#4555 Private Parking Problems

Summary

TBTL #4555 "Private Parking Problems" (Sept 16, 2025)
Hosted by Luke Burbank with guest Broadcast Barry

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Luke Burbank hosts TBTL solo in Andrew Walsh’s absence, accompanied by recurring guest and TBTL friend "Broadcast Barry," who joins from Hawaii. The show blends the everyday humor and low-stakes drama TBTL is known for—delving into private parking battles, small business trials, garbage can anxiety, and the passing of Robert Redford. The episode also features listener shoutouts, travel tales, and a peek into business-owner life.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

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1. The Small Business and Private Parking Saga

(19:32–42:17)

• The Box Truck Incident:
  Barry recounts a conflict resulting from temporarily parking a rented box truck in a designated loading zone outside her business in Seattle. Despite having originally petitioned for and secured this particular loading zone for her business, someone (strongly believed to be the local garbage collectors) left a huge, hand-written note on a discarded sign, accusing her of treating it as a "private parking spot," threatening towing, and calling her a "dumbass".

  • "This isn't your private parking spot, jerk. You truck has been reported and will be towed!! This is a commercial load zone, dumbass!!" – Barry reading the note (30:27)

• Seattle Parking Bureaucracy:
  Barry explains the process for businesses to petition the city for load zone designation and how she also secured a special permit for truck parking in the aftermath—including how accessible these systems are for other businesses or even individuals (34:55).

• Garbage Worker Note Analysis:
  Luke and Barry joke about the “garbage collector font”—the aggressive, all-caps scolding inscriptions found on dumpsters and compost bins.

  • "They have a font...It has to seem very angry." – Luke (28:25)
  • "Every time I roll out my bins, I feel the aggression. That's generational trauma." – Barry (29:23)

• Resolution—and The Value of Kindness:
  Barry reflects on using “honey not vinegar” in business relationships and considers giving the garbage crew a Jersey Mike’s gift card to smooth things over, despite the insult.

  • "If you fight things and go at it from not a place of peace, it just makes your job that much harder. … If I can make their job easier by giving them a gift card, I will do that." – Barry (39:44)

• The Fate of the Note:
  Plans to frame and display the comically-insulting note as a badge of honor and reminder at the roastery.

  • "We have a lot of wall space where we roast; that might be fun just to hang it up." – Barry (41:33)

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2. TBTL Running Themes: Garbage Anxiety & Early Mornings

(4:08–19:22)

• Andrew Walsh’s Garbage Bin Tendencies:
  With Andrew away, the hosts reflect on how his well-known “garbage anxiety” has spread contagiously to others on the show (“social contagion”—19:32). Barry now finds herself fussing over neighbors’ bins to the point she’ll push their trash down so they won’t be fined.

• Morning Routines and Productivity:
  Barry, notable for her multiple businesses (Broadcast Coffee, Black Moon Pizza, Sacro Bosco, Tempo Pastries), credits waking up early (often at 5 a.m.) for her productivity (“I just don’t know how to say no to things...That’s what I do.” – Barry, 06:28). Luke jokes this is the “secret to [her] success.”

  • "Is this why you're one of Seattle's most successful business people ... because you're slaying all day?" – Luke (06:01)

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3. Pizza Shop Science and Cooking Tips

(06:45–09:40)

• The duo discuss the differences between their approaches to pizza dough and baking, with Barry sharing that her shops use different techniques (par-baking at Sacro Bosco for Roman-style pizza, not at Black Moon). Luke's strategy: par-bake dough at home to avoid burning the cheese—validated by Barry.

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4. AI and the Downward Spiral of Convenience

(10:47–12:02)

• AI Summarizing TikToks:
  Luke laments accidentally triggering AI to summarize a TikTok—finding it “depressing” that even the shortest, dumbest videos now get reduced further.

  • "A world in which you can't even watch ... a guy stepping on a rake and it thwacking him in the junk. ... I need an AI summary?" – Luke (11:01)

• Both express concern about defaulting to passive scrolling and tech-enabled shortcuts. “Brain rot territory.” (11:48)

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5. Travel Stories: Identification and Airport Escapades

(43:52–53:34)

• Flying Without ID:
  Barry’s successfully made domestic flights twice without any ID. TSA did thorough searches but didn’t scold.

  • "They have protocol ... If you have a protocol, then you kind of just know what to follow." – Barry (44:48)

• Missed Flights Due to Drinking:
  Both have missed flights after overindulging at airport bars—Luke in Milwaukee and Las Vegas; Barry at “Club Lime” in San Francisco.

• Airport Labyrinths:
  They swap horror stories about massive airport layouts (Miami, Houston’s IAH), construction, and running Home Alone-style to gates, drenched in sweat.

  • "Airports are huge. ... The Miami airport ... from the lounge to the gate ... was a mile." – Barry (49:00)

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6. Top Story: Remembering Robert Redford

(60:21–66:37)

• Robert Redford’s Legacy:
  Luke and Barry discuss the passing of Redford at 89, marveling at his body of work, his environmentalism, pivotal role in making Sundance a defining force in film, and his efforts to use privilege positively.

  • "As far as somebody who was kind of born on third base...didn't seem he thought he hit a triple." – Luke (62:51)

• Movie Recommendations:
  “All Is Lost,” a nearly wordless tour de force by Redford as a solo yachtsman, is highly recommended; compared to “Castaway” but with less commercial compromise.

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7. Listener Donor Segment

(53:34–60:21)

• Luke awkwardly spins up “janky” donor music due to technical issues, but with plenty of warmth as he and Barry shout out supporters from Wisconsin, San Francisco, Colorado, Singapore, Oregon.
• More tales: missed flights, favorite/worst airports, and how flying habits have changed with frequent travel.

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8. Humor & Running Gags

• Pretentious self-confidence:
  Luke retells a classic “wrong but confident” moment atop Koko Head hike, dragging Becca to the wrong sunrise view (17:00-18:00).
• Garbage Trauma as Legacy:
  The “generational trauma” of inheriting a garbage bin pre-inscribed by angry collectors (29:23).
• Business tips via kindness:
  Both hosts agree that keeping peace with service providers (even insult-hurling ones) is key to survival in small business.

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9. Miscellaneous Fun

• Podcast/audio tech jokes:
  Luke repeatedly mocks his technical skill deficits (47:00, 71:02).
• Livewire plugs & celebrity gossip:
  Hints and hopes that Jeff Hiller (recent Emmy winner) will actually show up for his scheduled Livewire spot (69:15–70:27).

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Notable Quotes

• "This is a commercial load zone, dumbass!!" – Angry garbage note read by Barry (30:43)
• "Every time I roll out my bins, I feel the aggression. That's generational trauma." – Barry (29:23)
• "If you fight things and go at it from not a place of peace, it just makes your job that much harder. … If I can make their job easier by giving them a gift card, I will do that." – Barry (39:44)
• "Who even does that? … That could be a time when I'm not looking at TikTok. That would be okay." – Luke on AI summarizing TikToks (11:00)
• "As far as somebody who was kind of born on third base...didn't think, it didn't seem like he thought he hit a triple.” – Luke on Robert Redford (62:51)

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Memorable Moments & Timestamps

• 06:28 – Barry discusses her inability to “say no” and talks about her jam-packed days as a multi-business owner.
• 19:37 – The “contagion” of Andrew’s garbage anxiety leads Barry to intervene with neighbors’ bins.
• 30:27 – Reading the angry garbage collector note aloud.
• 41:33 – Decision to mount “dumbass” sign as business art.
• 44:52 – Barry describes successfully flying without ID.
• 49:00 – Barry’s “mile-long” dash through Miami airport.
• 60:21 – Reflecting on Robert Redford’s life and legacy.
• 66:47 – “Oregon to Hawaii by Boat” TikTok adventurer and following journeys online.

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Tone & Style

Upbeat, self-effacing, meandering, and highly conversational, with ample digressions, in-jokes, and mutual ribbing. The vibe is that of two old friends (plus occasional absent co-host Andrew) swapping stories and personal foibles in the shadow of bigger world anxieties.

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For Listeners Who Haven't Tuned In

This episode delivers quintessential TBTL: relatable minor crises, laughs about garbage, warmth toward listeners, and observational humor—all with a thoughtful undercurrent about kindness and managing everyday frustrations (whether from garbage collectors, airport labyrinths, or tech overreach).

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If you want to hear:

• The real drama of Seattle small business parking
• How TBTL hosts survive travel mishaps
• A warm, quirky tribute to Robert Redford
• Or just a reminder that sometimes the best response to being called a "dumbass" is to buy someone a sandwich...

This episode delivers.

