← TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live
TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live
#4510 Papa Murphy Was A Rolling Stone
02:15:28
Luke just bought the most amazing piece of technology in his life, but he’s conflicted about it. Andrew is conflicted about something that happened to him in a restaurant recently. They also discuss Times Square, pizza crust, David Letterman Top Ten...
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- [00:00]
A
Apparently a person's name actually influences who you grow up to become. Like, if your name's Dennis, you're slightly more likely to become a dentist. It's true. You're attracted to things that sound like your name. And like Larry's are more likely to be lawyers. I thought about it. My name is Joe. One letter away from joke. I was like, oh, my goodness. And the more you look for in the world, the more you see it. Bernie Madoff. Don't give that guy your money. Last name's Madoff. I looked up the guy who started Craigslist. First name's Craig. That's spooky.
- [00:39]
B
Wow.
- [00:40]
A
What are the odds Andre the giant was 7ft tall? Yeah, last name was the giant.
- [00:51]
B
TBTM.
- [00:57]
A
Asked you a question.
- [00:58]
B
Well, possibly.
- [01:00]
A
The hell am I doing here? Is that the question? What was the question, sir? The man or beast that I run from ain't been born and it's Mama's already dead. I think we're pretty heavy on the bad news right now, so maybe just sprinkle in some positive a spoonful of sugar and such. Sometimes people say that my head is.
- [01:24]
B
Too big for my body. And then I say, compared to what? I'm the president of rap music and.
- [01:30]
A
I need to work with you right away. Well, all right. Hello, good morning, good evening, and welcome, everyone, to a Tuesday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live. Just study it out and you'll see. My name is Luke Burbank. I'm your host. I'm sorry, I'm tan.
- [01:46]
B
I like to be tan. It just feels good.
- [01:49]
A
I sound a little distracted here at the top of the episode because I'm at the Madrona Hill studio, perched high above the mighty Columbia, of course, and oh, Ma Pa, it's just beautiful. Two hummingbirds were flitting right outside the window. And I got excited because I thought maybe they were, you know, maybe they were on a date or something. Maybe they were having a fun like a Disney esque cartoon swoon. And then no, one of them just kind of charged at the other and then that one flew away. And I was reminded of a conversation last weekend with my sister who said, yeah, hummingbirds are actually pretty brutal towards each other. I choose to believe that they are the cartoon birds out of Cinderella and Snow White and that they mostly exist to help sew me a dress at the last minute before I go to the ball to meet the prince. That is my version of hummingbirds. And no one is allowed to dissuade me of it on this Tuesday that is supposed to be very warm here in southern Washington. We're going to get into the 90s hot tackles here. Operating all of the fans here in the Madrona Hill studio to try to keep in front of the heat as we bring you episode 4000. Wait, where is my bell? Everything's out of sorts here. 4510 in a collector series. Let the fun begin. I recently acquired a piece of technology that I have legitimately, extremely mixed feelings about. Isn't that for techno geeks with spreadsheets? I don't know how Andrew's going to feel about this. Quite honestly. Quite honestly, I think this might be a rupture in our friendship. So we'll talk about that. I do not have mixed feelings about what happened last night in Atlanta on the baseball field when Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners own big dumper was winning the home run derby. It's the greatest thing I've ever seen. This is not a story about sports. It's a story about fathers and sons and dumpers. And we're going to talk about it. We're going to talk about it with this guy. Longest running cobra of the show, maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ships and his door holding. He's Andrew Walsh and he's joining me right now. Good morning, my friend.
- [04:00]
B
Good morning, Luke. I made myself chuckle during your intro. You said something about I don't usually, I think, talk to myself or respond verbally to your intros, but you're like, this may cause a rupture in the relationship. And I said out loud and nah. I just found myself saying, nah, we're fine, we're fine. I did also think of something and I worry about sort of disrupting the flow of the show here, but you be honest with me here, I can save this for another day or later in the show, but something happened to me this weekend that involves paying for a check at a restaurant and, you know, kind of splitting a check. And I remember it was one of those things that happened in the moment and it went by pretty quickly. And then I started thinking about it later in sort of new light. And then this morning I'm like, oh, you know what this is? You know what this is, Luke? This is the intersection of technology, culture and dining. Coming up.
- [04:57]
A
We love intersection. Isn't that for techno geeks with spreadsheets after the news?
- [05:02]
B
What happened after this news? I was at, I was going to a party on Saturday evening and ahead of time I was meeting up with some friends. We're all Gonna go to the party together. Because I was the person who knew the folks at the party, and these folks didn't know them. So we met at a place you probably know on Capitol Hill. I feel like it's such a. Such a good place to meet for a couple of drinks before you're going somewhere else. It's called Poquito's. It's a Mexican restaurant right on the hill. It's been there forever. It's got this large, kind of quasi outdoor space. It just sort of makes it perfect for this time of year. So we're like, hey, we'll go there, we'll have a few drinks, and then we'll. We'll take off. Eaves and I get there first. We have the first round of drinks, order some chips and some salsa. Our friends show up maybe for the second round. So there's four of us sitting there, two couples, and we order. I'm thinking between all four of us, we probably got, like, one thing of chips and salsa and, you know, between two and three rounds of drinks and then. And we have a really nice server. I really like them a lot.
- [06:11]
A
He was tiny, though. But, I mean, you have to. To work there.
- [06:15]
B
Anyway, so it is one of those things where, first of all, it's Capitol Hill, so drinks are going to be a little bit pricey. That's fine. I wanted to pay for everybody's drinks anyway. It just seemed nice. Our friends who were meeting there have just moved back into town. But I really don't like that awkward moment of being like, no, no, I'll get it. No, I'll get it. I'll get it. Like, I just want. So luckily, we avoided that because the server came over with the little handheld thing when it was time for us to take off. And he comes over, and he gives it to me first to put my card in and pay. And my buddy says, you got this split out, right? Like, he kind of asked the server specifically, like, you broke out ours, so we're not all paying as one. And the server said, yeah, no problem. And he hands it to me first. And I was sort of thinking, I kind of want to fight that. I kind of wanted to pay for everybody, but I just don't want to have that awkward moment. And so, like, re.
- [07:05]
A
Add it all together.
- [07:06]
B
Yeah, just like, whatever. So if he's already got it. So he hands it to me, and then I pay for it, and I'm here sort of, like, kind of having this thought. First of all, I'm always awkward when they kind of give you the thing and then stand there, and you got to kind of figure out the tip or.
- [07:18]
A
I know.
- [07:18]
B
I really.
- [07:19]
A
And then it's like, don't like that. There's, like, the moment where the server has to kind of avert their gaze because you're choosing the tip.
- [07:28]
B
Yeah, I assume. I don't even know if he's averting it or not, because I'm averting my gaze. I'm looking down. I don't know if he's. I always feel like they're look.
- [07:35]
A
And again, no, you're verting your gaze at the screen. They're hopefully averting their gaze away from you and whatever decision you're making.
- [07:44]
B
Yeah. And so now I want to say again, like, I really like the server. He was. He was kind of a fun guy, but not, like, over the top or anything. So anyway, he says, yeah, I broke him apart. Then he hands me the thing, and then as I'm paying, I'm like, oh, that's. That's a bit more expensive than I thought. If we're just paying for our half of things, it's like, wow. But that's okay. You know, I'm not one to, like, I say any, you know, just like, oh, wow, that is. We're paying for half, and that's what it is. That's expensive. And I got to say, the one awkward thing is I. It defaulted to 22%, and I was like, I knocked it down to 20. I almost hit 20. I was like. And I don't know if you saw me do that, but whatever.
- [08:17]
A
Is it custom tip?
- [08:19]
B
Yeah, it's like, no.
- [08:20]
A
Did it give you 20 as an option, or was it 22%? The lowest of the general options, so. Or not the lowest, but you know what I mean? We'll go 15%, 18%, whatever. Like, they said it however they want, and then if you want to not do one of those, you have to go custom tip.
- [08:34]
B
Yeah, I think it was like that. I didn't even look for the custom tip button. I wasn't going to do that in this situation. But he hands it to me, and it's like four blue boxes. The first one in order is 22. The next one is 20, and I believe the next one is 15, but it's defaulted to the first one of 22. So I almost just hit okay, but then I take a split second and I hit 20 instead.
- [08:55]
A
Well, now that they're not paying taxes on those tips, Andrew, we only need to do 20%.
- [08:58]
B
I'll be honest with You. I mean, that kind of plays into it. They, you know, servers. I. I'm not trying to undercut anybody, But I think 20% on that. Knowing that folks are earning over $20 an hour and then tipping 20%, I'm happy to do it. I'm not complaining. I don'. Want to be like a Buscemi here or anything like that, but, Yeah, I think 20% is fine. Like, right.
- [09:17]
A
When in what program is he a tip complainer?
- [09:20]
B
Oh, Reservoir Dogs. It's this whole opening scene about him saying the world's tiniest violin or something. He's like, really?
- [09:27]
A
Like, are they in the diner before the robbery?
- [09:30]
B
In some.
- [09:30]
A
Yeah. Everybody be cool. This is a robbery. I love you, honey bunny.
- [09:34]
B
I haven't seen that movie in probably over 10, if not 20 years. So I don't know exactly the order of things, but I feel like it's very much near the beginning. You're getting to know these. These characters.
- [09:42]
A
That would make sense because they. They're probably in the diner, right?
- [09:46]
B
Yeah, they're in the diner. And he's. And he does goes on this whole, like, kind of. I think it's sort of an iconic rant against tipping. All of that is to say this is even about the tipping, to be honest with you. I just. It was just like this awkward moment. I'm always. I always feel like I got to do this quickly but smartly or whatever the point of all of this is. I'm like, oh, that was more pricey than I thought. For half of these drinks. And then I hand it back to the server.
- [10:06]
A
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. For half of these drinks. Did you split the bill with somebody else?
- [10:10]
B
So he came over, and my buddy said, this is split. You've broken us off, right? And he said, yes. And then he hands me the machine, and I look down and I see that it's more expensive than I thought it was going to be.
- [10:23]
A
For the split. For half of the drinks.
- [10:24]
B
For half of the drinks. I. I wanted to pay for all of them, but when he said he already broke it out, I didn't want to argue in the moment, so. So I'm like, oh, okay. So anyway, point is, I pay for it. I hand it back to the guy, then he turns to my buddy and says, I was lying. I didn't break it out. He paid for it all. Which is interesting. At the moment, I was, like, grateful for it. This is one of those things in the moment, I was grateful for it because I was like, oh, good. I wanted to get all these drinks. And the server, I feel like, intuited that. That we didn't want to have like an awkward moment. And I'm so happy to not have the awkward moment. But as I thought about it later, and here's what I think I need to add. I need to add a caveat here. My buddy is. And I'm leaving names out on purpose because it gets a little bit personal when it comes to age stuff. My buddy is probably about 10 years younger than me. Ish. You know, so he's in his 30s, you know, mid to late 30s or something, and he's married to somebody who is like maybe 10 years younger than him. I could be wrong about that. But point is, a child. I. What's that?
- [11:23]
A
So a child bride.
- [11:24]
B
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'm doing the math.
- [11:26]
A
Ten years younger than you, then. Ten years younger than that.
- [11:28]
B
Yeah. Yeah.
- [11:29]
A
Divide by half.
- [11:29]
B
I believe she's. I would guess that she's in her 20s. I don't know for sure. But let's say you have me and Vee there who show up first. And we are. And Genevieve looked great, by the way. I don't think Genevieve looks like an old lady. We all know what I look like. And so we showed up first. And our, you know, I'm knocking on the door. 50. My buddy shows up. He's a young, hip looking guy in his 30s, and he's there with a woman who might be in her 20s. I'm guessing there. I'm not sure. So later on. And I could be wrong about these. These ages. But I'm wondering, like, in the moment, I was very glad that the server did something. What I thought was savvy and avoided an awkward moment for me. But then I'm thinking about it later. I'm like, oh, it's probably because I was on Capitol Hill and I wasn't dressed like a frump or anything. I actually thought I looked nice, but I don't look like a hipster.
- [12:17]
A
Were you wearing a world's best dad trucker hat like you do sometimes?
- [12:21]
B
It was a T shirt. It was a T shirt. On the front it said World's best Dad, and on the back it was a scale. It looked like it was my skeleton for some reason. I don't know.
- [12:27]
A
Were you dressed right out of one of those progressive ads? So that is your theory, that the server thought you and Veeves, or maybe you were the parents?
- [12:35]
B
I feel there not parents, but elders not parents, like, clearly weren't. I mean, there's. Nobody would Think we're their parents, obviously, but that we are just old and that we are the olds in there. I could be wrong about that. Maybe the age thing had nothing to do with it. But I was telling Genevieve later, and again, Genevieve was like, oh, yeah, no, we wanted to pay. But when she found out that the server had done. Because she had totally missed all of this, when she found out that the server had made the decision for us, she was like, that's really galling. And I'm like, I don't know. In this day and age, maybe it's like, if there's an issue here, we can all just Venmo each other. And he was just being a little bit flippant about it, dude. But, yeah, it sounds like you. You think this is pretty galling, too.
- [13:15]
A
I. I joined Genevieve when I say absolutely no way under any circumstances. Well said Poquito. Oh, that's why you did Senor Poquito.
- [13:31]
B
I was wondering why you have that.
- [13:34]
A
Drop that is so unbelievably a breach of trust between the server and the person doing the buying. Like that is. Now, again, you said he was a nice server. You guys had had a vibe, but if you had no time, if you had at no time expressed a desire to pick up the tab, I mean, that is. That. That could tear friendships apart. You know what I mean? Because, like, no, because, I mean, not your friendship with these people, but, like, those things, you know, depending on who you're out with, those things can be a bit on the awkward side. And, like, you know, there are the people where you. You sort of do want to be like, yeah, let's just split this down the middle. Yeah, there are the people that. There are the people that, you know, are. You know, they're the ones that sometimes get the whole thing. Sometimes you get the whole thing. There's a kind of a mutual feeling of respect and generosity, and it's so there's not any hesitation around who's getting the check on a particular night. There are those kinds of relationships. So there are other ones where you're like, you know what? This is the kind of relationship based on history where we're just gonna kind of keep this business. Like, we're gonna go. We're gonna keep everything pretty tidy. And, like, the idea that you would then be put in the position of trying to collect a debt, that you would be calling this friend at some point, and there would be an auto message before that said, this is an attempt to collect a debt. Anything you say on here will be Used in the service of that. Like it puts. Now you're right. In the world of Venmo. I mean, listen, I've actually got a sort of a larger thought on this, which is this. This. I didn't realize it was just you and another couple. You and another couple. That's one thing to split the bill, I think, down. And if it's down the middle, well.
- [15:13]
B
And also, we'll keep in mind Veg and I were there first, so I'm. I'm not even 100% sure that everybody had the same number of rounds. There's a chance that regardless, down the middle wouldn't have even maybe been fair. I don't know.
- [15:23]
A
New rule. That should be a segment on the show.
- [15:25]
B
Hey, I like this. What happened? Did you accidentally slip into some cable programming recently or something?
- [15:32]
A
Exactly. I've been hanging out on Bill Maher's couch, getting high and sliding down it like Richard Dreyfus. Have you seen that footage?
- [15:38]
B
Yes, yes. That's classic. I forgot about that. I love that, though. Is Mars still on television? Right. He's. He's actually.
- [15:49]
A
I think I'm. I'm led to believe he's still on Home Box Office, I think.
- [15:53]
B
Yeah. Because Chris was on his show for his book tour. I remember him saying he was going there kind of. Which, by the way, good gig.
- [15:58]
A
Like, good get good gig, if you get it. I would do it in a heartbeat if invited, which is never going to happen. But. But I also, as too many of us, I get pretty kind of complicated thoughts about Bill Maher. But I tend to think that the only splitting that should be allowed is into the maximum would be thirds, and in equal amounts. Okay. The maximum would be quarters, and in equal amounts, in quarters. What I think is not okay in this day and age with Venmo and all of these things. Now, by the way, I'm the one who said already I thought the server was way out of line, but now I'm going to actually kind of defend servers at large, or at least defend what I think is their time and their energy. This idea that we expect servers to go back and, like, pull out who had no the. Who had the romaine salad, who had one margarita, who had three margaritas.
- [16:53]
B
Like, we.
