot of people like us had. It's a developmental phase. In your 20s, you're asserting your adulthood. You're trying to be a little more artisanal maybe than the home you grew up in. This is. I'm just speaking from my experience. And then one day I was like, wait a minute, I could just tell this thing to start making the coffee at 7am I could wait. So hold on, let me understand this. I could just get up in the morning and there could be the rich aroma of you band happening. That's all I use, Andrew. Broadcast coffee and you band. Those are my two go to's. Like, then there was something like. Because I had never, I, I had never had a coffee maker either. The first, the first coffee device I had in my home was a French press.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Because when I started making coffee, that's what the cool people were using. And I just thought that's what you get. And then I don't know, my 30s, I was like, wait a minute, I must have been somewhere where someone had one of those. And I was like, this is so much better for me. This is so much more convenient. And now there's no looking back.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I, Well, I'm glad I had this thing as a backup though, because the way I'm smashing coffee pots all over the place, I needed this drinking. It's got that, it's got that good old fashioned little. Was it like silt in the bottom of my mug? A little bit of the drag, a little bit of dregs, but you got.

[Luke Burbank]

To be careful with those. Becca and I were at an Airbnb in San Antonio many years ago.

[Andrew Walsh]

Go.

[Luke Burbank]

I've told this story before, but I was making coffee in the French press in the Airbnb and as I was pressing the plunger down, the whole thing just exploded. Oh.

[Andrew Walsh]

Were you aggressive? Did you push it too fast?

[Luke Burbank]

I don't. I mean, I mean, listen, is my body a beef castle?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

Am I sometimes stronger than I realize? Often. But I don't think so. In this case. It was just. I think it was that it didn't get used a lot. And something about the hot temperature and the brillness of the glass. Glass. It just got weird.

[Andrew Walsh]

I could see.

[Luke Burbank]

But that did mean I had to go find a Starbucks. And on the way there, Andrew, I found what became for a while, my favorite weird public radio show. And I believe it was called Away With Words.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, yeah. Away With Words, that show. Oh, absolutely.

[Luke Burbank]

I only heard it because I was. They were playing it in San Antonio at 10am on a Saturday as I was out trying to find more coffee because I had shattered the French press. So just say you never. You never know how life's going to turn out is the big takeaway. So, all right, that's gonna do it for today's episode, but we are gonna be back here tomorrow with more imaginary radio for you all, including an update on your junior sluggers. So please do tune in for that. In the meantime, have a great Monday. Take care of yourselves, everybody. And please remember, no mountain too tall.

[Andrew Walsh]

And good luck to all. Power out.