Transcript

[Sir Ian McKellen]

How do I act so well? What I do is I pretend to be the person I'm portraying in the film or play. Yeah, you're confused. No, perfectly simple case in point. Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson, comes from New Zealand, says to me, sir Ian, I want you to be Gandalf the wizard. And I say to him, you are aware that I am not really a wizard? And he said, yes, I am aware of that. What I want you to do is to use your acting skills to portray the wizard for the duration of the film. So I said, okay. And then I said to myself, mmm, how would I do that? And this is what I did. I imagined what it would be like to be a wizard, and then I pretended and acted in that way on the day. Yeah. And how did I know what to say? The words were written down for me in a script. How did I know where to stand? People told me. You see?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Sir Ian McKellen]

So now you would be pretending to be John in this play. And how would you know what to say? Well, the words would be in the script.

[Barry]

Yeah.

[Sir Ian McKellen]

And you would learn the words. You would not have the script on the night. And that goes for everybody. There will be no scripts on the night. You learn the words.

[Barry]

Yeah.

[Sir Ian McKellen]

No, I speak them as if you were saying them for the first time. I didn't think we would have the.

[Barry]

The script.

[Luke Burbank]

No.

[Sir Ian McKellen]

But you won't. No. Because if you did have the script, it would break the illusion, and the whole thing is illusion. Do you see? You are not really John.

[Barry]

No.

[Luke Burbank]

I know.

[Sir Ian McKellen]

You are pretending, and that is acting.

[Luke Burbank]

TBTM In 1971, Bill Graetz invented Michael Soft. Wouldn't it be cool if I could remember my dingus password for my email?

[Barry]

We are super fun here, and I promise I won't stop until this little guy's leaping and laughing like the other kids.

[Luke Burbank]

Wow, that was very hard to hear. So many negative words.

[Barry]

And my grandpa likes to say, hot diggity dog. As I like to say, hot damn.

[Luke Burbank]

Have a good show, dummies. What you do is so important. Well, all right. Hello, good morning, and welcome, everyone, to a Tuesday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live. I need you to understand something so good. Check it out. My name is Luke Burbank. I am your host.

[Barry]

I'm sorry, I'm tan. I like to be tan. It just feels good.

[Luke Burbank]

Coming to you from the Madrona Hill studio, perched high above the mighty Columbia, where we are looking at an absolutely gorgeous Tuesday. Oh, Ma Pa. It's just beautiful. I'M trying to treasure these last sunny days in September because honestly, I am getting a little bit excited about fall, about cozy season. I bought a scarf when I was in England that I'm. It was, it was on clearance at the Tate Modern gift shop. It's just a blue scarf. You would never know that it's from a modern art museum, but I'm really excited to wear it. And so in a way, I'm ready for the temperature to drop a bit. But I also know that I will be absolutely devastated once we get into the bad weather time. So I'm going to embrace today and, and really lean into episode 4556 in a collector series, Let the Fun begin, which is where we have ARR arrived here on this Tuesday. Sad news. Robert Redford has passed away at the age of 89.

[Barry]

You are handsome.

[Luke Burbank]

Don't worry. It is quite remarkable, the life that Robert Redford lived. I thought I knew about it. And then I did some reading today and turns out it was even more amazing than I thought it was. We'll talk about that. Also, we have a story today of garbage anxiety. Right.

[Barry]

From my point of view, it's a beautiful story.

[Luke Burbank]

I love your story, but it's not from Andrew Walsh, who normally brings us our garbage anxiety stories because Andrew is, in fact, still out today dealing with some family stuff. As I said yesterday, he is all right. Genevieve is all right, but he's got some stuff going on. But that means we are going to get to spend some time with one of my very favorite people. And honestly. And an architect of TBTL who helped us launch the the Beautiful Business Boys and sent me this coffee that I am drinking right now as we are recording this episode. This song goes out to all the.

[Barry]

Coffee lovers of the world.

[Luke Burbank]

It's our friend Broadcast Barry, the coolest person I've ever met. Barry, welcome to the program.

[Barry]

Hey, thanks for having me. Glad to be here.

[Luke Burbank]

You are in Hawaii right now, right? What is, what it's, is it crazy early there?

[Barry]

It's just after seven here, so. Yeah, it's not bad. I'm trying to stay on Seattle time, so.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay. Because you were, I have to feel like you were flexing a little bit when we were texting last night because I said to you, you know, could you jump on the show because I want to find out about your garbage anxiety and a few other things. And you said, sure. And then you mentioned you hadn't brought your audio kit with you. I was like, where are you? You said, Hawaii. I realized, oh, you're like hours earlier than I am here, perched high above the mighty Columbia. And I said, do you want to try to do this on a different day when we can kind of time shift for you? And you said, dude, I'm up at like 5 every day.

[Barry]

How long have you been. Yeah, how long have you been doing that in Seattle? I wake up about 5:30 every day. So I'd like to have like a good like, hour and a half to be awake before I start my day. I, you know, I like you. I like to jog in the morning, so I go out for a little jog after that. Hour and a half. Like, I need just a time to wake up. And so, yeah, like a long time.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, is this the secret to your success? Is this why you're one of Seattle's most successful business people and Hawaii's most successful and Boise's most successful business people? Because you're slaying all day? By the way, I'm holding a coffee mug that I think we thought about making merch at one time. It says, I think this is something either Andrew or I said, I slay 4:48 of the day, but it's site specific. Yeah, you're slaying about 100 of the day. Is this because you're just up before everybody else?

[Barry]

I just. I just don't know how to say no to things. Yeah. The opportunity comes and I'm just like, I better take it. I better do it. Let's do it. And then. Yeah, I don't know. I just. That's what I do.

[Luke Burbank]

There's only so many hours in the day. And if I remember right.

[Barry]

That's right.

[Luke Burbank]

This is just some of the projects that I know that you do. You do broadcast coffee, of course. You have Black Moon Pizza in Boise Pizza Shop. You still have the bakery.

[Barry]

Yep. So Black Moon is a bakery by day and pizza at night.

[Luke Burbank]

But then do you have the. Do you have the bakery in Seattle still too, or is that.

[Barry]

I have Tempo Pastries in Seattle.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay. And what else? What am I forgetting?

[Barry]

I have Sacro Bosco, which is a pizza shop in Seattle. It's actually inside Temple.

[Luke Burbank]

Do you ever cook any of the pizza? And can you give me some advice on pizza crust? I made a bunch of pizza over the weekend, and it's certainly passable. Like, I made it here on my little uni pizza oven. But what I can't seem to figure out is how real pizza places get the crust crispy without burning the cheese. Because that's the issue is that the cheese is melting so quickly Because I have. The oven is. It's like 500 something degrees. Like how hot are your pizza ovens? Just as a start.

[Barry]

They are 525 degrees.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay. So that's the ideal temperature for our pizzas.

[Barry]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay.

[Barry]

Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, you just hire people who know how to do it.

[Luke Burbank]

Now, this is the secret of your success. The reason you're up at five every day is because you're scanning betterhelp dot. Wait, that's the therapy one. Maybe you're doing that too. I don't know.

[Barry]

I'm doing that too.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, but you're scanning like indeed.com to find talented professionals to come out and run these operations that, that you're in charge of. Right. Is that a secret?

[Barry]

It's a lot. Yeah. Yeah. You just hire really good people who know how to do stuff. And then I just trust them with it.

[Luke Burbank]

But I mean, at some point you must have had a conversation about the pizza crust at one of your pizza shops and what makes it. I mean, do you ever like go look over their shoulder as they're like, so they make the dough, they put all the toppings on. They do not par bake the dough. Right. Because what I've been doing, the only way I've been getting these pizzas even passable is I make the dough. It's just kind of my hack. This is kind of my cheat. And then I go out and I cook it in the pizza oven for just about a minute or two so that it gets a little bit cooked so that it's already part of the way there. So when I put it on the cheese and the sauce and everything and put it in, the crust is slightly ahead of the cheese in the cooking process.

[Barry]

So at Black Moon, we don't par bake.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay.

[Barry]

And then.

[Luke Burbank]

Because that's for amateur.

[Barry]

No, because Sacro Bosco does par bake.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, okay. So I'm not crazy.

[Barry]

Yeah, we do Sacro does Roman style pizza. So we, we actually par bake with the sauce on it. And then.

[Luke Burbank]

I didn't even know that was an option.

[Barry]

Yeah, and then, and then. Yeah, but you know, it's all about. It's all about like mixing the dough, hydration, the flour that you use. It's. It's a science. It's really a science.

[Luke Burbank]

And you don't really understand that science. You just have people that work for you that understand the science.

[Barry]

I don't understand any of it at all.

[Luke Burbank]

You know what I've been learning this Week. There's a science to the audio engineering of tbtl, and I don't know it either. I doubt you got to the very end of yesterday's show, but I was just playing random drops too low. Power out. You could barely hear it. And I just said, I'm leaving it in. That's just the end of the show. Yesterday is me in the clear, telling John, I'm leaving it in. That's the level of technical, the technical proficiency that I bring to the show. I had a moment of, you know, there's just so much in the world right now that is pretty depressing and scary and feels like just not the world, maybe that I'm used to. And then there are these other, just these little moments that aren't important per se, but they just feel like they're part of that whole, I don't know, our sort of downward spiral as a, as a species. I was, I mean, first of all, I was looking at TikTok this morning while I was making coffee. Who even does that? Like, is it okay that I'm just making some. By the way, thank you for the coffee, Barry. I'm just making some broadcast coffee in my home kitchen. That could be a time when I'm not looking at TikTok. That would be okay. But no, I had TikTok going, but, but because I was doing the coffee, I, I, I hit some button on the screen that I didn't even know was a button, and AI started trying to summarize the TikTok for me.