- [16:54]
A
We, the customers, I feel, are responsible to basically settle the bill up in a way that is not overwhelming for the server and then work it out amongst ourselves. I do think 50, 50 down the middle is not a problem. I do think court, like, break it up into quarters, like round numbers. Things that are easily Math is fine, but. But expecting a server. And I'm not saying this is what was happening at your drinks at all. That was not what was happening, but, like, just this general idea. We were out. I was out with my siblings this weekend, and we went down to the McMinimans down there in Calama. And I mean, my move on the. Not to, you know, pat myself on the back too much, but I'm the oldest. I'm the big brother. I think it does. I am their elder, and it was recognized by the servers. I believe it is my. I feel my responsibility to pick up the check on things like that. And what I do, my move is I find the server before they get to the table and I slip on my card. Yeah, that's the other conversation about. About trying to pay and not argue. But that server was so. Our server was so incredibly nice. It was a really hot day. I think they were kind of a little understaffed. Our server was like, I think I'm going to be your temp. Your. Your bridge server. I'll just be. I'll be kind of helping you out until so and so is back from break. And we said, awesome. And then he just ended up being our server the whole time and was just like, really great. Really great. But was totally ready to, like, break down, like, to set, like, if, you know, if my brother Sam wanted to pay for his firecracker shrimp or whatever he had individually one menu item and then one beer and then half of the beer that he split with. You know, I mean, it's like this guy was ready to do that. And I was just like, I felt for him because I just feel like it should fall upon us, the customers, to try to keep it reasonable with that. Especially because we all have ways now of, generally speaking, paying each other afterwards. And that's the beauty of Venmo.
- [18:41]
B
And that's why that. That. So, okay, a few things on that. First of all, I am with you on this and almost everything. I think you and I approach these things in almost the exact same way. If possible, I'd love to just pick up the whole thing. Unless it's too big of a party, and that seems ostentatious or whatever. The thing that I. The thing that I love more than money is not having an awkward moment. I will pay any amount of money to not to do that. I will pay. No, you should pay. Oh, you paid. Like, I just will just, you know, and especially with friends like this, friends with. You know, whether. If I'm out with you, I know I'm going to have another meal with you at some point. You know what I mean? I'm not sweating whether or not, like, you'll not pick. You just have those relationships. And I would say I have that relationship with these friends that I was out with. So of course I had. I was glad to pay the whole thing and intended to. And so none of this is about, like, kind of feeling right about it.
- [19:36]
A
No, but that's presumptuous on the part of the server.
- [19:38]
B
On the server. And here's the thing, and I. Again, I don't mind. And I. What I'm trying to figure out, and I'm approaching this interest, like with true interest and curiosity, is this server. Servers pick up bartenders and servers pick up a lot on vibes. And I think can assess situations pretty well. I'm wondering if this server could. Would have been able to tell if we. If it wouldn't been a situation where we were happy to pick it up. You know what I mean? If it looked like maybe we were two couples who were meeting for the first time for some reason or didn't know each other as well or something along those lines. Maybe we were meeting for the first time because we were all going to be a couple together. Is that a thing?
- [20:19]
A
I was trying to think of what that would be. Yeah. Would it be a quupple, like a quad? Or would it be a.
- [20:24]
B
It was a blind quait is what this was. No, but anyway, so I sort of like, that could have just been really savvy. I really like this guy. And so I wonder if it was that. But here's the one argument sort of against it is when what Veeves and I were probably there, I don't know, like, I'm gonna say maybe 20 minutes before our friends arrived. So. So with those devices that you come to the table, you know what I mean? When they use the devices to take your order, they use those devices to pay at the end. I do think it's a lot easier in this day and age when the second couple gets there just to sort of start a new tab for them that can either be combined or separated out. I do think that separating things out in this day and age, especially with those point of service machines or whatever they're called, probably is a lot easier than it was back in the 90s or something. But I am still loathing at the end of the meal to like kind of say, oh, well, yes, like, let's pull this out. You had. You had the salad and I had One bite of a crouton or whatever particularly.
- [21:21]
A
They're in the weeds. Yeah, I don't, I don't know enough about what that point of service thing looks like from their end as far as how kind of user friendly it is for them to go. This, you know, okay, check one, your check, Andrew, is going to be like, I just, all I have to do is tap the three things and now they're part of it. It would be great if that. What I know about restaurant software technology is that a lot of it is really crappy actually. Like, there are still many restaurants that are using aloha, which means hello and goodbye, and also means like there's the aloha is, is the sort of a restaurant software that is where servers put in orders. This is if they don't have that little handheld thing now. And the reason you'll notice is it'll be behind the bar or near the kitchen and it'll just be a black screen that has the word aloha bouncing around as like a screensaver.
- [22:13]
B
I don't recognize that weirdly enough. For as many times I've probably stared at that like, but I do. When you, when you turn off the screensaver, is it like the big colored blocks that we've been seeing, like a screen full of like just buttons, like touch screen buttons that you push that are like very basic colors? Yeah. Yep. Yes.
- [22:30]
A
And it has been, it has been the industry standard for, you know, years and years and years and years. And yes, I'm sure that they have allegedly put it through some improvements, but I know that for many years, like after, like, you know, my first, my first wife worked in restaurants in the late 90s and I would go sit in there and, and hang out and I'd see that it's aloha system. And you know, fast forward 20 years I'm seeing this. I would see the same system in use in restaurants because, you know, once you got something that sort of moderately functions, what's the restaurant's real motivation? To go in and spend a bunch of money to upgrade or change it. Then the servers kind of know the system and they also learn the quirks of the system. You know, the way that you can trick it into doing the order in a certain way, even though it doesn't really want to let you do that. But you could sub this for that. But all that is to say, if I know anything about restaurant software technology, I bet you that it is still kind even on that POS system. I bet you it's still Less than super easy to break everything out. So I don't know.
- [23:28]
B
I just don't. I'm.
- [23:30]
A
I'm.
- [23:30]
B
I. I kind of disagree with that. But that's just a guess. I don't know for sure. There might be other people.
- [23:35]
A
Maybe we have some. Do we have any servers listening get at us?
- [23:38]
B
The only reason I sort of. I think it's. I guess I would argue that my guess is it's gotten better because I just have seen servers already, like, have things split out in ways where I don't even realize, like, back in the day, people were still, like, using notepads to, like, write down orders and then. Yeah, yeah. Going back and putting it into the machine.
- [23:56]
A
Or worse, Andrew not writing it down. Boy, is that ever. Skydiving without a parachute.
- [24:00]
B
Yes. It always made me feel you've got.
- [24:02]
A
A waiter who's just really confident they're remembering everything.
- [24:06]
B
And I'm always like, no cheese right? No cheese, right? I'm, like, doing that. Like, you're looking at my eyes. I'm looking at your eyes.
- [24:11]
A
You're trying to see if it's actually going into the part of their brain that stores memories. Stores memories for up to eight minutes.
- [24:18]
B
For some reason. I think this is funny text here. So I was looking while you were talking about this Aloha. There's Aloha Pos, as it is technically called. I was just looking at Google Images and I clicked on the first one and it took me to a website that is troubleshooting group combos. So, like, just. Just listen to this, like, for everything that you just said, like, is this.
- [24:39]
A
Not Aloha itself or is this. Is this something that has popped up because people who use the service are trying to figure out how to. How to work with the service.
- [24:47]
B
I'm guess I don't. This does not look like it's on the official Aloha website. It looks like this is. But it's, you know, some sort of tertia, either company or community. And it says troubleshooting group combos. Below are errors that you may encounter when attempting to comp group combos. Scenario 1. This is where it gets into a Tim and Eric thing. Listen to this. Scenario one. You add a group combo to the guest check. You navigate to the comp screen and touch the appropriate comp button. The FOH displays a comp. Cannot be applied at this time. Error message. Here's what you do. Verify that the group combo is quote included under the Quote Combos group bar on the eligibility tab in maintenance payments comps Then scenario two, you add a group combo and other items to a guest check. You navigate to the comp screen and touch the appropriate comp button. The item selection screen appears. The group combo does not display yet. The additional menu items do anyway. It goes on from there. But it's like all these scenarios, Andrew.
- [25:42]
A
You are a single mom waiting table somewhere just working your absolute tail off, trying to keep, you know, keep your head above water. Your gas tank is almost on E. You got to work, you know, somebody's watching your kids for you. You're doing this work. You got to get back home. And you're also trying to read on a third party website how to enter a group combo comp into Aloha. It's one thing if this, and I'm not trying to say goodbye, means goodbye to your sanity and I'm not trying to stereotype folks that work in food service, but it's one thing if that of all of that kind of, of need for. What would you call it? I don't know, precision, et cetera was related to like a piece of software that you use when working in it.
- [26:29]
B
Yeah, right.
- [26:30]
A
A desk job where like your job really is to figure this stuff out and to read through manuals and to understand processes and systems. If you are a server and you're having to read that to figure out how to do your flipping job, it would be so frustrating.
- [26:45]
B
Right. And you're asking like, you know, the, the person who's trying to get off of their shift, like help me comp this combo meal before you get out of here or whatever person just wants to leave anyway. Yeah, I don't, I don't. But anyway, again, I have just be very clear, no hard feelings. I'm not even sure that the server did something wrong there. I just wanted Genevieve say Genevieve Hershey used to that thing where her eye. I was telling her the story last night again, it happened so quickly in the moment and then I was thinking about it later and I just kind of never talked about it with anybody. I'm like, oh, that is interesting. I'd like to bounce this off of her and see what she says. And she did that thing where eyes and again, the same place like she. Our intention was to pay for the drinks anyway.
- [27:21]
A
Of course it's not even about that.
- [27:22]
B
But she was just like, he what?
- [27:26]
A
Yes.
- [27:26]
B
And I was like, yeah, I don't know. But I mean, I can't tell if the kid just read me really well or read the situation really well or did something. I just don't I mean, I think that the situation, the dining situation has to be a really rocky place for that to actually cause any kind of a. A real stink. Right. Like, you would just.
- [27:46]
A
Well, not.
- [27:46]
B
Well, if. If that ended. Okay.
- [27:48]
A
A couple things.
- [27:49]
B
Yeah. But I mean, let me just say. I would just say if I. Afterwards, if. If my buddy was like, dude, I really didn't want you to pay for that whole thing, or if I was like, dude, I would love to get this whole thing, but things are a little bit tight right now. Like, you. You could just say, yeah, just Venmo me half of it. It was this amount of money. Just send me this. You know, I just think that maybe I'm wondering if it's just sort of from the culture of. It's so much easier to just like Venmo and PayPal or whatever these days. Anyway, that's my theory.
- [28:18]
A
Well, as a person who, for a good part of my life in my teens and 20s, often had almost no money in his checking account, like, to where I would be, but also loved eating out and wrote, let's just say, wrote a number of checks at the Red Robin on Eastlake. Rest in Power. Red in power. I think Red was the name of the Red Robin mascot. The bird, the robin.
- [28:45]
B
There's a mascot involved. Yeah.
- [28:47]
A
Yeah, those were the days. But anyway, I could see a world in which, like, I know that I have enough in my checking account for, let's say, half of the bill, but not all of the bill. I'm thinking of many. I'm thinking of a meal in particular where my sister Liz and I, we were in New York. We were very, very young. I actually just graduated from college. So how old, how old are you when you graduate college? Generally? I went. I did like four years and one summer. So let's say I was probably 22. So my sister would have been 19 or something because I missed my college graduation to do this because I just wanted to go see New York City. And we had no money. We had enough money for the plane ticket for one subway ticket, which we then shared, which we later got chased by subway police who ticketed us for fair jumping. It was Rudy Giuliani's New York. It was a very different.
- [29:40]
B
They're gonna say it was actually Rudy Giuliani who was chasing you.
- [29:43]
A
Yes, yes.
- [29:44]
B
Very hands on mayor he was.
- [29:47]
A
But I remember we went to this dinner that a friend of mine who was older than me, who will remain nameless in this story. I don't know if you're familiar with this Person. But this person was living in New York as a journalist. I really looked up to this person. They were about probably maybe five, 10 years older than me. We went out to this dinner. It was at a Chinese restaurant down in Chinatown in New York. And this person ordered. This is sort of. This is sort of sprawling into a totally different kind of restaurant etiquette story. But this person sort of ordered for the table because they actually knew what was the good food and they'd eaten there before. And, like, nowadays, I would actually be fine with this because I'd be like, okay, cool. I want to go with who? The one who knows. But then I remember at the end of the meal, and we had no. Him being like, okay, well, it's, you know. You know, there's four. There's six of us, and it was this much. And so everyone put in this amount. And I remember just being like the last money that we had for the trip. Just being like, we are so screwed. And then when we walked out, my sister Liz stepped into. This was like, right out of a movie. She stepped out onto the street, but it was into a pothole that was full of fish gut water.
- [30:55]
B
I was hoping. She walked right in the arms of Richard Gere. I hope it was going to be that kind of a movie.
- [31:00]
A
There was an Onion headline, I think that was like, most Americans retirement plans now involved Richard Gere meeting them as a sex worker and proposing.
- [31:11]
B
I guess that little joke that I made there does not paint your sister in the best light. I didn't mean to put her in.
- [31:17]
A
Are you kidding me? Powerful Julia Roberts vibes. My sister lives. They're both tall, they're both beautiful. She stepped into. We come out of this restaurant, we're now flat broke. There's still a week left on the trip.
- [31:26]
B
We have.
- [31:27]
A
And this is like, again, we have no credit cards. We have like. We've just, like. We're totally hosed now. And we step. She steps one foot into. It's like a Ned Ryerson thing. It's like Bill Murray in. In Groundhog Day. She steps into a pothole that is. It's not wet outside, but the pothole is full of fetid, rotting Chinatown fish guts water. Like, I think what had happened was because, you know, the thing about New York is particularly this time of year, boy, you can. I can almost smell the garbage from here. On the west coast, everybody puts their garbage. You have to put your garbage outside on the street. But then it's a billion degrees, and then it's just. Unless they get it right away. It just is pungent. And then somebody will come through and they'll hose down the whole area. And I think what happened was they hosed all the gross garbage, refuse, water, they hosed down the sidewalk. And then the water pooled in this one pothole in the road. And then Liz stepped and up to her ankle. So now her shoe was ruined because there was no. This shoe was not coming back from this experience. All of that is to say, and I know that my. I'm meandering here and these. I'm not staying on topic or even like sort of, I'm not staying even on the topic at hand about like if, if we should split bills or not. But what I can tell you is if that waiter would have come to us and said and made a joke where he charged us the whole bill, we literally wouldn't have had the money. So I guess my point is the only other thing that could happen that would be a bad outcome would be you. You don't have enough money in your account to cover the whole bill. The waiter charges it to you because they're feeling kind of cheeky or something. And then you have to say to the table, I don't have enough money to pay for this. Which would be for somebody like me who's already operating a pretty shame based personality. I think it would be embarrassing.
- [33:07]
B
It would be. And that's why I think that this.
- [33:11]
A
Server was able to intuit.
- [33:14]
B
Intuit or ascertain that that was not the situation. Genevieve and I.
- [33:19]
A
Do you think it was the pocket watch that you kept referring down to by way of your monocle?
- [33:23]
B
It was the monocle. I do think it was probably. We're a man of means. We were going to a party. I told you. And so I had on my top.
- [33:31]
A
Hat out and your cane.
- [33:32]
B
Three piece suit. Yes. I said, sir, please hand me my cane. No, like that's what I'm getting at here. So this is again Capitol Hill. This is like the young part of town. And that's what I'm sort of. That's what I kept coming back to in my reflections on this is like I think if a table of six woohoo girls were there, you know, doing a few shots and then take. I think that he would have come over and said, how are we paying for this, this tonight? You know, Like, I don't think that he would have just given it to one of the. Given it to one of the women and said, here you're. I was lying. You're paying for all your friends drinks. I think he was able to ascertain that he wasn't probably putting me and V in some sort of a. In some sort of a huge awkward situation. And I'm just. That's why again, I'm sort of on the. I'm. Right. It's like I'm teetering both from being, wow, that's kind of rude to wow, that's really good service. Because he was able to kind of tell the vibe of the table, but also does make me feel a little bit old and clearly I'm a little bit self conscious. It's not often that I'm on Capitol Hill on a Saturday night. Right.
- [34:34]
A
I also feel like the only. There's one good out. I mean, this was the one good outcome that could have happened from this, which is you secretly wanted to pay.
- [34:45]
B
Yeah, it worked out well.
- [34:47]
A
But that everything else is a bad outcome. There's one good outcome. Andrew secretly wanted to pay and this guy guessed right and you paid and everything worked out. That's the one good outcome. There's like 10 bad outcomes.
- [35:00]
B
Yeah.
- [35:00]
A
You don't have the money in your account. The person you're with owes you and you are trying to get them.
- [35:05]
B
I've got a shiv hidden under the table.