[Barry]

Oh, wow.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, like a world in which you can't even watch. You don't even have time to watch a TikTok. You need the AI summary.

[Barry]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Of the, of, of, you know, a guy stepping on a rake and it thwacking him in the junk. Like, I can't.

[Barry]

Is that when you're watching?

[Luke Burbank]

No, I was trying to pick an example of something that particularly was not in need of summarizing. But like, I mean, it wasn't a, it wasn't a lot better than that. It was whatever the endless scroll was bringing for me next. But the idea that they're, that they think. And maybe there are people that are utilizing this that are thinking, you know, who has 40 seconds to look at this TikTok post? I need an AI summary of what is in the TikTok post. Somehow that just felt, even by my standards, to just be a depressing development this morning.

[Barry]

Yeah, I mean, I don't know why we go into this brain rot territory, but yeah, I was kind of doing the same thing this morning. I was just like, scrolling, like, I don't have TikTok, but I have, like Instagram. I was just scrolling some things. I'm like, why am I doing this? Like, there's better things that I could.

[Luke Burbank]

Be doing, but running one of my 45 businesses. What do you listen to on your runs? You're a big runner and I'm curious. I probably TBTL to some degree, right?

[Barry]

Yeah, always tbt. Also, TBT is like, I try not to listen to it unless I'm out for a run. It's like my quote treat, like, nice. Like I listen to when I. When I'm out for my run. So usually it's that. Yeah, I mean, always that.

[Luke Burbank]

Do you ever get in? So you're not a music person at all?

[Barry]

Not really. Unless I'm like, really wanting to run fast, then I will. I need something other than TBTL to pump me up.

[Luke Burbank]

I have. You know, I go in these cycles with my jogs of what I'm listening to. I've been on a real, like, basically since the election. Since the run up to the election. I got into like a hardcore, like, Pod Save America, Ezra Klein, why is this happening? You know, New York Times Daily kind of habit where I was using the running time to also fill my brain with information about the election. Because I thought if I understood it deeply enough, I could somehow control it and make the outcome that I want to have happened, happen. And since then, I'm still. I've still been kind of stuck in this. Listening to mostly spoken word while running. And then every once in a while, I'll just be in a weird mood and I'll just put on like, you know, an album that just is kind of, you know, upbeat and propulsive, like by like the band Generationals or something, or maybe MF Doom. And I'll be running and I'll think, God, this is so much better than being depressed right now. Like, why am I listening to Pod Save America? Why am I listening to Ezra Client on this jog? I could just be feeling happy and have the music moving me along, like, what's going on with this?

[Barry]

But yeah, it's just like, you know, running brings you up kind of like this. Like, you know, sometimes you get that runner's high people talk about or makes you feel good, but then you're like, offsetting it with all this depressing things coming into your ears and, yeah, don't do that.

[Luke Burbank]

I need to rethink that. That's why we got to keep TBTL Upbeat just for you while you're out there rounding Diamond Head. Is that where you. Where do you run out there in Honolulu?

[Barry]

So, yeah, like yesterday I ran around Diamond Head, and then there's like, if you go out a little further, there's like the Kahala neighborhood, and it's like, got some beautiful homes.

[Luke Burbank]

I interviewed a guy up there years ago named Ray Emery. I've told the story a million times, but he was this. I just remember that, that. That street, Kahalo. Is that by Punchbowl?

[Barry]

Punchbowl's the other way. But Kahala is like, toward. If you. Because I think that when you and Becca were here, like one of your last days, you guys did Coco Head. Yeah, it's kind of. It's. It's on the way to Coco Head, but it's just right by the mall. But yeah, it's not. It's not too far from like, Diamond Head.

[Luke Burbank]

This guy, Ray Emery was. He survived Pearl harbor and he had made it his mission to try to identify because there were so many folks that died during the Pearl harbor attack who were not identified because they weren't wearing their dog tags, because we weren't technically at war. And if you're not at war, at least the rules back then were you were not required to be wearing your dog tags at all times. So that added to the confusion. And he was able to do this extremely tedious process of cross referencing, like, dental records, where somebody's remains might have been located in the particular ship at the bottom of the harbor, etc. And he worked on this for years and years and years and years. And I think he had identified like two people. Like, it was like, it took him like five to 10 years for like one person. Because also it was very hard to get the military to release all of the whatever. But he. But he was just very determined to do it. And anyway, that's what. When I think of that Kohalo Street. But then when I think about Koko Head, which, if folks don't know, is this set of. Was it a funicular at some point? What are those stairs?

[Barry]

I think it was rails. Yeah, it was rails to cart up, like supplies to the top. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

But now it's just these. It's like, I mean, it's a lot of steps and I'm a, you know, I'm a relatively fit person. I'm not as fit as you or Becca, but I. I tend to think I can do, like, I can do a normal person walking project in the morning. That would Be kind of considered doable for the sort of average person. I was so close to giving up on that thing because it is so many steps and they are spread out because they're like kind of. If I remember right, I don't know if they're actually railroad ties, but they kind of seem like it. And we were trying to get up there in time for the sunrise. And if you want to know. If you want to know why it's so fun dating me and also just being in my life, it's because I never let how wrong I am stop, how confident I am in what I'm saying. So we get to the top of Coco Head, and you've been up there. It's like there's kind of, you know, it's like this kind of rocky kind of crest of the thing. And like, everyone is sitting on one side of it to watch the sunrise. And I'm like, I don't know what these fools are thinking. The sun obviously rises over on this other side. So Becca just like. Because she's a sweetheart, she's just like. Doesn't feel like arguing with me. She's like, okay. So we go to the side of the rock that I'm convinced is where the sun is rising, despite the fact that there's 30 people on the other side of the rock. And of course, that's the other side where they all are like. I'm like. And then I'm like, weird sunrise, Hawaii does. I don't know why this is supposed to be happening at whatever time. So many factors were indicating that I was on the wrong. If I would have just literally got out the compass on my phone and realized that the sun rises in the east, I kept getting information. I kept getting data that was indicating I was wrong about this, and I kept dismissing it for one reason or another. We almost missed the sunrise because I was so committed to sitting on the wrong side of the Cocoa Head rock.

[Barry]

Yeah, I mean, that scans.

[Luke Burbank]

Hey, listen, you're the one who helped us make this a business. This is on you to some degree.

[Barry]

I mean, we are cut from the same cloth. I mean, I kind of am that way as well.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, how does Sam, your husband, take this?

[Barry]

Oh, yeah, he's sweet.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, see, that's what happens. People like you, People like you and I end up with people like them who kind of are able to just like tolerate our. Whatever it is, personality traits, which is what we need.

[Barry]

Yeah, for sure.

[Luke Burbank]

So you sent Andrew and I this photo the other day that I keep thinking about of A handmade sign. It's handwritten, of course. You know, this is the podcast for garbage anxiety. Andrew, the usual, longest running cobra on the show, is always pretty concerned that there's gonna be an issue with them taking his garbage or someone throwing something in his pristine, empty garbage can or, you know, that he's getting fined because he's putting some. The irony about Andrew and the garbage anxiety is that nobody thinks about their garbage more than him, and no one ends up having more problems with their garbage than him. You would think that he would have, because he spends so much time thinking about it and is even posting on Blue sky every week when the garbage is out, that it would be a pretty. Be a frictionless process for him. And that doesn't seem to be the case. And yet this photo that you sent, it was above and beyond anything I've experienced or Andrew has experienced. Can you describe what this photo, what this sign is all about? What's going on with it?

[Barry]

Well, first of all, I wanted to say that because of Andrew, I now think of my trash a lot more than I should. And I think about other people's trash more than I should. Because, like, if I'm walking by my neighborhood and I see someone's trash bin is, like, overflowing, like, I'm like, oh, that lid is open a little too high. And I think they're gonna get fine. So I will try and push it down for them. I want to save them, like, 12.

[Luke Burbank]

What do they call that? Like, a social contagion when you have a bunch of, like, 11th graders who are all fainting or something?

[Barry]

This is Andrew.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. Great job. Nice work, Walsh.

[Barry]

So I didn't actually see the sign myself on the truck, but one of my employees sent it over to me. You know, so let's see here. We are using a. We're doing some work where we roast right now. So we are having to truck all of our unroasted coffee down to burien, roast it up on our friend's roaster, and then bring it back to where we're roast, where our. Our operation is now. So we have this. So in order to do that, we need a really big box truck. So we have rented a box truck, and we've been parking it in a load zone in front of where we roast. Are we doing okay?