- [35:07]
A
No, no, no, no. I mean, no. What I mean is you bought the last dinner.
- [35:11]
B
Right? Right.
- [35:11]
A
Here's another thing that could happen. You got the last dinner, you all went out together and now in this case, you were kind of low key, hoping that they were going to grab this dinner, maybe even things out. But you're not going to say to them, didn't we get the last dinner? Now it's like now you've got. Now it's two in a row that you're picking up. You know, not to make everything so petty but like I'm just, I'm thinking about co worker.
- [35:32]
B
Like, what if one of them. Maybe our relationship isn't that close, maybe this is a guy I work with and we agree to do this, but really I kind of don't like him that much.
- [35:40]
A
And you're never going to probably go out for dinner again, so there's no chance of, of this evening out. Like, I just think there are a lot of. There are a lot of not ideal outcomes. And there's like one ideal outcome. And thank goodness this was the one ideal outcome. Yeah, that's the good news.
- [35:53]
B
Ye. Exactly. So anyway, it all worked out. But I did, I did want to bounce it off because I thought you might have a page.
- [35:58]
A
Well, per Usual and I are in lockstep.
- [36:02]
B
And I'm not saying you're wrong, by the way. If I sound argumentative, you know, I don't. Working through it. And as we transition out of this, and you were talking about New York, I just wanted to ask you something. So the other day, Vivs and I've been together for so, so long, we don't even have to give context for anything. We can just say the punchline of a joke, and I don't know what we're talking about on Sunday evening, but we were sitting outside and we both looked at. We both looked at each other and said, windsurfing on Mount Baldy, which. Do you know what that line refers to?
- [36:34]
A
Absolutely no idea. Here's my Mount Baldy reference. And let's see. I don't think I can get. I do not think this is going to get me where I need to be. All I know about Mount Baldy is that there was a Buddha, there was a Buddhist retreat, that was a silence retreat on Mount Baldy where Leonard Cohen really liked to go. He would increasingly go there throughout his life to where he was almost borderline living there. Is Leonard Cohen part of this windsurfing on Mount Baldy inside?
- [36:59]
B
He is not, but another celebrity is. So I was obsessed, even though I didn't watch the show obsessively, I was really obsessed and a big fan of David Letterman's top 10 lists. And in the 90s, I had both of the books that were kind of a compendium of his top 10 lists. And I think maybe Genevieve did too. But I just feel like in our age range or that era or whatever, we shared these top 10 list. Not me and Genevieve, but me and my friend group or family or whatever. We just knew them so well. And one of the funniest ones that I always remembered was top 10 expressions that aren't dirty but sound dirty. And the number one answer is windsurfing with Mount Bal. Windsurfing on Mount Baldy, which sounds so dirty. The one before that is shaking hands with Abraham Lincoln, by the way. That's number two. But anyway, the only one I remembered from the list is windsurfing on Mount Baldy. But in Veeves, it stands out to her, too. I don't know if that's because. Because I sort of incepted it into her or she remembers it from her youth. But it's just like a shared common punchline that we just sort of both know. So we're just hanging out on Sunday and I mentioned that. Or one of us mentions that and then we're like, what else is in that top 10 list? And here's where I'm going with this. I looked it up. First of all, I typed in David Letterman Top 10, windsurfing Mount Baldy. And what that brought, the first result was literally a Lycos page. Literally a Lycos page from like the 90s, it looks like, where there was nothing there but colored text on a colored background. Are you there now? Did you happen to find it?
- [38:29]
A
I'm getting some music together for you. When we get to the list, can I provide you a little Letterman music?
- [38:33]
B
Oh, yeah. Do you want the list? Because I wasn't going for the list, but my whole.
- [38:36]
A
I want to hear the list.
- [38:37]
B
Okay, let me see if I can find this again. And I have to maybe let me just like talk and then type because otherwise this will get even worse. But my point of the story and I will try to find this list is I was amazed by the Lycos ness of it all. And I mean, it looked like a Lycos page. It was crazy. I was like, wow. So this is where these books that I had, these cherished books of top 10 lists. Now they exist as a Lycos page online.
- [39:00]
A
I feel like there's something spiritually connecting the David Letterman's humor and particularly the David Letterman Top 10 list with the far side.
- [39:09]
B
Yeah, exactly.
- [39:10]
A
You know what I mean?
- [39:11]
B
Very much in my mind I connected that era.
- [39:13]
A
They're just, they're just. But, but, but not just the era, the kind of humor somehow. Although I guess, I guess what I would say is the Letterman stuff was a little bit more absurdistic and the Gary Larson stuff was maybe more observational but rooted in, you know, I mean, windsurfing on Mount Baldy is so funny and makes absolutely no sense. You could never wind surf on Mount Baldy. First of all, you need water. It's notoriously arid there. Like, you know what I mean? Like it's just a funny thing, which I feel like so much of the Letterman stuff was just a funny thing that was totally absurd.
- [39:43]
B
By the way, when I did type in kind of the similar search just now, I was trying to recreate what I did on my phone on Sunday. I did find this Lycos page again. And I, I don't know if you want it spoiled or not, but I emailed it to you just so you can see the design. I mean, it's so wonderful. It's just, it's just so. Oh, it's tiny font here, but do you want me to now share. Oh, wait, wait. Where I was going with this, by the way, is related to something that is on this list which is referring. Or maybe it was a different list that I was looking at later because I kind of got into this whole Lycos version. But it was so funny to see so many jokes on these lists refer to, like, Times Square as being this sort of cesspool of, like, sexual deviants and everything. And that's why. And I'm sorry, this was such a long story. That was my point of this.
- [40:29]
A
Subway fair hopping.
- [40:31]
B
Yes. Turnstile hopping is actually in this. I don't know if that's. If you looked ahead, but your story about, like, going to New York and stepping in the puddle and that was kind of Giuliani's New York. So things are starting to turn around that point. But I've. I have no personal reference when it comes to New York. And so this was a real. I feel like time machine to this time when the idea of Times Square is so much different than it is now. Right. Like, I'm not wrong about that.
- [40:58]
A
Oh, God, no, no, no, you're absolutely right. I mean, Times Square, the. The seediest thing about Times Square now is just the absolute crush of humanity. Like, it's just. It's just a million trillion people. And it's totally frustrating and annoying to try to ambulate around there. But there's absolutely no. All the porn is gone. To whatever degree there was, there were drugs being sold and. Yeah, like, you know, that sort of 1970s, maybe 1980s version of times Square, which, funnily enough, probably by the time David Letterman was sending it up, was already a little bit kind of out of step with the reality of Times Square. I mean, I do know there were more the first time I went to New York, I will say, which would have been, again, probably two when I graduated. 99, maybe 1999, there definitely was a lot of. A lot of porn shops still in Times Square. Now they're just. This is the weird thing, though. I'm less offended by the porn, by the, you know, by porn shops. I mean, you know, strip clubs, various kind of like dancy things, and then just adult book and video stores. That's what Times Square had a lot of. I'm less offended by that than I am by the new thing that has replaced them, which are. Are basically T shirt shops that just sell T shirts that say, like, F you, you effing F. Like, it's like, because what's happening is the, the, like, the more extreme the shirt, the more likely a tourist is to buy it. Like, hey, only in New York. So there's this weird. And by the way, the guys selling them appear to have a pretty limited grasp on English. I don't. This is not their view of the world. This is their view of the T shirts that are moving the most. And so instead of like good old fashioned smut happening up some stairs somewhere near a Roy Rogers, which used to be the vibe, now it's just a bunch of deeply profane and offensive T shirts and also Trump shit that's all displayed in the windows of these shops. Which again is a completely not a political or moral statement from the shop owners. It's just, what are people buying? And it turns out we're buying shirts that have the F word on them a lot.
- [43:03]
B
I had to park next to a car the other day, or I chose to park next to a car the other day that had a bunch of bumper stickers on the back, back of it. And one of them. And I'm just going to say the word here and I'll put an explicit warning, I guess on the show today. But it's. I just. All I could see was like small writing and then the word asshole kind of big and then small writing underneath. And I couldn't. As I was parking, I couldn't quite tell what it said. And as I was leaving, I was glad to see that the car was still there and nobody was in it. It's so funny. It was like a beat up car with a bunch of bumper stickers and it had the club on the steering wheel. And I always think of things, I don't know, is it like, do beater cars, Are they easier to ste.
- [43:40]
A
Know?
- [43:40]
B
I just like, I don't.
- [43:41]
A
They actually are easy.
- [43:42]
B
Yeah.
- [43:42]
A
I wonder if that's in defense.
- [43:44]
B
Yeah, right. So I wonder if that's why it's kind of cars like that that have the club traditionally. But I gotta say it legitimately sort of made me laugh. The bumper sticker said, I never thought I'd grow up to be an asshole, but here I am killing it. And I was like, I like that.
- [43:59]
A
Kind of self awareness.
- [44:01]
B
Exactly. I was like, I thought, oh, good, you're not calling somebody else that. Oh, okay. Are you ready?
- [44:08]
A
I was getting in my car the other day at pdx, by the way, and the car next to me, which was not a beater that I remember, probably just a typical kind of relatively modern car, had the club in it. In the parking garage in pdx. And I thought, I don't think this car is in danger of being stolen out of this parking garage. I don't even lock my car sometimes. I'm more afraid of losing my car keys when I'm traveling than I am of my car being unlocked in the PDX parking garage. Because the truth of the matter is, is the only people in that parking garage are people who are either about. They're either late for their flight or they're so flipping relieved to be home from their flight. Like it is the safest possible. Now, maybe there was a day and age where that was a thing that was happening. I'm sure we have listeners have stories. I don't want to be glib, but in this day and age, what I can tell you is the safest place that my car could ever be parked would be in the short or long term parking in the. The garage at PDX in the airport. I'm not talking about some off site lot somewhere, whatever. And so the fact that this person like parked their car and then put the club on their car. Yeah. Like somebody's going to come. Somebody's going to get onto the grounds of Portland Airport. They're going to get into the parking garage, they're going to steal your car. They're also going to somehow, I guess, pay the parking on their way out. Because you can't leave without paying for parking.
- [45:26]
B
It's a little investment. You got to spend money to make money money.
- [45:29]
A
Well, that's what they always say.
- [45:30]
B
That's what they say.
- [45:31]
A
You're gonna have to pay the lost ticket fee because you don't have the real.
- [45:34]
B
No, you don't. And that can be kind of expensive, right? The lost.
- [45:37]
A
Exactly. So this is. This crime is starting to become less and less profitable by the second.
- [45:41]
B
Yeah. Yeah. Do you want to hear the list or not? I don't want to force it because that was not my intent of this, but you seem interested in this now.
- [45:50]
A
You ready, Paul?
- [45:52]
B
Yeah. You ready, Paul? Expressions that sound dirty but are aren't. Number one frosting the pastry. I wish I had it. Do I have. I should have looked for this. Do I have a. What do you call a drum effect sound? A rim shot? I probably do. Do we have time for me to find it? I've got one here if you want one there.
- [46:15]
A
Yeah, of course.
- [46:16]
B
Might be easier. Let's see here.
- [46:18]
A
Okay, I've got it.
- [46:19]
B
You got it? You got it. You all set? Okay. Number two, shooting hoops. Hold on.
- [46:27]
A
Yeah, I'VE got two pieces of sound going here. I can do this.
- [46:30]
B
Okay.
- [46:32]
A
Although now the sound is about to end on Letterman.
- [46:35]
B
Let's see here.
- [46:36]
A
Do you have your.
- [46:37]
B
Yeah, There we go. All right. And then we're back. This over here. Okay. Did I do number two already shooting hoops? I think I did. Number three, Luke jumping the turnstile. Oh, now we got a rhythm. Now we got a rhythm. Okay. Number four, checking your oil. Love it. Number five. You ready for this one, Paul? Tethering the blimp. Tethering the blimp. Number five. Number five, you gotta tether those blimps. Number six.
- [47:12]
A
Really bad Paul impression.
- [47:13]
B
I Paul, it sending out for sushi.
- [47:17]
A
Oh, yeah, we do that sometimes.
- [47:20]
B
You like Sushi Ball?
- [47:22]
A
I love it. Garth, you like sushi? I think. Wasn't Garth the drummer?
- [47:27]
B
I don't. Dad, I don't know.
- [47:29]
A
You didn't really. You said you didn't watch the show as so much as kind of consume its elements through pop culture.
- [47:34]
B
I mean, I did. I remember loving the show. I remember being, like, a kid. Like, it was just perfect for us when we were, like, you know, know, 14, 15 years old. I would see it when I could.
- [47:43]
A
Like dropping a watermelon off the roof. Theater.
- [47:46]
B
Yeah, I watched it. I just didn't watch it every night. I don't think I watch it as obsessively as you. Did you tell stories about, like, trying to get to your friend's house in time to watch it? Like, I didn't have a. I didn't have, like, a watching culture around it, but we loved it. I mean, it really seemed like it was made for us. Number seven, picnic on the Grass. Number eight, quarter pounder at the Golden Arches. Number nine, as I said before, shaking hands with Abraham Lincoln. And number 10, windsurfing on Mount Baldy.
- [48:21]
A
Did you go in reverse order technically there?
- [48:23]
B
I think that's the way I remember. He ends it with windsurfing on Mount Baldy. So it's numbered 1 through 10 here. I probably should have been saying 10 through 1 1. I. I blame this on the Lyco. So I just copied.
- [48:35]
A
I see. So they reversed. So the order is correct. The way they numbered it.
- [48:38]
B
I do remember windsurfing on Mount Baldy.
- [48:40]
A
Being, like, being funny.
- [48:41]
B
The payoff. Yeah.
- [48:43]
A
You know, my thought. I'm sorry. Well, you know, what was funny was, like. And I'm. This isn't a commentary on windsurfing on Mount Baldy, but I remember being a kid and being really obsessed with Letterman and my Thoughts on the top 10 list was. And this is probably just owing to the fact that I was 10 and not 8. A 27 year old comedy writer. I almost always thought the number one answer or whatever, the number one on the top ten list, it was. I can't remember it ever being the funniest one to me.
- [49:09]
B
Oh, interesting. See, this is, this is the one that I remember more than any others. And I do remember that one paying off, but I don't.
- [49:15]
A
And that's not. Yeah, that's, that's definitely not a criticism of the Mount Baldy joke. But just generally I always remember being like. Because my thought was like, these should get, these should be getting funnier, right? Like the number 10 should be the 10th funniest. And then nine, you know, and then one should be so much funnier than the rest of them. And it'd always be like something that I kind of wouldn't get because I'm probably just too young for it or I don't have enough experience or whatever. And he'd say the number one thing and then it just like. And then the band would just go into it and the crowd was dark, yelling, and it was a whole thing. How about. You've obviously also looked at least known Norman Rockwell paintings.
- [49:46]
B
I did. Look at that.
- [49:48]
A
Pretty great.
- [49:48]
B
That one is pretty good.
- [49:50]
A
The number 1 1. A boy's first manicure.
- [49:53]
B
Boy first manicure. The one that got me thinking about Time Square. I couldn't remember what it was, but it's top 10 Christmas movies in Times Square. Hot buttered elves, Santa's magic lap. I'll skip to the end. I'm not Rudolph. That's not my nose. All right.
- [50:08]
A
Anyway, that's such a Letterman joke.
- [50:10]
B
Yes. Hello and welcome to Top Story.
- [50:34]
A
All right, Andrew, here's the top story. If we have some time afterwards le we can revel in. We can bask in the reflective glory of Cal Raleigh and his accomplishments last night, which were so much fun to watch. Like, I needed that w so bad. But before that, if I can, because I've been building.
- [50:52]
B
Please. Yeah, I'm very interested in this. I feel bad for dragging so long.
- [50:56]
A
Andrew. I recently decided to purchase the meta glasses.
- [51:06]
B
No kidding. I am surprised.
- [51:10]
A
Here's what I'm holding up for Andrew here on the little video connection. I'm holding up a Ray Ban sunglasses case that has a little charging port at the bottom because it is in fact also the charger. Can you see, Andrew, how the little button lights up?
- [51:29]
B
Nice design. Very nice design. Because it looks like A very beautiful. I thought you were just excited about. I thought you were going to tell me you spent $200 on a glasses case because it's a very handsome looking Ray Ban glasses case. But then when you look more closely, you see, ah, there is some technology built in here.
- [51:45]
A
What happened was when I was in Las Vegas a couple weeks ago working, our great camera guy Jamie had these Ray Ban glasses on. I said, oh, those are nice looking glasses. They're your sort of typical, you know, kind of Wayfarer appearing Ray Ban glasses. And he said, yeah, you know, they're the. They're the meta glasses, actually. He goes, and they're kind of incredible. He said, I can actually shoot video on them if I need to. He's like, the sound is pretty amazing. And I noticed throughout the time that we were working together that they came in handy a lot if he needed to take a picture of something and didn't have a free hand. And it was just something he needed to, like, send into CBS or whatever. He was just wearing basically a camera. And also he said as he was setting up the entire sort of, you know, film location each morning, he was listening to music the whole time. I had no idea. But didn't have headphones in, but he was listening to music through the glasses because that is another thing that they do. I have since I got these things, Andrew. First of all, when they came in the mail, I thought, oh, they've immediately sent me. I immediately thought they've sent me the wrong ones, because if you see they just look. Right now I'm putting them on. They look like some. They look like something Johnny Knoxville would. Would be wearing. They're kind of your sort of black, you know, what would you say, like, black frame kind of Ray Ban glasses? And I thought, oh, they've sent me the wrong ones because I'm not going to be walking around wearing these. These look kind of silly on me.
- [53:10]
B
What did you think they were going to look like? Why did you think they were the wrong ones?
- [53:12]
A
I thought they were going to be sunglasses, essentially. I thought they were going to. And they are, Andrew, because if you go outside, they transition into being sunglasses, which I know that's not like new technology, but I've never owned any kind of transition lenses. Do you have any?
- [53:26]
B
No, I. You mean transition from the sunglasses to.
- [53:31]
A
The normal, from clear to sunglass kind of material?
- [53:34]
B
I'll be honest with you. I was gonna say, I'll bet you this is the best version of that, because I have always, no offense to people who have them. But traditionally I've always thought that's a pretty bad look. I've known people who've had those when we were kids and they just don't even as a young adult. I remember somebody that I appreciated very dearly in my time in New Hampshire, but he had those and he had come in from the outside and they, they'd be slowly transitioning and they looked good as normal glasses, I think, but they look bad in some. They never settled into one or the other or something like that. They just always looked a little bit awkward to me.
- [54:09]
A
They probably look a little bit like these do because I'm indoors right now. So they're kind of mid transition. But what I can tell you is yeah, the technology is, is truly shocking just on the lens alone, the transition thing, which is if I were to walk outside in two seconds, these would just be full on sunglasses. But if I were inside my house where I don't want to be wearing sunglasses because it actually really affects my ability to see things and read things more so than like my vision going in terms of things being blurry. What I really can't do is read with sunglasses on. Like if I'm in my car wearing sunglasses, but I'm trying to check my phone, I have to take the sunglasses off to look at the phone. So these are kind of ideal in that way. Like if I'm in the house I can be wearing them and they're not making it too dim for me. But then as soon as I go outside, they just turn into sunglasses. The thing that is totally insane about these, Andrew, is the audio situation, which is going to be impossible for me to convey to you, being that we're not in the same room. But when I start playing music from my phone onto these things, it is totally and completely immersive. This whole siblings weekend, I kept forcing people to try these glasses on and playing music for them and they all had the same reaction. As soon as the music started, they reached for their ears. They were trying to understand. There's something about the way they're just these little speakers that are in the arm of the glasses. They're very subtle and there is something about the way that that music gets conveyed into the inside of your brain that is totally like. It's unlike anything that I've ever experienced. Like it's weird. It's like it's just like you're hearing the music inside your head, but also your ears are not plugged up with earphones.
- [55:50]
B
It's not, is it bone Conducting or whatever. We always get emails from listeners who are like constantly pushing these. Like bone. I think is. Do I have to say it has to be right? Yeah. They don't actually make a sound, but.
- [56:03]
A
Somehow the little bit of a sound. So I know this is not particularly. I know this is not going to be great radio or video, but I'm going to just start playing. I'll play a little. A little Waxahachie here. Oh, except I have to actually put it on. Put the Bluetooth on. My bad. Like you can. If you were to put your head like right near mine, you could probably hear a little something coming out of the arm of these things. I mean, listen, my friend, we're just six days away from Friendship, Wisconsin, and is there anything that indicates a closer friendship than us sharing the same headphone arm on my meta glasses?
- [56:43]
B
We thought there was nothing more romantic than just like sharing one wired earbud on the bus. Right. But now it's just like, no, I lean close to you and I listen to your glasses.
- [56:52]
A
That's right. So this is now. Okay. It would appear that we're so. I'm so. I have now. So I am fully immersed in hearing the song Oxbow by Waxahachie right now. And I'm gonna hold my little. I'm gonna hold my little earphones up to. Or my little whatever you want to call them up to the. The microphone. Can you hear anything?
- [57:22]
B
Yeah, just barely. No, just, just barely. Just. Just very, very barely. When you.
- [57:28]
A
Tiniest bit. Right.
- [57:29]
B
By the way, I do want to say, though, just to clarify because I.
- [57:31]
A
Asked this question, is it or is it not jawbone?
- [57:33]
B
I partially use bone conduction, but everybody's saying no. And I'm reading some reviews where people are like, I thought it must have been bone conduction, but it was not. It's just tiny downward facing speakers.
- [57:44]
A
The camera thing is totally insane too. Like, I was hanging out, you know, at so many points with my siblings. I wasn't wearing these, by the way, throughout. I was just wearing them like sunglasses. And I wasn't listening to music on them. That would be weird. But there was definitely a couple times where I was hanging out. We're sitting around on the deck, we all have sunglasses on. These ones I'm wearing just happen to have a camera on them. And like, it was a really beautiful scene. And I just did this Andrew, I just went and I just took a picture, like. And the thing is, the technology is so good and the company that makes them is so bad. And obviously I Already, I guess, made them. I made the sort of moral decision when I bought these that I was okay with that. I mean, it's. I'm not lit. I guess there's no litigating it now. Now, the. The decision, the original sin, if you want to call it that, of this is that I bought them.
- [58:31]
B
Did you buy them on Amazon?
- [58:34]
A
I did not buy them on Amazon. I don't know if that makes it better or worse. I bought them on Grove.
- [58:40]
B
They put a little note on the box. They said, you're making the world a better place.
- [58:45]
A
Like, it's. I. I'm truly. I'm truly. I'm truly conflicted about this. Even though, yes, I made the. The active decision to purchase the them. Because these are probably. This is probably the coolest technology I've ever experienced in my life. Maybe short of like the first kind of smartphones that really worked. Like, I am absolutely blown away by this thing. Like, they're not. And I'm not trying to do an ad for them at all. But, like, the glasses are not bulky particular. They just are like, they feel like a typical pair of sunglasses. And yet the functionality of them. When I first. I mean, like years ago, when they first started making and selling some version of this, I remember thinking, thinking. I do think the idea of being able to photograph something based on what you're looking at is kind of a good idea. You know, like, of course there were those ones that. Where you were like, you could be theoretically, like live streaming. Well, those are the meta ones, like the original ones. Right. Weren't they the ones that, like, you know, Seattle restaurants were saying, you're not. Well, you can't wear those in here. Remember that whole thing? Yeah.
- [59:45]
B
That was like you could be filming Google Glass.
- [59:48]
A
That was Google Glass Glass. Like, you know, but like the idea. And that's. These do not augment reality, as far.
- [59:54]
B
As I can tell. I was going to ask about that. I was wondering if, like, you can you look around and put it on, like, restaurant mode and sort of like, see, like the Terminator, like, look at a building and get a review or something.
- [60:04]
A
No. Which I think is also part of why they can just be much more like normal sunglasses. They're not trying to do that as well. And probably that helps battery life. There's probably a bunch of stuff that it's simplified if you're not trying to make this also so that I can catch a charmander, you know, as I look around my augmented reality. But like, I did. I do remember thinking originally that like, oh, the idea that I could just very. Like, I'm, you know, I'm hanging out with people, we're having a nice time, and if I could just take a quick picture of it to kind of memorialize the moment without having to get my phone out or whatever, that would be a kind of a. That might be a cool thing. Or again, for just, like, doing work stuff. Like, if I was trying to send you a picture of something and I could just kind of to, like, you know, take a picture of it and then send it to you, that's. There seems like a convenience factor there, but, you know, I was resistant because the. And the early versions were really bulky and weird. And also, even then, I was like, I don't really. I don't know how I feel about this, but I broke down. I got these things after seeing how they were working for Jamie, our camera guy, and, like, they're so far and above any, like, expectation I could have had for them as far as how they work. Like, they immediately just chirped. I also thought setting them up was going to be happening. Hassle. I got it out of the box. I turned on the Bluetooth on my phone. It recognized them. I hit join. And now it's just like, you know what maybe the biggest part is? Despite the very beginning of this, when I didn't have it on the Bluetooth, these have been the only device I've ever had that actually pretty consistently pairs with my Bluetooth. You know how it's a constant journey most of the time, of forgetting devices and rejoining this. The handshake on this seems to be pretty good with my iPhone, which just by that alone kind of, like, makes it. Makes it kind of nice because I just put him on, and then I'm listening to my music and I'm walking around. But I'm also like, I. I put these on. We went out on a little boat last night. Becca and I and our friends Jim and Cara. We went out on their boat out in the Columbia river. And I was. And Jim is a retired tech executive, and he had never. I was like, have you ever tried these? He goes, no. I was like, that's the right answer. And then I put him on. He was like, holy. And then, like, I put them on Becca, and she was like, how much were they? And I told her, and she was like. And I thought she was gonna think that was a preposterous number. And she goes, you know, that's not that expensive. I need that.
- [62:19]
B
I was just looking at the price I was expecting them to be much more than they are.
- [62:23]
A
They're like 350 bucks or something, which that's not nothing. I don't want to. I don't want to act like $350 is not a lot of money, because it really is. But, like, what I can say is, when I am here working at my house now, going forward, I think it is pretty unlikely that I will be wearing regular headphones unless I'm mowing the lawn, where there's a lot of, like, regular noise around. But, like, these things are. It's just. It's all. And weirdly, I swear to God, it's almost like a richer sonic experience, which makes no sense because you'd think going directly into your ear holes would be the best way to get the sound of something. And maybe an over the ear. Maybe if I were to wear, like, the big headphones that you wear, that would be a more immersive experience. I'm always like an AirPod y kind of guy, but the sound in this compared to the AirPods is. I think, actually I just started. Actually turned.
- [63:12]
B
Yeah, I just turned here a little bit of it. Yeah, I don't think the listeners would be able to hear that, but I heard a tiny bit.
- [63:18]
A
So I don't know. But this is why I said this could tear us apart, because I feel like. I feel very conflicted about the fact that I gave Mark Zuckerberg $350 of my money for this. This, because I don't want to support that world at all. And yet I also am so extremely blown away by the product. I don't know. How would you ever buy something like this? And I'm not going to be offended if your answer is absolutely not.
- [63:48]
B
Well, I think it's really important in this day and age as I. I mean, what I'm doing with my life and technology right now and my decisions of where to shop and where not is might not even be rational and maybe not relatable. And so, one thing I want to make sure that as we. As I feel more and more kind of despair at the world around me, I feel helpless, and I feel like there's not a lot I can do. And so I think that's why I'm personally obsessed with trying really hard to just. If there's one small thing, I'm not going to take down Mark Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos by not being on Instagram or not buying my underwear on Amazon. You know, like, I'm really only hurting myself. I'm Making my life more difficult for literally no reason. Like, Jeff Bezos is not, like, boy, we were doing pretty well, guys. Then Andrew stopped buying his box.
- [64:45]
A
We lost the Walsh account.
- [64:46]
B
The Walsh account. Like, you know what I mean? Like, what I'm doing serves no purpose at all. It's just what I need to do right now because I feel like there's nothing I can do. So I would never buy them. But I want to be very clear. Clear. I'm not going around judging other people. And I. I'm not judging you. And I. And I'm not. I'm not going around being like, wow. Oh, so I see you're still. See you're still shopping on Amazon, huh? You know what I mean? Like, that's a real. That's. I asked you before if you bought those on Amazon. I was just making a joke. I really.
- [65:14]
A
I really think there would have been something.
- [65:17]
B
I just would. I just would have been funny, like, about Amazon, because I'll be honest with you if I was. But when I just. The reason I asked, too, is because I look up jets. I want to see these things. And the first result, other than their website was Amazon. But in all seriousness, so listeners should know that as well as I talk about my, like, frustrating, you know, impotent journey into trying to, like, be a slightly better, you know, consumer. It's not doing any good. Like, I know that.
- [65:44]
A
I mean, that's like saying me not eating certain kinds of meats is not doing any good. It isn't doing any good, but it's. It makes me feel like I'm not adding to the problem.
- [65:55]
B
But you know how. But you know how you're also very sensitive to try to not sound judgy. That's what I think.
- [66:01]
A
These are very analogous, actually.
- [66:02]
B
I don't want to make people, like, I don't want you to think that I'm judging you on that. And I don't want any listeners to think that I'm judging them on that or anybody to think that, because that, that's a really. That's a really. First of all, just annoying, unfair person to be. Right.
- [66:17]
A
I don't think you're that way. I don't take it that way. I also am going to make you wear these when we're in friendship, Wisconsin. And because I have to say, like, and this is the problem, I'm now an evangelist for this, even though I'm not trying to be. Because what is actually the most fun part about it is putting these things on someone's face and Then turning on some music and just looking at their expression like, what the, what, you know, so like I will be subjecting you to that. But, but I do respect also your, you know, I guess what I could have done also because this is the way technology is. Okay, maybe these, these, you know, these jerks at Meta are at the kind of front edge of this. But it won't be long before, you know, whoever else, you know, like JL or Sony or, you know, the other companies that do this kind of stuff will just make their version of it and it'll just be like, because, I mean, it's a pretty simple thing. It's a camera, it's, it's a, it's a couple, it's a camera that's in a pair of sunglasses and then like a couple of little speakers and there's Bluetooth. That's not proprietary. Well, I mean, it is probably technically proprietary technology, the exact way Meta does it. But that is not like actually a tough nut to crack probably in this day and age from a technological standpoint. These are things that exist in the world. You just have to combine them. So I guess what I could have done is waited for, you know, is waited for, you know, somebody who is not as quite as terrible for the world to make them. And maybe I should have done that.
- [67:44]
B
I mean, who's not terrible for the world? You know what I mean?
- [67:49]
A
Exxon is Exxon.
- [67:52]
B
I have the Ray Ban Valdez. I, I, you know, the most compelling thing that you said was actually a cameraman when you were putting it, when you were putting it that way. Like I think you said his name is Jamie. For him to say, like, well, I've got the, I have a whole bunch of tools around me that do audio and video recording and this is my latest tool and it comes in handy. I, you know, I know I sound like kind of a fool here. I know that the vibe of CBS Sunday Morning features are not like handheld tick tocky types of things. It's like, there's more care that goes into it and that's why you have like professional camera crews and all the light.
- [68:30]
A
Well, there's more and more of that though, I will tell you by, by design.
- [68:34]
B
And so that's why, like, if I think of this just as a professional tool, like that makes a lot of sense to me. Like if that means the next time. And again, I don't know if they would use the footage or if it's good enough. But like, if you can grab the footage and then it can be Processed later and sort of stabilized later. And it looks professional. If you can go up and grab these people off of the street who are gaga overseeing Bridget Everett and you can just like click a button or somebody on the production team can click a button and they can capture that. And it's not as good as bringing over the professional TV camera, but you have it and it's usable like as a tool. As a professional tool. That sounds like pretty appealing, right?
- [69:14]
A
I think that probably honestly for me was like, that was just enough of a. What's the word I'm looking for? Excuse. Rationalization. You know what I mean? Because they seemed like there was a professional. I could see a world in which like, yeah, we're on a shoot and we actually do this more and more now. Like I've seen, I have producers will shoot stuff on their iPhones or on their Galaxy or whatever, you know, know. And we'll use it on, we'll use it in the show. There aren't any like rules about what we can and can't use. And sometimes it actually adds to the texture.
- [69:44]
B
Yeah.
- [69:45]
A
So I think I, I think I sort of told myself like, in fact those, I was talking about that OSMO the other day, that like little camera and the osmo, I, I could be wrong actually, but it either shoots onto an iPhone and is stored on an iPhone or maybe it just turns your iPhone into the monitor. But a lot of times our camera guys will be holding this little tiny gimbal and it'll have their iPhone mounted on it. And maybe that's just showing them, maybe that's just the monitor function. But anyway it is more and more the case. And in fact now the thing that CBS is having us do is they love having their correspondence record. I wanted to talk to you about this at some point, which is the TBTL broadcast standard of landscape versus vertical.
- [70:27]
B
Uh huh. What do you mean that weird where.