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, yeah, yeah, I'm following. So your truck that you've rented that you're using temporarily because of this roastery thing is it's in a loading zone. Is this in front of your. Your facility?

[Barry]

Yes, it's right in front of where we roast. And the sign did say it's not my load zone, even though. I'll read the sign to you. But even though, like, I did have that load zone put in for that very reason. Like, we have UPS and FedEx and USPS come every day to pick up stuff. So I'm like, we need a load zone. So I did have that load zone.

[Luke Burbank]

You actually, like, you just can call the city or write the city and say, I have this business and we have a lot of traffic, and can you make this a load zone? And then they come out and they, like, put the sign up and paint it orange.

[Barry]

Yeah, yeah, they sure do.

[Luke Burbank]

I would feel. I would feel like drunk with power off of being able to control the parking situation in a city of Seattle.

[Barry]

That's amazing. So. And when I opened up my Roosevelt store, which I sold at the beginning of the year, all in front of that was no parking at all. Like, you couldn't park there ever. And then I petitioned the city to allow people to park there. And they sent out. You know, there's a whole process where they have to send somebody out and to see how many cars come through the intersection at any given time. And I don't know what happened. Like, it's been a really busy intersection for a very long time.

[Luke Burbank]

But one day, this is the same intersection where I think famously, this is when you got your real badass cred with Andrew. I think it might have been like, the first time you guys hung out or something, and you just fully illegally parked. I don't know if you were in the, like. If you just pulled into the, like, the turn lane or something. You did some kind of a parking move that scandalized Andrew. He can't even be on the show this week. It scandalized him so much sitting out to just consider. He brings it up. Related to you. Really to me, when you're not in the room, he'll be like, well, well, yeah. But I mean, the first time I hung out with Barry, he did illegally park.

[Barry]

Well, okay. So. So anyway, so I was. So they did. I'll get back to that. So they did send somebody out. And for whatever reason, the day that this person came out to, like, tick numbers of how many cars were passing through the intersection at this morning, traffic was unbelievably light, of course.

[Luke Burbank]

Of course.

[Barry]

Yeah. So they. So they removed it. They removed the restrictions saying you can park here anytime. And so I was able to get that approved.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, wait. So the traffic being light Was a good thing.

[Barry]

It was a good thing. They were like, oh, we don't want people to park here because we need both lanes.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, I get it. Oh, no. So that's good. I thought it was Murphy's Law. I thought it was one of those things where you needed it to. I thought you meant the customer traffic. You mean the road.

[Barry]

The road traffic was the road traffic. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay.

[Barry]

So. Yeah, so it was, it was so great. Like they, and they acted pretty fast. Like they removed the signs and then, and then so fast forward like a year, two years, three years later. Yeah. You guys were doing your road show. Your, your RV trip. That's right. RV trip.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay.

[Barry]

And I met, I had met Andrew because I was like giving you guys some, like a coffee maker and some coffee and some supplies that keep you fueled for your trip to Texas in the rv. And I pull up to my cafe and there's like absolutely no place to park. However, at the. There is a right hand turn that you can turn on from Roosevelt to 65th, but that's a really long churn lane. Like it is like four cars deep. And sometimes if all of the, all of the parking spots are taking on that curb, like I would park in the turn lane. But like at the very beginning of the turn lane, right.

[Luke Burbank]

There was still enough room for people who were getting in the turn to do that.

[Barry]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

But that's what Andrew observed.

[Barry]

That's what he saw. He saw that I was in that long turn lane and then just gives me grief to this day.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes, no. And again, behind your back too. In front of your back and behind your back.

[Barry]

Oh, always. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, so you've got this box truck and it's parked in a loading zone, which again, and not to jump ahead in the story, but one of the things written on this crazy sign is that it's not your loading zone. But the irony is it literally is.

[Barry]

I mean it literally is like I put it in because broadcast needed to use it, but like it is open to everybody. You know, it is a 30 minute load zone and it is enforceable 24 7. Like one of the things that I want is. I don't. I want it to be enforceable all day, every day.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, so your, your box truck is parked in this loading zone and this breaking the law in front of your bill because it's been parked there too long. So you.

[Barry]

Oh yeah, it's.

[Luke Burbank]

So this is. So that is true. It is now it has exceeded the amount of time it should be allowed to be There. Okay. And then one of your employees was this early in the morning that one of your employees saw this sign?

[Barry]

Yeah, I think he sent it to me at 6:14am okay.

[Luke Burbank]

And what does the. The sign is on the box truck, right? It's like a big. It's like a big piece of like, poster board or, you know what, foam core or something.

[Barry]

Well, the irony is, is that. So where we roast is connected to where Temple Pastries is and like Sacra Bosco is. And we had this temporary sign made for Sacrovasco. It's like this like 5, 4 foot by 5 foot logo that we hang up. So we had. We had thrown. So it's this. The logo's on the front, and then on the back of the sign is just this blank white space. So we had thrown that. That away the night before because you weren't.

[Luke Burbank]

You didn't need it anymore.

[Barry]

We didn't need it anymore. We had a new sign. But that is exactly what the trash person used to write this note on, is the sign that we had thrown away.

[Luke Burbank]

And I want to stress. It's a really big. When we say note, you think like somebody wrote something on a post. It. This is probably what, 3ft by 3ft or something?

[Barry]

Oh, yeah. I think it's like. Yeah, three or five feet. Yeah. I don't exactly know. It's huge. It's.

[Luke Burbank]

It's a really big piece of. Of like. Yeah. Signage here that they have written on. Do you want to read it?

[Barry]

Yeah. But also, like, I knew it was the post. I knew it was the trash people or the, the garbage collectors or whatever we're calling them these days because, you know, they like my. My home. Like they've written on my trash can out by 7am on my compost bin. So I have this specific font that they. They write in.

[Luke Burbank]

So do you think. Wait, now it. Do you mean that you think you've got the same crew of garbage collectors that are at your. Picking up your. Your personal. Your residential garbage and also your commercial garbage? Or you just mean garbage men in general have a font. I can't believe you. It's day one.

[Barry]

They went to the same garbage school.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes, Day one of garbage Academy is. And it has to seem very angry. Oh, yeah, it has to. It has to be like, you can see the fury again. I talk about this on the show all the time, but even my garbage can here, it's. It's just one time. I guess it was too close to my neighbor so that the guy couldn't grab it. With the big pinchers. And he wrote 3ft and then arrows. And it's like. That's not an inherently aggressive thing, but it radiates aggression. Every time I look at it, there's something. Same thing that happened when I used to live in Bellingham, and they wrote something on there. It's never understated. It's always coming from a place of heavy duty judgment.

[Barry]

Yeah. And my place where my compost bin says out by 7:00am like, that was on the bins when I moved into the house. So, like. So I inherited that. And every time I rolled out my bins, I. I felt. I felt the aggression.

[Luke Burbank]

That's generational trauma.

[Barry]

It really is. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, so. So what did they write on this thing?

[Barry]

Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, yeah. So just to clarify.

[Barry]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

You know, this is the garbage guys. Because a. You think this is just garbage guy font. And also, they would have had to. They would be the only people that would have access to this sign you'd thrown out because it was in an area that is, like, locked in some way that they have a key to. To get, I'm guessing a dumpster or something of yours. So this could not have just been a random private citizen who grabbed this. We're narrowing it down to the people that pick up the trash.

[Barry]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Like, the trash area where we have it is. It is fully enclosed. You need a combination to get in. So you. Yeah. This. You would have to have access to this space in order to gain possession of the sign.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay. So they have used. You're. You're. So this. Somebody who has the key code has now gotten. It's probably the garbage collectors have gotten this sign, and they have written what on it?

[Barry]

Okay. They wrote, this isn't your private parking spot, jerk. You. You truck has been reported and will be towed. Exclamation mark. Two exclamation marks.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes.

[Barry]

This is a commercial load zone, dumbass.

[Luke Burbank]

Now, that's a. Two exclamation points after dumbass.

[Barry]

Dumbass.

[Luke Burbank]

That's where I think that this goes from being merely rude to, I don't know, possibly a criminal matter, because is it allowable for people that work for the city to call their customers dumbasses? Now, I have gotten a dumbass note on my car many years ago when I lived in Port Townsend. I had, I guess, parked in a way. That bug, bug bugged somebody. And they had. They were trying to call me a dumbass, but they had misspelled it and called me a dumbass, which I also think is very funny that this it seems that dumbass is the preferred insult from a certain person to levy against someone who's parked incorrectly. But, like, I find this whole thing. I mean, this isn't your private parking space jerk or parking spot jerk. That right there. Just the use of jerk that's on the line for me, coming from a. A public employee. But maybe you could just say, well, yes, you're a customer, or, you know, whoever's working for you. Yes, you guys are customers, but this behavior was jerkish. This box truck is blocking their access. So that is. That's jerk like behavior. I will. I will. With hesitance, I will accept jerk. Dumbass. Feels like a real line being crossed from somebody who works for the city of Seattle.

[Barry]

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Like, I felt like. Until I hit the words dumbass, I felt like, you know, okay, and then dumbass, like, okay, yeah, it's a different level.

[Luke Burbank]

So I'm guessing, was it the case that the box truck was stopping them from getting to the dumpster? I mean, that's what they were mad about.

[Barry]

It didn't stop them from getting to the dumpster. It just makes it so their trash truck, it's. It's a really tight squeeze.

[Luke Burbank]

I see.

[Barry]

And we've been. We have been parking there for, you know, every night for, like, past three weeks. So maybe they were just tired of it, huh?

[Luke Burbank]

So it kind of made their life more stressful. Again, it's. I don't. I don't think anyone listening or even you would disagree with the idea of them leaving a note saying, hey, this is. Hey, we've reported this. I mean, again, just. Just be. You could be businesslike and say, this is illegal. You know, you're violating the hours of parking here. And we've reported it. Even that, like, that wouldn't feel good to see, but that. It's not calling you a dumbass.

[Barry]

Yeah. You know, and. And I get it. Like, you know, maybe. Maybe it just makes our job a little harder. They have a hard job. Like, and I know that this was left, like, at, like, five something in the morning, because my business partner with Temple Pastries, she saw them put the note on the car. Oh, and so you actually.

[Luke Burbank]

She saw. Oh, she saw them. Okay. Because I was asking you in the text chain if you have cameras, and you said they don't. Much like the TSA cameras didn't point at the very spot where a TSA person stole my wallet once at Sea Tech, your cameras didn't point exactly at this. But somebody else, your business partner, got eyes on it.

[Barry]

Yeah, she got eyes on it. And. And the reason why, like, I kind of just give them a little bit of grace is because it was very early in the morning and they were probably just getting a start to their day. And like, maybe they're just like, oh, this is how I have to start my day. This damn box truck is here again, like, yes, making my job a little harder. So I get it. I get it. So, you know, we. I did then obtain a permit to park not in that spot, but the spot directly across the street so I can park there like 24 7. And I have it, you know, restricted just for me. It is my own private parking space. Now.

[Luke Burbank]

I had no idea there were this whole. There was this elite level of parking where you can just. And this is another thing you go to the city for. You say, I have this business, and right now I need to have this box truck in play. And so can I get a special kind of like, you know, easement, a variance, or whatever you call it, basically? Is that how this happened?

[Barry]

Yeah, and it's open to everybody. Like, if you're moving and you need like, a space carved out for your moving truck, like, you can get this online. Like, you can just go online, put in the information, put how long you need it for, and a permit will spit out.

[Luke Burbank]

That's. I had no idea that any of this was possible. That's incredible. So you now are able to park. I mean, when I say you. It's somebody that works for you, but they're able to park the box truck in an area that will not in any way impede these. The trash collectors. Now is that the new. The new reality? Is it?

[Barry]

No, because it still makes the. It still makes it tight. I'm just not parked in the load zone. I parked directly across from the. The. That zone.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, my gosh. So wait, so have. Have we yet? What day is your garbage? What day do they come for this stuff?

[Barry]

So we get our garbage collected three days a week.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, okay.

[Barry]

So.

[Luke Burbank]

So this is Friday. Have we tested this, this new system yet?

[Barry]

We have not.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm.

[Barry]

I'm. I'm so. I'm out of town, so I didn't want them to, like, do anything while I'm not there. So we'll. We'll test it when I get back.

[Luke Burbank]

Do you think they would like it more or less to know that you're in Waikiki while they're rolling up at 5am to pick up this dumpster? So wait, where's the. So where are you telling Your workers to put the box truck for the time being.

[Barry]

So I don't live too far away from there, so they're parking it near my house.

[Luke Burbank]

I see. Okay. So we're. So we're. What you're gonna do is you wanna be back. Actually, that's very responsible of you. Again, this is why you're such a successful business owner, because you're not just leaving it. You're not taking advantage of the fact that you are literally an entire ocean away from this thing. You wanna be boots on the ground. You wanna be there when you park in your new special spot so that if there's any. If some shit hits the fan, you can kind of deal with it directly.

[Barry]

I'm the captain of the ship and I want to be there.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes, that's very responsible of you. Um, have you considered. Did you at any point consider, like, reporting these folks to their boss about this?

[Barry]

No. I don't mean.

[Luke Burbank]

Snitches get stitches.

[Barry]

Snitches get stitches.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Barry]

Accountability is different these days.

[Luke Burbank]

It kind of is. I mean, yeah, we talk about this a lot on the show, but obviously, oftentimes as it relates to sports for me, which is sports have now taken on this dimension where they feel like they're part of politics. And when, like, my sports team loses it, it feels like it hurts more than it used to because of the wider world being so bad. I'm making a lot of connections that may or may not be actually sort of real. And somehow, to me, this person who works for the city of Seattle, and again, they have a hard job, and we should not be doing anything to make their job harder. But I do think that there is this lack of civility now that would lead someone to think I can write dumbass on a sign. When I work for the city of Seattle, which is, like, I kind of feel like that's somehow connected to our more coarse and vulgar world that we now live in, unfortunately.

[Barry]

Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, one of the things that I was thinking of is, like, you know, how many Jersey Mike gift certificate should I give these guys just to, like, clear the piece?

[Luke Burbank]

Are you that kind of guy? I mean, seriously? Okay, so, like, Becca's brother, Scott. I don't think he would mind me saying this, by the way. You guys would really hit it off. He owns a couple of bars in Portland, and he deals with all of the stuff that goes along with that that you know very well. Just in terms of being a business owner and all. Like, every time we hang out, I'm like, how's your day going? He's like, uh, it's okay. I was inside the air conditioning machine on the roof of the bar because it went out, and I was trying to, like, you know, it's like, it's a constant. It's just the amount of fires that he has to put out at all times is just. It's just unbelievable. I kind of. I'm. I'm in awe of any small business owner because of the amount of work that it takes to keep it all rolling. And a lot of. A lot of it is dealing with whether it's vendors or customers or people in the neighborhood who get mad at you, like, residents of the neighborhood who are mad about one thing or another. And what he is brilliant at is. Is. Is really coming in with the honey versus the vinegar. Like, he has just got this whole other, you know, mode that he has just learned over time, which is that most of the time, he can kind of, like, by. By. By being friendly, by killing him with kindness, by actually listening to what people's concerns are, he can actually get to a solution. He doesn't come at it from a. Like, you know, who are you to complain about this or whatever. Have you also developed that. That muscle? And did you actually seriously consider turning the other cheek and getting these guys some kind of a gift certificate, even though they called you a dumbass?

[Barry]

Wow. I mean, yeah, I do. I mean, yeah. So, like, you know, in this business, you learn. You know, you learn that, like, if you kind of fight things and, like, go at it from, like, not a place of peace, it just makes your job that much harder, your life that much harder. So it's like, if you can keep the peace with the people that take care of you, like, the people that come pick up our trash, like, yeah, they take care of us. And they might be a little gruff and writing notes and calling me a, like, dumbass, but if I could make it. If I could make their job easier by giving them, like, a gift card or. Or whatever, I will do that. Yeah. It's just. It's just. It's just good. And that's, you know, you deal with.

[Luke Burbank]

A lot, so that's very mature. I mean, honestly. And again, I've kind of been half joking about this, but it's probably why you've had a lot of success with these businesses and why Scott has had success, because you really do have to find a way to get. Just to get to the solution you want. And most of the time, it's just kind of being nicer. To someone than you have to be. Right. Is that, is that basically the big takeaway?

[Barry]

Yeah, just. Just be nice and like. Yeah. Because coming at it from like a. An aggressive standpoint, I think is just hard. And you know, you may feel it. You may feel it like, you may feel like, oh, they done me wrong, they done me dirty. They did this. But yeah, but I just. You just have to like, put that on the, on the back, on the back burner and just come out with a. Come out with peace.

[Luke Burbank]

That's. Well, that's, I think, a good lesson for all of us. Now, what are you going to do with the sign? Are you going to frame it and put it like behind the counter, like a bad check at a teriyaki place?

[Barry]

So I did have joked with my roasting team that I do want to hang it up somewhere. We have like a lot of wall space where we roast and that might be. It might be fun just to hang it up. I don't know. I don't know. Maybe a place where the trash people can actually see. See, reminds us not to park there.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. Like mount it on that wall, you know, like get some kind of masonry screws and lag, bolt it into the wall and kind of frame it. Yeah, yeah, definitely invest about 500 to $1,000 in like encasing it in some kind of a, like waterproof Lucite situation and then kind of do that floating framing where it's just coming off the wall.