- [70:29]
A
Well, I mean that we always like when we do hey dummies, it's always all landscape. We've always been landscape. We've been landscape men since the very beginning.
- [70:37]
B
Because it goes on YouTube, right?
- [70:40]
A
Well, there's a lot of stuff on YouTube that's vertical. It just has dead space on the sides. Like if you watch as much tick tock as I. Nobody shoots anything in landscape on TikTok and, and in fact in almost all of the, the social media platforms, like landscape is, is an old man's game. I think it looks better. But there's something that is. I was listening to, I was listening to I think Chris Hayes and Ezra Klein talk about the election of Mamdani in New York or at least the winning of the primary. And I think they were calling it vertical phone content. And that vertical phone content was sort of shorthand for a certain kind of video, you know, and it's. The phone is always being held vertically. And it's one of those things where, yeah, nobody, I mean, all of the social media platforms that involve video, maybe with the exception of YouTube, which is a biggie, are sort of oriented around vertical filming now because it's just easier to film vertically. Younger people, I think, are probably less hung up on the landscape. Ification of things. I remember our friend Bean, who I, by the way, I've been low key whatsapping with during the show. One of his many hobby horses has been, turn your camera to the side. Do you remember? That was like a whole. That was a refrain from him. And again, I will agree that it's a better. I think it's a better visual experience, but it also is to me, very boomer coded, as opposed. And I'm not trying to say we should try to pretend like we're young because we're not young, but like, now the CBS will have us making these. These videos that they're going to use as promo. So we'll be at a place where we're shooting, but this is not being filmed by the camera. And this is me with my phone and this is me doing something that they. They're hoping that this is something that would be like sort of interesting on TikTok, right? Or interesting on Instagram. And the literal instructions from the CBS brass is hold your phone vertically. Which is pretty funny considering all of the money that gets spent on all of this amazing camera equipment and lighting to make a really nice, beautiful picture. And they're like. But also, if we want people to know about it, we need you to hold your camera vertically and wander around.
- [72:46]
B
Yeah, I guess that makes sense for you. I would never make my artistic decisions based on whether or not somebody thinks I'm a nerd or not. But I will say that make my.
- [72:55]
A
Artistic decisions based on that.
- [72:57]
B
Some things fit it, some things don't. You can send me whatever you want and I'll send it to YouTube and however it fits, it fits. I'm not going to change my way because somebody's going to think I'm old. I am, but I am just. It's so funny. So I was. And this is a whole different conversation. I went to the. I think I told you I went to the Pixie show the other day. No. Yeah, yeah, your boy opened up.
- [73:19]
A
MJ Lenderman.
- [73:20]
B
Not MJ Lenderman. I swear. We. I thought I mentioned it. Maybe I didn't. Anyway, yeah, Uber. Jen had an extra. So I went to the Pixies show and, you know, whole lot of sea lice. Why can't I think of his name?
- [73:34]
A
Oh, Kurt Viall.
- [73:34]
B
Kurt Viall opened up. It was a really, really fun time. It was a great show. It was amazing. It was at the Paramount. And so it was interesting because we. I've been to shows at the Paramount where they don't put seats in. And I remember Jen even saying ahead of time, she's like, it's going to be weird sitting for this show because it looks like we have actual seats. And so they must be able to. You might know this from maybe doing shows there. Whatever. They must be able to have the option of having seated area. Standing area. Yeah. And it was funny because, you know, like, I don't know, six months earlier, I went to see, I think, like, the Breeders and Belly and that whole area was. Was standing. And then for the Pixies, which are literally the same generation, like, I mean, they. The Breeders and the Pixies used to share one member. Right. Kim is no longer with the Pixies, but they were. They had seats for this. Well, the second the Pixies come out, everybody just stands up. This isn't, I guess, really the point of my story, other than I just sort of thought that was interesting. But. But in front of us, and Jen. And I couldn't. And Jen's younger and hipper than me, but both of us were really kind of astounded that the fella in front of us, who might have been there by himself, which might explain this, filmed almost the entire thing on his phone. I don't mean a song, I mean the entire Pixies set. He's standing there with his phone the whole time, which I thought that was.
- [74:53]
A
Just kind of funny glasses or some. Whatever.
- [74:56]
B
That would be an argument for that, if you are doing that. But I'm also kind of like, who's going to watch this? Like, who's going to edit this? What are you going to do with this? Where's it going to live? Why? Just why? You know? But also, why would you. So the stage goes from left to right. It's long. There's a band. Yeah, there's a. There. No, it's horizon of stages by.
- [75:19]
A
No, no. But his camera was.
- [75:20]
B
His camera's vertical, so he's only getting like. He's getting tons of ceiling dead space. He's getting tons of the heads in front of him and he's getting. Hitting one or two band members and moving it around. You just tilt that phone, you have the entire stage and no dead space above and below. And that, hey, listen, that's going into that man's personal archives. He can do whatever he wants. But it doesn't make sense to me. It just doesn't make sense to me.
- [75:46]
A
Yeah, I've been trying to ask myself in situations like that, where was I recently, where I was. I did find myself breaking my phone out a bunch because it was a cool moment. But then I also was. I was also asking myself, am I ever gonna go back and watch this stuff? You know, because that's the big question. If you're somebody who, you know, if you're somebody who goes to a concert and you film the whole concert, but then you, you derive a real joy out of going home and then re watching it, and then you maybe, you know, put it up on your. Your smart TV and watch it or something. Like if, listen, if you go back and enjoy the footage, then I'd say go for it. As long as you're not like blocking everyone's view with your phone. Because that's a whole other issue with that stuff sometime. But like, for me, it's like, I'm with you. I'm just probably never going to go back. I may go back and look at some pictures at some point, but I will definitely, probably not go back and watch a long video of a song that Wilko is playing in a Wilco show personally, you know, But I do kind of understand that. I wish I could remember the specific moment because it would just be a more interesting observation if I could. But yeah, like, there was something that I was at a while ago that was a performance and I was like, pretty geeked about it. And I was like, I really wanted to document it. But then I was also, you know, I should just try to document this with my eyeballs in my brain right now. Like, I should just try to take it in. But there was this feeling of specialness around it where I was like. I also wanted to like, capture it forever. Which again is allegedly what our eyes and our brains are doing when we watch something, because we will remember it. Unless we're you and me in case we. In which case we may not remember it, but theoretically we should be putting it down on the hard drive that is our brain. But like, somehow I'm not. I don't feel like that's enough. Like, if it's a really special moment, I'm like, but, but, but if I don't videotape it, then how will I remember it later? How will I be able to go back and watch it? And it's like, well, maybe I could go back. You know, I was even having a little bit of that this weekend with my siblings because it was such a fun weekend and I was just enjoying it so much. And I was definitely like, I was, I had my phone out more than anybody else in terms of taking pictures and little videos and, and stuff because I kept just wanting to be like, I want to remember this forever. Like, I want. And I guess it's like, and maybe, I don't know, I want evidence of it or something. But then I also had to kind of toggle back to like, yeah, I want to remember this forever in my brain because I want to be sitting here with my siblings just enjoying a cup of coffee and just like, you know, talking about old childhood memories or whatever. Like, that's like, that's a way for me to remember it too. I don't have to be capturing it on my phone. But it's definitely a struggle for me. I mean, says the guy, guy who's got these stupid AI glasses or whatever they call them.
- [78:21]
B
Well, as you were sort of like.
- [78:22]
A
Somehow not knowing the name of them.
- [78:23]
B
Is my version of resistance of me not saying Climate Pledge arena, which I just do. Right?
- [78:28]
A
Exactly. Like, I feel like if I, if I, if I choose to never know what they're called, I've some. I'm somehow a little less culpable as.
- [78:34]
B
You were sort of like kind of ping ponging back and forth on your own experience there. I just want to like, speak up and just say like, I know I sort of raised that specter by talking about this guy who was in front of us. It was more about like how I. There's so much wasted space in his shot that is just garbage and you can't even get the whole stage. But again, I don't care. That's not my footage and he can do whatever he wants with it. And I know I'm the one who raised the question of like, what are you going to do with all of this? But I also, I don't know. I'm not trying to like, you know, like, I'm not trying to be too mamby pamby here, but people can just do what they want. Like, I'm really, really trying not to Judge too much. Like, and I'm not saying I'm good at never judging people, but like people long before we had cameras in our phones were taking photos of special moments so that they could remember them. Family photos. You were literally taking family photos. People love family photos. You're going to cherish those photos. At some point you're going to look back, you're going to maybe be scrolling. Here's how I appreciate photos from the past now when I'm scrolling back in my phone and I'm looking for something else, like the photo I took of my barber's business card because I need to make an appointment before our trip and last night I'm scrolling and scrolling and I, I can't find the business card photo. But I'm seeing old photos from a while back and I'm like, oh man. And for some reason, like when you. Man, speaking of meta, I guess the one product I still use is WhatsApp because some of our friends still use WhatsApp to communicate with us. But it's a weird app because once I downloaded on this phone it sort of shared with me a bunch of photos, mostly from Bean, but then some other friends who are like kind of live overseas. It sort of downloaded all of my saved photos from that app onto my new phone. Whatever, it doesn't matter. But because of that, when I scrolling yesterday I saw a photo from like four years ago of me and my friend's daughter playing like a video game here in the basement. And she's, I'm like, oh man, I haven't seen her in a long time, the kid I'm talking about. And she's so much older now, she's probably a teenager now and I love her to death and it was really sweet to see this photo. And so that's how I experience a lot of nostalgia now going through. So I don't would, you know, don't think that as I, you know, have my opinions about, about people who film entire concerts, you know, take photos. I mean, I guess there are certain things and this is where I get judgy and again, I don't have a right to get judgy here where it sort of seems like as they say, everything is for the gram. I don't even know if they say that anymore. But like where events are set up specifically in a way, parties or whatever. Genevieve had gone to a party a while back and I was like, man, it sounds like you're going to an Instagram style party where like everything was like just so in this way. But you know what? That's not for me. But the people who are doing that probably have a lot of fun planning that, like, thinking, oh, if we make this little cutesy thing for the charcuterie table or this or whatever. Like, for them, the journey is getting to that Instagram able moment. You know what I mean? But there are times where I'm kind of like, oh my gosh, are you living life or are you just doing everything so that you can portray life living you? Or is life living you? But like, even though, and that's not fair, and I really try not to be that old, that's the old man. I don't want to be like, you know, I'll take my photos, how I want to take my photos, but I don't want to be the old man who's judging other people about how they use their photography or their technology or whatever. Although at times it is tempting to do so.
- [81:53]
A
But you did have a lot of thoughts and you were telling me this off air about the Gen Z stare, right? You do have thoughts about the.
- [82:01]
B
That. What is that? I don't know about that.
- [82:03]
A
Oh, don't you play coy with me. It's so funny. So there's a this thing that's been kind of bouncing around the Internet on TikTok and stuff that now made it into the New York Times. Today there seems to be, you know, millennials, which I guess would be maybe like my daughter's age, my daughter's 31 folks in that age cohort. A lot of them have been commenting on how they've had kind of an experience with Gen Z, where either, let's say that the millennial person is a server and they come to a table, it's got a bunch of Gen Z folks, or maybe somehow they're interacting with Gen Z and that they feel that Gen Z does this kind of stare, does this kind of like almost like a little bit put off stare at them or apoplectic stare.
- [82:46]
B
Oh, interesting. I think I received that the other day.
- [82:49]
A
Instead of the way that we, maybe our generation might typically brighten up when the server comes over or when you, you know, there's this kind of like, way that our generation has been trained to interact. But what I think is just amazing is that it's like, this is not the boomers or us Gen Xers or who. This is not even us. This is not the, what I consider to be the actually old people being like, what's with these Gen Zs? It's the millennials being what's with these Gen Zs? And it's just like, it's just the circle of life, man. Somebody hand me a baby lion. I'm going to lift it up because this is the frigging circle of life. Life.
- [83:23]
B
That is interesting because I sort of received that look the other day. In fact, I've been wanting to tell you this and I'll try to make it short. Okay. It's just a little anecdote.
- [83:30]
A
This is what I said folks. He's got thought.
- [83:33]
B
But the thing is, I didn't know of anything called the Gen Z stare.
- [83:37]
A
But I think that was coined about eight minutes ago.
- [83:40]
B
What I was associated with was just being a young teenager, like kind of a slack jawed teenager. I mean wasn't this what they were putting on Gen X? Like that's my generation too. Like the whole idea of Gen X was like slacker, just like, I don't know man. I'm not to going gonna like get it up and pretend to be all friendly with you like, you know what I mean? If you were portraying a Gen Z waiter or server in the 90s, well it would be, it would literally be Jeanine Garofalo, you know, at P.J.O. pootertoots, like dead eyed. Like, you know, that's the Gen Z stare too. Here's my really quick anecdote that I thought you would find interesting the other day. I can't remember what the situation was, but I decided I wanted to do my Papa Murphy's deal, right? Genevieve was out of town. I think I had not eaten all day or something like that. And I'm like, okay, I'll just do my Papa Murphy's. I'm in the Papa. The fact that I'm calling it Papa Murphy's and not Papa John's right now just shows you how much I'm learning and really becoming a Papa Murphy's kind of guy. This is the pizza that you pick up. They make it, but you cook it at home and there's one kind of near me and near the grocery store I go to. I'm like, I'm gonna go to the grocery store and I'll pick up a pizza. So I have the app now, the Papa Murphy's app. I open up the app, they have all my information. It's very easy, easy. I'm like, see what a cool young shopper I am now? So I go in your papa points.
- [84:53]
A
Getting a free monkey bread. Sure.
- [84:56]
B
I don't mess with anything off the pizza menu.
- [85:00]
A
I don't go you're wise too.
- [85:02]
B
I don't need any of that. But I usually just get like a media or like a medium or I guess a large two. Two topping pizza. But anyway, I am going too long here. My apologies. So I open up the app, I place my order, but then I go through all the steps, I choose the stuff and then I place my order in. The app says not taking orders at this time or some sort of warning like that. I'm like, that's weird. And they say try another location or calling this location. It's like, what? That's weird. So I just start over. So I'm like, okay, I'll do this one more time. I get to the end and once again it's like order did not go through, there's a problem or something. Try calling or using another location. I'm like, that's really weird. I'm like, okay, then I'll try calling. So I don't look up the number. It's in the app, right? I'm just like, okay, Holman Road location. I click the phone number and the phone starts ring or the phone doesn't start ringing. I get the old fashioned dial tone, beep, beep, beep. And I immediately, because I'm an old. You get a busy, sorry, a busy signal. The old fashioned busy signal. And because I'm old, I'm picturing like a phone hanging on a wall and it's off the hook, right? And it's just dangling or whatever that I'm just like a classic again Gen XY kind of image. But anyway, I'm like, that is so weird. They're not taking, they're not taking any orders online for some reason. And I can't get, I'm like, you know, this place has been kind of janky I think since the pandemic. I remember the store would just sort of close randomly years ago or whatever. I wonder if, I wonder if like the slack jawed kid who was in charge or something, just an assumption on my part, just like walked away or something. I'm like, all right, screw it. I'm just not even going to get a pizza. I'm going to go to the grocery store anyway.
- [86:38]
A
So slack Jack, he was looking out for your health.
- [86:40]
B
Yes, exactly. Turns out it was my diet.
- [86:42]
A
I'm just going to go to the salad factory.
- [86:45]
B
Do you know I literally bought, I had to buy a at home blood pressure monitor yesterday that made me feel that. You want to talk about, you want to talk about taking videos in horizontal while I'm checking Literally at. My doctor wants me to start keeping records of my blood pressure at home. But anyway, so I had to go to Fred Meyer and ask a young person where the at home blood pressure monitors are. All of that is to say I go to the grocery store, which is in the same parking lot as this Papa Murphy's, and I see that the Papa Murphy's is lit up and it's got a big open sign there. And I'm like, you know what? I'm going to walk in here. I'm just, what the hell is going on? Why can't I order online? And why is it a busy signal? So I go, I walk towards the door and I see from afar that there's a hand scrawled sign on the door. And I'm like, oh, this is going to be interesting. What does this hand scrawled sign say? And I get close to it and the place is open and I see people inside. But the sign says, we are only taking cash at this door time. So I'm like, oh, okay, so something's down. So I go in and you want to talk about whether it's a Gen X or Gen Z stare. I mean, it is like a sir don't harass the box kind of Simpsons kid. He's just like, he just looks like. He does not. He's not rude. I want to be very clear. He's not rude. And I might have already been a little bit like, old. It might have been a little bit like coming in with some dad energy anyway, just being like, why could I not order from this place that has the lights on? And so I walked to the desk and he just like stares at me and. And I'm like, hey, do you know that, like, I can't order online? He's like, yeah, we're only taking cash right now. And then like, it was like. It was one of those things. I was like, oh, right, you can't pay cash with the app. You know what I mean?