[Barry]

Yeah, like a really high value sports card.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking of. Speaking of cards, one quick thing, Bear, before we get to the donors here, you also mentioned in this text thread that we were on, and this is just another way in which I feel you and I are very much cut from the same cloth. You said based on something we had said on the show. You said, for the record, you can in fact travel domestically on a plane with no ID at all. Because we've been talking about real id. And I was saying how. I was saying how I think you can fly without a real id because I've seen these little cards that clearly they gave to people who didn't have a real ID who then went through security. And by the way, because they're the kind of person that shows up at the airport without a real id, they also immediately chucked the card. Like, there's a kind of a person who just is like, they know. They're just. You could say they're solutions oriented. They need to get to the other side of this tsa. Security checkpoint. They don't have the real id. The TSA person said, all right, we're gonna let you through, but we're gonna give you this stern warning on this card. And the second the person is through security, they're like, what card? What real id? I'm on my way on my trip now. I don't care anymore. But anyway, I was saying that, and I think Andrew made some snide comment about being unsurprised to hear that I'm pushing. Oh, I believe what he said was, I'm also the person who said you don't have to pay income taxes, which.

[Barry]

Oh, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Which I was unnecessary and uncalled for.

[Barry]

It's. Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

Just because I don't pay income tax, it doesn't mean I don't think you have to. I'm just disorganized, which is different.

[Barry]

Right.

[Luke Burbank]

Anyway, have you flown without any kind of identification?

[Barry]

I have, so. I have. I have, actually. Yeah. Twice. Wow. And once was like. I think it was probably, like, 10 years ago. I had just got to the airport, so. And I realized I didn't have my id. I messaged my friend, and I said, hey, can you run to my house and get my id? I don't have my driver's license with me. And he's a lawyer, actually. The lawyer that you guys know. Bo. Oh, yeah. He was like, you don't need an id. You can just go through. And I was like. I was just like. He's like, just give it a try. Because, you know, he didn't put. Probably didn't want to bring me my id. So I get to. I get to tsa, and sure enough, like, they did a thorough search of all of my stuff. Like, just unpacked my suitcase. They had a supervisor come out, and.

[Luke Burbank]

Did they seem mad?

[Barry]

No. No. I think they deal with it. Like, they have. The thing about that is, is they have. They have, like, protocol. And, like, if you have a protocol, then you kind of just know what to follow. They may be, like, annoyed.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes. I think they don't want. I think they would rather people not know that it was even an option because it is a hassle. Because I was. Something happened. I forget what it was. I had my id. What was the question? I basically asked a TSA person not that long ago. I don't know if I had lost my wallet and gotten it back. There was some reason that I had my id, But I was curious about this process of flying with no id because I think somehow I had. I had. I had Doubled back for my license again. I forget what the exact circumstances were, but I said to the guy, or I asked the guy, hey, if I didn't have my ID right now, would I be able to get through? And he said, maybe. He goes, but it's really a long process, and it takes hours and stuff. And I thought, it can't take hours because if it took hours, everybody would miss their flight. But he was definitely trying to, like, make it. Make it sound super unappealing to me. How unappealing was it to go through for you?

[Barry]

I mean, it did take, like, in Seattle. It took about an hour.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, wow.

[Barry]

I'm. I'm an Andrew. I like to get to the airport early, and then because, like, I'm, like, really stressed out until I get through. Like, tsa.

[Luke Burbank]

Do you do the move where you're very early, you're through tsa. You know that you want to go maybe have some lunch or whatever, but you have to go get eyes on your gate first.

[Barry]

Mm. At ctac? No, because I know where everything is. Yeah, but. But, like, I've. No, actually, not that way. I'm kind of just like, I'll. I'll, like, I'll, like, you know, I'll get through. I'll do what I need to do, and then it can't be too far away.

[Luke Burbank]

I just always have to make sure that. Because I don't trust the app and I don't trust those little digital reader boards until I walk to the gate that it tells me is the gate, and I look at it, and I see a sign that says the destination I'm trying to go to. And then once I've observed that with my own eyes, then I can go off and do whatever else I want to do.

[Barry]

I learned that maybe that's a better way to approach because earlier this year, I flew Seattle to Miami, and I had three hours there because I was flying with a friend. We were flying to, like, Chile, and we're like, oh, we have three hours. And the in. And it says, the terminal says our gate's, like, 10 minutes away, so let's just go to this lounge and hang out and drink beers and just have a good time. So we're like, okay. So an hour before our flight was supposed to board, we're like, okay, let's head to our gate. We're like, that. An hour's plenty enough time. But what we didn't take into account, there's so much construction at the airport that it took us. It. It took us. It took us Almost an hour to get to the gate. Like, we were running through the airport, like, Home Alone style. We had to exit security and then re. Go back through security again.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, my gosh.

[Barry]

And like, we had almost missed our flight. It was stressful. So I will never do that again.

[Luke Burbank]

Do you have the feeling, Barry, you're the only person I know who probably flies more than I do in a given year. Like, I have this feeling that. And on one hand, I don't mind it because, you know, I am always trying to get my steps, et cetera. And, you know, again, I'm lucky that I have pretty decent mobility. But, like, I feel like airports are getting bigger, more Byzantine. Maybe it's just because I'm in Portland a lot, and the PDX has been under construction for, like, three years. And they're constantly, like, rerouting you because they're building. You know, they're building something. And it means you can't take the most direct route between. I just feel like. Airport. I was in. I think I was in LaGuardia. Back to back weeks. It might have been our JFK. It was either LaGuardia or JFK. And like, I was taking this one. I think it was this one American flight that for some reason just worked out that I swear to God, it was a 45 minute walk.

[Barry]

Mm.

[Luke Burbank]

I. I think. Are you noticing this?

[Barry]

Airports are huge. Like. Like, I think it's also because they're kind of new to us. Like, if I'm going somewhere, like, I've never been to, like, the Miami airport, so. But it. I. I swear, like, Luke, the Miami airport, from the lounge to the gate, where I had to go to was a mile. I was.

[Luke Burbank]

That's crazy.

[Barry]

No problem. Like, I. And I was. I was running so fast and so hard. Like, when I got onto that plane, I was disgustingly dripping with sweat.

[Luke Burbank]

There's nothing worse. The worst. I remember one time when I was in Houston. This was after Dick Cheney shot someone in the face. So we had been in Corpus Christi, which is where the guy was convalescing and refusing to speak to the media. And finally our bosses said, okay, you can go home. And we got listeners in Corpus Christi. And Corpus Christi is actually a pretty cool place, as is Houston, but we were just ready to go home. And so we found out that we could get a flight out of Houston, but it was like, in two hours. And I don't know how far Corpus Christi is from Houston, but it was basically like. It was a madcap idea, but we're like, just Go for it. And so we're driving and like, it's like, it's. The flight is boarding and we're just entering. I don't know if you've flown out of. I think it's like D. George.

[Barry]

George Bush Intercontinental.

[Luke Burbank]

It's like senior. It's like, it's like. Is it H.W. bush? I think.

[Barry]

Wait, there's more than one Bush Airport?

[Luke Burbank]

No, but I think it's named for the dad. There's more than one bush. I don't think it's named for the. The noted brush and painter. I think it's the dad.

[Barry]

Oh, okay.

[Luke Burbank]

But we're getting into the like, just the, the, like I want to say airspace, but it's not just getting onto the property. And I was like, okay, well like the plane is boarding. That sucks. But we're on the. We're in the airport. We're in, you know, we're driving. We're the rental car, but we're at the airport. That is the biggest like from acreage airport I have ever experienced in my life. And we have to drive the rental car to the like. You know, it's one of those things where it's not connected to the airport. And the rental car thing was like four miles, four to five miles away from where you actually would check in. And it was one of those things where we get to the gate and the, you know, the, the, the gate agent or whatever, the person. We're still not through security is like, there's just absolutely no way. And we're like, please let us try. It's me and this producer named Amy Walters who once, by the way, she once just parked a rental car at an airport, like at departures and just went, oh, she's gonna miss a flight. She's. She's hardcore. She ended up end up working for Al Jazeera and like working in the Middle east and seeing. I think she just had seen a lot of shit and was just like not phased by leaving a rental car at the airport. I'd like to try where the rental cars go. I mean, honestly, it is a pretty big flex. And yes, they are probably going to hit you with a fine, but at some point, I mean, unless there's like a. Unless there's a bomb scare, at some point they will send somebody from the appropriate rental car agency to come get the car. Now again, we're back into that territory of like making people's lives harder at work, which we don't want to be doing. But anyway, all that is to say We. Oh, also, it was like our luggage weighed too much because we had a satellite phone because we had been trying to, like, do, like, hits on ATC from outside of the hospital room where the guy was recovering. So, like, we had all this, like, you know, late 1990s, early 2000s, like, audio gear that was hugely heavy. So we're moving it into different suitcases. We're, like, jumping on our suitcases to try to get them closed because we couldn't check them because they couldn't get to the plane. And we run. Anyway, we did get to the flight. I mean, when you, like. As my buddy Camaro, Kev would say, my back was a waterfall.

[Barry]

Oh, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And of course, it's like. It's npr, so I'm flying, like, middle seat. Like, it's. No, I'm not. This was long before my days of. What are we now? At most titanium or something?

[Barry]

At most titanium. Yes. Yes. That doesn't. It's so hard.

[Luke Burbank]

It doesn't sound right quite yet, but eventually I'll settle in. But anyway, yeah, there's nothing worse than getting to. I mean, you're so relieved. You're so overjoyed because you got to the flight, and yet you're so disgusting. Like, the relief of getting to the flight is immediately replaced by just.

[Barry]

Just how disgusting you feel.

[Luke Burbank]

Feeling absolutely awful to.

[Barry]

Yeah, I immediately went into the bathroom and I changed my shirt because, yeah, it was. I was soaking wet, so. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. All right. Hey, listen, let's take a moment to. I don't know if you caught yesterday's show, but one of the things that slipped through the cracks when Andrew was going to be missing some shows this week was me getting a copy of the real donor music, so.

[Barry]

Oh, well, this. This sounds nice, though I haven't yet listened to the show yet, but I will listen to on my Run tomorrow.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, you already know this part of the show, which is that I'm playing some pretty janky music to thank our donors, but that does not indicate any lack of enthusiasm on my part for these folks who are supporting TBTL with a donation of dough. Folks like Troy and Felicia Hughes, who are in Cedarburg, Wisconsin.

[Barry]

Wisconsin? I lived in Wisconsin once.

[Luke Burbank]

I didn't know that. You did.

[Barry]

I lived in Milwaukee for four months.

[Luke Burbank]

Were you, like, going to school or starting a business or.

[Barry]

I was actually working. I. I was working for Verizon at the time.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, wow.

[Barry]

Transferred me to Wisconsin, and I couldn't stand it, so I had to get back to Seattle.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, somehow Trey and Felicia seem to Be standing it just fine there. It actually really is. I do you know, when we were. We had noted that there are, I think, about maybe five cities in America that are called Friendship. And I don't want to take away from any of the other spots, but I did think, I bet you that the Friendship Wisconsin is going to be the most fun one for us to go to. And it ended up being the case.

[Barry]

No, I mean Wisconsin. Like, I don't want to dog on them. Like, I really like it there. I just think I was there during the wrong time. I was there from November to March.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, yeah. No, that's. That's gonna be rough.

[Barry]

It was rough.

[Luke Burbank]

I once missed a trip home. I don't know if I've ever told this story, but I'm not super proud of it. But I once. I think we did. Wait, wait. We did wait, wait in, like, Madison. And I. I don't remember if I was in Madison or if I had gone back to Milwaukee. I think I went to a bar, I think called the Office in Milwaukee. And I, by myself, became so lubricated that I missed my flight home. I stayed an extra day in Wisconsin, but again, not because of, like, it wasn't like, we had a fun group outing or some amazing thing happened. It was just me just power drinking at a bar solo in the afternoon to such a degree that I was not able to make my flight.

[Barry]

Were you just, like, lost track of time, or are you just like, I don't want to go right now?

[Luke Burbank]

Probably a little of both.

[Barry]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

But I'm glad that those days are mostly behind me. And I'll tell you who else is really happy about that. Anand Rajaraman, who's in San Francisco, California. Anand is glad about that because it means I'm probably a little better at doing the show. It does make for fun stories.

[Barry]

I love San Francisco. I did miss the flight in San Francisco because I, too, was at a bar drinking too much.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay. Somehow San Francisco feels right. Do you remember the name of the bar?

[Barry]

It was called Lime Lime Club Lime. And you go there for, like, a weekend brunch, and they serve bottomless mimosas. Oh, that's.

[Luke Burbank]

Forget it. That should come with a ticket change. They should. When you pay your $30 or whatever, it's gonna be your $80 for your bottomless mimosas. They should just tell you that they're putting you on the Monday flight.

[Barry]

I was. I was. I consciously miss. I'm just like, I'm just not going to go. I'm just not going to show up. Yeah, so.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, that's also comes with the territory of you and I being such road warriors with these tickets because particularly if you book them on miles, you really can. You can get pretty crafty with, with, you know, with. With changing them out and stuff like that. The worst flight miss that I've ever had. Well, I've had two really bad flight misses where I was at the gate and missed the flight. One was. One was I was flying to Norman, Oklahoma to meet up with my buddy the Colonel because we were gonna watch the UW Huskies play the Oklahoma Sooners. His uncle had season tickets. His late uncle had like left him season tickets to the Oklahoma Sooners. And he flew in from la, I flew in from DC I think, and I had to change planes in like Nebraska or something. And I'm standing there and the flight has not boarded. I want to mention I'm not inebriated at this time, but I get a call, maybe like a work call or something. And while I'm on the phone, I sort of wander a little bit away from the gate. But again, they have not even started boarding the flight. I come back to the gate after, and this is like one of those small regional planes, it takes like no time to board it. I come back after like 10 minutes. The gate's closed. The flight has board and the gate has closed. And check this out, Barry. They boarded early.

[Barry]

Oh, which.

[Luke Burbank]

That's got. That's dirty pool right there.

[Barry]

Oh, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

I was apoplectic because I wasn't like, I came back in plenty of time to get on this flight, except they had just gotten lucky, I guess, boarded early, closed the gate and were gonna just take off and did take off without me, which was crazy. The other time was more my fault. I was drunk in McCarran Airport, but then it was called McCarran Airport. I was playing a slot machine.

[Barry]

Vegas. Okay?

[Luke Burbank]

I was in Vegas. I was playing a slot machine in the airport, kind of one eyeing my gate, looking around the slot machine at my gate and ordering cocktails. And then at some point got distracted and did not get on my flight. So that one was on me.

[Barry]

Anyway, so you've missed two flights.

[Luke Burbank]

Two flights where I was. Had eyes on the gate.

[Barry]

You were at the airport. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

That's pretty hard to do. I'll tell you who's never done that. Summer Vaughn.

[Barry]

Oh, no. Summer?

[Luke Burbank]

No. Of Broomfield, Colorado. Summer is like living an exemplary life, not like the besotted, alcohol soaked life that I lived for so many years. Thank you, Summer. For supporting tbt. Also thanks to Jenna Munoz, who's in Singapore.

[Barry]

Singapore. I've been to Singapore.

[Luke Burbank]

I knew you would have been to Singapore. You've been all over this globe, as apparently has Jenna. Or at least Jenna's been to Singapore. Thank you, Jenna, for checking in from there. Thanks also to Christopher Sherrill, who's in, wait for it, Madison, Wisconsin.

[Barry]

Look at that. All comes back to Wisconsin.

[Luke Burbank]

That's right. It's a big Wisconsin week. Or big Wisconsin day, I should say. And then finally, we've got Jules Foster, who is in Eugene, Oregon. Jules, thank you so much for supporting tbtl. Thank you to all of our donors. We just couldn't do this without you. Thank you very much. Hello and welcome. Welcome to Top Story. Robert Redford has died at the age of 89. And I have to tell you, like, I always assumed the guy was living kind of a blessed life, but, boy, was he, like, what must it have been like to be Robert Redford, to just a. Be born into that physical.

[Barry]

Right.

[Luke Burbank]

That, that, that. That physical situation that is Robert Redford.

[Barry]

Such a handsome guy.

[Luke Burbank]

Handsome guy, really talented actor, very talented director, environmentalist. I didn't realize that he, like, saved Sundance. Sundance was not called Sundance when he took it over in the 80s. It was a failing Utah film festival, which.

[Barry]

Is that where it took place?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. And still does, I believe, right? Sundance. I think Sundance is in Utah. But okay, he, He. I didn't know any of this, basically. Like, I figured he started it. And also, I just assumed. I don't know why. It seemed like a fait accompli, that Sundance would be this huge thing. And yet it wasn't. When he took it over, it was a. It was a film festival in Utah that was not doing well. And I think maybe just because he liked Utah, like, one of the big things you're seeing in a lot of obits about Robert Redford was he was very conflicted about being a famous sexy guy. You know, I would love to be a famous sexy guy who got to be conflicted about being a famous sexy guy. But he loved Utah. He loved nature. He loved kind of being away from the Hollywood scene, I guess. And so he takes over this film festival that's, again, not doing particularly well and turns it into, like, this extremely important part of the culture in my mind. I mean, it's definitely, like, has a big impact on the film world, maybe particularly the kind of films that I like. I don't think you see a lot of the Marvel movies going to Sundance, but certainly Artsy movies and independent films and stuff. Sundance is a. A huge part of it. I don't know. There's something about realizing that he came in in the 80s and was like, let's make this into something meaningful. And then he did it just kind of increased my overall how impressed I am with him. He also was. He had a college baseball scholarship.

[Barry]

Wow.