- [88:28]
A
Right.
- [88:29]
B
Maybe I can place the order and then pay with cash or whatever. But of course the technology isn't there, so whatever. I'm like, oh. So suddenly I make the connection, but I'm like, flustered now. I'm having a real Bob Walsh moment. A real, like, kind of dad. That's my dad, like, very dad energy moment. And so I said, okay, well, I'll just. Can I just order it from you? He's like, yeah, if you got cash. I'm like, yeah. I'm like, okay, so now I'm trying To recreate the order that I placed. And I'm like, which one?
- [88:53]
A
Which is what? Can I ask?
- [88:54]
B
Yeah. And I'm trying to remember because I remember it got slightly awkward because I. It's like small, medium and large. But on the app it was like something inch, 12 inch and 14 inch, I want to say. And I know that Genevieve wasn't there, so I wanted whatever the medium one was. But I asked the question the wrong way and I kind of said, well, what is your like 12 inch one? And he's like. And he like stares at me and he's like, I don't. And he kind of looks at the menu and he's like, I don't know what the inches are. And he's like, he's not as rude. I'm kind of geared up for him to be rude. I think he's just honest and again, not going to like, pretend like he cares about this conversation more than he does, but not outwardly rude. And I realize I'm probably coming in with a little bit more. But anyway, I think I was getting, getting. I would usually get like pepperoni and olives, I think. But I think in this case, Genevieve wasn't home, so I put some sausage on there too, which, by the way, I don't think I would get sausage again from Papa Murphy's. It's like crumbled on there. It's not good sausage topping, for whatever it's worth. But that's what I was getting. So I was getting like a medium pizza with those three toppings on it, I think. Or no, maybe pepperoni, mushroom and sausage. I think that's what I got as a kid. So I was trying to recreate that maybe experience. But anyway, anyway, he was so. Just slack jawed with. Oh, I know, I'm sorry, I'm missing the whole point of this, Luke. I go in and I say, your app isn't working. He's like, yeah. And I said. And I said, but it said to call. And I called and I just got a busy signal. And he looks at me, it's like, yeah, the phone doesn't work. He said, the phone doesn't work. Why would I expect the phone to work? And then I said, you're like, did.
- [90:32]
A
You get my carrier pigeon right?
- [90:33]
B
He was just, yeah, the phone doesn't work. And I was like, oh. And then I did, like, I think I just paused for a second. He said, yeah, whole place is falling apart. Like, okay. And then I was like, well, what is your 12? It was fine. And like that, you know, like the.
- [90:46]
A
Kid was fine, he starts crying, Papa Murphy went out for a pack of cigarettes.
- [90:51]
B
Papa Murphy was a Rolling Stone show title. So that was too long of a story. But I do think that I experienced the Gen Z Z stare there. It was not rude, but it also wasn't I am here to make your.
- [91:05]
A
Day better or it is of the highest concern to me that I manage how you're feeling about this day.
- [91:14]
B
Exactly.
- [91:15]
A
Which is kind of what I think. Giving face is a lot of the time for people and particularly for a lot of people who are women. It's like this unfortunate idea that it's.
- [91:24]
B
Like.
- [91:26]
A
We need people to constantly be letting us. I mean I'm of two minds on it. One, one is nobody should have to be managing my feelings around how they're presenting. I should have a stable enough personality that I can go through my day without everyone having to smile at me. On the other hand, it's also nice when people smile at each other or are pleasant to each other. So I don't want to be so kind of non judgy that I'm acting like the world would be better if everyone was just staring around, slack jawed, dead eyed, not smiling because that means that none of us are feeling pressure to be a certain way around other people. People like I both don't want people to feel pressure, but I also do think it's nice when we are as nice to each other as we can be and as pleasant to each other as we can be, you know?
- [92:04]
B
Yeah, you know, I've been thinking about that because one of these people that I was having drinks with the other day who forced me to buy their round, the cheapskates just moved up from Dallas and had, I don't had lived in other places before, but not tons of other places. And this is her first time living in the Pacific Northwest and she's head over heels with Seattle so far, having been here maybe a week or two. But did say that there's a big difference in the way people talk and it kind of bums her out. Like just people just don't seem friendly. And I said well what does that mean? I hear that a lot. And she was just kind of giving examples of kind of maybe what we're talking about here and just maybe just like bumping into people at the grocery store or the whatever store they're in and just kind of like saying like a friendly hello and just getting a sort of a, you know, like a very leveled, non friendly response back. And I was like I've lived here for a long time, and I'm somebody who's bad with eye contact anyway. And so maybe Seattle is just sort of my city. But I also like being a friendly person. And I've been sort of, like, thinking about that and sort of looking around Seattle and looking at how people interact and interact with me and seeing if I can see what she's seeing with people not being as friendly. And then I was at the grocery store, and I gotta say, I am somebody who is so obsessed with other people. Understanding their personal space and having personal awareness, which is, like, in the grocery store, is terrible. I don't know if this is a regional thing or just a human being thing. And also, I just get in too much in my head and judging other people on this. But, like, people just will just, like, take up the entire aisle of a grocery store. They'll put their cart on one side and then stand on the other side and just block the aisle and not even. Not even acknowledge you while you're standing there. And you have to say, excuse me, and they'll look at you. And sometimes I'm looking like, are they wearing earbuds? Like, are they? I just think that they just don't care. And because of that, I try to take a lot of care in, like, kind of the space I'm taking up. And I was looking for something in an aisle the other day that I simply, simply could not find. And it was driving me bananas. So I'm doing that thing where my. My cart is kind of stopped somewhere in the aisle, but pushed over to the side. And I'm walking up and down the aisle looking for this lemonade powder and walking up and down, can't find it. I'm probably there for, like, four or five minutes. And then at one point, I come over and I see that a woman is grabbing some, like, Coke or Diet Coke or something right where my cart is. And there's even a possibility that she had to move my cart. I'm not sure, but I always feel bad about that. So I come up and I'm like, oh, man, I'm really sorry about my cart. No response. And I said, and this is a woman who's. I don't know, maybe. Maybe she's like my age, maybe slightly older or something. And I said, I'm sorry, was I in your way? And no response. I'm like, okay, I'll move it. And then she said, no worries, and just kind of walked away.
- [94:38]
A
Oh, no. No worries.
- [94:40]
B
Yeah. First of all, I don't I mean, no worries or whatever, but it was like she was simply not going to respond when I said, oh, I'm sorry I was in your way. I don't know if she was, like, a little bit ticked off at me that she had to move my cart. If she had to move my cart. She definitely was not wearing headphones of any sort. Maybe she. She wasn't. We wearing Ray Bans that were taping everything. Like, I'm pretty sure, like, I was just, like, a little bit, like, wow, this woman was just, like, accepting my apology or not. But, like, would not, like, kind of finally, again, it makes it sound like I was trying to make her talk like a Bond villain or something, but it was just, like. It was so weird how she just had made up her mind. She was not gonna, like, say anything to me when all I was saying was, sorry if I'm in your way. And I was like, man, yeah, maybe this is what my friend was vibing.
- [95:19]
A
Yeah.
- [95:20]
B
I do think.
- [95:21]
A
Think that. First of all, I think it's very. It's case by case because you can have lots of great interactions in the Northwest with folks. But I do think that the default setting in the Northwest is not to be as chatty as it is in other places. I just remember being a kid growing up in Seattle and being mortified at how much my mom talked to other people.
- [95:41]
B
Oh, because she's not from here.
- [95:42]
A
She's from Philly. And, like. And then I remember eventually going to Philadelphia and meeting my, you know, my extended family and seeing people and being like, oh, this is why she's this way. This is how everybody is here. If you're in line in the store, you will just chat with the person who's in line near you. That would be a totally normal thing. And you're certainly going to chat with the checkout person. And, like, you just. You're kind of moving through the. And I've seen versions of that in the south where it's just kind of, you know, like you're just kind of shooting the shit with people. It's just. It's just, you know, it's an expected thing, and it's not weird. And the problem that happens in a place like Seattle, where it doesn't happen as much is that then the only time it happens, it's weird.
- [96:20]
B
Or it could be if the other person is in the other mindset, it's.
- [96:22]
A
Just not happening very much. And so it's like, if you. If it happens to you once in a week, it's like an extreme. It could be potentially an extreme moment if it happens everywhere you go. If everyone's just like some weather we're having. And boy, you know, did you see that? Did you see that Cowboys game or did you see that Eagles game or what? Who knows? Like, it's. The more that it happens, the more normalized it is, then the less stress there is around it. But when it's happening on an infrequent basis, it's like it's a whole event. Like, oh, my God. I talked to somebody at the store.
- [96:48]
B
It was. We.
- [96:48]
A
We talked about Hunt's crushed tomatoes and if you should do the fire roasted kind or not.
- [96:55]
B
Like, I kind of had that yesterday. I was at Fred Meyer, which is a much bigger store for people who don't know. We've talked about it a lot.
- [97:01]
A
And I don't know about their branding with those, like, kind of like plastic figures that are often, like, dropping it like it's hot. I think I'm. I think I'm into it. It's an interesting choice.
- [97:11]
B
Yeah. I don't know if I know the drop it like it's hot one, but I like this one.
- [97:13]
A
Like, apple bottom J jeans.
- [97:15]
B
Wait, we're talking about the ones that look like almost like little Playmobil characters or something. Yeah.
- [97:19]
A
They had a lot of TV commercials where they were doing the commercial was basically that the prices were low, but it was shorty got low. Apple bottom jeans with the boots, with the fur, which I thought was hilarious. Like, they wanted the part about the prices being low.
- [97:33]
B
Right.
- [97:33]
A
I was like, you're just banking on a lot of people not knowing the other lyrics to that song.
- [97:37]
B
Right? Yeah. Or not caring, but not caring.
- [97:41]
A
That's another thing.
- [97:41]
B
I don't know if I've seen that particular one or if so, it didn't really strike me. I do. Like, I kind of like the cute visual of that. It evokes grocery shopping to me. But I will just say that I had two interactions with employees at Fred Meyer. I am such as I tell these stories. I just sound like such a handful. But I really try not to ask for help in a grocery store because sometimes it's not helpful. And also, you got to go up to somebody and they're shelving something, and I really don't want to pull them away from that. But I had two interactions with two different employees at Fred Meyer because I couldn't find two things I really need needed over the course of maybe 20 or 25 minutes of shopping. And I will say both of These people who are, you know, significantly younger than me could not have been nicer or more helpful. Like both of them were just like, oh great. Like the first person said, you found the right person. I know exactly where those are. And both of them stopped what they were doing and walked with me. And the second person walked quite away. I kept saying, like, you don't have to walk. You've described it to me. He's like, I don't mind. And then he started, you know, I was looking for this time was your Bubby's sauerkraut. I couldn't find the Bubby's sauerkraut.
- [98:41]
A
I gotta get some more of that.
- [98:42]
B
And he starts telling me, yeah, and he starts telling me how I was actually referring to you. I said, oh, my buddy loves this stuff. He eats it out of the jar. He's like, oh, my sister in law, same deal. Like, anyway. And he was just like, at a certain point we found the bubbies and I had to start like kind of backing away from him a little bit. I'm like, thank you, I really appreciate it. But like, so I just want to say that while I was complaining around that, complaining about that somewhat terse woman, you still have some really great interactions, especially with employees who are like sitting there. They don't, they don't have to be that friendly. And I really appreciated it.
- [99:10]
A
I will say that that's one thing about living in kind of small town America is my experience. When I go into a store, whether it's a grocery store or Home Depot, the many folks that work there or whatever, honestly, the folks are pretty nice out here. I don't know what the politics are. I don't know what the kind of sort of priorities are for folks. And I'm talking about all ages. Like I feel like I have, I'm. The number of bad customer service experiences that I have out here are pretty limited, honestly. Like, and there's like a, like a small grocery store I go to in the closer town which just doesn't have very much stuff. But the people that work there are super friendly and nice. Like I, I feel like my in person retail or you know, shopping experience at least around here is generally pretty good. It's when I get online or when I'm trying to send luggage back. Andrew, maybe we'll talk about that tomorrow.
- [100:03]
B
I was going to say, or when, when you don't quite have the measurements done for your counter or whatever. Remember that whole thing about like the guy came out and they were charging you to send him out again. Yes. And it was like a five minute difference or something like that.
- [100:15]
A
Yes, that was, that was rough. That was rough stuff. But like, lest we paint and even the Papa Murphy's that's down in town, that I do. Although, you know, Andrew, and yes, you've made it. Everyone, if you're still listening, congratulations, you've made it to Crust Talk. First of all, I got a. I got a pizza dough recipe from our friend, television's Chris Hayes. I knew exactly who to ask. Like, this is a man with a pizza oven, presumably. And I did. I was like, do you have a. Do you have like a pizza dough that you really like? And he was like, I'm on my way to make some right now, actually. Then just send me the link. So I've been. I'm gonna definitely tonight gonna make a pizza or two and I'm gonna watch the All Star game. I'm very excited about this. But the thing I was gonna say about Papa Murphy's is my issue is. And maybe, I mean, I don't know, would this be like lame or cheating if I, like, if I were to buy a Papa Murphy's pizza and then just make it in my outdoor propane pizza oven?
- [101:09]
B
I know, I guess it would turn.
- [101:11]
A
Out well because here's been my issue with Papa Murphy's. I can't seem. And I get the thin crust to try to adjust for this. I cannot seem to get the crust crispy enough fully. I mean, it'll be cooked. Cooked in the middle. Like it's not raw. That's gross. But it's not like how you get it from a pizza place. And after like the third or fourth time, because I also live kind of far away from pizza places. So for a while I thought Papa Murphy's is the answer. I bring it out here and then I cook it so it's not traveling from the pizza place for hours and hours to get to me. I can never get the crust cooked right. What is your. What is your secret?
- [101:47]
B
Well, this is interesting. So I think maybe, and I know that I've been really painting myself as Mr. North Papa Murphy's. But I'm thinking maybe since I started using Papa Murphy's about six months ago, maybe we've gotten it five times tops. The first time I was very happy with it. I came home and I followed the instructions exactly how it was. First of all, I should mention that we might have different taste in pizza as well. I get the medium crust and so I didn't I. The regular kind of the Regular, medium. Yeah. It's not. They have a deep dish that looked too. That didn't look. Look right. You don't want that. And the thin. Like, I'll eat a thin crust, but that, you know, whatever. I like kind of a buttery crust. So I get the medium kind. And it says to put it not directly on the rack. It comes in its own, like, paper.
- [102:32]
A
Tray, which seems weird to me that that's the cooking tray.
- [102:35]
B
Yeah. But so I think. And it gives you quite a long kind of window of time. And so the first time I made it, I don't know, I put it in. I followed the instructions. I don't even know if I let it sit out to room temperature. I don't remember. I didn't remember that being a part of the process that Genevieve pointed out to me later. First one came out well for me. I don't know. I just kind of kept an eye on it and took it out when it looked like it was melted. The next two, Genevieve was in charge of. Not to throw under the bus, but she's like, you know, if this is good normally, why don't I put it on the pizza stone and do that? It'll make it even better. Terrible. It was a bad. I don't know, like the pizza stone. Maybe it didn't get. I don't know what it was, but it was soggy. It was like pizza in a cup. It was so soggy.
- [103:16]
A
Oh, he ran the other pizza in a cup guy out of business.
- [103:19]
B
I saw something grocery store recently that was very close to pizza. My cup. And then any. Anyway, and then the next one, Genevieve put it on for like kind of. I think the range is like 12 to 16 minutes or something. I think she put it right in the middle at like 14 or 15. And it was burnt. And so this last one that I did, I was like, well, I'll just like, you know, take it out at the 12 minute mark. And like, for me, it was good. I just put it again sort of directly on the rack. But in their little paper thing.
- [103:43]
A
You take it off of the thing for a few minutes at the end. Or are you cooking it off of that little cook. Cooking thing the whole time? The little paper it comes with. Is the pizza. The pizza ever on that when it's cooking or.
- [103:54]
B
Yeah, they say to cook it on the paper, so.
- [103:56]
A
Or like, then they also say to take it off the paper at the end if you want to crisp your crust. That's what they say with the thin crust. I don't Know, you know how they have the directions, like in the Saran Wrap?
- [104:06]
B
Yeah. I don't think my directions said to do the thin crust or I'm just such a. And again, like, I, I know that I have very low brow tastes in pizza, so I just don't know if I'm the right person to have this conversation with. Maybe I saw it and ignored. Ignored it and just thought it was fine, but I don't know.