[Luke Burbank]

Like throw that in. He wasn't even one of these. One of these nerd actors that can't throw a baseball. That when I see them in Teen Wolf shooting a basketball, I know that they've never played a sport in their life. He was also a jock and again, he was somebody who. I saw a picture of him walking with Jimmy Carter before the election. So this would have been, I think before Jimmy Carter was elected. So he was like, in my opinion, on the right side of like history too. Like he was sidling up to the Jimmy Carter's of the world. I mean, just seemed like he, he was just living an all around. As far as somebody who was. Who was kind of born on third base. He didn't think, it didn't seem like he thought he hit a triple. Like it seemed like even though he, you know, he was at the top of the privilege pyramid, he seemed like he was doing. He was really trying to do the right thing with the privilege that he got from just being Robert Redford.

[Barry]

Yeah, yeah. It seemed like I've was reading some of these things that he's been a part of on the Times today, on the New York Times and yeah, it's just like I was like, he did this, he did that. That is. It is crazy like how much that, you know that he's done that I didn't even know about.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. He also, my buddy John was reminding me about the movie all is Lost.

[Barry]

Mm.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't know if you've seen this. I would. I mean, if people are. Look, people are probably gonna be watching Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid or I don't know, you know, one of his other like very. Maybe the all the President's Men or something. I mean, that's the thing. There are. If you wanted to do like a Robert Redford retrospective, there's a long list of fine films that he was a part of. But I would throw this movie all is Lost in there. I'm kind of surprised, Barry, because you and I do have so many similarities that you haven't had a boat phase in your life. You seem like a guy who could get a boat phase going.

[Barry]

But I've, I've Wanted a boat. I just have never taken the chance like you have.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I would watch this movie All Is Lost next time you're really feeling like it because it will pretty much talk you right on out of it. It isn't.

[Barry]

Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

I think he. I don't know if he also directed it, but he stars in it. All Is Lost film.

[Barry]

All Is Lost, starring. Yeah. Directed by J.C. chander.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay. Well, it's an amazing feat of acting and directing. It's just basically the story of this guy played by Robert Redford, who has this amazing sailboat that he's decided to sail. I forget where he's sailing from. He might be like, sailing it to Hawaii or something, but he's basically doing one of these open ocean trips. And the boat just, you know, against. I think he gets hit by a shipping container in the middle of the night. Like there's like something or something hits the boat in the middle of the night and it starts taking on water. And what's incredible about it is there's like no dialogue in the movie. Cause it's Robert Redford on a boat by himself. A boat that's sinking. And the.

[Barry]

Is there any acting? So wait, there's no. I guess he's by himself.

[Luke Burbank]

He's by himself on a boat. He is acting. I don't think he is really in danger. I don't know if you heard the intro. I don't know if you're familiar how acting works, Barry. There will be no scripts. There will be no scripts on the boat because then people will know. No, but there's. It's such a quiet film, which is, I would imagine, is so much harder as the actor. I mean, that's why they gave Tom Hanks a flipping volleyball to talk to. And by the way, that's awesome.

[Barry]

Oh, yeah, that works.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. Right. And that's not to go. Not to. Not to be dismissive of Castaway, which I also thought was a really good movie, but I feel like Castaway, that was a movie that was really meant for the masses. And one of the things they realized was the masses aren't gonna watch a movie where, like, for 50% of it, the guy doesn't say a word. They gotta give him somebody to talk to, so they give him the volleyball. This movie doesn't do that. This movie is like. It's a fairly aged Robert Redford just having the situation go from bad to worse to worse on this boat.

[Barry]

That's a 2013 film. So what came out first, I guess.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, good question.

[Barry]

I think Castaway I think Castaway was first for sure.

[Luke Burbank]

And again, I'm not trying to diss on Castaway because I think that's a really good film, too. But it's like, this one is just so. Again, I was also watching it, like, right when I was kind of in my boat obsessed phase a little bit. So that was probably just. The boatiness of it was appealing. But anyway, I would just throw that out there, too. If you haven't seen all is Lost, it's another sort of really, really good film starring Robert Redford.

[Barry]

I'll watch it on my flight home. But, hey, one thing I wanted to. There's this guy who sold everything he owned. He lives in Portland. I'm not sure if you heard about this guy.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't know.

[Barry]

He was robbing his entire shop and he sailed to Hawaii. Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

I was following. What's his name? Like Jackson or Phoenix or.

[Barry]

His cat was. Cat.

[Luke Burbank]

I think his cat was named Phoenix. I was watching that guy on, like, TikTok, and it was. It's so interesting. What? Because there are, you know, there are. Every day there's somebody that's leaving the west coast of the United States for Hawaii on a boat, and just some of them catch. I mean, he's a likable kid, you know. And again, yeah, he sort of quit his. I think he had some kind of a finance job or some kind of a job they didn't find, but particularly appealing. But, yeah, that was a cool story. I think we were talking about trying to get him on Livewire, actually, because. But then I also got a little stressed out, like, if he was gonna make it or not, you know, because you had hundreds of thousands of people now following this kind of young guy's progress. And, boy, it would have been bad news if he just.

[Barry]

I know. Yeah. Actually, it was so funny because, like, I followed his beacon of his boat. So I saw when he docked in Hawaii. And then, like, I was here, I think, in May, because I think he docked somewhere time in April or March. I don't remember exactly when, but I was here again in May, and I was out for a little jog and I was like, oh, I wonder if he's still here. So I pulled up his little beacon and he was still docked in. So I just. I ran by his boat.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, and he was there.

[Barry]

He was. His boat was there. He wasn't there. I'm not sure if he was there himself, but his boat was there.

[Luke Burbank]

Huh? Yeah. That's a good reminder. I need to. I need to. Although Maybe the story has passed, but I need to talk to her. Speaking of Livewire, everyone, if. If you're in Portland this Thursday, come on by. We have the writer Mary Roach on the show who has written all kinds of great, kind of like pop science books like Stiff. And she's got a new book out called Replaceable youe that we're gonna be talking about. We're gonna have music from Mary Palan, who is the lead singer of the band Stars, which is a band that I really love out of Canada. So Alberta Rose Theatre this Thursday night, come see Livewire, please. And maybe we'll see some of you in Minnesota on the 26th. We're gonna be in the Twin Cities with Maria Bamford. You can go to livewireradio.org to get tickets to that. Barry, as we wrap the show up here on this Tuesday, is there anything you would like to mention? Anything you would like to live Wire?

[Barry]

Aren't you gonna have Jeff Hiller on Live? Well, am I allowed to say that?

[Luke Burbank]

You are allowed to say that. I will tell you this. I am on a very, like, I'm on a very tactical, very strategic project to make sure that Jeff Hiller does not cancel on us because he's getting so famous now.

[Barry]

Like, I know.

[Luke Burbank]

We love Jeff Hiller. We love Jeff Hiller. He just won the Emmy. He just gave an amazing Emmy speech. I thought he kind of stole the show a little bit. He's written a great book called Actress of a Certain Age. The thing is, he's supposed to be on Livewire, I think in November. It's part of our Portland Book Festival show. And I literally told our social media person yesterday. I was like, when he won the Emmy, I was like, please make a post that's honoring Jeff Hiller and that tags him and that says how excited we are to have him on in November. As if that's the thing he's noticing on the Monday after he wins the Emmy. But I'm like, I. And I'm like. Because he and I are like kind of DM buddies now, like on Instagram. I'm trying to figure out when is the right moment to like congratulate him on the Emmy and do it in a way that low key reminds him that he is going to be on our show and that he better not cancel for the second time. But I also worry that he could just get cast in like the next friggin Marvel movie or something.

[Barry]

You know, just tell him that you have two Emmys.

[Luke Burbank]

I know they're right behind Me. Maybe I'll send him a still shot of this. But yes, Jeff Hiller will be on. On the. Ideally on the show in November. Are you gonna. Are you gonna be able to come down for that?

[Barry]

I want to, but I'm gonna be in China.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, my gosh.

[Barry]

My new project that Sam and I are starting.

[Luke Burbank]

Are you. Are you opening a pizza place in China?

[Barry]

No, no, no. We're. No, we're starting a new business, but it's. But it deals with the factory there. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Amazing. Okay, great.

[Barry]

Anyway, sorry.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, thank you for the livewire shout out, too. And you're, like, the world's biggest Jeff Hiller fan. And by the way, I just started the thank you for being. I started the Golden Girls music instead of the Words by Doves outro music. So as you can tell, things are going very well here from a technical standpoint. Hey, Barry, thanks for being on the show today.

[Barry]

Well, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

[Luke Burbank]

Will you. And thank you for all that you've done for the show over the years. Like, it really means a lot to us. Will you. If you do end up Jimmy Johns ing the very angry trash guys, will you let me know how it goes? Let us know how it goes.

[Barry]

I will.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, great. That is gonna bring us to the end of today's program, but I've got great news for you. We're gonna be back here tomorrow with more imaginary radio, so we hope you can all join us for that. In the meantime, have a great Tuesday. Take care of yourselves. Go Mariners. And hey, Barry. John kind of fumbled the bag on this yesterday, but do you want to say the Andrew part?

[Barry]

I will not fumble it.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, good. Please remember, no mountain too tall.

[Barry]

And good luck to all.

[Luke Burbank]

Nice.

[Barry]

Power out.