- [104:20]
A
Well, because, because I was always trying to like, do this thing where like, I'm taking it. They're like, if you want an extra crispy crust, which to me would just bring it up to a normal level because it was not cooking all the way through. It's like take it off of the little paper cooking tray for the last like five minutes or something. So I was trying that and it wasn't seeming to work.
- [104:39]
B
I don't know. But yeah, I don't know.
- [104:41]
A
I gotta.
- [104:42]
B
Yeah, throw it on your pizza oven. I love it. Again, I was thinking I buy a.
- [104:45]
A
Food scale, by the way.
- [104:46]
B
Oh yeah?
- [104:47]
A
Do you have a food scale?
- [104:48]
B
Yeah, Genevieve's got one.
- [104:50]
A
Well, because to make this dough, I've got to actually like weigh it a little bit and stuff. Interesting. Yeah, yeah. So I didn't have that. I had to go to Target and get one of those.
- [104:57]
B
So I've literally never made dough before. I mean, of course I've seen Genevieve do it. You know, what flour.
- [105:02]
A
I've never made dough before. Ah, that's not true. Maybe a long time ago, not recently. So this is gonna be a major, it's gonna be a major situation here. Major experiment.
- [105:10]
B
Who made the dough for the pizzas you had? Did your siblings? Safeway. Okay, I wasn't sure about that yet.
- [105:15]
A
No, it's just, it was just like, it was like refrigerated dough that you can buy in the deli of Safeway. It's like in a plastic bag. And there was speculation that that might have contributed to some of the challenges because first of all, it was whole wheat, which might kind of operate differently than the regular stuff. And it's just like, it was totally fine. But I have a feeling that actually these pizzas that I make today are gonna be worse because I've never made dough before. So I have a feeling that I need to probably do the dough a bunch of times before I learn how to, to do it. So this is going to maybe be like, like one step back.
- [105:48]
B
Yeah, but that's good though. But if you're, if you're like yeah, but I'm going to stick with this. Like, I'm actually. Yeah.
- [105:52]
A
I told you, man.
- [105:52]
B
Honestly, it kind of makes me want to. Yeah. That I don't know that, that really I, I love that you're loving your oven so much. Ooh. And again, I love that you're loving your oven.
- [106:01]
A
I'm loving your. Loving your oven. Also a possible show. Loving your. Loving your oven.
- [106:08]
B
Sincerely, I do like, and, and also the fact that you wanted this thing for so long and also then you talking about making dough, it's like, yeah, because I have occasionally, like very, very rarely, like, I don't know, twice in my life have maybe bought one of those boboli things or one of those pre made little crust and be like, yeah, I'm just gonna go home and make myself a little pizza night. But it'll be way more satisfying and probably not, you know, certainly not outside of your and I skill set to make dough or learn how to make a decent dough.
- [106:36]
A
No, I don't think it's that hard. After you do it a few times, I think I'll probably, probably. I did start reading into the comments on this one and I was. Then I got a little nervous. Like it looks very straightforward and it's listed as like, it's like from the New York Times, like easy pizza dough or something. And then like the third comment is a guy going, I keep, I'm doing the exact directions and then it just won't rise. And then I can't get it. And I was like, that's gonna be me. I'm gonna be that guy. Because there's like a whole, you know, it's, it's, it's a, it's sort of a live thing. Right? So there's like, it appears, and I've only scanned it this morning, but it appears that it's like, you know, you make it. Then there's some different temperature changes which allow it like you put it in the fridge, which lets it. Then it doubles in size and then you bring it up to a certain temperature, then you roll it out. And so like there are some steps to it, but I would just love. Also what I like about it is it's not a lot of ingredients. It looks like it's flour and water basically, which I, you know, even if it's pizza dough, I'm trying to, as much as I can eat stuff that doesn't have 8 million ingredients in it. And I feel like, you know, if I could get to, to where I could like throw a quick pizza dough Together and then put it in the oven and then make a kind of a yummy, tasty little pizza. That could be a dinner. That just seems like a superpower to me. If I could, that could be a regular part of my life. So I'm, I'm on the journey.
- [107:49]
B
It's funny how wrong I was. I said, what is pizza dough like? Just like flour and eggs and I guess there are no eggs in pizza dough.
- [108:00]
A
Are there not? Are you checking?
- [108:01]
B
I don't know. You said flour and water.
- [108:03]
A
Well, I know, but I barely. I only scanned the recipe.
- [108:06]
B
Well, it says here now. This is the AI Probably. It says, AI says no. I wrote, do you use eggs to make pizza dough? And the AI said no. Traditional pizza does not typically, typically contain eggs. But some doughs do, right? Some doughs do.
- [108:22]
A
Oh, sure, yeah, some doughs do. Let me, let me just tell you what's in this particular easy pizza dough recipe, which of course I have. I have to. Even though I subscribe to the New York Times on this computer, Andrew. I have to illegally run this article through like a Romanian website to read it, even though I'm paying them. Here we go. This pizza dough. Here are the ingredients. The ingredients are two teaspoons of dry active yeast, four and a half cups of all purpose flour, two teaspoons of kosher salt, and two tablespoons of, of olive oil. That's it.
- [109:00]
B
Nice.
- [109:01]
A
So pretty simple stuff.
- [109:02]
B
Very simple. And you don't. Probably not. Especially if you're trying to make a healthier crust. Would there ever be a moment where you brush butter on the crust?
- [109:11]
A
Oh, sure. No, I'm very pro butter these days in certain ways. I've never eaten worse than I do now in the sense of I'm just calor. I'm just like, oh, is it butter? Is it cheese? Is it what I consider a real food? Which maybe you could argue cheese is a stretch, but like, I'm like, all about it.
- [109:29]
B
Yeah. So that's part of the. Is that something you did this weekend? I'm just asking because I sort of feel like I can see, oh, I didn't do that this time or something where they're brushing it.
- [109:36]
A
But I wouldn't be against that. I would not be against that at all. By the way, I think I'm gonna be a lot like Samir, who's the fourth commenter on this recipe. When I take the dough out of the refrigerator after step four, it's very cold. It does not rise at all in 30 minutes. Does anyone have suggestions for how to warm it up or should I just leave it out for much longer? 76 thumbs ups.
- [109:56]
B
I don't know what that means. Any responses, though? Anybody? Nobody? You can't, like, can you respond directly to somebody on that?
- [110:02]
A
I don't know if I can because I don't. Here's the problem. I don't pay enough. I don't pay enough for the New York Times to have the cooking stuff. I only pay the like for the news. And it's really annoying because ever. I don't even know. I might not. It might be like three more dollars a month. But it just seemed to me I don't get the athletic and I don't get the cook in the New York Times.
- [110:22]
B
I'm kind of shocked.
- [110:23]
A
I'm paying for like a la carte.
- [110:25]
B
I didn't know that you could. I didn't know that you could do that. And usually it would be opposite. Usually it would be me who's kind of like, well, I can. I can read the New York Times, but I have to pause for a commercial every day.
- [110:37]
A
I also have Netflix commercials, which I. It's literally that I don't know how to change that. And it's the worst because I'll be watching something that's very emotionally impactful. Be watching my octopus dude teacher. And then it'll just be like, Fred Meer.
- [110:51]
B
Yeah.
- [110:51]
A
With weekly sales. How shorty got. Hey, Andrew, you know what? I'll make a video of the entire pizza process with my glasses today and send it to you.
- [111:01]
B
Okay, good. Actually, are you being serious? I mean, we could use that as. We could use that as the newsletter content, but no pressure. It's my turn to do that.
- [111:08]
A
Let's see how it goes.
- [111:09]
B
No, no, no.
- [111:09]
A
You got a lot going on this week.
- [111:11]
B
I don't mind. But yeah, if. If you're doing it anyway, send it along and we'll see if it works. We'll see. But if it adds more work to something and if it makes something. If it makes something like your time at home, something that was supposed to be fun and relaxing, feel like work, don't do it.
- [111:24]
A
I'll. I'll.
- [111:24]
B
I'll.
- [111:25]
A
I'll read the room. Which is to say myself.
- [111:27]
B
Yes, when.
- [111:28]
A
When I get to that point. But I'll probably send you a picture because, man, when that pizza's cooking in that flaming thing, literally the whole. My whole family started applauding when we put the first pizza. It's very dramatic, actually, because you got all these. It's all this fire and Stuff. It's very exciting.
- [111:43]
B
So, okay, the fact that you were playing that song from what. What is the German song from.
- [111:51]
A
Thus spake from 2001?
- [111:54]
B
Couldn't think of the name of the movie or the song or the actors or the performers. So thank you.
- [111:59]
A
We got there. That German song narrows it down. It's either. It's either that or something by David Hasselhoff.
- [112:06]
B
Exactly. Or the song that was in that V dub come commercial with the two guys. That feels Germanic to me. All right.
- [112:15]
A
I think, I think so. I've. I've decided I'm just going to call them V dubs and then I don't have to grapple with if it's Volkswagen or Volkswagen.
- [112:22]
B
That's a smart.
- [112:23]
A
If I go V dub. It's just, it's just I, I, that's. I. Even Luke's can't mess that up.
- [112:27]
B
Okay, listen, here's. I was going to start the music rolling, but I am looking at our timer. We are at one hour and 53 minutes. Minutes. So.
- [112:36]
A
Been a while since we've done a two hour jobber.
- [112:38]
B
Yes. And honestly, I don't have seven minutes. I don't have a lot to say about this, but you had mentioned Cal Raleigh at the beginning of the show. Oh, yeah. I did watch the. The Home Run Derby last night, but I watched it at the bar with the sound down, so my experience was very different. I'd really like to hear just more your thoughts on.
- [112:54]
A
Well, okay. The first thing was I was not even watching it in real time because I. Some friends of Becca's who are now my friends were gonna go out on their boat and we were in invited and I felt like. I felt like it would be a fun thing to do and I wanted to see Becca. And I also thought to say I'm gonna skip that because I want to watch the Home Run Derby when I already give so much of my brain space to the Mariners and I'm gone so much. I just thought that would be a. That'd be a poor showing from old LB and so. And then I completely forgot that the derby was happening. And then I get a CF Seattle Times push notification. Literally as we're getting off the boat and I'm walking back to my car and it's like I just see Cal Raleigh and I'm like, oh my God, I think he won it. And then I check on the criminals and everyone's like kind of excited. And so then I was like, well, how do I watch this? Because I could have DVR'd it if I would have been smart. But I didn't even think to do that. Cause what is it on Fox or something?
- [113:49]
B
It was on espn. That's one of the reasons Beeves and I went to that sports bar near our house. Because first of all that's good bar watching. You know, it's kind of classic good bar watching. But also it's like I was like, oh, I guess I can't. I've been spoiled with the services I pay for. I haven't bootlegged a sporting event in so long I forgot that I could even bootleg it if, you know, if needed. Right. So I could have watched it. Let's just go to the Vibe and watch it there. Yeah.
- [114:12]
A
Well, I got home. I got home and then I was like well I have, you know, as has been much discussed on the show, I was like, well I have Fubo and I mean I have all those channels but it's actually shockingly hard or it was impossible for me to find just a rebroadcast of it anywhere like on any of them. Nobody, nobody was like it hadn't been turned into on demand content. And so what was on YouTube was immediately was basically every home run Cal Raleigh hit. So it was like a specific. I could not get anyone who was just showing the whole Dern thing from start to finish. But what there was a lot of versions of. And this is official MLB content, right? This is not just somebody chopping it up. This is is being put out by Major League Baseball. But it was like Cal Raleigh wins Home Run Derby. Every home run by Cal Raleigh. So what I ended up watching was that which I mean it was first of all, it was just so fun to see a Mariner and particularly Cal Raleigh do well and prosper. I would have liked to have seen the other people too, you know, like I. And so that was a little bit of a bummer. But I mean overall it was a very enjoyable experience because A I knew he was to going to win and be just the whole thing of his dad throwing him the pitches and his little brother kind of becoming this like breakout. So what you probably didn't hear because you didn't have the audio was the ESPN announcers basically fell in love with Cal Raleigh's 15 year old brother who was catching.
- [115:34]
B
He was fifth.
- [115:35]
A
Did you hear any of this?
- [115:36]
B
Well, no, I didn't see it but it was clear that like they were the first. I knew that Cal Rallies dad was going to be his pitcher because I had just known that his dad had pitched to him growing up or whatever. So I was already kind of dialed into that and looking forward to it. I didn't know his brother was going to be behind the plate, Cat. And then when we, and we picked up on that, we knew it was his little brother. But we were trying to figure out the age. We had him at like 8. I said 18 to 20. That kid is 15 years old. My goodness, it's a big boy.
- [116:03]
A
Yes, he's 15 years old. And what happened was he was like the hype man, keeping the whole operation going. The brother was so. He was like encouraging the dad with the pitches. He was like, when Cal would take a pitch he'd be like, good take. Like he was like the most vocal member of the three. And like then the ESPN announcers sort of locked into that and they started being like, this kid is actually really helping in the process. And I was just. All I could think was, and then in the post game interview was like Jeff Passon or whoever. Who's that like weird man child that's like the, the ESPN baseball announcer. He's like a 70 year old man trapped in the body of a 23 year old man who's probably a 40 year old man. I think it's probably Jeff Passon.
- [116:44]
B
Oh, okay. Yeah, I know the name Jeff Pass and I don't think, I don't know if I've. I don't know if I've ever seen.
- [116:48]
A
Uncannily young looking, middle aged adult man.
- [116:52]
B
Yeah, you know what, I might have seen him once before but I didn't realize it was him because I think we got, I got out of the restroom or something. When the all star games were here in Seattle. I was at some event and I left the restroom and I think my buddy when we got out was like, you know, that was Jeff Passon or something. But I was like, oh, I didn't know that.
- [117:08]
A
Yeah, he's taken the Bob Costas mantle of, of, of like, of sort of like adult man who looks very boyish but knows a lot about sports.
- [117:17]
B
Is. Was he wearing like a, a weirdly boot? That's Jeff Passon. I believe that's. I had a lot of thoughts on I I vees and I had a lot of conversation about him. He does have an interesting look. And I didn't know. I've heard that man on the radio so many times. I didn't know that was him. Yeah, he has a strange look.
- [117:34]
A
I mean it's weird because he's very youthful.
- [117:36]
B
Yeah, very youthful. But it's Almost rude.
- [117:38]
A
He's almost. But he's almost buttoning. He almost looks like he's getting younger somehow, but he's, you know.
- [117:44]
B
Yeah. Interesting. Well, now I feel like I'm being cruel talking about his looks, but he was. He definitely had an interesting look. And you know what, though? I'm looking at other photos of him online, and I do recognize this face. There was something about the way he was made up yesterday that's like his. The part in his hair was very, like, it was a. Did you remember the part in his hair it looked like.
- [118:01]
A
Don't know if I remember that.
- [118:03]
B
It was a. So to speak, strange sort of hairdo. Anyway, go ahead.
- [118:06]
A
So then. So the. But then the announcer. It just became such a fun subplot because the announcers are just kind of like, man, Cal Rawley's little brother is just, like, actually critical to this operation. Which. Who knows if that was a bit of an overstatement, but it was just a fun narrative. And then just again, to finally see a Mariner actually win this thing and to just. The whole thing was really, really great. And then afterwards, I think Jeff Passon, as he's interviewing Cal, and Cal actually. Actually was like. I think of Cal Raleigh as being perpetually trapped inside that lottery commercial. Like, he's like one of the bad guys in Superman 2 who's put in that glass, confined to float in space for the rest of time. Like, that's. So when I see Cal Raleigh not being that way, it's always a surprise to me. Like, he was actually kind of pretty voluble. And, like, I mean, he was stoked he just won the Home Run Derby, but he also just was like. He seemed a way more normal and.
- [119:01]
B
And.
- [119:01]
A
And, like, talkative than he does in a lot of press avails that I see him on. And then they asked his brother. So they talked to the dad. The dad was really adorable. You know, dream come true, all that stuff. They talk to Cal, and then the final one they talk to is the brother, and they just go. They go, what were you seeing back there from the catcher's position? And the kid just pauses, and he just goes, greatness.
- [119:20]
B
Oh.
- [119:21]
A
And that was it. That was the whole post game.
- [119:23]
B
That was cool. The whole post game. That's what I wanted to hear, because I did not hear any of that. Again, like, the camera. I was able to pick up that.
- [119:30]
A
Kid, like, talk about meeting the moment.
- [119:32]
B
No, absolutely. That's great. And I just, like, I couldn't. I kept. I was, you know, a few beers in at the end of this thing, I just was yelling, just like, keep the camera on, dad. I just want to see dad here. But again, we didn't have the. The volume on. Now, there's one small thing. You might not realize if this is how you experienced it.
- [119:51]
A
Was there a controversy?
- [119:52]
B
I don't know if this was a controversy or not. Oh, well, yes, there was.
- [119:56]
A
I saw something later on TikTok about. I think it was. Who was the other.
- [120:01]
B
Was it.
- [120:02]
A
Did Cal, like, almost statistically tie someone and then win by, like, a hair of stat?
- [120:08]
B
Yes, that's what I was going to bring up.
- [120:10]
A
That.
- [120:10]
B
When you brought up a controversy, there was another thing. This is unrelated to Cal. I'll come back to that in a second because that's more interesting. But also, one of the other participants, and I can't remember who it was. It might have been Caminero or something. Something. One of the people catching. You know, they have cat people playing the field to, like, kind of catch the balls that don't go out. Yeah. One of the kids stole a home run from someone. It wasn't Candle the kid. Talk about not meeting the moment. He just didn't have the awareness and was just like, you know, they're out there. There's like, oh, this one's mine. This one's mine.
- [120:43]
A
Also, sign him up.
- [120:44]
B
The kid kind of hopped the wall a little bit, caught it. Right. I think it would have hit the yellow.
- [120:48]
A
It was from Cam and narrow.
- [120:49]
B
Are you. So am I right? Because I know volume. I was just sort of watching. So, yeah, I think that kid stole a home run. That. That's got to be. I feel bad for that kid because I'm sure. And you know, he was probably. I say kid. I'm guessing teenager or young adult. But, like, you're just out there. You're catching. You're on national tv, and you just are probably. You're already into the second round of this thing. You're not thinking as clearly, and you see a ball and you go to catch it because your job is to catch the balls. But my. My. Dude, you can't reach up and steal a home run during the home run derby.
- [121:19]
A
Dude, I'm watching that.
- [121:22]
B
Yeah.
- [121:22]
A
That's wild.
- [121:24]
B
So that was controversy number one.
- [121:25]
A
And nobody, like, nobody figured this out, like, in the.
- [121:29]
B
Like, I did no volume on. So I'm just watching. I'm watching. So it was Caminero. You're saying that. So I saw him.
- [121:35]
A
Caminero's 15. 15 home runs in the final round fell short as Rally edged him out with 18.
- [121:41]
B
So I guess it doesn't matter there.
- [121:43]
A
I mean, kind of. But you also wonder.
- [121:45]
B
I mean, he seemed upset in the middle of it. Like he took his break after that and you could see him like kind of pointing or whatever. But again, I think most people know that this is just. This is just a game amongst games. You know what I mean? It's. It means really nothing. It's just a good time for everybody to.
- [122:01]
A
I mean, kind of. But then. But do you also saw that thing I sent. Have you seen that video of Cal Raleigh when he's like 2:12 doing a little happy dance and saying he's going to win the Home Run Derby?
- [122:11]
B
Which is pretty cool.
- [122:12]
A
So that's crazy. I didn't know about that. But then what was the thing about him being in a statistical dead heat? But he had like. If you took it out to the 74th decimal place, it was Cal Raleigh.
- [122:22]
B
This is my understanding of it. So the first round was not head. It was not like kind of mono a mano matchups. It was just like. The first round was all eight players went. And the people. People with the. The top, highest, four players with the most home runs advance. And then you get this, which is.
- [122:43]
A
Actually a good way to do it, because it would suck if you just went up against a beast and they hit 22 home runs and you hit 20 and you were eliminated just because you happened to face off with them.
- [122:52]
B
Yeah. And the rules are different this year. I think it. I think that's a change. I think last year it would. It's. I think in the previous years it was like kind of a bracket system from the beginning, but at the bar, somebody said that they changed the rule because I was like, it's weird that they're changing the rules. You used to earn bonus time, but this time you earned bonus outs, if that makes sense. And I thought I was like, that's new. And it seems weird. Like, is everybody. You are kind of going for the record potentially? Like, who is it? Oh, my goodness. I can't believe I. Well, of course I can believe. I can't remember his name. But who's the blue? Vladi. Vladi Jr. I think has the home run record. Record. I didn't even know all time.
- [123:30]
A
Yeah, I think.
- [123:32]
B
I think Julio has the single round record. And I think that Vladdy has the actual total across the whole derby record. It doesn't matter. All of that is to say I was sort of like, boy, if you're playing with different rules each year, Somebody at the bar said they change up the rules a little bit every year. I don't know if that's true or not. They definitely change them from this year. And it sort of seems a little bit weird that you're still like, well, can you compare that to Vladdy's record than if the rules are different?
- [123:58]
A
Right, right.
- [123:59]
B
But the way it worked yesterday. And to get to your point, after all this blabber is top four people with the most home runs advance. Well, the top three were like, 21 home runs. 21 home runs. 20 home runs. And then two people had 17 home runs. And Cal was one of those people. And who did he edge out? Was that Rooker? I want to say. Okay, yes, yes. And so Veeves and I are like, again, we can't hear the announcements. So we're like, I don't know what's going on. We can't hear the announcers who is going to make it in. And then we see that Cal advanced and Rooker didn't. So I go to Blueski, and God bless the listener who told us to call it Blueski. I'm sorry, I can't remember.
- [124:39]
A
Yeah, that's really. Thank you.
- [124:40]
B
Chime in, because you are a hero. And apparently it was like, well, the tiebreaker is going to be the length of the home run. And somebody on blue ski said that it was measured within one tenth of a foot.
- [124:57]
A
That's how 470 came out. 470ft. 470. 61ft. So that'd be 470ft and 61 inch. Wait, 61 inches is. I don't know what 61 means. But then 4. 7 0.53. So, okay, so whatever 61 is versus 53 after the 470ft. And by the way, no offense, but that is a. All of that. Like, those, like, distance things are very squishy numbers.
- [125:26]
B
Exactly. Because you have fan, by the way, Genevieve's brother briefly on the broadcast because he. No way. He lives in Atlanta. And he was telling. He was sending us kind of photos. He was excited to be there.
- [125:36]
A
He was at the game, and he.
- [125:37]
B
Was at the game. And he.
- [125:39]
A
BTL donor Zach, he told us where he was.
- [125:43]
B
He was at a place called the Chop House, which has an unfortunate name, if you know why it's called the Chop House. But he told us he was there. And then I can't remember who hit the ball right there. But Genevieve's like, wait, that's the Chop. And then she's like, that's him. That's Him. That's him. And I don't think that I can say for sure that I had eyes on him. But Genevieve is exactly where he said he was going to be standing. But my point is, everybody's scrambling for these balls. Like, it's chaos out there. How are you measuring that? Within a tenth of a foot.
- [126:11]
A
It does feel, though, like. And this is where, where the thing about sports is, anytime something happens that's questionable that benefits my team, I'm fine with it, versus when it benefits the other team. I'm absolutely just. I'm. I'm at loose ends. Like, every time a Mariner pitcher gets a. Gets a pitch called a strike, that's not in the strike zone, I'm just like, yeah, well, it's evening out. And every time a Mariner batter, a strike is called on them, that's not a strike. I'm like robot umps now. Robot umps for. So, like, this feels like the kind of thing that. And because I do this insanity, which is like, I see the Yankees coming back from five nothing and destroying Brian, who's no hitter, as somehow spiritually connected to Donald Trump deporting people without due process. It feels like it's connected in that the bad people are winning. The bad people just keep getting W's. It's just that it's, it's. It's just, it's. And then you just keep thinking it has to. You know, we flip the coin a thousand times. It just keeps landing on their on heads. It's got to regress to the mean. We, the good people of the world, have to get some W's now and then. It just feels like it never. So I would have absolutely believed that this could have been inverted where they, for some reason give Brent Rooker this totally arbitrary. Let's be honest, this is a completely arbitrary decision about who hit the furthest home run. If the both home runs were, let's just say, 470.70ish feet. So the idea that it went for us, though, is just like, oh, thank goodness we finally got one, Andrew. We finally got one.
- [127:38]
B
I was really hoping, though, because I wanted to destroy your analogy if, if Cal had beaten out like a Latin player with that, because that would have been like, wait, no, you would have wanted one of the Latin contestants.
- [127:51]
A
Right, exactly. Like if you beat out a Venezuelan player.
- [127:54]
B
Right, exactly.
- [127:55]
A
Whole sort of layer to the whole thing.
- [127:58]
B
Right, but. But I think Rally and Rooker are both like white guys from the States, right?
- [128:01]
A
I believe so. I believe so. Rooker was an A For is he still an A? He was an A for a long time.
- [128:06]
B
I only, I don't know if I don't think I knew who he was or remembered who he was until last night.
- [128:10]
A
When the A, the A's would have these teams that would be batting like 40, like point zero 40. And then somehow it'd be like Brent Rooker would just be going hog wild on us. He'd be giving us, he'd be giving us the Altuve treatment. So I, you know, it couldn't happen to a nicer guy. I'm looking at this. They basically the, the number. This is what the thing I saw on TikTok too. It's like they have the home run. The, the length of the home run is broken down this way. 4, 7, 0. That's the feet dot. This is Brent Rooker. 4 7, 0.5, 351-740-593. Here is Cal Raleigh, 470.6, 171452, 1, 4, 1. I guess the only part that matters is the first two numbers after the decimal. So that's where we get that 61 versus 50.
- [129:01]
B
Sure.
- [129:02]
A
Yeah, but I mean it's like give me a bark, you know.
- [129:05]
B
I know.
- [129:05]
A
I mean you could figure this out to that, to that degree of specificity.
- [129:08]
B
I was actually just hoping that they would let that like, you know, create a tie breaking because then their dad's fight.
- [129:16]
A
Give each dad a fungo back that and see who survives.
- [129:20]
B
Genevieve voices Break a cue stick in half and hand one to each of them. Yeah, no, I, I, you know, that'd be more baseball, right? Even they even turned to each other and said, oh, we could get more baseball out of this or more home run derby. But I guess, you know, they're on a, they're on a schedule or whatever, so they couldn't do that. But it would have been fun for everybody if they could have had a one on one tiebreaker to move on to the next. Oh, and you know what I didn't like? Boy, I had the sound down and I couldn't stand Pat McAfee screaming. Oh my God. At the very beginning. You probably wouldn't have seen.
- [129:49]
A
I missed that.
- [129:50]
B
Oh, it was him just like all muscled out like, and he was all red faced and like they're too close up. And he was like the, I don't know, master of ceremonies or something at the beginning. And somebody blue skied like, why is Pat McAfee screaming at me? And I was like, dude, the sound is down and he's Screaming at me like, it was so bad.
- [130:06]
A
He's now, like, the face of espn, basically. He and Stephen A. Smith, I guess. Right. Because it's like they're the two biggest contracts there. The other thing that happened at the very end, that did make it into my YouTube version, of which I don't even know what was happening, but it just made me. It snapped me back into feeling like the world is a worse place again, which was Cal's there with his family, and it's super cute. He's there with his dad and his brother and being interviewed by the childlike wonder that is Jeff Passon. And then there's just a guy who I have to assume is a pro wrestler, has got this pro wrestling belt, but it's the Home Run Derby belt.
- [130:42]
B
Yeah. I did not want.
- [130:43]
A
And he's got this jet blonde hair and these neck tattoos, and he's wearing a suit. I don't know anything about this guy, but I'm guessing he's a WWE wrestler. He just looked, and he's wearing. He's got a wrestling belt. And I will give the. I will give this guy credit on this level. He was trying to wait for the right moment. Somebody said, you got to go give Cal the champion belt. He was trying to not interrupt the moment, which I give him credit for. Like, he didn't just, like, barge in there and, like, start yelling and doing kayfabe or something.
- [131:10]
B
Yes.
- [131:10]
A
He was kind of trying to be respectful, but he also was under direct orders to at some point get this stupid fucking belt. I can say that because we're after two hours. After two hours, we can do whatever we.
- [131:20]
B
That's right.
- [131:21]
A
Like, he was trying. He was under orders to give this dub, like, the WWE ified Home Run Derby belt.
- [131:28]
B
Yeah.
- [131:28]
A
To Cal Raleigh. And my theory is it's because ESPN or Disney or somebody has some kind of pro wrestling thing going on. And this is related to that. In other words, this is vertical integration of their content where there's somebody thought, okay, we want to get people watching Smash dude down. And. And so what we're gonna do is the winner of the Home Run Derby, they're gonna get. They're gonna get a belt. Like, and then we're gonna have ugly.
- [131:55]
B
And so stupid and so not baseball.
- [131:57]
A
And we're gonna have, you know, Lex. We're gonna have Lex Lightning give the belt out. The current wwe whatever. You know what I mean? Just, like, it made me so annoyed because I was, like, just out of here with that. I'm trying to enjoy a Moment with Cal Raleigh and his dad. This is baseball. Don't like try to vertically integrate your wrestling here, please.
- [132:16]
B
I couldn't agree more. But I also. You're going to love this. And what a way to go out. Let me tell you all the ways you were right. Well, you weren't right about. I liked your wrestler name better. What did you just call him?
- [132:25]
A
I think I named him Lex Lightning.
- [132:27]
B
I like Lex Lightning. His name is actually Cody Rhodes. He is with the.
- [132:32]
A
Probably has good politics.
- [132:33]
B
Cody Rhodes. So you didn't get that. But wwe. Absolutely. Where he performs on the Smackdown. I don't even know what that means. You called it the smackdown.
- [132:43]
A
I think I called it the smackdown. That's okay.
- [132:45]
B
But you.
- [132:45]
A
But I actually knew it was Smackdown. I don't know why. I don't. I knew it was Smackdown. Yet some. For some reason I chose to say the wrong.
- [132:51]
B
It's funnier. And he is the incumbent king of the ring, which we all know.
- [132:55]
A
He's the king of the ring with. With great power comes great responsibility. Cody Rhodes. Heavy ways of the crown.
- [133:04]
B
Okay, let me ask you one last question. But I'm gonna get the music going. So is. Is this the first Home Run Derby won by a mariner since junior back in the 80s or in the 90s, rather. Sorry.
- [133:15]
A
I think so. I was surprised to hear you say that. Julio even had a record for maybe most within, you know, a session or something. Like within a round. It's been a long on that.
- [133:25]
B
But I. For some reason I feel like that was. It's so embarrassing how little I remember about the Home Run Derby I was actually at. But I feel like Julio just crushed the first round and then was immediately eliminated.
- [133:38]
A
Which is ironic because it's the exact opposite of how seasons go.
- [133:41]
B
Absolutely right. Absolutely right.
- [133:44]
A
But it's always fun to get the W. I'm excited to watch tonight too. It was also so cute to see Brian Wu and a Rosaria. So Rosa Raina took Julio's spot. I guess. Is that how that works?
- [133:55]
B
A Rosa Reina.
- [133:56]
A
I know. Sorry.
- [133:57]
B
Julio. Basically.
- [133:58]
A
Vw. I'm just gonna call him.
- [133:59]
B
I was gonna say that Julio was. Yeah, he was just chosen. A lot of people thought he shouldn't have been including Mariners fans, which is kind of weird.
- [134:07]
A
But does he get to give his spot to a Rosa Ra.
- [134:10]
B
So. So he said no. I'm just going to concentrate.
- [134:12]
A
Could have given it to me if you wanted to.
- [134:13]
B
I don't know how, but it's pretty sweet. Actually. I'm excited. I don't think I'm gonna be able to see the game tonight, unfortunately. But I. I'm actually really glad I. I've actually. I'm glad I have that Arose arena is in there instead of Julio, to be honest with you.
- [134:27]
A
Well, he's been playing really well lately. To see Brian Wu and Arose arena and Cal all there just kind of like being teammates for each other. And how stoked Brian Wu was for Cal Raleigh, like, it really made me really, really excited.
- [134:40]
B
So those are. Those are three very likable players, I think.
- [134:43]
A
Absolutely. All right. Well, Andrew, I think we've done it again. I think we've managed to whittle this thing down to just two listeners, you and I. And let's be honest, we're only half listening, so it's one listener between the two of us.
- [134:56]
B
You ready to record now? Okay. Was this the sound check? We good now?
- [135:00]
A
Well, if anybody is still hearing this, we come to you from planet Earth. We are a peaceful people. The. The Earth has become very hot, and it's unlivable. So please come save us. No. If you're still listening, thank you for listening. We will see you tomorrow. In the meantime, have a great Tuesday. Take care of yourselves, and please remember, no mountain too tall.
- [135:19]
B
And good luck to all. Power out.